Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fred, with a high res monitor and an aversion to wearing glasses, I increase the text/image size to make pages more readable. The Burg's pages center (meaning I have to scroll left in order to read the text at the left), where left aligned pages would be better.
#2
phil_b has Joan Blondal looking at his nose and he is complaining about not being able to read the text on her right. There's just no accounting from some people's tastes.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/22/2008 9:55 Comments ||
Top||
THE Taliban has been dealt a crippling blow after their leader in Helmand province surrendered – fearing the SBS were about to kill him next.
Mullah Abdul Rahim handed himself in to Pakistani police over the border from Afghanistan late on Saturday evening, The Sun has exclusively learned.
One of Top Five most wanted Taliban bosses, Rahim gave himself up after two of his senior henchmen were killed within two weeks by the elite Navy special forces unit. Rahim answered directly to one-eyed Taliban boss Mullah Omar.
He was taken into custody in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where senior Taliban leadership are in hiding, intelligence sources revealed. British commanders last night dubbed RahimÂ’s surrender as a massive breakthrough that would plunge militant force in Helmand into disarray.
British forces spokesman in Helmand Lt Col Robin Matthews said: “The Taliban’s senior leadership structure has suffered a shattering blow. They remain a dangerous enemy but they increasingly lack strategic direction and their proposition to the Afghan people is proving ultimately negative and self-defeating."
Helmand governor Gulab Mangal last night appealed to all remaining Taliban fighters in the province to lay down their arms. He said: “This is a great message for Helmand province. I advise all those Taliban who are engaging with terrorist actions that the fighting has no benefit. So this is the time to join with the Islamic Republic and choose a good, right and honourable way”.
As The Sun also revealed, RahimÂ’s deputy for northern Helmand Mullah Bishmullah was shot dead by SBS commandos on July 13. And expert bomb-maker Mullah Sadiqullah was assassinated by a Hellfire missile fired into his 4x4 by an Apache gunship helicopter on June 26.
A few hours after Rahim surrendered, British forces claimed their third senior scalp in Helmand. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Taliban commander for the northern Musa Qalah area, Mullah Sheikh, was killed in a Hellfire missile strike fired from an unmanned Reaper drone flown by the RAF. Sheikh was attacked and killed by three henchmen as they walked in fields 15km north of Musa Qalah.
In February last year, Mullah Rahim boasted that the insurgency had 10,000 fighters ready to launch a fierce offensive in the spring "as the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green."
It was thought he had been killed in an air strike last July in northern Helmand, but he narrowly escaped.
#1
I don't know, sounds to me like his 'surrender' is more like admittance to his allies safe house to keep him out of the reach of the SBS. He will just direct his troops from the safety of his new perch.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/22/2008 17:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
WM, I agree. Pakis ought to hand him over to the Afghanis.
Taliban Suicide Bomber Dead
Details:
Importance Low
Means of Death Suicide Bomber
Date of Death Feb. 27, 2007
Location of Death Bagram, Afghanistan
Affiliation Taliban
Role Suicide Bomber
Gender Male
********************************
So this must be another Heap of Pompus.
Note: This is a Brit Paper waxing on about a British commanders Report.
There is a reason that British Units have soo many officers... 1/2 of them work the press and the other half press the flesh of any visitors to keep PR smooth and on top.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 17:49 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So this must be a Pompous Heaps who can't spel.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/22/2008 17:53 Comments ||
Top||
"The sky is not falling," Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, said Saturday from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Preysler spoke via telephone less than a week after his paratroops and their Afghan allies were involved in a fierce attack at a small post near the village of Wanat. In the July 13 battle, nine of his men were killed and 15 others wounded.
But the attack is not a sign of conditions worsening in the country, he said.
The battle occurred just after dawn at a temporary vehicle patrol base near Wanat. A platoon-sized element of Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) soldiers and a smaller Afghan National Army force were occupying a hastily built area as they had done many times over the 15 months they'd been in country, Preysler said. The soldiers were there on a reconnaissance mission to establish a presence and find a good location to connect with the local government, populace and Afghan National Police, he said.
The small outpost had been built just days before the attack and consisted of protective wire and observation posts surrounding strategically placed vehicles. "That's all it was, a series of vehicles that went out there," Preysler said.
"People are saying that this was a full-up [forward operating base]/combat outpost, and that is absolutely false and not true. There were no walls," Preysler said, latter adding, "FOB denotes that there are walls and perimeters and all that. It's a vehicle patrol base, temporary in nature."
But that doesn't mean the soldiers were not prepared to take on the enemy, he said. "Now, obviously when you halt, you start prepping your defenses, and in this case we had [observation posts] and protective wire, we had the vehicles deployed properly to take advantage of their fields of fire, and we set up like that all over the place, and we do it routinely," he said.
The Army did not "abandon" the base after the attack, as many media reporters have suggested, Preysler said. He said the decision to move from the location following the attack was to reposition, which his men have done countless times throughout their tour, and to move closer to the local seat of government.
"If there's no combat outpost to abandon, there's no position to abandon," he said. "It's a bunch of vehicles like we do on patrol anywhere and we hold up for a night and pick up any tactical positions that we have with vehicle patrol bases.
"We do that routinely.... We're always doing that when go out and stay in an area for longer then a few hours, and that's what it is. So there is nothing to abandon. There was no structures, there was no COP or FOB or anything like that to even abandon. So, from the get-go, that is just [expletive], and it's not right."
He also didn't like the media's characterization that his men were "overrun." "As far as I know, and I know a lot, it was not overrun in any shape, manner or form," an emotional Preysler said. "It was close combat to be sure -- hand grenade range. The enemy never got into the main position. As a matter of fact, it was, I think, the bravery of our soldiers reinforcing the hard-pressed observation post, or OP, that turned the tide to defeat the enemy attack."
Though Preysler and his staff have seen several reports on the fight and numbers of enemy, he said true specifics still remain unclear. "I do not know the exact numbers. But I know they had much greater strength than one U.S. platoon," he said. "I believe the enemy to number over 100 in that area when he attacked. I don't know the casualties that he took, but I know that it's got to be substantial based on the different reports I'm getting. We may not know the true damage we inflicted on the enemy, but we certainly defeated his attack and repulsed his attack and he never got into our position."
Preysler and his staff also object to media reports that because of the size of the attack, it could be a harbinger of change in the way militants fight in eastern Afghanistan. "I think people are taking license and just misusing statistics, and I refuse to do that," he said. "We're in the middle of the fighting season. When we first got here last summer and started fighting here in June, we were only seeing the enemy and engaging him first about 5 percent of the time. Now we're between 25 and 40 percent. We see the enemy, and we're engaging him first."
When the 173rd arrived last summer, it marked the first time that a brigade-sized element operated in the upper provinces near of the Pakistan border, allowing for a much larger presence. "By sheer numbers and sheer volume of patrols -- I mean this [battalion] has had 9,000 patrols in 15 months -- we're out there taking the fight to the enemy," We're out there taking the ground that he used to own exclusively, and we have separated him from the people in many locations," Preysler said. "This is one area that is still contested, and we're going to have to go back in there and fight hard to separate the insurgents from the population, and that is exactly what we're going to do.
"Now, the problem is we are in the middle of a transition, [but] I would not characterize this as anything more than the standard fighting that happens in this area in good weather that the summer provides. The harvest is in, and it's the fighting season. I don't see massive enemy pushes into our area. The sky is not falling, and this is what we've been facing all along in the summer."
Preysler ended the interview by lauding his soldiers. "I get emotional about this, you'll have to forgive me," he said. "These guys have fought for 15 months, and they have fought harder, and I mean this literally, they have fought harder and (had) more engagements, more direct-fire engagements, than any brigade in the United States Army in probably the toughest terrain. These guys are absolutely veterans and they know what they're doing and they have that airborne spirit and they fought a very, very tough battle and held the ground and did everything they were supposed to do.
"I would like to also say I wish my guys who were wounded a speedy recovery and obviously condolences to the families, and that's very close and personal to us. It's tough to take casualties toward the end of any combat tour for any unit, but it signals that we're in a fight, and we're going to continue to fight."
#1
Now that B.O. has visited Afghanistan and sprinkled holy water all over, he will be only true "expert" that the media will turn to in order to explain and understand what is really going on over there. Nice try, Colonel but you are "too close" to the action to understand and explain the nuance of war. Only someone as blessed and anointed by our media can truly determine what the course of action should be - A SURGE!!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Preysler ended the interview by lauding his soldiers. "I get emotional about this, you'll have to forgive me,"
Forgiven and extended HIGH PRAISE! Keep it up Colonel, and AIRBORNE!
#4
What's new: the MSM is now doing it in Afghanistan, not Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 13:37 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Actually, I kinda like it when the MSM decides something or someone is inevitable. It worked out so well for the Soviet Union, international communism and for Hillary...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/22/2008 16:06 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Yup, pretty much: whatever the MSM sez is the conventional wisdom, isn't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 16:16 Comments ||
Top||
#7
If their (MSM) pens are writing, keyboards clacking, mouths clucking (lips moving, etc.), they are lying.
Afghan officials say Taliban militants have captured a remote district in southern Afghanistan. Officials said Monday that local security forces fled Ajiristan district in Ghazni province after Taliban fighters attacked overnight. Authorities say they are working on a plan to regain control of the district.
Taliban militants have captured remote villages in the past, but Afghan and international forces are often able to push out the fighters.
In western Afghanistan today, Afghan officials said two Turkish engineers kidnapped last week near Herat have been released and are returning home. Afghan police said the victims' employers may have paid a ransom to secure their release Sunday.
Separately, the U.S.-led coalition announced that one of its soldiers died today from wounds he suffered in an explosion Sunday in the southern province of Helmand. In the same province Sunday, NATO's international force said its troops killed a high-level Taliban commander, Mullah Sheikh, and two of his followers near Musa Qala.
Also Sunday, Afghan officials said air strikes fired by NATO-led troops killed about 20 Taliban rebels in the eastern province of Khost.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Isn't this like saying: "Hells Angels Capture Sturgis, S.D." or "Hippies Capture Bolinas, CA"?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Probably closer to "Mexicans capture Jacumba, CA".
At least 16 people died, including seven children, in two separate attacks in the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials said.
Islamist fighters clashed with government soldiers at Towfik junction in the north of the city yesterday, said Jamaal Hassan Mo'alim, a resident of the area. Five students at a local Quranic school were killed in the crossfire, he said. The victims were aged between 6 and 13. Three of them were siblings. ``Four students died on the spot after an artillery shell landed as they were running from their Quranic school,'' Mo'alim said. ``Another one died in the hospital later.''
Somalia has been wracked by violence since the government ejected Islamic fighters from southern and central areas of the Horn of Africa nation in January 2007. The United Nations estimates 1 million Somalis have been displaced within the country as people flee the fighting. al-Qaeda wants to establish a caliphate, or Islamic government, in the country.
In today's attacks, two other teenagers died after a shell landed on a football field at Sukba'ad village, in northern Mogadishu, while they were playing soccer, said Ahmed Salad, a resident.
Sheikh Abdi Rihin Isse Adow, a spokesman for the Islamist fighters, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said nine soldiers were killed in the confrontation. Muhiden Hansen Jures, a district commissioner in Towfik junction, denied any Somali government troops died.
Convoy Ambushed
In a separate incident in the southern Shabelle region yesterday, Islamist fighters ambushed a convoy of newly trained soldiers traveling from Baidoa, seat of the nation's parliament, to Mogadishu, said Deeko Warfa Hersi, a resident.
Colonel Dahir Mohamed Hersi, an army spokesman, said 12 Islamist fighters were killed in the battle. Those killed included an Iraqi and a Pakistani, he said. ``Only one soldier was wounded during the battle, but we killed 12,'' Hersi said.
Sheikh Muktar Ali Robow Abu Mansoor, a spokesman for the al-Shabaab militia, claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy. ``Three of our martyrs died and three others were wounded, but we killed several of them, although it was night and it was not possible to count,'' he said in a teleconference with reporters in Mogadishu late yesterday. He denied any foreign fighters were involved in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
(SomaliNet) Two foreign fighters were killed alongside 10 local rebels during clashes yesterday in Lower Shabelle region, a commander with Somalia's army told the BBC Somali Service on Monday. The two dead fighters are from Pakistan and Iraq, while urging journalists to "go see" the dead bodies, regional commander Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi said.
Al Shabaab spokesman Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur," who claimed responsibility for the attack, denied reports that foreign fighters were killed during the battle. He told a Mogadishu-based radio station that, on their side, 3 fighters were killed and 3 others wounded. But he claimed that government troops "suffered heavy losses."
Local sources told Garowe Online that they saw 3 dead soldiers and "nearly 10" insurgents lying on the ground, as the fight subsided around sunset. Two civilians were also killed, the confidential sources added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
#1
How bad can things be in Iraq and Pakistan if the Islamaidiots have to travel to Somalia for a good time?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:43 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They travel the world looking for armies that are so inept they can be beaten by a pickup team of Punjabis and former Baathist party hacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 7:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
#2: They travel the world looking for armies that are so inept they can be beaten by a pickup team of Punjabis and former Baathist party hacks.
What's REALLY bad is they keep finding them. Maybe the Italians will send a few training teams to Mogadishu to train the Somali Army. At this point, a troop of Anglican Girl Guides would help.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:10 Comments ||
Top||
(SomaliNet) Somali insurgents targeted the home of a Member of Parliament (MP) in the southwestern town of Baidoa, where Somalia's interim federal parliament is based for security-related reasons.
Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Abdinur, was with his family when the attackers targeted his home. At least 4 people were wounded as MP Abdinur's armed guards exchanged gunfire with al Shabaab fighters, who later claimed responsibility for the attack. Three people, two guards, one insurgent, died later from their wounds, unconfirmed reports said. MP Abdinur and his family members survived the attack unharmed, but neighbors said parts of the house suffered extensive damage.
Somalia's parliament is based in Baidoa, and not Mogadishu, because the capital remains too dangerous for lawmakers with daily insurgent attacks. But Baidoa residents say the town has experienced a rise in attacks in recent weeks, especially in light of al Shabaab fighters' vow to dislodge the Somali government from its strongest base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began yesterday with a not guilty plea from a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, entered the plea through his lawyer at the US naval base in Cuba. He is the first prisoner to face a US war crimes trial since World War II.
Judge Keith Allred, a navy captain, called a jury pool of uniformed American military officers into the courtroom for questioning by lawyers on both sides. A conviction on charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism could lead to a life sentence for Hamdan. "You must impartially hear the evidence," Allred told the potential jurors. "He must be presumed to be innocent." The 13 officers were handpicked by the Pentagon and flown in from other US bases over the weekend. Hamdan's lawyers asked if they had any friends or family affected by the Sept. 11 attacks to see if any should be excluded as too biased to serve. A minimum of five officers must be selected for a trial under tribunal rules.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
He really wanted to plead "Yeah, I dunnit an' I'm GLAD, y'hear? GLAD!", but his lawyer stopped him.
#2
He's already won one battle - Allred decided to exclude his interrogation in Afghanistan after he was captured since it came from "coercion". I'd love to know what level of coercion this was. Was it listening to Barry Manalow for hours on hours or something more esoteric like looking at pigs eat shit?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/22/2008 7:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Just whack him. He has NO RIGHTS under the Geneva convention, and is nothing but a muzlim jihadi - just slightly below whale sh$$ on both the intelligence and usefulness scales. The way the US is handling this bunch of loons is making me want to puke.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:34 Comments ||
Top||
Five Taliban fighters were killed during a gun battle with anti-social elements at Darra Adam Khel town in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province on Monday.
Police said the Taliban attacked the hideouts of some anti-socials at Jinnah Kor in Darra Adam Khel in a bid to "eliminate" them. They retaliated and five Taliban cadres were killed during the exchange of fire.
The incident created tension in the area. The Taliban had earlier claimed that the anti-socials were involved in "unethical and heinous" activities and warned they would take action against the elements.
The gun battle took place even as security forces continued their operations against the Taliban in Hangu district of NWFP. Curfew was relaxed in Hangu town since this morning and shops and markets were open.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said security forces had cleared Hangu of militants after killing 20 rebels and capturing another 60.
"At least 20 militants have been killed and 60 others captured so far in the operation as the troops managed to push militants out of the district and are now targeting them in the mountains in the north of Hangu district," Abbas said.
The army launched a crackdown in Hangu district after the Taliban killed 15 paramilitary personnel in an ambush on June 11. There have been several fierce clashes between security forces and militants, including an attack by about 120 Taliban fighters on the Frontier Corps fort at Torawarai in Hangu on Saturday night.
There were also reports of a fresh clash today between security forces and Taliban in the Swat valley in NWFP though there were no details about casualties. The Pakistan Army denied a claim by the Taliban that six security forces personnel were killed in the clash.
The Swat area had been peaceful for the past few weeks but the local Taliban had warned that they might carry out attacks if the security forces did not halt the operation in Hangu.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#5
I'd like to meet these "anti-social elements", and offer them a half-dozen 106-recoilless rifles and as much ammunition as they can stock in their cave. More, please!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:37 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Does this mean the Taliban are the "socials?" God help someone. This tripe must have been written by a Taliban sympathizer.
Forty-three people, including nine paramilitary personnel, have been killed and many more injured in fierce clashes between the security forces and militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province.
An engineer of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited was also among the dead. Many persons were injured, some of them seriously, in two days of fighting between the security forces and militants in Uch area of Dera Bugti district, sources in the paramilitary Frontier Corps told a news agency.
Eight militants were killed on Saturday while the rest were killed yesterday. Heavy weapons, including rockets and mortars, were used in the clashes.
The security forces also arrested nine injured militants and recovered a huge cache of arms from their possession. The injured militants were shifted to the provincial capital of Quetta for treatment and interrogation.
Frontier Corps personnel also arrested over two dozen other armed men and seized weapons and ammunition from their possession.
The clashes erupted after the militants targeted a gas installation in Uch area on Saturday night. Intermittent exchanges of fire between security forces and militants continued yesterday.
A spokesman of the Baloch Republican Army claimed that its members had killed "many" security forces personnel but this could not be independently confirmed. The spokesman also accused the security forces of killing innocent tribesmen.
The security forces said they had destroyed two camps from which the militants were launching attacks on gas installations and security personnel, a newspaper reported. Three militant commanders were among the dead, official sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
(Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen shot an eminent tribal elder Malik Shah Jehan and wounded three others in northwestern Pakistan's tribal area on Monday.
Malik Shah Jehan, accompanied by Malik Ayaz Khan, his driver and guard, was going to Peshawar, capital city of North West Frontier Province when unknown gunmen fired bullets at their vehicle near Shandor Mor in Bajaur tribal agency.
As a result, Malik Shah Jehan was killed while Malik Ayaz Khan,driver Basmillah Khan and a passerby Aajab Khan sustained critical injuries, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The injured were shifted to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
BAGHDAD – Coalition forces discovered a massive cache of weapons during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq elements near Samarra that concluded July 19.
During the 48-hour operation, Coalition forces discovered three weapons caches and two buildings believed to be used in terrorist operations. One building was assessed to be a classroom where terrorists learned to build car bombs. The building had diagrams cut into the walls showing how to install bombs in vehicles, and a “test range” outside, littered with car parts. Coalition forces called for supporting aircraft to destroy the building and prevent its future use in terrorist operations.
Coalition forces systematically cleared the area, about 90 kilometers north of Baghdad, which is known to have weapons caches and hideout locations used by AQI leaders. The caches contained 810 105 mm artillery rounds, numerous rockets and mortars, 50 rocket-propelled grenades, several anti-aircraft weapons, vehicle mounts and ammunition, as well as bulk explosives. Munitions experts safely destroyed all the weapons on site.
#1
Goodness -- they'll be catching up to France, soon, at the rate they're going, when it's only the odd bomb in the cellar or one of the back fields of the family farm.
(Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen killed a tribal leader in a drive-by shooting in the volatile Diyala province on Monday, a provincial police source said. "Abdul Ghafoor Abdullah, a chieftain of the Obeid clan in Diyala, was gunned down when unknown armed men showered his car with bullets while driving in the Abu-Seida area, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
In separate incident, gunmen believed to be affiliated to al-Qaida organization stormed a house in the al-Bawashi village, south of Diyala's capital city of Baquba, and kidnapped four people, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
(VOI) - A senior police officer was killed and four of his bodyguards were wounded in a bomb explosion in central Kirkuk, the city's districts police chief said on Monday. "An improvised explosive device went off this afternoon targeting the motorcade of Colonel Khabat Hamma Gharieb, deputy chief of al-Urouba police department, in al-Kournish street in central Kirkuk, killing him on the spot," Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI). "Four of his bodyguards were wounded in the explosion and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
(VOI) - Two Iraqi soldiers were killed by al-Qaeda gunmen in the city of Mosul, the Multi-National Force-Iraq said in a statement on Monday. "The two soldiers were killed when their vehicle patrol was attacked by al-Qaeda gunmen using light weapons," said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
(VOI) - Policemen on Monday freed a kidnapped man and arrested five wanted men during two separate operations in the city of Mosul, the chief of the Ninewa police said. "Police forces managed to free a kidnapped man in al-Mushahada region in western Mosul after receiving intelligence information indicating his presence," General Khaled Hussein al-Hamadani told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The forces did not arrest any of the kidnappers," he added. Meanwhile, the general said "police forces detained five wanted men in al-Maamoun region in southwestern Mosul." "The detainees are suspected of being al-Qaeda members," he also said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
(VOI) -- The Kurdish intelligence agency, also known as Asayesh, seized a cache of arms and explosives in a village in the district of Khanaqin, a senior Kurdish security official said on Monday. "The cache, found at a late hour on Sunday evening inside a stable in the village of Bana Qora Tu, (30 km) north of Khanaqin, contained two anti-aircraft machine guns, 17 mortar shells, 13 RPG rockets and several artillery shells," Asayeh chief, Muhammad Kareem, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
Asayesh or Asayish (Arabic for security) is a Kurdish organization, created in September 1993. It is referred to as an "intelligence agency", "security force","security service", "security police", "secret service", "secret police", or just "Kurdish police". It is related to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barazani. It also acts under the command of the Kurdish National Assembly (parliament) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"An urgent probe was launched to find out whether the cache belongs to the time of the former regime or is used by armed groups active in the area," Kareem added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
(VOI) -- The leader of the Iraqi Umma Party Mathal al-Alousi on Monday accused whom he described as "sectarianists and murderers" of detonating his Baghdad-based family house earlier today. "Sectarianists, killers and other groups were provoked by our project to return displaced persons, prompting them to blow up the house of the family in al-Jame'a neighborhood, western Baghdad," MP Alousi said in statements to the press, according to a correspondent for Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI). The parliamentarians did not name the so-called "sectarianists and murderers."
Earlier today, unidentified gunmen detonated the house of the mother of independent MP Alousi in a western Baghdad neighborhood, causing the house, which was empty at the time of the blast, to collapse, a police source said. Last week, MP Alousi led a demonstration demanding the return of hundreds of families, who have been displaced from their original places in Baghdad's western neighborhoods of al-Adl and al-Jame'a.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Gaza - Ma'an - Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas announced on Tuesday morning that one of their members was killed in an explosion during "a special operation" in Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood in the east of Gaza city. Two others were injured. "Special operation". Palestinian for "they fucked up". Operation 'Glorious Premature Martyrdom' continues ...
The brigades provided no other information on the incident. Head of the ambulance and emergency services, Mo'awiyya Hassanein, told Ma'an that, "at 2am, 24-year-old Khalil Ibrahim Jundiyya arrived dead at the Ash-Shifa' hospital in Gaza city in addition to two others, both with serious injuries". I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker, dammit!
Hassanein said that the doctors had managed to save the life of a baby of an undisclosed age, Hamza Jundiyya who is now being operated on, along with a 17-year-old, Ahmad Jundiyya, who has sustained serious injuries to his body. Just another day at the Ash-Shuja'iyya Day Care Center and Missile Factory...
#1
I do believe the Israelis have gotten the bugs worked out of their nano-meter microwave explosive induction cannon. Now to see if it works on the Gaza tunnels.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 13:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
All Aboard!
The Special Operations Bus has arrivee
A Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people, just weeks after a similar attack in the capital left three dead.
One of the wounded was in serious condition and the rest sustained light wounds. They were taken to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment.
The driver of the tractor struck a bus and at least five cars before being shot dead by security forces,
A Palestinian man from east Jerusalem rammed a construction vehicle into three cars and a city bus in downtown Jerusalem near the luxury hotel where presidential candidate Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday night as he kicks off a visit to Israel. The attacker injured four people before an Israeli civilian shot and killed him, police and witnesses said.
Police said in the latest attack, a civilian driving nearby saw what was happening, jumped out of the car and shot the driver, bringing traffic to a halt. A border policeman who rushed to the scene also shot the driver. Police sealed off possible escape routes into predominantly Arab east Jerusalem and were searching for two suspects who fled the scene, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
#5
"a civilian driving nearby saw what was happening, jumped out of the car and shot the driver"....makes me wonder why the Isrealis have not learned the joys of gun control.
Seriously, I think this points up the reason why every law abiding citizen in the US should be allowed to pack a fire arm. Burglaries, Rapes, Auto Hijackings, etc., would all go down.
Posted by: James Carville ||
07/22/2008 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Maybe you should add an ammendment toy your constitution requiring people to carry a handgun in public places?
#12
BP, I don't think our Government should require everyone to carry a weapon. I do think that if I want to, I should be allowed to if I have completed a firearms course. Fortunately here in Tennessee I can.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/22/2008 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Frankly, I would like it if, when I check in for a flight, the conversation would go something like this:
TSA: Sir, are you armed?
me: no, of course not.
TSA: Would you like to be? We have a fine selection of handguns in all calibers from .40 to .50.
me: I'll try the Desert Eagle.
TSA: very good, sir. Here you are.
I can guarantee there would be no hijackings on that flight.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 23:11 Comments ||
Top||
For a long time intelligence sources have been keenly aware of Al Qaeda's efforts at establishing a presence in and around Israel, but they have been unsuccessful, until recently.
Early in July 2008, the Shin Bet (Israel's equivalent of the FBI) arrested two Bedouin on suspicion of passing information about key locations in Israel that could be potential terrorist targets, among them, Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport. The two suspects, who were described in local reports as cousins, were accused of membership in a terrorist organization, aiding the enemy in wartime and delivering information to the enemy in order to harm national security. In addition, the suspects allegedly passed along information about places where terrorists could infiltrate Israel from the West Bank.
This week, in a joint operation between the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, six Israeli Arabs were arrested after information was received about an attempt to organize a local Al Qaeda network. Two of the suspects, students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, hold Israeli citizenship, and the other four are Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.
Using their cell phone they filmed helicopters taking off and landing at the sports stadium on the university campus at Givat Ram in Jerusalem from their dormitory window, which overlooks the area. The stadium is frequently used as a helipad by government officials and visiting dignitaries. They posted queries on Al Qaeda linked web sites asking for advice on how to shoot down a helicopter with the idea of downing President George Bush's helicopter during his visit to Israel in January of this year. The helipad on the campus was used by Bush's entourage due its proximity to strategic destinations.
Following the police raid in the early hours of Friday morning, July 18, 2008, an indictment was issued against the suspects at the Jerusalem District Court on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, possessing propaganda material supporting a terror organization, and attempting to form a local Al Qaeda cell in Jerusalem.
Investigators found that some of the suspects had surfed Al-Qaeda web sites featuring radical Islamic content, and had also downloaded instructions from the internet on their computer on bomb making.
There was no indication that the suspects' activities ever passed the planning stage and they do not face charges of active involvement in any attacks.
The suspects confessed that they had held regular meetings at the Dome of The Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City and that they had established an Al Qaeda linked cell.
After the arrests took place, no surprise was expressed by other students who spoke about an atmosphere of radicalism on the campus that encouraged such activities. One of the students who did not want his name published, spoke of radical groups holding political meetings all the time. He said that he knew the suspects and that they were very quiet, kept to themselves, and did not encourage other students to socialize with them.
One Arab student said that the radicalism was even worse at the Mount Scopus campus where there is a large Arab student body. At the beginning of the year there was a violent confrontation between Jewish and Arab students over the IDF blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This incident is apparently the first time that Israeli security forces have arrested any citizens for involvement with the Al Qaeda terror network.
Shin Bet and the Israel Police have a network of intelligence sensors which relay all relevant information about potential terrorist activities and acting on the information received they made the arrests.
While there are several hardline Muslim groups in the Gaza Strip that have claimed responsibility for bombing coffee shops and internet cafes because of their perceived Western influence, they do not belong to the global terror groups.
There is no known Al-Qaeda presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, though Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have both expressed concern about the group trying to enter the Palestinian areas.
Eitan Azani, deputy director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, said "The arrests demonstrate the virtual process Al- Qaeda is using to build an infrastructure in the Middle East, including in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and now Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Palestinian security officials say Israeli troops have arrested a Hamas lawmaker from the West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian security says that lawmaker Mona Mansour and 19 other people with alleged ties to the Islamic group were arrested early Monday.
Israeli troops have in recent weeks raided Nablus almost nightly in a crackdown against the violently anti-Israel Hamas. The soldiers have closed down several institutions allegedly linked to Hamas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the Israeli operations seriously undermine his efforts to get Palestinians to support peace talks he is holding with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
(Xinhua) -- Israeli settlers fired on Monday a homemade rocket at two villages south of the West Bank city of Nablus, causing no injuries, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.
Hani Abdelatif, member of the municipal council of the village of Awarta told reporters that a 40-centimeter homemade rocket landed on Monday afternoon on a valley between the villages of Awarta and Odla south of Nablus, causing no damages or injuries.
Palestinian security sources said it is the first time that Jewish settlers fire homemade rockets at Palestinian villages near Nablus.
The sources said a group of settlers, belonging to one of the Jewish schools in the settlement of Yitzhar south of Nablus, are responsible for making the rockets and fire it at Palestinian villages.
A statement issued by the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah said the Palestinian National Authority condemned the homemade rockets attacks and called on Israel to arrest the group and stop the attacks of the Palestinians.
Settlements expansion in the West Bank is a major obstacle for achieving a progress in the Middle East peace process.
Gaza militant groups were launching homemade rockets from Gaza Strip at southern Israeli communities. However, they stopped their rockets attacks following a truce brokered by Egypt between Gaza and Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#2
However, they stopped their rockets attacks following a truce brokered by Egypt between Gaza and Israel.
So who was shooting the rockets at Israel?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/22/2008 0:59 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Jewish people have an extraordinary reputation for being both intelligent and capable. I deeply and sincerely, with every bit of my heart, hope that some of these settlers will improvise a MOAB/daisy cutter and fire it across the border into Gaza, wiping some garbage dump village over there absolutely slick. Such an occurrence is LONG, LONG, LONG OVERDUE!
Olmert and their defense establishment have failed the Jewish people. If there is any hope whatsoever for Israel, it's going to come from a grassroots movement that will begin with things like this.
#5
A statement issued by the Palestinian presidency in Ramallah said the Palestinian National Authority condemned the homemade rockets attacks and called on Israel to arrest the group and stop the attacks of the Palestinians.
#6
A 40 cm rocket is about 16 inches long and would be a hobby rocket for kids here in the US. However the phsycological (sp?) affect on the Paleo's and the Israeli government seems to be much greater than one would expect. Perhaps they are afraid that these things will be more than toys at a later date.
I note that the Paleo's don't like even a little of their own medicine.
#14
When I was a kid, we used to make homemade cannon out of used 1-lb coffee cans. We'd wrap 'em about 40 times in wire (either chicken wire or barbed wire, something with a little give, but strong), pour in a half-inch of black powder (stolen from fireworks), put a piece of cheesecloth on top, pack about 2 inches of nuts, bolts, washers, rusty nails, etc., on top, and cover with some softened but not melted beeswax. We'd put a fuse in the back, and prop the "cannon" up against a tree or a stump, light the fuse, and RUN. As long as the "cannon" didn't slip, it fired the way we wanted it to. It'll clear out a path through underbrush about five feet wide and 20 feet deep, but it as to be fired pretty close to what you want to hit. Anything over about 75 feet away is safe. Still, I'm sure that such things would make a paleostain think three times before entering somewhere he shouldn't be.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2008 16:44 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Wonder if something like the Plugot Mahatz could spring up if this continues.
Eleven more casualties were registered Tuesday in the continuing violence in Thailand's southernmost provinces. One Thai Army soldier was killed and five others were wounded in a bombing and shooting attack in the violence-plagued province of Narathiwat.
The bomb was buried near a deserted mosque in Narathiwat's Cho Ai Rong district. The 20-kilogramme bomb was apparently command-detonated when 14 soldiers from a teacher protection unit were patrolling the area. The military unit then came under attack from an undetermined number of assailants, and exchanged gunfire with the attackers for 20 minutes. Private Saengpet Boonlak was killed, while five other Army soldiers were wounded, and were rushed to hospital. Meanwhile, Pol.Cpl. Sukit Srikanun, who was seriously wounded in a bomb attack in Yala on Monday, died in hospital.
Also in Yala five police officers were wounded in a bomb explosion while they were inspecting damage done to a rubber plantation destroyed by presumed insurgents.
Two Abu Sayyaf members linked to the kidnapping of a Philippine television presenter and three others had been arrested in the southern province of Sulu, police said.
Police said the duo was intercepted at a government checkpoint near a marine base in the village of Buhanginan in Patikul town on Saturday.
The two, both teenagers, were positively identified by the authorities as involved in the June 8 kidnapping of Ces Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including their guide Prof. Octavio Dinampo.
The four were freed weeks later after private negotiators paid P20 million ransom.
One of the two suspects was identified as Nadzmir Amirul. They were on a motorcycle when stopped at the checkpoint.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
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.
"The sky is not falling," Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, said Saturday from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
(SomaliNet) Two foreign fighters were killed alongside 10 local rebels during clashes yesterday in Lower Shabelle region, a commander with Somalia's army told the BBC Somali Service on Monday. The two dead fighters are from Pakistan and Iraq, while urging journalists to "go see" the dead bodies, regional commander Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi said. 
The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began yesterday with a not guilty plea from a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, entered the plea through his lawyer at the US naval base in Cuba. He is the first prisoner to face a US war crimes trial since World War II.
Five Taliban fighters were killed during a gun battle with anti-social elements at Darra Adam Khel town in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province on Monday. 
Forty-three people, including nine paramilitary personnel, have been killed and many more injured in fierce clashes between the security forces and militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. 
BAGHDAD – Coalition forces discovered a massive cache of weapons during an operation targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq elements near Samarra that concluded July 19.
Gaza - Ma'an - Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas announced on Tuesday morning that one of their members was killed in an explosion during "a special operation" in Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood in the east of Gaza city. Two others were injured.
