But a new scientific analysis sent to top government officials suggests the anthrax attacker may be a scientific whiz so smart that he succeeded in making a âweaponizedâ form of the bacterium more sophisticated than any previously known.
Again, I must disagree with Sullivan and the Iraqi school. My guess would be that the source, if it's ever found, will be in Pakistan, very likely a side project of the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau, a Pak "NGO" headed by Sultan Bashir-ud-Din Mehmood and Abdul Majid, who worked for Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission until retiring in 1999. This bunch was declared a terrorist group by the United States on Dec. 20 and the principals admitted to "briefing" Binny on nukes. The "warning shot" thesis is shaky at best; Sammy's a lunatic, but even he's not that far off the deep end. I would strongly suspect that any attack, especially on US soil, using a Weapon of Mass Destruction would involve retaliation also using WMDs - but not necessarily the same WMD. In other words, if it's traced to Sammy, that'd be a really good way for him to become radioactive. Dr Frank suspects the attacks may have been a probe with the objective to evaluate our public health system's response. My personal opinion is that they were meant to be follow-up attacks to 9-11 but that the medium was too hard for the small team used to control - somebody may get an unpleasant surprise when they open up their Jersey shore beach house next month. Or Dr Frank could be right in his theory that the Feds picked up the Bad Guys on an unrelated charge, which is probably just as likely as Mahmud accidentally dosing himself, if not as satisfying.
Maybe it's possible that our side nailed the responsible parties? Weren't there supposed to be "victories that never made public"? Posted by ray 4/10/2002 1:07:32 AM
I think that was the idea behind rounding up everybody in sight. I think I read somewhere that a Pakistani died in custody in New Jersey back in October or thereabouts... Don't know the cause, though I'm sure they'd have said if it was anthrax... Posted by Fred 4/10/2002 11:04:15 AM
Bingo! There it is! Hmmm... Time frame's right, too... Posted by Fred 4/10/2002 11:08:09 AM
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Charles at LGF takes a bite out of the subject of US-based suicide bombers, linking to this Joel Mowbray article in NRO. Charles notes that Mowbray seems to feel that suicide bombers would be necessarily imported, and points out that domestic thugs (and thugettes) would do as well. One of his readers points to a pair of American Muslims from northern Virginia who were denied admittance to Israel based on indications they were suicide volunteers. One of the comments bring up the Instapundit dicussion of the 14-year-old airhead at the San Diego Islamic Center who said she'd be willing to go "boom." Fatah recently threatened that we were gonna get it if one hair of Yasser's head was harmed. So all the signs are there. It'll come... And what happens when it does come? Well, it won't be a pretty sight. Charles and his commenters address the international aspects pretty well. What about domestic? Let your imagination roam. The scenario's probably worst case, but...
Expect to see a lot more concealed carry states - maybe all of them except for one or two liberal bastions like Maryland and Massachussets. If the laws aren't passed, people will act as though they were anyway. It's strictly a matter of self-defense and the defense of home and hearth.
Reasonable, intelligent citizens will pack heat and will pop anyone with a fuse, two lines, no waiting.
Unreasonable, non-intelligent citizens will pack heat and pop not only Islamists with fuses, but Islamists without fuses. And Arabs, Pakistanis, Sikhs, Indians, Sri Lankans, Chinese, Eskimos, cows, lamp posts, dogs, cats and the occasional family member. For awhile it'll look like a Fearless Fosdick strip.
The government will be forced to clean out fifth column ratsnests like CAIR.
The deportations will be by the planeload, preferably foreign carriers with no checks for explosives at boarding time.
Why will what happens here be more effective than what they do in Israel? Because the Bad Guys are more or less confined to a very few readily identifiable ethnic groups, groups that are vastly outnumbered by the rest of us. And the rest of us are armed and sometimes dangerous, and when you come right down to it, we're not that opposed to a little profiling in a good cause.
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FoxNews is reporting a 10-year-old exploded on the West Bank, killing an unknown number of IDF soldiers... The charge was made by Benjamin Netanyahu... I think this might be the incident he's talking about... Netanyahu later backed off the 10-year-old claim, saying instead that the boomer was "very young."
The casualties the army suffered in the Jenin refugee camp yesterday were caused by bombs planted by terrorists and exploded by a suicide bomber in a well-planned ambush. OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Eitan said in a briefing that fighting in the camp is some of the fiercest of the past week. "The terrorists continue to refuse our calls asking them to surrender," he said. "Terrorists affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah pay no attention to the local civilian population, and use them as human shields in their fight against us. They are determined to fight us. [But] we will continue to battle with them until we are victorious. We are more determined than they are."
Eitan noted that many of the houses and alleyways in the camp are boobytrapped, adding that soldiers have uncovered numerous bomb factories and enormous amounts of explosives. "We know that the large amounts of explosives, bombs and suicide bombers found in the camp were all to be used in attacks against the civillian population inside Israel," he said. Eitan said the bombing infrastructure responsible for numerous suicide terrorist attacks that killed scores of Israelis and wounding hundreds is located in the camp. He also said the army decided against using jets to strike the camp because the area is mixed with a passive civilian population. The army opted instead to have soldiers conduct house-to-house searches, progressing slowly and cautiously.
"Soldiers and officers - reservists and regular troops alike - have been fighting around the clock, shoulder-to-shoulder, for a number of days and continue determinedly," he said. In other areas of the West Bank, the fighting continues. "Soldiers have uncovered enormous amounts of explosives, bomb factories, and hundreds of fugitives have been arrested," Eitan said.
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Iran is ready to stop oil exports to countries supporting Israel but such an embargo would be effective only if other nations cooperate, Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi said Tuesday. Karroubi, a close political ally to President Mohammad Khatami, made no direct reference to neighboring and former enemy Iraq's decision Monday to suspend all oil exports for one month. Don't listen to the fellows who tell you it won't hurt if we have a widespread embargo against us. It's designed to, and it's supposed to. Driving up the price of oil applies an across-the-board inflation factor because of the increases in fuel costs and plant maintenance costs. Raghu or Megan (alias Jane) can work the expected effects out better than I can, but they won't be pretty. On the other hand, we went through one period of oil blackmail, and the result was to expand our sources, so the effects shouldn't be nearly as bad as 1973. It'll be another opportunity to make notes on who's our friend and who's our enemy.
Well, the effects all depend on the nature of the embargo. If Iran and other states just target the US, Britain, and Israel for boycott, we'll just purchase the same oil on the global market. Besides any embargo would be short lived for two reasons. 1- Countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia have no other method of funding their economies. They would not be able to sustain a sufficiently long enough embargo to damage the west before self-destructing. 2- Other countries would ramp up production to meet demand. Russia, Norway, Mexico and other oil rich nations would see dollar signs and ramp up production to soak up profits from higher prices while they last, thus driving down prices after the initial spike. Posted by FuzzyBear aka Will 4/9/2002 3:39:05 PM
That's what's supposed to happen, I think. But keep in mind that by withdrawing large quantities from the internationally available pool, that'll drive the prices up. The non-OPEC countries will increase their production because of the increased dollar cost per barrel, which still leaves us paying a couple bucks a gallon for heating oil and gasoline. Greens and Connecticut senators can conserve and carpool all they please, but if you do business in Wyoming or Nevada or Texas or if you ship from Peoria to the east coast you're still taking it in the underwear. Posted by Fred 4/9/2002 4:00:49 PM
Stratfor and others report that unrest directed against the dictator Chavez in Venezuela could seriously diminish exports from that source; the US gets a significant amount of crude and refined products from that country. Posted by Bill 4/9/2002 4:05:25 PM
I've just got two questions:
1. Why does Saddam Hussein want to make all of GWB's political problems easy for Bush?
2. If Iraq only sought to cheat on the embargo when we were blockading his oil, who is going to be the one he cheats on in this next embargo?
What is without question a "gimme" concerning any oil market disruption is the way it will make the situation in Colombia and Venezuela more critical for the US. Up to now, it appeared as if Washington appeared to be wishing these problem countries under the rug. Posted by Tom Roberts 4/9/2002 6:12:59 PM
Venezuela's a trouble spot. Chavez just missed a possible coup earlier in the year, and the labor unions were on a general strike today and (at least) tomorrow. That's not helpful to the oil markets. Posted by Mark Byron [markbyron.blogspot.com] 4/9/2002 11:26:41 PM
Perhaps the first move the US makes on Saddam would best be seizing of Iragi oil fields nearest the Persian Gulf. Sell the oil to pay off the long-overdue war reparations, keep the profits out of Saddam's hands, and liberate that much of Saddam's domain. Posted by Tresho 4/10/2002 6:19:28 AM
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Four people â including a New York lawyer â were indicted on charges they helped a convicted terrorist imprisoned in the United States communicate with his followers in Egypt. The four are accused of supporting the Egyptian-based terrorist organization known as the Islamic Group by passing messages "to and from the imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman." Abdel-Rahman, 63, is serving a life sentence in the United States for conspiring to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and blow up five New York City landmarks in the 1990s.
Among the four who were indicted is Lynne Stewart, the sheik's lawyer. The indictment charges that the unlawful communications with the sheik happened during prison visits and attorney telephone calls involving Stewart and Mohammed Yousry, an Arabic translator who was also charged.
Ashcroft identified the others charged as Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a Staten Island man described as a "surrogate" for Abdel-Rahman; and Yassir Al-Sirri, the former head of the London-based Islamic Observation Center. Al-Sirri was charged with "facilitating communications among Islamic Group members and providing financing for their activities." Stewart, Sattar and Yousry were all in federal custody. Al-Sirri was in custody in the United Kingdom. The attorney general announced that the Justice Department had, for the first time, invoked the authority to monitor communications between Abdel-Rahman and his attorneys.
The indictment alleges the sheik in October 2000 issued an edict titled "Fatwah Mandating the Bloodshed of Israelis Everywhere," which called on "brother scholars everywhere in the Muslim world to do their part and issue an unanimous fatwah (edict) that urges the Muslim nation to fight the Jews and kill them wherever they are." "No cigarette, just a blindfold, thank you."
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In a wide-ranging interview in Monday's Le Figaro, newspaper President Pervez Musharraf says he is confident that he will win next month's referendum because "my goal is to establish in Pakistan a real democracy. It's also to remain employed for the next five yeaers.
The referendum will confirm that the people want me. It will also reinforce me politically, all the while weakening my adversaries. In saying 'yes,' the Pakistani people will express their willingness to break with the errors of the past and, therefore, support my project for democratic reform." Any "vote of confidence" will last three months, outside, until Qazi and Fazl and Sami can convince the marks faithful the election was a.)illegal and b.)fixed. I believe the widely held assumption even among sympathetic parties is that both are true.
Queried as to whether Pakistan - which recently obtained from the Paris Club the rescheduling for over a 38-year period of its bilateral debt of US$ 12 billion - planned to request the cancellation of all or part of its existing multilateral debt of US$24 billion, Mr Musharraf said he didn't think that would be necessary because "we plan to successfully introduce a plan to relaunch our economy which will liberate us from (the problem of) debt." Well, if they brought all the gunnies and snuffies into the labor force and spent some of the money they're spending on financing jihad on industrial base, that might happen. But they won't, so it won't.
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The leader of a political group from Pakistan occupied Kashmir claims that the arms and drug mafia, aided by Pakistani intelligence, has established a sizeable presence in areas close to the Indian border. Abdul Hamid Khan, whose Balawaristan National Front (BNF) is spearheading a campaign to secede the Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, says the drug cartels smuggle narcotics to Europe, North America and parts of Asia via China. In his book Balawaristan: The Last Colony of the 21st Century, Khan writes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) "is fully involved" in supporting the activities of the groups involved running drugs and arms. This comes as no surprise. Any details are welcome, though...
Balawaristan is the name used by locals to refer to the area comprising the Brooshaal, Baltistan and Dardistan provinces in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. New Delhi claims the areas as part of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir state that acceded to the Indian union. And naturally the Paks have no intention of letting loose the reins...
Indian intelligence agencies have for long said that the ISI is actively involved in aiding drug trafficking by terror groups like Afghanistan's Taliban. The money made from such activities is used to fund the purchase of weapons and support terrorist activities within India, Indian intelligence officials say. We're probably not the first ones who've wondered where the money came from. Even the Saudis would have a tough time supporting an entire country full of madrassahs and professional hard boys with no visible means of support. It could be done, but they'd want to have a little left over to be able to subvert some other countries, too. So the drugs, coupled with extortion and a little white slavery is probably something along with lines of a part-time job.
In his book, Khan writes that the drug cartels operating in the Gilgit-Baltistan region are headed by Pathans (Pashtuns) from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan that has been linked to arms and drug smuggling. Hmm. The NWFP? That's where Binny was reported to have scooted, and the Talibs are hanging out. It's the protectorate of Sami and Fazlur Rehman. In fact, Qazi was jugged there for awhile.
The cartels are also involved in smuggling into Pakistan occupied Kashmir chemicals used to process heroin from opium, Khan says. The easy availability of drugs has resulted in "hundreds of local youths" becoming drug addicts. That's what usually happens when you're close to the source.
"Pakistani terrorists, drug and arms smugglers, Taliban and other terrorists are speedily settled in Balawaristan to turn the indigenous people into a minority," he writes. And the locals don't like being elbowed out by a bunch of arrogant Pashtuns and Arabs.
The terrorists are also used by the ISI for "hostile activities" against Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, Central Asian countries, Russia and the Muslim-dominated Sinkiang province in China, he writes. It's not like this hasn't been brought up before...
Khan has also claimed the ISI works closely with the Jamaat-e-Islami to recruit youths for training at terrorist training camps in Gilgit-Baltistan region and Mansehra district, adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir. "In this regard, ISI relies more on Jamaat-e-Islami, tested in Afghanistan, and entrusts it with the duty of buying youths through (funds provided by Arab countries in the name of jihad)." Ahhhh... There's the Qazi link.
Youths from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir are trained at camps run by the ISI in Ghowadi Skardu, Darel, Yashote, Astore and Gilgit. The youths are "instigated against non-Muslims of Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, the US and other countries." Pakistan-backed raiders used bases in Gilgit-Baltistan to occupy strategic positions in the Kargil region on the Indian side of the Line of Control in 1999. The Pakistani intrusion sparked a bitter border conflict that ended with US intervention in July 1999. Hundreds of the Pakistan-backed raiders were killed. The Indian Army lost more than 520 soldiers in the campaign. And Qazi lost nothing because all he had invested was a few hundred gunnies who could be replaced cheaply at any time.
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Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan has said his party would never support President Gen Pervez Musharraf in his proposed referendum plan, as it was an unconstitutional move.
Speaking at a meeting at Mandani here on Sunday, he said that our rivals blamed the ANP for an underhand deal with the government, because the party supported some of the policies of the present government. ANP chief explained that the party supported the Musharraf government in its Afghan, Kashmir and anti-terrorist policies, as these policies were the same for which the ANP had been struggling for the last 25 years, and for these policies we were labelled as the friends of Hindus, Kafir and anti-Pakistani. They suspect, and they're probably right, that Perv intends to turn Pakland from a parliamentary to a presidential state. That would probably be good for the country's stability, bad for the regional parties and religious loons. Whether he becomes a statesman or just another in a long line of tin hats is up to him, but the country has to live with the consequences.
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No organized element appears to be behind a recent series of anti-Semitic attacks in France, police said Tuesday, as 10 of 39 people questioned in the incidents remain in custody. Alain Tourre, a police spokesman at the Interior Ministry, said many of the suspects have police records for other crimes, including vandalism, theft, violence or selling drugs. They do not appear to be "organized or politicized, nor are they members of anti-Zionist groups," he said Tuesday. Some are minors. The attacks have coincided with an escalation in Middle East violence and have heightened tension between French Jews and the country's large Muslim community. Synagogues, schools and cemeteries around the country have been targeted, often with firebombs. In the most serious case, a Marseille synagogue was burned to the ground on March 31. We guessed they were the usual layabout vandals and thugs. That's where we get our gunnies, isn't it? But if they keep digging, which I doubt they'll do, they'll find the local mullahs ranting and spraying the first four rows with spittle and then trying to look innocent and concerned when Abdul and Mahmood go out to hunt down a few Jews.
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Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reportedly termed the army's operations in the Jenin refugee camp over the last few days as a "massacre," in conversations behind closed doors. IDF Deputy Territories Operations Commander Brig.-Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun told Army Radio in response, "It's not the Israeli army that is delaying the evacuation of Palestinian wounded in the territories. We requested from local Red Cross and [Palestinian] Red Crescent authorities to be involved in this matter, giving them all the opportunities and availability to assist, and they refused for their own inhumane ... propaganda reasons." Some say Peres is a voice of moderation. Others say he's a weasel.
There is something up here, and it may just be the JPost who has no love lost for Peres. Ha'aretz [http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=150149&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y] gives Peres being concerned about how the PA will use decisive IDF action in Jenin as a propaganda ploy to term Jenin a massacre. Neither of these papers are updating this story, which is rather surprising. If Peres said what the JPost said, it would have political significance. If its as Ha'aretz put matters, then Peres is merely stating the obvious. Posted by Tom Roberts 4/9/2002 6:23:52 PM
I'm surprised that they haven't set up more ambushes. Could they be semi-good at simple sniping and autoboomers and not too good at more complicated tactics? Posted by Mark Byron [markbyron.blogspot.com] 4/10/2002 10:39:45 AM
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IDF units on Saturday discovered 20 Kassam rocket launchers and related apparatus in a mosque in the town of El Bireh, near Ramallah, the IDF said this morning. Palestinians said soldiers damaged the structure during the search. The army denied the charge. Even if they didn't, bet the temptation was there...
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer agreed last night that Israel would accept all of the cese-fire recommendations of US Special envoy Anthony Zinni. US President George W. Bush this morning termed the IDF's partial withdrawal from several Palestinian cities overnight, "a beginning." When the IDF concludes Operation Defensive Shield its forces will be deployed into buffer zones that will serve to block the entry of terrorists from Palestinian areas into settlements and to prevent attacks on Israelis, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday. Getting the Israelis to accept has never been the problem.
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a plea yesterday to "responsible and moderate" Arab leaders to accept an invitation to meet with him to discuss a framework for Middle East peace. Sharon said the US must serve as the coordinator of such an effort, and he would "go anywhere, without preconditions from any side, to talk about peace." His appeal came in a statement to the Knesset, the first since Operation Defensive Shield was launched. Sharon said the recent wave of suicide bombings had been delivered by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat - the person who "promised in a series of agreements" to abandon terror and to fight against it. "He has broken all of his promises," Sharon said. The Palestinians will probably take this as a sign of weakness, but the words had to be spoken eventually. If anything positive looks like it's going to come, Hamas will try to spike it.
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Easing Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's isolation, Israel has permitted the Palestinian leader to meet with four senior advisers at his besieged headquarters. Last week, the US envoy to the region, Anthony Zinni, was permitted to meet with Arafat for 90 minutes at the Ramallah compound. At the time, Israel denied a Palestinian request that Arafat be allowed to consult with his advisers at the headquarters. Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that Israel's security cabinet, which met late Monday, decided to permit the meeting to assist US cease-fire efforts. The meeting actually wasn't necessary, since al-Aqsa and Tanzim are ticking along without guidance... Oh. They're supposed to discuss cease-fires. Well, no doubt that could happen, too.
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Heavy firefights are being reported as Nahal army units, operating in the village of Dura, south of Hebron, chase down terrorists at this hour. Palestinian report two dead and three wounded in the clashes, Israel Radio said. There are reports of possible wounded among the troops.
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Palestinian gunmen shot at soldiers and roadworkers near Qalkilya a short time ago. The troops, who were manning a lookout outpost on the outskirts of the city, were uninjured in the attack. The roadworkers, who were working on a section of the Trans-Isael Highway, were also unhurt, Army Radio said.
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Every day for the past week, Hezbollah fighters have fired mortars, missiles and long-range rockets at Israeli military positions, drawing a sharp response from Israel, and also raising the prospect the Mideast conflict will spread to the north.
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Palestinian militants killed 13 Israeli reserve soldiers in an ambush in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank Tuesday, the Israeli army said. "An army patrol by reserve soldiers was ambushed during operations in the Jenin refugee camp. The ambush included the use of explosive devices detonated against them and gunfire from nearby rooftops," the army said in a statement. "Thirteen soldiers were killed," it said, adding that seven others had been wounded, one of them critically. The toll was the heaviest single blow to the Israeli army since the start of more than 18 months of Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. The deaths occurred Tuesday morning but were kept under wraps until the families of the soldiers were notified. 13 dead is a blow, but it's not unexpected casualties. The morale effect will probably be greater here than in Israel.
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Amid mounting charges by human rights groups of abuses by Israeli troops, U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson plans to start a Middle East fact-finding mission as early as Tuesday evening or Wednesday, her spokeswoman said Monday. The mission, which is pending Israeli approval, includes former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa, a former leader of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. The mission's mandate includes reporting on suicide bombings, and it will also examine human rights in the West Bank, which is currently under assault by Israeli troops.
U.N. officials on Monday described a situation of "pure horror" in northern West Bank camps, with strafing from Israeli helicopters, corpses piling up and ambulances and food trucks being barred by the army. "There is a humanitarian disaster in the making," says Richard Cook, West Bank field director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Mary spends so much time wringing her hands she's gonna get callouses. Those humanitarian disasters are hell, but so's war and so's exploding snuffies. And let us not forget the Brutal Palestinian Winter, which is only nine months away...
Maybe Mary could check on the camps in the neighboring Arab countries to see how the human rights situation is there. Posted by Annoying Old Guy 4/9/2002 4:45:33 PM
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Palestinian officials said yesterday there is a chance for a cease-fire when US Secretary of State Colin Powell comes to the region, provided Powell meets Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and agrees that the cease-fire will be based on UN Resolution 1402. That resolution calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the PA and the implementation of the Tenet cease-fire plan and the Mitchell Report, and then a renewal of final status talks. No doubt Mr Powell will consider their suggestion, if he can find the time to meet with Yasser.
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Under Arab pressure to force an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Secretary of State Colin Powell is reaching out to Egypt for help in persuading Yasser Arafat to clamp down on terror against Israel. Powell, in the second day of his Middle East mission, drew mixed results in meetings in Morocco with Moroccan King Mohammed VI and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. His quest for support was overshadowed by their anger at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for sending troops deep into the West Bank in a drive against militants who have terrorized Israel with suicide bombings. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak also has been highly critical of the Israeli operation. Mubarak doesn't want to do a Sadat. Period. Perhaps he should let somebody else be president for awhile... Oh. Sorry. We're talking about an Arab state, aren't we?
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Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen has threatened to strike the ruling National Conference for its support to Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in a rare joint session of Parliament last month. The National Conference's five MPs are part of the BJP-led government at the Centre. POTA gives police sweeping powers to arrest, interrogate and detain suspects for up to 90 days without trial and to intercept suspects' communication.
"Hizb ul Mujahideen is contemplating some effective and decisive actions against the ruling National Conference for its alacrity in enacting POTA," the group's spokesman Junaid ul-Islam said. "For the people who know the art of becoming human bombs and killing themselves inside the camps of their enemies, this law is useless," Islam wrote in the Urdu-language weekly Chattan. "Instead, it will add to our dedication and commitment." Islam did not specify what action the terrorist group planned to take. "Up to date we have been restraining harsh measures against the National Conference, but now we have decided to take action," he wrote. "While many non-Muslim and non-BJP leaders have expressed reservations over the draconian law, Farooq Abdullah and his son were jubilant when the law was passed," Islam wrote. Farooq Abdullah's son Omar Abdullah is state Minister for External Affairs. Those "who know the art of becoming human bombs" are going to end up shoving Pakland right into the Afghanistan category. That'll be a messier, more costly war than Afghanistan, but wiping out the Unholy Alliance of the ISI and Qazi & Co. will do much to make the world a more peaceful place. A successful conclusion will also cut off the funding to crazed killers for hundreds of miles in every direction from Lahore.
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Seven persons including two of a family were shot dead by unidentified gunmen last evening at Dhandi Dhagsal village in Udhampur district. Gunnies hoorawed the village and opened indiscriminate fire causing the death of seven persons. The deceased include three children. Eight others sustained injuries. The deceased have been identified as Soba Ram, Shindo Devi, Gonpata Devi, Shomey Lal s/o Krishen Singh, Shanker Das, Drishto Devi and Lal Dai. The gunmen later set ablaze 21 houses belonging to Hindus and Muslims. The injured were airlifted to GMC hospital Jammu where the condition of some is stated to be critical. I'm not an expert in South Asian linguistics, but the names all seem Hindu and/or Sikh. Just a little ethnic cleansing.
Three persons were killed and ten injured, some of them critically, when a bomb exploded in a sweet shop in the border town of Rajouri today. Reports said the blast caused the backside of the shop to collapse. Many people were feared buried under the debris. Rescue teams recovered three mutiliated bodies, reports said adding several women were present in the shop at the time of the blast. The injured, some of whose limbs were severed, were rushed to the district hospital where the condition of a few was stated to be critical. They bombed a stinkin' candy store?
Four snuffies died in an exchange of fire with the troops at Salhotri Kani in Poonch district yesterday. The identity of the slain militants was not available.
A militant identified as Abu Baker was iced in an encounter with the troops at Sangla, Surankote yesterday. He is survived by a rifle and some ammunition.
Militants abducted and later shot dead SPO Prakash at Gai Bhass village in Rajouri yesterday.
Muhammad Hayat of Ali Kadal who was injured in a shoot out yesterday succumbed to his wounds in the hospital.
Hard boys shot dead SPO Bashir Ahmad at Pahalgam last evening.
Muhammad Rashid was shot at by unidentified psychopaths at Iqbal Nagar, Surankote (Poonch) last evening. He was rushed to hospital.
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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.
