KABUL - Eight US soldiers were killed and 14 injured when a helicopter crashed in an insurgency-hit part of southeastern Afghanistan early Sunday after a sudden loss of power, the US-led coalition said. The twin-rotor transport chopper came down in darkness in the southeastern province of Zabul, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, not far from a main highway, residents and officials said.
Prayers for the dead and injured, and for their families.
The coalition would not release the location and details of the incident until the recovery operation was completed. Zabul is a rugged and mountainous area that sees regular clashes between security forces and fighters from the Islamist Taleban movement.
Eight coalition personnel were killed and 14 others were wounded early Sunday when a coalition CH-47 helicopter had a sudden, unexplained loss of power and control and crashed in eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said. The helicopter was transporting a total of 22 people, including aircrew, at the time of the crash, it said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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God bless them and their families.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/19/2007 17:47 Comments ||
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A car explosion killed at least four people in the restive Somali capital as three others, including a policeman, were gunned down in violence which has surged since the toppling of an Islamist movement late last year. Police said the four travelling in the car were all killed when their vehicle exploded in Mogadishu's Tawfiiq neighbourhood.
"Mahmoud! This road's pretty bumpy! What if this dynamite goes off?"
"Don't worry about it. I've got lots more in the trunk!"
Police official Garad Jama said investigators were probing the cause of the explosion, which also injured four bystanders. "We are still not sure what caused this explosion," Jama told AFP.
"Could be C4, could be dynamite, could be plastique, could be lotsa things."
Police said the four travelling in the car were all killed when their vehicle exploded.
In a separate incident, masked attackers fired on a police patrol vehicle, killing an officer and wounding two others, in the northern Eymiska district, witnesses said. "Policemen were driving when gunmen in another car opened fire on them ... one of the policemen was killed on the spot and two others wounded," local resident Ahmed Sheik Muhidin said.
Hours later, two people were killed and three wounded when government forces came under fire from unidentified gunmen. "Heavy fire was exchanged and two people, one of them a woman, was killed," said a witness, Zakariye Mohamed.
On Saturday, at least one person was killed and 12 others injured when a mortar shell landed on a camp housing displaced people in the capital's port area.
Residents have rallied to protest the presence of the Ethiopian troops, some of whom began withdrawing last month, though many of the demonstrations have turned violent. The Islamists, who brought a semblance of order in Mogadishu and other areas they controlled in central and southern Somalia, have disbanded into clan militia. But some of them have vowed to fight the government and a planned African Union peacekeeping force.
The AU plans to deploy an 8,000-strong force but has so far only managed to raise half that number. The 53-member bloc has been hamstrung by disagreements, as well as funding and manpower problems. The body's officials have hinted that Nigeria, Burundi, Malawi and Ghana may contribute forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
dead Islamists don't count as "people". So it's actually just 3 dead
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 6:15 Comments ||
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Transporting a half-full bottle of nitroglycerine on a bumpy road - just ASKING for trouble. At least they didn't hurt - too long.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/19/2007 12:59 Comments ||
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Cairo criminal court yesterday tossed out an appeal for release from prison by one of the assassins of former Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat, saying the matter was not under its jurisdiction, a judicial source said.
Abud Al Zumur of the Islamic Jihad filed a case to be released from gaol because his life sentence set at 25 years in Egypt had been completed, following his arrest and conviction for involvement in the 1981 killing of Sadat. The court ruled that such a case came under the jurisdiction of the administrative court. No date was given for a new hearing.
This article starring:
ABUD AL ZUMUR
Islamic Jihad
Anwar Al Sadat
Islamic Jihad
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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"Life" sentence completed? Ok When's the funeral?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/19/2007 11:09 Comments ||
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Two top activists of outlawed Sramajibi Mukti Andolan of Kushtia were killed in an 'encounter' with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) early hours Sunday at Char Ghoshpur village in Pabna sadar upazila.
'encounter' means they didn't bother arresting them before killing them
Maybe there wasn't enough time to get all the way to the precinct house and then back for the 3 am cross-fire.
Three Rab personnel were also injured during the encounter.
Spilled hot coffee reaching for the last doughnut...
The dead were identified as Shahidul Islam, 32, son of Ahmed Ali from Sadarpur village of Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia district and Nasir Uddin, 25, son of Aher Sheikh from Berkalua village of the same upazila.
No, we have no idea where that is...
According to Rab, at around 3:00am
Their favorite time of day...
, a team of Rab 12 from Pabna camp acted on a stoolies info tip off and raided Char Ghoshpur village where the criminals belonging to the outlawed party gathered to commit criminal acts.
Picture the cantina scene from "Star Wars"...
As soon as Rab reached the spot, the criminals opened fire on Rab.
"It's da RAB! Open fire, boys, or we're doomed!"
The law enforcers also returned fire prompting a gunfight that lasted around 40 minutes.
"Squad...rapid fire...present....Fire!"
The two outlaws were found dead after the gunfight was over, claimed Rab.
Could have been killed there. Could have been killed in the truck of their car. Important thing is; "They're dead, Jim".
Habilder M Saifullah and soldiers Shakhawat and Abdus Sattar of Rab were injured in the gunfight.
"Aiiieeee! Damn, that's hot coffee!"
Rab recovered an Italian 9mm pistol, a Russian rifle, a shutter gun and 12 bullets from the scene.
Shutter gun is just for old times sake
The dead were accused in several criminal cases, Rab said.
The dead have no comment on the police accusations.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/19/2007 10:31 ||
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Hot Damn, they found another "Shutter Gun"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/19/2007 11:11 Comments ||
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Same one, Jim.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/19/2007 11:19 Comments ||
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Green Steve back from a vacation, tanned, rested and ready. Noone does it better.
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday arrested a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader at Binodpur near Rajshahi University (RU) campus. Asif Iqbal Romel is a JCD joint-convener of Nabab Abdul Latif Hall unit and a final year honours student of law and justice department.
JCD is the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Campus sources said at around 12:00 noon, a Rab team picked up Romel when he was gossiping with his party men at Binodpur. Romel was a wanted criminal and involved in crimes like terrorism, snatching and assaulting journalist and teacher.
Earlier on Saturday, Rab also arrested JCD Joint Convener Al Mamun of Ziaur Rahman Hall and a close associate of Romel on similar allegations, sources said. The JCD leaders were handed over to Matiher Police Station.
Both soon to take a 3 am stroll in an unnamed upazaila ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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A primary school caretaker has been arrested in connection with the recent spate of letter bomb attacks. Miles Cooper was arrested at about 0300 GMT at a house in Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge. Police have searched the school where he works and expect to spend several days searching the house.
Seven letter bombs were sent over a period of three weeks and the police have warned that they cannot guarantee that there will not be another one. Nine people have been injured by the letter bombs, including four workers who were hurt when a bomb exploded at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority centre in Swansea. Anton Setchell, the Association of Chief Police Officers' national coordinator for domestic extremism, said a man was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning and was being held at an undisclosed police station.
Mr Cooper's home, in Welstead Road, has been cordoned off and according to Mr Setchell forensic teams are conducting a "lengthy search", which will last for "several days". He is the caretaker at Teversham Church of England primary school at Teversham, near Cambridge, which has also been searched by police.
That would be what we call a janitor. To a Scotland Yard profiler; unskilled, low-paided labor - check
Detectives have been working with Cambridgeshire police after a parcel bomb was sent to a Labour Party office in Cambridge in August. At least one of the recent bomb packages is said to have had a postmark from Cambridgeshire.
Mr Setchell said: "We have now reached a very significant stage in this inquiry." However, he added: "At this stage I am not able to guarantee that there is not another postal package containing an explosive device within the postal system. "The previous seven devices have all been contained in A5 size jiffy-type padded envelopes. "I am therefore renewing my request for the public to maintain their vigilance and not to handle any post which appears in any way suspicious. "If anyone is concerned about any package that arrives in the post they should contact their local police immediately."
Next-door neighbour Keith Bailey said Mr Cooper had lived at the house with his mother Lorraine and sister Sally, who is in her 20s, for the best part of 20 years.
Living with his mum - check
Mr Bailey, 65, said: "Mostly all we do is say hello. That's about all you ever get from Miles, he is a very quiet sort of boy. "He is the last person in the world I would have thought would be arrested over something like this." He added: "He is not a rowdy type of lad at all. Very quiet; you don't see him about much.
Quiet boy - check
"They don't have lots of young friends around in noisy cars or anything like that. They are very quiet."
Loner - check
The bombs have been home-made pyrotechnic-style devices with at least two containing glass. And two of the parcels contained names of animal rights protesters, including Barry Horne who was jailed and died while on hunger strike in 2001.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/19/2007 11:33 ||
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hmmmm - doesn't sound like a Criminal Mastermind to me
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 12:02 Comments ||
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Your bombes de lettres aren't normally built by unskilled labour. Perhaps he had advice from Bobby Fischer.
Four of six Muslims being held in France on suspicion of recruiting Islamist fighters for Iraq were remanded in custody yesterday, a police source said. The men were among a group of seven men and a number of wives who were detained for questioning this week as part of a Franco-Belgian operation against a group suspected of having links with Al Qaeda. The women and one man held in France had already been freed. Two other men were released yesterday but remained under investigation, the source said.
The six men are suspected of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation while three are additionally suspected of financing terrorism. All are French nationals. The French Justice Ministry said on Friday that it believed a recruitment ring had been sending trainees to Egypt to learn Arabic and radical Islamic doctrine, then on to Syria, with the help of a cell in Saudi Arabia linked to Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A local cab driver allegedly tried to run over two customers after a fight over religion became heated. The incident happened early Sunday morning on the Vanderbilt campus and left one man hospitalized and a cab driver arrested, said police
Two students visiting from Ohio were coming from a bar downtown when they got into an argument with their driver over religion, said police. After they paid the driver he allegedly ran them down in a parking lot.
Ibrihim Ahmned, of United Cab, was arrested and charged with assault, attempted homicide and theft. One of the passengers, Andrew Nelson, managed to outrun the cab but Jeremy Invus was taken to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center with serious injuries, said police.
Ahmed has been convicted of misdemeanors including evading arrest in a motor vehicle and driving on a suspended license, said police. Ahmed was charged with theft because police said the license plate on his cab was listed as stolen. His bond is set at $300,000. Will the inebriated students be arrested for 'hate crime' for insulting Ahmed's religion?
#3
Frank, no evidence in this report Ahmed is an immigrant, and not allowed to deport unless he is. But it's Tennessee - maybe they can serve him fried bologna every day, as the song goes.
#5
Understood, Glenmore. I was making that assumption. Even if it's a Shitholeistan like Dearborn. I'll give you $100 if he's a native Tennesean. BTW - good job using stolen plates on your weapon cab, Ibriham.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 10:56 Comments ||
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Heated religious discussion? Ibrihim Ahmned?
Prolly one o them proselytizing Southern Baptists.
Well, Frank, since he was driving under suspension he wouldn't want to alert the police by driving a cab with his own plate on it. On second thought, the authorities may have confiscated the plate from his cab at the time he earned the suspension of his commercial license.
Sounds like he wished he was a Minneapolis airport cabbie. Sounds like Ibrihim Ahmned committed a hate crime to me. But we all know he won't be charged with one because its not possible for a Muslim to hate. Only white middle to upper class Christian males can hate.
About 60 passengers are feared to have burned to death after suspected blasts aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, officials said on Monday. "It appears to be a case of sabotage," B.N. Mathur, a top railway official, told reporters. "We have found two suitcases, there were IEDs in them," he said referring to improvised explosive devices. About 50 passengers were also reported wounded.
The incident comes days before Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri is due in New Delhi for talks with Indian leaders.
Funny number, though not funny ha-ha. Usually there are two to three wounded for every killed. I'd expect to see somewhere between 120 and 180 wounded in this case.
The coaches of the Samjhauta Express train, which connects New Delhi to the northern Pakistani city of Lahore, erupted in fire near Panipat town, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the Indian capital, around midnight on Sunday (1830 GMT).
The incident comes days before Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri is due in New Delhi for talks with Indian leaders to push forward a slow-moving peace process between the old rivals. A bit more:
PANIPAT: The death toll in fire on the Samjhota express, which reportedly erupted after blasts in the train in the northern Indian state of Haryana, has increased to 64, the reports said. Five unexploded bombs have also been recovered from the train. Some people with burns have been pulled from the carriages but firemen are still fighting the blaze. According to Indian media reports it might be the incident of terrorism as the bombs were recovered from the train. Two carriages of the train have been completely destroyed as a result of the fire.
#1
I think this is the first incident of Pakistanis killed on Indian soil by terrorists
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/19/2007 5:53 Comments ||
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A deadly cocktail of low-intensity explosives and kerosene bombs were used to trigger the blasts in Delhi-Attari special train, which claimed the lives of 66 passengers, preliminary investigations have revealed.
Forensic experts who collected samples from the scene of blasts were of the view that low-intensity explosives like sulphur or nitrate were used to trigger the explosions and kerosene-filled bottles kept in the bogies were used as a catalyst to spread the fire.
The experts have recovered several kerosene bottles, 3pipe bombs and some low-intensity explosive devices from other compartments of the train, which caught fire at midnight.
"The modus operandi is new. They had used low-intensity explosives to trigger the blast and kerosene to ignite the fire. The idea it seems was to cause large scale destruction by fire," J S Mahanwal, Director Forensic laboratory Haryana, said
Forensic experts said they are yet to find out whether a timer device or some other equipment like flash were used to trigger the explosives. "We have collected samples and will soon find out how the explosives were triggered."
Initial investigations have also ruled out the use of RDX in the explosions and is moving on the assumption that sulphur or nitrate were used.
"We have defused two pipe bombs, 2 IEDs and recovered 10 to 15 kerosene bottles from three compartments," Mahanwal said.
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/19/2007 5:56 Comments ||
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#3
A senior police officer said a Pakistani national Shamsuddin, who was travelling in the train, has given information to the police regarding some explosives being planted in it. The police are talking to the passenger.
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/19/2007 5:56 Comments ||
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I hope India finish off Pakistan one day as Pakistan is a seriously fucked up nation built on hate!!!!
Two children were killed and three security force personnel were seriously injured in two separate landmine explosions in Balochistan on Sunday, local police said.
They confirmed that two boys identified by their single names, Behram, 12, and Hassan, 10, had been killed in Turab Gholato village, in the Kashmore area along the Sindh-Balochistan border, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Risaldar police station. The two had been riding bicycles when they hit the landmine and were killed instantly, they added.
Meanwhile, three security force personnel were injured when their vehicle hit a landmine in the Doe Wodh area of Dera Bugti. Police said that the injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, adding that a case against unknown people had been registered.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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The government has ordered immediate closure of all offices of the Al-Rasheed Trust (ART) and Al-Akhter Trust (ART) throughout Pakistan after the United Nations Security Council declared them to have links to militant groups. Sources said that the Interior Ministry had directed the four provinces, the chief secretaries of the Northern Areas (NAs) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) district administration to close the offices, schools, hospitals and other ongoing projects of Al-Rasheed Trust and Al-Akhter Trust in their respective areas. They have also been asked to detain the staff of the two trusts, impound their vehicles and confiscate equipment from their offices, said the sources.
Daily Times has learnt that five offices of these organisations are operating in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. They are also operating medical dispensaries in remote areas of the twin cities. Banks and other financial institutions have been asked to freeze the accounts of the two trusts and report to police if any person attempts transactions involving these accounts. The cyber crimes wing of the FIA has been instructed to hack the websites of these trusts, the sources said.
Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema, director general of the Crisis Management Cell (CMC) of the Interior Ministry, told Daily Times that these sanctions had been imposed under resolution 1267 of the UNSC. He said that the UNSC had banned the Al-Rasheed Trust in 2001 and Al-Akhter Trust in 2005. UN resolution 1267 requires all states to freeze the assets of people and organisations on a list. He said Pakistan was pushing the UNSC to drop the two trusts from the list.
Reuters adds: The government froze Al-Rasheeds accounts after the September 11 attacks on the United States, but a court in 2003 declared the move illegal. An Al-Rasheed official in the city of Rawalpindi, Maulana Ghiasuddin, criticised the governments action. It is cruel. Weve been doing charity, nothing illegal. Everything is clear and transparent so why this? he asked. Even those who sealed our office had no information on why it was being done, Ghiasuddin said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Ohhh... When are we gonna close militant charities here?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2007 6:59 Comments ||
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Sounds like somebody missed an "insurance" payment.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/19/2007 13:14 Comments ||
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Pakistani police have rounded up 50 suspects as investigations continue into a courtroom suicide bombing that killed 16 people including a judge and several lawyers, officials said yesterday. We have picked up around 50 suspects, the senior police superintendent of the southwestern city of Quetta, Qazi Abdul Waheed, said.
The raids were conducted after the bomber blew himself up in a packed room during court proceedings on Saturday, killing 15 people including Quettas senior civil judge. About 35 people were taken to hospital.
The detainees included members of sectarian outfits and some Afghan refugees, he added. The raids were conducted after the bomber blew himself up in a packed room during court proceedings on Saturday, killing 15 people including Quettas senior civil judge. About 35 people were taken to hospital, where one more died overnight, doctors said. The funeral of the judge and other victims was scheduled for yesterday afternoon. Lawyers here announced a three-day mourning period, during which they would boycott the courts.
The court compound is located near police and provincial government offices in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, which borders Iran and insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan. The incident appears a targeted attack on government installations or functionaries of the criminal justice system as part of a reaction against the governments firm resolve to combat terrorism and sabotage in the country, a police statement said.
Its linked to the overall scenario in the country, said Quetta police chief Rahu Khan Brohi, referring to the series of attacks that has put the country on edge. He ruled out the involvement of Baloch nationalist rebels who have for decades been fighting a low-key insurgency for a greater share of the gas-rich provinces resources. Investigations are under way and we hope to reach a conclusion very soon, Brohi said.
The bombers severed head had been recovered and sent to Islamabad for tests, security officials said. A photograph of the his disfigured face was published in provincial newspapers.
The bombers severed head had been recovered and sent to Islamabad for tests, security officials said. A photograph of the his disfigured face was published in provincial newspapers. Authorities also announced a 2 million rupee ($33,000) reward for help in identifying the bomber.
Balochistans chief minister, Jam Mohammad Yusuf, said the bomber may be an Afghan. It is still a rough guess that the suicide bomber was an Afghan, he told reporters. More than 1.2 million Afghans are sheltered in Balochistan.
Saturdays incident was the latest in a wave of recent suicide attacks in Pakistan blamed on pro-Taleban militants angry at President Pervez Musharrafs support for the US-led war on terror. The incident will be investigated from all angles to reach the actual culprits, police officer Waheed said.
Sparsely-populated Balochistan province has been troubled by recurring violence blamed on ethnic Baloch rebels demanding greater political rights and a share in the profits from the regions natural resources. The chief minister, however, ruled out involvement of Baloch nationalists. Balochs do not indulge in suicide attacks, he said.
The Quetta blast was the sixth attack in the past month blamed on Taleban-linked militants.
Musharraf strongly condemned the attack and said his government was committed to strictly deal with the terrorists. President had ordered for an immediate investigations into the matter. The Quetta blast was the sixth attack in the past month blamed on Taleban-linked militants.
A suicide bomber killed 15 people, mainly police officers, in Peshawar on January 27, a day after a bomber blew himself up at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, killing a guard.
Another bomber killed a policeman in the tribal town of Dera Ismail Khan on January 29, while a suicide car bomber killed two soldiers in the remote town of Tank this month.
Early this month an extremist blew himself up with a hand grenade after a gun battle with police at Islamabad airport, injuring three security guards.
Most of the attacks have been blamed on Taleban militants fighting security forces in the Waziristan tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Road blocks have been set up in Islamabad and police are checking all vehicles coming in to the city. Embassies have told their staff to limit their travel in the capital. It is a serious problem ... this is not an isolated case, said a senior Interior Ministry official, referring to the Quetta blast. Ultimately, its linked to the militants who have carried out the recent attacks, said the official who declined to be identified.
This article starring:
Jam Mohammad Yusuf
Qazi Abdul Waheed
Rahu Khan Brohi
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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CAMP TAJI, Iraq The increased presence of Iraqi and Multi-National Division Baghdad forces on the streets of eastern Baghdad continued to produce results as Iraqi troops found weapons caches inside a mosque and several surrounding buildings in Al Shamisiyah Feb. 15.
The cache was found inside the Al Farkan Mosque and included six mortar tubes, multiple rocket-propelled grenades, several AK-47s and other weapons.
The cache was discovered by Iraqi Soldiers from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division provided security for the operation while the Iraqis conducted the search.
Twin explosions in an open-air market killed 62 and wounded more than 129, including many female shoppers, in mostly Shiite areas.
At least 63 people were killed and 139 others injured in car bombs Sunday in Baghdad in the middle of a U.S.-led security clampdown on militants there, the Associated Press reported. The report said twin explosions in an open-air market killed 62 and wounded more than 129, including many female shoppers, in mostly Shiite areas. Another car bomb in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City left at least one dead and 10 wounded, police said, according to AP. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the bombing as a desperate act by "terrorists" and "criminals" who he said sense they are being squeezed, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Iraq the model reports, via Pajama Media, that civilians (probably mostly Sunnis) are returning to Baghdad, notwithstanding the bombing.
#1
The airlines have a general warning out for travel to the Tel Aviv airport... through June, if I recall correctly. I didn't notice a date, so I don't know if there's a connection.
A prison warden supplied convicted Bali bomber Imam Samudra with a laptop computer which allowed him to plot other attacks from his cell on death row, an Indonesian court heard today. Benny Irawan, alias Abu Hanafi, 29,
Abu HANAFI? That might be your first clue...
went on trial in Semarang district court, Central Java, today accused of receiving a package containing a laptop and other equipment on May 5, 2005, while he was a warden at Bali's Kerobokan jail. He then wrapped the laptop in old newspapers and gave it to Samudra in his jail cell later the same day, ElShinta radio said.
"The defendant had intentionally provided assistance or facilities to a terrorist," prosecutor Didik Joko told the court.
Mr Joko said that Mr Samudra - sentenced to death over his key role in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists - used the laptop to stay in contact with other Muslim militants. But he did not confirm press reports quoting police sources who said that Samudra had helped plan other attacks, including the 2005 Bali suicide bombings that killed 20 bystanders.
The indictment said that Samudra had sent money to Agung Setyadi, who is to be tried separately, to buy the laptop and send it to Mr Irawan in Bali. Setyadi and another man, Agung Prabowo, are both accused of creating a terrorism website, with tips on attacking foreigners, on the orders of Samudra. The website was active from June to October 2005. Their trials are scheduled to open at the same court later Monday.
Samudra and fellow Bali bombers Amrozi and Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, are all on death row. Mukhlas has preached to other Muslim militants by mobile phone from his Bali jail cell, according to a report to parliament earlier this month by police chief General Sutanto. All three were moved to a high security island jail off the southern coast of Central Java in October 2005, with the authorities citing security reasons..
#1
To Indonesia: just a suggestion, but if you actually, say, executed these mooks, you wouldn't have to deal with them misbehaving any more, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2007 12:05 Comments ||
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Well, at least he didn't give him a laptop dance, we may all be thankful for that. That would have been very unislamic. Providing aid and comfort to terrs, on the other hand...
By AMBIKA AHUJA
Associated Press Imaginary Character Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Dozens of bombings and shootings in southern Thailand left eight people dead, marking the first time Muslim insurgents had simultaneously struck the four provinces where they operate. The country's military-backed government responded Monday with plans to tighten security.
The onslaught began Sunday night as thousands were celebrating Lunar New Year, and an army spokesman said the insurgents were trying to scare ethnic Chinese who celebrate the holiday into fleeing the predominantly Muslim region.
"That's why they attacked on Sunday, the day that Chinese people celebrate after they pay homage to their ancestors. The insurgents do not want people of other religions to live with them," said the spokesman, Col. Akara Thiprote. Ethnic Chinese in southern Thailand are mostly Buddhists and Taoists.
Twenty-nine bombings and 20 other attacks rocked the country's four southernmost provinces Sunday night. Most of the attacks took place in a span of 45 minutes, Akara said. The targets were karaoke lounges, hotels, schools, gasoline stations and power grids. All legitimate military targets.
The violence continued Monday as bombs exploded at four locations in the south, killing an army major and wounding two soldiers, three policemen and 13 civilians, officials said. The attacks included a bomb at a karaoke parlor triggered by a mobile phone and an ambush on soldiers assigned to protect schoolteachers.
The shootings brought the number of wounded to 69 over a 24-hour period.
Sunday's attacks were the first time the insurgents had simultaneously struck all four southern provinces _ Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla _ where they operate, Akara said.
More than 2,000 people have died in the four provinces since the insurgency erupted in 2004, fueled by accusations of decades of misrule by the central government. The insurgents have not announced their goals, but are believed to be fighting for a separate state imbued with radical Islamic ideology.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont met with top security officials on Monday and urged heightened security in the area ahead of upcoming public holidays including a Buddhist holiday in March and the Thai New Year known as Songkran, celebrated in mid-April.
"There are loopholes in the cities that make it possible for the insurgents to attack and we must close these loopholes," said Montri Sangkasab, secretary-general of the Internal Security Operations Command counterinsurgency agency.
Army commander Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin said more military reinforcements would be sent to the south, according to the state Thai News Agency.
The attacks were the second wave of bombings Thailand has faced in recent months. Bangkok was struck by a series of eight explosions on Dec. 31, although authorities said southern insurgents were not responsible. Three people were killed and almost 40 wounded.
Violence in the south has been escalating in recent months despite a major policy shift by the military-imposed government, which is trying to replace an earlier iron-fisted approach with a campaign to win over locals.
#1
How about forcing all the muslims to move to Malaysia, then building a border fence backed by a minefield and machine gun emplacements? That would cut down on the problems tremendously.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/19/2007 13:25 Comments ||
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Basri sports a crude tattoo of Mickey Mouse on his wrist and spent his youth drinking alcohol and jamming to Nirvana songs in a rock band. He was never religious, and even now struggles to remember verses from the Quran, Islam's holy book.
Yet until his arrest this month, the 30-year-old was one of Indonesia's most wanted Islamic militants. He was accused in the beheadings of three Christian girls and a string of other attacks on Sulawesi island, a key terror front in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
In interviews with The Associated Press, Basri and four other militants detained with him said they were uneducated men, seeking to avenge relatives killed in a Muslim-Christian conflict six years ago. They said they were brainwashed by members of the al Qaeda linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.
Continued on Page 49
Two Muslim separatist rebels were killed in a clash with government troops in a southern Philippine province on the weekend, an army spokesman said Monday.
The firefight erupted on Saturday in the village of Mudseng in Midsayap town, North Cotabato province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, according to Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando. Ando said soldiers were on combat patrol to check on reports that an armed group was in the area when they were fired upon by about 30 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels. "Our troops were in danger at that time, they were forced to fire back to drive away the armed group," he said.
But MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the army soldiers triggered the clash when they failed to coordinate their movement with the rebel group as stipulated in a ceasefire pact with the government. "The MILF thought they were under attack so they fired back at the army's offensive," he said. "There was no coordination as should be the case as provided in the ceasefire agreement."
At least four people were killed and 49 injured when a series of coordinated explosions, arson attacks and shootings hit Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said. Fifteen explosions injured 26 people and killed one in Yala province, one of three insurgency-torn southern provinces bordering Malaysia, while in nearby Narathiwat province, one person was killed and 23 injured in seven bombings.
An unknown number of arson attacks and blasts hit Pattani province, one of which temporarily cut the provincial capital's electricity. Two villagers in Pattani were also shot dead in an ambush Sunday night.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Thailand's Muslim-majority south since the latest separatist insurgency erupted in January 2004. Sunday's attacks hit as Thailand was celebrating the Lunar New Year. "There are efforts to create chaos and make the news worldwide," said national army spokesman Colonel Acar Tiproch. "They use the festival time to show that there is not peace in the three provinces in the south," he told national television, adding that the army now had control of the situation.
The bombings across the three troubled provinces began at about 7.00 pm (1200 GMT). In Yala Town, police said nine blasts hit karaoke bars, petrol stations, hotels, a golf course and a cinema, while in a remote area of the province one person was killed in one of six blasts. Pattani's governor Panu Uthairat told Thai television that three blasts there had hit the power plant. A blackout ensued in Pattani Town, but he reassured residents that 95 percent of the supply had been restored.
In Narathiwat, seven bombings -- the majority of which hit karaoke bars -- started at 7.30 pm, police said, killing one. Militants in Narathiwat also set fire to a central mosque and two schools. In Yala, a primary school was set alight.
Teachers and schools are frequently targeted because militants view them as symbols of Bangkok's effort to impose Buddhist Thai culture on the region. "The militants show of force is trying to challenge the power of the authorities," Narathiwat's Deputy Governor Nithon Naratitakkul said. "The pattern of the attacks is orchestrated across the three provinces, and they attacked at almost exactly the same time," he added.
Police advised people in the three southern provinces to stay at home.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
According to this update, numbers so far are: at least 29 bombs killing 8 and injuring 50 - so far this morning.
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.
The Natanz plant is buried under concrete, metal and earth
Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent France Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians.
Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.
Earlier this month US officials said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq.
Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic consequences for any such US attack on Iran.
Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapon in the long term.
Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb.
Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium by 21 February.
If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this, the resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered.
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Hosea 8:7 [King James Version]
Normally I'd use a Jewish translation, but most of you would find this more familiar.
Let's have a competition. Who can find the most casus belli in Iran's behavior toward the US?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/19/2007 22:10 Comments ||
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Its called Contingency Planning. That being said, BBC versus SALON's Joe Conason > TWO TRIGGERS FOR ANTI-US INTERNATIONAL WAR, versus IRAQ-KATRINA as TWO TRIGGERS FOR [DUBYA-CAUSED] ANTI-AMER AMER AUTHORITARIANISM [ read - Socialism]??? Move along boyz, once again the WOT is about Radical Islam and only Radical Islam.
#4
Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.
Pie-crust.
For some time now, the usual media suspects have been harping that Iranian nuclear facilities were so cunningly concealed and deeply buried that even nuclear weapons cannot reach them. This subterranean Persian invincibility is an article of faith among lefty bloggers. If the Beeb's figure is accurate, they are very badly mistaken. Normally, media scare stories don't give actual figures, apparently for good reason if their agenda is to facilitate Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
As such, the Fortress Persia myth supercedes such previous bogey-men as Saddam's battle-hardened million man army (1991), the invincible Pashtun mountain man, Slayer of Empires (2001), the brutal Afghan winter (2001-02), Fallujah as Stalingrad on the Euphrates (2004) and (as we speak) the futility of trying to secure Baghdad.
Tehran, 19 Feb. (AKI) - Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, started on Monday land military exercises throughout the country - the eighth drill in the past six months. Local media reported that the three-day-long manoeuvres are due to rising fears that a war is imminent after the US strengthened its fleet in the Persian Gulf and sent more troops to Iraq, where Washington accuses Tehran of arming Shiite insurgents.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/19/2007 11:30 ||
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Tehran, 19 Feb. (AKI) - The Sunni radical group Jundallah (Allah's Brigade) which claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack last week against a Pasdaran bus denied on Monday that a man hanged that morning at the site of the attack in the southeastern city of Zahedan had anything to do with it. In a statement to Adnkronos International (AKI), Jundallah denied the accusations against the man, Nasrallah Shanbehzehi, and vowed to avenge him. Shanbehzehi, the statement said, "had absolutely nothing to do with Wednesday's action."
Just a few hours after last Wednesday's bomb attack against a bus carrying Pasdaran officials, in which 11 people died, Shanbehzehi was arrested.
Step 1; round up the usual suspects
He allegedly confessed on state television of having placed the bomb in a car, which was detonated as the Pasdaran's bus was passing by, and of being a member of the Sunni separatist group.
Step 2; 'extract confession'
After a trial which reportedly lasted only a few minutes,
Step 3; Show Trial
the man was sentenced to death by hanging.
Step 4; execute
In his recorded confession broadcast by Iranian state television, Shanbehzehi said he had been trained in Pakistan and said the United States armed and funded Jundallah - an allegation often made by Iranian authorities. He also said he had received 1,000 euros to carry out the attack.
$1,314
Zahedan is in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan - an area at the centre of violent clashes between security officials and armed groups. The province has in particular been hit by attacks and kidnappings blamed on the Sunni group, which was founded two years ago by Abdolmalek Righi. Jundallah has since its creation claimed responsibility for 20 attacks and kidnappings of many Pasdaran officials.
The Iranian government, which has blamed ethnic unrest in the southeast on Britain and the United States, accuses Righi and his militants of being "hired by foreign powers" to carry out attacks, funded by the US and in cooperation with Pakistan's intelligence.
I wish
Posted by: Steve ||
02/19/2007 11:16 ||
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America hired me, they paid me in Euros? Anybody besides Me see a glaring error there?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/19/2007 13:57 Comments ||
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Al Qaeda has released a video showing a young man asking for forgiveness from family, friends and teachers before he purportedly carries out a suicide car bombing against foreign troops in Afghanistan. The video also carries comments from Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaedas No 2 leader, as a train of armed men are shown walking through mountains and while an explosion hits a military vehicle on a turn in a road.
In the video, the man, who does not identify himself, asks his parents to pray for their patience when they get word that he has been martyred. I tell my parents that when they hear of my martyrdom, that I have given a sacrifice for the religion, they should offer prayers and ask God to grant them patience because people have given great sacrifices for the religion, the man said in Pashto, the language spoken by Pashtuns, Afghanistans largest ethnic-group from which the Taliban militia draws its main support.
IntelCentre, a US group that tracks extremist messages said on Sunday that the video was released on the Internet over the weekend and was the latest in a stepped up media campaign promoting jihad by Al Qaeda. In the video, the young man is seen sitting in front of a bare wall. An AK-47 rifle is propped against the wall on one side and another weapon, apparently a grenade launcher, on the other.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
KABUL - Eight US soldiers were killed and 14 injured when a helicopter crashed in an insurgency-hit part of southeastern Afghanistan early Sunday after a sudden loss of power, the US-led coalition said. The twin-rotor transport chopper came down in darkness in the southeastern province of Zabul, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, not far from a main highway, residents and officials said.
A car explosion killed at least four people in the restive Somali capital as three others, including a policeman, were gunned down in violence which has surged since the toppling of an Islamist movement late last year. Police said the four travelling in the car were all killed when their vehicle exploded in Mogadishu's Tawfiiq neighbourhood. 
2 outlaws killed in 'crossfire'
Four of six Muslims being held in France on suspicion of recruiting Islamist fighters for Iraq were remanded in custody yesterday, a police source said. The men were among a group of seven men and a number of wives who were detained for questioning this week as part of a Franco-Belgian operation against a group suspected of having links with Al Qaeda. The women and one man held in France had already been freed. Two other men were released yesterday but remained under investigation, the source said. 
The government has ordered immediate closure of all offices of the Al-Rasheed Trust (ART) and Al-Akhter Trust (ART) throughout Pakistan after the United Nations Security Council declared them to have links to militant groups. Sources said that the Interior Ministry had directed the four provinces, the chief secretaries of the Northern Areas (NAs) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) district administration to close the offices, schools, hospitals and other ongoing projects of Al-Rasheed Trust and Al-Akhter Trust in their respective areas. They have also been asked to detain the staff of the two trusts, impound their vehicles and confiscate equipment from their offices, said the sources.
Pakistani police have rounded up 50 suspects as investigations continue into a courtroom suicide bombing that killed 16 people including a judge and several lawyers, officials said yesterday. We have picked up around 50 suspects, the senior police superintendent of the southwestern city of Quetta, 
At least 63 people were killed and 139 others injured in car bombs Sunday in Baghdad in the middle of a U.S.-led security clampdown on militants there, the Associated Press reported. The report said twin explosions in an open-air market killed 62 and wounded more than 129, including many female shoppers, in mostly Shiite areas. Another car bomb in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City left at least one dead and 10 wounded, police said, according to AP. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the bombing as a desperate act by "terrorists" and "criminals" who he said sense they are being squeezed, the report said.
A prison warden supplied convicted Bali bomber Imam Samudra with a laptop computer which allowed him to plot other attacks from his cell on death row, an Indonesian court heard today. Benny Irawan, alias Abu Hanafi, 29, 
