Three Taliban who had been released from prison in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist were killed alongside the insurgencys top field commander over the weekend, the Afghan intelligence service said on Wednesday.
Mullah Dadullah, a militant who orchestrated a rash of Taliban suicide attacks and beheadings, died of gunshot wounds in a US-led operation over the weekend in the southern province of Helmand. An official with Afghanistans intelligence service identified the three others as Mullah Shah Mansoor, Dadullahs brother, Mullah Hamdullah and Commander Ghafar. They had been freed in March in a prisoner swap for the release of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.
US-led coalition forces, with assistance from NATO and Afghan forces, were able to track them to the village of Sarwan using modern technology, said the official, reading an intelligence service statement. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the agencys policy. A NATO spokeswoman said the coalition would not have been able to kill the Talibans top field commander without the help of Afghan civilians and security forces, whose intelligence helped track him down, but gave no details.
The Taliban has lost most of its top commanders over the last year and NATOs International Security Assistance Force anticipates the Talibans operational coherence and morale will suffer as a result, spokeswoman Lt Col Maria Carl said. Afghan national security forces made this operation possible, and their efforts are largely responsible for the death of (Mullah Dadullah) - this is their success, Carl told a news conference. Carl said NATO forces tracked Dadullah to southern Afghanistan. Not long after Mullah Dadullah showed up in the southern part of Afghanistan, he was found and killed in an assault by mainly coalition forces, with ISAF and (Afghan) assets in support, Carl said. This will likely be a serious disruption to the extremists efforts to terrorize the Afghan people. But we also know that it does not mean the end of the insurgency by any means, Carl said.
Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi said the Afghan people had a great role in cooperating with the government in the operation to kill Dadullah, but he declined to give any further details. He said the government was keeping their intelligence information secret.
Separately, a soldier with the US-led coalition died from his injuries after being attacked while returning from a medical assistance mission in southern Afghanistan, the force said on Wednesday.
This article starring:
Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimi
COMANDER GHAFAR
Taliban
MULLAH DADULLAH
Taliban
MULLAH HAMDULLAH
Taliban
MULLAH SHAH MANSUR
Taliban
spokeswoman Lt Col Maria Carl
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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I hope it was painful and long-suffering.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2007 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
The Islamo-roach Motel: The check in, but they don't check out!
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/17/2007 6:16 Comments ||
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#4
Hey, This sounds like fun! Get the Italians to cough up hard cash to release some bad mullahs, then follow them and kill them with their friends. I like this "release and shoot" program.
#6
Cool it, guys - and NOBODY mention the sub-dermal microchips that allow us to track these guys with spy satellites, ok? Now, who's next to be released?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2007 15:06 Comments ||
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#7
That's crazy OP, the power required renders it impossible. The only way it could be done is if it was a transmitter than could metabolize human fat.
A remote-controlled bomb killed four African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and a civilian on Wednesday in the Somali capital, in the kind of Iraq-style attack threatened by militant Islamist militants. Five peacekeepers and two children were also wounded in the blast targeting an AU convoy, which an AU security source said was the first such attack against the 1,600-strong Ugandan contingent -- who had so far only been shot at.
The attack occurred just weeks after the Somali government declared victory over Islamic militants. The capital, Mogadishu, has been relatively calm since then, with sporadic bursts of deadly violence.
"Four of our solders were killed on the spot by the roadside bomb in north Mogadishu,'' said Capt. Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the AU force. "The roadside bomb's intention was to hit peacekeepers," Ankunda added.
The blast occurred near Mogadishu's old seaport. Uganda has about 1,400 troops in Somalia, officially as the vanguard of a larger African Union peacekeeping force although so far no other countries have sent reinforcements.
Government soldiers immediately cordoned off the neighbourhood -- a decrepit clutch of buildings inhabited mostly by refugees -- and began searching for the attackers. Suspicion immediately fell on Islamist militants who have waged an armed resistance campaign in the capital since the interim government and its Ethiopian allies ran them out of the anarchic city in late December. The explosion shattered a relative calm in Mogadishu that had endured since the end of two major battles between militants and the interim government, backed by its Ethiopian allies, that killed at least 1,300 people in March and April.
A witness who escaped injury despite being thrown into the air by the blast said the bomb was hidden in a pile of garbage. "I was walking when suddenly I heard a loud bang and found myself in the air. I fell a few metres away. I thought I was dead. I touched my whole body to see if I had any wounds," Muhyidin Ahmed, a 32-year-old father of six, told Reuters.
A man urinating in a bush near the bomb was blown to pieces, Ahmed said: "His flesh is scattered everywhere." Two children wounded while playing were rushed to hospital, he said.
The attack appeared to counter the interim government's assessment, shared by the Ethiopian government, that the resistance had been defeated and the city pacified. Use of roadside bombs -- a favourite weapon in Iraq -- is on the rise in Mogadishu. They have previously been used against the interim government and Ethiopian soldiers. "We have overcome many which were detected. This was a remote-controlled bomb," the AU security source said.
Security experts said the blast, taken alongside the assassinations of government officials and attacks on or near United Nations offices, pointed to a coalescing resistance. "They are not gone, they have just been scattered. The bad boys are resilient. They have changed tactics and they are going to do it a la Baghdad," said one expert who follows Somalia, but who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Also Wednesday, the aid group CARE International said two of its workers who were kidnapped last week in the semiautonomous Puntland region of Somalia have been released. Puntland has escaped much of the violence that has plagued southern Somalia, but banditry and piracy are a problem in the region. "The men are unharmed and eager to return to their families,'' said Beatrice Spadacini, spokeswoman for CARE International's regional office in the Kenyan capital.
Late on Tuesday near the central city of Jowhar, militants attacked the convoy of the Lower Shabelle region's governor, Mohamed Omar Deele, and killed four soldiers and two journalists travelling with them, a government soldier in the convoy said. Also on Tuesday, an unknown attacker threw a grenade into a cinema in Baardheere, southern Somalia, killing five and wounding 30.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"A man urinating in a bush near the bomb was blown to pieces"
Must have peed on the detonator. Bad move.
"hidden in a pile of garbage"
Garbage camo seems to be a standard technique of the ROP. Garbage is an 'environmental crime' - can't the UN or Greenpeace or somebody force these people to clean up?
The joint forces detained Moulana Habibur Rahman, nayeb-e-ameer of a faction of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, from his father-in-law's house at the city's Jherjheri para early yesterday. Habibur was arrested on charge of having links with the militant groups and he was shown arrested under the emergency power rules, a police official said. After his arrest at 1:10am, the law enforcers took him to the Sylhet Kotwali Police Station where officials quizzed him. "Mahmoud! This is a Number 6! I distinctly asked for a Number 7 truncheon!"
"Sorry, Sahib! You broke the Number 7 on Akter Hossein! There's a new one on order!"
"Well, drive a nail through the Number 6, then! We'll just have to make due."
"Right, Sahib!"
At about 1:00pm yesterday, Kotwali police produced Habibur before the Sylhet Sadar cognizance magistrate's court, wherefrom he was sent to the jail lock-up.
In 1994, 'Sahaba Sainik Parishad' run by Habibur announced Tk 50,000 bounty on the head of writer Taslima Nasrin. On October 13 that year, the man with several hundred people put blockade in front of the deputy commissioner's office to press for hanging Taslima. Habibur once told about his experience of joining training programmes in Afghanistan. However, after the emergence of militant groups like JMB, he started denying his links with and support for Afghan wars.
Moulana Habibur Rahman, who is also the principal of Jameya Madania Islamia at Kazirbazar, used his students against Afsar Uddin, a lessee of the adjacent Kazirbazar cattle market, to 'extend' the madrasa in 2005. Habibur also grabbed some valuable lands of the LGED at the city's Bagbari in 1992 for setting up a Nurani Madrasa. However, the district administration freed the government lands shortly afterwards.
Habibur Rahman, who was an ally of the BNP-led alliance government, later shifted his political line and managed nomination of the Awami League-led combine for Sylhet-6 constituency (Golapganj and Beanibazar upazilas) ahead of the election scheduled for January (later cancelled). The matter fuelled agitation among the rank and file in the AL-led combine. Beany Bazaar. Really. We did not make that up.
This article starring:
Afsar Uddin, a lessee of the adjacent Kazirbazar cattle market
MULANA HABIBUR RAHMAN
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish
MULANA HABIBUR RAHMAN
Jameya Madania Islamia at Kazirbazar
MULANA HABIBUR RAHMAN
Sahaba Sainik Parishad
Taslima Nasrin
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish
Jameya Madania Islamia at Kazirbazar
Sahaba Sainik Parishad
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Three people arrested last week in connection with the suicide bombings in 2005 on Londons transport system, including the widow of ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan, have been released without charge, police said. A fourth man, aged 34, who was also arrested last Wednesday remained at a London police station after officers were granted a warrant to detain him until May 21.
Police said a 29-year-old woman and two men aged 30 and 22 were released without charge on Tuesday evening. A source familiar with the case had identified the woman as Khans widow Hasina Patel. She and the three men were detained on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Three men were charged last month with conspiring with the bombers. Police say a key focus of their investigations is to trace people who may have known what the bombers were planning or provided them with logistical support such as money or accommodation.
This article starring:
HASINA PATEL
al-Qaeda in Europe
MOHAMAD SIDIQUE KHAN
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
a key focus of their investigations is to trace people who may have known what the bombers were planning or provided them with logistical support
Prob a sizeable section of the local Pak community. Time to get rid.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/17/2007 6:57 Comments ||
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#2
Yes, but while the three were in custody, the police had a merry time going through their homes, their bank accounts, their telephone records, their computers, their cell phones... it'll be interesting to see who is picked up over the next few months, and speculate on the suspicions aroused in the community against the three when it's their friends and relations.
An Australian woman planned to explode a car bomb in Sydney's main nightlife district to prove her love for her jailed boyfriend, a court was told Thursday.
Jill Courtney, 27, was "obsessed" with Hussan Kalache, who had promised to marry her if she carried out a "mission", police said in a statement presented in court. They said she had Kalache's name and prison number tattooed "over various parts of her body," and that he had wanted Courtney to "prove her love to him by undertaking a 'mission' before he would commit to marriage."
She was ordered to stand trial on charges of conspiring to commit murder and place explosives in a public place. The police said Courtney denied the allegations. According to the statement, a tip-off that a car-bomb would explode in the Kings Cross area in Sydney on March 24 last year led them to Courtney, who lived with her father.
Investigations revealed she and Kalache, now 28, were in a "turbulent" relationship and she was obsessed with marrying him. "During (one) conversation Kalache states that after the 'mission' is completed he will marry the accused immediately," the statement said.
Courtney allegedly approached a number of people asking for assistance in buying materials and making a bomb.
When her home was searched, police seized a timing kit, chemical lists and items which they said could be used in the construction of a bomb. A wig was also found. A notebook allegedly detailing the "mission plan" said: "Go place, set it up, leave, do it, go to borrowed car, change clothes, wig, drive home."
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2007 07:22 ||
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Looooooooser!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2007 8:15 Comments ||
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#5
Seafarious----Ya beat me to it! Curses! foiled again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/17/2007 10:31 Comments ||
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#6
Sorry. I was up late last night watching the Perils of Paris Hilton on E, or Access Hollywood, or one of those shows. Boy, what a whackjob she is...
Any celebrity lezbeans adopting a kid this week?
Posted by: Ex Astronaut Lisa Nowak ||
05/17/2007 11:33 Comments ||
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#7
Whatever they do to her, execute the jailed boyfriend.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/17/2007 12:38 Comments ||
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#8
While I truly despise "partial-birth abortions", I'm all for post-partum abortions of people who fail the basic test of residual intelligence. "Falling" for a muzzie should be one such consideration. Excuse me while I go "pray" to the Porcelain God...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2007 15:19 Comments ||
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Christians living in a town beset by pro-Taliban militants sought government protection on Wednesday, a day before the expiry of an ultimatum warning them to convert.
About 500 Christians in Charsadda, a town in NWFP, received threatening letters earlier this month telling them to close their churches and convert to Islam by May 17 or face bomb explosions.
Community leaders say several Christians have fled the town and others are living in fear. Chaudhry Salim, a Christian leader in Charsadda, said police had not taken the threat seriously. Police say someone is joking with us by writing these letters, Salim told a news conference here. They have deployed only two policemen at our churches...this is the kind of security we are getting now.
Shahbaz Bhatti, a prominent Christian leader and head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, said the provincial government, which is controlled by a coalition of pro-Taliban religious parties, would be blamed for any attacks after the deadline. Bhatti also urged Muslim religious scholars to condemn the authors of the threat and said the federal government should take concrete steps to provide protection to Christians.
Asif Daudzai, a spokesman for the provincial government, asked Christians not to panic, saying authorities were doing all they could to ensure their protection. Christians are our brothers and sisters, and we will not allow any one to harm them, he told the Associated Press.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
Bhatti also urged Muslim religious scholars to condemn the authors of the threat and said the federal government should take concrete steps to provide protection to Christians.
I'm sure that's going to happen. Contrast that with the Muslims in the West (and CAIR) who raise hell over taxi cabs, bathroom foot-washing provisions,wearing veils and burqas, welfare benefits, airlines issues and any perceived "slight" real or not with impunity.
#4
I have to admire the courage of these people. Fighting back is obviously not an option for them as they are swimming in a sea of homicidal and suicidal lunatics. They have nothing but their faith. It is inspirational but I'm afraid the more stories I read like this the less tolerant I become of Islam.
The National Crisis Management Cell of the Interior Ministry has directed the home secretary and inspector general of police Balochistan and IGP Islamabad Capital Territory to arrest activists of Mullah Hadi terrorist group, Daily Times has learnt.
The action has been taken on an intelligence report that the activists of the group, with its headquarters in Quetta, are regrouping to carryout terrorist activities in the country with the collaboration of proscribed terrorist organisations and Taliban. Six key members of the group include Mufti Saghir of Sargodha, Khalid Mahmood, Nasrullah (Abu Huraria), Asif of Chakwal, Khuda Bakhsh and Zafar Iqbal. The report states that Bakhsh, a close associate of Hadi, was released from Sargodha jail in 2003. He had worked as translator for Arab Mujahideen and was reorganising the old jehadi elements for terrorist activities in the country.
The report states the group was preparing to do something devastating against the government. Hadi, Sagheer, Mahmood, and Nasrullah are explosive expert and they are running electronic repair shops in Quetta, says the report. It is strongly apprehended that Sagheer and Mahmood are involved in making Improvised Explosive Devices to target gas and railway installations in and around Quetta, the report says.
This article starring:
ABU HURARIA
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
ASIF OF CHAKWAL
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
KHALID MAHMUD
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
KHUDA BAKHSH
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
MUFTI SAGHIR
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
ZAFAR IQBAL
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
Mullah Hadi terrorist group
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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At least three Pakistani villagers and an Afghan refugee were killed on Wednesday in a clash with police sent to demolish homes near a refugee camp that authorities want to close, officials and residents said.
The trouble began when police refused to listen to our pleas and tried to demolish homes of local villagers near the Pir Alizai camp, said Abdul Shakoor Kokozai, a tribal elder. He said the ensuing shootout left four people dead, including an Afghan refugee. We are Pakistanis. We dont want to be made homeless, he said, adding that five Pakistani villagers and three refugees were injured when police fired tear gas and swung batons.
There were conflicting reports about the incident. Chaman Nazim Hamid Ullah Achakzai said police had been sent only to demolish homes vacated by Afghan refugees, not those of Pakistanis living in the area. Some refugees apparently joined local residents in opposing the police action. Zaman Khan, a senior police officer in Chaman, said police used tear gas against 300 to 400 camp residents blocking the Quetta-Chaman highway in protest. About 36,000 people live in Pir Alizai, one of four large camps that the Pakistani government plans to close by September.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Five civilians were killed in a rocket attack by suspected tribal militants in Tank city on Tuesday. Up to five innocent civilians were killed, Tank District Nazim Riaz Kundi told Daily Times. Twelve people including two policemen were wounded.
The five people were killed when tribal militants fired a rocket at a grain market, said eyewitnesses and police officials. Police have located a group of about 15 armed militants and we are trying to nab them, district police chief Zulfiqar Cheema told AFP.
The city has been placed under curfew since Monday when militants linked to the Taliban in South Waziristan again attacked security forces in the city despite a truce. As long as law enforcement agencies do not take action against madrassas of Maulana sahib, the law and order situation will not improve, the nazim said in an apparent reference to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly. Militants are sheltering in the madrassas, he said.
He said he had told security agencies to move against the suspected madrassas, but the police are turning a blind eye to the madrassas and why they are doing this one can understand easily.
A local journalist said the militants were using hand-grenades and rockets in their attacks on security personnel, who resort to indiscriminate firing after the militants run after their attack. Official sources said that senior police officials were planning talks with Taliban leaders in South Waziristan through the political agents office to bring peace to Tank city. The roots of this problem lie in Waziristan and we need to talk to the Taliban leadership, police sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I've been wondering about Tank and wikipedia is helpful: link
Tank, or Tonk, is a town in Pakistan, North-West Frontier Province; pop. (1901), 4402. It was the residence of a Nawab, who formerly exercised semi-independent powers. Here Sir Henry Durand, lieutenant-governor of the Punjab, was killed in 1870 when passing on an elephant under a gateway. Dubbed as the Little England, this town is a staging point for most of the tribes of the region.
Tank is also an administrative district of the North-West Frontier Province, formerly part of Dera Ismail Khan district. Tank district is bounded by the districts of Lakki Marwat to the northeast, Dera Ismail Khan to the east and southeast, and South Waziristan to the southwest, west, and northwest.
and this is great:
"...unknown, unloved, and lost to the world in the wastes edging Waziristan... not one in a hundred Pakistanis beyond the River Indus has heard of this strategic little town"
- A quote from the book Tank: Crossroads to the Frontier Tribes by Molly Pont, an English Missionary surgeon who came to Tank in 1983
The Chinese government has requested Islamabad to hand over more than 20 Chinese insurgents hiding in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Foreign Ministry sources said. Sources said the Chinese authorities had claimed that more than 20 activists of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an Islamist militant outfit fighting for an independent East Turkestan in Chinas Xinjiang province, were hiding in the tribal areas. They have requested the Pakistani authorities to arrest and hand over the militants, sources added.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam refused to confirm the report. She said she was not aware of any such appeal. She added that Pakistan had been cooperating with more than 150 countries, including China, to eliminate terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
If the rumors are correct that the Chicoms could put a 100 million man 'army' in the field during a national calamity, why don't they just put a million of their guys in the area, surround the 20, and shrink the ring. The Chicoms would probable find them in three weeks!!
#5
smn: If the rumors are correct that the Chicoms could put a 100 million man 'army' in the field during a national calamity, why don't they just put a million of their guys in the area, surround the 20, and shrink the ring. The Chicoms would probable find them in three weeks!!
I seriously doubt that. It's a major logistical proposition to put men down in the middle of nowhere. What are they going to eat? Drink?
This may not mean what you think it does. Nobody worships Musharraf as maximum leader or as a living god. They support him as long as he stands up for their causes and interests. I'm thinking that there are lots of internal movements he can neither penetrate or even knows anything about. That was clear when al Qaeda tried to assassinate him some time back.
#7
Pakistan is a fake country. Almost as fake as Iran. Their borders are only a product of imperial necessity. Punjabis and Persians are equally despised by ethnic minorities. I would like nothing better than to see a China- Pigistan split.
#8
Zhang, logistical issues differ considerably between armies. Americans require a huge logistical tail. Throughout history though, many/most armies provided their own support from the communities they were in (reason behind the Third Amendment). Sherman took what he needed and destroyed the rest. I am certain Alexander or the Roman Legions did not carry all their provisions with them. China could put a significant fraction of 100 million on the ground in Pakistan - as long as they were not too concerned with side effects or casualties.
#9
The Chicoms have tried it twice. Once in Korea where UN commanders wondered what they were doing. Is this a way to reduce population? After the initial skedaddle, the lines stabilized and UN troops killed a million of them.
The Vietnamese were preparing to use regular forces against them when China invaded some years after we left. According to reports, the Home Guards had defeated the Chicoms and the regulars had little to do.
Do the math. Armies with little logistical backup have to keep moving, after they eat a district to famine. If they're moving through as a matter of conquest,it doesn't matter--see Sherman, as noted above.
But if they settle down, they have to forage and foragers are vulnerable.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/17/2007 8:09 Comments ||
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#10
Ahhh, all this talk of conquest and pillaging. Think I'll go out and shoot some guns.
#11
...Richard has it right. The PLA is large and powerful - but it is effective only as far as it can walk. On the other hand, because of its sheer size, even its regional components are usually larger by far than whomever it's facing.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/17/2007 10:28 Comments ||
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#12
Technically they are Chinese. Realistically they are just islamic terrorists with the stated purpose of fighting for independence. Not really independence but spreading islam.
#13
John: Technically they are Chinese. Realistically they are just islamic terrorists with the stated purpose of fighting for independence. Not really independence but spreading islam.
Actually, they're Turks (i.e. whites) who, unlike their Central Asian cousins, the Tajiks, Kirghiz, et al, had the bad luck to fall under Chinese rule.
#15
Is anyone really all that surprised to see Pakistan wake up with Chinese fleas?
Pakistan is a fake country. Almost as fake as Iran.
And neither of these fake countries tyrannies have any sovereign rights. That the West continues to pretend they do is a source of endless misery. I doubt that China has many compunctions about leveling some fairly serious threats at Pakistan, albeit most likely through diplomatic channels. We should have been doing the same a very long time ago. Instead, just like Iran, Pakistan has continued to breed up the very worst sort of terrorist scum. Now that the Chinese are beginning to get a share of terrorist noogies, look for them to be far less accomodating about these antics than we ever have been.
#16
Z: Now that the Chinese are beginning to get a share of terrorist noogies, look for them to be far less accomodating about these antics than we ever have been.
I suspect there's not a lot the Pakistani government can do about private individuals harboring foreigners who look just like Pakistanis as the Uighurs of East Turkistan (Xinjiang) do. Pakistan is authoritarian, but they don't have armies of secret police everywhere. I can't get too worked up about Uighurs. There's nobody pressuring the US to release the Uighurs caught during the invasion of Afghanistan, but we've released all of them anyway. This tells me they were just training with al Qaeda rather than their ideological soul mates. I've not heard of any Uighurs returning to fight coalition troops, whereas released Arabs, Chechens and Afghans have been killed in battle. I thought they deserved their own country before 9/11, and I still think so today.
Security forces killed two separatist guerrillas in an encounter in central Kashmir even as three paramilitary troopers were wounded in an explosion at Tral in south Kashmir Pulwama district. Police said troops of 35 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and special operations group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police, gunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas, in a joint operation in village Watterhal, 40 km from here in central Kashmir Budgam district Tuesday evening. 'Troops of RR and SOG jointly raided a house on a specific information about presence of LeT militants inside. The hiding militants opened fire at the raiding party. In the sustained gunfight two militants of LeT were gunned down,' a police spokesman said here.
He said two AK-47 rifles, ten magazines, two pouches, one mobile phone and 200 rounds were recovered from the slain guerrillas. The spokesman said the slain guerrillas were planning suicide attacks in capital Srinagar and Budgam district.
Meanwhile, three CRPF troopers were seriously wounded in a powerful blast in the Tral town, 45 km from here late Tuesday. The injured troopers were part of the road opening party (ROP), police said. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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H/T Gateway Pundit - It's the NYT, but some info I haven't read or heard. Apparently, there were other soldiers in the area. And my reading of that QRF and the 45 minutes, was that in 45 minutes, they were there and HAD the area secured. Here's the important parts of the article.
Col. Michael Kershaw, the commander of the Second Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division the unit that was attacked and that is leading the search declined to describe the recovered equipment or quantify the number of detainees who had admitted to involvement in the ambush on Saturday. The attack, in an area south of Baghdad active with Sunni insurgent groups, left four American soldiers and one Iraqi soldier dead.
He said roughly 4,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi troops had pursued a series of tips that had led to the equipment and the detainees, along with many dead ends. At one point, commanders said, American soldiers drained a canal after a tip that bodies were being dumped there.
If the missing soldiers were still in the area, Colonel Kershaw said, they would be found. Were not going to stop what were doing, he said. Were not going to stop searching.
He spoke to reporters here after spending much of the day searching alongside his soldiers. He said he had come from an area south and west of Mahmudiya, a nearby farming town where the attack occurred.
He and other officers said the full swath of the brigades 330-square-mile sector south of Baghdad was being scoured for clues. Outposts in the area equipped for 70 soldiers have been packed with 250, military officials said.
Here at Forward Operating Base Yusufiya, the frenzied activity of a major military operation was apparent. An additional battalion riding in 19-ton Stryker vehicles arrived from Baghdad on Wednesday. Dogs used for finding bodies or bombs moved between blast walls as the line for dinner on base ran out the door. Several helicopters an hour came and went with supplies and soldiers.
Colonel Kershaw said the helicopters had become the searchs most vital asset, allowing for the movement of supplies and the opportunity to cover the mostly rural terrain quickly and thoroughly.
They give us a lot of mobility, he said. They also keep soldiers off the roads, he said, where roadside bombs are common.
Lt. Col. Michael Infanti, the battalion commander for the unit attacked Company D, Fourth Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division said the road near the Euphrates River where the ambush occurred had houses on either side.
On Wednesday, he said he visited the site of the attack for the fourth time and took measurements from the location where the two Humvees were attacked.
He said 12 to 15 soldiers in Humvees were stationed about 450 to 550 yards to the north of the site, and a dozen or so more were about 875 yards to the south. Both groups of soldiers drove to help their comrades after hearing the explosion, and pilotless aircraft discovered the burning vehicles, he said.
It was unclear how the Humvees had been attacked, though commanders suspected that grenades or rocket-propelled grenades had been involved.
The group to the north discovered crushed wire and two bombs on their way to the burning vehicles. The group from the south also found a bomb.
Colonel Infanti said the soldiers had gotten out of their Humvees and moved on foot to where the attack occurred as rounds of ammunition popped from the burning vehicles. By the time the first group from the south arrived, the three soldiers were gone.
Commanders described the attack as complex. Concertina wire around the two Humvees had been breached, and shell casings around the vehicles suggested that the soldiers had put up a fight. That forensic evidence, Colonel Infanti said, was all they could pick up at the scene.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon released the names of four soldiers whom it listed as duty status whereabouts unknown: Sgt. Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nev.; Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif.; and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich. Of the four, one was known to be dead but was badly burned in the attack, and it was not known which man it was.
Baghdad, Iraq The military said Wednesday that it had detained people believed to be directly linked to a weekend assault in which attackers ambushed two Humvees and killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator. Three others went missing in the attack and were presumed captured.
The commander of the region where the attack occurred, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, offered details of the ambush Wednesday, portraying the attackers as coordinated, swift and brutally effective.
Lynch said two Humvees were attacked after they had set up position, guarded by rolls of razor wire, near a crater caused by previous bombs. The blast site, on a road about 12 miles west of Mahmoudiya, had become a favorite spot for insurgents to plant new bombs.
There were additional soldiers at a patrol base about 1,500 feet to the north, Lynch said.
Evidence indicated that the attackers used hand grenades and other hand-held explosives, and converged from several directions, he said.
Drag marks leading to tire tracks on the ground showed that the missing men were pulled from the area of the Humvees to vehicles about 45 feet away.
Among the questions the military was looking to answer was whether two Humvees were sufficient to guarantee the troops' protection and whether the patrol had taken necessary precautions.
Lt. Col. Randy A. Martin, a military spokesman, did not disclose the number of detainees suspected of having links to the attack, saying they were among 679 people being held for questioning.
At a news conference on the base Wednesday, Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, a division spokesman, said searchers were operating under the presumption that the missing were alive, and are either under the control of extremists or, possibly, may be attempting to evade. Either way, our premise is that we assume they are alive unless proven otherwise.
Forensics of the tire tracks might lead to the type of vehicle. If the tires had any distinguishing features such as cuts or damage, unique wear patterns, etc. this might lead to a specific vehicle.
#5
No fooling. Go Medieval on their goat-buggering a$$es. Do what they did in Vietnam: take a chopper and hover it at 1000 feet. Figure out who knows the least and start asking questions, and kicking them out 1 by one. I really don;t care what the arab street or the nytlatcbsabcpeolosimurtha consortium thinks; those 3 are US soldiers and there is no limit to what we should do to find them. period.
#6
The world is watching. The USA must never use torture or actions outside the GC as this will only lead to a deterioration of the standards our enemies use in the detention of our soldiers.
Listen to me. Our boys will be treated in exactly the same way we treat our prisoners.
If we torture they will only tell us what we they thing we want to hear. It about us. Don't you get it.
BTW, I'd like your vote in the upcoming primary. I'll run this war the way it should be run.
Posted by: John McCain ||
05/17/2007 20:39 Comments ||
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#7
fuck the bullshit, it's time too il all these muthherfuckers
#8
This makes my heart sick. If the men were alive they would be on TV by now. The insurgents have had a history of killing and holding the bodies, dumping them after the press dies down. We should blow up one Iranian military post for each man killed. We know Iran trained the terrorists and probably helped execute it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/17/2007 23:53 Comments ||
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Mortar rounds hammered the U.S.-controlled Green Zone for a second day Wednesday, killing at least two people, wounding about 10 more and raising new fears for the safety of workers at the nerve center of the American mission in Iraq. About a dozen shells crashed into the 3.5-square-mile area of central Baghdad about 4 p.m., sending terrified pedestrians racing for the safety of concrete bunkers. The US controls the Green Zone? I thought it was Iraqi security that let in the bomber last month?
Motorists abandoned their cars and sprinted for cover. Sirens wailed and loudspeakers warned people to seek safety. No American casualties were reported, and the two dead as well as most of the wounded were Iraqis, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
An Iraqi security officer said one of the dead was a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose office is in the Green Zone. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
Both the intensity and skill of the attack were noteworthy. The shells, believed to be 122mm, exploded in rapid succession over about a three-minute period. The blasts were relatively close to one another, suggesting an experienced mortar crew using more than one launcher.
It was unclear whether the rounds were fired by Sunni or Shiite or Methodist or Mormon extremists. Both groups operate in areas of the city within rocket and mortar range of the secured complex despite the ongoing Baghdad security crackdown.
Mortar and rocket crews can set up their weapons quickly on the beds of trucks or in parts of the city with limited surveillance, fire their rounds and flee before U.S. and Iraqi forces can respond. Not always. My son was hanging around an Abrams one afternoon when the gunner saw a truck stop two miles away. When the tube slide off the back of the truck, the Abrams blew them away.
"When they launch these type of weapons systems, they launch from populated areas, around civilians and in built-up areas," Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press briefing.
U.S. officials would not comment on damage in Wednesday's attack, citing security meaning really it's a cover-up. However, the U.S. Institute of Peace said its office suffered "significant" shrapnel damage though there were no casualties among its staff. The institute sponsored the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which outlined a plan last December for the withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops by early 2008.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey downplayed the latest attack, saying "it's been part of the operating environment for our officials there, as well as for other people working there." "This is something, unfortunately, that has been a factor and a safety concern for our people since the beginning," he said. "But certainly we are always looking at what we can do to better protect our staff and our facilities."
Nevertheless, the recent increase in attacks has raised alarm among American staffers living and working in what had been considered an oasis of safety in the turbulent Iraqi capital. This month, the U.S. Embassy ordered diplomats to wear flak jackets and helmets while outdoors or in unprotected buildings.
Later this year, the United States plans to open a massive new embassy inside the Green Zone despite the ongoing security threat. Embassy staffers have expressed concern that the new facility lacks enough space to house the estimated 1,000 employees in bomb-shelter safety.
Those concerns have risen because of a number of high-profile security breaches in the American-controlled zone, located on the west bank of the Tigris River, which flows through the center of the city. In March, a rocket exploded near al-Maliki's office during a press conference for visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who ducked behind the podium as the blast showered small bits of debris from the ceiling. Two Americans - a soldier and a contractor - died in that barrage.
A few days later, two suicide vests were found unexploded in the Green Zone, presumably smuggled in by someone with a security pass to enter the fortified area who was presumably not able to set off either boom vest. On April 12, a suicide bomber managed to penetrate the numerous American-controlled security checkpoints, detonating an explosive belt in the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament building. One Iraqi lawmaker was killed. So that's one 'high-profile security breach' in March, and another in April, then this mortar attack in May. Where's the Jar-jar Binks in a panic picture?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2007 05:56 ||
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#1
"they launch from populated areas, around civilians"
Get a message to these civilians - if you see somebody setting up a mortar in your yard, consider it the bull's eye on the target, and get away fast. Counter-battery fire, if reasonably accurate, should not hit any INNOCENT civilians, only complicit ones (or maybe stupid ones, but I repeat myself.)
#5
"When they launch these type of weapons systems, they launch from populated areas, around civilians and in built-up areas," Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press briefing.
Yes, you know and recognize it. The muzzies play this same game wherever they are. They don't care about their own populations. Why do we ? This is the exact routine conducted by Paleos against Israel. One thing about muzzies, if something works, they keep repeating it. Car bombs, boomers, burka escape routines, and using civilian cover for attacks. If nothing is done to counter these actions, anarchy reigns. If the military doesn't have the stomach to retaliate, no matter the "collateral" damage, then your mission is over. "Collateral" damage is an integral part of the war effort to weaken the enemy. People who aid and abett these attacks are just as liable as those who fire the ordnance. Leaders like Churhill recognized the necessity during WWII. Otherwise, the Allies could not have hoped to win.
#6
One definition of war from the web is: "War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of violent, physical force between combatants or upon civilians."
During WW II, the phrase "Total War" was extant. Churchill fire- bombed Dresden in retaliation for German bombings in England. Dresden was which was largely a civilian target with little military value. There wasn't so much concern for collateral damage then as there is today. Nice isn't a word that comes to mind to describe warfare.
#7
bigjim, a friend told me over a month ago that he'd heard outgoing counter-battery after at least one attack - though I wonder where that weaponry was based, as I was never aware of any arty set up in the IZ.
More than 3-6 mortars in one barrage is unusual by the standards of '05-'06, but then again also is the mortars actually detonating, which they increasingly did not back then.
Gonna call some friends and see if things have really changed that much.
#8
Verlaine, old mortars and shells from the Saddam era may not have been effective. Brand-shiney-new mortars from Iran probably are. If they're manned by non-uniformed IRGC troops, they're probably pretty accurate. It's time to nuke the he$$ out of Iran, from north to south, east to west, and see what oozes out of the fallout zones.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2007 15:40 Comments ||
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#9
An Iraqi security officer said one of the dead was a driver for the staff of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose office is in the Green Zone.
In March, a rocket exploded near al-Maliki's office
Popular guy. He really needs to get out and mingle with the public more. Maybe one of his adoring throng might do us a favor and off this wannabe warlord of a turd.
If the military doesn't have the stomach to retaliate, no matter the "collateral" damage, then your mission is over. "Collateral" damage is an integral part of the war effort to weaken the enemy. People who aid and abett these attacks are just as liable as those who fire the ordnance.
That last sentence should also include those who bear silent witness to such terrorist activity as well. What is it that prevents so many good Iraqi citizens from using their cell phones to report the originating locations of these mortar and rocket attacks? Even a license plate number would be of great use. Somebody is seeing something and remaining silent. While the surge may have inspired a further degree of public cooperation, such outside help is nowhere near it where must be for us to rely upon it in place of other "disincentives".
Precise counterbattery and even less precise counterbattery needs to be used against incoming fire of this sort. Collateral civilian losses must eventually inspire the Iraqis to take a more active role in monitoring and reporting terrorist activity. Those who fail to do so will more frequently perish as a result of their failure and thereby serve as encourager pour les autres.
This will prove to be a self-remedying issue as neighborhoods that allow terrorists to operate with impunity will slowly be leveled by return fire whereas those who participate in thwarting terrorist attacks will see less incoming retaliation. Call it behavioral modification at its finest.
This is just one example of what I was referring to in my comments about how our military's dialogue needs to more closely match accepted Islamic vocabulary. The terrorists and, to a lesser extent, even the Iraqi citizens do not exhibit sufficient concern regarding collateral civilian casualties. So long as that remains the case, then we really need to disregard them to a similar extent.
We can no longer afford to fool ourselves with any Multicultural notions about winning "hearts and minds" in the MME (Muslim Middle East). If we have the least intent of impressing upon Iraq's population the requirement that they abandon all support for terrorism and its practicioners, then there must be a price tag attached for not doing so.
We've tried the carrot for some time now with relatively little success. Koranic doctrine does not prescribe any carrots for non-Muslims. It's not in their vocabulary and they view those Infidels who extend such toothsome root vegetables as fools or worse. The Koran gives a far more prominent and starring role to the stick. Our military possess these in abundance and particularly large specimens abound in our inventory, many of them under the specific category of "ugly". These non-carrot-like objects are easily recognized by the vast majority of Muslims and carry a message that transcends all languages and local dialects.
It's long past tea to begin making sure that message is gotten through loud and clear, both to Iraq's citizenry and every Islamic tyranny and Muslim within hearing distance.
#10
If neighborhoods are repeatedly used for attacks of any flavor, electric availability should be reduced, and generators confiscated. Let's put global warming to work for us.
WANT JUICE ? GIVE TIPS !
#11
Mortars can be launched from considerable distances. That is one reason why I support the base-in-the-desert option. That would allow the ethnic consolidation that Coalition troops can't prevent, while allowing moderates to direct air and artillery strikes on terrorist areas. Close quarter patrols are ineffective. They set troops up for turkey shoots, and invigorate terrorist morale. You have seen jihadi videos of Hummers being hit by IEDs; those are sold openly in Iraq markets. Are our tactics, although designed in good faith, allowing a terrorist hero cult to flourish in Iraq? I think so. Frankly, we help the Iraqi people by helping ourselves.
#12
It's late, so I don't know if anyone will see this.
Dresden was a legitimate military target, not so much for what was there (though it did make the Panzerfausts that killed a lot of Allied tanks), but what went through it. It was the major rail hub for the German souteastern army, fighting in Hungary and Bohemia.
#13
Dresden also served the same purpose as Hiroshima. Both were cities of exceeding beauty whose eventual destruction was reserved as a demoralizing blow against the enemy. Dresden was a summertime residence for the Princes of Saxony. If any of you saw the touring museum exhibit "The Splendours of Dresden", you will have an idea of the tremendous concentration of wealth and artistry that was accumulated within that one city. Among those treasures was the "Rose Diamond Garniture", an assemblage of medals, pistols, sworgs, flintlock blunderbusses all encrusted with encrustations (no, I'm not being redundant) of rose and pink diamonds by the thousands. The overall exhibit was simply jaw-dropping, much akin to the King Tut show. The Nazis were sufficiently evil whereby it was deemed necessary to demonstrate just how unacceptable their murderous ideology was to the outside world. Destroying one of its most precious repositories of national patrimony was a way of making that clear. Soon, we will need to begin considering similar strikes against the Islamic world in preparation for showing them how just how displeasing their own murderous ideology is as well.
An al-Qaida insurgent who allegedly helped plan hundreds of bombings in the Baghdad area and beheaded two Russian hostages will soon be face trial in an Iraqi court, the U.S. military said Wednesday. Omar Wahdallah Dad, also known as Abu Nur and "the Spider", has been in U.S. custody since December and will be tried under Iraq's anti-terrorism law, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters.
Abu Nur could receive the death penalty, Caldwell said.
Let's certainly hope so!
Caldwell said Abu Nur has admitted to a role in 800 to 900 bombings while serving as a senior al-Qaida commander in the Baghdad area. The general said Abu Nur led a network responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in the capital, including one last year in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in which more than 200 people died. He said the Abu Nur admitted responsibility for the June 2006 kidnapping and murder of four Russian diplomats. Abu Nur is accused of personally beheading two of the Russians, the general said.
An umbrella organization of seven insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, posted a Web video showing the graphic killings of three Russian embassy workers who had been abducted in Iraq. The 90-second video showed two blindfolded men beheaded and the shooting of a third man. In the footage, two men clad in black and wearing black ski masks shout "God is great!" before beheading the first man. Then one militant appears standing over the decapitated body of a second victim in a pool of blood, with the head placed on top of the body.
#4
I beleive the charming and delightful Trailing Wife had a good idea yesterday - something about the dogs feeding on his carcass.
Does he have to be dead first?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2007 5:47 Comments ||
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#5
Just a minute, now!
800 to 900 bombings while serving as a senior al-Qaida commander in the Baghdad area.
Al-Qaida in Iraq? Does the New York Times know?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2007 5:48 Comments ||
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#6
Al-Qaida in Iraq? Does the New York Times know?
I'm sure they do, but they can't let the truth stand in their way, so, no, they don't "know".
And they'll continur to "Not know" as long as they have any ink.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/17/2007 6:22 Comments ||
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#7
I wonder if his execution will be on Father's Day?
Fighting erupted between police and members of a Shia militia in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday, killing nine Iraqis and wounding 75, police said. The clashes between the Mahdi Army followers and police began about 2 am in the city centre. Both sides remained on the streets by sunrise, and Nasiriyahs shops remained closed, said a police spokesman in Dhi Qar, the province where Nasiriyah is located. He said the nine people - six civilians, two Mahdi Army commandos and one policeman - were killed and 75 Iraqis were wounded. The police officer spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety. It was not clear what started the fighting in Nasiriyah, 320 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.
Separately, police said on Wednesday that a truck bomb laden with chlorine gas exploded in a market area in a mostly Shia town north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 45 people and wounding 60. The attack in volatile Diyala province took place in a market area in the town of Abu Sayda, a source in the police headquarters in Diyalas capital of Baquba. News of the attack did not emerge until Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2007 00:00 ||
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The plot thickens...
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - An alleged plot by Hamas militants to assassinate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was revealed on Thursday as deadly factional fighting resumed in Gaza and Israeli air strikes targeted the violence-wracked territory. Coming soon; Trucefire V: Man's Gotta Eat...
The plot was disclosed hours after Abbas cancelled a trip to Gaza for talks aimed at reaching a definitive ceasefire between fighters from his Fatah party and Hamas that has left nearly 50 people dead and 100 wounded since Sunday. Yeah, the West Bank sucks, but it's a helluva lot safer then Gaza... "Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) visit to Gaza was cancelled after the discovery of a tunnel under Salaheddine Road full of explosives placed by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades to blow up (his) convoy," said a senior security official, referring to Hamas's military wing. Sounds scarier then Somalian piss bombs...
"The explosives were found on the route that Abu Mazen takes to travel to Gaza," the source added, speaking from the Palestinian political capital of Ramallah in the West Bank. Ummmmmmmm...gee, how did all that stuff get there?
An official in Abbas's office confirmed the report. Earlier, a source close to the president told AFP that Abbas did not want to go to Gaza until he was sure Hamas was firmly committed to the latest truce, which had already collapsed. It look to me like they're totally committed to the collapsed truce so get your ass down there, Abu Mazen...
#4
Keep loading the shotguns, woman, I'm shocked Shocked SHOCKED S-H-O-C-K-E-D, D *** YOU, SSSHHHHHOOOOOOCCCCCKKKKKEEEEDDD that a Secular Politburo wants to get rid of its Brotherly Motherly = Socialist Comradely competition!
#5
I'm not shocked, I think it's funny. They only guy in the territory that wants to save them from themselves and they want to blow him up. Muslims and bombs, what's the deal?
A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who works for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Thursday.
Mazab Bashir, 25, from Deir el-Balah began working with Doctors Without Borders five years ago.
On April 19, he confessed during a Shin Bet interrogation that for months, he had been collecting intelligence on senior Israeli officials - including Olmert and a number of Knesset members.
Bashir met with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in September 2006, and said that the assassination was meant to avenge the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Bashir also underwent arms training with the PFLP, and was picked to carry out the planned assassination.
He told the Shin Bet that he had collected information on the Internet to use to target MKs, but then realized that the MKs in question did not live in Jerusalem, the only Israeli city to which his permit granted him access. According to the officials, after the doctor realized that the security surrounding Olmert was impenetrable, Bashir decided in December 2006 to kill David Be'eri, head of the Elad organization, a group involved in purchasing Arab homes in Jerusalem's Old City.
Because in the end, any infidel will do.
That same month, he underwent combat training in the Gaza Strip in order to learn to kill without using weapons.
In January 2007, Bashir again entered Israel again on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, and began collecting information on Be'eri. He made additional trips to Jerusalem in February and March, and on April 18. He was arrested on April 19 and indicted Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court.
During his interrogation, Bashir said he had planned to return to Gaza to complete his combat training and learn, among other things, how to break necks. He said he intended to use his skills to kill Be'eri.
Gonna be a real ninja, huh?
Elad has increased Be'eri's security following the threats to his life.
Duncan Mclean, head of 'Doctors Without Borders' in the region, told Israel Radio, "I don't think embarrassed would be the right word."
Oh no, you'd never be embarrassed by one of your own trying to kill someone. I'm embarrassed for you.
"We are very sad for Bashir who has been working for us for almost six years. But we would like to make it very clear that we make a distinction between his professional work and what he does on his personal time in the sense that all our staff is hired for professional reasons and I don't think our organization can be held liable for every aspect of their life."
"So if he wants to kill Joooz on his own time, it's no skin off our fore."
This article starring:
Mazab Bashir
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2007 08:08 ||
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#1
But we would like to make it very clear that we make a distinction between his professional work and what he does on his personal time in the sense that all our staff is hired for professional reasons and I don't think our organization can be held liable for every aspect of their life."
Duncan, I would love to see you try this line of reasoning in a court of law. I'd say DWB's vetting process needs work. I wonder how many other sleepers work within these lib NGO's.
#5
#1: "I wonder how many other sleepers work within these lib NGO's."
Probably easier to count how many don't, doc. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2007 9:01 Comments ||
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#6
It seems to me the Israelis were on to this guy fairly early, watching where he went and who he talked to, and picked him up just as his plan went active.
#11
John Q, maybe the Paleo healthcare system is less stringent on its certification? Maybe after a couple of rocket launches, a few burt of AK-47, and building a couple of homocide belts is all it takes to be a doctor? DWB should just bar ANY Arab doctor from its organization because they are not up to the credo.
#14
Doubtful he was a doctor. The years of working for DWBs and what it takes to go thru med school don't add up to doctor.
Not necessarily. Many Euro and Asian countries have a system in which high school students are admitted directly to medical school. That's a five to seven year training program, depending on the country. He'd then do some graduate training (e.g., intern). He could have started med school at 16 and gotten into DWB towards the end of his training. DWB might have even sponsored the last year of training. I'll look into it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2007 11:30 Comments ||
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#15
The irony is that in this particular case, success would have hurt his own cause.
A large explosion struck a Hamas compound in central Gaza City Thursday, wounding at least five people, Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said. The Israeli army confirmed that it carried out an airstrike against the installation. Israel has threatened "harsh" action in response to repeated Palestinian rocket attacks.
The explosion sent heavy plumes of smoke into the Gaza sky, destroying the structure and several other around it and sending terrified residents scurrying. Hamas said the target of the strike was an administration building of its bodyguards unit.
Gunfire erupted at a Hamas funeral procession earlier Thursday, killing two people and wounding 14 others, Palestinian medical officials said. It was unclear who fired the bullets, but the unrest threatened to unravel a lull in the fighting.
Meanwhile, Hamas said one of its men was kidnapped and executed by security forces loyal to the rival Fatah movement.
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2007 07:35 ||
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#1
One killed & 45 wounded according to the latest.
#4
on the one hand - the number of qassams is now like 30 a day, while only one serious injury (thank G-d) the folks in Sderot are under siege, suffering hearing loss (from bombs and sirens) etc. The state has to do something.
on the other hand - an Israeli incursion seems to be just what Hamas wants now, to rally Gaza behind them, and end the Pal Civil War. Israel has many reasons not to take the bait.
Its particularly difficult with a politically weak PM and DM in office.
#7
I understand Fatah is almost overwhelmed by Hamas in Gaza these days. I see this as Olmert doing what he can to hit Hamas and take the pressure off Abbas' Fatah goons.
#11
The raging street battles have turned the densely populated seaside city into a war zone and endangered the Palestinian unity government.
All that beachfront property with a Mediterranean climate to boot and these idiots don't have enough sense to stop fighting, erect some resort hotels and generate some income. I bet they never even go in the water. What a waste. The Israelis knew what to do with it.
IDF forces sent several tanks into the northern Gaza Strip near the town of Beit Lahiya on Thursday. The tanks are several hundred meters inside the security fence, providing the IDF an additional means to battle Qassam rocket fire in the area.
This is the first time that IDF tanks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire took effect six months ago.
During the months of restraint, the defense establishment has been following with concern Hamas' gaining in strength in the strip. The group and other terror organizations have been amassing arms, including antitank missiles, which may be put to use in the current confrontation.
Until this week, the IDF refrained from a ground incursion in Gaza, concentrating instead on operations near the border fence in search of explosive devices. On Wednesday the IDF launched an air strike against a Hamas command post, an attack which marked an end to Israel's policy of restraint in the Strip.
Six Qassams were fired at Israel's south Thursday. One rocket directly hit a classroom at the Shaar Hanegev school, severely damaging the structure.
Two people were lightly injured in the attack and several others suffered from shock.
Head of the Shaar Hanegev local council Alon Shuster said that there were still a few classrooms in the school which had not been fortified. "Only the students that had to take their matriculation exams came to school today, and they were placed in fortified classrooms," he stated. The real news here is that Israeli kids have to go to school in fortified classrooms because of rocket attacks, but that not newsworthy to the MSM.
#3
But unlike the Paleo kids, the Israeli kids actually learn something about humanity, civics, science that heals and other non-terror related subjects.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/17/2007 8:55 Comments ||
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#4
Sorry, PlanetDan, I guess my sarcasm was too oblique. I was building on phil_b's observation at the end of the article. Nobody should have to go to school in a fortified room - even to take a test!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/17/2007 10:10 Comments ||
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#5
half a click in, and not inside a town. Sounds like an attempt to do something about the Qassams without being drawn into the populated areas. Not sure if it will work militarily, though.
Thailand's army chief said Wednesday he is ready to negotiate a peace deal with leaders of a murky insurgency in the country's restive south. "The military is stressing the need to negotiate a peaceful solution rather than one by force," Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin told a group of nearly three dozen Thai editors and columnists. "We have the names of the leaders of the movement in hand and are working to confirm their identity before approaching them." Sonthi did not say when or where peace talks would be held.
Sonthi said he met recently with leaders of the separatist Pattani United Liberation Organization in an unidentified country and they told him they were not taking part in the insurgency. Instead, Sonthi blamed Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolution Front for much of the violence in the south. He also estimated that there about 5,000 militants operating in the country's three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, most of whom are part of the BRN.
Insurgents opened fire into a villager's home in Yala province before setting it on fire on Wednesday night, police said Thursday.
Paisarn Maka, a rubber tapper, said he was sleeping with family members when an unknown number of insurgents fired into the house in Bannang Sata district. They then doused the door with petrol and set it ablaze. No one was hurt in the twin attack. Mr Paisarn did not dare to report to police until the morning because he was afraid of further attacks.
#1
Negotiating with this crowd validates their tactics. Their tactics are NOT acceptable, therefor negotiation is not acceptable. Civilized peoples everywhere seem to have lost their instinct for self-preservation.
#4
I'm not sure you'll like their demands: Sharia Law, evict every single infidel, kill all apostates, you know, all the usual stuff. I don't think there can be any negotiating with them. After all your eagerness to negotiate is a sign of weakness, that means they must be winning, why should they negotiate when they can go for the big win now.
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.
Three Taliban who had been released from prison in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist were killed alongside the insurgencys top field commander over the weekend, the Afghan intelligence service said on Wednesday.
A remote-controlled bomb killed four African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and a civilian on Wednesday in the Somali capital, in the kind of Iraq-style attack threatened by militant Islamist militants. Five peacekeepers and two children were also wounded in the blast targeting an AU convoy, which an AU security source said was the first such attack against the 1,600-strong Ugandan contingent -- who had so far only been shot at. 
The joint forces detained 
Three people arrested last week in connection with the suicide bombings in 2005 on Londons transport system, including the widow of ringleader 
The National Crisis Management Cell of the Interior Ministry has directed the home secretary and inspector general of police Balochistan and IGP Islamabad Capital Territory to arrest activists of 
At least three Pakistani villagers and an Afghan refugee were killed on Wednesday in a clash with police sent to demolish homes near a refugee camp that authorities want to close, officials and residents said.
Five civilians were killed in a rocket attack by suspected tribal militants in Tank city on Tuesday. Up to five innocent civilians were killed, Tank District Nazim Riaz Kundi told Daily Times. Twelve people including two policemen were wounded.
Security forces killed two separatist guerrillas in an encounter in central Kashmir even as three paramilitary troopers were wounded in an explosion at Tral in south Kashmir Pulwama district. Police said troops of 35 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and special operations group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police, gunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas, in a joint operation in village Watterhal, 40 km from here in central Kashmir Budgam district Tuesday evening. 'Troops of RR and SOG jointly raided a house on a specific information about presence of LeT militants inside. The hiding militants opened fire at the raiding party. In the sustained gunfight two militants of LeT were gunned down,' a police spokesman said here.
Nevertheless, the recent increase in attacks has raised alarm among American staffers living and working in what had been considered an oasis of safety in the turbulent Iraqi capital. This month, the U.S. Embassy ordered diplomats to wear flak jackets and helmets while outdoors or in unprotected buildings.
An al-Qaida insurgent who allegedly helped plan hundreds of bombings in the Baghdad area and beheaded two Russian hostages will soon be face trial in an Iraqi court, the U.S. military said Wednesday. 
A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who works for the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Thursday. 
