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Mosul kaboom kills 15, wounds 132
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
Suicide bomber straps on his explosives. Leaves house. Trips over, falls down stairs
A would-be suicide bomber fell down a flight of stairs and blew himself up as he headed out for an attack in Afghanistan, police say.
Silence! I kill you!
It was the second such incident in two days, with another man killing himself and three others on Tuesday when his bomb-filled waistcoat exploded as he was putting it on in the southern town of Lashkar Gah.
As a suicide bomber, have you had training?
'Of course. We had suicide bomber training camp.'
Is that a nice facility?
'It used to be.'
What happened?
'New GUY ....'

Yesterday's blast was in a busy market area of the eastern town of Khost, a deputy provincial police chief said. The would-be attacker tripped as he was leaving a building apparently to target an opening ceremony for a mosque that was expected to be attended by Afghan and international military officials, said Sakhi Mir.
Never did fix that loose paver, did they ...
Achmed, the dead terrorist's brother, apparently: Silence!
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 01/24/2008 05:45 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now they're blowing up mosques? That doesn't sound very islamic of them at all.
Posted by: Snomons McCoy7279 || 01/24/2008 6:44 Comments || Top||

#2  That doesn't sound very islamic of them at all.

The targeted mosque was insufficiently stocked with ammunition, making its attendees infidels.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/24/2008 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  There is a God and he has a sense of humor.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/24/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#4  There is a God, and he is a gag writer!
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/24/2008 9:56 Comments || Top||

#5  There is a God, and He's NOT a muslim! Mormon, perhaps, if I trust South Park.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 01/24/2008 10:54 Comments || Top||

#6  What were doing coalition officials on the opening of a new mosque?
Posted by: JFM || 01/24/2008 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  "Winning hearts and minds", I'd guess.
IMHO, if the local religion is at the center of everything in public life & private lives alike, without judging its intrinsic value or the type of society it generates (I think everybody here has a lil' idea ;-)...), it wouldn't pay for a foreign force to look hostile or even indifferent to it.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 01/24/2008 11:29 Comments || Top||

#8  the Coalition was probably invited

if you are invited, you have to go unless you have a legitimate overide
Posted by: mhw || 01/24/2008 12:09 Comments || Top||

#9  "fell down stairs"

Love it when that happens to guys like this.
Posted by: Dopey Flotle8127 || 01/24/2008 13:02 Comments || Top||

#10  The poor Bomber and his family had reasonable expectations that his life's work would be completed and it would have been if not for the building's owner who refused to keep his stairs in good repair!

We're gonna SUE every one in Lashkar Gah, Khost and any deep pocket in WaZOO-Land by GOD!
Posted by: Lawyer || 01/24/2008 13:16 Comments || Top||

#11  Two steps forward,
one step "BOOM"
Posted by: Capsu78 || 01/24/2008 13:31 Comments || Top||

#12  Wonder how stupid he felt when he heard the click?
If he even heard it...
Inshallah, jihadi retard.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 13:55 Comments || Top||

#13  The second such incident... hmmm. What an interesting coincidence, this sudden rash of clumsy and/or inept boomers! Might it indicate that someone is getting very slick with counter-sabotage? Letting all kinds of faulty devices and materiels with flaws in them trickle out into the splody-dope community, and encouraging Achmed and his friends to off themselves in 'work accidents'?

It's diabilical. And effecient, too.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 01/24/2008 14:23 Comments || Top||

#14  And I can't spell today, either.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 01/24/2008 14:24 Comments || Top||

#15  "It's Diabolacal Sabatoogie!" Bugs Bunny
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/24/2008 16:27 Comments || Top||

#16  These bad guys aren't even the third team... just the sweepings of the madrassahs.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 16:33 Comments || Top||

#17  Help, I've fallen and can't get up! Oooops, Wrong button! KaaBooom!
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/24/2008 16:48 Comments || Top||

#18  Oops.
Posted by: Janitor Bob - Halliburton - Earthquake Div (MicroGraviity Lab) || 01/24/2008 17:09 Comments || Top||

#19  I told you Muslim failure was the root cause of terrorism.
Posted by: Dubya & Some NeoCons || 01/24/2008 17:11 Comments || Top||

#20  Blowed up REAL good!
Posted by: xbalanke || 01/24/2008 17:53 Comments || Top||


Taliban unlikely to stage Spring offensive
Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, said the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is unlikely to stage a spring offensive in the volatile eastern region bordering Pakistan. Rodriguez, who commands U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, told a Pentagon news conference that Taliban and al-Qaida fighters operating from havens in the largely ungoverned tribal areas of western Pakistan appear to have shifted their focus toward targets inside Pakistan rather than across the border in Afghanistan.

"I don't think there'll be a big spring offensive this year," Rodriguez said.
Rats.
That is partly due to ordinary Afghans' disillusionment with the Taliban movement, he said, and partly because the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters see new opportunities to accelerate instability inside Pakistan. He also said Afghan security forces are becoming more effective partners with U.S. forces.

The Taliban generally has staged stepped-up offensives each spring, when the weather is more favorable for ground movement, although an anticipated offensive last spring did not materialize.

U.S. officials have said in recent days that they do expect a spring offensive in the southern area of Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban stronghold where fighting is most intense. That is one reason Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week approved the deployment of an additional 2,200 Marines to the southern sector, where NATO forces are in command.

In all, there are about 28,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, of whom roughly half are under Rodriguez's command. Rodriguez said he needs no more U.S. troops in his area but looks forward to having two more Afghan National Army brigades, due to begin operating in his sector this spring.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 00:10 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Want an offensive? Just tell them you are withdrawing half the troops. But don't actually do it!
Posted by: gorb || 01/24/2008 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Geez, there goes my popcorn futures.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/24/2008 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  CHINESE MIL FORUM > API > TALIBAN ATTACKS AGZ SCHOOLS ARE UP. By destroying local Afghan schools, the Taliban are allegedly hoping to induce/force tweeny boys from mostly poverty-stricken Afghan Muslim families to join their org - THOSE THAT REFUSE BEAR RISK OF DEATH.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 0:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Those that do will die for sure!
Posted by: gorb || 01/24/2008 3:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Going for the soft targets.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/24/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#6  where NATO forces are in command.

damn scary
Posted by: Jan || 01/24/2008 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Geez, there goes my popcorn futures.

Just save 'em for the Pakistan threads.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Does this have anything to do with the Writers Strike?
Posted by: Crusader || 01/24/2008 14:10 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Mortars kill five in Somalia
Five people died in fighting on Wednesday around the Somali capital, where the African Union (AU)’s peace and security commissioner had flown in to meet the new prime minister.

Mortar strikes hit around the airport and the presidential palace after AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit landed, killing one person nearby, witnesses said. Suspected insurgents killed four government soldiers guarding a dairy plant. Rebels have been fighting the government and its Ethiopian military backers in a year-long insurgency that has killed at least 6,500 people in the capital. “Insurgents ambushed the troops, killing one soldier. They took his gun and dragged his body,” local journalist Mohamed Bashir told Reuters by phone. “Another unit of government troops arrived to take the dead soldier but the insurgents again fought them,” he said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  RE: Popcorn futures. There's always Somalia, Zimbabwe, and soon, Venezuela. No need to panic.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/24/2008 13:51 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Rab captures cheque forgery gang
Rab arrested three members of an inter-district gang who have long swindled depositors out of millions of taka through forged cheques.

The arrests were made on Monday and Tuesday in Barisal, Madaripur and Dhaka. The law enforcers also recovered Tk 3 lakh and chequebooks and deposit slips of different banks.

The cheats were identified as ringleader Maznu Khan, 42, Saiful Islam alias Sumon Matubbar, 35, and Bachchu Matubbar, 34. They hail from Ghunsi and Kukrail villages in Madaripur's sadar upazila.

Disclosing the arrests at a press briefing in Barisal yesterday, Rab officials said they first nabbed Bachchu as he tried to draw out Tk 3 lakh from an Uttara Bank branch in Barisal through a forged cheque.

On Bachchu's confession that his accomplices have already drawn Tk 3 lakh from the same bank branch and managed to slip out of the town, Rab raided Sumon's village home in Madaripur early Tuesday, arresting him with the money.

The ringleader Maznu was arrested Tuesday evening at a Sayedabad restaurant in Dhaka.

The arrested admitted that their gang have drawn more than ten crore taka through forged cheques in last eight years. Rab said their operation to arrest the other cheaters would continue.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rab said their operation to arrest the other cheaters would continue.

I see midnight rides with unfortunate circumstances in Manzu, Saiful, and Bachchu's futures.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 8:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Any chance I could get my taka back?
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 01/24/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Were they working the 'Craigslists'?
Somehow recovering checkbooks and deposit slips isn't as sexy as 'round of bullets and the (obligatory) stutter gun.'
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 01/24/2008 14:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I see midnight rides with unfortunate circumstances in Manzu, Saiful, and Bachchu's futures.

Get the money back first.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/24/2008 19:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Suspects 'planned Spanish suicide attacks'
The Spanish judge overseeing the arraignment of 10 terrorism suspects said Wednesday that they had "planned to carry out a series of suicide attacks" last weekend on public transportation in Barcelona. In a sequence of six-page rulings, one for each of the 10 suspects he ordered to be held in jail after their arraignments. Judge Ismael Moreno wrote that the suspects "had achieved human operational capacity and were very close to achieving full technical capacity with explosives, with the aim of using the those explosives for a jihadi terrorist attack, and it can be deduced that the members of the terrorist cell now broken up planned to carry out a series of suicide attacks last weekend, January 18 to 20, against public transport in the city of Barcelona."

CNN has viewed a copy of one of the court orders. The ruling said three suspected suicide bombers had traveled from Pakistan to Barcelona since October, with the most recent one arriving as late as mid-January. The three had followed another Pakistani man -- the alleged explosives expert -- who had just arrived after a five-month stay in Pakistan. "This pattern is common in Islamic extremist groups, which to carry out an attack usually send in the suicide bombers shortly before it will occur," the judge wrote. "The arrivals of these three occurred about two months after the presumed bomb maker had returned (to Barcelona)."

Further, Moreno wrote that an informant had told authorities about the suspected suicide bombers and the suspected explosives expert. He added that police found nitrocellulose and mechanical and electrical elements that could be used to make one or more bombs.

Twelve men were arraigned Wednesday, but Moreno allowed two to go free. Those two -- Pakistani nationals who had been arrested with the others -- were released for lack of evidence, according to their court-appointed lawyer and a court source. The 10 who were kept in custody include eight Pakistani nationals and two Indian nationals who are Muslim. At least two of the 10 were prepared to be suicide bombers, prosecutor Vicente Gonzalez alleged during the arraignment, according to a government spokeswoman. The other eight were charged with fabrication and possession of explosives, she added.

Spanish and other European intelligence agencies told Spanish police that the suspects were acquiring bomb-making materials. These included four timers to activate bombs, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Saturday. "They had taken a step beyond radicalization and were trying to get the means to make explosives," Rubalcaba said. The Interior Minister said authorities searched five homes in Barcelona and seized the four timers along with computer information.

The ministry on Saturday released photographs -- which it said police shot immediately after the searches -- showing what appeared to be timers, batteries, cables and ball bearings. Spain's largest-circulation daily, El Pais, reported that traces of an explosive sometimes used by Islamic terrorists were also found during the searches. Spanish news media reported that authorities became alarmed recently when a known Pakistani militant arrived in Barcelona.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe


India-Pakistan
ISI agent flees custody in Pune
PUNE: Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agent Mohammed Syed Desai, who was under surveillance at the Sahakarnagar police station for the past three months, escaped from the police station on Wednesday.

Desai, who was released from the Yerawada central prison on October 27, 2007, after serving his term for a spying offence, was demanding an expeditious process for his deportation to Pakistan.

Desai, who was feeling homesick, even filed a contempt petition last month against the city police chief and the CBI, accusing them of not pursuing his deportation. The police chief, in turn, has filed a criminal revision application before the district court urging setting aside of the lower court's order seeking steps for Desai's deportation.

Prior to filing the contempt plea, Desai had also resorted to hunger strike, which resulted in his hospitalisation.
Against this backdrop, Desai vanishing act is a source of worry for the cops.

According to Sahakarnagar police in-charge H N M Shaikh, Desai had asked head constable D H Sankpal to accompany him for tea and breakfast at a nearby hotel around 6 am. Sankpal asked Desai to wait as he had to attend the nature's call. When Sankpal left for the toilet, Desai walked out of the police station.
Posted by: john frum || 01/24/2008 06:16 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Two die in mysterious truck blast
Two people were killed and five others injured by a mysterious blast on a dumper truck in the Jamrud area of Khyber tribal region on Wednesday evening. Witnesses said that two persons were trying to board the dumper going to Peshawar when the explosion occurred, killing the two men on the spot.

Officials said that the motive behind the blast and the nature of the device could not be ascertained. They suspected the men who died were carrying the device for terrorist activities in the area.

The wounded men were taken to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar and doctors said their condition was stable.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 00:02 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  They suspected the men who died were carrying the device for terrorist activities in the area.

Hell Fire,... it could have been a meteorite. Who knows? Enshallah, the investigation continues.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2008 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone send the extra cluebat to Scotland Yard.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/24/2008 9:15 Comments || Top||

#3  board the dumper...

is that anything like 'stocking the pond'?
Posted by: Abu do you love || 01/24/2008 23:33 Comments || Top||


Pakistan sends reinforcements to Waziristan
Pakistani reinforcements are heading to the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border where government forces are trying to wipe out strongholds of a militant accused of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

The announcement on reinforcements came a day after a top U.S. commander met Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, and after a week of militant attacks on paramilitary bases in the region and military counter-attacks.

More than 100 militants and 15 government soldiers have been killed in the clashes, according to government figures. "In the past one week there was an escalation in attacks by the militants ... therefore it was felt necessary to reinforce these forts," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said on Wednesday, referring to remote paramilitary bases. He declined to say how many reinforcements were being sent.

The fighting has pitted government troops against militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander suspected of orchestrating the assassination of Bhutto last month. Abbas denied the military had launched an offensive against Mehsud and his men but said government forces wanted to clear out his hideouts once and for all. "There is no offensive in the region but there are strongholds and hideouts of the militants and they are being engaged so they are knocked out from the area on a permanent basis," he said.

Mehsud has been blamed also for a string of attacks in a suicide bomb campaign that intensified after commandos stormed a radical mosque complex in Islamabad in July. On Wednesday last week, his men attacked and captured another fort in Waziristan.

Admiral William Fallon, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, met Pakistani army chief Kayani at his headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday for talks on the security situation. Officials declined to elaborate. Fallon told reporters in Florida last week that Pakistan was increasingly willing to fight Islamist militants and accept U.S. help, without saying what kind of support. But he added that he believed Pakistani leaders wanted a "more robust" effort by the United States to train and advise their forces in counter-insurgency efforts. The United States has already announced plans to step up training of Pakistan's Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force recruited from tribal lands.

Abbas said operations were going on in up to three different places on Wednesday and one soldier had been killed in a rocket attack on a camp. Many al Qaeda and Taliban militants took refuge in Waziristan and other border areas after U.S.-led troops drove Afghanistan's Taliban government from power in late 2001.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Another report sez infantry are being backed by tanks and heavy artillery.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if Adm. Fallon brought some serious intelligence with him to Pakistan, and "persuaded" Musharif to act on it or lose US funding. Pakistan (and Islam) is becoming a WORLD liability, and needs to be dealt with, permanently. Unfortunately, too few people have any brains, and even fewer have the testicles to use them.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/24/2008 13:59 Comments || Top||


10 suspects detained in Swat operation
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said military operations, though part of national effort, were only means to an end.

He was visiting the forward posts in Swat, according to an ISPR press release issued here on Wednesday. Gen Kayani acknowledged the support of the people of Swat, which he said had helped the army restore normalcy to the area. Talking to local notables, he stressed the need for them to contribute to peace and welfare of the people. He said Rs 1 billion would be spent on relief in the next three to five months.

10 suspects detained: Meanwhile, security forces detained 10 suspected militants during an operation in Mian Kalay, Nilagram and Biakand areas of Matta tehsil in the Swat valley on Wednesday. Locals said troops seized large quantities of weapons, ammunition and explosives. They also set ablaze houses of two “militant commanders” Maulana Abdul Ghafoor and Fazale Maula in Mian Kalay and Biakand.

In the Ningolai area of Kabal tehsil, the security personnel recovered 61 detonators, 18 mortar shells, six rockets and explosives from an abandoned house.
This article starring:
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
FAZALE MAULATNSM
MAULANA ABDUL GHAFURTNSM
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: TNSM


6 'terrorists' arrested in Pindi, suicide jackets seized
Law-enforcement agencies have held six suspected terrorists from Rawalpindi and seized explosive-laden jackets and ammunition from them, Geo News television channel reported. The channel said police had taken the detained men to an unidentified location for interrogation but were keeping the arrests covert so that their accomplices were not alarmed. Online news agency said the men were held from Westridge and Peshawar Road. APP said city police officer DIG Saud Aziz on Wednesday told a press conference that police had “penetrated into” the network of terrorists and would soon announce ‘”good news” about the investigation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Security for politicians had been enhanced, APP quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Suicide jackets?

"Who's your tailor?"

"Why, Saville Row, of course..."
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2008 8:02 Comments || Top||


Suicide bomber kills one
A suicide bomber killed one person and injured another in Khyber Agency’s Jamrud tehsil on Wednesday, eyewitnesses and tribal authorities said. The suicide bomber struck at around 7pm in the Wazir Dhand area, near Peshawar’s Karkhano Market, on the Pak-Afghan Highway. According to AFP, Jamrud Assistant Political Agent Rasool Khan Wazir told reporters: “It seems his target was the main security post at the entrance of Peshawar, manned by police and local militia. But, he detonated himself prematurely.” Residents said the blast injured four people.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
IA, MND open key route between Baghdad and Baqubah
BAQUBAH, Iraq – Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division – North forces cleared a key route between Baghdad and Baqubah of improvised explosive devices this month in Iraq.

This was done as part of the countrywide offensive Operation Phantom Phoenix, during the division’s Operation Blackhawk Harvest. Iraqi Soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 5th IA Division, supported by 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment cleared 30 IEDs on and around the road that Iraqis call Sabh Nissan.

The area of the road between Khan Bani Sa’ad and Baqubah had been so heavily covered in IEDs that vehicles had to take other routes to get back and forth from Baghdad and Baqubah.

Lt. Col. Marshall Dougherty, 2-1 Cav. commander, was impressed by the performance of the Iraqi Army during the operation.

“This was a hugely successful brigade-level operation planned and led by the Iraqi Army,” Dougherty said. “The IA commander laid out his plan and asked us to provide assets to support his effort such as helicopters, close air support and artillery.”

In addition to the route-clearance mission, IA and CF cleared al-Qaeda in Iraq from many of the route’s surrounding villages and engaged the enemy in Khan Bani Sa’ad.

During Blackhawk Harvest, CF and IA killed an estimated 41 al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives. The exact number can not be confirmed because many of the enemy killed in action were due to bomb drops, and the bodies were cleared away before CF could evaluated the blast sites.

In addition IA and CF found and cleared 12 booby-trapped houses, 11 vehicleborne IEDs, found six weapons caches and detained nine suspected AQI operatives.

On Jan. 20, 2-1 Cav. Soldiers liberated two local Iraqis who had been kidnapped and tortured for 11 days.

Ongoing operations in the area include continuing to clear AQI, crater repair on the highway and standing up Concerned Local Citizen groups to provide for their own security.

“This is another example of the Iraqi Army increasing their capacity and taking the lead in making their country safer,” Dougherty concluded.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/24/2008 16:31 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Go Iraqi Army!
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 16:39 Comments || Top||

#2  And just HOW LONG will the road stay cleared?
My bet is a few days, tops.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/24/2008 19:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Could be.

But the ability to plan and execute brigade-level operations is a huge milestone for this new army. I'm hearing good things about the way in which at least some of the IA commanders are coming to understand layered operations, use of air support assets effectively (and not indiscriminately) and their willingness to do things like retrieve wounded.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 19:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Retrieving wounded and issuing paychecks to the troops are a big change from earlier practices, I understand.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 19:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I still think that we could come up with some concentrated substance that could be mixed with a lot of water and a fine mist sprayed on asphalted roads.

Once the water dried, it would be invisible to the eye, but if you were flying over the road in a helicopter and shined an IR or UV light on it, the sprayed areas would reflect.

This means that any black holes on the road were places where the asphalt had been removed and replaced were a strong indicator that an IED had been emplaced there.

Since the roads that are "IED alleys" are not terribly long, the dangerous stretch could be marked with as little as one water truck, once a week or until it was no longer a problem.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 20:38 Comments || Top||

#6  And just HOW LONG will the road stay cleared?
My bet is a few days, tops.


Just an absolute fookin' ray of sunshine, aincha Redneck?
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 20:55 Comments || Top||

#7  'moose, I suspect the dust etc. would make that hard to do in Iraq. Might work in many parts of the US tho.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 21:34 Comments || Top||


Suicide bomber attacks Baquba school
BAQUBA, Iraq - A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a school in the restive city of Baquba on Tuesday, wounding 21 people as the blast ripped through a crowd of teachers and pupils, police said. “Four female teachers and 17 pupils were wounded, including five very young boys,” said police Major Ahmed Al Karkhi.

The attacker targeted Al Mutwra school in the middle of Baquba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, as pupils were arriving for morning classes, Karkhi said.

The attack was the fifth by a suicide bomber in Baquba this month and follows a similar assault on a funeral ceremony for a police colonel’s relative on Monday near the north-central city of Baiji, which killed 17 mourners.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  You have to hand it to these "Lions of Islam" they really go after the tough targets and risk everything to attack armed soilders and fortifications.

What a bunch of slithering little limp weenied sissies. Attacking a school full of kids really shows how brave they are..............NOT.

I hope Islam has a special place in hell for these faggots that attack small children, women and funerals.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/24/2008 1:01 Comments || Top||


Mosul kaboom kills 15, wounds 132
At least 15 people were killed and 132 wounded when a building used by militants to store weapons and tonnes of explosives blew up in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, senior security officials said. Iraqi officials said women and children were among the victims from the blast, which also tore through nearby homes. Heavy equipment had been brought in to dig for survivors. "There are still people trapped inside the blast site and under rubble," Major-General Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told Reuters by telephone.

Explosive experts at the scene estimated 15 tonnes of ordnance had been hidden in the building.
He said Iraqi soldiers had detonated a roadside bomb they had found, which triggered a "massive secondary" explosion in the building. Explosive experts at the scene estimated 15 tonnes of ordnance had been hidden in the building, Hertling said. Iraqi security officials had earlier suggested the blast was detonated as police arrived to search the building following what they said was a tip from a detained militant.

Witnesses said it was one of the biggest explosions ever heard in ethnically and religiously mixed Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. They said a huge plume of smoke rose above the largest city in northern Iraq. The explosion destroyed the unoccupied three-storey building. Hertling said 12 civilians and three Iraqi soldiers had been killed and that U.S. military medics had been sent to Mosul to help treat the wounded.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Boy howdy that's some kinda secondary explosion.

Me thinks the "pussies of Islam" are playing with some pretty unstable stuff these days.

Also makes me think they are having a tough go at getting their hands on Symtex or C-4. None of the plastiques I know of are that sensitive.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/24/2008 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  The homemade 'Mother of Satan' stuff? What's it called?

But it's take a lot of chemicals to make a bunch of it. It's unstable enough, but might take 30 tons to get 15 tons of high-explosive effect?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2008 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Police Chief visiting this bomb site is killed when another bomb is set off

A suicide bomber killed an Iraqi police chief and two other officers Thursday after they toured the site of the wreckage of a deadly blast a day earlier that devastated a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in the volatile northern city of Mosul, officials said.


Posted by: 3dc || 01/24/2008 9:30 Comments || Top||


Baghdad U's Dean of Dentistry killed by unknown gunnies
Unknown militants killed Baghdad University's Dean of Dentistry Dr. Munther Muhrej Radhi, west of the capital, on Wednesday, a police source said. Speaking to KUNA, the source said unknown militants opened fire on the dean, who was driving his car alone. An investigation has been launched to look into the issue. University professors and intellectuals have been a target for terrorist attack of late.
Posted by: Seafarious || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Tater dunnit.
Posted by: gorb || 01/24/2008 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't use enough anesthetic.
Posted by: Jonathan || 01/24/2008 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Must of worked on the teeth of someone other than his wife or female kinfolk.

Animals!
Posted by: Delphi || 01/24/2008 13:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Good teeth are an insult to Islam?
Posted by: eLarson || 01/24/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Apparently, eL.

Have you looked at any of the pictures of the Lions of Islam™?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 14:33 Comments || Top||

#6  have been a target for terrorist attack of late.

For those values of of late that include all moments from the 2003 invasion to present. Neither Al Qaeda in Iraq nor the former Baathists have been inclined to allow any other thinkers than themselves.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 16:20 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Debka: (wash and rinse) Mubarak pulls forces out of N. Sinai, US MFO unit spits too
President HosniHosni MubarakMubarak redeployed his special border force from the Gazan border to points south of El Arish, Bir Lahfan and Abu Aweigila. This step effectively handed over to the control of Hamas-led Palestinian terrorist organizations and al Qaedal a northernnorthern SinaiSinai enclave of roughly 855 sq, km., twice the area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Early Thursday, Jan. 24, American forces and equipment withdrew from the Multi-force Organization base at Al Gura northeast of al Arish. This force monitors Sinai's demilitarization under a key clause of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. Washington and Cairo are discussing evacuating the entire base and its 400 multinational personnel. The Egyptian high command was informed that Hamas had begun moving some of its elite units to its new stronghold. Egyptian forces are not capable of contending with this strength or the hundreds of thousands of Gazan Palestinians on the move between Gaza and Sinai since Hamas blew up the concrete border fence Tuesday.

Posted by: 3dc || 01/24/2008 10:11 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Hamas had begun moving some of its elite units to its new stronghold.

Elite? Hamas? What does it take to be a ELITE HAMAS unit? They bring their own children and women to hide behind?
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 || 01/24/2008 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe there is a detachment of al-Quds and one of al-Qaeda. They know how to maximize the use of human shield cover.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 11:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Hmmmmmm, twice the size of Gaza huh?

How about Israel takes over all of Gaza. That still leaves the Paleo's twice the territory that they have now. They'd have their true Hamasastan.

First rocket they fire nuke the place.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/24/2008 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes to all that.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/24/2008 12:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Very doubtful that Egypt would pull all their forces out. It would lead to Paleo confiscation of taxes, then Paleo confiscation of businesses and homes.
Posted by: mhw || 01/24/2008 12:58 Comments || Top||

#6  For some reason I imagine the elite units have large artillery shells strapped to their heads like in the cartoons.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/24/2008 13:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Paleos looking for Lebensraum, I suppose.....Things are a bit cramped in Gaza.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/24/2008 16:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Very doubtful that Egypt would pull all their forces out. It would lead to Paleo confiscation of taxes, then Paleo confiscation of businesses and homes.

Oh, please, let that happen! I want to see Egyptians walking around with keys around their necks, lamenting the homes stolen from them by the Palestinians.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/24/2008 17:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Actually, no: they've FATA'ed that part of the Sinai, with the collaboration of the Egyptians.

Think about it. The land is still Egyptian, so Egypt will protest any attacks by Israelis on Hamas in the Sinai, yet by having their military units out of that area, they give Hamas a free hand to act.

Here's the mapping:

Egypt == Pakistan
Israel == Afghanistan
Hamas == Taliban
Hamas occupied Sinai == FATA

Clever.

Posted by: Ptah || 01/24/2008 17:45 Comments || Top||

#10  We have paid Egypt $2 billion a year for more than two decades to see that this would not happen. Now is the time to pull the plug on Mubarak and his miserable unworthies.
Posted by: Balthazar || 01/24/2008 18:07 Comments || Top||

#11  Clever.

Of course, that also means that if Hamas' attacks on Israel worsen significantly, Egypt is a legitimate target for a response attack too.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 19:41 Comments || Top||

#12  WND > EGYPT STANDS DOWN AS WEAPONS RUSH INTO GAZA; + TOPIX > EGYPT TURNS OVER GAZA TO HAMAS/ ISRAEL'S ENEMIES.

Lest we fergit, 1980's-Present > MANY PALESTN. ACTIVS-RADICALISTS + EVEN A FEW PRO-PEACE ISRAELI, WESTERN ACTIVISTS SUPPOR AN "PEACE OPTION" = PLAN TO BUILD A PA/PALESTN.-CONTROLLED "HIGHWAY" BTWN GAZA + WEST BANK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 20:43 Comments || Top||


Haniya calls for urgent meeting on Gaza with Abbas, Egypt
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on Wednesday called for an emergency meeting with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian officials on opening the Gaza border crossings.

“We are ready to sit down with our Egyptian brothers and the brothers from Ramallah during an emergency meeting in Cairo to establish arrangements to open the Rafah border crossing, as well as all other border crossings,” Haniya said in a televised address.

Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party have not had official contacts since mid-June, after the Hamas took control of Gaza from rival Fatah after a week of street clashes.

Hamas, which has controlled the narrow coastal strip since last June, did not take responsibility for knocking the border wall down, but its fighters quickly took control as Egyptian border guards stood aside. Hamas police funneled the crowds through two sections of the border and inspected bags, confiscating seven pistols carried by one man returning to Gaza.

Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running through Rafah at dawn. There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said. About two-thirds of the 12km wall was demolished, at one point with the help of a bulldozer.

Hamas expressed support for the move, saying: “Blowing up the border wall with Egypt is a reflection of the ... catastrophic situation which the Palestinian people in Gaza are living through due to the blockade.”
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  So soon after Bolton said it was Israel's job to deal with Iran - and Hamas being an Iranian stooge - one can only say "diversion to protect the Fatherland Iran".
Posted by: 3dc || 01/24/2008 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  honestly, I dont think Boltons that important.

OTOH Iran is under pressure on some other fronts.

I think mainly its a response to the Bush visit and the renewed peace process, which Irana and Hamas are desperate to stop.
Posted by: Dopey Flotle8127 || 01/24/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||


IDF finds dangerous prohibited substances in factories near Nablus
Dangerous prohibited substances were found in two factories east of Nablus in a joint IDF, Civil Administration and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation, the IDF announced Wednesday night.

Among the substances found in the Tuesday night operation, were four containers of Formalin, two containers with over 50-percent concentration of Acid Sulfate, 24 containers of Acid Sulfate, four boxes containing Silver Nitrate, two bottles containing over 30% concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide and one liter of Nitrate. The army said that the substances discovered can be used for the production of weaponry and explosives, adding that the IDF operations will continue in order to prevent the transfer of banned substances into the Palestinian territories.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  Combine it right, use some filler (ground cellulose soaked in Hydrogen Peroxide), and you have a nifty rocket fuel. Sounds like someone was looking to build Kassam-type rockets in Nablus. Israel should flatten the buildings where it was found.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/24/2008 14:31 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Teacher gunned down in restive southern Thailand
Muslim terrorists militants fatally shot a Buddhist teacher as he pulled out of his driveway to head to work Thursday in restive southern Thailand, police said. Officers detained two suspects in the attack.

The teacher was going to pick up students for classes at a public primary school in Pattani province when a gunman on the back seat of a passing motorcycle opened fire, said police Lt. Ampai Chumchu.

The victim became the first teacher slain this year in Thailand's restive south, where more than 80 Buddhist teachers are among the more than 2,800 people killed since a Muslim insurgency in January 2004.

Police said the attackers, believed to be members of a Muslim terrorist rebel group, were hiding outside the teacher's home in Pattani's Na Pradu subdistrict, waiting for him to leave. After the attack, police surrounded the area, Ampai said. "We saw them running in a rice field toward the jungle," he said. Police detained both suspects, one of whom was shot and wounded during a chase.
Posted by: ryuge || 01/24/2008 06:30 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  Stake him out over a bamboo clump, and water it heavily. Make sure the bamboo was cut at an angle, and that the ends are sharp. Film it and play it on Thai television. I'm sure someone will get the hint.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/24/2008 14:34 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka jets target Tiger leader
Sri Lankan war planes bombed a suspected base of the top Tamil Tiger leader in the island’s north Wednesday as ground attacks killed at least two rebels, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

Aircraft hit a base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Iranamadu where the separatists have a clandestine airfield, the ministry said. It gave no details of casualties or damage. Military sources said six aircraft were deployed for the bombing raid based on intelligence reports that Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was receiving medical treatment at a jungle hideout in the region. There was no immediate reaction from the guerrillas to the military statement. Sri Lanka’s military has already claimed either killing or wounding Tiger chieftain Prabhakaran, 53, in previous air attacks inside rebel-held territory. The guerrillas have made no comment, but released pictures of the Tiger leader at meetings with his fighters. The latest air attack came as the defence ministry said two suspected Tiger rebels were shot dead in skirmishes just outside the guerrillas’ de facto mini-state on Tuesday.

Since the start of this month, Sri Lanka’s defence ministry has said government forces have killed 594 rebels while just 26 soldiers have died. The military’s claims cannot be independently verified as journalists and human rights workers are not allowed access to the embattled region. The bombing raid came a day after President Mahinda Rajapakse defended his decision to formally withdraw from a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE at the same time as declaring he had no plans to advance into territory held by the guerrillas.

Rajapakse also stated that he did not believe in a military solution to the decades-old Tamil separatist campaign. But he said he would not negotiate with the LTTE until they stopped their armed struggle. The remarks were in sharp contrast to earlier statements by the military and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse - his own brother - vowing to seize the rebels’ mini-state and eliminate the guerrilla leadership.

The government, which believes it has gained the upper hand in the conflict, pulled out of the Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels this month.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That hat's a "sarong" number.
Posted by: GK || 01/24/2008 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  And just what was the point of the veil? A pre-cursor to the burka?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2008 7:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that Boy George?
Posted by: Crusader || 01/24/2008 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  not her best look
Posted by: Lampedusa Uliter5240 || 01/24/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||

#5  And just what was the point of the veil?

It adds an air of mystery. And in a pinch, can be used as a minnow seine.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/24/2008 21:51 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 And just what was the point of the veil?

It adds an air of mystery. And in a pinch, can be used as a minnow seine.
Posted by: SteveS


I am SO jealous I didn't come up with that. Dammit
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2008 22:21 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2008-01-24
  Mosul kaboom kills 15, wounds 132
Wed 2008-01-23
  Gunnies blow Rafah wall, thousands of Paleos flood into Egypt
Tue 2008-01-22
   Musharraf: Pakistan isn't hunting Osama
Mon 2008-01-21
  Darkness falls on Gaza
Sun 2008-01-20
  Spain arrests 14 over possible Barcelona attack
Sat 2008-01-19
  Nasiriyah mosque raid ends two days of slaughter
Fri 2008-01-18
  Tennyboomer kills 9 Pakistani Shi'ites
Thu 2008-01-17
  Army 'flees second Pakistan fort'
Wed 2008-01-16
  Four arrested after Kabul hotel attack
Tue 2008-01-15
  PRC, Islamic Jihad to attend Hamas-sponsored conference in Syria
Mon 2008-01-14
  Attack on luxury Afghan hotel kills guard, militant: ISAF
Sun 2008-01-13
  Bissau extradites al Qaeda suspects to Mauritania
Sat 2008-01-12
  Militant threat on Eiffel Tower intercepted
Fri 2008-01-11
  Lahore suicide kaboom kills at least 20, injures 80
Thu 2008-01-10
  40,000 pounds of US bombs hit 38 Qaeda 'safe havens'


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