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Nearly 25.000 troops battle Al-Qaeda in Abyan
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "When I'm good, I'm very good - but when I'm bad, I'm better."
Posted by: mojo || 05/14/2012 13:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Anahi aka Singer with RBD, sold over 58 million albums worldwide including albums in Spanish, Portuguese and English aka Maria in "Habia Una Vez Una Estrella (Once Upon A Time A Star)(1989)" aka Mariana in "El Ganador (The Winner)(1992)" aka Ana in "Inesperado Amor (Unexpected Love)(1999)" aka Mia Colucci in "Rebelde (Rebel)(TV 2004–2006)" aka Angelica Estrada in "Dos Hogares (Two Homes)(TV 2011–2012)"(age 29)



Getting ready to prepare a treat for Gorb
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/14/2012 14:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Yow! Do I have just the bicycle for her! (I borrowed it from Obean).
Posted by: gorb || 05/14/2012 23:12 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Gunmen kill senior Afghan peace negotiator
[Dawn] Gunmen rubbed out a top Afghan peace negotiator in the capital Kabul on Sunday, police said, dealing a massive blow to the country's attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Taliban jihad boys.

Maulvi Arsala Rahmani was one of the most senior members on Afghanistan's High Peace Council, set up by President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
two years ago to open talks with jihad boys.

"He (Rahmani) was stuck in heavy traffic when another car beside him opened fire," said General Mohammad Zahir, head of the investigations unit for Kabul police.

Rahmani, a former Taliban minister, was on his way to a meeting with politicians and other officials in a government-run media centre in the heavily barricaded diplomatic centre of Kabul.

"His driver did not immediately realise that Rahmani had been killed," police official Zahir told Rooters, adding that no one had been tossed in the clink
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in connection with the shooting.

Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahed, denied involvement in Sunday's liquidation.

The head of the peace council and former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani
... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
, was assassinated by a jacket wallah last year.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  I bet that's our fault too, Hamid?
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2012 8:09 Comments || Top||


Afghan Security Forces kill 2 more ISAF soldiers
Two British servicemen have been rubbed out in southern Afghanistan by members of the Afghan national police force, the Ministry of Defence has said.

A soldier from 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and a Royal Air Force airman died in Lashkar Gah, Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province.

The MoD said the two had been providing security near a base on Saturday. Their next of kin have been informed.

It comes as Afghanistan announced plans to take over security in the Nahr-e-Saraj area where UK forces operate.

The number of UK military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 is now 414.

The men, who were serving as part of an advisory team, were killed on Saturday as they provided security for a meeting with local officials near Patrol Base Attal.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said he believed one of the gunnies was then killed by his Afghan police colleagues, while a second escaped.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Turkish commandos stage operation on Somali pirates
In an operation staged by Turkish SAT commandos, 14 Somali pirates were rendered ineffective and seven Yemeni mariners saved.

According to an announcement released on the General Staff website, the operation staged by SAT commandos led by Rear Admiral Sinan Azmi Tosun assigned to the TCG Giresun Frigate in connection with NATO, is currently ongoing in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding regions against pirating.

The announcement went on to state that on Friday May 11th, S-70B Sea Hawk helicopter, positioned on the TCG Giresun Frigate, detected a pirate ship located 190 sea miles into the Oman shore which was preparing to stage attacks on commercial ships. According to the announcement, the ship was stopped following warnings and upon orders by the NATO Permanent Sea Task Force Group- 2 commanders staged an operation on the ship holding seven Yemeni ship crew and 14 Somali pirates. During the operation a significant number of weapons and ammunition was confiscated. The announcement went on to state that the TCG Giresun will continue efforts to prevent pirates and to ensure that commercial ships are able to travel safely through the Gulf of Aden and neighboring regions.
Posted by: tipper || 05/14/2012 16:30 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems as if anybody looking for a little live-fire manuver action can take a week or so working on Somali pirates.
Presuming your national command authority doesn't like pirates, I mean.
Time to privatize the effort. Sell tickets. Discounts to those who bring their own weapons.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/14/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh yeah...kinda forgot Turkey was in NATO.
Posted by: gromky || 05/14/2012 22:21 Comments || Top||

#3  14 Somali pirates were rendered ineffective...

Hmmmmmmm...I wonder what that means?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/14/2012 23:02 Comments || Top||


Mogadishu Blasts kill three people
(Sh. M. Network)-At least three people were killed and two others injured in hand grenade attacks at a base controlling by Somalia government forces in Mogadishu, witnesses said on Sunday.

The first attack took place on Saturday night around 8:00 pm local time at a military base in Bar-Ubah junction, killing three local civilians with some reports soldiers were among the dead, according to the witnesses.

The second blast was reported went off at 30 venues inMogadishu, causing uncorfirmed casualties. Somali soldiers in the kaboom site reportedly opened fire following the double attacks, but no fatalities were reported so far.

The motive for the kabooms in Mogadishu on Saturday night is not yet known.

Since august 2011, when Somali government soldiers backed by AU forces took overMogadishufrom Al shabab, kabooms and coordinated attacks become common in the capital that claimed the lives of innocent people and troops.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Kenyan police launch manhunt for German terror suspect
(Sh.M.Network) -- Kenya's anti-terrorism police have launched major manhunt for a German national who sneaked into the east African nation to plan terrorism attacks in the country.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere has also summoned Ahmed Khaled Muller to surrender to the nearest cop shoppe for questioning over Al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
links.

"The Kenya Police has cause to believe that this person could be in possession of information on planned Al-Shabaab criminal activities," Iteere said in a statement released in Nairobi on Saturday.

The police chief also appealed to Kenyans to help the anti- terrorism coppers to arrest the German whose alias names are Andreas Martin Muller and Abu Nusaibah and whose picture has also been circulated

"Kenya Police would wish to inform the public that one person going by the name Ahmed Khaled Mueller, a German national is believed to have entered the country either illegally or by disguising himself and the nature of his mission in Kenya," he said.

A string of grenade attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa recently have sent Kenyans living in other cities in the East African nation, specifically Nakuru, Kisumu and Eldoret, into panic as they fear beturbanned goons may strike in their towns.

The latest development comes a week after the police chief released the photograph of Amar whom the police said was behind the recent grenade attacks inNairobiwhich left at least two people dead and more than 15 others injured.

The police said Amar's picture was taken in a beach in Kismayu a few months ago before he returned to Kenya to carry out grenade attack on God's House of Miracles International Church in Nairobi on April 29 which Al-Shabaab has since grabbed credit.

More than 30 people have been killed in Kenya mostly in northern region blamed on Al-Shabaab who have since joined al Qaeda network to cause terror attacks in the East African nation.

The deaths have been recorded after Kenya sent its troops into Somalia in October 2011 to hunt down the faceless myrmidons who were blamed for a series of murders and kidnapping on the Kenya soil.

The Kenyan police have particularly warned against the laxity in the screening of cars for explosives at all shopping malls and any business or social gatherings with at least 10 people at any given moment that these might be vulnerable to attacks.

Iteere ordered Mueller to report to the nearest cop shoppe from where he will be handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

"Any person who knows the whereabouts of the said Mueller is requested to give this information to the nearest police officer, security officer or cop shoppe," Iteere said.

"The public is also warned that this person is possibly armed. Mueller is also believed to use alias names Andreas Martin Muller and Abu Nusaibah," Iteere said.

The attack comes a month after theU.S.embassy warned of an imminent terrorist attack inKenyais possible.

A warning from the embassy said the likely targets include Nairobi hotels and prominent Kenyan government buildings including places foreigners assemble, including shopping malls and night clubs.

"The U.S. Embassy informs U.S.citizens residing in or visiting Kenya that the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi has received credible information regarding a possible attack on Nairobi hotels and prominent Kenyan government buildings," the embassy said in a statement on April 23.

The warning comes as the country's security forces have been on high alert across the country especially in northern Kenya over an imminent suicide kaboom attack by members of the Al-Shabaab group from neighboring Somalia.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia to battle Al-Shabaab rebels in October 2011 after several attacks, including the kidnapping of a French woman and a British tourist -- and the killing of her husband -- damaged its key tourism industry.

Kenya's government says armed attacks and kidnappings threaten the country's tourism industry--a key driver of the economy--that had bounced back after near collapse following post-election violence four years ago in which more than 1,200 people died.

Al-Shabaab forces of Evil have vowed to attack Nairobi after the east African nation which hosted protracted negotiations that culminated in the signing of the federal charter for Somalia in 2005, invaded Somalia to flush out the faceless myrmidons it blamed for kidnappings of tourists.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Africa North
Two die in mine blast crossing from Egypt to Libya
[Al Ahram] Two men were killed on Sunday and 29 other people were maimed after their convoy that was illegally crossing from Egypt into Libya entered a minefield, a medical source said.

Mahmoud Zahran, a Health Ministry official in the northern Egyptian city of Marsa Matrouh, said an Egyptian and a Sudanese man died when their vehicle, which was travelling in a convoy with two others, hit landmines inside Libya.

Health officials and Egypt's state news agency said.
... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe?
all the injured were Egyptians, except for two Sudanese. Reports had earlier said the two dead were both Egyptian.
Egyptians have traditionally sought work in Libya, but the conflict that toppled Muammar Qadaffy
...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens...
last year forced many to leave.

A recovery in Libyan oil output to near pre-war levels is luring many back, however, at a time when Egypt's economy has been hammered by the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...

Egypt's state news agency said.
... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe?
the injured were brought to a hospital in Salloum, an Egyptian town near the border.

The north coast of Egypt and Libya is littered with landmines laid during World War Two by Germany and Britannia and their respective allies.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


UN observer mission boosted as another 23 die in Syria
[Al Ahram] Regime forces battled rebels and carried out raids across Syria Sunday in a surge of violence that killed 23 people, monitors and activists said, as a tenuous UN-backed truce entered its second month.
The fresh wave of bloodletting came as the UN mission in Syria said it now has 189 military observers on the ground, nearly two-thirds of its planned strength of 300.

The observers are tasked with shoring up the ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
peace envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
that was supposed to take effect on April 12 but which has been broken daily.

"There are now 189 monitors on the ground," Hassan Siklawi, a representative of the UN mission in Syria, told AFP on Sunday.

The deployment of extra monitors came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 23 people killed on Sunday, including five soldiers who died in shootouts with armed rebels in the southern province of Daraa.

Two non-combatants were killed in the crossfire, it added.

In central Hama province, five people were killed by gunfire, including a woman, when regime forces raided the village of Al-Tamanaa Al-Ghab, the Britannia-based watchdog said, adding that 18 people were maimed and several houses set on fire.

A man and his son were killed and 10 other people maimed when they were shot by regime forces in the town of Qusayr in central Homs province, where armed rebel groups have strongholds, the watchdog added.

Also in Homs, a civilian was killed by sniper fire in the town of Rastan.

Three non-combatants were killed by regime forces near Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
, two in Idlib province and one in Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
province, while two army deserters were killed, one in Douma, the other in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the watchdog said.

And in neighbouring Leb, sectarian festivities in the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
between factions supporting and opposed to the Syrian revolt left one person dead on Sunday, a security source said.

The violence in Syria has escalated over the past week, despite the arrival of more ceasefire observers, with twin suicide kabooms in Damascus on Thursday killing 55 people and wounding 372.

The attacks have raised fears that thug elements are taking advantage of the deadlock in Syria to stoke the unrest.

Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, released a video on Saturday claiming responsibility for the Damascus attacks as Dire Revenge™ for regime bombing of residential areas in several parts of the country.

Claims by the group, including for past bombings, have been difficult to verify.

The head of the dissident Free Syrian Army in remarks published on Sunday charged that Al-Qaeda has links with the powerful airforce intelligence of the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...

"If Al-Qaeda gunnies have indeed entered the country, it happened with the cooperation of that agency," FSA chief, Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, told Kuwait's Al-Rai newspaper.

Asaad denied claims by Damascus that jihadist and Salafi groups were active in Syria, and blamed the Syrian regime for Thursday's devastating kabooms in the capital, calling for an international investigation.

State media has accused the West and its regional allies of opening the door to Al-Qaeda through its backing of the opposition.

A Turkish journalist held prisoner in Syria for two months said on Sunday that he and a Turkish cameraman feared they would die, and spent 55 days isolated in cramped cells where they slept on the floor.

The two Turkish journalists, who were tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
by a pro-regime militia in March and handed over to Syrian intelligence, returned to Istanbul this weekend after being freed thanks to Iranian mediation.

More than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the Syrian uprising began, according to the Observatory, including more than 900 killed since the April 12 truce went into effect.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Egypt police raid Cairo office of Iranian Al-Alam news channel
[Al Ahram] Police reportedly raid, shut down Iranian Al-Alam channel's Cairo office for broadcasting without license; Office manager reportedly arrested, equipment confiscated
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Africa Subsaharan
Uganda captures high-ranking LRA member
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Ugandan troops have captured a senior member of the Lord's Resistance Army
... The Lord's Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and kiddies, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo...
in a milestone arrest that could signal they are closing in on notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony.

Caesar Acellam, considered the fourth-highest ranking member of the LRA, was tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
by Ugandan forces in Central African Republic, and was flown to the South Sudanese headquarters of the regional armies hunting the LRA.

"My coming out will have a big impact for the people still in the bush to come out and end this war soon," Acellam told news hounds.

Acellam, aged 49, a tall man walking with a limp from an old wound, was flown to the base in the South Sudanese town of Nzara for medical checkups.

The Ugandan army is leading a US-backed African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force tasked with capturing the LRA's leaders, several of whom are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
in The Hague.

Acellam was captured Saturday and made available a day later to confirm his arrest following a brief firefight near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The general of the division, Caesar Acellam, who has fought in the jungle since 1984, is from now on in the hands of the Ugandan Army," Acellam told news hounds, referring to himself in the third person.

The LRA's top three commanders are Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Kony. All are on the lam and wanted by the International Criminal Court along with another man, Vincent Otti, who is however thought to be dead.

"He's a big fish," Ugandan army front man Felix Kulayigye said of Acellam, who was captured along with a Ugandan woman, a Central African teenager and a baby. None of them was hurt in the arrest.

"The fact that Caesar Acellam is prisoner is a major step for us towards ending the rebellion," Kulayigye said.

Ugandan army units had reportedly waited in ambush for three weeks for the rebel after they tracked his group of around 30 fighters, army sources said.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
Acellam split from his men a few days ago, for reasons that were not immediately clear. He surrendered after the army fired a few shots.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Ugandans have come a long ways in their developments of the trappings of civilization.

Twenty years ago, this guy's head would be on a stick and his skin would be nailed to the wall of some mud hut.

I am not sure this is progress though, the LRA leadership deserves no civil treatment.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/14/2012 2:31 Comments || Top||


Three dead after gunmen open fire on card players in Nigeria
[Al Ahram] Gunmen opened fire on card players in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday, killing three people including a prison warden, residents said.

It was unclear who the assailants were, but the shooting was similar to a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist group 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...
, which has been waging an insurgency focused in Nigeria's mainly Moslem north.

A front man for a military task force in the city, Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi, said "we heard of an incident around the area ... we are waiting for details."

Residents said three assailants arrived on one cycle of violence and opened fire, leaving three dead.

"They just opened fire and sped away," one resident said. "Soldiers from (the task force) have deployed in the area."

Boko Haram's insurgency has seen bombings and shootings that have killed hundreds. Its deadliest attack yet occurred in Kano, the largest city in the north, in January, when coordinated attacks left at least 185 people dead.

Police, soldiers and other members of the security forces have often been the group's targets.

Authorities said on Friday that they had placed in long-term storage
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
Boko Haram's alleged head of operations for Kano in a raid.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
10 Militants Dead in 'Expanded Operations to Retake Militant-Held Towns' in Yemen
[Yemen Post] At least 10 Al-Qaeda Islamic fascisti were killed as the army continued to advance to clear Islamic fascisti from their positions in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
, which was held by Al-Qaeda last year, local sources said.

The deaths occurred in the Jaar city south of Zinjibar in the second day of the fiercest battles against the myrmidons, the sources said.

On Saturday, the Yemeni army launched expanded operations to retake the towns in Abyan, which were held by Al-Qaeda last year including Zinjibar. About 25.000 troops are participating in the operations. Several soldiers have been reported dead in the two days so far.

The forces have waged fierce battles with Al-Qaeda Islamic fascisti in several areas including Doufas where Islamic fascisti raided several military posts in March and this month killing and abducting scores of soldiers and looting military equipment. Many Islamic fascisti have been killed in the battles, military sources said.

Popular fighters have helped the forces to fight the Islamic fascisti in the past few weeks.

The Yemeni army is also receiving direct support from the US including drone operations which have killed many gun-hung tough guys including big shots wanted by the US authorities.

Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Saboteur Burns While Attempting To Attack Power Line In Yemen
[Yemen Post] A saboteur had half of this body burned after noon Sunday while attempting to attack a power supply line in Yemen's Marib province, Almasdar Online reported, quoting a statement by an official at the electricity ministry.

"Abdullah Medraj, who was blacklisted on charges related to attacking power supply lines, was burned after he fell while attempting to throw a steal stick at one of the power lines in the Al-Jadaan area," the source said, according to the website.

"When he got his body burned, Medraj fired bullets in the air and the people rushed to the area and took him to hospital," the source continued.

The security authorities in Marib have ordered to hold him inside the hospital since he was wanted on ten attacks on power lines in the past few months, the source said.

Under orders from President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi, the authorities have recently blacklisted and started hunts for suspects in Marib accused of sabotaging power lines.

Hadi urged the authorities to give top priority to protecting power supply lines and key public properties in tribal areas , saying in a speech earlier this month lawsuits should be filed against saboteurs immediately.

Tribesmen in this notorious province usually attack power lines and oil pipelines to pressure the government to meet special demands.

Many cities including the capital Sanaa have been plunged into darkness through 2011-2012 because of persistent attacks sending the Marib gas-fired station of commission.

Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How about this for a graphic?

Posted by: gorb || 05/14/2012 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  And here at home.

Tribesmen The Gov't in this notorious province usually attack power lines and oil pipelines to pressure the government tribesmen to meet special demands.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2012 3:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Surprised he survived at all. That being said, electrical burns are pretty nasty and painful. If he was 'involved' with a medium voltage line or higher (above 1,000 volts), there might be good portions of his body missing too.

On another note, Yemen's grid system is pretty meager and appears to have little or no redundancy from its central steam generation source (except for natural gas low-capacity 'booster' stations in the major cities). Looks like it would be fairly easy to knock out the whole southwest portion of the country with little effort (other than the occasional 'toasty' individual).
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/14/2012 8:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Here we just call them copper thieves.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2012 9:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Copper thieves get free hospital stays. This wannabe gets thrown out into the dumpster tomorrow.
Posted by: Charles || 05/14/2012 13:28 Comments || Top||

#6  "Abdullah Medraj, who was blacklisted on charges related to attacking power supply lines, was burned after he fell while attempting to throw a steal stick at one of the power lines in the Al-Jadaan area,"

Do rou mean STEEL?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/14/2012 15:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Good question, or is there a deally like the power pole on a bumber car which they draw a current through. Yemen, who knows, to tell the truth I was expecting a hand saw. I love the first alert, fire off a few rounds and see who shows up.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/14/2012 16:01 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 05/14/2012 17:42 Comments || Top||


Sana'a reinforces security measures around embassies
[Yemen Post] Yemen's authorities have stated that they put Yemen's military and security services on high alert, pointing out that they imposed tight security measures around vital and economic facilitates and foreign embosses.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that measures were taken in anticipation of terrorist operations planned by Al-Qaeda in retaliation for raids that have been carrying out by the Yemeni army against its strongholds in some towns of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
governorate.

The Interior Ministry affirmed that it ordered all its services to strongly respond against any terrorist acts, urging them to be on full alert.

"The military also reinforced its presence in the entrances of the Capital Sana'a and the main cities of other governorates, and increased security forces tasked with protecting embassies and consulates" military sources said.

They said the defense and interior ministries informed all embassies in Sana'a that they took strict measures to protect embassies amid concerns of potential al-Qaeda attacks.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase...
Bulgaria's ambassador to Yemen Boris Borisov escaped on Sunday an abduction attempt while he was driving through the Capital Sana'a.

Masked gunnies stopped the car of the Bulgarian ambassador to kidnap him, but the diplomat managed to escape and hide in a nearby shop, sources affirmed.

Oman has ordered the staff of its embassy to leave Yemen and head to Muscat after the embassy received threats from an unidentified group, Alahale reported, quoting a diplomat at the embassy on Saturday.

A Saudi diplomat , Abdullah Al-Khaldi and a Swiss teacher, Sylvia Abrahat, have been kidnapped by al-Qaeda-linked a group since more than a month.

Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Yemen Releases Four Indians Abducted Outside Capital, Ministry
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni authorities released four Indian tourists, three men and a woman, who were kidnapped on Saturday in the district of Al-Haima Al-Kharijya outside the capital Sanaa, the interior ministry reported.

Four gunnies kidnapped the foreigners when they were on their car for unclear reasons, but late on Saturday they were released and in good condition, the ministry said.

Measures are underway to hunt the abductors from this district, it added.

Kidnapping foreigners has recently declined very much in Yemen. Some tribes used to abduct foreigners in their areas to ask for ransoms or to pressure the authorities to meet special demands including release of detainees or to supply basic services.

Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Nearly 25.000 troops battle Al-Qaeda in Abyan
[Yemen Post] About 25.000 Yemeni troops take part in a large-scale military campaign against Al-Qaeda in some towns of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
governorate, military sources said.

According to Al-Masdar Online, about eight brigades of the Southern Military Region are fighting al-Qaeda with the aim of recapturing some towns controlled by the terrorist group.

The brigades started on Saturday its military campaign against Zinjibar and Jaar, two town Al-Qaeda took control on them one year ago, the sources reiterated.

The military carries out a plan prepared by Yemeni and American experts, and Yemen's air and marine forces take part in the campaign, the sources pointed out.

They said that President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi
...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh...
approved the military plan that is under the control of senior military commanders including Minister of Defense Mohammad Nasser Ahmed.

The sources affirmed the military advanced on two fronts amid air cover in fighting that killed six soldiers in two days, affirming that military units attacked Jaar from the west and that the troops could reach some outskirts of the town.

Yemen President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi vowed early of May that he will defeat Al-Qaeda. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
Al-Qaeda attacked military positions hours after his address, killed and captured dozens of Yemeni troops.

Yemen's Chief of Staff Ahmed Ali Al-Ashwal met on Sunday with chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama
Why can't I just eat my waffle?...
, John Brennan. According to the military-run 26 September, both officials discussed mutual relationships and cooperation's between the Yemeni and US militaries, in particular counter-terrorism.

Sources had told Yemen Post that the United States sent nearly 45 counter-terror trainers to Yemen this week in an effort to strengthen the Yemeni government's ability to fight al-Qaeda.

Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336124 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Bulgarian envoy escapes Yemen kidnap attempt
[Bangla Daily Star] Bulgaria's ambassador to Yemen escaped a kidnap attempt on Saturday while he was driving through Sanaa in a diplomatic car, local and Bulgarian officials said on Sunday.

"Masked gunnies stopped the car of the Bulgarian ambassador to kidnap him, but the diplomat managed to escape and hide in a nearby shop," a security official told AFP in Sanaa.

The attempt against Ambassador Boris Borisov and his wife took place on Algeria Street, a main thoroughfare in the Yemeni capital, at around 17:00pm, another official said.

In Sofia Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov confirmed the incident, adding that Borisov was injured in the fight.

The ambassador will return to Sofia shortly for treatment and the embassy in Sanaa will be closed for business for the next few days, Mladenov told national radio.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Bangladesh
Violence rattles Ctg
[Bangla Daily Star] A series of festivities between BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
supporters and law enforcers in Chittagong yesterday left at least 100 people including police personnel and journalists injured.

During the two-hour-long festivities, which took place mainly near the BNP's city unit office at Kazir Dewry, commuters were rushing in panic for safer places as the one-kilometre area stretching from Almas Cinema to Enayetbazar and the nearby lanes, turned into a battlefield.

The opposition activists set three cars afire and vandalised around 50 vehicles, said police. Traffic was halted on different important roads including that from Tiger Pass to Wasa intersection because of the festivities.

BNP alleged that the law enforcers tried to foil their scheduled rally organised by the 18-party alliance while police claimed the festivities ensued as Jamaat-Shibir activists hurled brickbats at them.

The clash soon spread to other areas including Lalkhan Bazar, Ashkardighirpar, Mehedibagh, New Market and Chawkbazar.

Law enforcers fired a large number of rubber bullets and tear gas shells, and charged batons on the opposition activists. Police could not give any detail about the number of rubber bullets and tear gas shells they fired, but said their ammunition ran out.

Police also stormed into the BNP office, charged batons on the opposition activists and fired tear gas shells in a room where BNP leaders including its Vice-chairman Abdullah Al Noman and city unit President Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury took shelter.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Ghulam Azam indicted
[Bangla Daily Star] Ghulam Azam, considered by many as the symbol of war crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, was yesterday indicted on five charges of crimes against humanity.

After framing the charges, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 set June 5 for the trial to begin with opening statement from the prosecution.

The charges against Ghulam Azam include involvement in murder and torture of unarmed people; and conspiracy, planning, incitement and complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.

The charges were based on 60 incidents of crimes against humanity.

Ghulam Azam was the ameer of East Pakistain Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
during the Liberation War. He campaigned across Bangladesh and even in Pakistain (then West Pakistain) in an attempt to foil the liberation efforts.

He played a key role in forming Shanti (peace) Committee and Razakar, Al Badr and Al Shams forces, which actively helped the Pak forces in committing massacres across the country. Three million people were killed and over two million women were raped during the nine-month war.

Yesterday, Tribunal-1 Chairman Justice Md Nizamul Huq read out the charges with an introduction to the formation of the tribunal, a brief history of the Liberation War, a profile of Ghulam Azam and submissions of the prosecution and the defence along with the court's views on the case.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Caribbean-Latin America
Cadereyta massacre was part of Los Zetas Mothers Day plot

For a map, click here For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey city, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

The 49 individuals found butchered on a remote section of highway east of Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon may have been the victims of a Los Zetas plot for a spectacular Mother's Day massacre, according information taken from Mexican press accounts, private emails and other sources.

Since late April the Los Zetas criminal gang has been under immense pressure from an alliance between the Gulf cartel, the Los Zetas' mortal rival and the Sinaloa drug cartel. That alliance was formalized sometime last year, and its existence was revealed following the capture of Victor Manuel Felix Felix in Tabasco state.

Victor Manuel Felix Felix is the brother in law to Sinaloa chief Joaquin Guzman Loera AKA El Chapo, and was also chief financial officer for the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as the Pacifico cartel. In Felix Felix's possession were documents which indicated that an alliance between the two groups had been formalized and that the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel would combine their efforts to the east coast for the transshipment of drugs north to the United States.

That alliance was a formalization of what had already taken place in the fall of 2010, indicated by a fax sent to numerous Mexican news organizations which threatened 11 more car bombs like the one which was detonated in Zuazua, Nuevo Leon in December 2010 if authorities did nothing to stop Los Zetas' kidnapping operations in the state.

We now know that Los Zetas were during that time, indeed kidnapping bus passengers in Linares, which is in eastern Nuevo Leon and in San Fernando in central Tamaulipas state.

The San Fernando kidnappings and murders led to the discovery of one of the largest mass graves in modern Mexican history with a total of 193 individuals found dead in hidden mass graves in the spring and summer of 2011. Uncredited reports at the time said that Los Zetas hijacked buses, raped and killed female passengers and then held tournaments to see who would live to become shooters for Los Zetas and who would die.

Later news reports said that Los Zetas operatives in San Fernando became aware that the Gulf Cartel was bringing new shooters up from southern Mexico and that provided the impetus for the hijackings.

The increased pressure placed on Los Zetas came in late March of 2012, when as many as 13 individuals said to be Los Zetas were killed and dismembered, their body parts placed on display along with a narcomanta, which challenged Los Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano and Nuevo Laredo chief Miguel Treviño Morale AKA Z40. The message said, absurdly, that El Chapo would conduct a clean campaign to rid the city of Los Zetas.

It was later reported that the 13 dead were in fact not criminal gang members but random individuals who had been kidnapped and killed for the purpose of terrorizing local criminal groups.

Since that time, several similar events have taken place, most, though not all, in Nuevo Laredo, which is considered to be Los Zetas territory.

And Los Zetas have responded in kind, killing and butchering at least 10 individuals in Sinaloa state, the home turf for the Sinaloa cartel, as well as conducting their own operations in alliance with Beltran-Leyva and Juarez criminal groups against Sinaloa cartel groups in Choix, in the sierras of eastern Sinaloa state earlier in May. Those gunfights ended with 57 dead including 35 in intergang firefights.

In April, 14 unidentified individuals said to be members of Los Zetas were found in Nuevo Laredo, butchered and stuffed into an SUV, it said by Los Matazetas, said to be aligned with the Sinloa Cartel and based in Veracruz state.

These examples are only the ones Mexican press and private social media have been allowed to reveal to the pubic due to threats from criminal gangs. Indeed, it was not until almost 10 days after it took place that at least one US publication, the Houston Chronicle, has reported on the fight for Nuevo Laredo by mentioning the March massacre of Los Zetas operatives in Nuevo Laredo.

But it is apparently the find in Jalisco state five days ago of 18 individuals butchered and stuffed into two SUVs that information came out describing a spectacular plot for a massive Mother's Day massacre.

May 10th is traditionally Mothers Day in Mexico. In the United States, this year Mothers Day is May 13th.

According to a press account on the website of La Prensa news daily by reporter Elizabeth Ibal, two SUVs were found in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos municipality just south of Guadalajara city near the Querencias break leading to El Rancho Querencias with the bodies stuffed inside. A warning was left to El Chapo, which said, in part, that the dead were an example of what will happen to those who help the Sinaloa Cartel in Jalisco state.

Jalisco state underwent a change early last March when a Mexican Army detachment detained two of the remaining top leaders of the Jalisco Nuevo Generacion drug cartel, Erick Valencia Salazar, AKA El 85, and Nemesio Oseguera, AKA El Mencho.

Valencia Salazar was also the leader of the Matazetas group which first appeared in Mexican press reports in the fall of 2011, which at first was said to be a vigilante group independent of any drug cartel. That group was responsible for the murder of 35 individuals said to be members of the Los Zetas in Veracruz state. It was later reported that none of the 35 were affiliated with any criminal group,and were in fact innocents kidnapped to be used as grisly props.

The vacuum left by the troubles of Jalisco Nuevo Generacion appears to have allowed Los Zetas and their allies Milenio Cartel to fill vacuum in Jalsico state.

According to the report in La Prensa, a number of individuals had been kidnapped and held by this criminal alliance, 13 of which had escaped captivity.

An anonymous commenter on Borderland Beat ( for which this writer also writes) said on May 9th just after the news broke of the discovery of the 18 dead, said that the plan of the Zetas-Milenio group was for a massive and spectacular bloody Mothers Day massacre of their rivals. The rescued 13 individuals may have placed a crimp in those plans,and possibly led to the massacre in Nuevo Leon.

It is also possible that the Zetas-Milenio group already had set their plans in motion, and it is also possible Mexican security forces were unable to rescue other kidnapping victims in time.

There is no question that the victims in the Cadereyta massacre had been kidnapped from southern areas of Mexico and possibly originated south and central America. A Sunday morning report in Milenio news daily said as much. The attorney general of Nuevo Leon Adrian de la Garza stated that some of the dead were from other states, and a spokesman of the Nuevo Leon Secretaria de Seguridad Pública (SSP) stated that the dead had been killed at least 48 hours before their discovery, and had been transported, possibly by dump truck.

The narcomanta at the site, which was spray painted graffiti said 100 percent Zetas, a possible reference that the murders were done only by Los Zetas and not Milenio cartel members.

It was Los Zetas which killed 72 migrants in the summer of 2010 after the victims refused to pay tribute for passage. A Los Zetas criminal group was detained last month in northern Coahuila state along with several migrants. The upshot is that Los Zetas are involved in the passage of illegal immigrants into the United States. Its is likely that many of those were included in the dead in Cadereyta.

Borderland Beat reporter Chivis contributed to this report.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Ranturg.com
Posted by: badanov || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336102 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Byron || 05/14/2012 12:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Forty nine bodies! Yeah, that counts as a Mother's Day Massacre. All I got Mum for Mum's Day was a card and a book on birds. Wotta slacker!
Posted by: SteveS || 05/14/2012 21:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Blast in Peshawar's cattle market injures seven
[Dawn] A blast occurred near police's Chamkani check post in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar's cattle market early on Sunday, DawnNews reported.

Seven people were maimed when the blast targeting a police check post, destroyed a cattle market situated on Peshawar's Ring Road.

Police and emergency response teams rushed to the spot and the injured were shifted to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.

The condition of one injured was stated to be critical.

Fear and panic gripped the area after blast and police cordoned off the area and began investigations.

SSP Rural Shafiullah said that five to six kilograms of explosives were used in the home-made-remote-detonated bomb and that no damage to coppers had been reported.The blast inflicted minor damage to the outer wall of the police check post.

In a separate incident a tribal chief Sardar Mohammad Sultan was killed in a gun attack by cut-throats in eastern Kurram agency.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Man those terrorist cattle are a real bitch!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/14/2012 22:43 Comments || Top||


Two killed in Karachi target killings
[Dawn] Two people were killed in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on Sunday when unknown gunnies opened fire on a car in the Dhoraji area.

The firing injured four passengers in a car, two of whom were identified as Maulana Aslam Sheikhupuri and Maulana Hassan Aziz.

Sheikhupuri and Aziz shuffled off the mortal coil shortly after the attack while the two injured security guards were admitted to Jinnah Hospital.

According to reports, Sheikhupuri was a holy man of a seminary of Gulshan-e-Maymar.

The police and Rangers immediately cordoned off the area.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Bomb injures 16 Thai rangers
Sixteen Thai rangers, 10 of them women, were injured by a bomb explosion in Pattani province early Monday morning.

The 16 were in a group of about 20 rangers traveling in a pick-up truck and a military truck while returning to their base from providing security for the annual Red Cross fair organised in front of city hall.

The attack occurred shortly after midnight when the two vehicles stopped at Ban Don Rak intersection on Highway 42. A bomb inside a gas cylinder hung behind the stop sign was detonated by a radio signal by terrorists militants hiding nearby. The terrorists militants then opened fire at the rangers. After a brief exchange of shots the terrorists militants fled into the dark.

Sixteen rangers, ten women and six men, were injured by the explosion, but not seriously. The explosion shattered the windows of the two vehicles, which were also riddled with shrapnel.

Earlier on Saturday night, one policeman, a defense volunteer, and five civilians were hurt when a hand grenade exploded at a checkpoint, where police and defense volunteers were on security duty for the annual Red Cross fair.

The chief investigator of the Narathiwat provincial police, said the grenade was believed to have been hurled over a wall from a mosque near the checkpoint. The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people.

A suspect, identified as Hadafi Sedommad, was arrested. He was being interrogated.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2012 06:24 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese army exchanges fire with Islamists after wait-in protest
[Al Ahram] Lebanese troops exchanged fire late Saturday with a group of young Islamists protesting in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
for the release of a terrorism suspect.
In a separate incident in the early hours of Sunday, one man was killed in festivities between Tripoli's largely Sunni Mohammedan district of Kobbe, hostile to the Syrian regime, and members of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Supressor of the Damascenes...
Alawite community. Such incidents are frequent.

The outbreak of gunfire between the Islamists and the army happened as the youths, sympathisers with the ongoing revolt in Syria, tried to approach the offices of the pro-Assad Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

There were no reports of casualties.

Earlier Saturday around 10O young men, mostly Islamists, blocked the northern and southern roads into Tripoli , demanding the release of a fellow resident accused of terrorism.

The protesters set up camp at the southern entrance of Tripoli, the largest city in northern Leb.

Black flags bearing the profession of Islam, "God is Great", were planted alongside the Syrian flag of independence, a symbol of revolt in the neighbouring country.

"We will not leave until my brother is released," Nizar al-Mawlawi, whose 27-year-old brother Shadi was tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
by Lebanese security forces on Saturday.

According to a statement from the Lebanese security services, Shadi al-Mawlawi was tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
as part of an "investigation into his ties to a terrorist organization," without going into details.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Clashes Renew, Army Deploys after 4 Die in Rival Tripoli Districts Fighting
[An Nahar] Four people, including a Lebanese soldier, were killed and at least 25 injured on Sunday in a shootout between the residents of rival neighborhoods in the northern port city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
as the area witnessed intermittent festivities, the army and media reports said.

"The Tripoli festivities left at least four people dead and 25 maimed, most of them civilians," reported al-Manar television.

State-run National News Agency said festivities renewed between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in a fierce manner at around 10:30 p.m., with Energa-type rifle-launched anti-tank grenades and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) widely used.

LBC television said an Energa grenade hit a high school for girls in al-Zahriyeh area, causing no casualties.

Army troops, mainly from the Commando Regiment, began deploying in the afternoon in the city's Syria Street and the areas that witnessed festivities at dawn, state-run National News Agency said.

MTV said a clash erupted between the army and gunnies in Bab al-Tabbaneh after troops entered one of its neighborhoods.

NNA reported later that citizens Mustafa Ali Mustafa and Rami Saad Harrouq were maimed by gunfire in Syria Street.

A number of residents blocked the al-Mallouleh roundabout and Syria Street's Abu Ali roundabout to protest the wounding of the two, said NNA.

Meanwhile,
...back at the game, the Babe was wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally it hit him...
LBC television reported that "Islamists have refused to end their sit-in at the Abdul Hamid Karami Square in Tripoli," as MTV reported "the sound of heavy gunfire coming from Al-Nour Square."

The fighting erupted at 2:00 am after an Energa-type rocket fell in the area of al-Qobbeh, a largely Sunni district hostile to the Syrian regime, killing a man identified as Issa Ali, the National News Agency reported.

The rocket attack was followed by a gunbattle between the mainly Sunni residents of Qobbeh and Bab al-Tabbaneh, and the Alawites of Jabal Mohsen, who support Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
.

The fighting with Energa rockets and Rocket Propelled Grenades lasted from 4:00 am till 7:00 am, NNA said, adding that sporadic bursts of rockets machineguns were heard afterwards.

Lebanese soldier Faisal Hussein Abdullah was killed by sniper fire at the Mallouleh roundabout of Tripoli as he was heading to his work from the Bekaa to his hometown in Akkar, the military command said in a communique.

Eighteen-year-old Mahmoud al-Duhaibi's body was also found on the side of a road at the northern entrance of the city, NNA said.

The gunbattles and sniper attacks left at least nine people injured, including a child and two soldiers.

Lebanese army commandoes began deploying in Syria street to stop the fighting which came against the backdrop of the General Security Department's arrest on Saturday of Shadi al-Mawlawi for allegedly contacting a terrorist organization.

His seizure drew the condemnation of Islamists who blocked the northern and southern roads into Tripoli and set up camp at the city's southern entrance.

The army communique said the military conducted patrols and set up roadblocks in Tripoli and vowed to "deal firmly with those who tamper with the city's security and stability no matter to which side they belong to."

While conducting patrols in the area of the fighting, two soldiers were maimed in a sniper attack, the army said.

Security sources told LBC TV network on Sunday that the General Security Department handed al-Mawlawi to the judiciary, which will release him if no evidence was found of his link to any terrorist organization.

But judicial sources denied the report in remarks to Voice of Leb radio (100.5).

President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
called for an emergency meeting for the Higher Defense Council on Sunday afternoon.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
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4Arab Spring
3Jamaat-e-Islami
3Govt of Syria
2Govt of Pakistan
1Govt of Iran
1Boko Haram
1Govt of Sudan
1al-Shabaab
1al-Qaeda
1Taliban
1Thai Insurgency
1TTP

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2012-05-14
  Nearly 25.000 troops battle Al-Qaeda in Abyan
Sun 2012-05-13
  Al Qaeda's Leader Encourages Somali Militants to persist the fight
Sat 2012-05-12
  Tens of Thousands of Protesters Defy Syrian Regime Gunfire, 13 Dead
Fri 2012-05-11
  Somali Gov't, Al shabab claim victory over Bay,Bakol fighting
Thu 2012-05-10
  Damascus bombings kill 40, wound 170: state TV
Wed 2012-05-09
  Annan Fears 'Civil War' Looming in Syria
Tue 2012-05-08
  Al-Qaeda underwear bomb plot was targeted by US drone
Mon 2012-05-07
  Nine soldiers killed, military convoy attacked in N Wazoo
Sun 2012-05-06
  Man wanted in USS Cole bombing killed in Yemen: tribal chief
Sat 2012-05-05
  Pro-Regime Gunmen Kill 12 'Qaida' Militants in Yemen
Fri 2012-05-04
  Bajaur teenyboomer kills 24
Thu 2012-05-03
  Afghanistan: Pakistani driving truck bomb arrested
Wed 2012-05-02
  Suicide bomb blast hits hotel in Somalia, two MPs believed dead
Tue 2012-05-01
  'Egyptians thwart Iranian plot to kill Saudi envoy'
Mon 2012-04-30
  US drone 'kills three militants' in Miramshah

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