As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn't get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade.
"There is no reason not to be a pirate," according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet. "The vessel I'm trying to pirate, they won't shoot at me. I'm going to get my money." Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. "They won't arrest me because there's no place to try me."
Gortney's assessment of piracy's low risk came in a radio interview that focused on the Gulf of Aden, where Somali pirates have carried out a string of increasingly brazen hijackings. Last week they ventured as far as the high seas southeast of Kenya to seize a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million (65 million pounds) worth of U.S.-bound crude.
But although attention is focused on the Horn of Africa, piracy is a global phenomenon, relative impunity applies in many places, and a thick legal fog hangs over effective action.
Among questions to keep lawyers busy: Can a naval vessel fire on a suspected pirate ship? It depends. Who would be held accountable for someone killed in an exchange of fire between pirates and private security personnel travelling aboard a merchant ship? Which country's jurisdiction applies, for example, to a Somali arrested on the high seas and taken aboard a Danish vessel?
"One of the challenges that we have ... in piracy clearly is if you are intervening and you capture pirates, is there a path to prosecute them?" Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained at a recent Pentagon briefing.
A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the operation to hijack the Saudi tanker, the Sirius Star, cost no more than $25,000, assuming that the pirates bought new equipment and weapons. That contrasts with an initial ransom demand to the tanker's owner, Saudi Aramco, of $25 million.
"Piracy is an excellent business model if you operate from an impoverished, lawless place like Somalia," says Patrick Cullen, a security expert at the London School of Economics who has been researching piracy. "The risk-reward ratio is just huge." Interesting read.
#7
As I remember the British used to hang pirates, cover their bodies in tar, and put the bodies in a cage. Then they would suspend the cages from a pole at the entrance to a harbor so everone could see it. If a bird could find a gap in the tar and start pecking away at it, so much the better.
This would probably cause pirates to consider another career.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/28/2008 15:41 Comments ||
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(CBS) ― The world's economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat -- terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York's subways and railroads. If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations. "The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible," said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City's mass transit system.
The report said: "These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems."
Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak's northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.
"This is definitely linked to Al Qaeda and they had very significant details about exactly how they would carry out the attack, where they would carry it out -- that's what makes it sound so plausible," Rep. King said.
The NYPD and Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they were on high alert and adding extra manpower. Even before the threat became public Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said he was adding more cops. "We always have to be concerned when we have large gatherings like on Thanksgiving," Kelly said. "We always have to have sufficient deployment of police officers."
New Yorkers had this reaction to the new threats.
"I've got to get on a train, but that's horrible," commuter Carolyn Tobin said. "I mean ... the memory ... but just like after 9/11, we just kept going on."
Added Ryan Barreiro: "I'm not too worried about it. That's exactly what they want. If they're gonna get you, they're gonna get you."
"I'm not afraid," Rick Hendrickson said. "I've lived here my whole life, in Manhattan, so has my wife and we just take life as it comes along."
Riders can expect a heightened law enforcement presence -- cops, federal agents, canine teams and inspectors.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 09:04 ||
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#1
Have we still not smote them down adequately? Oh well, back to the salt mines.
#2
Living out west, it's difficult for me to imagine that any significant volume of passengers ride Amtrak. They sure don't out here.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/28/2008 13:00 Comments ||
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#3
Rich,
Amtrak, NJ Transit, LIRR and others all share infrastructure - tracks and stations. An attach on one is an attack on all commuter rail into and out of NYC and the NE corridor. And there ain't much other ways of getting into or through NYC. buses and car traffic are already at their limit.
#5
Terrorists hit Japanese subway with poison gas some years back - limited effect. Then Islamic terrorists hit the London subways - limited effect. In general, Americans, even New Yorkers, are less pacified than either of those populations, so why should we think a terrorist hit on NY rails should be anything close to crippling?
#6
Those bastards! Joe Biden rides that train, lunchpail in hand
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 16:03 Comments ||
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#7
"Joe Biden rides that train"
That's "The Honorable Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Vice President Elect of The United States of America" to you, Frank.
#10
LOL, Darrell. As soon as motor mouth can say that without segueing to some lying anecdote, I'll adopt it. Until then, he's Joe "Plugz" Biden, champion of Iraqi Shiitestan
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 17:41 Comments ||
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#11
Vulnerable you say? Phuech'em, they could have had McCain and Palin.
Just when I start thinking that you're not a dispschidt...
#12
why should we think a terrorist hit on NY rails should be anything close to crippling?
Because it will tank a major economic, transportation and communication hub for the country. You don't have to like the NYC metro area to realize what an effect a successful dual attack on the underground transfer centers at Penn and Grand Central would have. Billions of dollars of infrastructure damage, a huge economic hit and very high casualties from those stations alone. Add in several rail overpasses along the main Amtrak lines outside the port and the result would hit YOU in the wallet fast and hard.
#14
ZAWAHIRI has reportedly dared the US to send a new army into PAKISTAN to be defeated or destroyed by Islam. IMO ZAWAHIRI'S DARE INDIRECTLY PROVES MY CONTENTION THAT RADICAL ISLAM IS OUT TO DESTABILIZE AND BREAK UP IFF NOT DESTROY PAN-ASIAN ORDER AMAP ASAP, i.e. RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA, + LARGE PARTS OF THE SMALLER OR LESSOR ASIAN NATIONS [e.g. PHILIPPINES, THAILAND, etc.].
* SAME/TOPIX > US: PAKISTAN [IMO read, EAST-SOUTH ASIA]HAS REPLACED IRAQ AS AL-QAEDA'S TARGET [primary War Front/Focii]/IRAQ IS NOW A "REAR-GUARD" ACTION.
#15
lotp, I usually yield to you, but as far as tanking GCT or Penn, it would take some serious boom stuff, not the kind of thing a team can hand-carry. An attack of the 'normal' terrorist type would be physically pretty minor (those old buildings are SOLID) - the impact would mainly be psychological. The London and Tokyo rail hubs are every bit as vital to those major cities as are the NYC hubs. For that matter, the junction under the WTC was an important one and it was destroyed, and the city adapted. Terrorist attacks are mostly about the head, not the infrastructure, and they are only as effective as the victims are vulnerable (weak, wussy, etc.) - I think New Yorkers would turn out to be pretty tough once they were forced to be (except for the useless twits who think they're all so wonderful and important, and in a crisis nobody would even notice them - silver lining to the dark cloud.)
#16
And then theres WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = Google Chinglish translation] > MULTIPLE ISLAMIST AND ETHNIC REGIONAL TERROR GROUPS ARE INTENTIONALLY FOSTERING GEOPOLITICAL AND ETHNO-SECTARIAN CONFLICTS AND TENSIONS ALL OVER SOUTH ASIA. Despite noteworthy or selective successes and multilateral intensive efforts, INTER-NATION SOUTH ASIAN ANTI-TERROR COOPERATION HAS MOSTLY BEEN A FAILURE???
Also, INDIA: REGIONAL TERROR GROUPS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE CONFRONTATIONISMS WID STATES' MILITARIES, POLICE, AND GOVT FORCES.
* WAR OUTSIDE OF IRAQ > Again, the US is now engaged vee Radical Islam in a struggle for DE FACTO CONTROL = DOMINATION OF LARGE PARTS OF THE ASIAN MAINLAND + AFRICA [Eurasia in long-term, East-South Asia + Africa in near-term].
* ISLAMIC/MUSLIM MIL HISTORY > once nuclearized + weaponized, Radical islam will likely return to IRAQ, etc. TO REFIGHT THE BATTLE/WAR FOR IRAQ AND REGAIN MUSLIM-PERCEIVED "LOST HONOR".
#17
MIL FORUM POSTERS > INDIA CANOT HOPE TO BE A GREAT POWER IFF IT CANNOT EFFECTIVELY OR SUCCESSFULLY HANDLE AND RESOLVE THE MUMBAI CRISIS AND HINDU-MUSLIM SECTARIANISM.
Ditto CINA wid its UIGHURS ETC.; + TURKEY wid its KURDS [majority of World's Kurds live in Turkey].
E.g. MIL FORUMS > A PREVIEW OF WHAT THE FUTURE TO COME: THE KURDIZATION OF TURKEY, + THE IRANIAN MOUNTAINS ARE ALSO THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAINS.
See PRAVDA > "KILL THE RUSSIANS/SLAVS" INTER-ETHNIC STUDENT VIOLENCE AT MAJOR RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES-TRAINING SCHOOLS.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) A U.S. soldier who deserted his unit to avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany, saying the Iraq war was illegal and that he could not support the "heinous acts" taking place. Andre Shepherd, 31, who served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic in the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, has been living in Germany since deserting last year.
"When I read and heard about people being ripped to shreds from machine guns or being blown to bits by the Hellfire missiles I began to feel ashamed about what I was doing," Shepherd told a Frankfurt news conference Thursday. "I could not in good conscience continue to serve."
What did you think a military did? And did you consider that you serve in the one military that makes agonizing efforts to spare innocents?
Shepherd, originally from Cleveland, Ohio and ranked as an army specialist, applied for asylum in Germany Wednesday, said Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, a non-military group which is assisting him.
According to U.S. law, soldiers who desert during a time of war can face the death penalty.
Not a chance of that happening under either Bush or Bambi.
The soldier said he was particularly hopeful he would be granted asylum in Germany, a staunch opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, due to the legacy of the post-war trials of Nazi officials, notably in Nuremberg in 1945-1949. "Here in Germany it was established that everyone, even a soldier, must take responsibility for his or her actions, no matter how many superiors are giving orders," he said.
Shepherd, who enlisted in January 2004, is only the second U.S. soldier to have applied to Germany for asylum "in a similar situation," said Claudia Moebus from the government's department for migration. The earlier application was later withdrawn. The specialist was posted to Germany in 2005 where he undertook desk jobs, but he gradually began questioning the justification for the Iraq war and began worrying he would be sent back to serve there, said Huber. "That's when he went AWOL," he added.
Earlier this year, Jeremy Hinzman, an American who applied for refugee status in Canada after deserting the U.S. Army when he received orders to go to Iraq, said he would appeal a deportation order returning him to the United States. Another U.S. deserter, Robin Long, was deported from Canada in July and sent to jail in Colorado.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
OK, this guy got his 5 seconds of fame, so the hell with him. Asshole doesn't give a damn about his word and there's no backbone to the U.S. Government to do anything about it. Just don't let him back into the U.S., we are inundated by cowards who are still here.
#4
...due to the legacy of the post-war trials of Nazi officials, notably in Nuremberg in 1945-1949.
Except, the Nazis were tried for acting outside the framework of law. That UN authorization paperwork kicks the legs out of any rational 'illegal' war arguement, but that will never shut down the whining. The conduct of the war, regardless of slander of the MSM, has been exemplary compared to all other such historical events [not to be confused with Fantasyland they inhabit] to include an unprecedented number of investigations and courts martial proceedings done within the military establishments own auspices. The problem for the rest of the world, is that the American effort will become the bench mark by which all other will ineffectively be held to.
#6
I would almost bet that there's a "Fraulein" involved here
More likely a "Hinzman"
Posted by: regular joe ||
11/28/2008 9:29 Comments ||
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#7
...Bright Pebbles is on the right track: Have the MPs pick him up (ABSOLUTELY LEGAL under the SOFA)and bring him back to the base. Discharge him on the spot and march him to the gate with nothing more than whatever personal effects he can carry and toss him out the gate with the warning that if he returns to the US he will be arrested on sight.
And then walk away. No press conferences, no long speeches, no nothing.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/28/2008 10:13 Comments ||
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#8
A bit of parsing...
When I read and heard about terrorists people being ripped to shreds from machine guns or being blown to bits by the Hellfire missiles I began to feel ashamed about what I was doing
READ and HEARD? WTF?
Never actually faced the enemy and now is blubbering over combat that he did NOT engage in? Fricken gutless REMF. There are supply who did more and they aren't whinging like some little lefty bitch.
I;d liek to drill him: *which* people were we doing this to?
Idiot - the BAD GUYS were the ones being shredded, and we do go to great lengths to insure that its just the bad guys.
This douchebag doesn't realize some people just need killin. Like AQI.
Protecting the good people in Iraq from the jackals (by killing said jackals) is something to feel GOOD about, not ashamed. Its what WON the war there.
This guy is a human turd. Try him, toss him in the stockade in Germany for a few months at hard labor. Then give him the Big Chicken Dinner over there, and kick him out the gate with his prison stripes on and nothing else, and bar him from EVER entering the USA.
#9
"Congratulations! You've just won an all expense paid trip to Hotel Taj Mahal! Yes you are leaving right now. Yes she can come if she wants to; ma'am?"
#10
y'all are far too kind...desertion in a time of war calls for a short rope & a high tree - problem solved. My $.02 anyhow.
Posted by: Clererong Oppressor of the Algonquins aka Broadhead6 ||
11/28/2008 12:43 Comments ||
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#11
I suspect that the amount to sympathy he is about to receive is a whole lot less than he expects.
Reasons?
1) We won in Iraq
2) The SOFA agreement has been approved
3) Mumbai has reminded everyone (including Germans) that some people deserve to be ripped to shreds.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/28/2008 13:11 Comments ||
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) -- the largest Muslim rights group in the US and Canada -- while condemning the Mumbai terrorist attacks asked the Indian government to protect its citizens from the type of retaliatory attacks that have followed similar incidents in the past.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement, "We condemn these cowardly attacks, and demand that all hostages taken by the attackers be released immediately and unconditionally. We offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured in these senseless and inexcusable acts of violence against innocent civilians. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens of all faiths in repudiating acts of terror wherever they take place and whomever they target."
This article starring:
Nihad Awad
CAIR
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Indian Mujahideen
#1
"...to protect its citizens from the type of retaliatory attacks that have followed similar incidents in the past." Incident? How about murderous act of war against humanity, Awad?
#10
Sounds exactly like the kind of rhetoric Yasser Arafat used after every single Paleo attack on Israel. STFU, Nihad.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/28/2008 13:51 Comments ||
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#11
CAIR is in deep doodoo in the United States, with countless reports of "improper" to downright illegal behavior. They don't have "standing" to "council" India on anything.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/28/2008 19:31 Comments ||
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#12
ION WAFF > DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY PARTY [DTP] PROPOSES KURDISH [only] STUDIES' DEPARTMENTS AT MAJOR TURKISH UNIVERSITIES.
POSTERS > TURKS per se may becom a de facto minority in Turkey come 2025, as vee the KURDS. MULTI-ETHNIC STRIFES AND SECTARIANISM IN TURKEY IS [allegedly]MANY TIMES WORSE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD SAVE FOR SOUTH AFRICA [Botha-Mandela/ANC Years].
The unthinkable has begun to happen in India-Pakistan relations. And Mumbai 26/11 is responsible.
Reversing decades of policy, Pakistan agreed on Friday to send Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, to India to help with the investigations into Wednesdays terrorist strikes in Mumbai.
Its a major change for India as well given that New Delhi over many decades has consistently blamed the ISI for spawning terrorism in the country.
He (Pasha) will be travelling to India soon. The decision to send him was taken following a request made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to PM Yusuf Raza Gilani, a Pakistani official said by telephone from Islamabad.
Zahid Bashir, Gilanis spokesman, stressed, This is a very positive development. My PM has directed me to make this statement to the press.
A South Block official, who chose anonymity, concurred: This is a very big development. Whether he is coming in response to an invitation or a summons is not important.
In Mumbai, investigating agencies have extracted considerable information from one of the detained terrorists, Ajmad Mohammad, said to be a Pakistani national from Faridkot.
Singh informed Gilani that preliminary reports in the Mumbai probe point towards Karachi and called for increased intelligence sharing and cooperation in order to jointly counter terrorism.
The Prime Minister also extended his governments full support for jointly combating extremism and terrorism and also offered help in investigating this incident, the statement added.
Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, citing preliminary information, suggested that some elements in Pakistan were responsible for the terror strikes in Mumbai.
Speaking in Jodhpur, Mukherjee said that Pakistan had to live up to its promises made to India in 2004 and 2008 that it would not allow terrorists to use its soil for terrorist activities. Jo vada kiya, us ko pura kijiye.
The Minister also called on Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 11:48 ||
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#1
'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'
#3
Per another post. Going sterile is a basic action for an operation like this and it was not done. The ISI is really incompetent if they were involved and left a trail like this.
#4
Dealing with Pakistan is like making deals with someone with multiple personality disorder. You can make a deal with Ahmed, but Omar sez over my dead body.
The problem is that Pakistan cannot control their vast network of Jihadi nutcases. They have nukes, so you just cannot deal with them in a normal kinetic basis.
I would recommend that India again reread Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and with good intelligence, formulate a plan to neutralize this POS country. Who knows? The Big O may want to joint venture this one. That's a long shot, though. Don't count on it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/28/2008 14:58 Comments ||
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#5
I recall reading some discussions recently on the Indian Air Force joint training exercises - generally quite favorable (though not perfect): if true then I think the Pakistani AF would be in serious trouble in a war with India; if not, then we may have been doing some unusually competent propaganda work. Well, Pakistan, do you feel lucky?
#6
I'm sure the ISI is quite interested in Indian intelligence sources and methods, in their forensics etc... the better to plan the next terror operation
Posted by: john frum ||
11/28/2008 16:38 Comments ||
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#7
Kinda like the ISI chief being in Washington DC to gauge reactions during the 911 attacks. That is, after wiring $100,000 to the attackers.
Posted by: ed ||
11/28/2008 17:50 Comments ||
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#8
sometimes aircraft just crash, ask Zia Ul-Haq. Oh wait, you can't
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 17:56 Comments ||
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Pak to send representative instead of ISI chief to India
Pakistan on Friday did an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence chief to India in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.
The decision was made at a late night meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting, which was held at the presidency and continued past 130am (local time).
"A representative of the ISI will visit India, instead of its Director General Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, to help in investigating the Mumbai terrorism incident," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's House said.
Bara-based banned militant organisation Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) again ventured into the provincial capital on Wednesday, acting against their word of not going for incursions into the city. Militants were on the way in their vehicle after giving threats to some gambling dens on the University Road on Wednesday. Police chased their Land Cruiser bearing registration number H-786, which collided with another vehicle on Ring Road. An exchange of fire took place between police and militants following which an LI activist Younas was killed, while another Naek Mohammad was arrested in injured condition. Other militants, said to be eight, managed to escape.
Younas was a proclaimed offender (PO) with the Pishtakhara police for a double murder which occurred on February 9, 2006.
Younas was a proclaimed offender (PO) with the Pishtakhara police for a double murder which occurred on February 9, 2006. Some media reports also said of his (alleged) involvement in recent kidnapping and murder of a Sikh hakeem in Khyber Agency. His criminal past and association with militant organisation reveals the intriguing nexus between militants and criminals during the ongoing wave of militancy.
Superintendent Police (SP) Cantonment Abdul Qadir told Daily Times that the police had information about the vehicle that it was used in three incidents of kidnapping from the city.
Government had launched an operation in Khyber Agency on June 28 against the LI for its increasing incursions in Peshawar after it (LI) kidnapped 16 Christians from Academy Town area of the University Town on June 21, who were later released on June 22. The police officials at that time were of the view that the LI and another militant outfit Amr Bil Maroof wa Nahi Anil Munkir were involved in kidnapping for social and religious reasons and these two groups had abducted dozens of people including those (allegedly) associated with black magic, charms and amulets, prostitution and others, and freed them after they guaranteed in written that they would not indulge in such activities in future.
The tribes in the agreed that LI will make no incursions into Peshawar and other settled areas adjacent to Bara subdivision.
Elders of Afridi tribes of Bara subdivision had signed a deal with the political authorities on July 9. The tribes in the 25-point deal agreed that LI will make no incursions into Peshawar district and other settled areas adjacent to Bara subdivision. Following the signing of the deal, the political authorities had lifted curfew in the subdivision and opened Bara Bazaar.
Sources from Khyber Agency told Daily Times that political authorities of the agency called the elders of Afridi tribes from Bara for a meeting on Thursday to discuss the Wednesday's incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
Pakistan has played no role in terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said on Thursday. Mukhtar was responding to an assertion by India's military that the terrorists who conducted the attacks in Mumbai had come from Pakistan.
"In previous cases they have acted like this, but later it all proved wrong," Mukhtar told AFP, referring to previous Indian claims of Pakistani involvement in terrorist attacks. "We are very positive that Pakistan is not involved in this," the defence minister said, adding that he would wait to see if accusations of Pakistani involvement also came from India's government. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is in India for peace talks, also told a private television channel that nobody should be blamed until investigations were complete. "Our experience in the past tells us that we should not jump to conclusions," Qureshi said. "We should not go for a knee-jerk reaction."
India's Major General RK Hooda, who is leading the military operation to flush out the terrorists from Mumbai, told reporters that Pakistanis were conducting the attacks and pretending to be from within India.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
I don't believe that Pakistan is totally innocent from this!
#2
Just the opposite. ISI prints all over it-trying to make it look al-Qaedish, but not buying.
What's the goal? Taking the focus off Kasmir for final push? Not sure. But ISI is playing with fire. Very hot fire, potentially... a brick-melting fire.
#4
On Tuesday, home affairs ministers from the two countries met in Islamabad, and Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi is by chance currently visiting India.
Proxy attacks
Such contacts are opposed by significant parts of the Pakistani army and particularly its intelligence service, the ISI, who have in the past inspired terrorist attacks in India to stop just such an improvement in relations between the two countries.
Indian papers said the government had failed to protect its citizens
Feeling encircled - with India to their east allied with Afghanistan to their west - analysts believe they have taken the option of encouraging attacks by proxies, Islamists inspired to wage unconventional war.
An armed assault by militants on the Indian parliament in 2001 led to a significant worsening in relations that escalated into troops on both sides being sent to confront each other across their shared border.
A commander loyal to slain Taliban leader Abdullah Mehsud said on Thursday that Baitullah Mehsud -- chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- is "misusing Islam to prolong his terror reign", and branded the TTP chief's activities 'militancy'.
The commander -- Qari Zainuddin Mehsud -- is little known, and only a few have previously heard his name. According to pamphlets written in Urdu and distributed in Tank city on Thursday, Zainuddin Mehsud -- chief of the Abdullah Mehsud group -- has also charged Baitullah with the killings of 'jihadi leaders'.
Qari Zainuddin parted ways with Baitullah following Abdullah's killing in July 2007 in Balochistan's Zhob district, and both sides killed each other's men. The sources claimed the TTP was suffering from internal bickering that had been made public by the distribution of the pamphlets. "All that Baitullah is doing in the name of Islam is not Islamic ... this is militancy," the pamphlets read. The pamphlets also urge clerics to speak out against Baitullah.
This article starring:
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Abdullah Mehsud
TTP
Baitullah Mehsud
TTP
Qari Zainuddin Mehsud
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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One of the prime culprits of Malegaon bomb blast, Dayanand Pandey alias Sudhakar Dwivedi, used to secretly film those who visited his ashram, including policemen, top intelligence officials, businessmen and bureaucrats, investigations revealed on Thursday. Police sources said Pandey's laptop computer and a flash drive were seized and had been sent for analysis to the Forensic Science laboratory in Bangalore.
Police found Pandey had been filming all his visitors in Kanpur and the Indian-held Kashmir through a camera and stored the recordings in his laptop computer, that he had owned since 2005. The computer also has photographs of Pandey with several religious leaders, politicians and bureaucrats. After his arrest, public prosecutor Ajay Nisar had told the court that Pandey had directed Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit -- the arrested Indian army officer -- to arrange explosives for the Malegaon explosion. Pandey had also arranged a meeting between Purohit and Ramji, another accused who is wanted in the case.
Pandey is believed to have told the ATS that he had joined the Air Force wing of NDA in 1989 but had dropped out in 1990. Police claimed to have recovered a boarding pass of Kingfisher Airlines, a cheque book, a pass book, an ATM card, a debit card, a passport and a pen drive from Pandey. Police said that Pandey was in constant touch with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur while Ajay Rahirkar, treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, provided a 'huge sum' of money to Pandey.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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There are growing fears in Pakistan that the war against Taliban is widening, the BBC reported. It said Pakistan's army was opening up new fronts against Taliban, who were responding by spreading the conflict, destabilising even NWFP's Peshawar city.
The army is on the offensive, pushing into the Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, fighting a slow, hard battle against Taliban, it said. With tanks, artillery and airstrikes, the army is trying to clear villages, towns and roads of Taliban, attempting to drive Taliban from their sanctuaries.
Across the Tribal Areas that border Afghanistan, unmanned US aircraft have also stepped up their activity in recent weeks, launching missile strikes every few days against suspected Al Qaeda targets. The war against Taliban has come to Pakistan's tribal districts and the consequences are being felt across NWFP, it said.
Standing among the ruins of the Loyesam town, army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC last month that its capture had put Taliban "at a great disadvantage and had broken their back". Battered Taliban may be, but they are retaliating, the report said, adding: "Under pressure from the Pakistani offensives and the American missile strikes they are being forced further inland, resulting in the conflict ballooning and spreading to new areas."
Deeper: The BBC report said US airstrikes and Pakistan's military operation in the Tribal Areas were pushing Taliban deeper into Pakistan. So Peshawar is now on edge. Westerners have fled from the city. It said almost 75 percent of all supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan came through Pakistan, the majority through Peshawar. That means that NATO's most important supply route is under threat. First Taliban have struck back near the Khyber Pass, hijacking and burning trucks driving towards the Afghan border, it said, adding the vehicles they had been targeting were trucks carrying supplies meant for NATO forces in Afghanistan and the Afghan army.
In the most brazen attack a fortnight ago, Humvee armoured cars destined for Afghanistan were seized. Taliban filmed themselves triumphantly driving off with their booty of NATO vehicles.
Better equipment: According to the report, the police have stepped up security in Peshawar. There are new checkpoints, more armed patrols but the police say they are outgunned and ill-equipped for the fight on their hands, it added. "The militants I think have far better equipment, they have rocket-propelled guns and we have none," NWFP police chief Malik Naveed Khan told the BBC. "We have no helicopters, no aerial mobility, in transport we are 50 percent down on peacetime requirements and presently we are at war," he said.
As for Taliban's tactics, Naveed said they were clear. "They would like to destabilise the city centres so they can put pressure on the government to get concessions in the Tribal Areas," he said. "And they want to open up more fronts for us to dilute the effect of the law enforcement agencies. Their agenda is to cause problems for the government to check its commitment and resolve in the war against terror."
Pakistan's army is fighting in Mohmand, closer to Peshawar. The war will probably spread much further too. But just as NATO has found in Afghanistan, the Pakistani security forces are now discovering too that Taliban is a foe that is hard to corner, even harder to defeat.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Pak Army's ability to carry out a surge? Not so good.
Better approach is to tell the tribal leaders that if Karachi fails, it can no longer claim sovereignty of the area and to be prepared to receive many outside visitors who can impose sovereignty. The 'good old days' won't be coming back.
#3
let the Indians go postal. more good would come from it I think. LIKe india wiping the whole cesspool from the face of the earth. that would do away with most of the taliban the madrassas, pakis in general and a good amount of al q including bin laden and al zwahiri
#4
Getting to the point where they need to dust the place and sterilize it for 50 years. Cobalt-60 and some crop dusters at high altitude ought to do the trick.
Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved a landmark security pact with the United States that would pave the way for the US forces to withdraw by the end of 2011, taking the country a big step closer to full sovereignty.
Iraq has full sovereignty today. This is a defense pact.
The deal, which parliament linked after days of fractious negotiations to a series of promised political reforms and a public referendum next year, brings in sight an end to the US military presence that began with the 2003 invasion.
It will make Iraqi police and soldiers increasingly responsible for security after years of bloodshed between majority Shia and Sunni Arabs. "The wishes of different sections of the Iraqi nation have been executed, and this achievement will turn a new page of Iraq's history and will consecrate its sovereignty," said parliament's first deputy speaker Khalid al-Attiya. Lawmakers in Iraq's 275-seat parliament passed the deal with a majority of 149 out of 198 present, Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said. It was not immediately clear if the vote constituted enough of a consensus to satisfy the demands of Iraq's influential top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had called for it to be supported by all of the country's communities.
But the deal linking the security pact to other issues, such as the referendum, was agreed between the country's ruling Shia-led coalition, its Kurdish partners and two Sunni Arab factions that had been holding up the vote. The other issues agreed on related to speeding up the release of mainly Sunni detainees captured by the United States at the height of the sectarian violence, and working on a balance between the powers of government and security forces. The agreement was opposed to the last by lawmakers loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "The referendum is a lie to satisfy some parties with reservations," said one member of the Sadr movement, deputy Aqeel Abdul-Hussein. Under the deal agreed with the outgoing administration of President George W Bush, the US troops will have to pull out of Iraqi cities by the middle of next year and leave the country by the end of 2011.
It replaces an expiring UN mandate. The deal gives Iraq authority over about 150,000 US troops in the country, makes US soldiers liable for some crimes committed when they are off duty, and reins in private security firms. It is expected to boost Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's prestige and stature, by allowing him to continue to call on the US forces to fight violence while at the same time taking credit for arranging their eventual withdrawal.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Arab foreign ministers steered clear of taking sides between Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas on Thursday following a late-night meeting to review the state of Middle East peace talks since the U.S. presidential election and the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Warning against the blame game amid the terror attacks in Mumbai, the Pakistani media on Friday said Islamabad should not be held responsible for the carnage in India's financial hub and the peace process should not be allowed to derail.
The leader of the Tamil Tigers Thursday said Sri Lanka is "living in a dreamland of military victory," moments after government jets for a second year running destroyed a rebel radio station broadcasting his annual address.
Even with a Sri Lankan military offensive besieging the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) self-declared capital, leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran remained defiant in his yearly rallying cry. "The Sinhala state has, as never before, placed its trust on its military strength," he said, referring to Sri Lanka's government. "It is living in a dreamland of military victory. It is a dream from which it will awake. That is certain."
Prabhakaran's speech, usually recorded beforehand at one of his jungle hideouts, went out worldwide via a Voice of the Tigers radio station broadcast on the Internet despite the air raid. Air force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said the strike completely destroyed a radio station close to Kilinochchi, the northern town the LTTE has declared as capital of the separate state it wants to create and calls Tamil Eelam. Troops are fighting on its outskirts and the military on Wednesday said its fall was imminent, but Thursday said torrential monsoon rains had slowed combat operations.
Prabhakaran reiterated longstanding accusations that President Mahinda Rajapaksa's war was meant to wipe out Tamils. Rajapaksa has repeatedly said military operations are aimed at the LTTE, and not Tamil citizens in the northern war zone. Rajapaksa is from the Sinhalese ethnic majority, which has led all governments since independence from Britain in 1948. Many Tamils complain of marginalization since then. "No political transformation has taken place during the last 60 years in the Sinhala nation. Therefore, hoping it will happen in the future is futile," he said.
'INDIA IS OUR FRIEND'
The war, one of Asia's longest modern insurgencies, began in earnest in 1983 when anti-Tamil riots broke out after the LTTE fatally ambushed 13 soldiers on the northern Jaffna Peninsula. Rajapaksa's government has made the most military progress of any in the 25-year war, capturing most of the turf held by the LTTE in August 2006, when a 2002 truce began unraveling.
Prabhakaran's speech is usually aimed at galvanizing supporters, especially those in the global Tamil diaspora who for years have funded the LTTE but increasingly cannot because it is on a host of international lists of banned terrorist groups. "Cordially I invite those countries that have banned us... to remove their ban on us and to recognize our just struggle," he said.
The LTTE has carried out hundreds of assassinations and suicide bombings against politicians including moderate Tamils and former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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A special U.N. tribunal to try the suspected assassins of Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri is on track to start operations on March 1, according to a U.N. report issued on Wednesday. "On the basis of the progress so far reported ... it is envisaged that the Special Tribunal will commence functioning on 1 March 2009," Ban Ki-moon wrote in the report.
The 2005 assassination sparked a worldwide outcry that forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops that had been in Lebanon for nearly 30 years. A U.N. probe and the establishment of the tribunal remain sensitive issues in Lebanon, where tension between pro- and anti-Syrian camps runs high.
Preparations underway
Hariri and 22 other people died in a car bomb explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. Some anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians said Syria was behind the suicide bombing, a charge Damascus vehemently denies. The attack was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war, and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after a 29-year presence.
U.N. investigators have neither publicly identified suspects nor issued indictments. The U.N. Security Council voted in May 2007 to set up the tribunal in The Hague, in the Netherlands.
"It is my belief that the impending start of the special tribunal will send a strong signal that the government of Lebanon and the United Nations remain committed to ending impunity in Lebanon," he said.
The U.N report said the start-up phase of the tribunal was well under way, including recruitment and training of staff, preparation of premises for the court and the raising of sufficient funds to meet the budget.
United Nation weighs in
Ban said in the report he had selected both international and Lebanese judges in the case but would not announce their names until all necessary security measures were in place. "Practical arrangements for the prosecutor to arrive in The Hague on 1 March 2009 and to continue the investigation with the minimum of disruption to the investigation will soon be finalized," the report said.
"It is my belief that the impending start of the special tribunal will send a strong signal that the government of Lebanon and the United Nations remain committed to ending impunity in Lebanon," he said.
Prosecutors said a likely motive for the killing was the role of Hariri, who became a prominent critic of Syria, in support of a 2004 U.N. resolution demanding that Syrian and other foreign troops withdraw from Lebanon.
Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, who took charge of the U.N. investigation from Belgium's Serge Brammertz at the beginning of this year, said in March a network of individuals was responsible for the killing and it was linked to other political attacks.
Ban's report said the proposed budget for establishing the tribunal and for its first year of operations was $51 million, and there was sufficient money in hand to go ahead with it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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In a video posted recently on Islamist websites, the Somali jihad group Shabab Al-Mujahideen called on Muslims living in the U.S. and Europe to come to Somalia and join the jihad there. The video is in Arabic, Somali and English.
Following are excerpts from the English part (quoted verbatim):
"To those people still sitting at home, relaxing, having good food, good sleep what you see of Chichan [i.e., Chechnya], Iraq and Afghanistan and such likes too much watching with no action it leads to nifaq [i.e., hypocrisy] Jihad becomes something of talk. But jihad is real. There is no way you can tell the sweetness of jihad until you come to jihad... If you don't come to jihad, Allah will ask you why you didn't come to jihad...
"How can you sit at home when our brothers and sisters are being murdered in our land [Somalia]? How dare you sit at home, looking at the TV, seeing people being killed, Muslims getting killed?... Those who are in Europe and America: You should get out of those countries, you should make hijra [i.e., emigrate]!
"I'm telling the kuffar [i.e., infidels], the English People, the American people We're coming for you! We're going to exterminate you all!
"We are muhajirun [i.e., foreigners fighting in Somalia]. We have come to the land of jihad, and we're doing OK. You guys can also do the same way. You can make hijra [i.e., immigrate] to this land, and fight the kuffar...
"To the people who say that there are no muhajirun in Somalia, I'd like to say that there are muhajirun. We are muhajirun All I can say is, I invite you to come to this land of jihad."
It should be noted that, on November 25, 2008, ABC News aired a report about an American of Somali origin Shirwa Ahmed of Minneapolis who was allegedly involved in jihad in Somalia. According to the report, the FBI believes that Ahmed created a recruiting network in the Minneapolis area, and enlisted several young men who have since disappeared. U.S. officials suspect that most of them have departed for Somalia in order to fight there. They also suspect that Ahmed himself carried out a suicide bombing in Somalia a month ago. Reported here as well.
#7
Somehow, I envision a parody song about come to Somalia, to the tune of "If you are going to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair." Mike from Ohio, help me out with this one. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/28/2008 15:04 Comments ||
Top||
#8
No sign of Mike yet, so ...
If you're going to Mogadishu
Be sure to wear your rifle with a flair
If you're going to Mogadishu
You're gonna meet some lively people there
For those who come to Mogadishu
Summertime will be exciting there
In the streets of Mogadishu
Dogs gnaw on suspicious chunks with hair
All across the nation such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation with no known explanation
People in motion people in motion
And those who go to Mogadishu
Waste their time with bullets through their hair
For its in Eyl, not Mogadishu
Jihad pays enough to make us care
You will come to Eyl, Somalia
Stay until your friends bring ransom there
Posted by: James ||
11/28/2008 21:39 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Al-Qaeda websites on Thursday were swamped with messages from people who were celebrating the devastating Mumbai attacks which have left over 100 people dead and 281 injured. "Oh Allah, destroy the Hindus and do it in the worst of ways," was one of the comments that appeared on Islamist forums on the Internet immediately after the attacks.
"The battle that is underway in Mumbai is a battle for Allah between its servants and the infidels," said another message published on the al-Falluja forum.
Several Al-Qaeda sites also posted several pictures of the victims in Mumbai and provocative statements.
Some media reports are saying that a group calling itself Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Scumbags!!!!
Saudi,Iran and Pakistan must be celebrating as they are the TRUE Axis of Evil!!!!
#3
it would be interesting to know what the average Abdul in the Pakistan street thinks of this; he's probably overjoyed about the deaths of infidels and the damage to the Indian economy but worried that somehow, this will hurt muslims somewhere
Late this afternoon, Al-Qaida's official As-Sahab Media Wing released a new Q&A-style video interview with Al-Qaida Deputy Commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri titled "Al-Azhar: The Lion's Den." There does not appear to be any reference to Mumbai, India, or even the Kashmiri conflict in the video. Al-Zawahiri gives no indication of foreknowledge or having played a role in the Mumbai attacks.
During his interview, al-Zawahiri addresses several different subjects. He calls upon Muslims in the Palestinian territories and Egypt to stop sitting around, and to take up arms against "apostate" regimes which are oppressing them. He also identifies a number of Muslim scholars who he deeply respects, including a lengthy diatribe on the blind Shaykh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is currently being held in a U.S. prison cell. Dr. al-Zawahiri also cautions Al-Qaida operatives to avoid deliberately causing harm to innocent Muslims, either through their own action or by inviting public retaliations by secular governments in the Muslim world.
One other small note of interest -- Al-Qaida seems to have done a rather sloppy job of marketing this video. Bin Laden's propagandists went through the trouble of creating custom, animated, English-language advertisements for al-Zawahiri's interview -- but very prominently misspelled the word "Lion." For an organization like Al-Qaida, which typically prides itself on its professionalism and a fastidious attention to detail, this was a pretty glaring error.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 16:41 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"He called on Muslims in the Palestinian territories and Egypt to stop sitting around" > PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM - 20,000 MUSLIMS ATTACK CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Coptic] IN CAIRO, wid a large number of Church attendees/believers + Clergy holed up and unable to leave.
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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) A U.S. soldier who deserted his unit to avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany, saying the Iraq war was illegal and that he could not support the "heinous acts" taking place. Andre Shepherd, 31, who served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic in the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, has been living in Germany since deserting last year.
Bara-based banned militant organisation Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) again ventured into the provincial capital on Wednesday, acting against their word of not going for incursions into the city. Militants were on the way in their vehicle after giving threats to some gambling dens on the University Road on Wednesday. Police chased their Land Cruiser bearing registration number H-786, which collided with another vehicle on Ring Road. An exchange of fire took place between police and militants following which an LI activist Younas was killed, while another Naek Mohammad was arrested in injured condition. Other militants, said to be eight, managed to escape. 
Pakistan has played no role in terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said on Thursday. Mukhtar was responding to an assertion by India's military that the terrorists who conducted the attacks in Mumbai had come from Pakistan. 
A commander loyal to slain Taliban leader 
There are growing fears in Pakistan that the war against Taliban is widening, the BBC reported. It said Pakistan's army was opening up new fronts against Taliban, who were responding by spreading the conflict, destabilising even NWFP's Peshawar city. 
A special U.N. tribunal to try the suspected assassins of Lebanese former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri is on track to start operations on March 1, according to a U.N. report issued on Wednesday. "On the basis of the progress so far reported ... it is envisaged that the Special Tribunal will commence functioning on 1 March 2009," Ban Ki-moon wrote in the report. 
In a video posted recently on Islamist websites, the Somali jihad group Shabab Al-Mujahideen called on Muslims living in the U.S. and Europe to come to Somalia and join the jihad there. The video is in Arabic, Somali and English.
(AKI) - Al-Qaeda websites on Thursday were swamped with messages from people who were celebrating the devastating Mumbai attacks which have left over 100 people dead and 281 injured. "Oh Allah, destroy the Hindus and do it in the worst of ways," was one of the comments that appeared on Islamist forums on the Internet immediately after the attacks.
