PESHAWAR, Pakistan - At least 40 militants were killed and scores of others wounded as security forces repulsed an attack by about 600 fighters in northwestern Pakistan.
Six security forces were also killed and seven others wounded in the pre-dawn attack in Mohmand agency.
Insurgents attacked the Frontier Corps' Mohammad Ghat camp at about 2 a.m. Sunday with mortars and rockets, then opened small arms fire on a checkpoint near the camp, said a military official speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment to the media.
The attackers were eventually driven off but scattered skirmishes continued Sunday, he said.
The Mohmand agency lies along the volatile Afghan border and the military official said the bulk of the militants crossed over from Afghanistan and later joined up with Pakistani allies. He said at least 40 militants were killed in the fighting.
The lawless and remote mountain region is believed to be used by pro-Taliban militants as a launch pad for attacks into Afghanistan, and is difficult for reporters to access.
Pakistan has deployed tens of thousands of troops to police its tribal regions, but Western and Afghan officials say that has not deterred militants.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/11/2009 10:04 ||
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#1
didn't call in air support? Oh yeah, they're all posted to the Indian border
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2009 10:15 Comments ||
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#2
Insurgents attacked the Frontier Corps' Mohammad Ghat camp
Just Frontier Corps. Not real Pak army. Expendable.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/11/2009 18:50 Comments ||
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A Yemeni court began on Saturday the trial of three nationals accused of establishing contact with the office of Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering their collaboration to the Jewish state.
The three men are accused of operating under the name of Yemen's Organization of Islamic Jihad and spreading false news of attacks on government buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Yemen between May and September 2008.
The prosecution charged the main defendant, Bassam al-Haidari, 26, of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state.
" We are the Organization of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything "
Extract from email allegedly sent to Olmert
"We are the Organization of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything," Haidari said in the email sent to Olmert, the prosecution charged.
The list of charges says that Olmert responded to Haidari, also known as Abu al-Ghaith, welcoming his offer to collaborate.
"We are ready to support you to become an obstacle in the Middle East. We will support you as an agent," Olmert was quoted as writing back.
According to Yemen's SABA news agency three of the six-member network confessed to working for Israel through communication with the office of PM Olmert and with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
The group, which includes Imad al-Rimi, 23, and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, has also claimed in Internet messages signed by Abu al-Gaith that it prepared 16 car bombs to attack governmental buildings and embassies, according to the charges.
The three defendants denied all the charges and demanded a lawyer. The court agreed to their demand and adjourned the hearing to January 17.
Yemeni authorities rounded up six suspects in Sanaa shortly after a September 17 attack on the U.S. embassy that killed 18 people.
The interior ministry said at the time that the arrested group included Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, who was the signatory of an Islamic Jihad claim of responsibility for the attack on the U.S. mission.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Its sad commentary that this charge will be believed by many Yemenis. What good a few islamonuts in Yemen could possibly be to Israel and why Ohlmert would communicate with them personally is not something that will be considered critically by nearly enough people.
I really wanna like these backward ass muzzies, but sometimes they make it soooo friggin difficult.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/11/2009 1:14 Comments ||
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Unidentified criminals hurled a bomb at two policemen on patrol duty at Dayaganj in the capital last evening that left both the cops injured. Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Moshiur Rahman, 35, and constable Saiful Islam, 32, of Sutrapur Police Station were the victims.
Police officials said ASI Moshiur and constable Saiful came under attack when they were standing next to their motorbike in Dayaganj area. The bomb was hurled from a distance and the policemen could not identify the attackers. Moshiur sustained injuries to his left leg while Saiful was wounded in the abdomen, police said.
They were rushed to the Police Lines Hospital at Rajarbagh and later moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Officer-in-charge Tofazzol Hossain of Sutrapur Police Station added. State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj went to see the victims at the hospital yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Vandals spray-painted the words "Death to Israel'' on two synagogues and a Jewish school early Saturday in three separate incidents police say could be linked and are being investigated as hate crimes.
In each case, the vandals -- at times donning masks -- used orange-colored paint, also shattering glass windows with bricks and rocks at two of the buildings.
A witness and security cameras identified the perpetrators as two men.
Moshe Perlstein, rabbi at Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago, said cameras captured video of the men damaging his rabbinical school at 2756 W. Morse starting at around 4:40 a.m. The footage shows one man spray-painting the side of the building while the other ran around to the front and threw rocks at the front door, breaking a glass window, he said. The video has been turned over to police.
Similar graffiti was found at Anshe Motele Congregation, 6526 N. California, rabbi Alan Abramson said.
Lincolnwood police said vandals also scrawled "Death to Israel'' and "Free Palestine'' on the outside walls of Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation, 7117 N. Crawford. Mitchell Sandler, past president of the congregation, said they threw at least two bricks at the front doors, damaging four windows.
Lincolnwood Police Lt. Mark Brines said police were notified at 6:10 a.m. that a caretaker in the building heard a brick crash through a window at the temple. The caretaker saw "two unknown males running from the scene,'' Brines said.
Because all three buildings were used by orthodox Jews, Sandler said it appeared the men were targeting more devout Jews. "This was a cowardly act in the middle of the night,'' Sandler said. "Obviously there is dismay because of what's been happening in the Middle East.''
Local Jewish leaders were alarmed by what they see as a "rash'' of incidents targeting Jews. "It's disturbing,'' said Jay Tcath, senior vice president of the Chicago Jewish Federation.
The incidents come a little more than a week after Ida Crown Jewish Academy, at 2828 W. Pratt, received a mailed bomb threat that also made reference to other Chicago-area Jewish institutions and day schools, said Jay Tcath, senior vice president of the Chicago Jewish Federation.
And police said they are investigating as a hate crime a Dec. 29 incident in which a man hurled a Molotov cocktail at Temple Sholom of Chicago, 3480 N. Lake Shore Dr., after making "derogatory comments'' to a passerby.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been notified, police said. No arrests have been made.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/11/2009 12:53 ||
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#2
Yet if anyone so much as looks at a mosque cross eyed, CAIR and their ilk start screaming Islamophobia at the top of their lungs.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/11/2009 13:46 Comments ||
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#3
The investigation here should be interesting. Chicago is far behind London in public surveillance devices, but way ahead of most of the country. I wouldn't doubt that the CPD has more evidence piling up, given the amount already recovered. There's also a local trend of false flag actions, but that would be news coming from the locals here.
All in all, sounds like low level bigoted vandalism rather than a serious terror threat, but best to suppress this nonsense now if at all possible.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called on foreign allies Tuesday (January 6) to provide more support - but not troops - to help the country's military and paramilitary forces fight militants in the lawless northwestern tribal areas that border Afghanistan. According to the Associated Press (AP), Zardari reiterated that Pakistan's forces, combined with efforts by the Afghan military across the border, could crush the Taliban-and al-Qaeda-linked militants believed to be based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) if they were provided with the right international support. We will CRUSH them with your American dollars!
No details were provided. Zardari made his comments during his first official visit to Afghanistan since he took office in September. Afghanistan, NATO and the US have been critical of Pakistan's approach toward the rebels in FATA and have urged Islamabad to step up its campaign against the militants in order to reduce violence on both sides of the border. Pakistan has launched several large-scale offensives in recent months, but has refused to allow foreign troops access to FATA and has been critical of at least 25 suspected attacks on rebels by suspected unmanned US drone aircraft since August. Details? We don't need no stink'n details!
The AP reported analysts as saying the two nations are dependent on each other for lasting peace. Meanwhile, the BBC reported that suspected Taliban militants killed three policemen and kidnapped three others late Tuesday in Hangu district, a part of North West Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan. The incident occurred at a police checkpost after officials imposed a curfew in the area ahead of a religious procession for minority Shia Muslims.
The Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims, have recently imposed their version of Islamic Sharia law in parts of Hangu, which is prone to violent sectarian clashes between Shias and Sunnis during the Shia religious ceremony of Ashura, according to the BBC. Authorities increased security measures across the country on Wednesday (January 7) in anticipation of sectarian conflicts due to the annual processions during Ashura, which marks the death of the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the Pakistan-based Dawn news agency reported.
In North Waziristan agency in FATA, militants killed two Afghans and dumped their bodies by a road near Mir Ali town Wednesday. According to Reuters, residents said the men were accused of being spies for US forces in Afghanistan. Similar incidents have occurred each of the last few days in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
01/11/2009 17:36 ||
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#1
WAFF > FOREIGN MILITANTS ATTACK IN PAKISTAN: DOZENS REPORTED DEAD [FATA PakArmy Checkpoints areas near Afghan-PK Border].
The bullet-ridden body of Shabana in the centre of Mingora's Green Square sent two clear messages to the locals in the Swat Valley's largest town: "un-Islamic vices" will no longer be tolerated, and the Taliban is now effectively in control.
Shabana's body was found slumped on the ground, strewn with bank notes, CDs of her dance performances and pictures from her photo album. In case anyone had not grasped the message the local Taliban commander Maulana Shah Dauran broadcast a warning on one of its FM radio stations in the valley: his men had killed her and if any other girls were found performing in the city's Banr Bazaar they would be killed "one by one".
This weekend the last of the bazaar's dancing girls, many of whom had trained under Shabana's wing and lived in her house, were seen loading their belongings on to trucks and fleeing to the relative safety of Karachi and Lahore, where their talents remain in great demand.
The banishment marks a key turning point in the battle for the Swat Valley between Taliban militants and the Pakistan Army. It followed recent orders to close down girls' schools in the valley, shut shops selling music CDs and films, and edicts on barbers to stop shaving beards.
The performances of the dancing girls in Banr Bazaar had been one of the city's last "vices", but in the narrow street where, until last week, they plied their trade, signs were posted on doors stating: "We have stopped dancing, please do not knock on the door." The street now closes at 8pm and only those who live there can leave or enter.
More than 1,000 girls have now fled, though some who remained told The Daily Telegraph that Shabana had paid the price for publicly defying the Taliban's radio mullahs and that she had ignored personal warnings to stop the performances and the training of young dancers in her home.
"On the eve of January 2, some men knocked at the door and asked for a dance party," said Shabana's father Qamar Gul. "She instantly agreed and opened the room and asked the men to wait while she prepared herself." When she returned the four men said: "Let us start." They seized her at gunpoint and told her they were going to slit her throat.
Shabana begged repeatedly while crying for help but they dragged her out of the house, took her to the Green Square and shot her.
Fayaz, a Banr Bazaar resident, said he had now moved to a safer part of the city, and only arranges dance events for selected known clients.
He said dancing could earn about 50,000 rupees (£415) a night, but the business was now finished. The Taliban had denounced the dancing as prostitution, he said, but only 1 per cent of the community was involved.
Farzana, a Banr Bazaar dancer who has moved to Peshawar, said: "We are here for a temporary period. We entertain only selected people and not everyone because we are threatened even in Peshawar. Several of our colleagues have already shifted to Lahore and Karachi, but Banr Street is where we opened our eyes, passed our youth and have acquaintances and fans."
She tearfully broke into verse: "This street, this house, don't come here again - now I have left the place, so there is no one for you."
Posted by: john frum ||
01/11/2009 14:25 ||
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The Taliban are running parallel courts in several areas of Swat district to provide what they call 'speedy and easy justice' to people. However, the NWFP government says the Taliban are doing so to attract the attention of the public and the media.
During a visit to the valley, Daily Times learnt the Taliban courts were functional in many parts of Kabal, Matta and Khwazakhela tehsils.
70 courts: Locals said with the exception of Kanjoo town and Mingora city, more than 70 Taliban courts were functional in the valley.
"Some of those are working secretly, while others, located in areas under the control of the Taliban, are openly hearing and deciding cases and awarding punishments to those found guilty under the Taliban code of conduct," Mingora resident Mehboob Ali said.
He said the Taliban were mostly conducting the courts in the hujras (guest houses) of their supporters or in buildings vacated by residents who migrated from the valley due to Taliban attacks. Ali said several of the Taliban judges did not have school or religious education. He added most of the cases presented before the Taliban courts were about monetary and land disputes and the Taliban judges usually decided the cases within a few hours. "Disregarding the nature of their decisions, many people in those areas prefer the Taliban courts because of their quick decisions," said another local Shehzad Mehmud, who claimed a lawyer of Matta tehsil had lodged a complaint regarding a monetary dispute with a Taliban judge who decided the case on the spot.
He said the maximum time taken by a Taliban court to decide a case was two or three days. Besides imposing fines, the Taliban courts were also punishing those found involved in petty crimes like theft, robbery or using narcotics with lashings.
About a week ago, the faces of two people were blackened on the orders of a similar court in Hangu district and they were paraded on donkeys in a market. A Taliban group has announced sharia in parts of Hangu. Swat District Coordination Officer Shaukat Ali Yousafzai refused to comment. However, NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Daily Times the government would not allow a parallel government or courts in the province. "What is the legitimacy of such courts and who will go there?" he asked and vowed stern action. "This is a challenge for us and we know how to cope with this challenge," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
Aswat al-Iraq: A civilian man was killed by U.S. patrol fire in central al-Amara city on Saturday, a military source in Missan province said. "U.S. forces killed an Iraqi civilian who was eating a meal on a sidewalk in the industrial zone in central Amara," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The U.S. soldiers believed that the man was trying to plant an improvised explosive device," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#3
I dunno, reading reports out of Paleoland and Lebanon the last few years makes me think the Juice have developed a Kid-seeking missile. If that's the case, they could take the lead.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/11/2009 12:53 Comments ||
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#4
Hardly, Capitalist America inveted the N-Bomb and the thermite thingy. Juice are AA League at best....
Aswat al-Iraq: An improvised explosive device (IED) and a cart bomb went off consecutively on Saturday in an area thronging with pedestrians in central Mosul city, but left no casualties, a police source in Ninewa said.
"The IED targeted a police patrol on the crowded al-Corniche street in central Mosul. It left no casualties," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Later, the police suspected a wooden cart parked near the IED blast scene. Policemen cordoned it off and emptied the place of all pedestrians. It blew up by means of remote control but also left no casualties," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Thinking of Pelestine so much, their hands started shaking?
#2
#1 Thinking of Pelestine so much, their hands started shaking? Posted by: g(r)omgoru
Naaah, anyone with any knowledge of how to actually build a working bomb have either been killed or captured. All they have left are the bottom feeders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/11/2009 14:40 Comments ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi policemen on Saturday captured two suspects in the northern part of the district of Talafar, a security source said. "A police force, in collaboration with local residents, arrested two suspects inside a house in al-Nour neighborhood in northern Talafar," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Talafar lies 60 km west of Mosul. "The two are now under investigative custody on charges of planting improvised explosive device," the source said, not giving more details.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi security forces arrested 16 wanted persons in Baghdad during the last 24 hours, the official spokesperson of Baghdad's Operations Command (BOC) said on Saturday. "The arrests took place through security operations throughout Baghdad," General Qassim Atta told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The forces also defused one booby-trapped car and five roadside bombs," he said. Atta pointed out that seven displaced families returned home in Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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The Iraqi government has announced the arrest of a Saudi Arabian militant linked to a 2000 hijacking and more recently accused of violence in Iraq.
The Interior Ministry said Ayish al-Harbi has been accused of leading a three-member criminal gang involved in the killing of police and army officers and forcing families to leave their homes in Iraq. He and the other two suspects were arrested on Dec. 17, according to the statement posted this week on the ministry Web site.
Harbi was a former captain in the Saudi border guards and entered Iraq in 2000 after participating in the hijacking of a plane en route to Britain, the statement said. The plane instead landed in Baghdad. The two hijackers, who were identified at the time as Faisal al-Biloowi and Ayish al-Faridi, surrendered peacefully after hours of negotiations and the 103 passengers and crew members were unharmed.
This article starring:
Ayish al-Harbi
Faisal al-Biloowi
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
ISRAELI soldiers and civilians working along the border fence with Syria have come under gunfire from inside Syrian territory.
No one was wounded in the rare incident that came amid heightened alert in Israel along its northern border as the military offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip entered its third week, a senior military official told AFP. A person opened fire at a group of soldiers and civilians repairing the fence along the border with Syria," the official said.
The Israeli military filed a complaint to the United Nations force monitoring the usually calm border between Israel and Syria, he said. "UN forces are currently conducting searches along the Syrian side of the border," the official said.
Islamic Jihad' published Saturday evening photos of IDF weapons and equipment allegedly seized by its military wing. The group claims its members collected the loot following heavy exchanges of fire between gunmen and IDF troops barricaded in a house east of Khan Younis. A statement published by Islamic Jihad's military wing said group members were able to seize a LAW rocket, two-way radios, medicine, and clothes. Photos published by the group also feature empty packages of Israeli hotdogs left behind by IDF troops.
Islamic Jihad said the equipment seized included blood-soaked IDF uniforms. The group said the incident in question took place Friday yet the details were only being published at this time due to security considerations.
"Our message to the gutless enemy is that our fighters will ambush you everywhere," the group said. "They will surprise you and hurt you in response to your crimes in the Strip. You should be aware that we still possess many surprises that will hurt you and make you sorry." However, the photos published by the group make it difficult to ascertain whether the LAW rocket launcher indeed has a missile in it, and whether it was seized recently.
Meanwhile, the IDF has boasted somewhat more impressive achievements Saturday. The army said it killed Gaza City rocket chief Amir Mansi, a central figure involved in Grad rocket attacks on Israel. That last bit was already reported here, but how could I spoil a story that ended so beautifully? ;-)
#3
"Our message to the gutless enemy is that our fighters will ambush you everywhere,"
Ambushee (advancing into enemy urban territory without bombarding it flat) = gutless, ambusher (in burka, pretending to teach kindergarten) = courageous.
#4
So, they got hold of an used LAW tube and some litter, plus some left-overs from the evacuated home... Dude, the Arab Fighting Man IS the most manly-man!... And anyone who sez there's a deep-seated psycho-sexual insecurity in the male arab psyche that is repressed by abusing in boast, words or acts those perceived as weak or feminine is just pure slander.
Israeli forces pounded rocket-launching sites and smuggling tunnels in Gaza yesterday and planes dropped leaflets warning of an escalation in attacks, as Palestinian militants fired at least 10 more rockets at Israel.
Flames and smoke rose over Gaza City amid the heavy fighting. The Israeli threat to launch a "new phase" in its two-week-old offensive that has already killed more than 800 Palestinians came in defiance of international calls for a ceasefire.
Israeli planes sent a cloud of white leaflets fluttering across the Gaza City skyline warning residents it would soon step up its war on Hamas and other militant groups.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
do not lift your boot off their throat as long as there is life in their eyes. a job half done is worse than never starting.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/11/2009 0:47 Comments ||
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#2
Question for Israeli Rantburgers.
Do your politicians have the support neccessary to take Gaza and run a long term COIN op there?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/11/2009 0:56 Comments ||
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#3
We are seeing in Gaza, and have seen to lesser extent in Iraq and afghanistan, a change from war being impersonal to war being personal.
Wage war and your house and (hopefully) your relatives houses will be bombed. Civilian causalties will in all likleyhood be your relatives.
Terrorists are no longer fish swimming in the sea. They are fish with bright neon targets on their back.
#4
Wrong question Mike N. The right question is "Do Israelis recognize that it's Metzada/Warsaw Ghetto time again---only this time we've an equalizer?".
#6
Haaretz and JPost both report that some Hamas units are low on ammo; others have lost enough personnel to be essentially ineffective. Hamas leaders are holed up in hospitals and some foreign counsels.
Reported yesterday but there's always a reason to ululate ...
IDF troops in the Gaza Strip on Saturday targeted Hamas operative Amir Mansi, a senior member of Izzadin Kassam, the group's military wing.
A senior commander of IDF operations in the Strip said that Mansi was the head of the Gaza Strip rocket division, and was Mansi was previously involved in dozens of rocket attacks against Israel in recent weeks.
He was also said to be a close associate of Hizbullah, and was known to receive information from the group on a regular basis.
Mansi was killed whilst attempting to fire mortars at Givati troops at Jabal Rice, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Palestinian terror groups hosted in Syria, including Hamas, rejected deploying international observers or troops in Gaza on Saturday.
Why not? It's worked well for the Hezbies in southern Lebanon ...
A statement issued by the groups after a meeting attended by Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal safely hiding in Damascus also rejected any security arrangement that "infringes on the right of resistance against Israeli occupation."
The statement reiterated Hamas's demands including an immediate halt to Israeli attacks, full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, lifting the siege and opening all border crossings. It said these demands serve as the "foundation for any initiatives or suggestions for a solution."
The statement came hours after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas, which controls Gaza, to reach an agreement to end the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Why not? It's worked well for the Hezbies in southern Lebanon
#3
Damn straight they don't want any international observers in Gaza; they might report the truth about the brave lions of Islam. And we can't have that.
#4
Intl observers would be more efficient in weapon detection than in Lebanon because Gaza is smaller (detectors work better when the Israelis can tell the inspectors where the bombs are). They also might report Hamas atrocities against regular Gazans.
Terrorists Suspected separatist rebels have killed four civilians in Thailand's jihad-infested insurgency-hit far south, according to police.
Three rubber tappers -- a Muslim woman and two Buddhist men -- were shot dead in an attack early Sunday in Yala province, police said. Two other men were wounded in the ambush. On Saturday evening in nearby Pattani province, a 54-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting.
#1
Paging HRW to the white courtesy phone. [Where has your outrage about the hundreds/thousands of civilians murdered, butchered, burned alive by the Islamist in Thailand?/rhetorical question]. It's not like there's a principle involved, you're just on the other side.
Sri Lankan security forces were ready to deal a "decisive blow" to the remaining Tamil Tiger rebels following the capture of the highly strategic Elephant Pass, the defence ministry said yesterday. After four days of fierce fighting, government forces on Friday established full control over the causeway, which links the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the mainland.
"The fall... has deprived the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the most crucial strategic ground at the 'Jaffna gateway' following an eight year occupation," the ministry said. "Troops are now poised at launching a decisive blow at the remaining LTTE strong points at Mulliyan, Chempiyanpattu, Chundikulam and Kaddaikadu."
The ministry had already declared that the ethnic rebels were facing near "extinction" after security forces captured their main political headquarters of Kilinochchi last week. "The end-game of LTTE's protracted separatist cause is reaching its final stages, as the advancing security forces overran the most fortified LTTE northern garrison" at the Elephant Pass, the ministry said.
The Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting since 1972 for a separate homeland, had held the pass since April 2000, and its loss is another huge blow to the separatists after the fall of Kilinochchi last week.
"Our forces have recorded another historic victory today," President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a televised address to the nation on Friday. "That is the complete dislodging of the Tigers from Elephant Pass and the security forces establishing their authority there," he said.
The military now controls a 142-kilometre (88-mile) stretch of the important A-9 highway and can supply troops and nearly half a million civilians in Jaffna by road, the president said.
Government forces were also moving towards the remaining jungle hideouts of the Tigers in the northeastern district of Mullaittivu amid rebel resistance, the army said. The rebels are now almost totally confined to the jungle and lagoon district, where some 300,000 civilians are also living.
The army on Saturday accused the rebels of killing seven civilians who were fleeing from the town of Murusumoddai, near Mullaittivu district. Troops also recovered 11 rebel bodies following heavy fighting around the Murusumoddai area on Friday, the army said.
The LTTE meanwhile accused troops of directing artillery fire towards an internally displaced camp inside rebel-held Mullaittivu on Friday, killing one man and injuring four others. The leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, vowed in a radio broadcast in November to fight on and evict government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Reopening the road to Jaffna is huge, the SL army is really pouring it on. Now, to mop up the remaining areas that the rebels hold territory, and hopefully begin democracy and reconciliation programs in the siezed territory.
#4
While it was "fun" at first, the majority of the Tamils in Sri Lanka today just want to get on with living and don't much care for the LTTE. Freeing them from that yoke of tyranny would be a good thing. Reinstituting the rule of law and democratic behavior would be well-received by everyone but the militants, who won't be pleased with anything but a unilateral victory. Screw them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/11/2009 14:54 Comments ||
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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.
Vandals spray-painted the words "Death to Israel'' on two synagogues and a Jewish school early Saturday in three separate incidents police say could be linked and are being investigated as hate crimes.
The bullet-ridden body of Shabana in the centre of Mingora's Green Square sent two clear messages to the locals in the Swat Valley's largest town: "un-Islamic vices" will no longer be tolerated, and the Taliban is now effectively in control.
The Iraqi government has announced the arrest of a Saudi Arabian militant linked to a 2000 hijacking and more recently accused of violence in Iraq. 
Islamic Jihad' published Saturday evening photos of IDF weapons and equipment allegedly seized by its military wing. The group claims its members collected the loot following heavy exchanges of fire between gunmen and IDF troops barricaded in a house east of Khan Younis. A statement published by Islamic Jihad's military wing said group members were able to seize a LAW rocket, two-way radios, medicine, and clothes. Photos published by the group also feature empty packages of Israeli hotdogs left behind by IDF troops. 
Palestinian terror groups hosted in Syria, including Hamas, rejected deploying international observers or troops in Gaza on Saturday. 
