U.S.-led coalition forces killed several insurgents and two civilians after militants barricaded in a mud-brick home fired on the troops, the coalition said Sunday.
A freshly planted roadside bomb, meanwhile, hit a vehicle convoy carrying Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid, killing three policemen and wounding two others, Khalid said. He was not hurt in the attack.
In Helmand province, coalition forces were looking for a Taliban leader in Kajaki district when they came under fire, the coalition said in a statement. "While coalition forces conducted a search of the building during one operation, armed assailants who were barricaded in separate rooms engaged coalition forces with small-arms fire and hand grenades. The assailants were killed when coalition forces responded in self-defense," said coalition spokesman Army Maj. Chris Belcher. The coalition statement said "a number of insurgents" were killed, as were a woman and child who were in one of the rooms the militants were attacking from. "It is a deplorable yet common tactic of insurgents to place innocent women and children in harm's way," Belcher said. Two individuals, suspected of having ties with the Taliban, were detained in the operations, the coalition said.
Afghan authorities have pleaded with international forces to coordinate closely with their Afghan counterparts to prevent civilian casualties, but Taliban militants often fight from villagers' homes, putting civilians at risk. International forces accuse the insurgents of using women and children as human shields.
The convoy hit by the roadside bomb was returning from a mission to conduct poppy eradication in Maiwand district, Khalid said. Two suspects were arrested, said Mohammad Nabi, a police official. Southern Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producing region, has been at the front line of battles between insurgents and foreign forces in recent years.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Heavily armed Somali rebels killed seven government troops and wounded eight others after briefly occupying a southern town on Sunday. Since being ejected from Mogadishu at the end of 2006 after a brief, six-month rule of south Somalia, the rebels have waged a bloody insurgency against the government and its Ethiopian military backers. At least seven soldiers have been killed and eight others have been wounded in the gunfight between the troops and the insurgents, said Hussein Ali Isaq, a senior police officer in Dinsoor. I was one of the police officers who escaped when the Islamic Courts fighters seized the town. They left a few hours after they burned three battlewagons and ... confiscated all the weapons in the town, he told Reuters by telephone.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Sudan has reportedly bombed a rebel-held area in Darfur, despite assurances from Khartoum that civilians sheltering in the area near the Chad border would be allowed safe passage, the United Nations said on Sunday.
UNAMID has received reports this morning of aerial bombings in the Jabel Moun area in western Darfur, a UN statement said. We are gravely concerned for the safety of thousands of civilians in this area. Sudan launched an offensive on Feb 8 to retake parts of West Darfur state from rebels. Residents said at least 114 people were killed, but the army said many of those were rebels in civilian clothing.
Thousands of people fled the fighting. Some crossed the border into neighbouring Chad but many sought refuge in the nearby Jabel Moun area, which has been the scene of sporadic battles between army and rebels and has been a no-go area for the UN-AU peacekeeping mission known as UNAMID. UN officials estimate some 20,000 people were in Jabel Moun.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
Yemeni forces have foiled an attempt to blow up a crude oil pipeline in the Marib province and arrested a number of saboteurs, the official Yemeni news agency Saba said on Sunday.
Interrogations are under way, but the initial results indicate that this group is linked to the terrorist bombing of the pipeline last year, Saba said, citing the head of security in the province. In November, tribesmen blew up a pipeline that carries crude oil from the Marib oil basin to storage tanks at the Ras Issa terminal for export. No one was harmed in the bombing, which took place in a desert area in the eastern Marib province.
Officials said at the time that the perpetrators were not linked to militants. Tribesmen sometimes kidnap holidaymakers and foreigners working in Yemen to press for better schools, roads and services or the release of prisoners. Yemen foiled two suicide attacks on oil and gas installations in 2006, days after Al Qaeda urged Muslims to target Western interests. Al Qaedas wing in Yemen claimed responsibility for the foiled attacks and promised more strikes.
US ally Yemen is a small producer of oil with output of around 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) and exports of about 200,000 bpd. It has one large oil refinery at Aden with a throughput capacity of about 100,000 bpd. Yemen has been widely seen in the West as a backward haven for militants, including Al Qaeda supporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen
A suicide bomber killed a senior Pakistani army general and six others on Monday in a brazen attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that shattered a relative calm following crucial national elections a week ago.
The attacker blew himself up after approaching a vehicle carrying Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Baig, the Army surgeon-general, around 2:30 pm within the city's cantonment area, where the army's national headquarters is located, according to DawnNews TV, citing an unnamed senior Interior Ministry official.
DawnNews reported that Baig, his driver and a bodyguard were killed, along with at least four other people. Other local TV stations were also reporting that Baig was among those killed.
Aaj TV reported that at least nine people were killed and several injured, and emergency medical teams were rushing them to local hospitals.
One eyewitness told DawnNews that the target was the army car and that he saw body parts on the street after the explosion.
The attack was the first suicide bombing since Pakistan held National Assembly elections week ago that saw main opposition parties sweep into power at the expense of the political backers of embattled President Pervez Musharraf.
In the past 13 months, Pakistan has suffered dozens of suicide bombings and suicide car bombings across the country, mostly targeting security forces and political figures, which have killed more than 1,000 people.
Islamic militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda were believed to be behind the bombing campaign, which escalated in July 2007 after Musharraf ordered army commandos to raid Islamabad's Red Mosque to end a seize by armed Islamic militants holed up there, killing more than 100 people.
Militant groups also vowed retaliation after the army launched an operation in the north-west Swat valley in October 2007 to flush out armed militants who had taken over dozens of villages and towns.
Pakistani and US officials have also claimed that a Taliban commander in the country's tribal belt ordered the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and suicide bombing attack at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi last December 27.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/25/2008 06:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
within the city's cantonment area
Pretty lax security for where the army's national headquarters is located. Is the ISI up to something?
Posted by: john frum ||
02/25/2008 8:16 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The ISI is no rogue organization.
It is Inter-Services-Intelligence.
The ISI was created by the Australian-born British Army officer, Major General R. Cawthome, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army.
It is staffed by officers on deputation from the three services of the Pakistani military. They return to their units after their time in the ISI. The head of the ISI is a Lt. General appointed by the Pakistani Army Chief. The ISI carries out the policies of the Pak military command.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/25/2008 8:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
But, But, I thought the newley elected leaders of Pak were going to talk to the terroist (insurgents).
Around three security personnel were killed and six others wounded when militants attacked a security checkpost late on Saturday in the Mattani Police Station jurisdiction, police said.
Also, a militant and three troops were killed in North Waziristan, officials said. Fierce fighting erupted after around 45 insurgents armed with rocket launchers and machine guns attacked the Qadirabad Primary School checkpost in Mattani, on the outskirts of Peshawar, at midnight, a police official told Daily Times.
The checkpost was jointly manned by the police and Frontier Constabulary (FC). He said a policeman and two FC men were killed whereas six were injured in the attack.
Militant killed: Police officials said security forces had vacated the checkpost after the attack, adding that a militant was also killed in the clash.
The exchange of fire continued for more than an hour, but the militants managed to escape from the scene taking the body of their colleague along with them, the officials said. The injured were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, where one of them is stated to be in critical condition. The dead security personnel were identified as Diyar Akbar, Hafeezullah and Ihsanullah. The police registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the unidentified attackers.
The Mattani area borders the semi-tribal Darra Adam Khel where the army recently kicked out militants in an operation after they snatched three truckloads of weapons. On February 14, an FC personnel was killed and another injured when suspected militants attacked the Kashan Ghar checkpost in Mattani.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Intelligence agencies have once again arrested the Taliban Majlis-e-Shuras former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund along with two other Afghan nationals from Lahore, along with two other Afghan nationals, intelligence sources told Daily Times on Sunday.
The sources revealed that Obaidullah had been arrested in 2006 in Quetta and was released after around nine months, after which he fled to Afghanistan.
This time he arrived in Pakistan to generate funds, the sources said, adding that he, along with Pakistani allies, had visited several cities in this regard. The sources revealed that Obaidullah had arrived in Pakistan in the first week of January 2008, and had contacted several influential personalities with links to banned militant organisations. During their visits, Obaidullah had, during rapid visits between cities, convinced several people to provide funding to support the Talibans cause, the sources added.
Later, after arriving in Lahore where he was residing in one of the citys posh localities, the Afghans meetings with financially strong business personalities continued for the sake of generating funds. After a tip off, the group was arrested and shifted to an unknown location, according to the sources.
They said that Mullah Obaidullah had been the Taliban defence minister during 1996 till the US toppled the government in the fall of 2001. He is a senior Taliban figure and is considered by American intelligence officials to have been one of the Taliban leaders closest to Osama Bin Laden, as well as part of the inner core of the Taliban leadership around Mullah Muhammad Omar. Obaidullah is a member of the Taliban Majlis-e-Shura, or executive council, and is thought to be third in command, they added.
This article starring:
MULLAH OBAIDULLAH AKHUND
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
The Orissa police on Saturday recovered more arms and ammunition that were looted by Maoists from Nayagarh district. The recovery included 30 INSAS rifles, 17 revolvers and pistols, two SLRs and 40 303 rifles, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told the Assembly. This is the third round of seizure of the looted arms. Several suspects had been picked up for interrogation in the districts of Ganjam, Rayagada, and Nayagarh, Mr. Patnaik said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Security forces on Saturday rescued 12 boys who were allegedly picked up by a Lashkar-e-Taiba shadow outfit and were being forcibly trained in handling weapons and explosives at a militant camp in Rajouri district.
Acting on complaints that boys in the age group of 15-20 years had gone missing from villages in Kathua, Doda, Udhampur and Ramban districts, an Army team searched a place of worship at Barak-Chakoti in Rajouri and rescued them, officials said here. They said members of the Dawat-ul-Tabligue had forcibly recruited the boys and was training them in Thanamandi-Manjakote area of the district. A hunt was on for the DuL men who fled.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
There is no compulsion in islam. The jihadis kidnap children by their own free will.
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2008 8:01 Comments ||
Top||
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Dozens of Islamic terrorists militants attacked a security checkpost in northwestern Pakistan early Sunday, leaving three security personnel and at least one militant dead, police said.
Fierce fighting erupted after up to 60 terrorists insurgents armed with rocket launchers and machine guns attacked the checkpost in Mattni village, on the outskirts of Peshawar, senior police official Nasirul Mulk Bangash told AFP. Two paramilitary soldiers and one policeman embraced martyrdom and six others were injured during the fighting, he said.
One terrorists militant was also killed and several others wounded in the gunbattle which lasted for more than 90 minutes, but terrorists militants ran away fled with their casualties towards Khyber tribal district, he said. The site of the clash was near the lawless Darra Adam Khel district where militants occupied a Japanese-built road tunnel last month. Fifty terrorists militants and 15 soldiers were killed when troops cleared terrorists rebels from the tunnel.
Is there a district in Pakistain that isn't lawless?
In a separate incident on Sunday, an Islamic terrorist militant was killed and three paramilitary troops were wounded in a clash in the tribal zone of North Waziristan, officials said. The terrorist rebel threw a hand grenade at a checkpost in the crowded main market in Miranshah, the main town in the troubled region, and was killed when troops returned fire, a local administration official added.
Good. One less grenade thrower ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Baghdad, Feb 25, (VOI) - Iraqi security forces killed three gunmen, detained 362 wanted men and suspected gunmen and freed 18 captives in separate areas of the capital Baghdad under the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan during the last week, an official source said on Monday.
"Security forces killed three gunmen, detained 182 wanted men and 180 suspected gunmen, freed 18 captives and defused three car bombs and 173 explosive charges in separate areas of Baghdad over the past seven days," Maj. General Qassem Atta, the official spokesman for Fardh al-Qanoon, said during a press conference held in Baghdad.
"The forces also confiscated 143 vehicles that had no licenses as well as 2282 weapons and 132 KG of TNT," Atta added.
"Two house bombs were found in al-Ghazaliya in western Baghdad and in al-Zaafaraniya in southeastern Baghdad," he noted.
"A total of 9518 persons have been arrested under the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan since February 2007," the general also said.
The Iraqi government, backed by Multi-National Force (MNF) troops, had launched in February 2007 a wide-scale security operation codenamed Fardh al-Qanoon, or law imposing, with the aim of fighting gunmen in and around Baghdad.
Turkey's military said Sunday that one of its helicopters went down on the Turkish-Iraqi border and that eight more soldiers were killed in combat during its cross-border ground operation in northern Iraq. It was not clear if the eight were on board the helicopter. Kurdish rebels said earlier that they shot down a Turkish military helicopter near the Turkish border. The new deaths bring the announced Turkish military toll to 15.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Kurds are short-sighted. Turks retaliate disproportionately. At long last the Kurds have a quiet enclave. The time is right for peaceful co-existence.
#3
I just do not understand how we can liberate Iraq and then tolerate this invasion by a litte tryant who fancies himself the leader of a global caliphate. Someone please explain it to me!
We, here in the United States, would not tolerate Mexico sending thousands of troops and tanks into the Texas to hunt down violent M13 gang members who rape and kill Mexicans immigrants and reporters. Why is there such a collective yawn over this invasion of Iraq by Turkey? It's outrageous!!
#4
America keeps making itself needful of unreliable regimes like Turkey, Egypt, KSA, Pakistan, Yemen, and the list goes on. Once we need them as "allies," we can't slap them down for their stupid transgressions. Sometimes, isolationism looks pretty inviting, no matter that it remains a bad idea in the larger scheme of things.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2008 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
#5
#3 I just do not understand how we can liberate Iraq and then tolerate this invasion
Looks more to me as "They're doing our job for us." let them, and keep quiet. More dead assholes the better.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/25/2008 23:29 Comments ||
Top||
(AHN) - Al Qaeda militants killed a leader of the Awakening Council, an alliance of United States supported Sunni Arab tribes, in a double suicide bomb attack in Falluja. Killed were Sheik Ibrahim Mutayri al-Mohammedi and his aide Saturday when Al Qaeda terrorists attacked Mohammedi's home in al-Saqlawiya, a northern district of Falluja. Other casualties were five Al Qaeda members who carried out the explosion. A still unnamed Awakening Council member was also killed Sunday when a car bomb exploded near a patrol station monitored by Sunnis.
The Sunni tribes helped the U.S. and Iraqi forces reducing the violence in Baghdad and its immediate surroundings, and has driven out Al Qaeda cells out of the capital to other provinces. The Awakening Council established a volunteer security force known as Sons of Iraq, which is supported by the U.S. military. An adviser to the Awakening Council, Thamir al-Tamimi, said Al-Qaeda in Iraq had recently been targeting its leaders to "settle scores."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Turkey sent military reinforcements into northern Iraq yesterday as clashes with militants from the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) continued for a fourth day. According to the Turkish army, another 25 tanks crossed the border to help the hunt for PKK fighters, whom Turkey accuses of launching attacks on its forces from bases in the sparsely populated mountains along the Turkish-Iraqi border. "The bombings are continuing by land and by air; the clashes are becoming heavier," a Turkish military source told the Reuters news agency.
Roj TV, the voice of the PKK, reported that 5,000 Turkish troops with 60 tanks had launched an offensive against the militants early yesterday in the Matin mountains. Ahmed Deniz, a PKK spokesman, told the Guardian that fierce fighting was continuing in several places along the border.
Since the major air and ground offensive began last week, Turkey says 15 of its soldiers and 112 militants have died. The PKK claims that 47 Turkish soldiers have been killed. The PKK spokesman said its fighters also brought down a Turkish army helicopter in the remote Chamsku area, close to the border. Turkey confirmed the loss of a helicopter, but said it was due to unknown reasons.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insisted that the operation was limited. "Our Iraqi brothers should know that this operation is only to clean the terrorist camps and terrorists," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is an unusually long foray. And still nothing but harsh words out of Baghdad (& Washington) - and not even many of those. Are the Turks also getting 'actionable intelligence' from us on who to target?
#2
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insisted that the operation was limited. "Our Iraqi brothers should know that this operation is only to clean the terrorist camps and terrorists," he said. "TRUST ME", he continued with a smile. "If you can't trust a Turk to keep his word and stab get your back, who can you trust?"
#3
I think Washington (and Baghdad) know that most of the violence caused by the PKK is on orders from Iran, and are letting Turkey clean up the mess. I don't think most of the Kurds support the PKK, even though they DO support a united Kurdistan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/25/2008 14:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I think Washington (and Baghdad) know that most of the violence caused by the PKK is on orders from Iran, and are letting Turkey clean up the mess. I don't think most of the Kurds support the PKK, even though they DO support a united Kurdistan.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/25/2008 14:42 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Sorry about the stutter. Mods, please remove one of the two comments (and this one).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/25/2008 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
Coalition forces capture Iranian-backed Special Groups facilitator, detain seven suspects
BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition forces captured a suspected Iranian-backed Special Groups finance facilitator and detained six other suspected criminals early Sunday in the Suwayrah area, south of Baghdad.
The targeted individual was reportedly a finance leader for Iranian-affiliated Special Groups criminals and militias in Iraqs southern provinces to include Najaf, Karbala, Babil, Wasit and Qadisiyah. He was also allegedly a mortar and rocket specialist who had trained in Iran. Reports indicate he was an associate of several other senior-level Special Groups criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces.
Intelligence led ground forces to the target area where they captured the wanted individual and the six other suspected criminals without incident. During the operation, Coalition forces also discovered large amounts of American currency.
There has been substantial progress in the fight for a stable Iraq, but there is still much work to be done, said Navy Capt. Vic Beck, MNF-I spokesman. We welcome al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadrs extended cease fire pledge, and we will work with those who honor it to ensure security in their neighborhoods.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Amer Qurmot never saw it coming: In a split second, an Israeli missile killed the 44-year-old Palestinian rocket mastermind as he walked along a road in the northern Gaza Strip. With that Feb. 4 assassination, Qurmot became the latest in a long line of Gaza militant leaders to be struck down by Israeli aircraft. In the face of Israeli threats to go after militant leaders in response to rocket fire on Israeli towns near Gaza, the likelihood of additional airstrikes is high.
Israel's policy of ``targeted killings'' has reshaped the battlefield in Gaza's crowded urban landscape in recent years. Developed during a spate of suicide bombings inside Israel, the practice also has drawn widespread criticism because of the dozens of Palestinian civilians accidentally killed and questions about whether it amounts to summary execution.
Israel responds that it has refined its ability to strike with startling precision, using ever-improving intelligence and sophisticated weaponry that the military says has sharply reduced the number of civilian casualties."We try to hit only terrorists. There is a trend of a very dramatic improvement in the ratio of hitting the terrorists and not hitting the uninvolved,'' a senior air force commander said in a rare interview. ``We are very proud of it.''
Qurmot, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, was hit along with two comrades, who were wounded. The deadly strike on a clear Monday afternoon, left nothing more than a small hole in the ground, and civilians nearby were unharmed, witnesses said.
Palestinian witnesses have reported that missiles flew into buildings, killing their target while barely damaging the structures. In December, four militants standing near each other were killed by four separate missiles, witnesses said. With tensions heightened in Gaza this month, Hamas lawmakers called off a parliamentary meeting, fearing assassination.
But there have been high-profile blunders too. In 2002, an airstrike on the home of Hamas mastermind Salah Shehadeh killed him and 14 other people, including nine children. The following year, an airstrike in a Gaza refugee camp killed more than 10 civilians. Blunder? Sounds like they got who they were aiming at, even if he was hiding behind kids...
The air force commander, who was barred from being identified under military guidelines, said the number of bystanders killed in airstrikes has dropped from 50 percent in 2002 to less than 5 percent today.
Palestinians and human rights groups said the figure is much higher - a discrepancy possibly due to differing definitions of who is a militant - but acknowledged the air force has become more accurate. "Generally, it is true that the air force is becoming more efficient,'' said Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group that monitors rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
According to B'Tselem, 137 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes last year. Of those, it says, 28 people, or 20 percent, were civilians, compared with nearly 30 percent in 2004, the group says. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights says just over 50 percent of airstrike deaths last year were civilians.
On Feb. 7, Palestinian teacher Hani Naim was killed by an airstrike near the agricultural school where he worked - the only fatality in the attack. The Israeli army said militants had fired rockets from the area, and witnesses spotted rocket-launching equipment in a nearby olive grove. But that gave little comfort to the dead man's relatives. "If the Israelis think they shot at a terrorist today, they are wrong," said his brother, Yusef. "Shame on you."
The practice has long drawn condemnation from Palestinians and human rights groups, even when the intended targets are hit.
The Shehadeh case, in which the air force dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of the suicide bombing mastermind, haunts the air force. At least two former officials connected to the attack have canceled trips to Britain, fearing war crimes charges.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently appointed a committee to review the practice of airstrikes, following a 2006 Supreme Court decision that upheld the policy of targeted killings, but warned some attacks might be illegal. The court said each case needs to be evaluated individually to determine its legality. Israeli officials said the committee would review past cases, but it was unclear whether it would set guidelines for future attacks.
The Israeli commander gave rare insight into Israeli capabilities, saying the air force can now react within seconds if militants are spotted setting up an attack. In the case of wanted leaders, Israel can track the target for much longer while waiting for the moment to strike.
"Preplanning can go between hours to days, but the reaction time can be very fast," he said. He said the air force uses a variety of tools, including "real-time" intelligence such as informants and pilotless spy planes. To lessen civilian casualties, operations often are called off at the last second if a risk is identified, he said, and pilots can even divert missiles after they have been fired.
The military also has developed smaller, more precise weapons that spray little or no shrapnel, he said. Occasionally, targeted men survive attacks because of the scaled-back weaponry. Israeli military officials said U.S.-made warplanes and helicopters have been used in airstrikes, and the latest weapons use both Israeli and American technology. They refused to confirm numerous claims by Palestinian witnesses that pilotless Israeli-made drones also fire low-shrapnel missiles.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense research group in Washington, said Israel uses low-yield munitions that "only hit what you want and nothing much else." He said the technology has been shared with the U.S., which uses it in Iraq. Still, Pike said the Israeli claim of minimal civilian casualties "sounds too good to be true, "noting it's "a very big challenge" to avoid bystanders in a city.
The Israeli commander acknowledged human error and weapons malfunctions still can occur, and targeted cars may contain explosives. In some cases, Israel is prepared to risk civilian casualties to eliminate a particularly sinister target, he said. "Sometimes you understand that if you are not attacking this terrorist, your people are going to suffer badly," he said.
Critics also note that despite hundreds of airstrikes over the years, Israel has been unable to halt incessant rocket attacks on its southern civilians. But it has forced militants to alter their routines, said Dawoud Shihab, an Islamic Jihad leader. "That includes turning off mobile phones, avoiding getting into cars. We try to restrict our movements and keep a low profile," he said.
#1
Qurmot, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, was hit along with two comrades, who were wounded. The deadly strike on a clear Monday afternoon, left nothing more than a small hole in the ground,
that gave me warm fuzzies....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2008 15:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
While it's really cool, it's not the answer. It does nothing to erode away the system that builds these groups and allows them power.
If Israel would put some serious destruction back on them every time a rocket is fired, they would stop. Level a few city blocks every time a rocket is fired and they'll get tired of it really fast or run out of people.
No mercy or compassion for terrorists and those supporting them.
#8
I have to agree that this is sweeping ants into a pile. Any fight cannot be won until you eliminate the enemies will to fight. This can either be done with a stick or a carrot, but it must be progressive. Otherwise a stalemate is just another form of passive defense, and destined to fail. The fight then becomes a test of will.
The only thing Israel can do to stop this nonsense is to take away Arab land. Not with the idea that they want it, just that they want to *deny* it to their enemy.
If a one mile no-man's land is not enough, then have a second mile of the enemies territory turned into a no-man's land. If two is not enough, then add a third. Keep doing this until the enemy either stops fighting, or is so far away they have no weapon they can strike you with.
#9
That doesn't sound like any weapon I've heard of.
PhilB: You wouldn't have heard of it. It's those sneaky Jooooos who made it, man!
Posted by: BA ||
02/25/2008 20:19 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Question is, based on their conduct of the last war in Lebanon, do they have "improved Guts" to use those improved air strikes and fully prosecute a war?
#12
JPOST OP-ED > OUR WORLD - IRAN'S GAME OF GRAN STRATEGY. Iran desires its values-ideals, etc. to be woven into the fabric of everyday Muslim life, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF IRAN.
ADHMADINEJAD > REPORTEDLY CLAIMS THAT TO EMBRACE ISLAM AS A MODEL FOR LIFE, GOVT-SOCIETY, ETC. IS TO EMBRACE THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION???
After the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the targeted killings, the Palestinian organizations have found a new reason for firing Qassam rockets on southern Israel: Cartoons published in Denmark denouncing Prophet Muhammad. Six Qassams were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev since Sunday morning. All the rockets landed in open areas, without causing injuries or damage.
The Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets. The organization's spokesman, Muhammad Abed al-Aal, told Ynet that the firing operation, dubbed "the lines of fire", was a response to the "crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians," but also "in response to the cartoons published in Denmark degrading the memory of Prophet Muhammad.
"The Palestinian resistance has committed to respond to the cartoons, and this is our initial response," he added.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Any excuse to light off a Qassam, I guess ...
Asked why the residents of Sderot and the Negev should pay the price for cartoons published in Denmark, Abed al-Aal responded, "The Jews have also hurt Islam and have also hurt the Koran in their prisons, as part of the plot to harm Islam and the memory and status of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI).
"The Palestinian resistance will not let Israel's crimes and the smearing of Islam's symbols go unanswered," he said.
Addressing Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal's willingness to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, Abed al-Aal said that the only way for the residents of southern Israel to feel safe is to leave their houses and the entire area. "We won't give them peace and security as long as they fail to stand up against their government and its aggressiveness, as long as one Palestinian child is suffering, and as long as there is one Zionist soldier on the land of Palestine," he said.
So there you go, Mr. Mayor, now it's your turn to respond ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Popular Resistance Committees
#1
The Israelis should bomb Gaza will millions of the cartoons. Just blowing down every street in Gaza.
#7
Are there any hillsides overlooking Gaza? I'm thinking someone needs to decorate some landscape with a picture of Mohammed (PTUI) with the bomb turban.
Or maybe someone can create one that can be seen from orbit. Just wait until it shows up on Google Earth!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/25/2008 8:20 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Good idea Rob. I would add Mo cartoons to those tethered surveillance balloons. When the Paleos come to shoot at it - WHAM! It will be like luring flies with sh..
Posted by: ed ||
02/25/2008 9:02 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Israel needs a leader that will take back the Temple and remove all Palies from the Jewish,,,, holy grounds. pIslam is an afront to humans, Hamanimals just prove the point.
Now for some real fun. Take a couple C-130s with thousands of roles of toilet paper. You know the Palies more than likely don't have real toilet paper. You know they would use it....
#16
Or maybe someone can create one that can be seen from orbit. Just wait until it shows up on Google Earth!
Right in the middle of the original cartoons fury, some skillful french jokers actually did a very large copy of the bomb-turban one in a dirt field, à la crop circles (that is, visible in its entirety from the sky); this was picked up only by the local newspaper (north-east of France??? Can't recall, really), and from there by a scan posted on the internet by the then-main islamophobic website, but national msm kept very quiet about this stunt, and didn't mention it.
#17
When I was a child, teen and even as an adult, I learned that the best way to get at someone was to find a hot button and press it as many times and as hard as I could. Those smart and mature enough knew better than to fall for such an obvious ploy of mine, and would frustrate my efforts by simply ignoring, or worse, laughing at me.
Seems to me, publishing pix of ol' Mo really gets 'em riled up. No ignoring, no laughing.
I think this is a great case of button pushing, working quite well.
Thousands of angry Hamas loyalists on Sunday marched at the funeral of a Muslim preacher who died in the custody of government interrogators, accusing the Palestinian Authority of killing the man and turning the ceremony into a rare show of defiance against PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The demonstration was an unusual sight in the West Bank, where Abbas' Palestinian Authority has become increasingly autocratic since his Hamas rivals seized power in the Gaza Strip in June. Since then, police have cracked down on protests perceived to challenge Abbas' rule.
Some 3,000 Hamas loyalists crowded the village of Kobar, carrying the body of 44-year-old Majed Barghouti, who died in a lockup run by intelligence officials on Friday, a week after he was arrested. Hamas officials said they did not trust a government investigation announced by Abbas.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
The IAF killed two Palestinian gunmen in an air strike in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis Sunday overnight, the army said. Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip said the two were members of Hamas, Israel Radio reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide fighter blew himself up in east Sri Lanka on Sunday killing two members of a rival group, the military said, adding fighter jets had bombed a suspected rebel camp in the northwest.
The suicide blast in the eastern district of Batticaloa, from which the Tigers were evicted by the military last year amid a new phase in a two-decade civil war, comes just weeks ahead of a local election in the area. The two men killed by the suicide blast were members of a group called TMVP, which was founded by a former rebel commander who split with the mainstream Tamil Tigers. It is seen as allied to the government, and has been accused of repeated abuses.
Two TMVP members were killed. They were travelling by motorbike when a Tiger suicide cadre came along on a push-bike and rammed into them and exploded, said a military spokesman, declining to be identified in line with policy. On Sunday morning, fighter jets bombed a suspected rebel leader camp in the northwestern district of Mannar, he added, but there were no immediate details of any casualties.
Security sweep: Police and other security forces on Sunday launched a major security sweep a day after a parcel bomb aboard a private bus exploded, leaving at least 18 people wounded. Along with the search operations, Illangakoon said police had also intensified awareness programmes to show bus and train commuters how to respond to a bomb threat. With a now customary lag of a day, the military said it had killed 47 Tigers in fighting across the north on Saturday, but offered no proof and there were no independent accounts of what had happened. The Tigers were not immediately available for comment. Sundays violence came a day after a suspected Tiger bomb blast destroyed a passenger bus on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital, wounding 18 people, though the vehicle was evacuated beforehand and no-one was killed.
Fighting between the military and Tigers has escalated since the government formally pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact in January. President Mahinda Rajapaksas government argues the Tigers used the truce to re-arm and were not sincere about talking peace. It has vowed to crush them militarily, and has captured large swathes of rebel-held territory in the east. But analysts say neither side is winning, with the Tigers regularly hitting back with suicide attacks and roadside bombs. The violence hurt tourist arrivals last year, which fell 12 percent from a year earlier, while the stock market slid nearly 7 percent in 2007, with some businesses shelving investment plans.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
cycles of violence
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2008 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not at all...the good guys are winning. It's just a war of attrition, so of course it's going to look like that. The Tigers are getting ground down, and they have no counter for air or artillery.
#3
I was referring to this: They were travelling by motorbike when a Tiger suicide cadre came along on a push-bike and rammed into them and exploded, said a military spokesman,
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2008 15:54 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Intelligence agencies have once again arrested the Taliban Majlis-e-Shuras former defence minister 
In a separate incident on Sunday, an Islamic 
Baghdad, Feb 25, (VOI) - Iraqi security forces killed three gunmen, detained 362 wanted men and suspected gunmen and freed 18 captives in separate areas of the capital Baghdad under the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan during the last week, an official source said on Monday.
After the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the targeted killings, the Palestinian organizations have found a new reason for firing Qassam rockets on southern Israel: Cartoons published in Denmark denouncing Prophet Muhammad. Six Qassams were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev since Sunday morning. All the rockets landed in open areas, without causing injuries or damage.
The IAF killed two Palestinian gunmen in an air strike in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis Sunday overnight, the army said. Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip said the two were members of Hamas, Israel Radio reported.
A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide fighter blew himself up in east Sri Lanka on Sunday killing two members of a rival group, the military said, adding fighter jets had bombed a suspected rebel camp in the northwest. 
