Five Canadian soldiers and their Afghan translator were injured as a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in the volatile Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Thursday. Military officials said the Canadian soldiers were on routine patrol in the Gunbad district of Kandahar when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. The injured soldiers and Afghan inerpreter were immediately rushed to a coalition base for treatment where their condition is stated to be out of danger.
The Canadian military has taken charge of security in Kandahar province a few months back. The military did not give further details. Roadside bomb attacks are common in Afghanistan's southern parts but in recent few weeks, the Taliban have started direct encounters with Afghan and coalition forces resulting in loss of hundred of people from both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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A fresh wave of violence in southern Afghanistan claimed 11 more lives on Friday as many locals are fleeing their houses in areas where fierce fighting and skirmishes are going on between Taliban and the Afghan and coalition forces. The 11 people were killed in the Afghanistan's southern province of Ghazni on Friday, governor of the province Sher Alam said in press remarks. He said 10 of the dead were Taliban militants and one policeman.
10:1 is good. The poor cop doesn't think it is, of course...
The governor said the insurgents attacked a police party in Geero district killing one policeman. As the exchange of fire continued, fresh support of government and coalition forces arrived and the security forces surrounded the militants. Police chief of Ghazni Abdur Rahman Sarjang said at least 10 fighters were confirmed dead in the clash that continued for about two hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd be cautious interpreting claims by various parties of the number of Taliban (etc.) killed in specific actions; relatively poor fire discipline (often even by American troops) combined with the nature of the enemy to move among civilians means a lot of the people counted as killed Taliban may not be. However, once you involve serious air strikes you probably do kill the number of enemy claimed - not necessarily the same bodies you claim are enemy, but the enemy whose bodies no longer exist (in Afghanistan you can't just count the number of hands or feet and divide by two to get the number of people killed.)
Amid the gunfire erupted yesterday in southern Mogadishu, capital of Somalia has died down many civilians continue to flee themselves to safer areas in fear of the fighting might resume on Friday. Yesterdays clashes were the worst since the start of the conflict between alliance for restoration of peace and counter terrorism and Islamic courts union in February. Medical officials in the Mogadishu hospitals confirm that at least 35 people most of civilians have been killed and hundreds more were injured in fierce clashes in different location of the capital on Thursday. Most of the people were killed by mortar shells and stray rounds that crashed in to their homes.
Hundreds of families with their children are today evacuating from south of Mogadishu and heading to Afgoie district of lower Shabelle region. The road to Afgoie is recently blocked by militia of anti terror alliance who said they checking up cars in and out of the capital in attempt to sluggish the movements of the Islamic fighters.
Reliable sources from Jowhar town, some 90km north of the capital say that 12 militiamen loyal to Mohamed Dhere were injured in yesterdays fighting in Galgalato area in north of Mogadishu. Mohamed Dhere, who controls part of middle Shabelle region, is one of powerful warlords in Somalia and member of the newly formed alliance for restoration of peace and counter terrorism (ARPCT). Also reports say 10 people in SOS hospital area have been killed in same place by mortar shell overnight that crashed into where they stayed. The mortar was reported to have been fired from Galgalato area, an eye witness told Somalinet.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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A man wanted in connection with bombings that killed 20 people in the Sinai resort of Dahab last month has turned himself in, state news agency MENA said on Friday. The report named the man as Mohamad Khadr Salam, 26, who was also wanted for other attacks on resorts in the Sinai peninsula.
The report said tribal elders convinced Salam to go to the authorities after police released his brother, who was being held on similar accusations but was found to have no involvement. Salam also says he is innocent. He is the latest in a series of suspects to have turned himself in. Four men did so earlier this month.
Salam is from the middle of the Sinai peninsula. Authorities have blamed a group of Sinai bedouin with militant Islamist views, named by Egypt as Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Jihad), for a series of bomb attacks in the region. The group has never issued a statement or claimed responsibility for attacks. The Interior Ministry has said police have killed a total of seven suspects since the Dahab bombings, most in gunfights in northern Sinai.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/27/2006 01:30 ||
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Never issued a statement or claimed responsibility for attacks.
Egyptian law and order forces continued to search for terrorists who could be involved in recent bomb attacks which targeted tourist areas such as Dahab, Sharm El-Sheikh and al-Joura. "More than 150 kilograms of explosives were found in metal tins and iron containers," the Cairo-based Middle East News Agency said.
The explosives were "hidden under desert sand in the Humdha area in Rayssan in the middle of the Sinai desert, the agency said. It added that explosives experts were brought to the site to survey the area and collect the explosives as a prelude to taking them to a safe place.
Earlier, law and order forces had found 50 kilograms of TNT in addition to 20 land mines ready for use as well as other dismantled mines and photographic equipment with two printers and two camera stands. They were all found hidden under the desert sand in the same area as the 150 kilograms. The explosives were to be used by local renegades in that area before some of them were arrested and others escaped, the agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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photographic equipment with two printers
The Portable Pakistani Passport Pack. Ready to go when you are.
A London court ruled out today to extradite to Spain a supposed Al Qaeda activist who is believed to have been connected with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, AFP informs. 38-year-old Farid Hilalili has 14 days to appeal the courts decision before the Supreme Court which must make a final ruling on the extradition of the Moroccan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/27/2006 01:10 ||
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I'll believe it when he is on the plane which has landed in Spain.
A package delivered Friday to a Julington Creek home with picture of the World Trade Center on the outside contained what appeared to pipe bombs, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
The residents of a home on West Pleasant Place, off Racetrack Road, said they were not expecting a package and considered it suspicious, so they called authorities, WJXT-TV reported.
The immediate adjacent residences were evacuated and the cul de sac closed as a precaution while authorities inspected what appeared to be an improvised explosive device. They remain out of their homes until a second device is detonated.
A law enforcement robot used to explore potentially explosive devices retrieved the top of the box for evidence prior to detonating the device.
The fact that the devices were active, combined with the Twin Towers markings, led authorities to take this case very seriously, immediately requesting that Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI agents come to the scene, according to WJXT-TV.
"We have an Sept. 11 scene -- a scene of New York City prior to Sept. 11," St. Johns County officer Chuck Mulligan said. "After that fact, we're not going to too many specifics about the device itself, certainly we'll let ATF and our investigators look at that."
Authorities told WJXT-TV's Adam Landau that they are interviewing everyone in the neighborhood and making sure no other devices are nearby.
"Normally, even if someone has designed a package to look as though it's an explosive device, we find nothing explosive inside," Mulligan said. "Certainly different today."
#1
hmmmm..... I'm a bit suspicious of this story. They weren't expecting a package so they considered it suspicious? Why? Ok...maybe Because it had a picture of the WTC on the front ...but...
If you went to all of the trouble to make a real bomb - why would you tip your victim by putting a picture of the WTC on the front?
The head of the U.S. National Guard surprised Border Patrol officials, declaring some of the troops he will send to assist them will work in close proximity to the border, be armed and allowed to fire their weapons if necessary. "Any soldier assigned to a mission where he would be placed in harm or danger, where his life would be threatened potentially, will in fact be armed and will have the inherent right of self-protection," Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum told the San Antonio Express-News Thursday.
Federal troops are scheduled to begin deployment to the four states on the Mexican border next week once the Guard and the Defense Department approve the memorandum of understanding that will define the mission's parameters. The document will also require signatures from the border governors.
Representatives from the National Guard and the offices of the governors of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California have been meeting in Phoenix this week to craft an agreement on the use of force. The talks have focused on "harmonization" of the different states' laws on self-defense and the use of deadly force, said Texas National Guard commander Army Maj. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez. The rules of engagement "will be the same in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas," said Blum. Let's hope they follow more closely to the Texas or Arizona rules than the California ones.
Troops stationed at vehicle inspection stations and engineers working along the border could be armed, said Blum, with M-16s, 9-mm handguns and shutter guns shotguns. "But we're not going to be carrying machine guns. We're not going to be carrying heavy weapons. We're not at war here," Blum said, adding he wants his troops "to be in a position to protect themselves."
Border Patrol spokesman Todd Fraser expressed surprise that the Guard would be carrying out surveillance operations in close proximity to the border, saying his understanding was that troops would work in support roles repairing and maintaining Border Patrol vehicles, manning remote-surveillance cameras and giving agents advanced firearms training. "As far as I know, a National Guard unit deployed along the border, right on the line, that's not a scenario I had heard about," said Fraser. You should read Rantburg more often.
When told that Guard troops working as entry identification teams and engineers along the border would be armed and would not be required to wait for someone else to shoot at them first before using their weapons, Fraser termed the rule "silly." It's only fair to let the criminals get the first shot in, after all. Idiot.
"If [a Guardsman] has to fire, he has a right to fire," Blum said. "There are judgment calls that have to be made by mature, disciplined soldiers, and I'm confident that these soldiers have the discipline, the training, and the experience and judgment to make the proper call or we wouldn't be employing them in this mission." Too bad Mr. Fraser doesn't seem to get it.
#3
Todd Fraser seems to be the type that will seek a court ruling to require an OK from Mexico to allow armed N Guard troops. Meanwhile, the Minutemen are building their own fences in AZ on private land. The plot thickens.
#4
I still think rotating a couple of MAGTF units from Camp Pendleton/Yuma would be more efficient (plus they have a LOT more weapons to use than the NG). Marines might tend to think of the Border as an 'Inner Perimeter', something that NOTHING will cross. Their 'Outer Perimeter' might include the 31st Parallel.
The bad guys' lives would get extremely 'complicated'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/27/2006 17:37 Comments ||
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Best news I've heard today. M16s are more than adequate for daily missions. If some foolish Federales decide to take potshots, I'm sure we could vector some Apaches in there within 20 minutes to suppress any kind of activity. The MSM and lefties in general will be shocked to see how a few armed troops wil completely stop the flow in any sector they operate in.
Azizullah, the serious-minded son of a Pakistani farmer, yearned for martyrdom, his family said. This week the Taliban made his wish come true.
The zealots inspired him to jihad, trained him to shoot and dispatched him to fight the infidel Americans across the border in Afghanistan. So it was fitting that after he died last Sunday night, trapped under a hail of American firepower, that a procession of black-turbaned men brought him home.
"He always wanted to die like this, a heroic death. We are very proud of him," said his brother, Gul Nasib, a solemn looking man with a drawn face, at their home in Bagarzai Saidan, a village on a yawning plain in Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The Afghan border lay 30 miles north.
Now all that remained was a picture of Azizullah on the picture on Nasib's mobile phone, his eyes closed and flowers garlanded around his face. Hushed mourners streamed to the grave, a mound of stones draped with a green cloth. A waft of incense clung to the evening air.
The Taliban flag fluttered at one end of the grave; the black and white standard of Jamiaat Ulema Islam (JUI-F), an extremist Pakistani religious party that helps to rule Baluchistan, protruded from the other.
An hour earlier a radical cleric, Maulana Abdul Bari - who also happens to be Baluchistan's minister for public health - addressed the village from a mosque. "Azizullah was a true martyr, his place in paradise is guaranteed," he said, his words echoing through a loudspeaker and across the village. "His blood will not be lost. It will strengthen Islam like water feeds a tree."
Azizullah died in Panjwayi, a violent district of Kandahar province where US A-10 "warthog" planes pounded a religious school filled with Taliban. The Americans claimed to have killed up to 80 fighters; yesterday a human rights group said 34 civilians perished too.
The battle was the climax of Afghanistan's bloodiest week since 2001. A succession of firefights raged across Kandahar and Helmand, where 3,300 British troops are being deployed as part of an ambitious Nato mission. By yesterday an estimated 339 people were dead, most of them Taliban fighters like Azizullah.
What worries western commanders and their Afghan allies is not just the intensity of the storm but its direction.
The Taliban recruit, resupply and coordinate their war effort from Pakistan, according to western and military officials. The insurgents slip across at several points along the 930-mile border, a largely unpatrolled stretch of sand, rock and mountain. But the weakest - and most controversial - blindspot is in Baluchistan.
A vast and largely lawless province, Baluchistan offers a range of hiding places. Returning from Azizullah's funeral service, the Guardian passed young men sauntering down the road or hunkered over tea at roadside cafes. All were dressed in inky black shalwar kameez and roughly tied black turbans - dress that is not native to Baluchistan but in Afghanistan is unambiguously associated with the Taliban.
Some insurgents melt into the camps that house more than 231,000 Afghan refugees in Baluchistan. Others shelter in madrassas run by local sympathisers such as JUI-F and funded with Middle Eastern money. North of Pishin, a bustling market town, teenage boys with jewelled skullcaps sat cross-legged outside a mud-walled madrassa. The sign at the gate read "Zia ul Uloom Al Arabiya" - "the Light of the Knowledge of Arabia".
Headquarters
But the Taliban nerve centre is allegedly 30 miles south in the provincial capital Quetta, which a British officer, Colonel Chris Vernon, recently described as "the major headquarters".
Once a British colonial garrison town, Quetta has long been a home to spies, smugglers and fighters. During the 1980s it was a base for Afghan mujahideen battling Soviet troops inside Afghanistan.
Today it still has a pungent air of intrigue. Police at checkposts guard for Baluch nationalist guerrillas who have dramatically escalated a bombing campaign against the state. Government intelligence agents sit indiscreetly in the lobby of the largest hotel, the Serena, carefully tracking the movements of visiting foreigners.
Diverted western aid, such as American vegetable oil and United Nations sheeting, are on sale in the main bazaar. For those interested, so are guns, heroin and hashish smuggled across the border from Afghanistan.
The Taliban move through the town like a dark whisper. Yesterday morning in Pashtunibad district, small groups of young men with kohl under their eyes and silky white or black turbans on their heads strolled between the vegetable stalls and clothes traders. By midday many had pushed into the city's mosques, where preachers dished up the usual fiery fare.
At the central mosque, Maulana Abdul Wahid railed against a Jewish and Christian "conspiracy against Muslims" and spoke admiringly about the suicide bombers. "Regardless of the cost to their lives, at least some Muslims are struggling," he told worshippers.
The largely low-key Taliban presence occasionally bursts into the open. On May 8 motorcycle-riding assassins gunned down Mullah Samad Barakzai, a one-time Taliban official from Helmand who had shifted his support to the US-backed Karzai government. Yesterday his son, Hafiz Shabir Ahmed, cancelled an arranged interview with the Guardian. "I've been told not to talk about it," he said.
The Taliban presence is also a matter of sensitivity for the Pakistani government. Relations with Afghanistan are at their lowest level in years following unfiltered criticism that Islamabad is doing little to close down the Taliban war machine.
Last week President Hamid Karzai told a provincial gathering: "We know very well that in Pakistani madrassas, boys are being told to go to Afghanistan for jihad. They're being told to go and burn schools and clinics."
Col Vernon's allegation that Quetta was a Taliban headquarters caused Pakistani official to lodge furious complaints with the British high commission, which hurriedly issued a statement distancing itself from the officer's "personal views".
'Martyrs'
Pakistan argues it is being unfairly blamed for an Afghan problem. Officials say it is is impossible seal a border which is populated on both sides by Pashtun tribesmen who consider it a colonial anachronism. Up to 15,000 people pass through the main checkpost at Chaman every day, said a military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan. "Everyone has a black or white turban, a shalwar kameez and a beard. Everyone looks like a Taliban. You can't arrest them all," he said.
Pakistan has also taken other steps to address western and Afghan concerns. Posters, calendars and audio cassettes celebrating Taliban "martyrs" and Osama bin Laden have been removed from the city centre shops. Four months ago police arrested over 50 radical clerics who defied a ban on broadcasting sermons over loudspeakers. But many believe it could do more. Suspicions linger that elements within the country's intelligence services take a lacklustre approach to clamping down on the Taliban fighters that they once helped to arm and indoctrinate. Such an idea was "rubbish", said Maj Gen Sultan.
A western intelligence source said that several Taliban leaders are living in Quetta, possibly including Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged cleric close to the monocular leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar. But although Pakistan has killed or detained more than 1,000 al-Qaida suspects since 2001, according to one recent report, it has only picked up a handful of Taliban militants. Until his arrest last October Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi openly spoke with reporters from Quetta.
The Taliban's true strength, however, is felt across the border. Over the past six months the insurgents have ratcheted up their campaign to overthrow President Karzai's western-backed government - an idea that once appeared quixotic but has now acquired some potency. At least 32 suicide bombs and almost daily roadside bombs so far this year reveal an enemy that is better organised, funded and motivated than ever before
"It hasn't been this bad since 2001," said one westerner with several years' experience in Kandahar. "And I think it's going to get worse before it gets better."
Corruption
The Taliban are not the only enemy facing the 7,000-strong Nato force. Four years and billions of pounds later, the Karzai-led government and its western backers have dismally failed to draw the southern provinces into the central government. Now they are haemorrhaging support rapidly.
The parlous state of central authority is most evident in Helmand. The police are corrupt, government departments defunct and, despite years of disarmament, guns are everywhere.
The Taliban rule the night. Abdul Qadeer, a 38-year-old teacher, angrily brandished his work papers as he fruitlessly sought help. The Taliban had burned down his school months earlier, he said. When he started teaching again from a tent in the yard they sent another letter that read: "We kindly request you not to attend school any more or we will kill you."
Mr Karzai's failure to bring real change has caused great disillusionment among the "swing voters" that the British mission hopes to woo.
Last week Ghulam Sarwar, a weary looking farmer, sat in the shade of a trellis of hanging grapes as his 10-year-old nephew Abdul served tea.
The central government was all but invisible in his life, he said, having failed to deliver promised irrigation systems and fertiliser irrigation to grow legitimate crops. "They have given us nothing so the poppy is a kind of revenge," he said.
When poppy eradication teams took to the fields, slashing down crops, they sidestepped farmers with bribe money or political connections. But over half of Sarwar's crops were destroyed.
"If they are going to destroy our fields there should at least be some alternative. It seems this government is against its own people."
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 15:55 ||
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Quagmire! quoth Al-Guardian
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 16:53 Comments ||
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Al-Guardian I was supprised when I opened the link I was expecting the BBC.
Perv need to be put on notice. We are not going to ignore cross border incursions anymore. Bombing from the air will insue in X days unless he get a firm grip on the border and these "tribal" areas. Our fighting men are to valueable to lose to farmers sons from Pakistan on a religious quest.
#3
The fear of Pak nukes falling into jihadi hands allows a lot of behavior to go unpunished.
Perv has convinced many in the international community that "apres moi, le deluge".
Thus the acceptance of casualties and the massive foreign aid - billions of dollars and weapons galore...
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 20:05 Comments ||
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That's been the song the Pak military's been singing since Day 1, hasn't it? And the reason they nurture the fundos...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 20:22 Comments ||
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" 'His blood will not be lost. It will strengthen Islam like water feeds a tree.' "
Strange that WE are seen as a decaying culture; theirs relies on blood to feed it. Reminds me of Caligula.
#6
The Guardian was one of the original quagmirists. I'm sure the reporter feels very strongly about his stance, and has asked around until he got the quote he wanted. But whether his assertions actually reflect the situation on the ground is debatable. He says - after trolling through various sources for quote he could use - that the situation on the ground is as bad, for coalition forces, as it was in 2001. Well, the Taliban was in charge of Afghanistan until November 2001, with tens of thousands of troops under its command. When the Taliban runs its banner up the flagpole in Kabul, I'll believe it's like 2001 all over again. Given the Guardian's ineptitude at making predictions, I doubt that will happen for the next several decades.
#7
All that is quite true Zhang Feihowever the Taliban seem to have the freedom to operate in and from Pakistan. That is a huge issue even with the Guardian's credibility being zero.
Seventeen-year-old Shakeer Ahmed was arrested on the charge of possessing secret documents and maps related to civil works pertaining to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Wednesday night.
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel found Ahmed, a contract labour, carrying secret documents and maps, while he was coming out of SHAR. They immediately took him into custody and informed the senior officers and the district police.
Senior officials of the CISF, Superintendent of Police N. Suryanarayana and other police officers interrogated Ahmed till Thursday midnight to ascertain whether he had any links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. He claimed that he found the documents while on his way out.
"The police have registered a case under relevant sections against Ahmed and interrogation is going on," Mr. Suryanarayana told The Hindu on Friday. The police could divulge full details only after the probe.
Ahmed, a primary school drop-out, hails from Brahmadevam village of Muthukur mandal. His father died two months ago.
The family members of Ahmed claimed that he had no links with any anti-national outfit. "Since we hail from the minority community, everybody suspects that my son has links with the ISI, but he is absolutely innocent," said his mother Saheena. "If it is proved that my son has links with the ISI, all our family members will commit suicide," she said.
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 09:26 ||
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Promises, promises.
And all the liberals were going to move to Canada if GWB won in 2004.
Satellite photo of the SHAR complex at Sriharikota
The nearby beach looks good...
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 9:38 Comments ||
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he is absolutely innocent,
Of course.. your son is innocent. He is just being persecuted for being a muslim.. Allah has decreed that he may leave the space complex with blueprints and maps. The kaffir police just don't understand.
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 9:41 Comments ||
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#4
Ahmed, a primary school drop-out
These kaffir hindoos must be to blame for him dropping out of elementary school. Why did they not teach the koranic recital there.? If only the school was a madrassa, Ahmaed would still be there.
What good is this science and mathematics? The koran says nothing about rockets.
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 9:48 Comments ||
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#5
It's OK, Ahmed, it did work for Sandy Berger either.
#6
Unlike Sandy Berger, poor Ahmed may experience the tradition known as the Indian Police beating.
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 10:42 Comments ||
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#7
Just speculating here but it would not be surprising if the authorities turn up ISI links with the local mosque. Who encouraged this kid to do this? The local imam? He seems just the sort of vulnerable individual that the islamists target.
Posted by: john ||
05/27/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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#8
Central Industrial Security Force
Jeeez, that sounds like a union busting gang from Loon Lake.
Suspected Taliban militants Friday blew up a ladies health center and shot dead a trader, accused of spying for the US troops in Afghanistan, said security officials. The ladies health center was blown up in Hamzoni district of North Waziristan tribal agency, officials told KUNA. However, they said there were no casualties as at the time of explosion, no body was in the center. "The explosion badly damaged the center building", they added.
Meanwhile, militants shot to death a local carpet trader in the main market of Miramshah, the regional headquarters, for spying on them for the US troops, officials said further. Militants in last two weeks have killed at least five US spies in the agency. In a related incident, militants damaged a vehicle of local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) near Miramshah, officials said. They added that the driver received serious injuries but is said to be in stable condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Go for it. Kill off all the businessmen and be damned with even more dependency on Persian Gulf handouts.
P.S. All the opium smugglers are really US spies. You know what to do.
Posted by: ed ||
05/27/2006 1:04 Comments ||
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Note that the Kuwaiti outlet flatly call them "US spies" with no qualifiers, but says that the assassination was carried out by "suspected" Taliban militants. You're welcome, Kuwaitis, for saving you from Saddam's tender mercies.
Police Friday arrested two suspected militants and seized 450 kilograms (990 pounds) of explosive material in a raid in Southern Karachi port city, said a police official. Police in a raid on a house in Magopir area found 325 kilos of sodium nitrate, 100 kilos of potassium and other high-intensity bomb-making material, city police chief, Niaz Siddiki, told reporters.
He said two suspected militants were also arrested, adding that police was interrogating them to determine their links with any outlawed outfit. He said they originally belong to North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and had been selling bomb-making material to terrorists since last four years.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Suspected nationalist militants Friday night blew up a main gas pipeline in the insurgency-hit Baluchistan province of Pakistan, suspending gas supply to thousands of domestic and commercial users and setting on fire the adjacent bazaar, said officials.
Militants tore apart the 30-inch of diameter state-owned pipeline in the gas-rich Sui district, about 300 kilometers from Quetta, the provincial capital, local police official, Muhammad Jamshoro, told KUNA. He said the explosion triggered fire that engulfed the adjacent main bazaar of Sui district. He added that there were no casualties but the fire smoke fainted about 20 children and 8 others in the bazaar. He said further that fire brigades were trying to extinguish the blaze.
A Sui Northern Gas company official said that the gas supply has been suspended to thousands of users in the eastern Punjab province and in some parts of Southern Sindh province. The official said that the repair work would begin only after the fire is put off. Police did not blame any militant group behind the latest terrorist activity but suspected local Baluch nationalists behind it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Frankly, I'm amazed there are any functioning gas pipelines left in Baluchistan.
WASHINGTON Photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team have convinced investigators that a Marine unit killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqis, some of them "execution-style," in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed an American in November, officials close to the investigation said Friday.
The pictures are said to show wounds to the upper bodies of the victims, who included several women and six children. Some were shot in the head and some in the back, congressional and defense officials said. One government official said the pictures showed that infantry Marines from Camp Pendleton "suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership, with tragic results."
The case may be the most serious incident of alleged war crimes in Iraq by U.S. troops. Marine officers have long been worried that Iraq's deadly insurgency could prompt such a reaction by combat teams.
#2
I dunno. I think the sources are anonymous right now because there are big penalties for speaking out. I'm very concerned becuase, even when you get past the MSM bias, something here doesn't look right. It may have been a small number of Marines who lost discipline and control, but one is one too many.
I'll wait for the report and the inquiry. I'm very concerned.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2006 18:34 Comments ||
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What struck me about this article was how the LAT writers put "fire team" in scare quotes, as if there were something sinister about the term or as if the Marines had formed a special unit just to kill Iraqi civilians. AFAIK the term goes back to WWII if not further.
The battalion about whose Marines these allegations are being made is, as I understand it, 3/1, which fought with great distinction at Fallujah in November 2004. Brad Kasal-- the Marine holding the pistol in the famous photo-- was in that battalion IIRC.
So this had better not turn out to be more MSM bullshit.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/27/2006 18:35 Comments ||
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#4
I dunno. I think the sources are anonymous right now because there are big penalties for speaking out
Uhm, Steve, the CIA woman who got fired spoke anonymously. If officials are afraid to speak out they sure aren't showing it.
#5
Oh, and the prima facie evidence being no pockmarks on walls?
I'll wait for charge to be filed, but I seriosuly doubt they will be.
This is a clear case of wishful thinking.
Remember: The Marines do not operate in a vacuum. There is another element likely responsible for killings, and they are the enemies the Marines are fighting.
#6
If "officials" involved in the investigation leak information then they are breaking the rules and tainting the story. Also it iz in really bad taste for any govenment official (especially elected ones) to spout off any judgement until they at least get their day in court. Also I don't care if you served in a "fire team" last week in Iraq you cannot possibly know the why, what, and hows of this case so just shut up and wait. All I see at worst is an illegal shooting but probably not intentional (the Marines did not go out hunting civilians).
#7
I'm concerned there's likley some truth to the story. I'd much rather sort it out and get to the bottom of it and weed out the bad eggs, if there are any. What wrankles me are folks speaking before the results of a concluded and vetted investigation are brought forward. Mind you, if the fire team took it upon themselves to whack folks who were just there, then they've sunk to Z's maddeness and ought to be punished. Again, I'd prefer to see the whole truth come out in due time -- popping it out early doesn't help anyone.
That is a big part of our "leak" problem. We need criminal investigations of this stuff. These people have none of the protection elected politicians have.
#9
As I've said before I am waiting until they've had their day in a true no b.s. military court before making any comments. Until then I always give my fellow Marines the benefit of the doubt. Either way this whole situation sucks and I still want Murtha's f*cking skull.
#10
I dunno. I think the sources are anonymous right now because there are big penalties for speaking out.
Anonymous sources are under no obligation to be sources at all. They could simple say "I don't wish to comment on an ongoing investigation." By being an anonymous source you open yourself up to be seen as having a hidden agenda.
Of course if some Marines are found guilty of this, then they must be punished. But I think it is high time to start treating the illegal combats who are cought with IED materials as the war criminials they are with very public trials and sentences, and by sentences I mean hangings.
Southern Iraq, long touted as a peaceful region that's likely to be among the first areas returned to Iraqi control, is now dominated by Shiite Muslim warlords and militiamen who are laying the groundwork for an Islamic fundamentalist government, say senior British and Iraqi officials in the area.
The militias appear to be supported by Iranian intelligence or military units that are shipping weapons to the militias in Iraq and providing training for them in Iran.
Some British officials believe the Iranians want to hasten the withdrawal of U.S.-backed coalition forces to pave the way for Iran-friendly clerical rule.
Iranian influence is evident throughout the area. In one government office, an aide approached a Knight Ridder reporter and, mistaking him for an Iranian, said, "Don't be afraid to speak Farsi in Basra. We are a branch of Iran."
#2
Quit paying their salaries. Also IEDs work both ways.
Posted by: ed ||
05/27/2006 2:55 Comments ||
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#3
To be honest, yes.
Iran has been very busy and spending a LOT of money, buying agents, elections, militia, and Shia ministers. They would have it completely in the bag except for one tiny detail...
Soft power, that cute soft beret approach, is not just a dismal failure, it's a total fucking disaster. The south is Iranian militia territory. The UK troops are merely tolerated - as long as they don't get in the way. Otherwise, they're tits on a boar. UK military leadership in the south is beyond abysmal, it's insane.
Jabr, the 2nd-most obvious Mullah-tool in the bizarre Shia disaster of a "government" should've been shot between the eyes, not handed another ministry to subvert to Mullah ends. It would be A Very Good Thing if someone took this asshole out with extreme prejudice, then repeat for all of the others who are beholden and loyal to the Mullahs, not Iraq.
That tiny detail... At this point, it appears that only overthrowing the Mullahs of Iran will derail this concerted and successful campaign to subvert and effectively absorb southern Iraq into the New Persian Empire.
If the Mullahs are deposed and removed as both a threat and an agent of subversion in Iraq, then the situation is possibly recoverable without partition. I believe it will require wet-work within the Iranian-purchased government. Start with Jabr and Jaafari.
I apologize for ranting on, but this has been building for at least a couple of years, with milestone events along the way which were clear warning signs, to this obvious end. Please pardon my bluntness, but surprise at this point is, IMHO, silly.
#5
Whether Brits used a hard or a soft approach in Southern Iraq they would still lose the power struggle. So, while British unjustified smugness rubs me the wrong way too, it's not the core problem. The only likely successful approach is to defeat Iran directly, even with the likely blowback. With Bush at about 29% in the polls I don't see that happening at all, unless we react after an immediate causus belli of 9-11 proportions.
#6
Do not be too quick to dismiss the strategy employed by the British. First of all, examining the tactical situation on the ground:
1) Iraq is and will be a Shiite-dominated country. This means that sooner or later it would be expected that Iranians would have their nose in the tent. It is better than they do it now, while we (all) are still there, then later, to undermine the new nation. Plus, the British are hopelessly outnumbered there. They could never have dominated the Shiites like the US dominates the Sunnis.
2) While the Brits offer the carrot to the Shiites, the stick is close at hand. Remember the pure slaughter of Najaf, the first time Sadr tried it on, with Iranian backing? The other Shiites do not care for Sadr and his henchmen much, and saw how weak, yet brutal, they really were.
3) The US has been encouraging the Brits to be soft and non-threatening to the Shiites, which also encourages the Shiites to be less monolithic, and more concerned with their own divisions. The biggest of which is the patriotic Shiites vs. those more loyal to Iran.
4) War or peace, Iran will want the US forces to be bogged down in southern Iraq. The counter to this is that southern Iraq be fully Iraqi managed, so that any fight that starts down there will be against them, and not the US. To do anything down there, first the Iranians have to steal power from the Iraqis. The Iraqis will not be cool with that.
5) It is very expensive of many things to set up a *conventional* underground in a foreign country. It is also very easy to thwart such an underground when it is unpopular. Weapons caches, fifth columnists, recruiters, handlers, and strategists can be neutralized gradually or quickly. Imagine the Iranian surprise when there is a "night of the long knives", and much of their underground is rolled up.
6) There are many Shiite allies down south who want to return the favor to Iran. No doubt the Brits have been cultivating much support from Shiites who see the Iranian threat, and are sympathetic of the plight of typical Iranians under the heel of the Mullahs.
#7
We have this long article and several comments about the Sunni in Southern Iraq and the name Sistani is never mentioned. A crucial piece of the equation is being ignored.
#8
I just listened to the President speak at the West Point Commencement. After the usual jokes about absolving minor demerits, he spoke very seriously to this class, the first to start post-9/11, the first to start knowing they were going to war. He spoke of how the world changed after the free world defeated fascism, only to find itself faced with Imperial Totalitarian Communism, and how the West Point curriculum was changed to meet that threat. And then he went on to elaborate how the world now faces a new Imperial Totalitarian threat, and how West Point changed once again to meet the new need.
He did not, interestingly, name the new Imperial Totalitarian threat, but he did talk about added Arabic classis, how to deal with IEDs and man checkpoints, and repeated pledges he'd made in the past: to act not reactively to attacks, but pre-emptively as we did against Saddam Hussein's Iraq to prevent future attacks, not waiting until they become actual or even imminent.
#9
This year: lots more live fire exercises for upperclass cadets were added, and yes IED training too. Next year increased time for foreign language/culture immersion (that one has been a couple years in the planning).
There's been an increase recently in Arabic, Chinese majors. One top guy a double Arabic/Russian major. The cadets know what's coming down.
#10
It's interesting to me that both people adamantly opposed to the Iraq War and people in favor of it think of it as having been a pre-emptive war. We fought this war AFTER Iraq had invaded both Iran and Kuwait, lobbed missiles into Israel, financed terrorist groups around the world, harbored notorious terrorists such as Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas, and even plotted the assassination of a former American President during his trip to Kuwait. Our action struck me as distinctly post-emp. If one were looking at a historical situation, between say the Byzantines and the Turks, this action would be viewed as just one battle in a longer struggle and certainly not as a farsighted/foolish (pick one to taste) pre-emptive action.
I love our Brit cousins as much as anybody - the troopers and operatives, that is. I'm the biggest fan imaginable for the courage of and some of the impromptu actions taken at the lower levels - the famous bayonet charge being an example. No Sandhurst SooperTwooper made that call. But, in case you haven't noticed, that was a long time ago. What we know now is that they're under siege, if not holed up in their redoubts 24x7 - and have been for a long time. No more heroics, unless you think making it back alive after the World's Shortest Patrols should count.
I chalk it up to their leadership. The upper levels of the MoD and UK Military are morons. The choices they've made, such as tossing the far more advanced and integrated US systems and cooperation therein for the EU joke, prove the point. They'll have to hitch a ride to battle, assuming they can get the French to even sign off on a mission.
Management of their "zone" in the south is another. I don't buy for one minute the idea that the US has encouraged them to be "soft" in the south, to let militias grow and strengthen to the point that they run everything, that the Iraqi forces in that region are in cahoots with them, that they can kill innocents at will with the Brits utterly ineffective against them, to allow the smuggling of Iranian arms of all types, to allow unchecked the inflow of Iranians and Iranian-trained jihadis, to allow tankers stuffed with ballots, etc. I'm sorry, but I think that idea ranks among the dumbest things I've ever read. I presume that's what this forum is for, airing opinions.
BTW, I do believe the Najaf Opn was almost entirely a US affair with the fledgling Iraqi forces following far behind. AirCav and Jarines did the number on Tater and his henchmen there.
And, speaking of the devil, if it weren't for Sistani hurrying back from London after his mysterious medical emergency, Tater would've been fried.
The Milaki Govt is, indeed, a branch of Iran. I see very little reason for optimism if keeping Iraq as an entity separate from Iran is your goal - and the fact that Jabr is still there should suffice for proof.
The Mullahs have to go to salvage the situation. Or partition the mess and let the south go to Iran.
#16
I can't speak for anyone else, but I love to read well thought out opinions by people who know more than I on the subject at hand. This place is nicknamed Rantburg University for cause (and some of the posters are actual, salaried professors, too). If you would be kind enough to pick a name/nic/nym for yourself that I could remember, Mr. CP7868/Phagum Grang3925, insted of what Fred's clever little anonymizer assigned, I'll keep an eye out for your thoughts -- with pleasure!
BEIRUT Lebanese security forces have arrested a nephew of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein suspected of masterminding attacks against US forces in Iraq, security sources said yesterday. They said Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim Al Hassan was detained as he tried to board a flight to Brazil at Beirut airport on Tuesday after officers suspected that his passport was tampered with.
Next time carry a true forged Pakistani passport, when you need to travel with the very best ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Was going to audition with a Samba troupe.
Posted by: ed ||
05/27/2006 0:20 Comments ||
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#2
I recall a Hussein nephew was arrested recently but I can't recall who or where - same nephew, new arrest; same arrest, new story; or new nephew, new arrest?
#6
Attention CIA lurkers: It appears Islamo-fascism is hereditary so tracking the familial strain seems logical. Everyone knew the Nazi Baathists fled to Syria, who in turn control Lebanon. Why'd it take so long to round up the nephews? Are the agents looking at Brazil to see who or why he was heading there? Brazil does have a space program and rocket launch capability, since the Turkish route may be compromised for the Iranians....and while you're at it, how about finding Bin Laden's extended family.
British forces have made a "significant" haul of arms, ammunition and bomb-making equipment in Basra, military officials said Thursday. Several properties belonging to suspected insurgents were raided and mortar rounds, fuses and rocket-propelled grenades were seized. Three Iraqi men were being questioned following the swoops which were carried out under cover of darkness by the troops. Iraqi police were also involved in the raids. Some of those thought to be behind the on-going bombing campaign against British troops were targeted, the officials added.
Brigadier James Everard, commander of 20 Armoured Brigade, told the British media "We are working closely with the Iraqi police to identify and target potential security threats in and around Basra. That's in order to hamper efforts by a few individuals to disrupt significant progress being made in the area. This success shows our collaborative efforts are both effective and worthwhile."
The weapons find follows an operation last week when two Iraqi men were followed and captured by Danish troops after they had launched a rocket attack on the main British base at Basra International Airport. It also follows the deaths of two British soldiers in a roadside bomb attack near Basra two weeks ago. The bodies of Privates Adam Morris, 19, and Joseva Lewaicei, 25, arrived back at the Royal Air Force base of Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, southern England, today.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Why do I suspect that the British are going to have just uncanny luck in finding Iranian weapons caches, painstakingly and expensively snuck into the country over many months?
In fact the more and more Iran tries to prep southern Iraq for "the revolution", the more and more things will just start to go wrong in their programme. Inexplicably.
Latest violence on the Iraqi arena has claimed some 20 deaths with bombing attacks targeting a transport station and a crowded market in broad daylight. In the bloodiest of these incidents of the past hours, up to nine people were killed and 34 others were wounded in a fiery blast that tore apart Nahda garage in the center of the capital. Most of the wounded were passers-by, a security source said. The source told KUNA that bomb disposal experts sifted through blood-stained rubble to try determine cause of the blast that ripped through Al-Nahda station. The location turned into a heap of charred human bodies, twisted metal, shattered glass and rubble. The explosion was the sixth of its kind in this location this year. In a previous triple bombing attack, at least 150 civilians were killed and 300 others were wounded.
Separately, three Iraqi civilians were killed and 18 others were wounded as a result of a bomb blast that took place in the packed market of Al-Baya'a northern Baghdad on Friday. An Iraqi interior ministry source told KUNA that the explosion was a result of a bomb planted in a shack, and that it resulted in damaging nearby shops.
Elsewhere, two US soldiers were killed when an explosive canister blew up in southeastern Baghdad, said a US Army statement on Friday, adding that the canister had exploded Thursday evening as their patrol vehicle was passing by. The names of the deceased were being held pending notification of next of kin, and the investigation was under investigation, the statement said.
A police source told the Kuwaiti news agency that a policeman died and three others were wounded in a blast that targetted a police patrol in the center of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. Late last night, gunmen opened fire at a police station in the city, killing an officer. In a separte incident, gunmen shot dead a police oficer. It was also reported that two students of Mosul University were killed in two attacks by unknown gunmen. Four others were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Five Iraqis were killed and nine others wounded in the explosion of a car bomb near a popular market in the Amel district in western Baghdad. An interior ministry source told KUNA the explosion also caused extensive damage to nearby shops and cars. In another development, police found the dead bodies of a newly-wed Iraqi, his father, his uncle and one of the wedding party guests, who were kidnapped Thursday. The cause of the crime has not been known yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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The executions are carried out at dawn on Haqlania bridge, the entrance to Haditha. A small crowd usually turns up to watch even though the killings are filmed and made available on DVD in the market the same afternoon.
One of last week's victims was a young man in a black tracksuit. Like the others he was left on his belly by the blue iron railings at the bridge's southern end. His severed head rested on his back, facing Baghdad. Children cheered when they heard that the next day's spectacle would be a double bill: two decapitations. A man named Watban and his brother had been found guilty of spying.....
#3
if they keep repeating it, it has to right some day...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 0:39 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if there is a relationship between this story and the current Marine atrocity story - beyond both being in Haditha? We like to say women and kids are 'innocent', but it's not always that way; maybe especially so in places like Haditha, which could lead to the kind of mental outlook that lets Marines kill women & children, either recklessly or criminally.
#5
You can bet there's a relationship. A quick search on the 'burg for Haditha pulls up a two year pattern of iniquity: Haditha was an insurgent stronghold and a Zarqawi base. Multiple operations were directed against it: Quick Strike, Rivergate, etc. as part of the attempt to beat down the insurgents in Anbar.
There's always a lot of chatter about going "full Roman", but we know that is not what the US military does. Our ROE don't permit killing "innocent" civilians, though there often are unavoidable deaths and injuries because of the enemy's tactics of living and fighting among civilians.
It must be extremely difficult for our military to keep their response measured when dealing with a city like Haditha filled with thieves, brigands, insurgents, and terrorists while your buddies are being killed by invisible assailants.
The situation last fall was pretty grim. We could suppress Haditha, but the insurgents would melt away and return after Coalition forces pulled out:
Haditha, a town of about 100,000 people in Anbar province, undeniably is an insurgent bastion. Around the time of the attack, several storefronts were lined with posters and pictures supporting al-Qaida, although residents said they posted them to appease extremists.
Insurgents blend in with the residents, setting up their cells in homes next to those belonging to everyday citizens, some of them supportive.
There is no functioning police station and the government offices are largely vacant. The last man to call himself mayor relinquished the title earlier this year after scores of death threats from insurgents.
The military wouldn't release statistics, but attacks on U.S. troops are frequent.
Indeed, Haditha has been the site of some of the deadliest attacks against U.S. forces. On Aug. 1, six Marine reservists were killed in an ambush; two days later, a roadside bomb killed 14 Marines traveling in an amphibious assault vehicle just outside the town, the deadliest single attack ever on U.S. forces.
On Nov. 19, according to military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, the Marines were hit four separate times by roadside bombs and were fired on multiple times by gunmen they couldn't see.
Three years after the war began, the U.S. military concedes it hasn't figured out how to tell a terrorist from an ordinary citizen in places like Haditha.
Things have changed in Haditha since Nov 19, however. The Sunnis, fed up with the violence, have increasing turned against the insurgents and especially against the foreign terrorists. Here's an April 23 post:
After the attacks, however, Khalid and the other fighters were confined to safe houses in Mosul and Haditha - dark, dank places with no hot water or electricity. The biggest problem was the Iraqis, the very people he was there to help. Sometimes it seemed as though there were double agents everywhere, checking him out on the street, trying to overhear him speaking the Yemeni dialect that would betray him as a foreigner, all so they could pick up their cell phones and call in the Americans, maybe even collect a reward. That made this jihad more dangerous and unpredictable than the other wars Khalid had fought in - Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia, places where they were often treated like heroes. When they weren't out on missions in Iraq, he and the Saudis were forced to stay in the safe house, the shades pulled down, with only a well-thumbed copy of the Koran and five prayer sessions a day to break the monotony.
The Hamas government on Friday recalled a controversial paramilitary force from the streets of Gaza on the second day of cross-party talks to resolve deadly Palestinian feuding and political crisis. The move came one day after Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas threatened to call a referendum to end the deadly rivalry between Hamas and his former ruling Fatah party that has focused on security control.
Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, who has resolutely backed the force that was vetoed by Abbas, however, downplayed the withdrawal as a redeployment that was intended only to consolidate unity and alleviate tension. Ten people have been killed in recent clashes between Hamas and the Abbas-controlled security services, which spiraled in the 11 days since the Islamists deployed the new paramilitary force sparking talk of possible civil war.
Bumping off ten people always alleviates my tension, too, though it really doesn't consolidate my unity. Takes at least two dozen to do that.
We have withdrawn our forces from all locations after a decision from interior minister Said Siam, a commander of the force, Yussuf al-Zahar, announced, as regular security forces deployed in their place. But Haniya vowed Hamas would not scrap its plans for the force, which numbers between 3,000 and 4,000 officers, as a wing of the regular police service.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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they all went home for naps - be back out later for more parading and exchanges of "friendship fire"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 0:07 Comments ||
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#2
Out of Gaza and into the Med.
Posted by: ed ||
05/27/2006 0:41 Comments ||
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#3
to resolve deadly Palestinian feuding and political crisis.
suddenly the reporters can't type "civil war" on their key boards. Maybe they don't know how to change their macros to get rid of the phrase: "on the brink of".
Five Palestinians were killed Friday when Israeli tanks pounded a number of Gaza Strip areas. One of the shells destroyed a house in the Fadous area, north of Beit Lahya, killing three people including two from the same family, and wounding three others, one seriously. A fourth Palestinian was killed in earlier shelling on the Beit Lahya region in northern Gaza. In another incident, one Palestinian was killed in Israeli shelling near the Kissouvim crossing gate in southeastern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah Movement claimed responsibility for firing a missile towards the Sderot City. The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement also said its fighters targeted an Israeli vehicle near the Kissouvim crossing.
Additional humor from Gulf Daily News:GAZA CITY: Four Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza yesterday as Israel fired dozens of artillery shells into the territory. Three men died and five other were wounded in a house when a family member brought in and accidentally set off an unexploded Israeli shell that landed near the area, Palestinian security sources said. The sources said the men killed were in their twenties, and two were from the same family. No militants were inside the house, the sources said. We really need to get that picture of the gremlin from the Bugs Bunny cartoon wacking an artillery shell with a hammer.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Your essay assignment: Qassam vs 155 Artillery - note similarities (if any) and differences in effectiveness and accuracy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 0:38 Comments ||
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#3
It seems the shell that destroyed the house wasn't really the Israelis' fault. Look at this story from the Gulf Daily News. When you fail an intelligence test that badly, you deserve to die.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/27/2006 13:19 Comments ||
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#4
Darwin Awards all round. What a stupid people. This is evolution at play.
Rather an old, tired story, it's yet another suicide battalion.
A hard-line Iranian group on Thursday announced the creation of a new "battalion" of "martyrdom seekers" -- or suicide attackers -- ready to carry out operations against targets, including Israel and author Salman Rushdie.
The group, called the Committee for the Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, made the announcement at Tehran's main cemetery where hundreds of supporters had gathered. "Every six months we sign up volunteers. Now we have 55 000 of them. Then we choose the volunteers and divide them up into battalions," spokesperson Mohammad Mohammadi told AFP.
The latest to get three months of training to be "ready for death", he explained, was battalion number five, which numbered 500 people. Mohammadi said 30% of all volunteers were women. The group insists it is independent, although it frequently appears at regime-sponsored events. Nevertheless, the group has largely been dismissed by observers -- and played down by many Iranian officials -- as a way for ordinary Iranians to symbolically vent their anger at Israel and the West.
When volunteers sign up to join the group, they can choose to attack British author Salman Rushdie, who sentenced to death by Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 over his book The Satanic Verses, or join an operation against Israel or foreign invaders. "I want to defend Islam, so I signed up for all three," enthused one volunteer, 27-year-old Meghdad Hamedinia. "All the American presidents are rascals. I'll give my life for Islam."
A 22-year-old female volunteer, who was wearing the all-black and all-covering chador, said she was also "ready to go to Palestine". "According to our religion, everywhere where Muslims are oppressed, we have to go and help them," said the would-be suicide attacker, who preferred not to give her name.
#5
"..no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
-- General George S. Patton
Do high-ranking mullahs ever lead these suicide battalions? Or are they simply too busy with paperwork?
#9
the MM's are afraid to put loaded weapons in the hands of the little people. Never know when they might start thinking for themselves. How many bullets do you think Chavez is distributing to each of his peasant militia....2? 4?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 15:42 Comments ||
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#10
In theory, these guys die for Allah. But in reality, who do they really die for? Charismatic leaders. It's one thing to die for the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was a giant among Shiite clerics, before the clerics ruined Iran's economy. It's quite another thing to die for this nonentity Ahmadinejad. This is a Potemkin battalion, put on show to gull the Western infidel.
#11
Another Radic declaration of war disguised as defense of Islam - China wants only Taiwan [Iran = Israel, etal.] back, ergo it has named beyond-Taiwan island chains in WESTPAC CENTPAC and EASTPAC as part of its present and future scope of influence and power projection vv America, i.e. are future Chinese territories, like 1/2-plus of CONUS-NORAM.
Mahmoud Majzoub, Islamic Jihad chief in Sidon, died of his wounds four hours after his car was blew up in southern Lebanon, a security source said. The source told KUNA Majzoub died while he was inside the intensive care unity in one of the hospitals in Sidon. He described his wounds as very serious.
Nedal Majzoub, the brother of Mahmoud, was also killed in the car bomb attack which took place in the southern port city of Sidon. Abu Imad Al-Rifaee, the Islamic Jihad chief in Lebanon, accused Israel of masterminding the attack. Al-Rifaee told KUNA this murder was part of the Israeli military escalation against the Palestinian people.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Sepsis--one of the nastier ways to go!
OTOH--Judging from the condition of the corpses of the fools lions of islam who drove the VBIEDs in Iraq, My money is on extensive flash burns all over the body. If anything, thats an even nastier way to go. Screaming agony to the end. *shudders*
While I don't wish extensive burns on even these scumbags (just shoot them, and get it over with, dammit!) I will confess to a bit of schadenfreude at the demise. Its almost cosmic justice.
Posted by: N guard ||
05/27/2006 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
Oops-- Mods, could you kill the double post? I am such a spaz today, double tapping on things. (Don't ask about the nail gun incident today!)
Posted by: N guard ||
05/27/2006 0:21 Comments ||
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#3
frankly, since these animals send bombers packed with nails and screws to maim and wound, I hope he suffered excruciating pain til the very end. I'll apologize to my God later
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/27/2006 0:28 Comments ||
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#4
I don't care how they go as long as they go. Sooner is better. Their pain not a consideration. They have none for anyone else.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/27/2006 1:01 Comments ||
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"Abu Imad Al-Rifaee, the Islamic Jihad chief in Lebanon, accused Israel of masterminding the attack."
Don't be ridiculous, Abu-idiot. Blowing up cars is your trademark. The IDF shoots murdering scum - with bullets or rockets. They have no need for car bombs.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/27/2006 1:09 Comments ||
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#7
Goodbye Mahmoud Majzoub, the well known BBQ sauce.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/27/2006 2:14 Comments ||
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The al-Qaeda organization has selected Abdulhadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi national from northern Iraq, as the new commander of its global operations. The appointment comes following the seizure of Abu Faraj al-Libi by Pakistani forces in May. The new Iraqi-born al-Qaeda leader is married and with children and is believed to be in his forties. His wife is said to accompany him during his travels across the country.
Al-Qaeda has a large following in Iraq particularly among Sunni Muslims. It operates through different organizations under various nomenclatures.
But it first surfaced among Iraqi Kurds in the north where it operated from the inaccessible mountains east of Sulaimaniya and close to the borders with Iran. Known then as Ansar al-Islam, the militant group had destabilized most of the Kurdish north and was planning to control Sulaimaniya, the second largest Kurdish city.
Fearing the onslaught, Kurdish leaders sought military assistance from their tormentor former leader Saddam Hussein who was reported to have supplied them with arms and men to contain the group.
But the Ansar group expanded operations across Iraq following Saddam Husseins downfall and the occupation of Iraq by U.S. troops. The group has changed its name into Ansar al-Sunna and is currently, with other rebel groups, spearheading anti-U.S. operations in the country and the campaign of bombings directed against government troops and installations. Sources, speaking to Azzaman on condition of anonymity, said Ansar al-Sunna currently has many followers among Iranian Sunnis and is mainly based in central and northern parts of the country. The group includes mainly Sunni Muslims and is a mixture of Arabs, Kurds and Turks.
Ansar Al-Sunna is currently led by Wariya Arbili, a Kurd, who is reported to be in good relations with other anti-U.S. groups but has been trying to distance himself from the Majlis Shura al-Mujahiddeen, a group purportedly headed by Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/27/2006 01:28 ||
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#2
Is that why there are color-coded comments on the page you're browsing? Or is it because someone slipped some LSD in my soft drink? Either way, it's good.
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.
Five Canadian soldiers and their Afghan translator were injured as a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in the volatile Kandahar province of Afghanistan on Thursday. Military officials said the Canadian soldiers were on routine patrol in the Gunbad district of Kandahar when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. The injured soldiers and Afghan inerpreter were immediately rushed to a coalition base for treatment where their condition is stated to be out of danger.
A fresh wave of violence in southern Afghanistan claimed 11 more lives on Friday as many locals are fleeing their houses in areas where fierce fighting and skirmishes are going on between Taliban and the Afghan and coalition forces. The 11 people were killed in the Afghanistan's southern province of Ghazni on Friday, governor of the province Sher Alam said in press remarks. He said 10 of the dead were Taliban militants and one policeman.
Amid the gunfire erupted yesterday in southern Mogadishu, capital of Somalia has died down many civilians continue to flee themselves to safer areas in fear of the fighting might resume on Friday. Yesterdays clashes were the worst since the start of the conflict between alliance for restoration of peace and counter terrorism and Islamic courts union in February. Medical officials in the Mogadishu hospitals confirm that at least 35 people most of civilians have been killed and hundreds more were injured in fierce clashes in different location of the capital on Thursday. Most of the people were killed by mortar shells and stray rounds that crashed in to their homes. 
A man wanted in connection with bombings that killed 20 people in the Sinai resort of Dahab last month has turned himself in, state news agency MENA said on Friday. The report named the man as 
Egyptian law and order forces continued to search for terrorists who could be involved in recent bomb attacks which targeted tourist areas such as Dahab, Sharm El-Sheikh and al-Joura. "More than 150 kilograms of explosives were found in metal tins and iron containers," the Cairo-based Middle East News Agency said.
Suspected Taliban militants Friday blew up a ladies health center and shot dead a trader, accused of spying for the US troops in Afghanistan, said security officials. The ladies health center was blown up in Hamzoni district of North Waziristan tribal agency, officials told KUNA. However, they said there were no casualties as at the time of explosion, no body was in the center. "The explosion badly damaged the center building", they added.
Police Friday arrested two suspected militants and seized 450 kilograms (990 pounds) of explosive material in a raid in Southern Karachi port city, said a police official. Police in a raid on a house in Magopir area found 325 kilos of sodium nitrate, 100 kilos of potassium and other high-intensity bomb-making material, city police chief, Niaz Siddiki, told reporters. 
Suspected nationalist militants Friday night blew up a main gas pipeline in the insurgency-hit Baluchistan province of Pakistan, suspending gas supply to thousands of domestic and commercial users and setting on fire the adjacent bazaar, said officials. 
BEIRUT Lebanese security forces have arrested a nephew of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein suspected of masterminding attacks against US forces in Iraq, security sources said yesterday. They said 
British forces have made a "significant" haul of arms, ammunition and bomb-making equipment in Basra, military officials said Thursday. Several properties belonging to suspected insurgents were raided and mortar rounds, fuses and rocket-propelled grenades were seized. Three Iraqi men were being questioned following the swoops which were carried out under cover of darkness by the troops. Iraqi police were also involved in the raids. Some of those thought to be behind the on-going bombing campaign against British troops were targeted, the officials added.
Latest violence on the Iraqi arena has claimed some 20 deaths with bombing attacks targeting a transport station and a crowded market in broad daylight. In the bloodiest of these incidents of the past hours, up to nine people were killed and 34 others were wounded in a fiery blast that tore apart Nahda garage in the center of the capital. Most of the wounded were passers-by, a security source said. The source told KUNA that bomb disposal experts sifted through blood-stained rubble to try determine cause of the blast that ripped through Al-Nahda station. The location turned into a heap of charred human bodies, twisted metal, shattered glass and rubble. The explosion was the sixth of its kind in this location this year. In a previous triple bombing attack, at least 150 civilians were killed and 300 others were wounded.
Five Iraqis were killed and nine others wounded in the explosion of a car bomb near a popular market in the Amel district in western Baghdad. An interior ministry source told KUNA the explosion also caused extensive damage to nearby shops and cars. In another development, police found the dead bodies of a newly-wed Iraqi, his father, his uncle and one of the wedding party guests, who were kidnapped Thursday. The cause of the crime has not been known yet.
The Hamas government on Friday recalled a controversial paramilitary force from the streets of Gaza on the second day of cross-party talks to resolve deadly Palestinian feuding and political crisis. The move came one day after Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas threatened to call a referendum to end the deadly rivalry between Hamas and his former ruling Fatah party that has focused on security control.
Five Palestinians were killed Friday when Israeli tanks pounded a number of Gaza Strip areas. One of the shells destroyed a house in the Fadous area, north of Beit Lahya, killing three people including two from the same family, and wounding three others, one seriously. A fourth Palestinian was killed in earlier shelling on the Beit Lahya region in northern Gaza. In another incident, one Palestinian was killed in Israeli shelling near the Kissouvim crossing gate in southeastern Gaza Strip. 
Mahmoud Majzoub, Islamic Jihad chief in Sidon, died of his wounds four hours after his car was blew up in southern Lebanon, a security source said. The source told KUNA Majzoub died while he was inside the intensive care unity in one of the hospitals in Sidon. He described his wounds as very serious.
