An unconfirmed report by Bakhtar News Agency has surfaced indicating legendary Mujahideen commander and Taliban era Minister Jalaluddin Haqqani has died. According to a source that refused to be named, Haqqani 'had Hepatitis problems and died very recently.'
So far there has been no official proclamation of his death from his sons Sirajuddin and Nasiruddin or the Taliban in Afghanistan. The report must be treated as pure speculation until further information is available.
If confirmed, Haqqani's death mimic the detrimental blow the Taliban suffered on May 13 when top Taliban general Mullah Dadullah was gunned down by US forces.
Dadullah and Haqqani were tasked with masterminding the Taliban's military strategy by Mullah Mohammad Omar in 2006. Haqqani, who has a long history with Arab financiers and the Pakistani intelligence community, is credited with introducing suicide bomber to post-Taliban Afghanistan.
He is known to have lived in and around Miram Shah in North Waziristan and is rumored to have thousands of fighters and volunteers under his command. His strongholds remain, Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, and Khost provinces. His legacy of fending off the Soviet's largest offensive of the Soviet-Afghan war, Operational Magistral, is remembered fondly by many of Afghanistan's eastern residents. His high public regards and 'war hero' status helped ensure his safety over the last five years as Coalition forces vehemently hunted him down.
Be sure to check back for in depth coverage on this developing story.
#1
Hmmm! Hep, eh? No shellfish in Afghanistan. Everyone would be dead there if it was a hygiene problem. So, that leaves.....sex? With young boys? Most likely. But then there are a lot of goats there also.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2007 9:07 Comments ||
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In a case like this there has to be suspicion that hep is a euphemism for AIDS acquired from anal intercourse with some of the "volunteers under his command". Just like Yasser Arafat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2007 16:13 Comments ||
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#8
Shared needles is a possibility in that part of the world, surely? But I'd bet on a beautiful pearl of a boy, shared a little too generously, poor thing.
Afghan and coalition soldiers killed 27 militants in southern Afghanistan as part of new operations to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency, the government and the US-led International Security Assistant Force said on Thursday. Twenty-six were killed in two separate battles on Wednesday in the southern province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the extremist movement. One other militant was killed in a Thursday raid in eastern Paktika province.
In the first of the two Kandahar battles, soldiers spotted and attacked enemy fighters on a ridgeline in the volatile district of Shah Wali Kot, the coalition said in a statement. A search of the ridgeline resulted in the discovery of several dead enemy fighters, several rocket shells and clothing, it said. The Afghan Interior Ministry said, 20 enemies were killed and eight more of them were injured.
Six more were killed in an operation in Zhari district, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Kandahar city, the ministry said. The coalition announced separately that soldiers killed a suspected militant and detained three others in a raid early on Thursday on what was believed to be a Taliban safe house in Paktika province.
A search of the compound, believed to have been used by militants working to facilitate suicide bombings, found a video camera and various tapes of martyr operations, it said.
The Taliban has claimed capturing a foreign soldier, which would be a first in its insurgency that was launched soon after the movement was forced from government by a US-led coalition in late 2001. The coalition said meanwhile it was still investigating reports that a soldier had disappeared, but referred queries to the United Arab Emirates, which said Wednesday one of its security forces was missing in the south.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So much good news on the Burg today! And, it's Friday.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
06/15/2007 8:32 Comments ||
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#2
Talibs are losing the equivalent of a 100 man company of fighters a week in Afghanistan, with no appreciable gains of any kind. Those would be punitive losses to a major nation. To small organizations like the Taliban and al-Qaeda, that is like arterial bleeding.
#4
'moose-
There are tens of thousands of madrassas in Pakiland turning out replacements at well above the ~100 per week they are losing in action. If I take low-side numbers of 10 'students' per class and 10,000 'schools', we are looking at potentially 100,000 new cannon fodder per year (which is largely who we are killing). At 100 killed per week, our opposition is still growing at 50,000 per year. WE can't lose half our recruits per year in battle, but maybe they CAN?
(I just realized I neglected the wounded opposition - no clue on their wounded/killed ratio; though certainly a lot higher than ours, there are survivors, One-eye Omar, One-leg Dadullah (for a while), etc.)
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded in Chaman on Thursday after Afghanistan banned private cars and motorbikes from crossing into its territory, witnesses said.
The unprecedented ban, announced on Wednesday for what Afghan officials said were security reasons, triggered a protest by local tribesmen who said they would defy the ban. Pakistani officials stopped private vehicles about a kilometre from the border on Thursday and about 500 cars and bikes were dumped in a lot reserved for taxis, AFP reported. People were then crossing the border on foot. This is the Afghan governments decision and we cannot do anything, said Colonel Nisar Khan, the security chief at Chaman. Pakistani tribal elders said they would hold talks with Afghan officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
triggered a protest by local tribesmen who said they would defy the ban
meet Mr. A10?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2007 1:01 Comments ||
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meet Mr. A10?
The secondaries alone would clear that entire car park.
Taliban commander Mullah Mahmud Baluch was killed last week during an air raid on a convoy of weapons and ammunition in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand, coalition forces announced early Thursday. Baluch, considered a senior leader of the radical-Islamic Taliban in Helmand and Nimroz provinces, was killed in the June 9 air strike, confirmed the military.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2007 9:08 Comments ||
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#2
Air power is a bitch, then you die.
Air power USED PROPERLY certainly is. The US is the master in using air power. I'm sure by now we know every infiltration route from Pakistan into Afghanistan, and watch them hourly, even at night. A little napalm on those routes would make things much more "interesting" - for the talibunnies. Fricaseed (tali)bunny has always been one of my favorites.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2007 16:23 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) There have been huge explosions and gunfire overnight around the Ethiopian bases in Somalia capital Mogadishu as efforts continue to restore peace and stability. Unknown armed groups have launched ambush attacks on the positions of the Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu as they responded with heavy machine and artillery fires around 9:30pm local time.
Witnesses told Somalinet they heard explosions followed several minutes of gunfire around the former Pasta Factory in north of the capital where the Ethiopian forces are based. It seemed like an armed confrontation between the Ethiopians and the attackers. The two sides exchanged heavy weapons which terrorized us, said Ahmed Bule, a local resident. Some reports say that three people have been killed in the latest violence but it is clear whether they were civilians or soldiers.
Also, last night, armed militants have ambushed the Ethiopian forces stationing in the former police compound in south of the capital using rocket propelled grenades, mortars and heavy machine-guns. In return, the Ethiopian fired anti aircraft machine-guns and artillery rounds. No casualty was reported as it is usually too hard to receive information from the Ethiopian side.
Their rules of engagement are a little different.
The Ethiopian forces guarding the main industry road and Ali-Kamin area in northwest of the capital have gone under attack. The Ethiopian forces along with the interim government soldiers cordoned off all the key roads to the areas they had received last nights ambush attacks and began early morning house to house search for suspects and weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Geez, Somalia is becoming more and more like N'olens and Deeetroit City.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2007 9:13 Comments ||
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Story is pretty much dawg bites man... now if..
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! Somali Medical History Made!
Woman Found With Geriatric Senile Dementia Mogadishu!
True to their earlier declaration, the newly emerged Jadid Al Qaeda yesterday planted another powerful bomb on the campus of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) evading tight security.
After a tip-off, Motihar police rushed to the campus and recovered the bomb planted in front of the Ruet main gate. Later, bomb experts of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) defused it. RMP bomb expert Alamgir Hossain said the recovered bomb was similar to five others found earlier on the campus. The first bomb was found on May 22. On the next day, police recovered a sawed off rifle and a bomb from Students' Union Office of Shaheed Selim Hall. On May 24, police recovered two more bombs and found an aluminium sheet carrying a message that Jadid Al Qaeda would plant a total of six bombs on the Ruet campus. On June 2, the joint forces found another bomb at a Ruet dormitory.
Yesterday's bomb was kept in a plastic container that bore an inscribed message threatening all police stations in the city with bomb attacks if any of the outfit's members is arrested. Senior RMP officials termed the incidents a ploy to create panic.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Seven Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants surrendered at Gangachara Police Station in Rangpur yesterday morning. Meanwhile, charges were framed against a JMB militant while Shaekh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai were acquitted in connection with a case filed for the bomb blasts in August 17, 2005 in Kishoreganj.
Police later showed the seven surrendered militants arrested under section 54 before a magistrate's court in Rangpur. The arrestees were sent to Rangpur Central Jail yesterday afternoon. The JMB militants are Azizul Islam, 22, Azaharul Islam, 22, Johurul Islam, 23, Abdul Baten, 20, and Foyjul Islam, 19, of Kuribishwa under Kolkond union and Ashiqul Islam, 24, and Ibrahim Khalil, 27 of Boraibari under Alambiditor union.
Sources said the guardians of the JMB men accompanied them to Gangachara Police Station around 9:00am along with union parishad chairmen of their area.
The OC told The Daily Star that they confessed to their earlier involvement with Islami Chhatra Shibir and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Gangachara Police Station Bazlur Rashid said during primary interrogation they revealed how they were involved with the militant outfit and why they surrendered. The OC told The Daily Star that they confessed to their earlier involvement with Islami Chhatra Shibir and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.
Quoting statements of the JMB men he said Shafiqul Islam, a teacher of a registered non-government primary school at Changmari, had persuaded them to joining JMB with the aim to establish Islamic rule in the country. Realising their error, the JMB men surrendered to police, as they wanted to lead normal lives, Rashid said quoting the militants. The OC said, "We are looking for allegations filed against them with any police station in the country."
CHARGE FRAMED AGAINST JMB CADRE
Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Mijanur Rahman submitted the charge sheet against JMB cadre Obaidullah Sumon before the Third Additional Sessions Judge's Court in Kishoreganj in connection with the six blasts in Kishoreganj on August 17, 2005. In the charge sheet, JMB chief Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai were mentioned as planners of the attacks but acquitted as they were executed, our Kishoreganj correspondent reports. Sumon was arrested in possession of explosive gel, detonator and explosives at a mosque of Gurui in Nikli upazila in Kishoreganj on September 22, 2005. He is serving a 17-year imprisonment in Kishoreganj Central Jail in an explosives case.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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SEVEN Britons linked to a plot to blow up US financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, and stage a series of attacks in Britain were jailed for a total of 136 years by a London court today.
Prosecutors said the men were part of a group headed by senior al-Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot and described as one of the most dangerous and ambitious terrorist cells ever to operate in this country.
Barot is currently serving a life jail term after admitting last year he had planned bomb attacks in Britain and the US.
Six of the men, Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, Junade Feroze, Zia Ul Haq, Abdul Aziz Jalil, Nadeem Tarmohamed and Omar Abdur Rehman pleaded guilty to conspiring with Barot to cause explosions between 2001 and 2004.
The seventh, Qaisar Shaffi, was found guilty on Wednesday.
Barot, a Muslim convert, was considered by some US officials to be either al-Qaeda's cell leader in Europe or at least the head of bin Laden's organisation in Britain.
In early 2001, he had carried out surveillance on the NYSE, Citigroup, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Prudential in New York, Washington, and Newark, New Jersey.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, he turned his attention to Britain and had plotted coordinated attacks using a radioactive dirty bomb, limousines filled with gas cylinders and the blowing up of an underground train beneath the River Thames.
Had their plans come to fruition, Barot's trial judge said they would have caused carnage and butchery ... on a colossal and unprecedented scale.
His seven accomplices had helped put the plans together and scope out targets.
Peter Clarke, head of London's Counter Terrorism Command, said the men were vital to the plots.
They were the planning team and were needed by Barot to contribute expertise in areas that he was lacking, he said.
They were the trusted few who researched, carried out reconnaissance and supported Barot.
At Woolwich Crown Court in south London, Feroze was jailed for 22 years; Bhatti and Tarmohamed to 20 years; Ul Haq to 18 years; Jalil to 26 years; Rehman and Shaffi to 15 years.
Last month, the High Court cut Barot's jail term from 40 to 30 years after it was ruled the initial sentence was too harsh.
Unidentified people set fire to two music shops in the Akhundabad area here, damaging several CDs and television sets, police said. The shops were owned by Iqbal and Amir Nawaz. The fire brigade controlled the inferno in 30 minutes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me see if I have this right: you have an "inferno" that takes "30 minutes" to contain and only "several" CDs and TV sets are "damaged". Major blaze, eh?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2007 9:16 Comments ||
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#2
Wondering about the same thing. I'm worried it could the Peshawar FD 30 minutes to control it. I figure 28 minutes must have been finding the owner and finding his amount of interest in the proceedings.
Nine intelligence officials were killed and three others were injured on late Thursday night in Quetta when some unidentified men ambushed their vehicle at Zarghoon Road, Dawn News reported. The channel quoted police officials as saying that the officials were on vacations and that they were coming from Punjab. One of the injured officials is in critical condition, the channel reported. Soon after the incident senior officials reached the spot and started investigation. Talking to Aaj television, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Waheed Arshad said, According to my information eight people were killed in the incident - seven were Pakistan Army personnel and one was a civilian.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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"Intelligence Officers?" can't have been any good at their job to be caught like that.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/15/2007 6:16 Comments ||
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1.Defeat the Terrorists and Neutralize the Insurgents
Although more time is needed for comprehensive assessments of Fardh al-Qanun, the collective sense is that the security trends in Baghdad are better now than they were in January or February.Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces population security efforts, including the joint security stations and combat outposts in and around Baghdad are largely responsible for this and are having an effect.
2.Transition Iraq to Security Self-Reliance
The Minster of Interior, Anbar provincial government representatives, and Coalition forces celebrated the grand opening of the al-Anbar Iraqi Police Training Center June 4 in Habbaniyah. The joint ceremony highlighted the central government joining forces with local provincial officials to re-establish the capability to train the young men of Anbar to serve their government and people, protect them from extremists, and enforcethe rule of law.
3.Help Iraqis to Forge a National Compact for Democratic Government
Bombers destroyed the two remaining minarets of the Askariya shrine in Samarra early June 13, in a repeat of the 2006 attack that shattered its famous golden dome. Sunni extremists of al-Qaida were quickly blamed. The attack prompted the 30-member bloc of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to suspend its membership in Iraqs parliament. To ward off a surge of violence, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki quickly imposed an indefinite curfew on vehicle traffic and large gatherings in Baghdad.
4. Help Iraq Build Government Capacity and Provide Essential Services
The U.S.-funded construction of Nassir & Qahara water project in Kirkuk province has been completed, providing clean potable water and improving the quality of lives of 1,500 area residents.
5.Help Iraq Strengthen Its Economy
The Anbar Provincial Council approved the allocation of nearly all of its $107 million FY 2007 capital expenditure budget at a meeting held in Ramadi June4. Twenty-eight members of the Council were present to approve the documents, which allocated funds for electrical distribution, irrigation and water purification, among other projects. The budget was signed by Governor Maamun Sami Rashid. The Council set aside 10% of the budget as a reserve, which means that the actual appropriations amounted to $96.7 million.
6.Help Iraq Strengthen the Rule of Law
The Central Criminal Court of Iraq convicted 51 individuals May 13-19 for violations of the Iraqi Terrorist Law, Penal Code and Coalition Provisional Authority orders enforced by the Iraqi judiciary.
7.International Support for Iraq
UN chief Ban Ki-moon is considering an expanded UN role and presence in Iraq, adding that a clear direction from the Security Council and the government of Iraq would be essential and better coordination with the UNs major international partners would also be welcomed. Ban expressed hope that the 15-member Security Council and UN member states would continue to provide strong political and logistical supportfor the UN presence in Iraq.
8.Strengthen Public Understanding of Coalition Efforts and Public Isolation of the Insurgents
Britains next prime minister, Gordon Brown, traveled to Iraq June 11 for a fact-finding visit, assuring Iraqs leaders of continued British support. This visit marks the first for Brown since being named as Tony Blairs successor.
Posted by: The Ghost of Mullah Dadullah ||
06/15/2007 06:26 ||
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Five U.S. soldiers died in Iraq, the U.S. military announced Friday, a day after extremists fired shells into Baghdad's Green Zone during a visit by the State Department's No. 2 official. Three of the soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their vehicle Thursday during operations in Kirkuk province in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement. Another soldier was wounded in the blast.
A fourth soldier was killed by small arms fire the same day in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, another statement said. And another soldier died Wednesday in a non-combat related incident, which the military said it was investigating.
A curfew remained in place in the capital two days after suspected al-Qaida bombers blew the minarets off a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra and stoked fears of a bloody sectarian backlash. Violence appeared mostly in check Friday, but police said unknown bombers leveled a Sunni shrine near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked the shrine in suburban Zubair late Thursday, partially damaging the building, police said. They returned early Friday, planting bombs inside the structure and exploding it completely, police said. No injuries were reported. At least four Sunni mosques were attacked within hours of the Shiite shrine blasts in Samarra on Wednesday, and police in Basra reported four people killed in retaliatory violence there.
Thursday's barrage of rockets and mortars included one that hit on a street close to the Iraqi parliament less than a half hour before Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte passed nearby.
The attack again showed militants' resilience - including their ability to strike the heavily protected zone - despite a U.S.-led security crackdown across the city that began four months ago. But officials paid much closer attention to any signs that Shiites could unleash another wave of retaliation against Sunnis for the explosions at the Askariya mosque compound in Samarra.
The first attack on the site in February 2006 sent the country into a tailspin of sectarian violence that destroyed Washington's hopes of a steady withdrawal from Iraq. On Wednesday, bombers toppled the two minarets that stood over the ruins of the mosques famous Golden Dome about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, echoed Washington's claim that the latest attack was the work of al-Qaida.
"I just don't think there's any doubt that it was al-Qaida that first struck the Askariya in February 2006, and the method this time was very similar to that _ (explosive) charges very carefully placed to devastating effect," Crocker told a group of reporters. Negroponte called the Samarra attack a "deliberate attempt by al-Qaida to sow dissent and inflame sectarian strife among the people of Iraq."
The U.S. military issued a statement Thursday saying Iraqi forces had arrested the commander and 12 policemen responsible for security at the shrine, which holds the tombs of two revered 9th century Shiite imams. It was not immediately clear whether the police arrested are suspects in the attack or held for questioning.
Meanwhile, insurgents linked to al-Qaida released a videotape showing the execution-style deaths of 14 Iraqi soldiers and policemen after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline for the Iraqi government to meet their demands. In a statement that preceded the video footage, the Islamic State of Iraq said its religious court "ruled that God's verdict should be implemented against the renegades" after its demands were not met. In an earlier video, the group demanded the release of all female prisoners in Iraqi prisons.
Posted by: The Ghost of Mullah Dadullah ||
06/15/2007 06:10 ||
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#1
showed militants' resilience
SOB, first sophistication now this, I suspect ingenuity and indomitable will show up soon.
#2
And soon, they'll start to mention their well-developped, manly physique, their bright smile, their animal magnetism giving them an incredible sex appeal, their cheerfulness and general joie de vivre. I mean, it's so precious, they obviously have a crush on them. I say, let this young love bloom!
London, Jun. 14 The U.S.-led military in Iraq announced on Wednesday that it had arrested two suspected terrorists linked to Iran during operations in Baghdad. Coalition Forces killed one terrorist and detained two suspected terrorists during operations targeting secret cell network operations in Baghdad, said a statement by the Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF-I).
The individuals detained during the raid are believed to be members of the secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training, it said. The suspected terrorists were assessed to be associates of a secret cell key leader -- the targeted individual of the morning raids.
Intelligence reports indicate the targeted individual of the mornings operation is associated with a kidnapping cell and is believed to be directly involved in the November Ministry of Health kidnappings. Additionally, intelligence reports indicate that the targeted individuals cell specializes in the emplacement of improvised explosive devises and EFPs, the statement added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Too bad we can't interrogate them, they probably have quite a bit of useful information.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three Sunni mosques were bombed in Iraq on Thursday in apparent reprisals for an attack on a revered Shia shrine, sparking fears of fresh sectarian bloodletting. Curfews were swiftly imposed in Baghdad and in Samarra, where suspected Al Qaeda militants on Wednesday bombed the Al Askari mosque, but at least six Sunni mosques have been attacked, including one in the capital.
The destruction of Samarras two gold-covered minarets came after an initial attack on the shrine in 2006, also blamed on Al Qaeda, sparked Sunni-Shia reprisals that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Early Thursday, two Sunni mosques in Iskandiriyah and one in Mahawil, both south of Baghdad, were bombed, Lieutenant Kamal Al Ameri of Hilla police told AFP. One of the Iskandiriyah mosques had already been attacked on Wednesday, along with two others in the town and one in Baghdad -- the latter despite a curfew in the capital that was due to be lifted on Saturday.
Insurgents bombed the mosque again today at around 4:00 am (midnight GMT) and shrapnel from the bomb wounded a woman and girl in a nearby apartment, Ameri said of Iskandiriyahs twice-bombed Al Hatteen mosque. He said that on Wednesday unknown men had launched a coordinated attack on the towns Grand Mosque, first with bombs and then with rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
I keep reading how "Iraq would be like Gaza if we left."
No. It would not be like Gaza. Sunnis, now numbering less than 10% of the population, would be encouraged to leave. Maybe half would take up the offer and depart. The other half would have to be more fully persuaded. And they would be.
The resistance that exists now can only exist when it can hide among a sympathetic people. When *everyone* is forced out, resistance is fleeting and futile.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has appointed a new prime minister, a day after dissolving the Hamas-led unity coalition, officials say.
Former Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, an independent, has been asked to take over and form an emergency government.
The move comes amid political upheaval in Gaza, where Hamas has taken control after routing Fatah rivals. But Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has said he will ignore Mr Abbas' decision to dismiss the government.
An uneasy calm has returned to the Gaza Strip after a week of fierce fighting between members of Mr Abbas' Fatah movement and Hamas, which has claimed at least 100 lives.
On its first day of rule, Hamas said it had released several top Fatah military commanders under a prisoner "amnesty". On Friday, vehicles returned to the roads and shops were open in Gaza. Few armed men were visible on the streets and there were reports of only sporadic gunfire.
The relative calm followed scenes of violence on Thursday as Hamas fighters seized remaining Fatah positions including the headquarters of the Preventative Security force and the presidential compound in Gaza City.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 10:41 ||
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#1
Isn't the Mr. Abbas an infidel title? Whatever.
#2
Send Cindy Sheehan to sort it out. In fact, exile all peacetards to the Gaza Strip and televise the spectacle as an object lesson to all apologists and traitors. May they all die of rabies.
Ten Fatah security chiefs arrested by Hamas in Gaza and accused of launching a "coup" were given "amnesty" -- a possible sign Hamas leaders want to show restraint and statesmanship.
#9
There's got to a few GDP points to be made by selling blood.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2007 12:25 Comments ||
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#10
I couldn't believe that sentence when I read it Seafarious. What a hoot. Hamas - So dignified- like proper Statesmen. Are all Rooters guys on crack?
#11
Hamas fighters showed reporters pools of blood where they said two of Abbas's guards shot themselves rather than surrender.
A dozen times each, and in the head no less.
I am really sad. It looks like Somalia to me."
The only sad thing is that it didn't look like Somalia while Arafat was still in power. I know it's a reach, but maybe if Yasser's own people had offed him, they wouldn't have been so stupid as to elect Hamas.
The United States, which had helped train and arm the Fatah forces which were roundly defeated in Gaza, pledged its full support for Abbas, describing him as a "moderate" committed to a negotiated peace with Israel.
Yoohoo, is anyone in Washington paying attention? Maybe now that we have an administration which wisely kept their participation in the futile Oslo Accords to a minimum, their lack of "political investment" might allow them to back away from this pisspot entirely.
Bush I and Clinton both had entangled far too much political capital in this preposterous farce to ever have admitted what a total charade it was. Let's hope that the time has come for America to abandon the Palestinians entirely into the hands of their doting Arab kinfolk.
Haniyeh accused Fatah of abusing its power and persecuting Islamists.
What's not to persecute? Not that Islamists don't have the most crippling collective persecution complex ever seen. In light of how both Fatah and Hamas were equally dedicated to genocide against the Jews, this is merely another case of the usual Muslim "more Islamic than thou" crapulence.
#12
What I want to know is: after all the exchange of gunfire and burning of buildings and such, what is the overall Carbon Credit score for that neck of the woods?
#14
Gaza is worse than Somalia. I don't give a damn about any Gazans and the sooner they all die of gunfire or starvation, the better. Oxygen thieves, the lot of them.
Posted by: Mac ||
06/15/2007 14:20 Comments ||
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#15
If you have the stomach for it, LGF has a video up.
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Sights and sounds of jihadis. Should be required viewing for Pelosi, Reid, et al.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2007 22:30 Comments ||
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#16
Gaza owes an apology to Somaalians everywhere...
Marc Otte, the EU's special Middle East envoy, told The Jerusalem Post that the EU was not asking Israel at this time to do anything specific regarding the fighting. He said that it would obviously "not be productive" for Israel to take sides in this conflict.
....
Otte said that the Palestinians "need to decide that enough is enough and turn their energies elsewhere." But, he added, this presently was "not the mood."
You think Mr Otte?
Meanwhile top Fatah commanders tries to leg it disguised as a woman, but is ... unsuccessful.
Jamal Abu Jadian, a top Fatah commander, fled his home in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday evening dressed as a woman to avoid dozens of Hamas militiamen who had attacked it. He and several members of his family and bodyguards were lightly wounded.
But when Abu Jadian arrived at a hospital a few hundred meters away from his house, he was discovered by a group of Hamas gunmen, who took turns shooting him in the head with automatic rifles.
"They literally blew his head off with more than 40 bullets," said a doctor at Kamal Udwan Hospital.
And as for the wonderful opportunity the paleos had when Israel pulled out in 2005?, well...
Israel's policy was to give Gaza to the Palestinians, complete with infrastructure, utilities, and an economic base. That happened in 2005. The Palestinians promptly destroyed the economic tools - greenhouses; plundered the infrastructure - taking pipes for sewage and turning them into rockets; and ignored the social fabric - all to wage war. That's not on Israel, but on the Palestinian terrorists running Gaza. That would be Hamas and Fatah.
Such a waste. And yet, and yet, I still can't get this sympathy meter to budge.
Really, this article is very definitely RTWT...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/15/2007 2:13 Comments ||
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#2
An update. Hamas member killed in the West Bank
A Hamas militant was killed by Fatah gunmen in the West Bank ... the first such killing in the West Bank after weeks of violence in Gaza. Hospital officials said the Hamas militant's body was riddled with bullets.
#5
If Israel did even a fraction of what Hamas and Fatah have done in the past few days, there would be UN resolutions submitted faster than the speed of light, human rights groups would demand Israel hand over key officials for trial in an international criminal court, and groups would not only demand boycotts and embargoes, but would make such a stink that it would force Israel to back down from its right to defend itself against attacks. Of course, as Meryl loves to point out, this is yet another example of Israeli double standard time. When Hamas and Fatah actually engage in war crimes and crimes against humanity, no one so much as blinks.
How much more clear does this need to be made? Only the most blithering sort of idiot can still maintain that the Palestinians are capable of governing themselves. It is time to dismantle Gaza and the West Bank. The entire idea of a "two state" solution is a failed concept. The Palestinians have proven that once and for all time.
If Israel did this, the usual suspects would be screaming bloody murder, but when Hamas does it to Fatah, not so much.
Much as with FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), it is almost as if the world assumes atrocities to be an accepted and acceptable part and parcel of Islamic culture.
Mark Steyn points out that this episode should end the whole notion of Palestinian nationalism once and for all, but it wont. The diplomats have too much vested in the concept to consider any other alternative.
A final upshot of all this is that every politician who blindly thrust these Palestinian gangsters upon our world and propped them up as credible leaders should be permanently discredited. This has been one of the most preposterous excercises in futility since the first pig was given singing lessons.
#6
PS: I doubt that even ingesting an entire case of Ex-Lax could make me give a shit about these terrorist thugs. Rot in everlasting Hell, Palestinians. You've been hard at work on this for decades.
#8
The Palestinians have created the mess in Gaza, and they must fix the problem themselves. Giving them a way out that avoids them having to take responsibility for their own mess will only exascerbate the situation.
The Voice of Palestine radio station in the Gaza Strip is currently on fire, media reports said Thursday afternoon. Earlier, Hamas took over a number of Fatah strongholds, bringing the group closer to ruling the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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A prominent Fatah gunman who had once bragged about executing Hamas fighters and torching homes of rivals was killed in fighting in Gaza on Thursday, Hamas said. The gunman, Samih Madhoun, was one of the leaders of a 1,500-strong force that had been set up several months ago as a counterweight to Hamas. Madhoun recently said in an interview on a pro-Fatah radio station that he had killed several Hamas fighters execution-style and torched the homes of others.
The details of how he was killed were not immediately clear. However, earlier in the day, a prominent Hamas preacher had issued a religious edict, or fatwa, saying Hamas was entitled to kill Madhoun.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Close to 100 armed Palestinians from Fatah crossed into Egypt from the Gaza Strip Thursday fleeing Hamas's military campaign, police said. The Fatah members, carrying AK-47 rifles, were received on the Egyptian side of the border in the town of Rafah by officials who had coordinated with the fighters prior to their arrival, said Capt. Mohammed Badr, a police officer in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Badr said the men would stay at a camp in Rafah used by the Egyptian central security forces.
A... ummm... refugee camp?
More than 200 Palestinians jammed on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing Thursday, including women and children, crying and begging for the Egyptian authorities to let them enter Gaza. But they were not allowed to cross.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Anywhere else, 100 tooled-up guys crossing the border might constitute some 'concern', but not in bizarro-land...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/15/2007 1:47 Comments ||
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#2
So the Fatah fighters are escaping into Egypt and Palestinian women and children (amoung others) are lining up, crying and begging, to go into Hamas Terrritory?
...He is packing it in and packing it up
And sneaking away and buggering up
And chickening out and pissing off home,
Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge...
A Hamas militant was killed by Fatah gunmen in the West Bank, Hamas officials said early Friday, the first such killing in the West Bank after weeks of violence in Gaza. Hospital officials said the Hamas militant's body was riddled with bullets.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#5
Plus the 36 picked up yesterday, liberalhawk. Separately, apparently there are significant numbers of them in the Lebanese and Jordanian refugee camps as well.
Palestinian security forces allied with Fatah arrested three dozen Hamas activists in the West Bank on Thursday, as the Islamic group neared a military takeover of Gaza. Fatah leaders said a decision was made by security commanders to crack down on Hamas in the West Bank, to prevent it from taking any positions in that territory, a Fatah stronghold. "Last night, there was a decision by the leaders of the security forces to go after Hamas and to arrest them, before they think of bringing the war here," said Issam Abu Bakr, a Fatah leader in the West Bank city of Nablus. "This is true for all of the West Bank. Perhaps it was a belated decision, but now we can stand against Hamas and defend ourselves."
Arrests of Hamas activists were reported in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Ramallah and Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, security forces wore ski masks, to avoid being identified, as they seized Hamas activists in their homes and businesses, witnesses said. In Nablus, masked security agents and Fatah gunmen rode together in cars, searching for Hamas members, and broke into several homes of Hamas activists. In one area, a brief firefight erupted.
Also Thursday, Fatah gunmen seized a Hamas preacher from a West Bank village and shot him in the legs, security officials said. Later, Fatah activists kidnapped three more Hamas activists from a building in downtown Ramallah.
In Ramallah's Al Quds University, Fatah-allied students kicked out Hamas supporters and forced a suspension of teaching, the officials said. In Nablus, dozens of gunmen set fire to the third-floor office of several Hamas members of parliament and threw furniture into the street. Gunmen pulled one man into the street and hit him when he fought back, witnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
In Ramallah's Al Quds University, Fatah-allied students kicked out Hamas supporters and forced a suspension of teaching
#2
So we're going to have a three state solution instead of a mere two states. Should have guessed it a long time ago: Israel; the West Bank with Fatah in charge; and Gaza with Hamas in charge. This is assuming, of course, that Fatah can hold on in the West Bank. But even if Hamas takes West Bank too it is still too much to expect that Palestinians can keep Gaza and the West Bank together as a single entity. Euroweenies need to double their efforts now so they can send one contribution to Gaza and another to West Bank.
Hamas forces late Thursday moved into the last Fatah stronghold in Gaza City, the compound of offices of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, witnesses and Hamas officials said. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there was no fighting at the site, because Fatah officers had left earlier in the evening. Hamas forces overran the main Fatah security force headquarters on Thursday, taking control of virtually all of the Gaza Strip. Abbas was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time.
Meanwhile, a Hamas militant was killed by Fatah gunmen in the West Bank, Hamas officials said early Friday, the first such killing in the West Bank after weeks of violence in Gaza. Earlier, three of the PA's most important symbols in the Gaza Strip fell into the hands of Hamas after hundreds of PA security officers surrendered or fled to the West Bank. The southern town of Rafah also fell into the hands of Hamas.
"This is a real coup against the Palestinian Authority," said Nabil Amr, a top advisor to Abbas.
The latest Hamas victories in the Gaza Strip shocked many Fatah leaders here. "This is a real coup against the Palestinian Authority," said Nabil Amr, a top advisor to Abbas.
Hamas militiamen on Thursday night issued an ultimatum to policemen in the main headquarters of the PA security forces in Gaza City to surrender or face death. The headquarters, known as the Saraya, is located in the center of the city and houses hundreds of policemen belonging to the PA National Security Force. By 11:00 p.m. Thursday night Hamas forces had captured the stronghold. Hamas leaders said they were planning to hold Friday prayers inside the compound after "liberating" it from Abbas's loyalists. "With God's will, we will all pray in the Saraya," declared Nizar Rayan, a prominent Hamas official.
"We call on Abbas's army of prostitutes to surrender or else they will be executed in public."
"We call on Abbas's army of prostitutes to surrender or else they will be executed in public."
Earlier, Hamas occupied the headquarters of the Preventative Security Service and General Intelligence in Gaza City, and dozens of security officers were seen leaving the compound half naked and with their hands behind their heads. The pictures, broadcast on Hamas's Al-Aksa TV station, were reminiscent of situations where PA policemen had surrendered to the IDF in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses reported that some of the officers who were dragged out of the Preventative Security headquarters in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood were later executed gang-style by masked Hamas militiamen.
The Preventative Security Service was established by former Gaza security Chief Muhammad Dahlan immediately after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. For many years, the Fatah-controlled force was known as Hamas's most-feared enemy. Shortly after capturing the headquarters of the force, Hamas gunmen launched a major offensive against the building of the General Intelligence in the Sudaniyeh neighbourhood in the city. Within minutes, all those inside emerged with their hands in the air.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"We call on Abbas's army of prostitutes..."
You got your countries mixed up. You're thinking Libya.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
06/15/2007 0:34 Comments ||
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#2
Send Terje Roed-Larsen to negotiate Peace between fractions.
#3
The pictures, broadcast on Hamas's Al-Aksa TV station, were reminiscent of situations where PA policemen had surrendered to the IDF in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses reported that some of the officers who were dragged out of the Preventative Security headquarters in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood were later executed gang-style by masked Hamas militiamen.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday night issued a "presidential decree" dissolving the Hamas-led unity government and declaring a state of emergency in the Palestinian territories, PA officials here said. They added that Abbas informed representatives of the Quartet of his decision and asked for their backing.
Abbas phoned US Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice and briefed her on the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, the officials added. They said Abbas was also planning to call for deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip to restore law and order. "President Abbas has decided to fire the government," said one official. "Ismail Haniyeh is no longer the prime minister and soon there will be a new government."
Abbas's decision was taken after two days of intensive discussions with Fatah leaders, who exerted heavy pressure on him to fire Haniyeh's government. Some of the Fatah leaders went as far as threatening to declare an open revolt against Abbas unless he began taking a series of measures in response to Hamas's massive offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas scoffed at Abbas's decision and expressed doubt that he would be able to implement it. "How can you declare a state of emergency if you don't have a government to enforce it?" asked Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel. "Only a government can enforce a state of emergency."
Bardaweel pointed out that in any case a new government would have to be approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is still dominated by Hamas. He said that the situation in the Gaza Strip was improving now that Hamas was in full control.
"Now we can start implementing our security plan for imposing law and order," he said.
"Now we can start implementing our security plan for imposing law and order," he said. "We even have no problem coordinating it with Fatah."
According to Israel Radio, Hamas's spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, rejected Abbas's announcement shortly afterward, claiming that according to Palestinian law, Abbas could not set up an emergency government. The Syrian-based deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said Thursday night there would be no change in Gaza's status, no Islamic rule declared in Gaza and ruled out Hamas separating Gaza from the West Bank.
He said Abbas's decision to fire his Hamas prime minister would complicate matters and that Haniyeh would likely continue on the job. "Gaza will remain Gaza and there will be no changes in its future and will continue to be linked to the West Bank whether he (Abbas) removed the government or not." He rejected talk of declaring an Islamic state in Gaza. "This talk has no basis... We are committed to the rules and basic laws organizing the Palestinian Authority," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How can you declare a state of emergency if you don't have a government to enforce it
Abbas will snap his fingers and create one tomorrow, wait and see. As for enforcing, well, tuff one. Maybe he's got some cash to pay off some righteous thugs.
We even have no problem coordinating it with Fatah
I've seen the videos... these latin words, they are so confusing... did you mean perchance coercion instead of coordination?
Indonesian authorities have landed another stinging blow to regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), announcing that they had nabbed the de facto head of the shadowy organisation. Zarkasih - who has several aliases including Nuaim and Mbah and has headed JI since 2005 - was captured in Yogyakarta in central Java six hours after Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad Detachment 88 arrested the country's most-wanted Islamic militant, JI military wing chief Abu Dujana, on Saturday.
Both men appeared in video confessions on Friday admitting their involvement in the secretive group, which has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Authorities delayed revealing the arrests to exploit information gleaned as they hunted other top terror suspects, including Bali bombings mastermind Noordin M Top.
But Detachment 88 head Suryadarma Salim said Dujana was refusing to give up the location of the terror leader, whom he is accused of protecting after the Bali blasts. "Even though (Dujana and Noordin) are in different structures, Dujana will not betray him by revealing his whereabouts," he said.
Terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, said the arrest of Zarkasih was a significant blow for JI, which has undergone significant restructuring in recent years. "He became the de facto head sometime after 2004 when there was a restructuring of JI," Jones said. "This is as big if not bigger than Abu Dujana."
Jones said Indonesian authorities may have been "trying to deflect attention from the fact they got the number one head" by naming Dujana as their most-wanted terrorist. "Obviously if the network was going to be somewhat weakened by catching one (leader), it's going to be even more weakened by catching two. I think we have to look beyond the leaders and to look at the base (of JI), but I think this is going to be a major spanner in the works for JI."
Brigadier General Salim said Zarkasih, who trained in Afghanistan, was appointed emergency head of JI during a meeting of high ranking JI leaders in 2005 after the previous leader was caught in June 2004. "Zarkasih's duty was to control the activities and operations of JI in Indonesia," he said.
In the videotape confession, Zarkasih also told authorities Abu Bakar Bashir lead the terrorist network between 2000 and 2002, before being replaced by Abu Rusdan. He said JI experienced a "vacuum of power" during 2004, when he was elevated as de facto head and also charged with finding a new emir to lead the organisation. "This effort is very difficult because we are trying to find a credible emir," Zarkasih said.
"The rest of the group appointed me as the head of the commission (to find a new leader) - I don't know whether that is as emir or not. But we have to find a good emir to lead the spread of Islam teachings and jihad."
Salim said the leader had fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s and studied in Pakistan. He said the anti-terror operation was continuing to hunt other unnamed high-ranking terror suspects, including three men who headed up the organisation's education, preaching and logistics arms.
"Our team is all over Java and eastern Indonesia," he said. "The Jemaah Islamiah network still exists. They are building their power by recruiting ... and holding military training sessions and also collecting guns, ammunitions, explosives and ready-to-use bombs."
Salim also said Dujana had been planning to assassinate the head of a central Java university, and that his military wing was partly-funded by the theft of the equivalent of $A66,000 from the provincial government in Poso, Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla said Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had been "a little bit inappropriate" talking about the arrest of Dujana two days before it was made public.
A roadside bomb and shootings killed seven soldiers Friday in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces this year in Thailand's restive south, amid tightened security on a key anniversary of a 15th Century Islamic sultanate.
The soldiers were rushing to the site of a gunbattle between soldiers and suspected Muslim insurgents in Yala province's Bannang Sata district when a bomb exploded near their vehicle, police Col. Anirut Im-Erb said. The explosion killed some soldiers instantly, he said. An unknown number of assailants then opened fire on them, leaving the total number of soldiers dead at seven with one severely wounded.
Authorities have stepped up security over concerns that violence may escalate on the anniversary of the establishment of the Sultanate of Pattani, founded on June 15, 1457, said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote. Soldiers are increasingly falling victim to the roadside bombings and shootings, with seven killed in an explosion in May and three killed in a bombing in April.
In a separate incident Friday, a lone gunman killed three Muslim leaders and seriously injured a fourth when he sprayed their vehicle with assault rifle fire in Pattani's Mai Kaen district, police Maj. Hantee Koraharee said, adding that police were investigating the shooting.
After three Muslim religious leaders where killed earlier this week in separate attacks across the south, local villagers blamed the deaths on the army and demanded authorities bring the culprits to justice. At the time, Akra said Muslim insurgents were behind the killings. He said the insurgents killed them, then blamed local authorities in an effort to instigate hatred against government officials.
A lone gunman killed three Muslim leaders and seriously injured a fourth when he sprayed their vehicle with assault rifle fire in strife-torn southern Thailand, police said Friday. Lets hear it for the assassin
Posted by: kelly ||
06/15/2007 13:27 Comments ||
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#4
For some reason my ACME Sympathy Meter's pointer is welded on zero whenever dead muzzies are the subject...It's been that way since September 2001. Maybe I should talk to the ACME Sympathy Meter people?
Posted by: Mac ||
06/15/2007 14:29 Comments ||
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The Lebanese army today found and seized a huge warehouse of explosives for Fatah al Islam militants. This find according to the army "reveals the true intentions of this terrorist organization" Sporadic gunfire echoed around the northern Lebanese refugee camp of Naher al-Bared on Thursday where the army claimed advances in its weeks-long siege of Islamists. "Fatah al-Islam snipers holed up inside Naher al-Bared have been firing at army positions, which responded with bursts of heavy machine-gun fire," an army officer told reporters , asking not to be named.
He said Wednesday night had been the quietest since fighting began at the Palestinian camp on May 20 despite the deaths of two soldiers from sniper fire during the day at the site of the deadliest fighting in decades. "Fatah al-Islam's firepower has greatly diminished because of troop advances over the past two days along the seafront toward Fatah al-Islam positions," he said.
The mounting toll in the north of the country together with a Beirut seafront bombing targeting an anti-Syrian MP that killed 10 on Wednesday have ignited fears about wider civil strife in the deeply divided country. Over 140 people have been killed in the clashes, including 63 soldiers and 50 militants of the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam movement, since fighting broke out in the camp and the nearby port of Tripoli.
A special forces unit earlier in the week destroyed the house of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Absi. Absi was not in the house at the time, and his whereabouts are unknown. A new leader Shahine Shahine , a Moroccan appears to be in control of the militants
On Tuesday, the army arrested four Fatah al-Islam fighters, and about 200 refugees escaped from the camp during lulls in fighting. Before Tuesday's escape, about 3,000 civilians were thought to remain stranded in increasingly desperate conditions inside the camp, one of 12 that are home to more than half of the estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement handed over to the Lebanese army on Thursday a Saudi doctor who treated the leader of Islamic gunmen in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a Palestinian official said.
The Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the doctor had come to Lebanon two months ago to participate "in liberating Jerusalem." He identified the doctor as Omar Abu Mursi and said he had been treating members and officials of the Fatah Islam group that has been fighting Lebanese troops since May 20 in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli. The physician told Fatah officials that he had treated Fatah Islam leader Shaker Youssef al-Absi and his military commander Abu Hureira for non-fatal wounds they suffered during the fighting, according to the official, who didn't reveal the nature of the injuries. Abu Mursi said both men were still alive, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
the doctor had come to Lebanon two months ago to participate "in liberating Jerusalem."
From this I deduce that geography isn't a required course in the Saudi educational system.
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.
Afghan and coalition soldiers killed 27 militants in southern Afghanistan as part of new operations to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency, the government and the US-led International Security Assistant Force said on Thursday. Twenty-six were killed in two separate battles on Wednesday in the southern province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the extremist movement. One other militant was killed in a Thursday raid in eastern Paktika province.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded in Chaman on Thursday after Afghanistan banned private cars and motorbikes from crossing into its territory, witnesses said.
Taliban commander 
(SomaliNet) There have been huge explosions and gunfire overnight around the Ethiopian bases in Somalia capital Mogadishu as efforts continue to restore peace and stability. Unknown armed groups have launched ambush attacks on the positions of the Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu as they responded with heavy machine and artillery fires around 9:30pm local time. 
True to their earlier declaration, the newly emerged Jadid Al Qaeda yesterday planted another powerful bomb on the campus of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) evading tight security.
Seven Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants surrendered at Gangachara Police Station in Rangpur yesterday morning. Meanwhile, charges were framed against a JMB militant while Shaekh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai were acquitted in connection with a case filed for the bomb blasts in August 17, 2005 in Kishoreganj.
Nine intelligence officials were killed and three others were injured on late Thursday night in Quetta when some unidentified men ambushed their vehicle at Zarghoon Road, Dawn News reported. The channel quoted police officials as saying that the officials were on vacations and that they were coming from Punjab. One of the injured officials is in critical condition, the channel reported. Soon after the incident senior officials reached the spot and started investigation. Talking to Aaj television, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Waheed Arshad said, According to my information eight people were killed in the incident - seven were Pakistan Army personnel and one was a civilian.
London, Jun. 14 The U.S.-led military in Iraq announced on Wednesday that it had arrested two suspected terrorists linked to Iran during operations in Baghdad. Coalition Forces killed one terrorist and detained two suspected terrorists during operations targeting secret cell network operations in Baghdad, said a statement by the Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF-I). 
A prominent Fatah gunman who had once bragged about executing Hamas fighters and torching homes of rivals was killed in fighting in Gaza on Thursday, Hamas said. The gunman, Samih Madhoun, was one of the leaders of a 1,500-strong force that had been set up several months ago as a counterweight to Hamas. Madhoun recently said in an interview on a pro-Fatah radio station that he had killed several Hamas fighters execution-style and torched the homes of others. 
Palestinian security forces allied with Fatah arrested three dozen Hamas activists in the West Bank on Thursday, as the Islamic group neared a military takeover of Gaza. Fatah leaders said a decision was made by security commanders to crack down on Hamas in the West Bank, to prevent it from taking any positions in that territory, a Fatah stronghold. "Last night, there was a decision by the leaders of the security forces to go after Hamas and to arrest them, before they think of bringing the war here," said Issam Abu Bakr, a Fatah leader in the West Bank city of Nablus. "This is true for all of the West Bank. Perhaps it was a belated decision, but now we can stand against Hamas and defend ourselves." 
Hamas forces late Thursday moved into the last Fatah stronghold in Gaza City, the compound of offices of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, witnesses and Hamas officials said. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there was no fighting at the site, because Fatah officers had left earlier in the evening. Hamas forces overran the main Fatah security force headquarters on Thursday, taking control of virtually all of the Gaza Strip. Abbas was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time. 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement handed over to the Lebanese army on Thursday a Saudi doctor who treated the leader of Islamic gunmen in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a Palestinian official said. 
