Police have arrested nine suspected al Qaeda supporters accused of enlisting Kuwaitis to fight U S-led forces in Iraq, an Interior Ministry official said today. The nine Kuwaitis, arrested a week ago, were also charged with indoctrinating young people in radical Islamist ideology and helping them enter Iraq via Syria, the official told Reuters. The nine were being questioned about links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. The arrests were partly based on information provided by families who complained that their sons were being recruited to fight against foreign forces in neighbouring Iraq, he added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/22/2004 8:16:05 PM ||
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An "accidental" explosion of dynamite in storage killed at least 16 people and levelled a three-story building in a northern Yemeni village early Thursday, a police official said. According to The AP, rescuers were searching for possible survivors in the rubble of the building in Hababa, a village in Omran province. Official statements said the blast was "accidental" and police were discounting sabotage or "terrorism." However, it was not clear what set off the dynamite, which was stored in the building's basement.
Sounds like a case of "Red Wire Syndrome".
"Honey! Have you seen my dynamite?"
"I put it in the basement, dear!"
The dynamite belonged to a weapons dealer and such explosives were generally used for mining purposes, the official added.
Mining roads, harbors, etc..
Posted by: Steve ||
07/22/2004 10:45:24 AM ||
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"Ahmed, come here...I have a question."
"Yes, Mohammed?"
"Ahmed, what is this thingy here? I don't remember a black wire and a blue wire leading out of a thingy like that, running to the detonator? That wasn't in the Hizbullah video course!"
"Mohammed, not to worry. Allah will protect us. Cut the blue wire."
The Yemeni Islah Party has warned against the consequences of the ongoing fighting between the supporters of the renegade cleric Hussein al-Hawthi and government troops for the social peace of the country. A press release issued by the Islah Central Committee, headed by cleric Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, stated that the events in Sa'ada are "a threat to the internal social peace", demanding that "the authorities, political parties and clerics take swift steps to stop the fighting."
I guess you could call wild-eyed clerics surrounded by fanatical myrmidons in open rebellion agains the gummint a "threat to the internal social peace."
Saudi Arabia gave Islamist militants loyal to al Qaeda a final chance to surrender under a one-month amnesty before a deadline expires Thursday, an Interior Ministry statement said. So far only four militants had given themselves up since the amnesty was declared by de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah. Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia have said in Internet statements the initiative will fail. "The Interior Ministry wishes to draw to the attention that the deadline of the (amnesty) call made to those who had strayed off the path of Islam expires Thursday evening," the ministry said in a statement.
"Yo! Just a reminder, youse guyz!"
It said those abroad who wish to be covered by the amnesty must contact the authorities before the deadline expires. Learned Elder of Islam Islamist cleric Safar al-Hawali, who has been mediating between militants and authorities, said a fifth militant who had surrendered at a Saudi embassy in an unspecified Arab country was expected to arrive in the kingdom later Thursday. He told Reuters he had been negotiating with authorities to extend the deadline but that Crown Prince Abdullah refused. Halawi said 10 suspected militants, including two others on the list of 26, have registered their surrender so far but there has been no official announcement. Officials said the state would drop its claims against militants who surrender but added that families of their victims could still press for punishment.
The state won't do anything, but anybody whose husband or father's head's in somebody's refrigerator is free to take them to court...
Saudi Arabia has also said that 27 wanted men had been handed over to its security forces from foreign countries. It was not clear if any had surrendered under the amnesty. Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz had said he expected large numbers of militants to give themselves up.
Any time now...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/22/2004 9:26:23 AM ||
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A teenager suspected of planning an attack, unspecified intelligence and an al Qaeda ultimatum led Dutch authorities to impose a national security alert earlier this month, officials said on Thursday. The alert was imposed after Dutch judges extended the detention of a 17-year-old man first arrested on June 30 in connection with an armed robbery investigation. Prosecutors said in a statement they now suspected he was planning an attack. A prosecution spokeswoman declined to comment on media reports that the Dutch teen is a Muslim and that police found street maps and other plans of possible targets at his home. "It (the arrest) was one of the reasons for the higher alert. There was also other information from the intelligence services from within the country and from outside," an interior ministry spokesman said.
Other factors the Dutch government weighed included the expiry last week of an ultimatum from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden demanding that European states pull troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries or face new attacks like the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in March. "You can't deny we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and you can't deny there was an al Qaeda ultimatum and that we have the presidency of the European Union," the spokesman said.
Last weekend, Dutch police in the eastern town of Nijmegen arrested two men they suspected of planning to attack the annual Four-Day march, an international military training event that also attracts thousands of civilian participants. On Tuesday, a magistrate ruled that one of the men, a 37-year-old from Syria who is suspected of attempted murder in connection with the plans to attack what is the world's biggest walking event, could be held for a further three days. The other man, a 33-year-old from Lebanon who was suspected of threatening behaviour, was released due to lack of evidence, although prosecutors are still treating him as a suspect. Prosecutors said there was no connection between the Nijmegen case and the arrest of the man in Rotterdam.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/22/2004 9:32:49 AM ||
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Glad to see Dutch teens have something to do besides smoke pot and engage in internet sex...
Assailants tossed two gasoline bombs a Culture Ministry building in central Athens on Thursday, causing no damage or injuries, authorities said. The building also houses the Cultural Olympiad, a four-year festival featuring art exhibitions and performances leading up the Aug. 13-29 games. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but anarchists were thought to be behind it. Anarchist groups have carried out thousands of such arson attacks in recent years, both in Athens and the northern port of Thessaloniki. Targets include businesses, diplomatic vehicles and banks.
Sure hope the $1.5 billion being spent on security works. Crude gasoline bomb during the Games = mass panic. And if people don't panic, the MSM will generate one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2004 2:28:34 AM ||
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They were just holding their own opening ceremonies. Hopefully, no doves were injured.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/22/2004 3:22 Comments ||
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#2
That wasn't a rehersal of the lighting of the torch?
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
07/22/2004 7:40 Comments ||
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#1
Um, this has all the markings of a first-class diversion. Hope everybody just went to a higher alert station.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/22/2004 16:30 Comments ||
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the Coast Guard had boarded the ship in the Port of Philadephia earlier Thursday for what is being described as a routine inspection when the master of the ship apparently became agitated that the process was taking so long and blurted out that he had a bomb on board.
Bad move, space cadet.
Posted by: too true ||
07/22/2004 16:40 Comments ||
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Unidentified attackers killed a former village chief, seriously wounded a police officer and fire-bombed the home of a retired police officer in Thailand's troubled Muslim-dominated south, officials said Thursday. More than 300 people have died in a wave of slayings starting in January, with most of the victims policemen, teachers and officials associated with Thailand's Buddhist establishment. Authorities blame the violence on a renewed Muslim insurgency, which had flourished in the area for decades but largely faded following a goverment amnesty in the 1980s.
Arom Buranarak, 67, a former village chief in the Banangstar district of Yala province was slashed to death by two men late Wednesday while he was riding home on a bicycle, said police Maj. Somchit Suwanchatree. Also in Yala province, an unidentified man hurled a fire bomb into the house of a retired police officer Wednesday night, causing minor damage to the building and a motorcycle parked inside, he added. Meanwhile, a gunman in a pickup truck opened fire late Wednesday with an assault rifle on 53-year-old police Sgt. Suradej Kalsuwan, who was riding a motorcycle in the Panareir district of Pattani province, said police Lt. Col. Sakarin Bampensamai. Suradej was hit twice and was in critical condition at a hospital, he said.
You always post the Thailand articles. Are you over there? I love that place. Hope things settle out, but I think they'll get worse before they get better.
BANDA ACEH: Indonesian soldiers have killed 16 separatist rebels during two clashes in Aceh province, the military said on Thursday. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrillas were killed in separate encounters in four districts on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Aceh military spokesman Asep Sapari. One of those killed was GAM's deputy operations commander Udin Abdullah, Sapari said. He and two of his men died in a gunfight at Seulimum in Aceh Besar district on Tuesday, the spokesman said. Troops seized a Kalashnikov rifle, a handgun and ammunition from the rebels.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/22/2004 9:11:10 AM ||
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The predominence of the Overseas Workers throughout Philipine society make the response to this hostage-taking pretty complex. The Gulf States are chalk-full of Phillipinos. Many of the vessels I saw in the Persian Gulf area were crewed exclusively with with Philipino sailors.
Some seven million Filipinos work abroad to earn a living for their families left behind. Known as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), there are more than a million in the Middle East, including around 4,000 in Iraq. Critics of Arroyo's decision to withdraw the troops early have voiced concern about the implications for OFWs' safety in years to come. "This is a moral hazard," political analyst Alex Magno said from Manila Tuesday. "It endangers our OFW community in the Middle East. One million workers are now more vulnerable to 'hostaging' because the terrorists now know that our government gives in to demands."
Magno, who heads the Foundation for Economic Freedom and is an advisor to the president, said Arroyo - who only began a new term three weeks ago after a hotly-disputed election - had been in an unenviable position. She found herself under "intense domestic pressure" from a country riveted by a "made-for-television melodrama." Images of de la Cruz's grieving family were interspersed with footage of left-wing groups protesting against the troops' presence in Iraq, he said.
In recent days some Filipinos had been drawing parallels between de la Cruz and Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina maid executed in Singapore for murder in 1995. The incident triggered a national outcry and strained ties between the two countries. Many Filipinos accused their government of not taking sufficient action to save Contemplacion, who became a symbol of exploited and overworked OFWs everywhere.
Magno described the public reaction in 1995 as a "peculiar trauma" with lasting effects. "There was a large emotional outburst in the streets all over the country, and it forced the resignation of our foreign minister at the time." A number of commentators have now been saying that Arroyo faced a similar choice between risking international difficulties or facing the wrath of the Filipino people. Magno said the withdrawal of the 51 troops obviously did not constitute not a major reduction in coalition force numbers, and was "largely a symbolic thing." But it was "an issue of national self-respect and credibility." Terrorists had been appeased and allies had been let down. He voiced the hope that long-term counter-terror cooperation with the U.S. would continue.
After you appease terrorists and let down allies?
In what he saw as a healthy sign, Magno noted that despite the highly emotional nature of the current episode, polling found the country to be fairly evenly divided between those who thought Manila should accede to the terrorists' demands and those who disagreed. "One would have thought that the whole emotional appeal of it -- this poor truck driver threatened with execution, his family holding vigils -- would have given the president's decision [to withdraw the troops] majority support, but it did not."
In a survey carried out by HB&A Research International and published last Thursday, 49 percent of respondents in the capital said Arroyo should give in to the terrorists' demands and 50 percent said she should reject them.
Magno said he doubted the Iraq troop decision would make much difference to the president's domestic political standing in the longer term. Her traditional opponents supported the pullout move, while her supporters criticized it. In both cases, he predicted, the trend would be "short-lived."
Posted by: Anonymous4828 ||
07/22/2004 2:25:43 AM ||
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Scerw you Philippines. You are with us or against us. You made your choice. I'll be bitching over every dime in aid you get for now on.
From Debka (though others, too, are reporting this actually happened, though they didn't indicate who was in the car)
Israeli helicopter-borne rocket hits car in Zeitun district of Gaza City killing two Islamic Jihad terrorists, according to witnesses. One identified as Hatem Rachim who paraded head of Israeli soldier after IDF APC blown up three months ago.
#3
How appropriate. I do in fact disagree with Mohandas Gandhi on the subject: krov za krov -- blood for blood.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
07/22/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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I've always admired the Israelis' incredible intel and, uh, "personal" touch. I think there can be great deterrent and disruptive value in this, and wish we would strive to emulate it a bit more.
The severed head and body of a man - thought to be a foreigner - have been found in north Iraq, Iraqi police say. The discovery was made in the Tigris river, according to a police chief quoted by the AFP news agency. The identity of the victim has not been established. Another beheaded body was found in the same area this month but its identity also remains a mystery.
Don't they have pictures and fingerprints for all the contractors in country?
Officials are investigating whether the body found earlier belongs to one of two Bulgarians kidnapped near Mosul.
I suppose local Iraqis who upset the "militants" could have their heads removed as well.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/22/2004 9:42:30 AM ||
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The Afghan defense ministry on Thursday said that its troops had arrested a top Taleban commander, who is among the US most wanted terrorist suspects, in the southern province of Helmand. Zahir Azimy, the spokesman for the defense minister, told DPA that Kaka Sardar, one of the Taleban top commanders, was arrested in the Bagran district of the southern province of Helmand on Wednesday. The top Taleban commander arrested on Wednesday was about to leave for the western province of Ghor when the Afghan troops arrested him, said Azimy. He was arrested with a pistol, a satellite telephone and a motorcycle, according to Azimy.
Meanwhile, Azimy said that a group of armed men ambushed a police vehicle in the same province and killed all the 11 police inside, including their commander, Qayum Jan. "Still it is not clear, whether the Taleban ambushed them or the smugglers," Azimy said. However, Mufti Abdul Latif Hakimi, a spokesman for the Taleban claimed responsibility of the 11 killed police.
Azimy also said that the US and Afghan troops killed three Taleban fighters and a woman who opened fire at the Afghan and US soldiers from a house in the southern province of Zabul. However, he declined to provide detailed information about the incident in Zabul.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/22/2004 9:35:57 AM ||
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âStill it is not clear, whether the Taleban ambushed them or the smugglers,â Azimy said.
U.S. and Afghan forces killed around 10 suspected Islamic militants and arrested five in a clash in central Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement on Thursday. Five Afghan government soldiers fighting alongside U.S. troops were also wounded in Tuesday's incident in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province, it said. The military said that the U.S.-led troops had come under heavy fire from an estimated 40 enemy fighters. "Approximately 10 enemy forces were killed in action, and five were wounded and captured," the statement said. "Five Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded during the firefight," it added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/22/2004 9:27:41 AM ||
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reports that Iraqi forces detained 200 in Baghdad, including foreigners - another report indicates 20 caught - not clear if this overlaps with above 200 - most of 20 are Syrians. Also found a weapons cache, and some battling in the streets.
All in addition to USMC actions at Ramadi.
A strategy is shaping up. Iraqi forces focus on (politically sensitive) Baghdad, while US forces focus on smaller towns in the Sunni triangle - Ramadi and Sammara for now - Fallujah being kept for later (for last, I think)
#3
Ali over at http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/ says that the price of weapons is going up in Iraq.
below is an extract
There are some groups (or countries) with high financial capabilities involved in the smuggling of weapons. This isnât new information of course but todayâs pictures have added to the evidence we have.
- Acquiring weapons and ammunition from the âlocal marketâ has become a difficult process for the following reasons:
1-Due to the rising prices because the 'local market' is running out of such stuff which were either used, destroyed or confiscated.
2-The continuous efforts of the Iraqi security forces and multinational forces in chasing and busting weapons dealers are making it more dangerous and difficult to purchase weapons locally and makes it easier to smuggle weapons from outside in case of Najaf for example which has common borders wit Saudi Arabia.
This is a good sign indeed because when getting weapons becomes more difficult and a lot more expensive than before we should expect a decline in the frequency of terrorist attacks in Iraq.
The government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has lifted an 11-year ban on the communist militant People's War Group to facilitate finding and killing all of the ones that don't surrender peacefully peace talks, a state Cabinet minister told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
My head's got a blister from scratching now. How do you make peace with the People's War Group? Do they become the People's Peace Group? Will we see them at the next World Bank convention?
More than 6,000 people have been killed since the group began fighting in 1981 against landowners, police, political and administrative officials, demanding a communist government and land redistribution. The lifting of the ban was announced after a three-hour meeting between the state's Home Minister K. Jana Reddy, three representatives of the People's War Group and seven civil liberties activists. "We will announce the modalities for peace talks soon as we kill all the ones that didn't surrender," Reddy told the AP. "Meetings and discussions with various people have been going on for the past three months, after which we have taken this decision. We have received representations from people and various political parties and organizations to lift the ban on PWG," Reddy said. The ban was first imposed in May 1992, was suspended in 1995, but re-imposed in 1996.
The People's War Group is also active in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand. But most of its activity has been in Andhra Pradesh, where it injured the state's former chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, in a Claymore mine ambush earlier this year. "I hope they will abide by law and will not brandish weapons. If they violate law, we will have to take the action and the ban can be re-imposed," he said. The PWG representatives, including folk singer Ghaddar, Vara Vara Rao and G. Kalya Rao, described the state government's decision to lift the ban "as significant, bold and historic."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2004 1:24:55 AM ||
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And, to celebrate the news, they're all on their way to the Capitol to show their support.
A US citizen appearing in court yesterday charged with running a private "war on terror" in Afghanistan claimed he and two other Americans were working with the full knowledge of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Jonathan Idema, who denies charges he detained and tortured Afghan citizens without US government consent, said they were hunting terrorists under the auspices of the Pentagon and said they had been abandoned by US authorities. "The American forces absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did. We have extensive evidence of that," said Idema, who is on trial with his subordinates Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo. US-led coalition forces have disavowed all ties with Idema, but international peacekeeping troops said they were duped into helping Idema's team, who wore US-style uniforms, believing they were legitimate Special Forces operatives.
Additional from BBC:
The US military has admitted it detained an Afghan man handed over by a US citizen accused of running a freelance counter-terrorism operation. A military spokesman said the prisoner was handed over by the American, Jonathan K Idema, in May. A BBC correspondent in Kabul says that the disclosure is embarrassing for the US, which said it had had no links with the alleged American mercenary. "We did receive a detainee from Mr Idema or his party," said Major Jon Siepmann, spokesman for the coalition forces. "The reason we received this person was that we believed that he was someone that we had identified as a potential terrorist and we wanted him for questioning," he said. But forces strenuously deny that Mr Idema was working for the military in any official capacity and insist that he is a mercenary.
I suppose if anyone walked a prisoner in and said he was somebody we were looking for we'd hold them while we checked it out.
They argue that they were not aware of Mr Idema's "full track record" prior to his arrest earlier this month along with two other Americans and four Afghans.
Oh, I'm sure somebody was, if not everyone.
Mr Idema argues that he was working with the knowledge of the US defence secretary, and that the US government had abandoned him. He said that in May he had handed over a man to the US authorities who he described as a Taleban intelligence chief. The suspect was released a month later when US officials decided he was not who Mr Idema said he was. Speaking to journalists before Wednesday's court proceedings, Mr Idema said he had evidence to prove he was working for the Pentagon.
You better have copies.
He claimed to have helped prevent several attempted terrorist attacks and said he had regular e-mail, phone and fax contact with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office and other senior Pentagon officials.
Sure you are. I think Johnathan K. has been smoking some of the local export crops.
He said his group had prevented assassination attempts on Education Minister Yunis Qanooni and Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim. The BBC correspondent in Kabul says that while Mr Idema's claims are being treated cautiously, many feel that more details will emerge with every new development in this saga.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2004 11:19:44 PM ||
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Idema said a four-star Pentagon official called Heather Anderson "applauded our efforts" and wanted to place the group "under contract" -- an offer they refused. But there are no four-star female officers in the entire U.S. military. The name Heather Anderson is not listed in the Pentagon phone book.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/22/2004 0:47 Comments ||
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I'm all for a little extra-territorial posse comitatus versus the taliban action. But what were these guys really up to?
#5
Here I am in t-shirt and shorts, wondering, what the hell are these guys doing to make a buck!
You could lay carpet, sell cars, develope porn sites, think of the posibilities. But these guys go to Afganistan and hook up with bands of madness. Man I'm confused!
#6
Hero, loose cannon? Strictly a relentless self promoting wanna be. He (finally) overstepped enough that he could be grounded for a long time. (though being in prison for wire fraud seemed to have taught him nothing).
#8
It's common knowledge that when you're busted,those you depend on most leave you high and dry. Legally, there's nothing the govt. can do. Our patriots should've went out in a blaze of glory.
#9
It's a shame to see a real Amaerican hero let hung out to dry. The war on "terror" is a dirty war, and it has to be fought by Americans who are willing to "take off the gloves" (as our President said)and risk everything. The 82nd airborne is not going to cature Osama (they have to many constraints). We should all be fighting to free this patriot from military beurocracy and an Afgani "kangaroo court"
Posted by: alex B. ||
09/16/2004 12:09 Comments ||
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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.
