Taliban militants have killed at least two Afghan officers and wounded another in an attack on a checkpoint in western province of Herat. The militants attacked a police checkpoint in Herat's Shindand district on Monday, police spokesman Rauf Ahmadi said Tuesday.
Also on Monday, seven anti-drug Afghan policemen were killed in a gun battle with the Taliban in Kandahar province, he added.
Most Afghan police are poorly trained and equipped, which leaves them vulnerable to attacks. Authorities say that more than 900 Afghan police were killed in militant attacks last year. Overall, the UN says that more than 8,000 people, mostly militants, lost their lives in 2007.
So that leaves 7100 people, mostly miscreants, who departed the gene pool in 2007. That 900 martyred police represent about 12.6 percent of the year's deaders.
This article starring:
Rauf Ahmadi
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Seventeen Afghan road workers were killed in an insurgent attack in the southern Afghan province of Zabul on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.
If the guys driving the tar trucks aren't legitimate military targets then who is?
The Taliban have vowed to step up their war to expel foreign troops and bring down the Western-backed government and intermittent fighting has been picking up in recent days after a traditional winter lull.
It's known as the Brutal Afghan Winter™. Even hardened Canucks have been known to say "Pretty cold today, eh?"
"Seventeen engineers and road workers were killed in an attack by enemies of Afghanistan's stability," said ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary. All the victims were Afghan, he said.
But the Talibs would have bumped off the Hated Furriners if there had been any around, you betcha.
Sixteen workers were wounded, he said, adding he did not know the name of their company. He did not elaborate on the identity of the attackers but Taliban operate in the province, which borders Pakistan. "Police, national army and coalition forces rushed to the site and killed seven enemies," Bashary said.
"We dunno where they came from. They went to Hell."
Taliban rebels regularly attack infrastructure projects in their efforts to undermine the government and its aid donors who are struggling to develop the impoverished country.
This article starring:
Zemarai Bashary
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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A suicide car bomb attack on a building housing Burundian peacekeepers wounded at least seven people in the Somali capital Tuesday, witnesses and an African Union official said. Officials said they did not know if a body at the scene was the bomber's or a victim's.
The military wing of Somalia's main Islamic insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack in a southern neighborhood of Mogadishu. "A car driving at breakneck speed passed us and within seconds turned around and rammed into a locked gate that is not normally used. Then we heard a huge explosion whose dust covered us," said Abdullahi Hussein Sabriye. He said he witnessed the attack from a tea shop.
"A huge explosion occurred outside the building where Burundian peacekeepers are based," said Maj. Bahoku Barigye, the African Union force spokesman, adding two soldiers were wounded. "One man, believed to be a Somali, died on the spot. I'm not sure if he was the suicide bomber or not," Barigye said.
The car exploded before it got inside the complex, said a Burundian soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said five Somali civilians also were wounded.
Sheik Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for al-Shabab told The Associated Press that his group was behind the attack. Al-Shabab, or "The Youth," is the military wing of the Council of Islamic Courts that Ethiopian troops backing Somali soldiers ousted from its southern Somalia strongholds and the capital in December 2006. "One of our fighters has targeted the African Union troops who are here to support the Ethiopian troops' massacre of our people," Robow said. He did not give any other details.
This article starring:
Abdullahi Hussein Sabriye
SHEIK MUKHTAR ROBOW
al-Shabab
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaeda's North African wing demanded the Austrian government withdraw its military from Afghanistan and release two Muslim prisoners in exchange for two Austrian tourists kidnapped in Tunisia six weeks ago.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb made the demands in a statement posted on the Internet yesterday, said the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web sites.
The al-Qaeda-linked group said it abducted Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 44, on Feb. 22 in Tunisia. In previous online messages, it has demanded the release of its members held in Tunisia. The group's last deadline for its conditions to be met expired April 6, according to SITE.
The Austrian government is now ``responsible for the lives and unknown fate'' of the hostages, the militant group said in the statement.
It called on the government in Vienna to withdraw its four military officers from Afghanistan and free two Muslims arrested in Austria in September last year in connection with threatened attacks on Austria and Germany.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb killed more than 100 people in bombings across Algeria last year, including two suicide attacks that targeted United Nations offices and a court building in Algiers in December.
The group, which wants to impose an Islamic state in Algeria, was founded in the mid-1990s. It pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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A Jewish woman in Melbourne received a death threat on Facebook from a man claiming to be a Hezbollah member. Australian counter-terror experts launched an investigation following the threat by a man called Ibrahim Dirani, according to a report Saturday in The Australian newspaper.
I am Hezbollah and I am going to kill you and all of your family -- promise you.
According to police documents, the member of a Lebanese-based Facebook group allegedly wrote after the Israeli woman rejected his offer of an online friendship, I am Hezbollah and I am going to kill you and all of your family -- promise you.
The man is now believed to have been banned by the online social networking Web site. Experts say terrorists trawl through Facebook because it offers in-depth profiles of more than 60 million users. A Facebook group was established last month to memorialize the Palestinian who killed eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Jammu and Kashmir Police adopted an innovative way to trap a dreaded militant of Hizbul Mujahideen in Doda district where a team of eight policemen, posing as "VVIPs", enticed him into the net. He was killed in an encounter that followed.
The team led by Station House Officer of Doda Chanchal Singh had spread a word through its informers about a surprise high profile VVIP visit in Doda district on Tuesday.
A vehicle breakdown was enacted as part of the police plan in Pyakul village in Gandoh area of the district, where the self-styled commander of the outfit Ghulam Hussain Wani alias "Thool" (egg) alias Shamim Shahid was believed to be in hiding.
The eight-member team, in plain clothes and armed with files and concealed weapons, staged the breakdown at the village to entice the militant.
"We were discussing very loudly about our plans to develop the Doda area but were keeping a bird's eye vigil about the arrival of our prize catch," an officer, who was in the police party, said.
Risking their lives, it was a patient three-hour-long wait and watch for their catch till he surfaced with an intention to kidnap the "VVIP" and demand release of some of members of Hizbul Mujahideen, which has suffered a major dent in the recent past with several of its men landing in jails.
"As he realised that he had walked into a trap, he tried to make a hasty retreat by firing at the police party in disguise. In the ensuing encounter he was shot dead."
Wani, who rose to notoriety by indulging in several massacres of Hindus, earned the nickname of 'Thool' because of his love for eggs.
PATNA, India - Maoist rebels killed at least eight villagers in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on Tuesday, police said. The dead were members of a government-backed tribal group formed to fight the rebels. The villagers were crossing the road through a forest when the Maoists sprayed bullets on them, said Deepak Kumar Sinha, a police officer.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless. They regularly kill pretty much everyone policemen and attack government establishments in a large swathe of eastern and central India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the four-decade-old Maoist rebellion as the single biggest threat to Indias internal security. It has killed thousands of people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The senior al Qaida operative who helped direct the 2005 London subway bombings and a plot to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic Ocean has died in Pakistans tribal region, U.S. counter terrorism officials said Tuesday. The senior militant, an Egyptian who used the nom de guerre Abu Ubaida al-Masri, recently succumbed to hepatitis, they said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Radical Islam's JIHAD isn't doing very well these days - to salvage and fight another day, [2008-2012 or after] includes SAVING IMPORTANT LEADERS TO FIGHT AND LEAD ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER JIHAD, WHEN IRAN + ISLAMIST TERROR GET THE BOMB.
#2
MI-6 Weaponizes Hepatitis? (Abu Ubaida al-Masri Dead)
Glenmore unless you have more than this article to go on.. just sayin... the headline is WILD speculation. >:)
If you had direct access to Abu Ubaida al-Masri, Why bother infecting him with Hepatitis with its sometime long incubation period and many progressive disease phases after that until Liver death?
Sometimes 40 years..ug..? when...?
BTW: Hepatitis A, B and C are so f'cking prevalent in Pakland that anyone traveling there should get at least Hepatitis A and B vaccinations plus any other shots available. Some Dragon Skin Body Armor and/or a Ned Kelly won't hurt youse either.
Hepatitis A (HAV)
Hepatitis B (HBV)
Hepatitis C (HCV) (updated 11/14/2005 from Annual AASLD Meeting)
Hepatitis D (HDV)
Hepatitis E (HEV)
Hepatitis G (HGV)
Hepatitis F [non-ABCDE], G or GB-A and GB-B are probably Tamarin viruses, while GB-C infects humans...
ETC. most likely more will be coming... :)
Incidentally, not all "hepatitis" are caused by viruses. "Hepatitis" means "inflammation of the liver", and can be caused also by other types of infection (bacteria, fungal, TB, etc.); toxic drugs; poisons; alcoholism; vascular disorders; and immune system diseases.
From Our RB Treasure Box:
Dr. White has much better Intel and insight on this one as well as the best Intel on anything medical etc.
#5
RD, the headline is way beyond wild speculation - more on the level of Kos Kid accusations - and I really did not intend it as an actual cause, just as a commentary on how some will see it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2008 11:44 Comments ||
Top||
#9
But who will mourn the goat?
That is the pertinent question here. I mean, why blame MI-6 when they guy probably got it from his goat.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2008 11:53 Comments ||
Top||
#10
That headline is really not very helpful. I know (hope?) you are saying it in jest but there are going to be those who are going to latch onto things like that as "proof" of something.
Ball bearings and explosives were seized and two men were arrested in a raid on bakery in a remote northwestern town, local police have said. Officer Niaz Muhammed Khan said the seizure was made early on Tuesday in Warai after a tip from an informer. Police found 59 kg of explosives, 180 dynamite sticks, 48 kg of ball bearings, and hundreds of rounds of rifle and pistol ammunition. Ball bearings are sometimes used in suicide jackets to maximise the damage.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Pooh. They're simple but well-armed bakers. They need those ingredients to make the local variety of bread -- and it's so difficult to get in raisins or currents in that part of the world, so small ball bearings must serve the function.
Two people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday as sectarian clashes continued for a fourth consecutive day in Hangu.
The Hangu Aman (peace) jirga and the Kurram Agency political administration are making efforts to negotiate a permanent ceasefire between rival sects. The rival sects announced a temporary ceasefire on Monday in Sadda and Khwarkalay due to the efforts of the jirga and the political administration. However, Sadda and Khwarkalay came under attack late on Monday from the Sangeena, Balish Khel and Ibrahim Zai positions. The resultant battle continued until early on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, elders from six Sunni tribes said in a statement that they were peace-loving people and wanted peace in the agency. They demanded the government punish saboteurs of the peace process in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Unidentified men fired a rocket on a Khasadar (tribal police) checkpost in the Ghazi Baig area here on Tuesday. No loss of life or damage was reported. Political administration officials said the attack was carried out at midnight. It was followed by light weapon fire that lasted for about 30 minutes, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The NWFP cabinet on Tuesday formed a committee to negotiate peace with militants, a move which has been hailed by the Taliban The committee, which was formed during the cabinets inaugural meeting, will persuade various religious organisations engaged in militancy in the province - especially in the Malakand Division - to reach a cease-fire.
The committee will consist of ministers from the Malakand Division. Provincial ministers Bashir Ahmed Bilour from the Awami National Party (ANP) and Rahim Dad Khan from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will also be a part of it, NWFP Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babak told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Babak said law and order was the coalition governments priority, adding that the committee would design a strategy within two weeks to initiate dialogue with the militants. The minister said a delegation led by the provincial secretary for food had left for Punjab in order to discuss the flour issue with authorities concerned to overcome its shortage in the NWFP, adding that the government was forming a comprehensive plan to end the price hike.
He said erstwhile governments did a great injustice by ignoring thousands of deserving people and by appointing blued eyed people to various posts in the Education Department. Previous rulers violated the merit policy and recruited their own people instead of improving the literacy rate of the province, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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COMBAT OUTPOST NORSEMAN, Iraq - The marines of India Battery of the 3rd Battalion, 11th Regiment jokingly referred to the first half of their deployment to Anbar Province as a "desert spa" experience.
After serving early in the war as the insurgency's engine, the largely Sunni province seemed to have been tamed after the US helped turn tribal leaders against Al Qaeda in Iraq elements there.
It was a success story that Gen. David Petraeus held up as a "model" for the country in congressional hearings last September. And on Tuesday, as General Petraeus returns to Washington, he is likely to be asked about recent turmoil in Iraq's Shiite south not the relative calm in its western Sunni heartland.
But as the marines of the 3/11 have learned since their deployment shifted to Anbar's desolate western reaches, all is not yet tranquil in the province. Early last month, the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based artillery battery moved into an outpost of sandbags and concertina wire where marines are fighting what they call the last insurgent stronghold here.
"We're in the wild Wild West," says Lt. Hamilton Ashworth after his unit arrived at the post near the border trading town of Rutbah, where highways from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria converge before heading to Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. The local police station here bears fresh scars from rocket attacks, young men still hide grenades in the streets, and civic leaders continue to be targeted by hit squads.
The marines are now in a scramble to oust insurgents tied to Al Qaeda in Iraq. The mission's priority was underscored by a recent visit to the outpost by Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commander of all multinational forces in western Iraq. General Kelly and his staff traveled by heavily armored convoy to Rutbah to meet with city leaders in hopes of understanding why the insurgency hasn't yet fizzled.
Inside a dimly lit, thick-walled building, Kelly sat a table across from the mayor and police chief. Outside, marines and Iraqi police stood guard. "How are the people doing? Are the schools open for children?" Kelly asks, after removing his helmet and flak jacket. "How's the economy?"
The mayor of this town of 50,000, who goes by the name Qasim, fingered the gold watch hanging from his wrist, offered a pained smile and says, "The economy? We don't have one."
The town is withering from both the Al Qaeda in Iraq-backed insurgency and the Coalition-led traffic checkpoints, Qasim says. The checkpoints aimed at snagging fighters and bomb-building supplies have stifled the town's few-remaining legitimate business.
As the general's aides scribble notes, Qasim tosses his hands in the air and says Rutbah is faced with an impossibly sticky situation. "There could not be an economy if there is no security."
Much of the rest of Anbar has calmed because of last year's surge in US forces, combined with a massive hiring spree of Iraqi police officers, Kelly says. A year ago, about 6,000 Iraqi police patrolled the huge province. Many didn't have weapons and were easy targets for both bribes and bullets, Kelly says.
Today, about four times as many police serve in the cities of Anbar, but the surrounding desert remains largely lawless.
In coming months, about 10 percent of the 25,000 marines serving in Anbar are scheduled to return home, but two Iraqi Army brigades will move in to the region, which should help maintain the tenuous security, Kelly says.
Troop withdrawals will be a major focus of Petraeus's testimony in Washington. The general, the top US military commander in Iraq, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to advise Congress that the military should halt withdrawals after July to evaluate security issues, Reuters reported on Monday.
Last week's poor performance in Basra of Iraqi forces against the Mahdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has cast much doubt on their ability to take over from US forces. Qasim knows that many Americans want even more troops to leave Iraq. He urged the general to tell his leaders in Washington that the troops should stay.
"Withdrawal right now means handing Iraq to Iran. This will fulfill the dreams of the Iranians for an empire," the mayor says, echoing a common fear in the province. Qasim also spoke out against the idea of partitioning Iraq into semiautonomous Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish regions. "The first ones to lose if Iraq gets divided are the Americans. For generations to come, [the Iraqis] will not say the fault was Iranian. They will say it was the Americans."
Along with this message, Qasim hoped the general could come up with salaries for his police officers. About 50 members of the town's force of 337 officers have not been paid in recent months. And $15,000 is needed for a construction project to speed up one of the checkpoints. "If you bring the salaries back, there will be a statue of you downtown," Qasim promises.
After the visit, Kelly says leaders across Anbar are beginning to grow nervous about any drawdown of US troops. "We're pretty close, from the point of view of security," says Kelly, now in his third tour in Iraq. "They have their training wheels on. Most kids don't like their training wheels taken off, either," he says, referring to Iraqi soldiers.
Hours after the meeting, the mayor's home was sprayed with bullets. Nobody was hurt, but members of the town's fledgling police force piled into pickup trucks and raced out to find the gunmen.
In recent weeks, a team of US advisers has helped train the Iraqis to respond to violent incidents like this as well as to relatively minor problems, like marketplace thefts or car crashes. The police now arrive at work cleanshaven and in crisp uniforms. They've stopped shrouding their faces in scarves. Warrants are obtained before searches. Evidence is gathered.
Although obtaining enough money from Baghdad to pay their salaries is a huge struggle, Marine Sgt. Roberto Lopez says the biggest challenge is trying to instill in the officers a sense of professionalism and ethics after a generation of brutality and corruption. Sergeant Lopez is part of a team that lives and works with the police at their headquarters in an old stone fort in downtown Rutbah.
"That's the key to making this stick when we leave: pride in themselves and pride in their country," says Lopez, of Nogales, Ariz. "This is the turning point for us getting out of here."
The Iraqis are proud of their US-supplied uniforms, vehicles, weapons, and body armor, but marines grumble about the officers' propensity to shoot before they shout warnings. Several officers even boast about fighting the Americans in the early days of the insurgency. Marines also say the officers' low and inconsistent salaries have done little to stifle corruption.
A young, English-speaking officer who gave his name as Pedro Hussein says, "We're not really ready to take care of things yet."
The mission to bring security to Rutbah has also required the marines of 3/11 to change their tactics, says Capt. Steven Ford, the unit's commanding officer. They were trained to kick down doors and to respond to threats with overwhelming force a sign on the wall of their plywood command post reminds them to "Be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
Winning the trust of locals requires restraint, smiles, and countless cups of tea, Captain Ford says. "When people feel safe and secure, they're going to reject the insurgency." Moments later, a boom echoes over the combat outpost. It came from Rutbah, about a half mile beyond the post's perimeter.
Ford gets up. "Good God, I guess I better go see what that's about."
Two Israelis were killed when at least four Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Nahal Oz fuel terminal from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The two were employed at the terminal, which supplies the Gaza Strip with most of its fuel. hmmmm, and there's that other post where the Paleos are whining over lower fuel deliveries. Cause<=>Effect thing still incomprehensible to the Paleos
IDF troops and emergency medical teams, who arrived on the scene, came under heavy gun and mortar fire.
One of the terrorists was killed by the IDF in the terminal, and at least two others fled back to the Gaza Strip. In a swift response, the military dispatched aircraft which hit a car carrying at least one of the terrorists. According to a Hamas spokesman, the man was seriously injured. The army said two of the attackers were killed in the strike.
The army said that the terrorists' objective was probably to kidnap Israelis to Gaza and use them as a bargaining chip. cuz Shalit is dead
Military sources said that the terrorists had cut the fence and entered Israel, and added that there were no signs of a tunnel near the site of the attack. In recent days, Hamas has threatened several times that it would breach the border.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2008 12:41 ||
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#1
The head of the Palestinian Fuel Suppliers' Association, Mahmoud al-Khuzundar, said reserves of benzine and diesel had been depleted, leaving only enough cooking gas for two days. "If Nahal Oz closes for a few days, the crisis in Gaza will get worse, he said.
#2
I think it's time for Israel to deliver as much gas as possible to Gaza - in the form of napalm. When the fires die down, Israeli troops can go in and see if there's anything worth recycling.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/09/2008 21:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
HAARETZ [paraph]> ISRAEL DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH DETERRENCE TO STOP MILITANTS - even iff HAMAS per se does NOT fire any rockets = launch terror attacks itself agz Israeli targets, NEITHER IS IT DOING ANYTHING TO DE FACTO STOP OTHER OR SMALLER ANTI-ISRAELI MILITANT FACTIONS-GROUPS FROM DOING SO.
Hope they remembered their leg breaking sticks...
Gaza Ma'an Egyptian security forces have been deployed heavily along the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip fearing that Palestinians may force the border wall open again on Wednesday. Prediction? Much seething...
Palestinian sources told Ma'an that the deployment, just 500 meters from the border, is unprecedented. The sources added that Palestinian factions have been announcing, over public address systems and local radio stations, that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is further deteriorating, resulting in shortages of food and medicine. Must be waiting until they've got enough counterfeit money printed up...
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from the Gaza Strip in late January after the border was forced open. Gazans flocked to Egypt to shop for basic supplies made scarce by months of the Israeli blockade. Looks like the Gypos remembered how much fun that was.
#1
Palestinian witnesses in the Gaza Strip said they saw increased numbers of Egyptian security forces deployed on the border, including snipers on Rafah rooftops and police with dogs patrolling the frontier. Armoured personnel carriers could also be seen on the Egyptian side, the witnesses said.
Egypt "will not take lightly the protection of its frontiers against any attempt to violate them, no matter who they are," the official MENA news agency quoted an official it did not identify as saying."Egypt's borders are a red line you cannot cross," the official said. "Egypt is capable of responding to any attempt to violate its frontiers."
On Tuesday, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior member of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, said that "all options are open to break the siege" by Israel."I expect that what will happen next will be greater than what happened before, not only against the Egyptian border, but against all the crossings," Hayya said.
The Egyptian foreign ministry issued a statement expressing "profound amazement" at the breach threats."These statements are unacceptable and in flagrant contradiction with efforts Egypt has made to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and reach a truce allowing Palestinians from Gaza to live a normal life," it said."Any attempt to violate the sovereignty of Egypt's frontiers by force or ... illegally will be dealt with seriously and with appropriate firmness," it said, adding that any breach would damage the Palestinian cause.
#2
Methinks REDDIT + TOPIX are more concise > CAN TROUBLED EGYPT FEED THE PALESTINIANS?
*REDDIT > VARIOUS - Egyptian protestors amgry over FOOD, FUEL-GAS, + BUDGET WOES, ETC. may number as high as 50,000, many of which are reportedly angrily, physically resisting Mubarak's security forces = crowd control???
(Xinhua) -- Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels hijacked a jeep transporting fuel and seized all its driver and six passengers at a village in Maimbung town in the Philippines' southern province of Sulu, police said on Tuesday. Police said the kidnapping occurred in the village of Kulasi where Abu Sayyaf militants had kidnapped a Muslim teacher last week, Philippine cable news network GMA reported.
"There is an ongoing investigation and police reports said the people were seized in Kulasi village by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits headed by Gafur Jumdail," said Julasirim Kasim, police chief of the province. He said the victims, all local Muslims, were on a jeep transporting six drums of gasoline when gunmen flagged down their jeep. "We still don't know the motive of the kidnapping. It could be grudge or anything," Kasim said.
Last week, suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels abducted and subsequently freed Lullong Marrack, a 60-year-old Muslim teacher, in Kulasi village. He was unharmed in the incident. It was not known whether or not Marrack's family paid ransom in exchange for his freedom, although there were reports that the family negotiated with the bandits.
Kasim said it is likely that the gang behind Marrack's abduction was the same one behind the kidnapping of the seven people.
Maimbung is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf, a loosely organized group with some 380 members reportedly linked to Osama bin Laden'sal-Qaeda terrorist network and responsible for a series of kidnappings. The group is currently holding trader Rosalie Lao, who was kidnapped in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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A Filipino militant trained in the Middle East has declined to lead the brutal Abu Sayyaf group, prolonging a leadership crisis among the al-Qaida-linked militants, according to a confidential police report.
The Abu Sayyaf listed by Washington as a terrorist organization for carrying out bombings, kidnappings and beheadings has been hobbled by a leadership vacuum since its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani died in a clash with government troops in September 2006.
Army officials have said that little-known militant Yasser Igasan had become a top candidate, despite his limited combat experience, because of his connections with potential Middle Eastern financiers. A confidential police report on terrorist threats, seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday, said that Igasan "declined the emirship" of the Abu Sayyaf last year and that the group "continues to operate without a central leadership." The report did not cite any reason for Yasser's refusal.
Igasan was among the first members of the Abu Sayyaf, which was formed in the early 1990s by Muslim guerrillas led by Khaddafy Janjalani's elder brother, Abdurajak, according to a separate police report.
Igasan, who speaks Arabic, reportedly left the country in 2001 for Saudi Arabia, where he helped raise funds for the Abu Sayyaf, then briefly underwent combat training either in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to a security official, citing statements from captured militants.
Marine Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, who heads an anti-terrorism combat force on southern Jolo island, said last week that the Abu Sayyaf leadership crisis and funding problems, along with U.S.-backed offensives, have prevented the guerrillas from launching major attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf, which has more than 380 men with 290 firearms, is believed to have launched its last major attack in February 2005 with simultaneous bombings in Manila and two southern cities that killed eight people and wounded more than 100.
This article starring:
Khadaffy Janjalani
Yasser Igasan
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
COLOMBO - Government troops killed at least 17 Tamil rebels and lost two soldiers in northern Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.
The fighting was spread out the Welioya, Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya areas, more than 250 kilometres north of the capital as troops conducted an offensive in rebel-held areas, the spokesman said. He said 10 rebels were killed in three separate clashes in Vavuniya while two soldiers were killed in Welioya and Mannar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2008 00:00 ||
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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.
Taliban militants have killed at least two Afghan officers and wounded another in an attack on a checkpoint in western province of Herat. The militants attacked a police checkpoint in Herat's Shindand district on Monday, police spokesman 
Seventeen Afghan road workers were killed in an insurgent attack in the southern Afghan province of Zabul on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.
Al-Qaeda's North African wing demanded the Austrian government withdraw its military from Afghanistan and release two Muslim prisoners in exchange for two Austrian tourists kidnapped in Tunisia six weeks ago. 
PATNA, India - Maoist rebels killed at least eight villagers in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on Tuesday, police said. The dead were members of a government-backed tribal group formed to fight the rebels. The villagers were crossing the road through a forest when the Maoists sprayed bullets on them, said Deepak Kumar Sinha, a police officer.
The senior al Qaida operative who helped direct the 2005 London subway bombings and a plot to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic Ocean has died in Pakistans tribal region, U.S. counter terrorism officials said Tuesday. The senior militant, an Egyptian who used the nom de guerre 
Two people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday as sectarian clashes continued for a fourth consecutive day in Hangu.
Unidentified men fired a rocket on a Khasadar (tribal police) checkpost in the Ghazi Baig area here on Tuesday. No loss of life or damage was reported. Political administration officials said the attack was carried out at midnight. It was followed by light weapon fire that lasted for about 30 minutes, they said.
COMBAT OUTPOST NORSEMAN, Iraq - The marines of India Battery of the 3rd Battalion, 11th Regiment jokingly referred to the first half of their deployment to Anbar Province as a "desert spa" experience. 
COLOMBO - Government troops killed at least 17 Tamil rebels and lost two soldiers in northern Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.
