KABUL - Kabul again ruled out any hostage swap to free two French aid workers held by the rebels, who have threatened to behead them and send their heads to Paris.
On Saturday, the insurgents released a brief black-and-white video of the two French aid workers -- a woman who calls herself only Celine and a man who calls himself Eric -- pleading for help from the French government. In the tearful video, filmed on Friday, they said in English they would be beheaded and their heads sent home to France if Paris ignored the Talebans demands.
But the Taleban have issued no public ransom demand for their release. However, Italian Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was kidnapped in Helmand last month, was freed after two weeks when Kabul released five senior Taleban prisoners. His Afghan driver and translator were beheaded.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta on Sunday repeated President Hamid Karzais pledge there would be no more hostage swaps. We will avoid the exchange of hostages with the criminals, Spanta told reporters. If we do it once or twice, it will become a procedure. It wont have an end.
There's someone with some sense.
The Mastrogiacomo deal drew bitter criticism in Italy and Afghanistan for encouraging the Taleban to take more hostages. They already hold five Afghan health workers and have threatened to kill one unless the government starts peace talks.
Karzais palace said on Saturday French President Jacques Chirac had phoned the Afghan leader to ask for help. President Hamid Karzai assured President Chirac that the relevant Afghan institutions will spare no effort in securing the release of the kidnapped French nationals and their Afghan colleagues, the palace said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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...pleading for help from the French government
Las Vegas would like those odds!
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
04/16/2007 10:55 Comments ||
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KABUL - Afghan and NATO forces killed at least 10 Taleban in an overnight assault in eastern Afghanistan. In addition to killing 10 insurgents, the NATO and Afghan troops wounded 15 Taleban and arrested two in the overnight pre-emptive strike to head off a rebel attack, Paktika province governor Mohammad Akram Khpalwak told Reuters.
On Saturday, U.S.-led coalition forces also said they and Afghan troops had killed 35 Taleban in a fierce 5-hour battle late last week in Helmand, the main opium producing centre.
More: one of the deaders might be an Arab al-Qaeda hard boy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Allahu akbar! Allan is on the side of the righteous after all! (Psst! Don't tell the bad guys, though!)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Four Afghan employees of a US-owned private security firm were killed in a suicide attack near a base housing thousands of international troops on Sunday, police said. The attacker, carrying explosives on a motorbike, targeted a US Protection and Investigations (USPI) vehicle just a few hundred yards from Kandahar airfield, a base for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
There was a suicide attack against a vehicle of the USPI. Three guards and a driver were killed and another guard was injured, a police officer at a nearby checkpost told AFP.
The bombing in this volatile southern city was the second suicide attack in as many days after eight people, mostly police, were killed in a blast in the eastern city of Khost.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Gunfire and mortar shells rocked Somalia's capital Sunday as plans for a peace and reconciliation conference were delayed for a second time.
And a third, and a fourth ...
Mogadishu has seen sporadic violence in recent days, ending more than a week's lull in fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops. Four days of bloodshed that started in late March killed hundreds of people - and possibly more than 1,000 - in the worst fighting in 15 years.
That can't be true, Mog has seen so much ...
On Sunday, the chairman of a committee planning a peace and reconciliation conference said the meeting would be held June 14. The conference had been scheduled for this month, then postponed to May because of the violence. ``We are trying to reconcile the Somali clans and we are waiting for international support,'' Ali Mahdi Mohmamed said Sunday.
Keep waiting. In the meantime, the body count is getting right high, doncha think?
Also Sunday, insurgents battled Ethiopian and Somali troops using machine guns and mortars. The death toll was not immediately clear; one day earlier, two Somali soldiers were fatally shot in the back in an ambush.
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KHARTOUM - An officer with the African Union peacekeeping force was shot dead in Al Fasher in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan, the seventh killed this month, a mission spokesman said on Sunday. The officer was killed by shots from unknown gunmen near the entrance to the headquarters of the African force in Al Fasher (capital of North Darfur state) and his vehicle was stolen, Nourredine Mezni told AFP. The nationality of the officer was not disclosed.
On Tuesday, a Rwandan peacekeeper was shot dead and two others wounded, also in North Darfur.
The bloodiest attack on the 7,000-strong force came on April 1 when five Senegalese soldiers guarding a Darfur watering station were shot dead, an incident blamed by Khartoum on the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army. The deaths prompted the Senegalese government on Thursday to warn that it might pull out its 500-strong contingent if the African Union could not guarantee its soldiers safety.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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You would think that by now they would be willing and able to shoot BACK, wouldn't you?
CASABLANCA, Morocco, April 15 The United States Consulate here said Sunday that it would close until further notice, a day after two brothers carried out puzzling suicide attacks near the consulate amid a spate of bombings in Morocco and Algeria. With the Moroccan police tightening security around the consulate and other foreign consulates here, the closing underscored American concerns expressed here and in Algeria about further attacks and possible dangers to Americans.
On Saturday, United States officials here told their employees to stay home, warning that the potential for violence against Americans remains high. A similarly strong warning in Algeria prompted an official government protest that American officials were exaggerating the threat and stirring undue fear. They take us for idiots, Algerias interior minister, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, told reporters Sunday, according to Reuters. Who has an interest in causing panic? It is clear that there is scheming.
Some Moroccans, even if uneasy over violence in their largely stable nation, also expressed skepticism about the threat to Americans. On Wednesday, suicide bombings killed 33 people in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. The attacks, the first large bombings there in years, were aimed at the prime ministers office and a police station, and were claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The day before in Casablanca, a port city and the commercial heart of this nation, which depends heavily on tourism, three men blew themselves up and a fourth was shot dead in a police raid on a safe house in the poor Hay Farah quarter. Then on Saturday, the rich downtown, filled with cafes, upscale shops and hotels charging as much for a night as many workers earn in a month, was hit. Mohammad Maha, 32, blew himself up across a palm-lined boulevard from the United States Consulate. About a minute later, his younger brother, Omar, 23, detonated a suicide bomb a few hundred yards away, near the American Language Center, one of a chain of privately owned schools. People were really scared, said a waiter, whose boss would not let him give his name, at the American Dream cafe between the locations of the two bombings on Boulevard Moulay Youssef. People left their coffee and everyone just started running.
The bombings on Saturday caused some measure of puzzlement: the attackers killed only themselves and struck early Saturday morning, when the streets were largely empty. Ahmed Najim, a reporter for the weekly newsmagazine Nichane who happened to be in the area when the bombs went off, said he believed that the two were actually aiming for a Moroccan security forces building nearby and that something went wrong before they reached their target.
Accidential explodulation, happens in Gaza all the time. Another workmanns comp claim for Mutual of Marrakesh.
He noted that the language school was patronized by Moroccans, not Americans. He added that the older brother did not detonate himself directly at the consulate, but across a wide boulevard, and did not pick the time or day to cause severe damage. If he really wanted to blow up the American Consulate, he would have come on a weekday, Mr. Najim said. Its more logical.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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...Algerias interior minister, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, told reporters Sunday, according to Reuters. Who has an interest in causing panic? It is clear that there is scheming.
Scheming for sure, Nourey-baby, by AQ, GSPC, IMF, and a whole slough of other islamic wacko groups.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 7:39 Comments ||
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They take us for idiots, Algerias interior minister, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, told reporters Sunday.
If he really wanted to blow up the American Consulate, he would have come on a weekday, Mr. Najim said. Its more logical.
Hmmm seeing as how the terrorists know a large portion of your economy depends on tourism along with your consistent record of downplaying violence, maybe its not so puzzling after all.
A Yemeni man accused of being affiliated with Al Qaeda claimed on Sunday that a confession he made was extracted under torture. Abu Bakr al-Rubaei is one of 36 Yemenis on trail in the countrys state security court on charges of they took part in foiled suicide attacks on industrial installations. Al-Rubaei told authorities during his interrogation that he and others were planning to carry out terrorist operations targeting Western and U.S. interests and homes of diplomats in the country. But on Sunday, al-Rubaei said he made the confession under duress.
Al-Rubaei has pleaded not guilty to the charges and told the court that he was asked by some Jihadi groups to be involved in attacks in Yemen and Iraq, but he refused. Judge Radhwan al-Nimr adjourned the trial until next Sunday.
Al Qaeda has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama Bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al Qaeda was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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mods edit as needed plz MI5 is adopting tactics used by the police to keep tabs on paedophiles and other sex offenders to monitor the activities of known or suspected Islamic extremists, The Times has learnt. heh, the child Aisha waz only 9 years old..
The threat from radicalised young Muslims is growing at such a rate that MI5 has realised that it needs the help of police officers on the streets to help it keep a check on extremists in their areas.
The police keep track of known paedophiles by collating sightings of them and noting whom they meet and which areas they frequent a tactic that MI5 sees as ideal for keeping track of the movements of Islamic extremists.
Thousands of police officers on the beat in areas with large Pakistani communities such as Birmingham, Leeds and London will be expected to keep a lookout for young Muslims known to have become radicals.
The information gathered from day-to-day observations will be used to compile a comprehensive database of lower-level extremism. This register will help both MI5 and the police.
MI5 has built up an extensive archive of extremist activities, according to security sources. But its surveillance officers have time to focus only on those posing a terrorist threat.
Security sources say that monitoring extremists is only part of the drive to deal with the growing challenge of a younger generation of Muslims, most of them of Pakistani origin, being suborned into supporting terrorism. more at linky
#2
Seems like the Radical Pakis are now some of the worst terrorist risks within the UK.
According to this article either home grown or immigrants the Paki Jehadis have the dubious distinction of being first amongst the rotten including Algerians, Moroccans, Saudis, Æthiopians, Libyans, Paleos etc....
The Boise School District offices were evacuated at about 10:15 this morning after they received what the superintendent described as "a suspicious package." Boise School District Superintendent Stan Olson said the district had received an envelope with the word "Anthrax" written on it in the mail. Sources said the envelope came from Boise's Capital High School.
I confess, after the VT shooting rampage I'm not in the mood for this sort of thing. The 'prankster' should be beaten with an iron rod.
Foreign combatants are leaving North Waziristan over fears that tribesmen may launch an operation to evict them, an alleged Taliban spokesman said on Sunday. Around 50 families of foreigners have departed for their respective countries in the last month, the spokesman, Gohar Ayub, told NNI from North Waziristan. He said he was speaking on behalf of local Taliban spokesmen Abdullah Farhad and Tariq Jamil. President Gen Pervez Musharraf informed army generals from 22 countries on Friday that tribesmen had killed 300 foreigners in South Waziristan and that he expected similar action in North Waziristan. The foreigners decided to leave North Waziristan after the tribal operation against the Uzbeks in South Waziristan. The foreigners said they did not want their women and children to become targets, the Taliban spokesman said. He said that around 50 families, including Chechens, Turks, Tajiks and Arabs, had returned to their countries.
Ayub said that most of the families were returning to their homelands through Afghanistan and Iran. He said the Arabs were planning on returning to Iraq. It is difficult to verify the claim independently, reports NNI. Ayub said it was possible that they were relocating to Afghanistan for jihad but he added that this was their decision and had nothing to do with the tribal leaders in North Waziristan.
The spokesman said the foreigners were leaving the area through their own decision because of the fights between tribesmen and foreigners in South Waziristan. He said the tribal elders had not advised them on this matter. He said the foreigners had told their local supporters that they would make future strategy after leaving their women and children behind in their home countries.
Ayub said that the local Taliban were strictly following the September 5 peace agreement with the government. He said that as long as the government didnt violate it, the local Taliban wouldnt either. He said that no one entered Afghanistan through North Waziristan and combatants were coming from different parts of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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That should be amusing for the home countries... assuming any of them make it that far, after trekking through Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran dragging untrained, unhappy dependents. What percentage of those wives were actually excess tribal daughters with no interest in exploring the outside world, I wonder.
ISLAMABAD: A magistrate on Sunday sent three students of Jamia Fareedia and the owner of Al-Awan CDs Centre to jail on the charge of burning CDs and other material in the main Bhara Kahu Bazaar on Saturday. The magistrate sent students Zainullah, Mehrab Hussain and Muhammad Idress, and the video shop owner, Muhammad Arif, to Adiala Jail on judicial remand on Sunday. Arifs business partner, Muhammad Tariq, has evaded arrest. Bhara Kahu Station House Office Tahir Mahmood Malik said that police had booked Arif, the video shop owner, as he had initiated the burning of CDs at a public place, which created a public nuisance. Bhara Kahu police registered a case against the accused under sections 6/7 of the Anti Terrorism Act and sections 285 and 290 of Pakistan Penal Code.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Make him pay for all of them at 100% over list.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/16/2007 6:11 Comments ||
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SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops shot dead foursuspected Islamic militants in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, police said Sunday, while a Muslim man was also beheaded in further violence. Two of the rebels were killed in a clash Sunday with troops near Shopian, 55 kilometres (34 miles) south of the summer capital, Srinagar, police said, adding the two were members of the regions most powerful rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin.
Two other militants were shot dead Sunday in a similar clash with troops and police in a district south of Shopian, a police spokesman said.
Police said suspected militants beheaded a Muslim man in the Pulwama district, where Shopian is located, early Sunday. The motive for the killing was not immediately known, although militants regularly target people suspected of working with police and troops.
Sounds like a motive to me, but I'm not the AFP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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This may be the first time that 'muslim' and 'beheaded' was used in the same sentence, where the mussie was the beheadee rather than the beheador. i think i like it. (saving all my caps for JOE)
U.S. troops said yesterday that they had found two large caches of nitric acid a highly corrosive substance with chemical weapons potential in abandoned houses used by Sunni insurgents in western Baghdad. Acting on a tip from neighbors, members of the Stryker Brigade's Alpha Company found 31 barrels of nitric acid Saturday in the walled-off front yard of a house that had been raided less than two weeks earlier. Members of the same company were clearing another abandoned house a few hundred yards away when they found an additional two 5-gallon containers of nitric acid.
They also discovered four 50-pound bags of an unknown powder, artillery casings filled with the powder, several buckets for mixing, zinc oxide and benzene. Nitric acid "is one of the chemicals used to make homemade explosives," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Wallace, battalion medic for the 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry regiment of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade. "It's an acid and causes chemical burns to the skin and burns the lungs and esophagus if it is inhaled," Sgt. Wallace told The Washington Times.
Capt. Jon Fursman of the Stryker Alpha Company said that eight men had been arrested at the first house and that neighbors had alerted U.S. forces to the chemicals. "All were clearly labeled in English, with standard hazmat labels," said Capt. Fursman. Clearly labelled in English, with Hazmat labels? Isn't that a bit odd to find in Iraq? Nice that the neighbors turned them in, though.
BAGHDAD - Insurgent bomb attacks massacred 35 people in Shia shopping areas of Baghdad on Sunday. Eighteen people died when a booby-trapped car blew up outside a restaurant and a second ripped through a market in the southern Al Shurta Al Arabaa suburb of Iraqs capital, in bloody defiance of a two-month-old security crackdown. Of those killed 10 are men, five women and three children, said a medic at Yarmuk Hospital, adding that 35 wounded were receiving treatment, among them more women and children.
As the skeleton of burnt wreckage still smouldered, a bus rigged with bombs exploded in a downtown shopping district in Karrada, killing at least 11 people and wounding 18, defence and security sources said.
In the northern and predominantly Shia district of Ul-Utaifiyah, a suicide bomber boarded a minibus and blew himself up, killing six people and wounding 10, said another security official on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, recently returned from a tour of Asian economic giants Japan and South Korea in a bid to drum up investment for his beleaguered country, slammed the militants for striking at civilians. By targeting vital civil institutions and innocent civilians terrorist groups reveal their failure to confront our armed forces, which are carrying out Operation Fardh Al Qanoon successfully in Baghdad, he said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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LONDON - Two people were killed and one very seriously wounded Sunday when two British military helicopters crashed in Iraq, Defence Secretary Des Browne said here. Now that next of kin have been informed, I can confirm that the two helicopters reported this morning as having crashed north of Baghdad earlier today were, in fact, both UK helicopters, Browne said in a statement. Sadly, two personnel have died and one is very seriously injured. All of these were UK personnel. My thoughts and sympathy are with them and their families.
The Puma helicopters, which normally carry up to 16 people with a crew of three, came down in the early hours of the morning in a rural area southwest of Taji, home to a huge American military base north of Baghdad. It was understood that the others on board escaped with minor cuts and bruises and further details of the incident would not be released before Monday.
The BBC, citing military sources, said the helicopters were taking part in a special forces operation, which would therefore explain why the incident occurred so far north of where British troops are based: the main southern city of Basra. A defence ministry spokesman said: I cant talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq.
The US military said the crash appeared to be the result of a mid-air collision.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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That means more than likely shot down. Seems the Orcs didn't manage to get to the wreckage first tho this time.
Thanks lads.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/16/2007 5:35 Comments ||
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A bit of the fog of war there, with the MoD saying they crashed, and US sources saying the helicopters collided in the air.
Regardless, a speedy recovery for the injured and condolences for the families of the two who died. May their memories ease the sorrow of those who mourn.
Palestinian security sources on Sunday discredited claims by a previously unknown group of Palestinian militants that said it had executed kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston.
The Palestinian Authority forces believe that Johnston, kidnapped on March 12, is being held inside the Gaza Strip, apparently by one of the larger clans there. They believe the claims by the so-called Tawhid and Jihad Brigade are an attempt to put pressure on the PA. The group sent a declaration by email to several Palestinian journalists headlined "Announcement of the execution of British journalist Alan Johnston," which stated that the group had approached a number of elements seeking the release of Palestinian prisoners - however, "the world was only concerned with Johnston." The group also said it had been unpleasantly surprised by the position taken by the PA, which attributed the kidnapping to other reasons. The group said it would soon distribute a video of Johnston's execution.
The Tawhid and Jihad Brigade said the Palestinian government and presidency, and the British government are responsible for the execution. The BBC stated that the network had heard about the email, but that there has been no independent verification of it. However, the network stated it is deeply concerned by the reports.
The British reporter was kidnapped by four masked men, apparently from his Gaza apartment. He reportedly managed to throw down his business card when he realized he was being kidnapped. The card was found by Palestinian security forces after the kidnapping. His car was found abandoned nearby.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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The Tawhid and Jihad Brigade said the Palestinian government and presidency, and the British government are responsible for the execution
#4
I'll bet William Hill is offering pretty good odds that this is a setup by Johnston to get himself a reputation, a better contract and a book deal. Lets wait and see if he comes out as a convert like that nutcase Yvonne Ridley.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
04/16/2007 11:01 Comments ||
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FWIW, Tawhid = monotheism.
Some groups consider the invocation of the name of persons other than Mohammud (e.g., Iman Ali the Shiite 'saint') or loyalty to a constitution or acceptance of an international agreement or using certain expressions (e.g., 'my my grandfather's memory be praised) to be an act of polytheism.
#6
In other words, mhw, the usual "more Islamic than thou" bullshit. These stupid fucks will find reasons to kill each other right up to the final moment when the West obviates any further need for them.
probably correct that the group is Islamist, however it may be that the group doesn't even exist
of course, if killing each other was all that the moslems did, it would be little more than a humanitarian problem; unfortunately, killing infidels and/or enslaving and/or making infidels subservient is the prime directive
Three explosions rocked Gaza City early Sunday, damaging two Internet cafes and a Christian bookstore. No one was hurt and no group claimed responsibility for the blasts, which took place around 3 a.m. local time, Palestinian security officials said. But heavy external damage was visible at the three stores. At the bookstore, which is funded by American Protestants and known as the Bible Society, a number of books were also burned in the explosion.
Several similar attacks on Internet cafes and music stores in recent months have been claimed by a little-known extremist Islamic organization calling itself the Swords of Truth. The officials would not speculate on the identity of the attackers behind the Sunday attacks, saying only that the incidents were under investigation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. In recent months, about three dozen Internet cafes and shops selling pop music have been attacked in the Gaza Strip, with assailants detonating small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries. Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret vice squad of Muslim militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Running a Christian bookstore in Gaza is about the most high risk, low reward endeavor I can imagine.
#2
The last group to violently suppress Christians in Palestine was the Romans, which did wonders for them. Never heard from those troublemakers again. May the Muslims enjoy as much success.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/16/2007 4:09 Comments ||
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a secret vice squad of Muslim militants.
F*ck me. Ali Crockett and Mehmet Tubbs.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/16/2007 5:49 Comments ||
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Vigorous condemnations from senior Western clergy to follow any moment now.
#8
Yet another indicator that the security fence is working and working well. So many bombs must be nearing the end of their shelf life and we all know the Palestinians just can't bear letting them go to waste.
Suspected Muslim insurgents set fire to five schools and other symbols of government authority in retaliation for the killings of three Muslim youths in Thailand's restive south, police said Monday. The attacks in Pattani province came during a spree of scattered violence Sunday night to Monday across the restive south that killed two people and left one person wounded.
The arson attacks in Pattani were the latest angry reaction to the fatal shootings Friday of three Muslim boys, killed by soldiers. Troops shot the youths, aged 13 to 15, who were standing among a rowdy crowd that allegedly fired gunshots at them. Hundreds of Muslims protested the killings on Saturday, amid the country's weekend celebration of the traditional Thai New Year.
Around midnight Sunday, suspected insurgents set fire to teachers' dormitories in five public schools in Pattani, a public health clinic and two police checkpoints, said Pattani police Col. Somjit Nasomyon. Flyers scattered at the sites read: "This is an act of revenge for soldiers brutally killing three Muslim teenagers," Somjit said. The flyers were unsigned but believed to have come from insurgents, he said.
Also Sunday, suspected insurgents bombed a roadside restaurant in Pattani township, leaving one customer wounded.
Muslim villagers stressed they had nothing to do with the attacks and had agreed to stop protests. "It must be the work of insurgents who are taking advantage of the situation ... to create chaos," said Marueding Jehka, a protest leader and representative for the families of the boys' killed.
Army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprot blamed insurgents for trying to incite more anger in the community after the issue had been resolved. "The soldiers have confessed their guilt and apologized," Akara said, adding that the army has punished the soldiers and agreed to pay compensation to parents of the victims and "both sides are satisfied with the agreement."
In separate violence Monday morning, a suspected insurgent shots dead two Muslim men who worked as drivers for a municipal office in Yala province, said Police. Col. Chaitat Intanoochit, of Yala police station. A gunman stormed the house of one victim, identified as a 63 year-old man, and shot him in the head at close range. About 10 minutes later the same gunman entered a coffee shop and open fired on their second victim, Chaitat said.
Authorities believe the two Muslim men were targeted because they worked for a government office and were seen as collaborators.
An elderly Buddhist man was shot dead and his body set on fire in Thailand's restive south of Narathiwat, police said on Monday. Thongmee Mainman, 70, was attacked as he drove his motorbike home from a market in Narathiwat, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces beset by a three-year separatist insurgency in which more than 2,000 people have been killed, they said.
"There must be more than four of them. After they set him on fire, they took his motorcycle too," local police chief Bunlue Chuweth told Reuters. The attackers shot the man five times in the head and torso, before setting his body on fire on Sunday, Bunlue said.
A group of unidentified gunmen late Sunday attacked a military camp in southernmost Narathiwat province and killed at least one military man, unconfirmed reports said on Monday. The gunmen, armed with M-16 rifles. launched attacks at the military and police camp in Sri Sakhon district late on Sunday.
After a soldier was ambushed and killed, the military counter-attacked. After a 15-minute firefight, the insurgents run away. Several soldiers were also wounded, local radio FM 100 reported.
Tehran, Iran, Apr. 16 An armed gang killed a member of Irans para-military Bassij force, the semi-official daily Kayhan reported on Saturday. The report said that the Bassij agent, identified as Gholam-Reza Zabouni, was killed during a shootout with armed robbers in the Iranian capital.
The Bassij, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), are Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In 2005, following hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejads rise to the presidency, they were given powers to act as the countrys back-up police force.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges, such as armed robbery and drug smuggling.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 22:47 ||
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#7
I'm a happily married man, so all I do is look, but here's my summary from my 10 years in Europe. I found that most Italian girls were very pretty, very friendly, and liked Americans. The Germans came in all varieties, but there were many pretty ones among the bunch, and most liked Americans. The Dutch were fresh, wholesome, and very attractive, most spoke English and were happy to be with Americans. The Swiss were great! The Danes and Norweigans I came in contact with were few, but the women were beautiful and charming, and weren't afraid to be seen with Americans. Most of the French women I met were pretty, or thought they were, but they were also far less friendly than any other nationality, and most didn't like Americans. Sophia Loren stands out as an exception in ANY crowd.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2007 13:12 Comments ||
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#8
And the British girls all looked like they fell out of the ugly tree?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/16/2007 13:27 Comments ||
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Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/16/2007 14:00 Comments ||
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#12
Methinks Howard doth protest too much . . . .
Posted by: Bill Shakespeare ||
04/16/2007 14:27 Comments ||
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I dunno about Brit birds. IIRC, some "scientific" study declared that British women had the largest average chest size in the world. I suppose there's a lot of "hey, I'm up here" bitching in Blighty.
#14
From my years in Europe including the UK, I have to say the Polish women by far are the most sexually attractive you can find. Too bad all those years of stereotyping them like babushkas at the fish market. But you are right about French women. When they shave their legs and armpits they look great but still can't get their nose out of the clouds.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
04/16/2007 16:34 Comments ||
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Scottish girls are great. There's something about that accent (along with Irish girls and brits as well).
But, I'm afraid that for sheer, wholesome, down home attractiveness, there's nothing like an Ohio farmgirl ('course, the ones I knew back in the day had Scandinavian, Scot, and English/German backgrounds and families).
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 - Kabul again ruled out any hostage swap to free two French aid workers held by the rebels, who have threatened to behead them and send their heads to Paris.
KABUL - Afghan and NATO forces killed at least 10 Taleban in an overnight assault in eastern Afghanistan. In addition to killing 10 insurgents, the NATO and Afghan troops wounded 15 Taleban and arrested two in the overnight pre-emptive strike to head off a rebel attack, Paktika province governor Mohammad Akram Khpalwak told Reuters.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Four Afghan employees of a US-owned private security firm were killed in a suicide attack near a base housing thousands of international troops on Sunday, police said. The attacker, carrying explosives on a motorbike, targeted a US Protection and Investigations (USPI) vehicle just a few hundred yards from Kandahar airfield, a base for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Gunfire and mortar shells rocked Somalia's capital Sunday as plans for a peace and reconciliation conference were delayed for a second time. 
CASABLANCA, Morocco, April 15 The United States Consulate here said Sunday that it would close until further notice, a day after two brothers carried out puzzling suicide attacks near the consulate amid a spate of bombings in Morocco and Algeria. With the Moroccan police tightening security around the consulate and other foreign consulates here, the closing underscored American concerns expressed here and in Algeria about further attacks and possible dangers to Americans. 
SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops shot dead foursuspected Islamic militants in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir, police said Sunday, while a Muslim man was also beheaded in further violence. Two of the rebels were killed in a clash Sunday with troops near Shopian, 55 kilometres (34 miles) south of the summer capital, Srinagar, police said, adding the two were members of the regions most powerful rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin.
BAGHDAD - Insurgent bomb attacks massacred 35 people in Shia shopping areas of Baghdad on Sunday. Eighteen people died when a booby-trapped car blew up outside a restaurant and a second ripped through a market in the southern Al Shurta Al Arabaa suburb of Iraqs capital, in bloody defiance of a two-month-old security crackdown. Of those killed 10 are men, five women and three children, said a medic at Yarmuk Hospital, adding that 35 wounded were receiving treatment, among them more women and children.
LONDON - Two people were killed and one very seriously wounded Sunday when two British military helicopters crashed in Iraq, Defence Secretary Des Browne said here. Now that next of kin have been informed, I can confirm that the two helicopters reported this morning as having crashed north of Baghdad earlier today were, in fact, both UK helicopters, Browne said in a statement. Sadly, two personnel have died and one is very seriously injured. All of these were UK personnel. My thoughts and sympathy are with them and their families.
Palestinian security sources on Sunday discredited claims by a previously unknown group of Palestinian militants that said it had executed kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston. 
Tehran, Iran, Apr. 16 An armed gang killed a member of Irans para-military Bassij force, the semi-official daily Kayhan reported on Saturday. The report said that the Bassij agent, identified as Gholam-Reza Zabouni, was killed during a shootout with armed robbers in the Iranian capital.
