Russian forces iced five gunnies in Chechnya during skirmishes in the breakaway Caucasus republic. The snuffies were cooled during operations over the past 24 hours by Russian troops in the west, northeast and southwest of the republic. In Grozny Russian interior ministry troops carried out raids which led to the detention of 37 people suspected of belonging to the separatist movement, Itar-Tass said. Large men with truncheons are now discussing current affairs with them...
In the republic's second city of Gudermes, east of Grozny, a dozen houses were damaged by shooting. There were no casualties, and the cause of the shooting was unknown. In Chechnya you need a reason?
On Friday US President George Bush compared Russia's war in Chechnya with the US-led anti-terrorist war in Afghanistan. Far from criticising Russia's human rights record in the breakaway republic, he said Russian troops in Chechnya could learn a lesson from the US-led war in Afghanistan where he said human rights were being respected during the fight against terror. Regardless of how they conduct themselves â and the Russians are neither angelic nor as depraved as the kavkaz.com bunch makes them out to be â the situation is the very same as it was in Afghanistan, complete with Arab Bigs pulling the strings on the local gunnies. So hurrah for Bush for stating it publicly and to WaPo a big "thhhhhhp!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 11:26 am ||
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Faced with continuous international pressure, including that from the United Nations, Pakistan finally seems to have decided to do something like a tension-lessening exercise. The military commanders of the Musharraf regime, according to officials having access to last Thursday's discussions at the Joint Staff headquarters in Rawalpindi, will take all the ecessary measures to prevent extremists from crossing into Indian territory, says a report in The Washington Post. It's essential for external relations that they make that move. It's essential for internal political reasons that they don't. So they've got to make the move, then they've got to negate it. Which is how we got to this point in the first place.
One specific fallout of the meeting is that the army's 10th Corps, deployed in northern Pakistan and facing Indian forces in Kashmir, has been directed to block the mountain routes normally used by militants to cross the border. Since the army's deeply involved in the infiltration process, that shouldn't be a hard thing to do. Whether it's actually done or not is a different story. [Thanks to Suman for that very essential link!]
Islamabad, said a minister, has decided to "take a leap forward toward a durable peace with India" by "realigning" its position on terrorist violence after receiving a global assurance that India would also take significant steps to end the Kashmir stalemate over Kashmir, the US daily added. Remember that in the Islamic world, "taking significant steps" means letting you have your way...
A day earlier, Musharraf told his Cabinet that Pakistan had to adjust its Kashmir policy to the new global realities without compromising its position that the territory be freed from Indian control, according to a meeting participant. While moving to stem the infiltration, Musharraf's government has also decided to ratchet up its diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiri Muslims resisting Indian control, Pakistani officials said. Unless that statement's purely for internal consumption, which I doubt, that's their out. As soon as the danger of turning radioactive is past, they intend to go back to the same old stuff. That's assuming the Jihadis and their army sympathizers pay the least bit of attention.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:30 am ||
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Pakistan conducted the first in a series of missile tests Saturday amid growing fears of a war with its neighbor and fellow nuclear power, India. "We don't want war, but we are ready for war," Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said after the test. If they'd worked on the planning for another year or so, they might have come up with a time that was less appropriate, but not by more than an hour or two...
The medium-range Ghauri missile, fired at 9:30 a.m. at an undisclosed site, flew 900 miles â far enough to reach deep into India. It can carry both a conventional and nuclear warhead. Now this is the interesting part:
While the Paks were testing their missile's accuracy, the Indos would have been testing their technical intelligence collection. How long before the launch were the communciations links set up, and what type? Where was the controlling terminus and the launch positions, both real and notional? What kind of comms links were used? What type of telemetry was used? How long before launch were the radars turned on, and what kind were they? The data should give a complete picture of the entire launch sequence under controlled conditions, complete with relative locations of the pieces. Right this moment, even as we speak blog, they should be critiquing their collection and identifying any holes in it.
In the event of war, when this sequence starts to repeat â even approximately â the Indos will launch air strikes against every site associated with it. If they have any sense at all, and I think they do, they'll be rotating their pilots through "hot" aircraft sitting on the runway with engines running, just waiting to hit the air at the first warning. If they're really, really good, and the launcher hide areas are all located already, the aircraft will be working in tandem with commando teams on the ground.
The missile "showed total accuracy. It hit the target," Musharraf said at a religious gathering to mark the birthday of Islam's prophet Mohammed. Musharraf followed the announcement by saying "Allah-o-Akbar" three times" Happy birthday, Mohammed. God must be pleased mos' to death. Perv is a total loss with no insurance, so it's time to drop him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:26 am ||
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For the first time this year, Army patrols captured a Pakistani mercernary while killing three others in an encounter at Village Chawa, in Jammu region. An army spokesman here said the Army, on receiving an intelligence input about the presence of militants in the village close to the LoC, cordoned off the area with a posse of Jammu and Kashmir police. The spokesman said in the ensuing encounter, three militants were killed and one captured. He said five AK 47 assualt rifles, two pistols and two radio sets were recovered from the them. The gunny revealed that his group belonged to Hizbul Mujhaedeen faction and had been active in the area for some time. The group was to target a newly constructed Hindu temple in the area. Wonder if he was shot up and then captured, or if he just decided he didn't feel like taking a very long nap in the dirt?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:42 am ||
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Islamist extremists backed by a powerful wing of the Pakistan army are preparing to launch new guerrilla attacks in Kashmir, raising fears that their activities could push the subcontinent into nuclear war.
Militants backed by the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) have described how they are acquiring funds and training for guerrilla conflict in Kashmir, in violation of a government ban. This is regardless of Perv's intentions or desires. To hell with the prospect of total destruction and the death of millions!
Although Pakistan's military regime announced a crackdown on Islamist extremists in January and arrested 2,000 militants, there is mounting evidence that Pakistani groups are still heavily involved in the war in Kashmir. Several hundred ISI officers, who have personally backed extreme Islamists, remain opposed to General Pervez Musharraf's decision to back America in its "war on terror" and, according to a senior Pakistani military source, have avoided a recent purge of the agency's leadership. But... But... But Perv said he was in control!
Britain is deeply concerned at the events in Kashmir and the intentions of Pakistan's military. A senior Whitehall source said: "Whether or not Musharraf is turning a blind eye we don't know. What is clear is that the ISI is up to its old tricks." Doesn't matter whether he's turning a blind eye or if he's all-seeing if they don't pay any attention to him, does it? <STATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS>
Gen Musharraf has insisted there is no resistance to his decision to side with America and to pursue a more moderate agenda at home, and that the ISI is acting under his orders alone. However, western diplomats yesterday disputed his claim. "Musharraf in January promised infiltration [of militant groups in Kashmir] would stop. It has not happened", one diplomat said. </STATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS>
Officials described the ISI's continuing involvement with extremists groups as a "key issue". The groups needed the ISI for training, money, and weapons, they said. Without the ISI the whole thing withers on the vine...
Yesterday Chris Patten, the EU's external affairs commissioner, met government officials in New Delhi after a similar round of meetings in Islamabad. He said tensions between the two nations were high. "I think India's patience is close to breaking," he said. "Unless we see progress in reduction in the level of infiltration [of militants] and a reduction in the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, the outlook is bleak. Frankly [Pakistan has] got to deliver more than they have so far." And Perv's not in a position to do that because he's not the one in control of events.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 11:14 am ||
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Ten people including two Indian security force personnel were injured in a grenade explosion set off by Islamic terrorists in Kashmir on Saturday, police said. The explosion was reported from the southern Kashmir town of Shopian, 50 kilometres south of Srinagar. "The grenade was hurled at a security force vehicle," the police spokesman said, adding it exploded against the vehicle sending splinters in all directions. "The condition of four of the eight civilians injured is serious," he said. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion. The Bad Guys set the stage for this sort of thing by importing foreigners to join the jihad. If they're not your folks, it doesn't matter if a dozen or so get shrapnelled when you toss a grenade. If it was granny, back in Quetta or Rawalpindi they'd probably be more careful. It also doesn't say much for their training that they're as crummy as they are with grenades. They're forever bouncing off things and landing amongthe wrong people, or the goobers forget to pull the pins like that bunch that killed Lone did. Maybe their turbans are too tight?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 11:41 am ||
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Yesterday morning security forces discovered an explosive belt containing 10 kg. of TNT in a marble factory at the Erez industrial zone in the northern Gaza Strip. Border Police sappers defused the belt and security forces detained a number of Palestinians for questioning. The belt was found after security officials received information from a Palestinian arrested at the Erez crossing on Wednesday during a routine check. Think about this the next time somebody expounds on the horrors of hitting a prisoner very many times...
The occupants in his car, which had a "Press" sticker on its window, were detained by security forces after a grenade was found in the car. One of the detainees, Iyad Abed al-Ghali, 23, claimed he was a journalist, but later told investigators he works in the industrial zone and had hidden the belt in the factory, planning to later smuggle it across the Green Line. More than 3,000 Palestinians work in the approximately 200 factories in the Erez industrial zone. There have been numerous terrorists attacks in the area in in recent months, in an attempt to shut the zone down. That's a very interesting view into the Palestinian mentality. The zone is the primary source of employment in the area, outside the bomb making and exploding industries. And the area has 80% of its residents living under the poverty line. The factories provide 35-40% of the area's income. So what's to do? Blow up or shut down the factories.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:26 am ||
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#1
Ah yes! And don't forget who they're going to blame for the bomb-- and not protecting the workers. Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you.
Posted by: Mary Wehmeier ||
05/26/2002 1:45 Comments ||
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Israel's army carried out door-to-door searches Saturday in the Tulkarm refugee camp, uncovering explosives and guns and arresting four Palestinians. The troops were in the camp and the adjacent town of Tulkarm for a second day. And they'll be back again, the topical ointment on a festering sore...
As the troops moved into the camp Friday, Palestinian militiamen ambushed Israeli soldiers riding atop an armored personnel carrier at the camp's entrance. One soldier was killed and two were wounded, the army said. Tank gunners fired shells and machine guns and four Palestinians, including a woman and a 4-year-old child, were wounded, Palestinian doctors said. Lotsa international pity points there. Sounds awful, but if they were ambushed, the gunners weren't going to fire at just anyone; they were going to fire back at the attackers. And it sounds like the attackers were hiding behind the mom and the kid and probably as many others of their friends and neighbors as they could find.
The latest Israeli incursion into the West Bank came after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a pedestrian mall on Wednesday night, a bomb attack on Israel's largest fuel depot Thursday, and an attempted attack on a nightclub early Friday. One a day was the quota before Defensive Shield started, and they've got to get back up to it if they're going to "show that it was ineffectual."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:26 am ||
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Two Palestinians were killed in an explosion inside a home in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus yesterday afternoon. The men, both Fatah members, were preparing a bomb when it exploded prematurely. Dontcha hate it when that happens?
The incident occurred hours after thousands of Palestinians, including members of the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, attended the funeral of the brigade's regional commander, Mahmud Titi, who was killed by IDF tank fire in Balata on Wednesday, together with two of his aides. Kind of a follow-up to the festivities, you might say...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/25/2002 09:26 am ||
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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.
