Anti-American warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who ruthlessly shelled Kabul during the early 1990s, has returned to Afghanistan from Iran. An Afghan official said Iran had put pressure on Herat's warlord Ismail Khan to admit Hekmatyar.
U.S. intelligence agencies have spotted scores of Iranian intelligence and military personnel inside Afghanistan working to destabilize the interim government. They include agents from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security â the Iranian spy service â and Iranian special-forces troops from the Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Iranians want to block any return to power of the exiled king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, to forestall any efforts by Iranian royalists to return the son of the late shah of Iran to power. Hekmatyar's probably more of a danger to Afghanistan than the Taliban are.
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03/05/2002 ||
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As U.S. troops poured from the belly of a Chinook helicopter, a rocket-propelled grenade fired by the al-Qaida hit the craft and American forces scurried back aboard. A head count showed someone was missing. The missing soldier was captured by al-Qaida. "We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three al-Qaida men," said Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck, referring to an unmanned reconnaissance plane mounted with a real-time video camera. "Another helicopter flew in to rescue the downed aircraft, and that helicopter included a Quick Reaction Force of about 30 special operations troops," said Hagenbeck, the operation commander. Pentagon officials said the man killed by al-Qaida fighters was Petty Officer 1st class Neil C. Roberts, 32, with a Navy SEAL unit. Roberts died of a bullet wound after surviving a fall from the helicopter. A U.S. rescue team recovered the man's body.
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03/05/2002 ||
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U.S. and Afghan forces met far stiffer resistance than expected in the mission to wipe out Taliban and al-Qaida troops holed up the mountains and caves in the Gardez region about 75 miles south of Kabul, commanders and soldiers said. "I don't think we knew what we were getting into this time, but I think were beginning to adjust," said Sgt. Maj. Mark Nielsen, 48, from Indianapolis.
At least eight Americans have died in the fighting since Saturday and about 40 have been wounded. Six others died after they were being put down for battle by CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
The operation, code-named Anaconda, had originally called for a small detachment of U.S. Special Forces to work with Gen. Zia Lodin, a local Afghan commander, to enter Sirkankel to flush out suspected al-Qaida and foreign Taliban forces. Sirkankel is about 25 miles south of Gardez. But many U.S. and Afghan troops were pinned down for hours by stiff resistance from the Taliban and al-Qaida. Early on the operation ran into problems when Zia was unable to enter Sirkankel on Saturday when his force of up to 450 men were caught in a mortar barrage killing two of his men, wounding 24. One U.S. special operations soldier was also killed in the operation and two more were wounded.
Elements of the 10th Mountain Division were pinned down Saturday after taking fire from the town of Marzak. Lt. Col. Frank LaCamera and a force of about 40 soldiers were caught in a 12 hour battle. Mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades landed as close as 15 yards to their position and 13 American soldiers were wounded. All the U.S. Apache helicopters flying air support during the first day of the battle were damaged. Several took direct hits from RPGs, but all of them were able to returned to base.
Also on Saturday, Col. Frank Wiercinski, a brigade commander with the 101st Airborne, landed on a ridge to the south of Sirkankel to monitor the progress of the operation. Soon after landing, Wiercinski's detachment of about 11 men were attacked and pinned down. "We survived three mortar barrages during the day and at one point we had between 9-10 al-Qaida coming to do us," he said. "But instead, we did them."
Nielsen's detachment took fire for several minutes after the helicopters dropped them off. Soldiers began taking fire from an al-Qaida military compound about 200 yards from where they had landed. The troops eventually entered the compound, about a half mile from Sirkankel, and found several 57 mm recoilless rifles, an 82 mm mortar and documents. "It was unbelievable, in the mud hut where these guys slept, the beds were still warm and tea was still brewing," he said. "We also found lots of AK-47 ammunition and medicine along with night vision devices and radios. We destroyed most of what we found." The seized documents that were taken included an electronics book, a state identification card from Saudi Arabia, address book, a Koran and various business cards and receipts. One of those receipts was from a hotel in Moshhad, Iran, near the Afghan border.
"The enemy decided to stay and the call has gone out for Jihad (holy war) and Taliban and al-Qaida were detected entering the area from southern Afghanistan from the Khost area and from trails originating in Pakistan. We found them coming in small groups, totaling as many as 700 to 800 men." This is the first conventional battle the US forces have fought in Afghanistan. They appear to be acquitting themselves well, even though it's not a happy experience. FoxNews says that the US allowed the Bad Guys to concentrate their forces so as to get them all in one place so they could whack them hard, which makes sense but also carries its own dangers. Afgha.com carries a Seattle Times report saying the operation was botched, but the examples they cite are fairly minor tactical mistakes. Any time you ask someone who's been wounded, you're likely to be informed that somebody screwed up. Asia Times, also carried on Afgha.com, adds the significant information that the opposition is not only al-Qaeda and Taliban, but also local Hizb-i-Islami - Hekmatyar's gunnies or possibly those of Yunis Khalis - along with smaller groups (which I'd guess would include a plausibly deniable involvement by Rasool Sayyaf's men). The lot is commanded by Mullah Saifur Rehman Mansoor of the Taliban, which gives a picture of what the anti-Karzai opposition is.
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03/05/2002 ||
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Tehran arrested "many Jordanians" after they entered Iran from Afghanistan, Amman's "Al-Arab al-Yawm" reported on 28 February. Citing a "Jordanian diplomatic source" and "informed sources," the daily reported that the Jordanian embassy in Tehran is in touch with the Iranian Foreign Ministry about the fate of the purportedly more than 10 Jordanians. Jordan's ambassador in Tehran, Bassam Omoush, complained that the Iranian authorities are "hampering" his activities, and he urged them to "hand over to Amman four Jordanian prisoners" as well as their women and children, dpa reported on 3 March.
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Tom Roberts e-mails me a link to an article on Abkhazia, which is excepted below. It demonstrates that the Pankisi Gorge isn't the only "hotspot" in Georgia, which has been torn by dissension, banditry, and occasional thugs with delusions of grandeur since before achieving its independence.
Abkhazia is a breakaway area of Georgia, populated by an ethnically and linguistically distinct people. Abkhazis actually sound funny when they speak; sounds include a wavering trill, whistling noises, and a prolonged buzz. Sukhumi is the capital. The entire area is about 3,000 square miles, and most of the people are Caucasus hillbillies. Not being Muslims, Akhazis shoot each other and any strangers who wander in, but don't have any plans for world domination.
There has been no real military activity in the Kodori corridor for years, although UN personnel have been kidnapped and their vehicles taken from them at times. These are not political activities, but banditry by local, ethnic Svans [yet another ethnically distinct group of hillbillies], who control the Kodori Valley. As a result of the risk of theft and abduction, the UN has cut its patrols to the valley. The Kodori corridor is not a hotspot but will continue to be the scene of widespread banditry.
Who is responsible for the continual harassment of Abkhaz forces and civilians in the Gali sector? Two Georgian groups are known to operate across the ceasefire line, the White Legion and Forest Brothers. The White Legion is under the direction of Zoza Samushia and seems to have been more active in previous years although Samushia claims they still operate in Abkhazia. More recently the notoriety has gone to a group known as the Forest Brothers under the direction of Dato Shengalia. Very little information is available on the Forest Brothers and their leader, except that many Mingrelians and Georgians south of the ceasefire line consider him a hero. White Legion leader Samushia says that the Forest Brothers began in 1997, but little is known about their ranks. One insight has been provided by Jaba Ioseliani, a former member of the Military Council, which assumed power after overthrowing President Zviad Gamsakhurdia in 1992. Ioseliani, the leader of the Mkhedrioni - a private Georgian nationalist militia active in the original Abkhazian conflict - claims: "At least 80% of them [Forest Brothers] were Mkhedrioni members." It is speculated that the IDP camps serve as a hotbed of potential recruits as children driven from their homes in 1993 are now adults with no future - easily persuaded to join the partisan ranks.
The real question is, are the attacks to be attributed to true partisan activity or simple lawlessness? Or are the banditry and partisan attacks so intertwined that it is impossible to separate the two? It is conceivable that the partisan activity might be motivated by both crime and ideological fervour combined in one campaign. The Mkhedrioni (Horsemen) are an interesting bunch. They were a free-lance militia, who played a major part in the overthrow of Gamsakhurdia, the self-styled "Saddam Hussein of the Caucasus," who was something of a case study in megalomania, and Ioseliani played a hefty part in the Military Council that replaced him. If I remember correctly, Abkhazia was restive under Gamsakhurdia, but the independence movement didn't really get off the ground until he beat it for there, with the Georgians hot on his heels. The Abkhazis reached for their shootin' arns as soon as the flatland furriners showed up.
The Mkhedrioni supported themselves by banditry, and had the unpleasant habit of bumping off people they didn't like. No politics, just bad temper. They also ran the usual extortion operations. Sometime after Gamsakhurdia "committed suicide" in 1994, Ioseliani was implicated in a plot to assassinate Shevardnadze and the Mkhedrioni were broken up. Guess there are still a few of them around, probably pursuing the same trades.
The first Chechen rebellion against the Sovs followed a similar pattern, with Dzhokar Dudaev playing the part of Gamsakhurdia, only the "heroic rebels" were on his side, but still using about the same tactics as the Horsemen. It was only after the area had been beaten up by the Russers that the Chechens noticed they were Good Muslims and invited the Wahhabis in to help.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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Best of the Web Today links to this article on Ummah.com by our old friend, conspiracy theorist extrordinaireMichael Collins Piper. This is a regurgitation of his Arab News piece from December 30th. Wonder if he got paid twice? Ummah.com also carries the startling information that the crash of an F14 this weekend was the result of hostile fire over the Balochistan-Afghanistan border. This leaves us not too sure how it crashed in the Mediterranean, but we're sure they'd never lie to us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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Police say a local leader of India's governing party and officials from a Hindu nationalist group linked to it led mobs that burned to death 107 Muslims during religious riots. Police reports named several important figures in two attacks in the city of Ahmadabad, part of riots that have killed 512 people.
Police officers wrote and filed the reports in the neighborhood of Naroda, where 65 Muslims were burned to death as they slept by Hindus who set the slum on fire Friday morning; and in Meghaninagar, where thousands of Hindus burned to death 42 Muslims in their homes Thursday night. None of the men accused in the reports could be contacted for comment. They have been avoiding police attempts to question them. One report said nine people including local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Deepak Patel headed Hindus who burned to death 42 people, including former Parliament member Ahsan Jaffrey, in the Muslim residential area known as Gulbarg Society in Meghaninagar. "These persons, armed with weapons, led a mob of 20,000 to 22,000, which attacked Gulbarg Society and set it ablaze," said the report by Kirit Erda, senior inspector-in-charge of the Meghaninagar police station. "They first burned to death 18 residents and later burned 24 more persons in the same place."
A separate report dealing with the Naroda killings blamed members of the World Hindu Council, closely linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the Indian and Gujarat state governments. "The carnage at Naroda Patia was the handiwork of a mob of 6,000, which was led by Babu Bajrangji, Kishan Kosani, T.J. Rajput, Harish Rohit and Raju Goyal," said the report written by N.T. Bala, an assistant police sub-inspector. "These people, possessing deadly weapons, led the mob of about 6,000, all belonging to the Hindu community". It details how the mob set fire to 24 homes, killing the 65 Muslims inside.
Jaideep Patel, the Gujarat state joint secretary of the World Hindu Council, confirmed all five men were local leaders of the organization. "Police have falsely implicated my men in this case," Patel said. "Without doing any investigation, the FIR was lodged by the assistant sub-inspector in link with some anti-Hindu forces." Yeah, right. That must be it. It's anti-Hindu forces who slaughtered 500 people. Couldn't have been a bloodthirsty Hindu fundo mob led by local party hacks. We haven't heard the Indian government mention anything about banning the World Hindu Council. If they don't, they'll have to shut up about the Paks and their nuts. It doesn't look like the cops are holding back, though. That's a good sign. And this time there's no reference to Congress Party.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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A Somali UN official kidnapped in Mogadishu last week has been freed unharmed after five days in captivity. Ahmed Mohamed Moalin, an employee of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), had been held in south Mogadishu. The gunmen who abducted him last Thursday had demanded a 20,000-dollar ransom, but the mediators said no money was paid in exchange for his release.
On Monday night, gunmen kidnapped three men including a policeman working for the largely ineffectual Transitional National Government (TNG) in Mogadishu. The two other hostages were members of the minority Bantu community, often targeted for abduction because it is largely unarmed. Police said they were trying to find the kidnappers. "Hey, Ahmed!"
"What, Beavis?"
"Y'know what'd be really kewl? Let's kidnap a cop!"
"You said 'kewl.' Huh-huh."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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Sudan says it has accepted a revised U.S. proposal aimed at stopping bombardment of civilians in the south of the country. The Sudanese government says it received the new proposal from U.S. peace envoy for Sudan, former Senator John Danforth. A government statement said Monday the new proposal includes a concise and comprehensive definition of what is meant by civilian targets. It also said the proposal contains a concession sought by the Khartoum government calling for the "necessity of refraining from using civilians as human shields." The United States suspended its peacemaking efforts last week following a Sudanese government helicopter attack on February 20 on a U.N. food relief center in south Sudan. The air-raid killed 17 people and injured several others.
The Sudanese government expressed deep regrets for the attack but called it an honest mistake. Khartoum has accused the rebel Sudan People Liberation Army of launching attacks on government positions using civilians as human shields. "Ooops. Sorry. My fault!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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Five Israelis and three Palestinians were killed in four separate incidents before the day was half over Tuesday, putting the toll for the past week at more than 80. The day started with an attack in the small hours on a restaurant in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian gunman, who killed three Israelis and wounded up to 20 before being shot dead himself by police. Then a Palestinian police officer was killed and two others wounded by the Israeli army during an incursion into Dura near Hebron in the West Bank. The officers were part of the Force 17 guard of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Soon afterwards a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in Afula, northern Israel, also killing one Israeli. At about the same time an Israeli woman settler was shot dead by Palestinians and her husband wounded as they drove in a car near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
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03/05/2002 ||
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FoxNews reports that West Bank Tanzim duce Marwan Barghouti has admitted that the attacks on Israeli checkpoints by al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have been directed by Arafat's lieutenants, taking the "leadership" of the carnage away from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Yasser's been intoning how he's against terrorism and nobody's believed him. Guess nobody was wrong.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/05/2002 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
