The Islamic Army of Iraq, which is holding two French journalists hostage, said that France is an "enemy of Muslims," in a statement on a website that gave no details on the fate of the captives. The statement, carried on http://iaminiraq.tripod.com, cited France with a list of "crimes" that France had allegedly carried out against several countries, notably Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. "France has distinguished itself for its war against Islam and Muslims and has committed butchery against the nation," said the statement, whose authenticity could not be verified. "France's history with Muslims is a black one, blemished by hatred and malice and blood. Its modern history is no less so that in the past," the statement added, calling on the "Islamic nation to unite against its enemies," such as France. Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, along with their Syrian driver, were kidnapped on August 20.
But the statement said "true professionals, be they journalists, doctors or others, who do not carry out any activity ... are not the target of the Islamic Army," the statement said. "We respect those who are on a genuine humanitarian mission ... and are not pursuing missionary or intelligence objectives." "The Islamic Army has an organism for sharia (Islamic law) to settle such matters by a fatwa (religious decree) in conformity with the Book (the Koran) and Sunna (Islamic tradition). The Islamic Army respects the ulemas (Muslim scholars) of the nation." The hostage-takers initially demanded that Paris rescind its ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious insignia in state schools, but the law went into effect on September 2 as planned. After an unprecedented wave of condemnations from the Arab and Muslim worlds, the group seemed set to release the men but for the past week there has been no news.
#4
The Islamic Army of Iraq, which is holding two French journalists hostage, said that France is an "enemy of Muslims," in a statement on a website that gave no details on the fate of the captives.
"Sacro iliac! How can zees be? We tried to keep Saddam afloat, we tried to launder heez monee, we provided heem weeth our best weaponree, and we deed not follow zose feelthee Amereecans eentoo Iraq!
EFL
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Sept. 10, 2004) — Sgt. Charles K. Bartles first enlisted in the military eight years ago and renewed that commitment again Sept. 9 when he pledged to continue serving his country as a civil affairs specialist in the Army Reserve for six more years. But this time, Bartles didn't raise his right hand — he raised an artificial limb. [...] more at the link.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/14/2004 3:41:25 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
God Bless Sgt. Bartles, as well as all our troops.
Electricity supplies across Iraq have been disrupted after saboteurs attacked a key oil pipeline junction on the Tigris River in northern Iraq.
Engineers had to shut down a nearby power station in Baiji, fearing that flames would spread there.
The move set off a technical chain reaction which led to power outages across the entire country.
Repeated attacks on Iraq's crucial oil infrastructure have resulted in a loss of revenue estimated at $2bn.
Blackouts
Insurgents struck at about 0300 local time (2200 GMT) at a point where two pipelines ran side-by-side down to the River Tigris.
The attack near Baiji, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, set off a fire that melted cables and led to the power outage, electricity officials said.
Daylight revealed a huge fire on the riverbank, crude oil pouring down the slope into the river and thick clouds of black smoke.
The flow has now been turned off, but that in effect puts the whole of Iraq's northern oilfield - around the nearby city of Kirkuk - out of action, the BBC's Elizabeth Blunt reports.
Iraq's Minister of Electricity Ayham al-Samarie said engineers and technicians were working to restore power as soon as possible and that 30% of the work had been done.
"Power will be back in the coming hours," the minister said in a statement.
In a separate development, a fire erupted in a pipeline about 60km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, halting exports to Turkey, Iraqi officials said.
Normally Kirkuk oil either goes to the refinery and power station in Baiji itself or continues down the pipeline to Turkey, so the blazes simultaneously hit oil exports, power generation and domestic fuel supplies, our correspondent says.
Constant struggle
Iraq has a complicated network of pipelines, and they are designed to provide alternative routes when needed.
Exports to Turkey had already been reduced by an attack on the main pipeline last month, although some oil had been diverted to other routes.
BBC-News
Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadhban meanwhile told fellow OPEC members at a meeting in Vienna that the country's production had now reached 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, two million of them for export.
But it is proving a constant struggle to maintain that figure, our correspondent says.
Iraqi President Iyad Allawi said this week that the saboteurs had already cost Iraq about $2bn in lost revenue.
(Ask the question, which nation benefits the most by an Iraq in chaos and not able to export its crude oil overseas? If you stated Iran you win a cookie with milk))
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/14/2004 10:50:39 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Insurgent attacks in Iraq Tuesday have killed nearly 70 people and injured many more.
The worst attack was a car bomb explosion outside a police training center in Baghdad. At least 47 people, mostly new recruits, were killed and more than 100 wounded.
A few hours later, a second explosion rocked the capital. At least one person was wounded in the blast that appeared to target a convoy of Westerners.
To the north, in Baquba, at least 11 Iraqi policemen and their civilian driver were killed in a drive-by shooting.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network claimed responsibility for the two police-related attacks.
In the Sunni Muslim town of Ramadi, at least 10 people were killed in clashes between insurgents and U.S. troops.
In Mosul, meanwhile, an American soldier was killed and five wounded when their patrol was attacked.
Some information for this report provided by AFP.
VOA
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/14/2004 10:26:05 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Muslims killiing Muslims. Or more accurately foreign muslims killing Iraqis.
MOST of a severed head that probably belonged to a suicide bomber was found late yesterday afternoon on the fifth floor of an office building next door to the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
"Bob? Is this your head?"
The partial head, which included the scalp and most of the face, was found in the Menara Gracia building, Indonesian forensic investigators said on condition of anonymity. The location was similar to that of the suicide bomber's head found after the Marriott Hotel blast in the city. Asmar Latin Sani's head was found on a fifth floor after last year's Marriott bombing, catapulted through the vehicle roof by the force of the explosives.
Lends a new dimension to the phrase "popping one's nut," doesn't it?
The number of dead in the Jakarta embassy blast is expected to increase, perhaps to as many as 12, Indonesian police said yesterday. The remains of up to three suicide bombers are still unaccounted for. All nine bodies identified so far were victims, Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief Pranowo said yesterday, and both the remaining two corpses that were in doubt had been claimed by grieving families. The two heads painstakingly reconstructed by forensic scientists in recent days belonged to the last two victims identified. It is likely the head found in the Menara Gracia building will prove to be one of the most important finds in recent days. Forensic scientists now have the grisly task of trying to piece together as many as 117 small pieces of body in an attempt to determine how many suicide bombers there were, and to try to ascertain their identities. "The perpetrators' bodies were scattered," Brigadier-General Pranowo said. "We don't know for sure how many bodies there were."
Count all the lips and divide by two?
He confirmed blood samples had been taken for DNA-testing from as many as three families of suspected suicide bombing recruits. Investigation chief Suyitno Landung said suspects arrested across Java in recent months had confirmed three potential suicide bombers were recruited by Nordin Mohammad Top, the Jemaah Islamiah operative wanted in connection with the Bali and Marriott bombings. "Even their families have let them go," Inspector-General Suyitno said. "That's who we are concentrating on." The suicide letters that may have been written by the embassy blast bombers were written a few months ago, he said. "In the letter it says he is ready to commit suicide. He informed his family. It was some kind of will."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2004 4:13:39 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That's truly going ballistic.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/14/2004 16:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Put it on a stick and jam it into the ground in front of the damaged embassy. Tell anybody that inquires about it that if this sort of thing keeps up, there's going to be more of these heads of Islamozoids on sticks. Many, MANY more.
#3
I think it should be put in a large glass jar, filled with some type of clear pig fat that has been unsaturated, so that it stays liquid at room temperature, along with preservatives. Then they should show the jar on television and the newspapers as "a suicide bomber condemned to eternity in hell". Not subtle, but hey.
Indonesian police picked up the cell phone signals of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb-maker Dr Azahari Hussin a day after the bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
The cell phone line, which Indonesian police had been monitoring since the Jakarta J.W. Marriott bombing last August, came alive twice, enough to enable the police to pinpoint its location but not to warrant a manhunt.
A source told The Malay Mail that both signals lasted less than a minute last Friday.
Indonesian police have a list of Azahari's cell phone numbers. With the help of the Australian and American intelligence agencies, Indonesian police are able to locate him, via the Global Positioning system (GPS), when his lines are activated.
The source said they picked up the first signal in Bandung, slightly after 10am.
"Six hours later, they picked up another signal from the same cell phone, as it was moving towards east of Bandung."
The source said it was rare that they had picked up two signals in a day.
"Occasionally, the police would get a beep from the cell phone on the radar screen, but only for a short while."
The source said the two signals were their first after more than four months.
"Police believe Azahari was using the phone to retrieve or send SMS," said the source.
"Police are now stepping up their surveillance on Azahari in Semarang, Solo and Klaten. They think he may be heading there to seek refuge as he has lots of friends there."
Police also believe he travelled with Noordin Mohammed Top, another Malaysian fugitive who is also wanted for the Bali and J.W. Marriott bombings.
One evidence obtained by Indonesian investigators revealed that Azahari and Noordin, together with his cell members, had hatched a plan in Surabaya, East Java, early this year, to set off a bomb.
The initial plan was to kill Australian and Indonesian dignitaries officiating the opening of the anti-terrorism training school in Semarang, Central Java, in July. But the plan did not materialise. The source said Indonesian police believe that Azahari and Noordin had stayed in Surabaya for a while before moving to Salatinga in Central Java in early June.
"But their stay in Salatinga was brief. They subsequently moved to Solo in June. Somehow, they got wind of an impending raid and fled.
"In the raid, police arrested five suspected JI members."
At the end of July, police traced Azahari and three others to a house in Cengkareng, near Jakarta.
The source said police went to the rented house but they were three days late.
In the house, police found traces of sulphur and TNT, the ingredients used for the latest Jakarta bombing.
The source said Azahari and his men had paid the rental for the house two months in advance.
"They came to the house on July 23 but left four days later."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:52:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
THE JEMAAH Islamiyah members allegedly responsible for the bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia last week could have trained in Mindanao, a spokesman for the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Tuesday. "We are not discounting that possibility," Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said when asked to verify reports that JI members were trained in the southernmost part of the Philippines. "We are leaving that to our intelligence officials," he added. A spokesman for the military was not immediately available for comment. JI members had trained in Mindanao, police and military officials had admitted.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:50:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
From DEBKA - NaCl supplements suggested:
DEBKAfile reports: Message just passed from Arafat's "aides" to Washington claiming mysterious death in Gaza of Palestinian terrorist who murdered three CIA agents as their car entered N. Gaza Strip Oct.15, 2003. Only after unnamed Palestinian gunmen killed him did Arafat "discover" his hideout, says message. Palestinians are keeping affair secret, but DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources reveal: Arafat ordered the Americans' killer liquidated after US investigators tracked him down and found him on Abu Shbak's Palestinian Preventive Security Agency payroll.
Up to 10,000 people, many of them children, are dying each month from disease and the effects of violence in Darfur camps despite a big international aid effort, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
09/14/2004 11:38:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
But it's not quite "genocide"?????
Grrrrrr.
Fuck the diplos. Just fuck 'em.
#2
I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Dot, but it would be genocide if 10,001 folks per month were kicking off, but since it's only up to the allowable quota of 10,000, I'm afraid you don't have a case.
Of course, I look forward to all the hand-wringing about 4 years from now when all the diplos confess that something should have been done.
US president Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, classified documents made available for the first time reveal.
It took Hutu death squads three months from April 6 to murder about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus
#7
A study of settlements in the west and the north of the conflict ridden region, carried out by the United Nations health agency and the Sudanese government, pointed to a monthly toll of 6,000-10,000 out of a displaced population of 1.2 million.
So what's the response to be, Kofi? Take action, or simply keep counting?
#9
The EU says it will impose sanctions unless the militants are disarmed?
All right. Let's see. Time will tell. Remember, according to the story, a minimum of 18,000 and as many as 50,000 people have been wiped out in the last three months. Just remember the clock is ticking. You fiddle for a month? 6,000-10,000 MORE people die. President Bush-this is where you have the moral authority. Remind the world of the importance of leaders keeping their word.
#10
Looking at the Die Welt article on Syrian chem. weapons use in the Sudan, I have to wonder how that would effect the determination of "ethnic cleansing" (drive the buggers away) vs. "genocide" (kill them all, kill them now). It makes the cleansing party look awfully bad, especially as the revelation was made in a German rather than American newspaper.
Palestinian gunmen on Tuesday kidnapped and killed a suspected Palestinian agent who was accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence apparatus. Palestinian sources said that a number of gunmen kidnapped Rami Yaghmor while Palestinian policemen were escorting him to court and shot him at the head from close range. Sources close to the Fatah Movement said that Yaghmor had joined the Movement's military wing - al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - and then delivered information to the Israeli intelligence (Shin Beth) that led to the arrest of a number of activists. They said that Rami moved to Jericho at the pretext that the occupation authorities were chasing him and there he conveyed sensitive information on Aqsa Martyrs' activists that led to their arrest in that West Bank city. Palestinian security forces arrested him on his return to Ramallah where he confessed to being an agent to Israel, Hamas sources reported. Yaghmor was on his way to stand trial when he was kidnapped near the Am'ari refugee camp.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
09/14/2004 11:36:59 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Another step to civil war....pass the popcorn
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/14/2004 13:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Looks like the Pali cops believe in eliminating the middleman and passing the savings onto...Yasshole?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Assailants Tuesday launched two deadly assaults at Iraqi police targets -- killing 47 people in a car bombing at a police recruit line [they still don't use concrete barriers for some reason] in Baghdad and 12 police officers in a drive-by shooting in Baquba.
Several bystanders (probably planted by the terrorists) blamed America and Israel for the bomb.
Posted by: mhw ||
09/14/2004 10:03:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL
Supporters of Ismail Khan stormed the gates of a UN compound in Herat before looting and burning the offices there. It was one of six compounds attacked by the angry crowd on yesterday (Sunday). John Sifton, a researcher for the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch, has been reporting on the behavior of Ismail Khan and his militia forces for years. "Factors have been coming together and there is no simple explanation for how we got to where we are now," he told RFE/RL. "One thing that is clear is that Ismail Khan's power has been diminished over the last few months -- not only by advances of [his long-time rival, commander] Amanullah Khan, but by dissension of his own commanders who understand that in the long term, they may have a better chance of holding onto power by joining with the Kabul-based government of Hamid Karzai."
Sifton said there is no doubt that Ismail Khan was severely weakened by a series of military setbacks in recent months that have brought his rivals to the outskirts of Herat. But he also notes that Ismail Khan has a proven ability to make a comeback from seemingly hopeless situations. "It is clear that he is not as strong as he was, otherwise none of this would have been possible. On the other hand, the fact that these supporters of his took to the streets and, with relative impunity, attacked six different compounds -- it either means that there's a lot of chaos on the streets or that he continues to have power. But either way, the situation is pretty fluid. And we will see in the next few days which way it goes," Sifton said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/14/2004 3:29:08 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Two soldiers, a guard and a civilian have been killed in separate attacks by anti-government fighters in western and eastern Algeria, newspapers and security sources said. A municipal guard and two soldiers were killed in a gun fire exchange with fighters on Saturday night in the mountains on the outskirts of Gouraya, some 100km west of the capital Algiers amid a military sweep on their hideouts. A civilian was killed near Thenia, some 50km east of the capital, on Saturday, security sources said. Authorities were not immediately available for comment. Separately, official media said three fighters of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) died in a vast military operation in Relizane, west Algeria.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:54:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A vast military op only bagged 3? I have this image of the type of hunt where a long line of hunters beat the bushes to flush out the quarry. Afterwards the hunters take pics of themselves with the bagged preachers hanging upside down.
Posted by: V is for Victory ||
09/14/2004 7:44 Comments ||
Top||
Kashmiris believe they've figured out why the gunnies are so spectacularly inept at throwing grenades - they must work for the Indians.
In a sensational incident at Cheeni Chowk, people over powered a person who, according to people, was trying to lob a grenade at the public near a Central Reserve Police Force picket here this morning. However the accused grenade wielder identified as Bashir Ahmad Mir of Rani Pora, Shangus, managed to break their grip and entered into a CRPF picket. It happened around 1000 hours when according to eyewitnesses, the accused tried to snatch cash from a person who had just stepped out of bank. But facing resistance from the person he was attempting to rob and clamour that people nearby had raised, he exhibited two grenades and took aim at people who had caught hold of him and ran into the nearby CRPF picket.
"Grab that idiot, he's got a grenade!"
People poured in from nearby areas and surrounded the picket, lest the accused flee, and staged strong protests against security personnel for shielding, whom they termed a killer. "They call themselves security forces and at the same time they provide shelter to killers. Our suspicion regarding grenade throwers turned out to be cent percent true. Now we came to know why the target is always missed", said an agitated Sajida from Cheeni Chowk, whose elder son lost his left leg in a grenade attack at the same place sometime ago.
You mean it isn't because Hek's boys taught 'em?
People were furious over the 'protection' provided by security forces to a grenade wielder. "Had he lobbed the grenade at the bunker, who would have bore the brunt? The public, obviously", said Ashiq Hussain, a shopkeeper in the area. "We have suffered at the hands of these grenade lobbers so he should be handed over to public. We will make minced meat out of him," said Tufail, a youth from Malaknag.
Promote that boy to the rank of man!
Sensing that situation may take a nasty turn, police resorted to cane charge and bursted dozens of tear gas shells to disperse the relentless protesters and hurtled the accused into a police vehicle and left the scene. Talking to IMAGES, Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari, SSP Anantnag said, "Two grenades have been recovered from Bashir Ahmad Mir and we are investigating the matter and reports will follow soon", adding that people have done a commendable job. However, most of the locals alleged that the nabbed person was working with security forces.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/14/2004 1:28:14 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Twenty-two suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, including three Arabs, were killed in a fierce gun-battle with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan on Monday. Military spokesman Major Scott Nelson said at a news conference in Kabul that three of the 22 anti-coalition militants killed in the gun-battle that took place at Shinkai in Zabul province were Arabs. He said another three militants, including an Arab, were captured in the fighting, which had continued throughout the night. Nelson said the fighting erupted late on Sunday night after about 40 militants, armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and a global positioning system, attacked US soldiers patrolling in Shinkai district of Zabul province. He said the troops also seized a video camera and several tapes, but declined to disclose their contents. He claimed that no coalition soldiers were hurt in the fighting, which also involved two US Apache gunship helicopters.
In a separate incident, several suspected Taliban militants ambushed a US-led convoy in Kandahar province late on Sunday, but there were no coalition casualties, Nelson said. "It was an attempted ambush. The Taliban engaged our vehicles and we engaged with them. A number of the Taliban might have been killed, I'm not sure," he said.
The Taliban and al-Qaeda attacks had been fuelling instability in Heart, where thousands of sacked governor Ismael Khan's supporters had attacked the UN offices, the offices of NGOs as well as Afghan and US forces. Separately, a Taliban spokesman rejected claims by the US military in Afghanistan that leaders of the ousted militia were seeking truce with the authorities in Kabul, a report said on Monday. "We strongly deny the assertion by US military and consider it just a rumour," a Pakistan-based private Afghan Islamic Press report quoted Hamid Agha as saying in a faxed statement.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:21:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
The only problem with the link function is that it pastes double quotation marks around the website address instead of single.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/14/2004 5:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Separately, a Taliban spokesman rejected claims by the US military in Afghanistan that leaders of the ousted militia were seeking truce with the authorities in Kabul
even if they are, it's just a hudna. I wouldn't trust 'em.
Pakistan's military says it has killed some 150 foreign fighters during its 11-month battle against militants in the country's tribal belt. However, the military says senior leaders, including al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, continue to elude authorities. A Pakistan military spokesman says the majority of those killed in military operations in the troubled South Waziristan tribal district, were Uzbeks and Chechens. The spokesman says the military operation is still in progress and it is difficult to say how long it will take.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:20:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
At least two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a suicide bomb attack near a West Bank checkpoint on Tuesday, the Israeli army and medics said. Israeli media said the blast occurred early Tuesday morning near the Habla passage, near the West Bank town of Qalqilya.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/14/2004 1:19:19 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hi Dan,
The israely YNET news website one reports that the Boomer was riding his splody-bicycle trying to pass the new Havla pass which was opened for letting farmers pass to work their land beyond the security fence.
It just shows you that being humane to the poor farmers begets you attacks from the fucking murderous Hamas mentally defective Jihadis.
I hope the US will not make the same mistake of being excessively humane when the time comes to deal with the Irani Mullah's new nuclear toys. If you fall into the same trap, it's probably gonna cost you (and maybe us ??) a city or two.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
09/14/2004 4:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hmm - I see a Yassin procedure in the near future. . .
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.
