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Suicide bomber kills Karzai cousin
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
10 22:39 SteveS [336074] 
4 21:08 gorb [336094] 
2 12:32 746 [336090] 
5 18:27 abu do you love [336072] 
6 19:47 Procopius2k [336084] 
7 15:36 Frank G [336070] 
2 15:08 Glenmore [336070] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
2 19:45 Procopius2k [336094]
21 20:26 49 Pan [336083]
1 07:48 AlanC [336076]
5 21:01 bbrewer126 [336081]
1 08:34 JohnQC [336066]
1 03:24 g(r)omgoru [336066]
3 18:27 trailing wife [336071]
2 07:32 Frank G [336071]
2 07:48 ed in texas [336069]
7 20:24 Bill Clinton [336078]
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5 15:12 Paul D [336068]
4 16:55 SteveS [336068]
6 19:57 trailing wife [336081]
4 08:48 Procopius2k [336073]
3 08:09 AlanC [336068]
2 09:57 JohnQC [336069]
Page 3: Non-WoT
9 12:39 woggut [336072]
11 22:22 Rambler in Virginia [336096]
1 07:35 ed in texas [336066]
6 20:28 Bill Clinton [336086]
5 10:13 g(r)omgoru [336069]
1 09:50 Skidmark [336069]
17 13:02 newc [336067]
4 19:06 Alaska Paul [336070]
Page 4: Opinion
20 22:49 SteveS [336099]
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13 21:25 James [336088]
3 11:45 Bill Clinton [336072]
6 15:20 g(r)omgoru [336069]
2 08:32 Procopius2k [336070]
Page 6: Politix
12 18:22 Enver Huporong5213 [336071]
26 19:26 Frank G [336074]
9 15:49 Procopius2k [336067]
6 15:06 rjschwarz [336069]
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The woman who survived a 33,000 ft fall from an airplane explosion.

On January 16, 1972 Serbian flight attendent Vesna Vulovic was on board JAT Flight 367, 33,000 feet high, when an explosion tore the plane apart. It took three minutes for the wreckage to hit the ground. She was found alive, but with serious injuries: a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae and two broken legs. Vesna was in a coma for 3 days. The first thing she did when she woke up to see the stunned faces of her parents was to ask for a cigarette.

Vesna holds the Guiness World Record for the longest fall without a parachute.
Posted by: Thineng Angailet7166 || 07/29/2014 4:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Thats a cool story did she land in soft mud?
Posted by: Anon1 || 07/29/2014 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Lucky she was on JAT. Had it been DELTA, she'd still have been liable for half the fare.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/29/2014 9:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Excellent snark, Besoeker.
Posted by: Odysseus || 07/29/2014 9:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Anon1: My understanding is that she was still attached to her seat and fell through pine canopy. The breaking branches absorbing the energy of the fall.

I may have one of the other 3 women who fell over 25k ft without parachutes and survived in my mind tho. Wrechard wrote an article about them at Belmont Club a couple months back.
Posted by: abu do you love || 07/29/2014 18:27 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Suicide bomber kills Karzai cousin
Officials say that a suicide bomber has killed a cousin of President Hamid Karzai in Kandahar. Hashmat Karzai was greeting a guest to his house when the man blew himself up. One report said explosives were hidden in the bomber's turban.

Karzai had been receiving visitors for the Eid festival. He was a campaign manager for Ashraf Ghani, one of two presidential hopefuls who would like to replace Hamid Karzai.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/29/2014 06:24 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One report said explosives were hidden in the bomber's turban.

Turbans going to be checked by TSA now or do they get a PC pass?
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/29/2014 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  the sihks wont like a turban check
Posted by: 746 || 07/29/2014 12:32 Comments || Top||


The Taliban Strike Back in Kandahar
KABUL, Afghanistan — A sudden Taliban offensive in the southern province of Kandahar in recent days has led to some of the heaviest protracted fighting there in years, officials said on Sunday. The militants overran a district center on the border with Pakistan, battled government forces near the provincial capital and staged a suicide-bomber attack on a home of the province’s powerful security chief.
Posted by: lord garth || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
2nd Tripoli Fuel Depot Ablaze, in 'Very Dangerous' Turn
[An Nahar] Libya said a second fuel depot caught fire Monday in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which 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...
, in a "very dangerous" development following a huge oil tank blaze triggered by festivities around the capital's airport.

"The situation is very dangerous after a second fire broke out at another petroleum depot," the government said, warning of a "disaster with unforeseeable consequences".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  I wonder if the EPA will file a suit with the ICC?
Posted by: Pappy || 07/29/2014 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Some of my Libyan friends have posted pictures on Facebook of the fire and it is BAD.

Libya never had the first responder infrastructure for emergencies such as this under Daffy and it is even less now. This could be a major disaster.

The country has spun out of control and only a miracle will keep the country from devolving into another Islamocidal mess.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 07/29/2014 10:45 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and Egypt with an army and no oil fields on the border. What could go wrong?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/29/2014 12:34 Comments || Top||

#4  What you talking about? Tripoli is more than 1000km distant from Egypt border.
Posted by: Zorba Fleresh4606 || 07/29/2014 13:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Benghazi and Tobruk are a lot closer...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/29/2014 14:05 Comments || Top||

#6  ...yes, some Germans pointed that out to the British a while back.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/29/2014 19:47 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Three killed in Charsadda
[DAWN] CHARSADDA: Three people were killed in separate incidents in Charsadda district on Sunday evening and on Monday.

In the first incident, a man died after received a stray bullet during the celebratory firing on the eve of Eid inside his house in the Qandaharo Kalli area of Tangi tehsil.

Ali Rehman was lying in the courtyard of his house on return from the mosque after observing 10-day Aitekaf when the incident occurred.

The man was shifted to the local government hospital after the incident but he succumbed to the bullet injury.

In another incident, a man was killed in Shamsuddin Koroona area of Charsadda on Monday.

The dear departed was identified as Ashiq Shah.

The police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against Mujahid on the complaint of the dear departed's father, Mohammad Shah, and began investigation.

In another incident, a man was killed allegedly by his brother in Nissata area on Monday.

The local residents said two brothers had hot exchanges over a domestic dispute and shot up each other.

They said the firing left Shad Gul dead.

The suspected killer fled after the incident.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there...
a security personnel was injured after unidentified people fired gunshots at a vehicle of the security forces in Shabqadar.

A local official said the incident occurred in Anda area near a police checkpost.

He said the attackers opened fire on the vehicle injuring Sajid Nawaz and fled.

The official said the injured security official was taken to the Shabqadar hospital for treatment. Later, the police cordoned off the area and began a search operation to arrest killers.
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Four TTP suspects killed in 'encounter'
[DAWN] KARACHI: Police claimed to have killed four suspected bully boyz in an encounter in the Sachal area on Monday evening.

A hideout of the bully boyz in Rahim Villas, off the Superhighway, was raided by police while acting on a tip-off, said Sachal SHO Ismail Lashari. On seeing the police, the suspects opened fire on them and an exchange of fire ensued for about an hour. When the guns fell silent four suspected bully boyz were dead, while no casualty was suffered by police, he said.

Around 5:30pm, 12 police vans with police commandos raided the hideout where the bully boyz engaged them for an hour.

The officer believed that four other suspects managed to escape.

The dear departed belonged to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, said SHO Lashari. He identified two of the dear departed as Noor Alam, believed to be a local commander of the TTP in the area, and Rahibullah.
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Many TTP strongholds cleared
[DAWN] The Inter Services Public Relations, the media wing of the armed forces, has claimed to have achieved major success in the operation against turbans in North Wazoo.

It said in a statement on Sunday that a large part of the tribal agency has been cleared of myrmidons, including the areas considered to be strongholds of the proscribed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain and other krazed killer organizations.

According to the ISPR, security forces have conducted house-to-house searches in Mirali and adjoining villages and cleared up to 70 per cent of the area.

Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
, Boya and Degan have already been cleansed of terrorists.

The operation was launched on June 18 and has resulted in displacement of around 52,000 families, who have been registered in Bannu and other places. They are living in camps, with relatives or in rented houses.

Initially, about 92,000 families were registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs) but the number was revised down after verification by the National Database and Registration Authority.

The ISPR claimed that security forces had found two "ammunition factories" with large stockpiles of kaboom. They also found 30 barrels filled with explosives and chemicals used for manufacturing improvised bombs (IEDs) in two large tunnels in Mirali town, the second largest bastion of krazed killers.

The military also claimed to have seized a large IED, weighing 5,000kg, in Boya. It was defused by a special team of army engineers. When detonated, it shook the entire agency and the kaboom was heard even in the settled area.

The ISPR statement said 570 suspected "terrorists" and 34 security personnel had been killed since the launching of Zarb-e-Azb
..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)...
. In addition, 98 hideouts and 30 IED factories, three ammunition factories and several centres for training jacket wallahs have been destroyed.

But, the claim about the killing of turbans could not be verified from independent sources because the media has no access to the area.

There are unconfirmed reports that the operation has also caused large-scale "collateral damage" in the conflict-hit area.

Huge caches of arms, communication equipment and propaganda literature had also been found, the ISPR said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Quetta: Passenger train narrowly escaped bomb explosion
[DAWN] QUETTA: A passenger train narrowly escaped a bomb kaboom in Quetta on Monday night, police said.

Superintendent of Police Imran Qureshi told Dawn.com that the bomb went off in Mosa Colony, damaging the railway track prior to the arrival of Quetta Express.

Qureshi said that two persons were maimed in the blast, who were rushed to an hospital for medical treatment.

The passenger train was stopped outside the city in the aftermath of the powerful blast that rocked the placid provincial capital.

"Had the bomb targeted the train there would have been human losses," Qureshi said.

Police and personnel of Frontier Corps reached the spot and started investigation into the incident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
police suspect the Baloch separatists behind the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel hits symbols of Hamas rule; scores killed
Israel on Tuesday unleashed its heaviest bombardment in a 3-week-old war against Hamas, striking symbols of the militant group's control in Gaza and firing tank shells that Palestinian officials said shut down the strip's only power plant.
A nice start. Make over half of them cry and they'll kill Hamass for you.
Thick black smoke from the plant's burning fuel tank rose for hours. The station's shutdown further disrupted the supply of electricity and water to the 1.7 million people packed into the narrow Palestinian coastal territory.

On Tuesday evening, residents of the sprawling Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza reported intense tank shelling. Ten members of an extended family were killed and 50 other people wounded in the area, Palestinian health officials said. Two brothers driving in a car with markings of a U.N. aid agency were killed by shrapnel, an area resident said.

"It was like an earthquake," Moussa al-Mabhouh, a volunteer for Gaza's Civil Defense, said of the scene. "Roofs collapsed, walls cracked and wounded people everywhere."

The heavy strikes — which came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned of a "prolonged" campaign against Hamas — were a new blow to international efforts to reach a sustainable truce in the fighting.

Israel has vowed to stop the Hamas rocket and mortar fire that has reached increasingly deeper into its territory and to destroy a sophisticated network of tunnels that have been used by the militants to infiltrate the Jewish state. For its part, Hamas has so far rejected cease-fire efforts unless its demands are met, including a lifting of a punishing blockade.

At least 1,175 Palestinians have been killed since the start of fighting July 8, including at least 100 on Tuesday, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.

The dead included multiple members of at least five families who were pulled from the rubble Tuesday after airstrikes and tank shelling struck their homes, including the mayor of a refugee camp and his 70-year-old father, according to Palestinian health officials and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israel has reported 53 soldiers and three civilians killed.

Already, the intensity and the scope of the current Gaza operation is on par with an invasion five years ago, which ended with Israel unilaterally withdrawing after hitting Hamas hard.
And Hamass unilatterally learned very little.
On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and damaging the offices of the movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, a central mosque in Gaza City and government offices.

Haniyeh's house, in a narrow alley of the Shati refugee camp, was reduced to rubble but no one was hurt. Residents placed a large framed portrait of Haniyeh atop the wreckage and draped it with green Hamas flags and Palestinian national banners.

Israel has targeted several homes of Hamas leaders but none has been killed — presumably because they have kept a low profile. Haniyeh said in a statement Tuesday that "destroying stones will not break our determination."
Maybe if you practiced what you preached about not evacuating your home you'd be singing a different tune.
The scene at the Gaza power plant after two tank shells hit one of three fuel tanks was daunting. "We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. "Everything was burned."
Good thing they didn't fire another shell.
He said crew members who had been trapped by the fire for several hours were evacuated.

Even before the shutdown, Gaza residents only had electricity for about three hours a day because fighting had damaged power lines. Most of the power lines from Israel that provided electricity for payment were previously damaged in the fighting.
I wonder what life would look like without power at all.
This means most of Gaza will now be without power. The lack of electricity will also affect water supplies, since power is needed to operate water pumps.
And sewage pumps. Good thing $#!+ reliably runs downhill.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, did not comment on the explosion at the plant, but told The Associated Press that Israel's latest strikes signal "a gradual increase in the pressure" on Hamas.
The operative word here is "gradual". Hamass should look it up and ponder the meaning.
Israel is "determined to strike this organization and relieve us of this threat," Lerner said.

International calls for an unconditional cease-fire have been mounting in recent days, as the extent of the destruction in Gaza became more apparent.
How about an unconditional surrender?
The house of the mayor of the Bureij in central Gaza was hit in an airstrike, and five bodies were pulled from the rubble, the Red Crescent said. Those killed included the mayor, 50-year-old Anas Abu Shamaleh, his 70-year-old father and three relatives.

In the southern town of Rafah, seven members of one family were killed in an airstrike and seven members of a second family were killed when tank shells hit their home, according to the Rafah office of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which keeps a casualty count.

In central Gaza, seven people, including five members of one family, were killed by tank shelling on a home, the Red Crescent said.

Tens of thousands of Gazans have been displaced by fighting in the border areas, which have come under heavy tank fire.

In the West Bank, Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, called for a 24-hour cease-fire and said the offer was made after consultations with Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group.
Screw the PLO. Let's hear it from Hamass.
However, Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official in exile, said his group wanted to hear from Israel first.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev declined comment.

The largest group in the PLO is the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas' main political rival. Hamas is not a member.

Despite appeals for a cease-fire, both sides have been holding out for bigger gains.

Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until it wins international guarantees that a crippling border blockade of Gaza will be lifted. Israel and Egypt had imposed the closure after Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, defeating forces loyal to Abbas. Over the past year, Egypt has further tightened restrictions, shutting down hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border that had provide crucial tax income to Hamas. The closure of the tunnels drove Hamas into a severe financial crisis.

Israel has said it is defending its citizens against attack from Gaza by hitting Hamas rocket launchers, weapons storage sites and military tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border.

Israel said its troops will not leave Gaza until they have demolished the tunnels which have been used by Hamas to sneak into Israel to try to carry out attacks.

The military said Palestinian militants fired at least 64 rockets Tuesday at Israeli cities.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians said it found a cache of rockets hidden inside of one of its schools. It said the school was closed for the summer and was not being used as a shelter.

"We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school", agency spokesman Chris Gunness said. "This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises."
Funny that none of your officials there mentioned them.
It marked the third time since the Gaza war began that the U.N found weapons hidden in one of its schools.
I'm sure they were only training missiles, not the real things.
Posted by: gorb || 07/29/2014 14:16 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The scene at the Gaza power plant after two tank shells hit one of three fuel tanks was daunting. "We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority. "Everything was burned."

"This is why the birthright of the Paleostinian people to nuclear bombs power should be funded by Europe, America and our Islamic brothers"
Posted by: Frank G || 07/29/2014 15:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Even before the shutdown, Gaza residents only had electricity for about three hours a day because fighting had damaged power lines. Most of the power lines from Israel that provided electricity for payment were previously damaged in the fighting.

no mention that it was Hamas accuracy in rockets that caused the earlier damage
Posted by: Frank G || 07/29/2014 15:26 Comments || Top||

#3  "Roofs collapsed, walls cracked and wounded people everywhere."

The Times of Israel had a pic on their site the other day, looked like a little slice of Hiroshima after The Bomb. Pretty horrific. The amusing part is that this is exactly the sort of damage the Paleos are attempting to inflict on Israel
Posted by: SteveS || 07/29/2014 16:35 Comments || Top||

#4  They wanted fire to rain down from the heavens, they got it!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 07/29/2014 18:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Israel warmed everyone in that section to leave, oending the next round of operations. I believe about a third did. So the ones who died technically committed suicide.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/29/2014 19:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Perhaps the UN can help those poor souls and give them some sticks to rub together.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 07/29/2014 20:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Good shootin'
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/29/2014 21:13 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm still waiting for the Israeli ARCLIGHT strike, and for them to start pumping saltwater into the tunnels. Lots of salt water, high-voltage electricity, and possibly a short somewhere would have a very salubrious effect on Gaza.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/29/2014 21:22 Comments || Top||

#9  OP, I like Ariel Sharon's idea of a canal along the Gaza border. That would take care of your second idea.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 07/29/2014 22:13 Comments || Top||

#10  I like Ariel Sharon's idea of a canal along the Gaza border.

Canals, hell! Once undead Zombie Sharon is stalking the tunnels of Gaza, the laugh will be on the other foot.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/29/2014 22:39 Comments || Top||


liveblogging Israel-gaza war day 22
Posted by: lord garth || 07/29/2014 07:59 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  live blog is reporting Hamas had begun executions of war protesters as "agents of Israel" - wonderful thugs.
Posted by: 3dc || 07/29/2014 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  A proper article followed, 3dc: Hamas killed over thirty suspected collaborators with Israel
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/29/2014 19:42 Comments || Top||

#3  let the internal purges begin!
Posted by: Frank G || 07/29/2014 20:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Mahmood Abbas is a spy . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 07/29/2014 21:08 Comments || Top||


Gaza Toll Hits 1,060 on Day 21 of Assault, Netanyahu Promises 'Lengthy' Operation
[An Nahar] Bloodshed in and around Gazoo surged Monday as several children were killed in Israeli strikes on the Strip, hiking the Paleostinian corpse count from Israel's 21-day operation to 1,060.

It was a bloody start to the three-day Mohammedan holiday of Eid al-Fitr which began on Monday, with international demands for an end to the fighting falling on increasingly deaf ears.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israelis must be ready for a long military campaign in Gazoo, after mortar fire from the enclave killed four soldiers in Israel.

And U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
said any talks about a truce must involve the disarmament of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.

In the latest Israeli attack, three children were among 10 people killed in Israeli raids across Gazoo, emergency services front man Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Five people, including three children, were killed when a tank shell slammed into a house in the northern town of Jabaliya, said Qudra.

Another person died in a strike on central Gazoo, and four more were killed in and around the southern city of Khan Yunis, he added.

Earlier on Monday, exchanges of fire killed eight Paleostinian children in a Gazoo refugee camp.

The missile that slammed into a public playground in the seafront Shati U.N. refugee camp also killed at least two other people and maimed another 46, many of them also children, the emergency services said.

Local residents told Agence La Belle France Presse that several missiles were fired at a tuktuk motorised rickshaw near a children's playground.

"An F16 fired five rockets at a street in Shati camp where children were playing, killing some of them and injuring many more," one told AFP.

Inside Shifa hospital, an AFP correspondent saw the bodies of at least seven children from the blast at the camp, with more bodies being brought in on bloodied stretchers.

They were unloaded and taken directly to the mortuary, he said.

Near the site of the blast, women wailed and men screamed in anguish in scenes of utter confusion and distress.

Shortly before the blast, another missile hit a building inside the Shifa hospital compound, causing damage but no injuries, medics and an AFP correspondent said.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said a wall of a building inside the compound was damaged by a missile apparently fired by a drone.

But the Israeli army denied they had fired on Shati camp or Shifa hospital.

"We have not fired on the hospital or on Shati refugee camp," Major Arye Shalicar told AFP.

"We know that Hamas was firing from both areas and the missiles struck these places," he said, adding that since the violence began on July 8, around 200 missiles fired at Israel had fallen short and landed inside the Gazoo Strip.

Asked about witness reports of a drone strike, he categorically denied it.

"That's a lie. We have drones there but they are only for surveillance," he told AFP, saying they were not equipped to fire missiles.

Also, five bully boyz from the Gazoo Strip were rubbed out in a shootout with Israel troops in southern Israel on Monday, a security source told AFP.

The clash occurred just outside kibbutz Nahal Oz, the source said.

Nahal Oz lies very close to kibbutz Beeri where four non-combatants were killed by a mortar shell fired from Gazoo.

Earlier in the day, a four-year-old child was also one of two people killed by Israeli tank fire in Gazoo on Monday, medics said.

According to al-Qudra, four-year-old Samih Ijneid was killed when a shell hit a house to the east of Jabaliya where festivities had recently erupted between Israeli troops and Hamas hard boys.

The shelling also killed a second person in the same area, he said.

The deadly shelling came as both sides observed an unofficial lull in the fighting as Mohammedans began marking the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Earlier on Monday, another three people gave up the ghost, Qudra said.

The Israeli army also sent messages to thousands of Paleostinians living near Gazoo City to flee.

On the Israeli front, four soldiers were killed when a mortar shell fired from Gazoo struck southern Israel on Monday, the army said.

Media reports had initially identified the four as civilians.

The shell hit the Eshkol regional council which flanks Gazoo's southern border with Israel.

Army radio said at least 12 other people had been maimed in the strike which hit close to Beeri kibbutz, some six kilometers (four miles) from the border, in an area close to Gazoo City.

Hamas grabbed credit early on for the shellfire.

"The Zionist enemy acknowledges that four of its soldiers were killed and 10 maimed in a Qassam shelling in Eshkol," said a statement from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Despite international truce efforts amid the bloodshed, Netanyahu said Monday Israelis must be ready for a long military campaign in Gazoo, after mortar fire from the enclave killed four soldiers in Israel.

"We must be prepared for a lengthy campaign," Netanyahu said in a speech broadcast live, soon after the news of the shelling of the Eshkol region that also reportedly maimed at least 12 people.

"Israeli citizens cannot live with the threat from rockets and from death tunnels -- death from above and from below," he said.

"We will not end this operation without neutralizing the tunnels whose sole purpose is killing our citizens," he said, referring to a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels used by bully boyz to infiltrate southern Israel.

Dealing with the tunnels was the "first and essential step in demilitarizing the Gazoo Strip," which along with disarming bully boyz must be part of "any solution, and the international community must insist on it," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli premier also demanded the international community supervise and monitor construction materials entering the Gazoo Strip, which he said were used to construct tunnels.

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon also spoke of a lengthy campaign saying it could take "many more days until the quiet is restored."

And military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz reiterated a warning to civilians in Gazoo to stay away from Hamas.

"Gazoo residents should distance themselves from areas in which Hamas is acting because we will get there and it will be painful," he said, shortly after the army sent messages to residents living near Gazoo City to flee their homes.

"A short while ago, phonecalls were made and text messages were sent out to the civilian population of Shejaiya, Zeitun and eastern Jabaliya calling them to evacuate immediately towards central Gazoo City," an army statement said, referring to areas north, south and east of Gazoo City.

Shortly afterwards it said it had also sent similar messages to the civilian population of Jabaliya, Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya in the north.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!...
Kerry said also on Monday that international efforts to agree a truce between Israel and the Paleostinians in Gazoo must lead to the disarmament of Hamas.

Kerry, who arrived back in Washington late Sunday after a week-long mission in the Middle East to try to stop the fighting, told news hounds he was continuing to work "toward establishing an unconditional humanitarian ceasefire."

Such a truce "could honor Eid which begins now and that will stop the fighting, allow desperately needed food and medicine and other supplies into Gazoo and enable Israel to address the threat which we fully understand and which is real, the threat posed by tunnel attacks."

"We believe the momentum generated by a humanitarian ceasefire is the best way to be able to begin to negotiate and find out if you can put in place a sustainable ceasefire on that addresses all of the concerns," the top U.S. diplomat insisted.

But he added: "We also believe that any process to resolve the crisis in Gazoo in a lasting and meaningful way must lead to the disarmament of Hamas and all terrorist groups."

"Regrettably, there were misunderstandings about 12 hours versus 24 hours" which blighted his efforts last week to extend a short 12-hour ceasefire, Kerry said.

"So we are trying to work hard to see if these issues can be clarified in a way that allows Israel and the Paleostinian Authority and factions, the other countries involved, working through the Egyptian initiative, to be able to find a way to silence the weapons long enough to be able to begin to negotiate."

U.N. Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
, meanwhile, urged Israel and Hamas to stop the violence in Gazoo, stressing they must "honor" world appeals for a ceasefire.

Ban spoke a few hours after the U..N. Security Council called for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in Gazoo during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"In the name of humanity, the violence must stop," Ban told news hounds.

The U.N. chief said he had "long talks" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, urging him to "stop the violence and to honor the international community's joint common effort and common call for a humanitarian ceasefire."

The suspension of fighting should be prolonged for an extra 24 hours to allow urgent deliveries of aid to civilians trapped in the fighting, said Ban who returned at the weekend from a regional tour to push for a ceasefire.

Ban has repeatedly called for a humanitarian truce
..The purposes of a truce are twofold: 1.) bring up more arms, ammunition, and reinforcements; and 2.) get the enemy to relax his vigilance. A truce is not the same thing as a ceasefire, and a ceasefire doesn't mean you have to stop shooting...
over the past days, but he noted that "since Sunday a relative and very fragile calm on the ground has been established."

Ban said an Israeli attack on a U.N.-run school in Gazoo that left 15 Paleostinians dead last week should be investigated and that those responsible face justice.

Paleostinian and Israeli leaders "have to show humanity as leaders" and stop the violence as a first step toward peace talks, he added, stressing that it was a "matter of their political will."

The United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
is backing a bid by Egypt to broker a peace deal to end the latest flareup in the Gazoo Strip that has left more than 1,000 Paleostinians and 43 Israeli soldiers dead.

The corpse count raises "serious issues of proportionality", said Ban. Israel and "all the parties" must do "vastly more" to protect civilians, he added.

The Paleostinian envoy expressed disappointment with the statement issued by the U.N. Security Council and called for a full-scale resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Gazoo.

Jordan has been circulating a draft resolution with such wording but diplomats do not expect the measure to come up for a vote in the near future.

More than 6,200 Paleostinians have been injured in the ongoing violence which began with an intensive air campaign on July 8 and expanded when Israel sent ground troops into the Gazoo periphery on July 17.

Figures released Sunday by the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA give a figure of 999 dead, including at least 760 civilians, among them 226 children.

Of the 6,233 injured, 1,949 were children, it said.

OCHA also said 215,000 Paleostinians had been internally displaced by the ongoing fighting, with the U.N. agency for refugees saying 170,461 of them had taken refuge in 82 of its shelters. The rest were staying with relatives or friends.

The conflict has also cost the lives of 47 Israeli soldiers, all of whom were killed since the ground operation began, as well as two civilians and a Thai agricultural worker who were killed by rocket fire.

Since Israel began Operation Protective Edge on July 8, the army says it has attacked 3,870 targets in Gazoo, and bully boyz have fired approximately 2,000 rockets which hit Israel, with around 500 shot down by its missile defense system, Iron Dome.

Since midnight (2100 GMT), only one rocket has struck Israel, hitting the southern city of Ashkelon without causing injury or damage, a military spokeswoman said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Hamas has to go a long way to go to beat 170,000 dead in Syria.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/29/2014 0:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Hamas has to go a long way to go to beat 170,000 dead in Syria.

But they like a challenge.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/29/2014 6:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I question the numbers. Palestinians have a history of playing demographic intifada. See here and here for background.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/29/2014 10:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I figure it'll reach 3000-3500 before it's over. A significant part of that will be due to Hamas' machinations.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/29/2014 10:27 Comments || Top||

#5  ..a significant part will be Hamas terrorists and enablers.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/29/2014 12:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey sKerry, I don't want Hamass disarmed, I want them dismembered -- arms, legs, and head removed and "stored separately".
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/29/2014 14:41 Comments || Top||

#7  3rd Arms cache found in UNRWA school
Posted by: Frank G || 07/29/2014 15:36 Comments || Top||


Hamas Leader's House Hit By Israeli Missile
The home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been hit by an Israeli missile, according to the Gaza Interior Ministry.

An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the house early on Tuesday causing damage but no casualties, the ministry said. An Israeli military spokeswoman had no information on the report but was checking for details.

Mr Haniyeh's son confirmed the strike on his Facebook page and added that the house of the former Hamas Gaza prime minister was empty.
Pity...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His house on the shore of lake Geneva, or his house in Monaco?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/29/2014 15:04 Comments || Top||

#2  hit by an Israeli missile

Or hit by one of many errant Hamas missiles.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/29/2014 15:08 Comments || Top||


Hamas or IJ rocket explodes prematurely at Gaza Hospital
[SkyNews] Israel has accused Hamas
(subsequent reports say it might have been IJ)
of misfiring two rockets - one of which struck Gaza's main hospital
(subsequent reports are that this was a FAJR-5 with 100 kg of explosive in the warhead)
and the other a refugee camp, killing seven children.

Palestinian police and medics had earlier suggested Israeli missiles for the strikes on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, causing casualties, and a nearby park in Al-Shati refugee camp.

A Palestinian official said at least 10 people in total were killed in the strike on a playground in the camp park, and a further 46 injured.

However, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denied responsibility for the attacks and said it had not been operating in the area at all.
Posted by: lord garth || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not to worry. The video accusing Israel: full of dead little tots and their pet goats; has been already aired on BBC/CNN and posted to Youtube. The correction will be given as a 10 sec sequence in 3am news.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/29/2014 3:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Right after the soccer scores.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/29/2014 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Just like the SAM-6 that fell into the market in Baghdad during the bombing of Iraq. SKY news was saying it was a US cruise missile when you could clearly see the Arabic and Cyrillic text on the casing of the missile.

Hamas activities do not fit the narrative so they are ignored.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 07/29/2014 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Premature explodulation. I think we have drugs for that now.
Posted by: SteveS || 07/29/2014 22:58 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
19 killed in Abu Sayyaf ambush in Mindanao
Heavily armed members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group ambushed and killed at least 19 people, including women and children, on their way to visit relatives at the end of Ramadan on the island province of Sulu in Mindanao.

Brigadier General Martin Pinto said the attack was considered one of the worst and bloodiest perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf in years. He said the victims were among 50 people aboard two vans on their way to visit relatives in a village in the coastal town of Talipao when the Abu Sayyaf attacked them on Monday.

Aside from the women and children, pro-government militiamen were among the victims who were traveling to visit their relatives for Eid Al Fitr.

Initially, Pinto said, the Abu Sayyaf killed 16 people composed of 10 women and six men. The number rose to 19 when three more died in the hospital from serious injuries they sustained in the attack, he added.

Pinto disclosed the terrorists militants were led by a certain Idang Susukan who was believed to have launched the attack either due to a family feud or in retaliation for the presence of militiamen in the group.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Three terrorists, ten-year-old latest killed in Thai south
Terrorist Insurgent violence continued in Thailand's far South after a devastating car-bomb attack in Yala's Betong district last Friday, two days before the end of Ramadan. Incidents include a roadside bomb attack in Pattani on Sunday night, and an ambush and gun battle in Narathiwat yesterday that caused the deaths of civilians, security officials and terrorists insurgents.

In Pattani on Sunday night, a roadside bomb planted in Sai Buri district hit a passing pickup truck carrying a number of Army paramilitary rangers, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring five other civilians and two rangers. The rangers were providing security for a mosque holding an event to mark the end of Ramadan. Police said the four injured civilians included an 18-month-old baby.

In Narathiwat yesterday morning, a gunfight in Rusoh district left three suspected terrorists insurgents dead, two of whom were allegedly senior members, as well as two security officials. Two dead terrorists insurgents were identified as suspected core operative Abdulloh Yunuh and suspected bomb-maker Safwal Saleh. The other man was identified as Abdul-rohpha Salehru.

The ambush, targeting a team of policemen, began with a gunfight. A team of Army paramilitary rangers led by Sgt-Major Chainarong Wongsarat, who was hurt and died later at hospital, arrived at the scene to relieve the policemen.

Police intelligence sources have identified terrorists insurgents most likely responsible for the deadly car bombing in Betong - a group of men who hijacked the vehicle led jointly by Makorseng Jehma and Aba Jeh Ali - and those who planned and carried out the attack. Alleged group leaders were Maruwan Saleh, based in Krong Pinang district and Adae Hayi Samoh based in Bannang Sata district.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/29/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
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2Govt of Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Islamic State
2Taliban
1al-Nusra
1Abu Sayyaf
1Hezbollah
1Thai Insurgency
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1al-Shabaab
1TTP

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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2014-07-29
  Suicide bomber kills Karzai cousin
Mon 2014-07-28
  IDF warns resident of three Gaza regions to evacuate to central Gaza City
Sun 2014-07-27
  Israel resumes Gaza offensive after Hamas rockets break cease-fire
Sat 2014-07-26
  Islamic Jihad number 3 killed in Gaza
Fri 2014-07-25
  Key Taliban commander among five killed in Orakzai blast
Thu 2014-07-24
  295 Suspects Arrested For Jerusalem Riots
Wed 2014-07-23
  Clashes in Libya's Benghazi kill 16, injure 81
Tue 2014-07-22
  At Least 572 Palestinians Killed During Gaza Operation
Mon 2014-07-21
  'Islamic State' Kills 270 in Syria Gas Field Takeover
Sun 2014-07-20
  Battle for Syria gas field after jihadists execute hundreds
Sat 2014-07-19
  IS-led Militants Storm Iraqi Air Base near Tikrit
Fri 2014-07-18
  Insurgents Attack Kabul Airport
Thu 2014-07-17
   IDF starts Gaza ground invasion
Wed 2014-07-16
  20 militants killed in US drone attack in Pakistan
Tue 2014-07-15
  Israeli airstrikes kill 40 Palestinians in 24 hours

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