KABUL - Two foreign nationals, believed to be Westerners, and an Afghan were killed in a shoot-out in broad daylight in central Kabul on Saturday, the city's deputy police chief said. It was unclear what prompted the exchange of fire outside the offices of the international courier company DHL, Alishah Ahmadzai said.
Umm, just a guess, but .. sudden jihadi syndrome?
Another senior official said, on condition of anonymity, that the shootout erupted after an argument between the foreigners and their Afghan guards. "Two foreigners and one Afghan have been killed," Ahmadzai said. Two people were also wounded, he said, without giving their identities.
A police investigator said two of the dead were killed in a four-wheeled drive vehicle just outside the office of the courier company. They were killed just after they left the office and got into the vehicle, another witness said. At least one of the dead foreigners was an employee of DHL, a man who said he was a friend told AFP.
The vehicle was covered in a large tarpaulin as police removed the bodies and drove them away, an AFP reporter said. One of the bodies had been slumped in the front seat of the vehicle, the reporter said. Blood was pooled just outside as well as in the front and back seats, and the front windows were blown out, he said.
It was the second fatal shooting in the city since a British South African aid worker was shot dead on Monday while she was walking to work.
The extremist Taliban movement, waging an insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai, claimed responsibility for the killing but authorities have not confirmed they were involved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Peace talks in Somalia have failed after interim government delegates informed the opposition that Ethiopian forces would not leave Somalia.
On Saturday, the third round of negotiations in Djibouti faced major obstacles, after government delegates, General Abdi Hassan Awaale and Mohammad Warsamme Darwiidh informed the UN representative and opposition groups that Ethiopian forces would not leave unless UN multi-national troops take over Somalia towns. Government delegates also said that Ethiopian forces would stay in Somalia until the interim government gets enough strength to defend itself against the insurgency.
After hearing the statement from government delegates, opposition members walked out of the meeting in protest.
Government officials have confirmed the failure of the peace talks despite efforts by UN representative, Ahmed Ould Abdallah to keep the effort going.
In a contact with a PressTV following the breakdown of the session, the opposition said that they have control of over 95 percent of Somalia and asked why Ethiopian forces do not intend to leave the country and continue supporting the unpopular transition government in Somalia.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Somalia peace" = oxy moron
(Emphasis on the moron)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/26/2008 23:06 Comments ||
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Al-Shabaab's representative says that they have destroyed two military vehicles and killed 60 Ethiopian soldiers in a military operation.
On Saturday, in a press conference, in south Mogadishu, Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Mansur said that in heavy fighting between al-Shabaab fighters and Ethiopian forces along the border of the Lower Shabelle region, 60 Ethiopian soldiers were killed.
Mansur also said fighting was still ongoing in the region and they expect to inflict damages to the enemy.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian forces have captured the two towns of Wajid and Hudur on Saturday. All communications were cut off after Ethiopian forces captured the cities and there is not any news of casualties in the cities so far, the PressTV correspondent reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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Sudanese forces and rebels have clashed in Darfur, a week after Sudan's president launched a national initiative to end the five-year-old conflict.
Mohamed Abdullah, a commander with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) headed by Abdel-Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, said his group lost two fighters but captured a number of government vehicles and weapons in the clash on Thursday.
A representative for the Sudanese military could not confirm the incident but said the army had troops operating in north Darfur.
Noureddine Mezni, a spokesperson for the joint United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID), said: "We have initial information about clashes in the area. We are monitoring the situation." He did not give further details.
The clashes came a week after Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir launched a national initiative to end the five-year-old conflict. Rebel groups boycotted the event.
Suleiman Jamous, a leader of another SLA/Unity group in north Darfur, said both forces clashed when they confronted each other "by accident" on a road near the area of Anabaji.
Abdullah and Jamous said government forces overtook a rebel base in the Helf area in north Darfur on Thursday night. "There will be Dire Revenge™ retaliation," Abdullah told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Violence near a south Darfur flashpoint displaced 12,000 people and killed more than 40 civilians when Arab militia attacked Sudanese villages, aid workers and a rights watchdog said on Saturday.
Precise details on who was behind the fighting, the extent of damage and casualties remain elusive because humanitarian missions cannot access the area around Muhagiriya, east of the South Darfur state capital of Nyala. "At least 15 villages were attacked and burnt, and about 12,000 people displaced," one international aid worker told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The United States-based organisation, Human Rights Watch, said more than 40 civilians were killed between October 5 and 17, and thousands fled their homes. It quoted unnamed local sources as saying government-backed Arab militias attacked more than 13 villages and settlements around Muhajariya, burning homes and stealing livestock in operations against rebel forces.
"I've seen reports of between 40 and 70 dead. There has been some assessment down there but probably not enough to be sure about how many were killed," said an aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Arab militia attacks around Muhagiriya were reported on October 12 by members of the deeply fractured rebel group the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
Human Rights Watch said ongoing fighting, which has also carried on for weeks in North Darfur, underscored the inability of the under-deployed African Union and United Nations peacekeeping operation to protect civilians.
No one from the government in Nyala or the Sudanese military responded to telephone calls from AFP on Saturday.
The violence goes against a new peace initiative launched by President Omar Al Beshir on October 16, at a ceremony attended by regional dignitaries but by none of the rebels involved in the nearly six-year war.
The Sudanese head of state could face an international arrest warrant for alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. His regime wants the UN Security Council to suspend any world court legal proceedings.
Aid officials said fighting was reported between the 'Arab' Maaliya tribe and the 'African' Zaghawa, and SLM rebels clashing with Arabs, but did not know to what extent the Arabs operated independently or for the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Pirates in Nigeria have attacked at least two oil vessels in the offshore waters of the Niger Delta, briefly seizing a group of oil workers.
Gunmen early Saturday hijacked the vessel Bourbon Ajax in the oil-producing delta, also taking 10 Nigerians on board hostage, two private security sources said. The boat and the captives were released a short time later. One security source said Canada's Addax Petroleum contracted the boat.
Insecurity in the heart of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry has shut down around a fifth of the OPEC member's oil production since early 2006.
Security experts have said that Nigeria's navy is ill equipped to deal with militants and pirates, who use small fast speedboats to navigate the delta's narrow creeks, forcing oil firms to take their own additional security measures. Foreign oil companies routinely hire private security contractors in southern Nigeria but are often cautious about explicit relationships with the military, whom militant and rights groups have in the past accused of human rights abuses.
Experts blame the delta's insecurity and chronic federal funding shortfalls for the country's inability to produce anywhere near its capacity of around 3 million barrels per day. Nigeria is currently pumping near 2 million bpd.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If oil prices continue crashing these 'petroleum pirates' better find a new line of work.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/26/2008 6:15 Comments ||
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#3
Awww, What happened to Blackbeard, he was far worse than this upstart.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/26/2008 13:47 Comments ||
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#4
AP has a story today that private security firms (Blackwater and Hollowpoint were mentioned) are in negotiations with various carriers to provide 'services' to ships. The US Navy is pushing this action so of course the rest of the world is condemning it.
They included the mandatory spin that sea going fluffy bunnies and baby ducks were sure to be shot up if this happens.
NEW DELHI: In a new twist in the terror email case, IT professional from Pune, Mohammed Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy who was arrested for sending terror emails prior to the Ahmedabad and Delhi serial blasts, is poised to turn approver, according to Times Now.
Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner Mumbai police confirmed that Mansoor Peerbhoy has filed an application in the MCOCA court indicating that he wants to turn an approver and help the police build a case against other accused.
Peerbhoy wrote an application in the MCOCA court on October 8 and submitted it only on October 21. The court has to decide on Peerbhoy's application.
Maria said, "Peerbhoy has filed an application in MCOCA court. He wrote the application on Oct 8, submitted it on Oct 21. His decision is pending in MCOCA court but this will help us considerably in exposing IM."
According to Times Now sources Mumbai police are happy that Peerbhoy is actively considering turning an approver because the terror techie, as he is called, is one of the nodal members of the conspiracy hatched by the Indian Mujahideen to carry blasts across the country.
31-year-old Mohammed Peerbhoy was working at an IT company belonging to the Yahoo group and was drawing a hefty pay packet of around 19 lakh rupees a year. He was considered a whiz in web server technology and used his knowledge to hack into unprotected wi-fi connections to send terror emails on behalf of the Indian Mujahideen (IM).
Posted by: john frum ||
10/26/2008 09:16 ||
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#1
31-year-old Mohammed Peerbhoy was working at an IT company belonging to the Yahoo group and was drawing a hefty pay packet of around 19 lakh rupees a year. He was considered a whiz in web server technology and used his knowledge to hack into unprotected wi-fi connections to send terror emails on behalf of the Indian Mujahideen (IM)
#7
I showed our local bank three different ways their "secure" online banking could be hacked, and they had conniptions. I'm just an amateur - think what a hacker-pro could do! Even with doing that, they STILL wanted me to sign up for online banking, the idiots.
Most systems can be hacked. This guy wasn't even attacking anything that was actually SECURE, or supposedly secure.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/26/2008 13:35 Comments ||
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#8
Maybe he should have looked down the 7 layer model and changed his MAC address too.
MAC addresses are hard coded on the NIC, and generally cannot be changed. Besides, even in the rare instances it can be changed, it wouldn't make any difference. The MAC gets stripped at the first router hop when the packet is re framed and passed on.
In reality, TCP/IP implements all 7 layers of the OSI model in 4 layers. RFC's define the inner workings of the various component parts of the protocols that embody the TCP/IP suite.
For example, the various TCP/IP-related protocols usually mapped to the OSI application layer don't have the same abstraction and regularization impact that the Europeans anticipated / wanted when they pushed that model.
FWIW: I wrote the layer2 & layer3 & what then was the core of layer4 protocol handlers for one of the first commercially deployed OSI implementations in the US, before the TCP/IP definitions were firmed up for DOD.
Long time ago, when the SNA dinosaurs still roamed the earth and Big Iron was all the rage.
#11
For example, the various TCP/IP-related protocols usually mapped to the OSI application layer don't have the same abstraction and regularization impact that the Europeans anticipated / wanted when they pushed that model.
True enough. That still doesn't alter the fact that the functionality intended in the OSI 7 layers are implemented in 4 layers of the TCP/IP suite.
FWIW: I wrote the layer2 & layer3 & what then was the core of layer4 protocol handlers for one of the first commercially deployed OSI implementations in the US, before the TCP/IP definitions were firmed up for DOD.
Great. That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. OSI isn't being used in the US at this time. The TCP/IP suite currently in use is defined in RFC1122, of course, each of the sub-components (protocols) have their own associated RFC's. And, have been revised and enhanced many times since your contribution.
RFC1122 is a four layer model. FWIW, I work with this stuff daily at a large data hosting center as the NetAdmin.
US special forces have begun teaching a Pakistani paramilitary unit how to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda, hoping to strengthen a key front-line force as violence surges on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.
The start of the programme has not been officially announced, but Pakistan Army officers confirmed on Saturday that 32 Americans were training 116 senior personnel of the Frontier Corps in the restive region. The officials said the course included classroom and field sessions, and the mission would last for around six months. "We need this training to use modern equipment and weapons," said Frontier Corps Commander Major General Tariq Khan.
The US training programme is reportedly smaller than originally proposed, and was delayed, apparently reflecting misgivings in Pakistan over allowing US troops on its territory.
A US defence official said the trainers were US special operations forces who arrived in Pakistan last week.
FC is a relic of British rule that was long a poorly armed, untrained police force, which the government now hopes can be remade into a potent unit capable of confronting the Taliban. American officials have said they are also supplying equipment such as helmets, flak vests and night-vision goggles.
Officers being trained in Warsak: Meanwhile, the electronic media quoted Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar that the Pakistani officers were being trained in Warsak, contrary to reports pointing to the Tarbela area. He said the government had opted for the programme because Pakistani troops are not trained in guerrilla warfare.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm really uncomfortable about all this advanced infantry training being offered to totally unreliable organizations worldwide. What would happen if the jihadis actually started using tactics and aiming before they shoot?
#2
What would happen if the jihadis actually started using tactics and aiming before they shoot?
They'd have about five days' success before the wrath of the US military (at least under a halfway thinking, reasoning president) would descend upon them. Overwhelming blunt force will usually overcome fancy strategy every time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/26/2008 13:37 Comments ||
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#3
especially if the overwhelming blunt force has fancy tactics too
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/26/2008 14:39 Comments ||
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#4
Sorta like training the NVA to keep the Vietcong in check.
Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2008 14:41 Comments ||
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Geo News said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar had been killed in the Bajaur offensive, when an airstrike in the Budano area targeted a cave he was in.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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#1
overpressure bleedout or crushed under tons of rock? Perspiring minds want to know
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 8:16 Comments ||
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#2
The slower and more painful, the better...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/26/2008 8:17 Comments ||
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Security forces have killed 1,500 Taliban during the Bajaur operation so far and regained complete control of strategic towns including Loyesam, military officials said at a media briefing on Saturday. But 95 civilians and 73 troops were also killed during the operation codenamed Sherdill, Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj Gen Tariq Khan and ISPR Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas told reporters.
They said 950 Taliban had also been arrested during the operation that began in August, including 300 foreign terrorists mainly from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Soldiers fought a fierce battle with the well-prepared Taliban battling hard from networks of tunnels and fortified compounds especially in Tang Khata, Rashkai, Khazana and Loyesam, they said.
"No other agency has been prepared for a battle like this," Gen Tariq Khan said. "The worst is over . . . I think we've turned the corner."
But he added that the operation "could go for several months before the area is completely cleared of militants".
Gen Athar Abbas said Taliban had set up a 'parallel system of administration' in Mamund, Charmang and Salarzai tehsils. He said they were attacking security forces, had set up parallel courts beheading people in public, granting business licences and collecting taxes. They had killed 12 tribal elders in 2008 by August.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
We will never know. Either way, I'm glad to see the the Talibans are decreasing in numbers. I bet when the illuminati party gets elected, that it prolongs the WOT.
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) Three Palestinians were killed at dawn on Saturday when a tunnel collapsed under Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security official said. Police found the bodies after hearing a loud explosion near the Salaheddin Gate which leads from the Egyptian side of the border into the impoverished Palestinian coastal territory.
"You sure those detonators are safe, Mahmoud?"
"Relax, Achmed, if they blow I have plenty more right here."
Several Palestinians have died in similar incidents in recent months in the tunnels, which are used to smuggle arms, fuel and other supplies into Gaza.
The 'other supplies' being spare parts for the Kassams ...
In mid-October, Egyptian security forces blew up 10 tunnels used by smugglers to slip contraband into the territory which is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement. Israel has repeatedly urged Egypt to do more to shut down the tunnels.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2008 11:21 ||
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#1
Probably just trying to deliver more milk.
Posted by: Bob ||
10/26/2008 13:34 Comments ||
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#2
Seems like the skill set to both construct and use these Paleostain tunnels has been exhausted, and it's amateur night - with the resulting casualties.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/26/2008 13:40 Comments ||
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#3
I see something different here.
1 Discover tunnel.
2 Fill tunnel with natural gas (No odor)
3 Wait for the first ciggarette smoker to light up
4 Listen for the blast.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/26/2008 13:58 Comments ||
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#4
As kids, we fought gophers with calcium carbide and water, making acetylene gas. Some explosions were just phumfffffs. Some Kabooms! It was a time of innocent merriment.
/waxing nostalgic
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2008 14:43 Comments ||
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#5
Naw, c'mon, you guys. Don't you think we should all chip in to send some of these boys to college to learn engineering? Huh? Didn't think so.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/26/2008 15:49 Comments ||
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US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including a woman, Syrian authorities say.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.
The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq.
The Syrian foreign ministry summoned the US envoy in Damascus to protest at the raid. A government official told Sana: "Syria condemns this aggressive act and holds American forces responsible for this aggression and all of its repercussions."
Official media said the Iraqi envoy had also been summoned.
If confirmed, the raid would be the first by US forces inside Syrian territory, says the BBC's Natalia Antelava.
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday," Sana news agency said. It said that "American soldiers" who had emerged from helicopters "attacked a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside - including the wife of the building guard - leading to [the deaths] of eight civilians".
The dead included a man and his four children and a married couple. "The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," Sana said.
It named the village as Sukkiraya, 8km (5 miles) from the Iraqi border.
A US military spokesman couldn't confirm or deny the reports. He said: "It's a developing situation."
The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money travelling into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency. Washington has accused Damascus of turning a blind eye to the problem.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/26/2008 17:00 ||
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#1
Well, Syria has violated Lebanese, Israeli, and Iraqi sovereignty. Suck it up, assholes. Wanna play in the bigs? Don't whine
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 17:04 Comments ||
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#2
Just in time for election day. Wonder if they think this will help The Messiah?
#7
Iranian agents caught/killed in Iraq, raids in Syria, and another drone attack in talibanistan, operational tempo is quickening. Maybe want to get some things done before Obama the wussiah gets in.
#8
updated story, Via Drudge:
U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."
A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.
The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.
The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.
A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and troops exited the aircraft and fired on a building. He said the aircraft flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information,
Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the charges d'affaires of the United States and Iraq to protest against the strike.
"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," the government statement said.
The area targeted is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.
Iraqi travelers making their way home across the border reported hearing many explosions, said Farhan al-Mahalawi, mayor of Qaim.
On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story."
"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."
He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.
"There hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years," Kelly said.
The foreign fighters network sends militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military are in league with al-Qaida and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, the U.S. military official said.
He said that while American forces have had considerable success, with Iraqi help, in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, and with foreign government help in North Africa, the Syrian node has been out of reach.
"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said.
The White House in August approved similar special forces raids from Afghanistan across the border of Pakistan to target al-Qaida and Taliban operatives. At least one has been carried out.
The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has been cut to an estimated 20 a month, a senior U.S. military intelligence official told the Associated Press in July. That's a 50 percent decline from six months ago, and just a fifth of the estimated 100 foreign fighters who were infiltrating Iraq a year ago, according to the official.
Ninety percent of the foreign fighters enter through Syria, according to U.S. intelligence. Foreigners are some of the most deadly fighters in Iraq, trained in bomb-making and with small-arms expertise and more likely to be willing suicide bombers than Iraqis.
Foreign fighters toting cash have been al-Qaida in Iraq's chief source of income. They contributed more than 70 percent of operating budgets in one sector in Iraq, according to documents captured in September 2007 on the Syrian border. Most of the fighters were conveyed through professional smuggling networks, according to the report.
Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the United States earlier this year of not giving his country the equipment needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said Washington feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.
Though Syria has long been viewed by the U.S. as a destabilizing country in the Middle East, in recent months, Damascus has been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion.
Its president, Bashar Assad, has pursued indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. Syria also has agreed to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, a country it used to dominate both politically and militarily, and has worked harder at stemming the flow of militants into Iraq.
The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Sunday's raid.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 19:21 Comments ||
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#9
I'd consider it "message sent - message received" - your f'ing border proposity goes both ways, and if you won't willingly control it, we will. Pak 1.1 policy implemented to the west
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 19:26 Comments ||
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(Chuck — the map gets posted as a box with a red x
Combining three different entries:
The Euphrates river flows through this area. The Iraqi town of al Qaim is right on the border. Americans have struck targets in this area before.
Also posted by TW & FrankG with comments from FrankG
Syria's state-run television and witnesses say U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along the country's border with Iraq, causing casualties. among high value targets?
The report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal. It gave no other details on Sunday's attack.
Local residents told The Associated Press by telephone that two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raided the village of Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria's border, killing seven people and wounding five. amazing how local residents in targeted villages always have the AP's number handyThe U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.
#2
thx Sherry. My comments were no more insightful than the usual RBers, but why would we being doing this (if we did, it is AP) unless there was a rewarding goal at the end? High-val target, or never happened?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2008 17:36 Comments ||
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#3
So. How did some non-military (presumably) witnesses know these were US troops and aircraft?
Was this so routine there was no attempt to black out various identifiable markings? If so....
Or did it happen at all?
Or did the Israelis do it?
Or did the Syrians do it in order to create a "situation" of some kind?
To repeat, How did anybody know these were US troops?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/26/2008 18:57 Comments ||
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#4
Now that more info has come out, it appears that the US WANTS the bad guys to know who they're facing.
Posted by: Herb Elmatch8158 ||
10/26/2008 22:01 Comments ||
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#5
So. How did some non-military (presumably) witnesses know these were US troops and aircraft?
Richard, it was Snowy.. that's all I can say.
(Ich kann nicht ander no more sayen)
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.
KABUL - Two foreign nationals, believed to be Westerners, and an Afghan were killed in a shoot-out in broad daylight in central Kabul on Saturday, the city's deputy police chief said. It was unclear what prompted the exchange of fire outside the offices of the international courier company DHL, Alishah Ahmadzai said.
Peace talks in Somalia have failed after interim government delegates informed the opposition that Ethiopian forces would not leave Somalia. 
Pirates in Nigeria have attacked at least two oil vessels in the offshore waters of the Niger Delta, briefly seizing a group of oil workers. 
Geo News said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar had been killed in the Bajaur offensive, when an airstrike in the Budano area targeted a cave he was in.
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) Three Palestinians were killed at dawn on Saturday when a tunnel collapsed under Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security official said. Police found the bodies after hearing a loud explosion near the Salaheddin Gate which leads from the Egyptian side of the border into the impoverished Palestinian coastal territory.
