GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia said it shot dead late Monday a South Korean hostage, among 23 captured two weeks ago, after its deadlines expired for the government to free prisoners.
"We set several deadlines and the Afghan government did not pay attention to our deadlines," spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP. "Finally tonight at 8:30 (1600 GMT) we killed one of the Koreans named Sung Sin with AK-47 gunshots."
The body of the hostage had been dumped in the Qarabagh district of the southern province of Ghazni, Ahmadi said. He did not specify the gender of the captive but his use of the Pashtu language suggested a man was killed.
The area is where 23 South Korean Christians, 16 of them women, were captured on July 19 while officially on an aid mission.
The Taliban threatened on Sunday to start killing them Monday if its demand was ignored.
The leader of the Koreans, a 42-year-old pastor, was shot dead on Wednesday last week and his bullet-riddled body found in a desert area of the province.
There was no independent confirmation of the latest killing, but Afghan officials said they were pursuing unconfirmed intelligence reports that two of the hostages were dead."We have heard reports of two hostages killed but I cannot confirm it at this stage," Ghazni governor Mirajuddin Pattan told AFP.
Provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said his information was that two bodies had been dumped in the Char Daiwal area of the Qarabagh, which is 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Kabul.
"Although it's night and dark, police forces have gone to the area and have started a search and investigation there. We don't know at this stage if it is true or not," he said. The South Korean embassy here has refused to comment to press on the case.
The hardline Islamic militia extended a deadline of noon Monday by four hours, saying afterwards it leaders were deciding on the fate of its captives. It had demanded the government free Taliban men in its jails but negotiators said this was not up for discussion and called for two extra days to try to resolve the crisis.
#2
what a waste of a perfecly good incarnation....choosing to be a taliban??????where your trained to be stupid, and rough and brutal, so that you can feel like your next to God...the disconnect is off the charts.
Taliban kidnappers shot dead a male South Korean hostage on Monday, accusing the Afghan government of not listening to rebel demands, a spokesman said.
"We shot dead a male captive because the government did not listen to our demands," spokesman Yousif Ahmadi said. "We have no control over our acts, and we never can be blamed for anything we do, no matter how vile."
The South Korean government has yet to confirm the report.
If the report is true, the male hostage would be second killed by Taliban kidnappers. On Wednesday, the militants shot dead the leader of the South Korean group, 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung Kyu, after their demand to release eight comrades was not met by the government.
The United Nations in Afghanistan had expressed concern earlier in the day for the safety of 22 South Korean hostages as a Taliban latest deadline to kill them expired Monday.
"After the elders and mediators asked us for more time, in order to respect their demand, we give them another time, till 4:30 p.m.," Yousif Ahmadi, who claims to speak for Taliban, said from an undisclosed location.
The kidnappers had said they would kill more hostages if Taliban prisoners were not released by noon Monday.
Earlier Nilab Mubarez, a deputy spokeswoman for the United Nations, told reporters in Kabul, "We are extremely concerned for the safety and welfare of all those kept hostage, particularly as so many of those are young women who have come to Afghanistan to help the people of Afghanistan."
"We continue to monitor the situation closely and fully support the government's continuing efforts to secure their safe release," she added.
In the latest of a series of deadlines, the Taliban kidnappers set Sunday the deadline of midday Monday to kill at least some of 22 South Korean hostages.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni Province, where the hostages were taken, told Kyodo News the governor has asked for another extension of the deadline.
"The Ghazni governor has asked the Taliban through media for more time, at least two more days," said Shrin Mangal, adding there has been no breakthrough so far in negotiations for release of the South Koreans.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement Sunday during a meeting with Baek Jong Chun, a South Korean presidential envoy, that his government will do its utmost for safe release of the hostages.
The South Korean envoy, meanwhile, appreciated the efforts made so far for the release of the hostages, the statement issued by the presidential palace said, adding that they both agreed to speed up the efforts for the release.
The Afghan Ulema (clerics) Council, in a statement, condemned the hostage-taking and called it is "un-Islamic," asking the Taliban to release their captives.
The South Koreans, mostly nurses and teachers in their 20s and 30s who are part of an evangelical Christian group, were taken hostage at gunpoint on July 19 while traveling to the southern city Kandahar from the Afghan capital Kabul.
The Taliban initially demanded the withdrawal of South Korean military personnel from Afghanistan and have since been pressing for the release of 23 Taliban prisoners, threatening to kill the hostages if their demands are not met.
South Korea has about 210 army medics and engineers stationed in Afghanistan on a non-combat reconstruction mission.
They are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of the year.
#2
For each hostage murdered, execute an imprisoned terrorist captive that the Taliban is trying to free. This crap would stop in a heartbeat.
The Afghan Ulema (clerics) Council, in a statement, condemned the hostage-taking and called it is "un-Islamic," asking the Taliban to release their captives.
Hokay, so where's the death fatwa on these kidnappers? SSDD.
#4
At the very least it would free up some desperately needed cell space. Plus, if the killers are so eager for the release of these prisoners, it means that they are likely to be high value targets. We've probably wrung them dry already, time to take out the garbage. All the "virgins" garbage aside, if prisoners knew that their fellow fighters' actions were getting them killed, they just might start telling us how to find them before they ended up catching a slug. This whole process needs a really big shakeup.
There is absolutely ZERO worth in considering their visions of paradise unless it is with the intent to make them fearful of not entering it. This is why I advocate the cremation of all executed Islamic terrorists or those killed in action. If that prevents them from getting their virgins, fine. But let's not dismiss potential strategies just because they'll find a way to excuse their own failure. More than anything, we need to make it clear that as many bad things as possible happen to those who tresspass against us.
ISAF says Qari Faiz Mohammad, a top Taliban commander with close links to supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, died in a fierce clash with ANA and ISAF troops last week. Details of the raid were not released but one ISAF soldier died in southern Afghanistan that same day.
There has been no official announcement of Qari Faiz Mohammads death from Taliban sources.
Qari Faiz Mohammad was one of Afghanistans Most Wanted Taliban leaders. He acted as Chairman of the Taliban military council and allegedly financed many Taliban operations launched in Helmand province, according to the BBC.
Here's hoping he kept all the numbers to the secret bank accounts in his now-splattered head.
The suspected death of Qari Faiz Mohammad follows last month's air strike that killed another Most Wanted commander, Mullah Mahmood Baluch, an infamous weapons smuggler active in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. The June, 9th air strike occurred shortly after Mahmood Baluch led a convoy of weapons and ammunition over the Pakistan-Helmand border.
Before that, top Taliban strategist Mullah Dadullah died during a Coalition air assault on his safe house in Helmand province. The death of Mullah Dadullah on May, 12 is the single greatest blow to the Taliban leadership since the movement was ousted from power in late 2001.
Helmand is easily the most unstable state in the country with heavy fighting and suicide attacks occurring on a near daily basis. According to the BBC, listed the remaining Most Wanted Taliban members include: Mullah Mohammad Omar, Mullah Berader, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, Abdul Rahim, Naime Bareech and Dadullah Mansour.
(SomaliNet) At least two people were killed and four others were wounded in four explosions which rocked the main Bakar market, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu. The explosions caused by grenade bombs which targeted on the government soldiers involving in clearing operations to remove kiosks from the roads inside the market.
The blasts occurred in different locations in the market as the soldiers opened fire in response to the bomb attacks. There is no immediate casualty on the soldiers. Before the incident, the forces were using bulldozers to destroy the cabins alongside the roads.
The shops in the areas of the explosions were closed for short while. Investigations are now under way to pursue the attackers. Unknown insurgents carried out the latest bomb explosions in Bakar market, which has been relatively calm since the government ended the siege last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) A suspected local terrorist militant Saturday killed two government soldiers in Suuq Bacaad market in Yaqshid district, north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu. Resident in the area told Somalinet that he ambushed the soldiers who were walking inside the market around 12:20pm local time. A terrorist man armed with a pistol killed the soldiers in ambush attack, said one eyewitness fearing of reprisal.
Soon after the shooting, the security forces cordoned the area and began investigations in the market arresting several people in connection with the attack. The police are questioning the detainees. Anyone who is found innocent will be freed but the guilty terrorist ones will be arrested, local official said. The government soldiers and its Ethiopian forces have been target for ambush attacks and bombings by the Islamist insurgents since the ouster of Islamic Courts Union from Somalia late December 2007. The ICU has been ruling much of south and central Somalia for six months.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) A bomb exploded near the residence of Mogadishus mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb Mohamed Dhere in north of the capital. No casualty was reported and it was not clear whether the mayor was inside the house or not.
The deputy mayor Abdifitah Shaweye denied that the explosion was targeted on the mayors house. Where the bomb exploded was far from the house of the mayor and this is a kind of insurgents propaganda, said Shaweye.
The mayor of Mogadishu had survived from an attempt on his life after roadside explosions in the capital before.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Local militants linked with the ousted Islamic Courts Union launched an ambush attack on government soldiers stationing at Florenca junction in Wardhigley district, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu overnight as the city is under curfew for the sixth week. Residents in the area told Somalinet that the attack happened around 12:40am last night around Florenca intersection where the soldiers exchanged gunfire with the attackers.
The insurgents fired rocket propelled and hand grenade bombs at the troops. One soldier was confirmed wounded in last nights attack as the security forces this morning sealed off the area blocking all roads for investigations to pursue the attackers. No one was arrested for the attack.
Meanwhile, a grenade bomb has exploded near KPP junction in Hodan district early this morning shortly after the security forces raided a mosque in the area arresting ten of the worshipers. Reports say seven of the detainees were later released. An unknown militant hurled a hand grenade bomb at the soldiers but no casualty was reported. The security forces cordoned off the site of the blast and began searching for suspects. The local insurgents continue to target the positions of the interim government and its allied Ethiopian forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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In his case statement, Ramzan Ali alleged that the JMB militants set up a camp in Atrai upazila and unleashed "a reign of terror in the area at the instruction of the former state minister". They used to abduct innocent people and realise toll from them.
Dearborn, MI - A Dearborn-based charitable organization suspected of providing financial support to Hezbollah a political and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon was shut down Tuesday following a series of raids executed by members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Following Tuesday's searches, the Goodwill Charitable Organization (GCO) located on Warren Avenue near Schaefer Road in Dearborn has been designated as a Hezbollah-affiliated organization and shut down, according to Special Agent Dawn Clenney of the FBI's Detroit bureau. "The organization was given this designation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury based on an investigation conducted by the Detroit FBI," Clenney said. "There were no arrests made and no one has been formally charged at this time."
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday, the GCO is a fundraising office established by the Martyrs Foundation a "parastatal organization that channeled financial support from Iran to several terrorist organizations in the Levant a region in the Middle East including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad."
The GCO has provided financial support to Hezbollah directly and through the Martyrs organization, the release said. Hezbollah's leaders in Lebanon have allegedly instructed Hezbollah members in the United States to send their contributions to the GCO and to contact the GCO for the purpose of contributing to the Martyrs Foundation. Since its founding, the GCO has sent a significant amount of money to the Martyrs Foundation in Lebanon, the department said. "We will not allow organizations that support terrorism to raise money in the United States or to evade our measures and continue to operate simply by changing their names," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The CGO was one of two Muslim charities in Dearborn searched Tuesday by members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, which has led some members of the Arab American community to express concern that the organizations were targeted because of their religious affiliation. "I don't want to believe that, but I can't deny that many of the charities that have been raided so far are Muslim charities," said Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
In September 2006, the FBI raided the Southfield offices of Life for Relief and Development, a large and highly respected Muslim charity under investigation in connection with its activities in Iraq. The raid happened on the eve of Ramadan, a holy month in which Muslims are required to give to worthy causes. The organization was not shut down and no charges have been filed, but the investigation continues. "I think it's important to remind everyone that giving to charity is not only a Muslim value, it is an American value," Hamad said. "As Arab Americans, we feel we are an integral part of this nation and its future but we also cannot deny that prejudice and discrimination exist."
A second Muslim charity searched on Tuesday the Al-Mabarrat Charitable Organization remains in operation and is accepting donations. Founded in 1991, the Al-Mabarrat Charitable Foundation located on Schaefer just north of Warren Avenue is a well-known and highly regarded charity, Hamad said, especially among Shia Muslims. "Al-Mabarrat has been around for many years, which has led us to ask why it was searched now, when we are again approaching the holy month of Ramadan," he said.
However, Hamad did commend FBI officials and others at the local, state and national level for their willingness to work together to help alleviate concerns from members of the community immediately following the searches. "I can't count the number of meetings we've had on this topic," he said. "We have engaged in numerous discussions, and have made it clear this action should not cast a shadow on all charities. "Helping those in need is a part of the American way of life it's not limited to a single religion. We urge all members of the public not to surrender to their fears."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This is like picking at a scab. Didn't even scrape enough off to let the pus underneath start to ooze out. I'm glad they're watching these pukes, but...watching, watching, watching..
How about a weekend of R&R in sunny Cuba ?
#2
Shut down the hawala network and a whole bunch of this goes away. Better yet, publicly announce that shari'a law is a violation of human rights. Or ever better, declare the Koran to be a form of genocidal hate speech.
While not simple in the least, all of these measures represent ways of making America totally unfriendly to Muslims. I cheerfully predict that one or two out of the three will come to pass.
#3
The Dept of Justice may be screwed up on other things but they are doing better against the terrorist fundraisers than I thought they would.
I suspect they are getting some inside assistance from pissed off muslims who didn't get the charity they thought was coming their way and instead saw the funds going overseas.
#4
Dearborn, huh? And no arrests? Could we at least get some deportations?
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
07/30/2007 11:37 Comments ||
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#5
Shut down the hawala network and a whole bunch of this goes away. Better yet, publicly announce that shari'a law is a violation of human rights. Or ever better, declare the Koran to be a form of genocidal hate speech.
Although I agree with you, I don't think this is going to happen. The University of Michigan caved in on providing foot wash baths for muslim students. It seems to me this is clearly a violation of the separation of church and state.
IN North Waziristan, the wild border land that America hopes will be Osama Bin Ladens graveyard, the normally busy roads are almost deserted and the fear is pervasive. Army helicopters sweep the valleys at night hunting for Al-Qaeda militants as troops and gunmen exchange artillery and rocket fire.
America and Britain regard this usually autonomous tribal area - where Bin Laden is long believed to have been hiding - as the logistics centre of Islamic terrorist attacks around the world.
President Pervez Musharraf sees it as the centre of a campaign to Talibanise Pakistan. Spurred on by Washington, he has abandoned a truce with Waziristans Islamist guerrillas and ordered his army to root them out.
There are believed to be about 8,000 gunmen a mix of foreign Al-Qaeda volunteers, Afghan Taliban, Pakistani Islamists and local Waziris whose families have for centuries fought off any attempt to impose outside rule on this area. In modern times, even map-makers have been shot to hide the regions mysteries from the outside world.
Last week soldiers sealed all the roads into Miran Shah, the provincial capital, occupied the hills around it and fired the first artillery salvo in what Musharrafs many critics have called a war on his own people.
On Friday morning the army moved into parts of Miran Shah itself after militants blew up government buildings overnight. Most of the 60,000 townspeople are feared trapped, but hundreds of families have fled their mud homes in villages nearby and headed east for the sanctuary of Bannu, a town in the neighbouring North West Frontier province.
I watched last week as some of the 80,000 troops deployed in Waziristan dug in alongside the highway outside Mirali, a small town 10 miles east of Miran Shah. Almost all the checkpoints on this stretch of narrow road were empty. Three lay in rubble because the militants had blown them up. No troops drove along the road. They shuttled to the nearby Afghan border by helicopter.
Occasionally a civilian vehicle appeared, laden with men, women and children and all they could bring with them as they fled a few cots, a goat or two, a cow and some cooking utensils.
Raza Khan, 45, a farmer, lived with his family in Hakim Khel, a group of five villages with a population of more than 2,500 on the outskirts of Miran Shah. On Thursday afternoon he gathered his nine children and left. All the villages in his area had been all but abandoned, he told me when I found them on the road.
Anyone who has a little cash is leaving. People cant sleep in the night. The fighters work during the night. They are always on the move. When they attack the army from any area, the army shell that area. And it kills and injures innocent people, he said.
I left my wife and brothers at the house. Left everything over there and brought my children here. I just saved their lives. A woman and her two children were wounded next to our house.
Noor Abdullah, a businessman in Mirali, said: People are afraid. We expect war. People are leaving. But the army cant fight these fighters. They are very well trained.
People are with them. And they are in thousands. They move from one place to another. They live in the mountains and caves. Its a difficult area.
He added: The situation has became very complicated. It has affected every business. Everyone is suffering. Local officials have disappeared. They are afraid to come onto the streets or even walk. The Taliban dont spare them.
This area was formerly policed at least nominally by a tribal militia, but they fled after Taliban death threats. The militias highway checkpoint in Mirali is now monitored by dozens of soldiers from bunkers they have dug on both sides of the roads to guard against suicide bombers.
I saw two nervous soldiers standing on the road 500 yards from each other checking on incoming and outgoing vehicles. This did not appear to deter the militants, however.
A mile or so from the Mirali checkpoint, four Uzbeks regarded around here as a byword for Al-Qaeda wielded powerful walkie-talkies inside a parked white Toyota saloon. One of them kept his face hidden when my driver approached them. Further up the road we saw two more Uzbeks using walkie-talkies. Walkie-talkies being known as secure communication devices, keep talking boys...
As the refugees arrived in Bannu, Qari Muhammad Abdullah, a senior religious leader in the town, said that Musharraf should be afraid of the wrath of Allah. People at the top have no idea about peoples suffering because they never experienced it. Force is not the solution. The fighting in Waziristan will kick off civil war in the entire country, he said.
Waziristan could have become Baghdad much earlier. We, the clerics, stopped it. It will now become Baghdad if the army carries out operations against its own people.
Sources in the Pakistani army said: There has to be a fight. There is no other option. Its bad, but we have to fight.
The dangers are only too apparent. Taliban forces in South Waziristan have occupied hilltops and set up their own checkpoints to cut off army supply lines and to prevent government troops taking control.
As the clashes around Miran Shah grew more frequent on Friday night, there were Taliban rocket attacks on new army checkpoints on the main exit routes from the town and looters seized 30 computers from offices and a girls school.
Despite the crisis, Waziristans most lucrative activity smuggling is thriving. The only lorries I saw on the roads were laden with cattle, apparently destined illicitly for Afghanistan. I was told that a local tribal official collects £75 per truck for facilitating the movement of cattle across the border.
A police constable was killed when unidentified gunmen fired at the Gamgol Sharif police checkpost in the precinct of Jangal Khel police station in Kohat district on Sunday. Police said Constable Nijat Hussain was on duty when four attackers opened fire at him.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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The government has announced Rs 1 million as reward for anyone who can provide credible information leading to the arrest of the mastermind of the July 27 suicide blast that killed over 14 people, including nine policemen.
Deputy Inspector General of Islamabad Police Shahid Nadeem Baloch said that a sketch of the suspected suicide bomber has been prepared and might be released shortly. He said the detonator at Aabpara market had contained a 7.9-kilogramme explosive. The July 27 blast was similar to July 17s incident in F-8 Markaz, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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GHALANAI: Masked Taliban gunmen occupied the tomb of freedom fighter Haji Sahib Turangzai and a nearby mosque and named it Lal Masjid at Ghazi Abad in Lakrou Tehsil, some 40 kilometres north of Mohmand Agency headquarters Ghalani. Taliban leader Umar Khalid told reporters that they had named the mosque Lal Masjid and that the place was the centre of the jihad launched by Haji Sahib Turangzai against the British rulers. We want to take forward the missions of Haji Turangzai and Lal Masjids slain khateeb Ghazi Abdul Rashid, he added.
Khalid also said they were setting up two madrassas, one each for boys and girls, and added that the boys madrasa would be named after Haji Sahib and the girls school would be named Jamia Hafsa Umm-e-Hassan. The Taliban leader said any govt effort against them would be resisted. He claimed around 3,000 men in Mohmand Agency were ready to sacrifice their lives for Shariah.
This article starring:
GHAZI ABDUL RASHID
Lal Masjid
OMAR KHALID
Taliban
Lal Masjid
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
He claimed around 3,000 men in Mohmand Agency were ready to sacrifice their lives for Shariah.
Kewl. I can just imagine it.
"Are you ready to sacrifice your life for shari'a?"
"Yes!"
[BANG!]
"Next!"
"Are you ready to sacrifice your life for shari'a?"
"Yes!"
[BANG!]
"Next!"
"Are you ready to sacrifice your life for shari'a?"
"Yes!"
[BANG!]
"Next!"
"Are you ready to sacrifice your life for shari'a?"
"Yes!"
[BANG!]
"Next!" x 3,000
#3
I keep saying the best approach to this kind of stupidity is a combination of napalm and cluster bombs, but nobody listens. Hit this "red mosk" with about a dozen napalm canisters and eight or ten cluster weapons (cluster weapons first, napalm to flush the gunnies into them), and most of the trouble would end VERY soon. If not, continue until it does, or there's no one left on the ground.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/30/2007 13:44 Comments ||
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MIR ALI: Unknown people kidnapped an Intelligence Bureau sub inspector and his relative from Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday. A private television channel reported that five masked men abducted Sub-Inspector Bahadur Nawaz and his relative Muhammad Javed, a government schoolteacher, when they were going from Mir Ali Scouts Cantonment to a local bazaar. Both hostages are from Bannu districts Domeel area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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The law-enforcement agencies are searching for at least two would-be suicide bombers whom the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi has tasked with attacking the residences of military officials in Rawalpindi, sources told Daily Times. They said intelligence agencies had sent reports to the Interior Ministry, claiming that two suicide bombers trained by TNSM head Maulvi Faqir Muhammad and his brother Maulvi Ghulam Muhammad had left Bajaur Agency for Rawalpindi. The bombers are clean shaven and around 25 years of age, according to the reports.
This article starring:
MAULVI FAQIR MUHAMAD
Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
MAULVI GHULAM MUHAMAD
Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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At least six people, four of them Gujarati tourists, were killed and 21 others wounded yesterday in a powerful explosion outside the Shalimar Garden on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. The dead included two women tourists and two local bystanders, also women.
The group of Muslim tourists from Gujarat was on a pleasure trip to Kashmir. Yesterday afternoon the tourists were visiting the famed Shalimar Garden when there was an explosion inside their bus. S.M. Sahai, Kashmirs inspector general of police, said the police were still trying to ascertain the cause of the explosion. A police officer said police were not sure if it was a grenade attack by militants or if a faulty air-conditioner had exploded inside the bus. We havent yet ruled out a militant hand in the explosion.
The red bus was littered with blood soaked footwear and clothes. Some of its windows had been blown out. Dazed passengers walked around sobbing.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosion. The injured tourists were taken to Soura Medical Institute and the SMHS hospital here. We were sitting inside the bus when we heard a massive bang and then hell broke loose inside as everyone tried to jump out. I saw bleeding fellow tourists crying for help. There was absolute confusion inside, said Noor-ud-Din a tourist from Gujarat.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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Careful as you read, don't step on the editorial stuff
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. generals expect to need a large contingent of troops in Iraq until the middle of 2009, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Monday.
Such a timeline would hand President George W. Bush's successor the task of bringing U.S. forces home from Iraq, more than six years after Bush dispatched them to topple Saddam Hussein.
The next U.S. president will take office in January 2009 after an election in 2008.
Bush's Democratic opponents in Congress want U.S. troops in Iraq, which currently number about 157,000, to leave sooner.
Asked about media reports that Washington envisioned a substantial American force remaining in Iraq through mid-2009, General David Petraeus told ABC News: "Sustainable security is, in fact, what we hope to achieve.
"It's in our campaign plan. We do think it will take about that amount of time, as you discussed, to establish the conditions for it."
Petraeus said he and his deputy, Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, were working to determine precisely how many troops would be required.
"The key is really how much force do you need? The campaign plan lays out the general concepts, the lines of operation and so forth and the actual plans and the actual force requirements are something that flow from that. And that's what General Odierno and I are working on now," Petraeus said.
Petraeus is due to report back to Washington in six weeks on the success of the "surge" -- an increase of U.S. troops Bush ordered to Iraq this year to help restore security, especially around the capital Baghdad.
He told ABC he expected to complete his assessment in time, after which he would be able to announce when troops can start to come home.
"We do think by about that time, again, that I will have enough of a sense ... to determine at what point we can in fact begin to send forces home without replacements," Petraeus said.
#2
It is important how the administration handles the draw down. They should rotate the unneeded home in large blocks to great announcement. Target rotations in parts of the US that are problematic, and arrange for large welcome home parades, to show the public.
After a few thousand only, the public would get the "feeling" that "troops are coming home", which would give the war effort a lot more time. From that point on, returns to Iraq should be individual, with groups coming back.
That is, 5,000 go as individuals, 1,000 come home as a group.
Yes, it is a "Potempkin" draw down, but it is needed both to reassure the public, and undermine the anti-war and anti-military forces.
#3
Anybody catch David Ignatius on Chris Matthews's Sunday show? I heard the bite on Rush about an hour ago. He stated, to my great shock, that Iraq was another front on the War. (Meaning, "GWOT", though he didn't say all that, I don't think.)
Still... that's effectively a 180 from 4 YEARS of rhetoric about Iraq as "diversion", about "taking your eye off the ball" and so on.
#5
Just as everywhere else, we won't stay in Iraq a minute longer than we are wanted after we establish the peace. The magnitude of our victory will be proportional to the length of our stay.
#6
No surprise here to God + Taotaomonas + Madonna fans, roughly = coincidentally just in time for the occurrence of a large, multi-colored interstellar explosion whose detonation could be seen here on Guam despite the lousy weather. DIVINE SIGN TO THE FAITHFUL + WORLD THAT CERTAIN [PRELIMINARY]EVENTS WILL SOON OCCUR . * e.g. NOSTRADAMUS - "None shall see the power of Asia destroyed until SEVEN/SEVENTH holds the line..."
Coalition Forces killed seven terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during an operation near Muqudadiyah July 25-26. As Coalition Forces approached the targeted area, which was a previously assaulted terrorist stronghold, the assault force and airborne assets observed several armed terrorists maneuvering through the village and occupying fighting positions. Coalition Forces responded appropriately to the imminent threat posed by the organized hostile force and engaged the terrorists with direct fire and close air support. Five terrorists were killed due to close air support strafing and two terrorists were killed by direct fire from ground forces.
Coalition Forces later discovered a woman who was injured by shrapnel from the air strike against the group of terrorists. A Coalition Forces medic attended to her until she was transported to a military medical facility for treatment.
Coalition Forces detained one man who was found with extremist training materials and fake identification. Terrorists continue to endanger innocent Iraqis by operating in their homes and neighborhoods, said Maj. Marc Young, an MNF-I spokesperson. We take extensive precautions to protect civilians during our operations, but we will continue to target al-Qaeda and its terrorist operatives.
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07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This is the kind of killed/captured ratio I like.
KALSU, Iraq Paratroopers from Strike Force Geronimo captured one insurgent from a cell responsible for attacks against citizens and security forces in North Babil during Operation Marne Avalanche July 26 northwest of Iskandariyah. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 509th Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, conducted an early morning air assault and continued raids throughout the day in an al-Qaeda stronghold several kilometers northwest of the city. Our primary target was an al-Qaeda safe house being used to interrogate and torture residents, said Capt. David Coulombe, a platoon leader with Company B, from New Lennox, Ill. We wanted to secure that, and then push out into the town to search the area and talk to the locals.
After securing the safe house, the Paratroopers began pushing into the town, where their mission began in earnest. As we were moving into the town, an Iraqi army platoon was out in front and they started taking fire from insurgents, said Staff Sgt. John Panowich, a squad leader with Company B, from Anderson, S.C. When we moved in, we were talking to the helicopters flying close air support for us. We moved into a building to get better security and found the first cache hidden in there.
In addition to capturing the insurgent, Paratroopers discovered three weapons caches during the operation. In the first cache, they found a DSKA .50 caliber heavy machine gun with 75 rounds, a rocket propelled grenade launcher with seven rounds and 100 RPK heavy machine gun rounds. In the second cache, more than 400 RPK rounds were uncovered. The third cache consisted of three AK-47 assault rifles, an RPK heavy machine gun, an ammunition vest and a can of 7.62mm ammunition. Going into areas like this, where insurgents have been running around freely really makes them think twice, Panowich said. No Coalition or Iraqi Security Forces have been in that area for quite some time. So, for us to just pop up in his own back yard one night is going to keep him laying low and watching over his shoulder for a while.
The insurgent is being held for further questioning. An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the weapons on site. During 12 days of Operation Marne Avalanche, the Paratroopers of the 4th BCT (Abn.) have killed seven insurgents, conducted numerous precision raids, captured more than 60 insurgents including six cell leaders and other high value individuals.
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07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers along with Iraqi Army troops conducted Operation Rogue Thunder, establishing a new Coalition outpost in the western Baghdad neighborhood and uncovering a weapons cache July 24.
The new COP, Coalition Outpost Lion, was established by the 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division with assistance from 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment. The U.S. troops assisted the Iraqi Army in building the fortified position intended to reinforce the Iraqi Armys presence and boost security in the troubled Mansour District of western Baghdad as part of Operation Rogue Thunder.
The operation also led to the discovery of a weapons cache. Seventy-seven artillery rounds were discovered in a hole in the ground during a combined search conducted by U.S. and Iraqi forces. An explosive ordnance disposal team determined the explosives could not all be removed safely. They conducted a controlled detonation of the cache on site.
Soldiers from 1-64 Armor continue to work in conjunction with the 3-5-6th IA to man and safeguard the new outpost. COP Lion houses sixty Iraqi Army soldiers and is reinforced with guard towers overlooking the neighborhood. Security forces will use the compound to provide greater security to the Jamia area.
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07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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Two Iraqis civilians were killed and five more wounded when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device was detonated July 28 in the Rusafa District of eastern Baghdad.
The civilians were killed and wounded when insurgents detonated the car bomb near the Riyadh and Babil Hayy border in Rusafa. Iraqi Army forces were on site to cordon off the area and help tend to the wounded. The wounded were transported to Medical City for treatment.
Following the attack, Soldiers with the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division rushed to the scene, along with members from the Military Iraqi Transition Team, to provide support and help seal off the area. This was the 15th car bomb attack in the Rusafa area this month. The incident is under investigation.
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07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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Coalition Forces killed eight terrorists and detained 22 suspected terrorists during operations Sunday targeting al-Qaeda members in central Iraq and the Tigris River valley.
Coalition Forces targeted a foreign terrorist facilitator and al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in the Yusifiyah area. As the assault force approached the location, a group of armed terrorists engaged them with small arms fire.
Coalition Forces, reacting appropriately to the hostile threat from an organized force, employed close air support. The air strike killed five terrorists, while several more moved to a nearby building. The assault force followed and entered the second building, where they detained seven armed individuals and uncovered fortified fighting positions and a large cache of weapons. One boy was injured during the operation. He was treated on site and accompanied by his father to a military medical facility. Terrorists continue to endanger innocent Iraqis and show their disregard for human life each time they surround themselves with civilians during their criminal operations, said Maj. Marc Young, an MNF-I spokesperson.
South of Tarmiyah, Coalition Forces targeted an al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader and used aircraft to patrol the area. As the operation began, armed terrorists engaged the aircraft with small arms fire. The aircraft, returning fire in self-defense, engaged the terrorists on the ground, killing three and wounding one suspect. The assault force on the ground detained three additional suspected terrorists.
South of Baghdad, Coalition Forces used air assets to contain a suspected enemy force while targeting key players in the Baghdad vehicle-borne improvised explosive device network. As Coalition Forces raided the target building, several suspected terrorists attempted to evade the assault force. With the help of close air support, the ground force detained seven suspected terrorists.
Coalition Forces raided a building in Samarra looking for a suspected foreign terrorist facilitator and financier tied to an individual detained during an operation July 14. The ground forces detained two suspects on scene and discovered weapons and a mortar round in the building. Coalition Forces detained two suspected terrorists during an operation south of Tikrit targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq military emir.
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Iraqi Army Forces conducted a series of raids July 27 detaining two suspected insurgents believed to be responsible of numerous attacks against Coalition Forces and Iraqi citizens.
With U.S. Special Operations Forces present as advisers, Iraqi soldiers detained their primary suspects without incident at their residences in the town of Husaybah, located northwest of Habbaniyah. Rifles, ammunition and false identification cards were also seized during the operation.
The first detained individual is allegedly responsible for the coordination and execution of multiple improvised explosive device, indirect fire, and small arms fire attacks against Coalition Forces and Iraqi citizens. He is also suspected of financing and providing intelligence support for insurgent activities. The second detained individual is also believed to be responsible for a series of IED attacks. He is also allegedly involved in the kidnapping of Iraqi citizens.
The capture and detainment of these individuals will greatly inhibit al Qaeda in Iraq activities in Western Iraq and reduce attacks in Habbaniyah and surrounding areas, a U.S. Special Operations Forces commander stated following the mission. It also shows that the Government of Iraq will not allow anti-Iraqi Forces to interfere with the Iraqi government and their plans to stabilize the al Anbar area. No Iraqi or Coalition Forces were injured during this operation.
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Insurgent mortar fire wounded 10 Iraqi civilians working at the Doura Oil Refinery July 29 in the East Rashid District in the southern portion of the Iraqi capital. Four 120mm mortar rounds impacted inside the refinery, wounding 10 workers.
Scouts from 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment at Joint Security Station Raider heard the sound of the impacts and responded immediately. They assisted in evacuating the wounded. The impacts did not damage the facility or affect refinery operations. Targeting this nations infrastructure is a prime example of how far Iraqs enemies will go to disrupt the peoples lives, said Col. Ricky D. Gibbs, commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, whose unit has responsibility for the Rashid Districts security.
The rounds were fired from a rural section of the district. No counter fire was conducted.
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07/30/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
No counter fire was conducted.
Follows then that like Anaconda and other locations, more incoming can be expected from the hood.
#3
RPV and something carrying a guided HE munition should be on station. That problem was solved a long time ago for CB fire, just need to tie in new precision weapons. Ballistics are ballistics. Mr Newton's equations haven't changed at all, so any shell, especially one as slow as a mortar, can be traced back to its firing point pretty quickly.
Israeli aircraft struck a car in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, injuring at least five people, medics said. According to Islamic Jihad and medics in Gaza Strip, the car was carrying members of the group.
Other witnesses said that the vehicle contained members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement. The strike occurred about 10 kilometers south of Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in favour of Jordanian forces deploying in the occupied West Bank to help Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas fight Hamas, a report said on Monday. "What Olmert has in mind and what has been raised in recent meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah II... (is) 'regular' Jordanian army troops, Bedouin who have experience fighting terrorism," said the English-language Jerusalem Post, citing unnamed sources.
Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin dismissed the report, calling it "speculation."
According to AFP, she said that Olmert "is not opposed to the idea of deployment of foreign troops, including from Arab countries, in the West Bank with a view to combating the terrorists of Hamas."
More local residents in the troubled southern provinces are now cooperating with government authorities, and internal conflicts are believed to be growing within the militant ranks, a Thai Army spokesman said Monday, suggesting that increasing numbers of them now want to desert their fighting groups. Royal Thai Army Col. Akara Thiprote said during a programme broadcast on Modernine TV (Channel 9) that the improving cooperation being given by villagers in the violence-plagued South to officials is evidenced by the arrest of 46 suspected insurgents in Yi-ngo district of Narathiwat province on Sunday.
Also, several of the suspected militant detainees had offered a good cooperation before they were arrested, showing that there is an internal conflict within the militants, and that many of them do not wish to commit further mistakes against the government, said Col. Akara, adding that many insurgents remain with the militants for fear of retribution if they leave the influential militant leaders.
Five of the 46 suspected militants detained Sunday proved to be core leaders of the especially hard-line Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) militant group operating in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. One of the detained five militant leaders was identified as Abdul Romae Pereesee, who reportedly plays a central role among the insurgents, according to Col. Akara, as many youths were forced to join the militant groups after insurgents threatened to harm their relatives.
He said Sunday's lightning arrests were made after security officials learned that the militants would launch major attacks in Narathiwat in August and that the militant leaders would first assemble in Yi-ngo district to plan their offensive. More arrests will be made later as intelligence officials learned that other militant factions plan to create violence in the restive South, he added.
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
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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.
ISAF says 
(SomaliNet) A suspected local 
Dearborn, MI - A Dearborn-based charitable organization suspected of providing financial support to Hezbollah a political and paramilitary organization based in Lebanon was shut down Tuesday following a series of raids executed by members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Following Tuesday's searches, the Goodwill Charitable Organization (GCO) located on Warren Avenue near Schaefer Road in Dearborn has been designated as a Hezbollah-affiliated organization and shut down, according to Special Agent Dawn Clenney of the FBI's Detroit bureau. "The organization was given this designation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury based on an investigation conducted by the Detroit FBI," Clenney said. "There were no arrests made and no one has been formally charged at this time."
GHALANAI: Masked Taliban gunmen occupied the tomb of freedom fighter Haji Sahib Turangzai and a nearby mosque and named it Lal Masjid at Ghazi Abad in Lakrou Tehsil, some 40 kilometres north of Mohmand Agency headquarters Ghalani. Taliban leader 
The law-enforcement agencies are searching for at least two would-be suicide bombers whom the 
Coalition Forces killed seven terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during an operation near Muqudadiyah July 25-26. As Coalition Forces approached the targeted area, which was a previously assaulted terrorist stronghold, the assault force and airborne assets observed several armed terrorists maneuvering through the village and occupying fighting positions. Coalition Forces responded appropriately to the imminent threat posed by the organized hostile force and engaged the terrorists with direct fire and close air support. Five terrorists were killed due to close air support strafing and two terrorists were killed by direct fire from ground forces.
Coalition Forces killed eight terrorists and detained 22 suspected terrorists during operations Sunday targeting al-Qaeda members in central Iraq and the Tigris River valley.
Iraqi Army Forces conducted a series of raids July 27 detaining two suspected insurgents believed to be responsible of numerous attacks against Coalition Forces and Iraqi citizens. 
