#3
We were there to look at William & Mary for trailing daughter #1 last time round, Rambler dear. Td #2 is considering Northwestern and U of Chicago, so that's why we're going. That's it for college visits, though -- our future travels will answer only to our whims (and perhaps connect with one of Mr. Wife's business trips, if he goes somewhere interesting). I do look forward to getting back to your part of the world -- there's so much to see and do, and y'all are a fun and fascinating bunch. :-)
Boston/New England is another on my list, Alan. It may take a while, though, so y'all start without me, 'k? Just post a note here, and see who shows up.
#4
Unfortunately, prior commitments prevent attendance although it is only about 6hrs drive. Pesky thing, having to earn a living.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
09/13/2009 15:16 Comments ||
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#5
Same issue as JR here. Shorter drive for me, yet we have 30+ employees and their families to keep fed & clothed. I'll lift a (non-alcoholic) beverage to you folks from at least one jobsite though.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/13/2009 15:33 Comments ||
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#6
I will be lifting a Whisky Mac 22:30 BST Wednesday after work to toast all the hard work put into the 'Burg. Can't be there. sorry, but any fly-overs via Londonistan gets you a beer anytime.
[Quqnoos] Afghan and international forces struck a Taliban compound in Kunduz province on Saturday, killing a number of militants, NATO says. The operation was intended to target Taliban commanders and facilitators in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, where a large number of Taliban insurgents have recently been stationed.
"Joint security force members received hostile fire, returned fire and killed a number of militants," a NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) statement said.
No civilians have been harmed in the operation on Saturday, the forces confirmed.
The Afghan and international troops found anti-personnel mine, improvised explosive-device-making material, multiple rocket-propelled grenade systems and a machine gun, the statement further noted.
The Kunduz operation took place a week after a deadly NATO air strike on two hijacked fuel tankers in the province that left up to 90 people dead, most of them civilians.
The Taliban have not made an immediate statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Kunduz operation took place a week after a deadly NATO air strike on two hijacked fuel tankers in the province that left up to 90 people dead, most of them civilians.
More warping the news to fit an agenda, I see. The first reports were that 54 people were killed, mostly Taliban, and another 20-30 injured. This report says 90 killed, mostly civilians. I saw one report, either here or somewhere else, where the death toll was set at 170, virtually ALL civilians. It may be time in Afghanistan to go with a "scorched earth" policy, beginning in Kabul and ending up in Karachi.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/13/2009 16:20 Comments ||
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A roadside bomb stuck a civilian vehicle in the southern Kandahar province on Friday afternoon, killing all on board. The incident occurred in the restive district of Maiwand while the passengers were heading to the provincial capital, Kandahar city, said a provincial senior police official, Col Fazl Mohammad Shirzad.
The incident is reported the latest attack on non-combatants in the troubled southern province after a massive truck bomb in Kandahar city that left at least 43 people and wounded 65 others two weeks ago.
Taliban insurgents have frequently been planting roadside bombs, which military calls it Improvised Explosive Device (IED), as an easy tool to attack Afghan and foreign troops.
In incidents that harms civilians, the Taliban and another other insurgent groups deny responsibility, fearing to lose the public support.
Roadside bombs are the most deadly tactic used by insurgents. More than 172 international troops, hundreds of Afghan police, soldiers and civilians were killed and maimed in such attacks last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Nearly 50 Afghan civilians, security forces and militants were killed in a spate of attacks around the war-torn country, including an overnight military raid targeting insurgents in the increasingly violent north, officials said yesterday. A roadside bomb killed two US troops in the east.
Two Taliban suicide bombers attacked an office of intelligence officers in the southern city of Kandahar, killing one agent. In Kabul province, gunfire broke out after an apparent spat between a US service member and an Afghan police officer, seriously wounding both.
A roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed two US service members, said Capt Elizabeth Mathias, as US military spokeswoman. No other details were released.
Taliban attacks have risen steadily the last three years as have deaths of Afghan civilians caught in the grinding war between the Taliban and US and Nato forces.
Taliban violence which had been largely confined to the country's south and east in the years after the 2001 US invasion has spread to the country's northern provinces this year.
Coalition and Afghan forces Saturday killed 11 militants during an overnight raid in northern Kunduz province, said Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, the provincial police chief.
The operation targeted Taliban fighters who helped foreign fighters and suicide bombers infiltrate the region, said Mathias.
She said "a number" of militants were killed after the forces exchanged fire. Roadside bomb-making material, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades were found at the compound, she said.
The raid did not appear to be connected with the kidnapping of a New York Times reporter and his Afghan colleague this month, officials said. British commandos freed the Western reporter last week but the Afghan and a commando died in the operation.
The abductions followed a Nato airstrike on two stolen fuel tankers that appeared to have killed some civilians, officials said. Officials estimated about 70 people died in the strike.
In Kabul province, an American service member and an Afghan police officer in Kabul got into an argument because the American was drinking water in front of the Afghan police who are not eating or drinking during the day because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said the district chief, Abdul Baqi Zemari.
After the argument, the police officer shot the American and seriously wounded him, while other American troops responded and seriously wounded the police officer, Zemari said.
Lt Robert Carr, a US military spokesman, confirmed an incident between Afghan police officers and a US police mentoring team. He could not give any updates' on the conditions of the two men.
Authorities also reported Saturday a string of deadly militant attacks in the south and east.
In Kandahar, two suicide bombers on a motorbike tried to attack an office of the country's intelligence agency Saturday. Officers and the bombers traded gunfire. One bomber blew himself up and killed an intelligence officer, while the other bomber's explosives went off but didn't kill anyone, said Kandahar deputy provincial Fazel Hamid Sherzad.
In neighboring Uruzgan province, 14 civilians were killed Friday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Churra district, the Interior Ministry said.
Also in Kandahar, another six civilians were killed by an improvised explosive device Friday in Maiwand district, said district police chief Bashir Hamad.
Roadside bombs planted by militants are usually aimed at Nato or Afghan troops, but hundreds of civilians have been killed by them.
A Taliban ambush, meanwhile, killed six private security guards working for a construction company in the eastern province of Kunar on Saturday, said Gen. Khalilullah Ziayi, the provincial police chief. Ten guards were wounded, he said.
Also in the east, a suspected militant rocket attack killed three civilians in Sabari district of Khost, said Wazir Pacha, spokesman for the provincial police chief.
Four police were killed in Nangarhar late Friday when militants attacked a border police checkpoint, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the governor.
In eastern Paktika province, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Bermel district. Only the bomber died, the Interior Ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Seven Afghan policemen were killed in a Taliban raid on their post in northern Afghanistan where attacks linked to the militants are soaring, the local governor said Saturday.
The attack happened late Friday in Kunduz province and comes as the country faces its worst violence in an eight-year war, AFP reported.
'Last night, Taliban attacked a police post in Durai area of Kunduz province and killed seven policemen, one of them the commander of the post,' said Juma Khan Babar, district governor of Kunduz Imam Sahib district.
'Two of the policemen were left alive,' he told AFP. Kunduz was until recently relatively peaceful but has seen a surge in attacks since early this year.
Two New York Times reporters were kidnapped last week in the province, areas of which appear to have come under Taliban influence in recent months.
British-Irish journalist Stephen Farrell escaped unharmed in a Nato commando operation on Wednesday, but his Afghan colleague Sultan Munadi was killed in the crossfire along with a British soldier, and an Afghan woman and child.
The Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001, but the extremists have regrouped to take on about 100,000 Nato and US troops in the war-scarred nation.
A London-based think tank said on Friday the Taliban now had a presence in virtually all areas of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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A number of mortar shells hit parts of central Mogadishu on Friday evening leaving at least ten dead. One of the mortars landed in a residential area while another crashed onto the city's main jail.
The worst incident, however, occurred at De Martino Hospital, a former medical facility that had been converted into a lodge for the Somali war veterans of the 1977/78 conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia. Most of the residents are the Ogaden war veterans and the blast killed six on the spot and left twenty five severely injured.
It was just before Iftar (Futuru) as the residents were waiting to break the fast. By early Saturday morning, four more wounded veterans lost their lives at Medina Hospital.
"It is one of the most shocking events we witnessed," said Hassan Sheikh Qalli, a resident in Hamarweyne district where De Martino Hospital is located.
The injured persons included the spokesman of the disabled war veterans, Abdi Ali Mahad.
The Transitional Federal Government was quick to blame the Islamist group, Al-Shabaab, for the attack. Sheikh Abdirizak Mohamed Qaylow, the spokesman of the pro-government paramilitary unit known as Drawiish condemned what he called the anti-peace (opposition) groups.
"The anti-peace (Al-Shabaab) group engage in this kind of merciless act in the course of their drive to defeat the government in Somalia," said Sheikh Qaylow. "They do not even care who suffers in civilian populated areas," he added.
"We are all shocked," said a legislator who lost a relative, but declined to be named.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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As clashes intensify, Yemeni Zeidi Shia fighters say they have seized a military base, army weapons and arrested 85 soldiers. The fighters led by Abdolmalek al-Houthi took control of the military base in Harf Sufian district of Amran province in northern Yemen, a website for Houthi fighters said in a statement.
The statement also rejected reports that the Yemeni army was advancing in the region despite increased military attacks.
Paging Baghdad Bob to the white courtesy phone.
The attack comes as the clashes continue to rise between the army and the fighters, with the army bombarding different northern areas. Houthi fighters say the army uses forbidden weapons including phosphorus bombs against them.
Apart from clashes in Harf Sufian district the army extended attacks in al-Mulahit but the fighters could repel them and destroyed a tank and a military vehicle.
Fighting between Yemeni troops backed by fighter aircraft and Shia fighters has killed dozens, mostly fighters, since the government launched a wide offensive against Shia tribes earlier in the month.
The Shia fighters have been engaged in on and off fighting with government forces since 2004. The government accuses the fighters of seeking to reinstate the imamate rule, which ended in a 1962 coup. The Houthis, however, say they are defending themselves against religious oppression.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Say, if one of the sides could pretend to be leftists, maybe we could convince some American liberals to form another Abraham Lincoln brigade to go over there and fight with them.
On a roll indeed. We didn't used to get reports so frequently.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two criminals, including one of the top-listed ringleaders of the capital, were shot dead in two separate "shootouts" with law enforces in the city and Khulna yesterday. They are Shahar Ali, 35, of East Monipur of Mirpur, and Farukh Khan, 32, of Banishanta union of Dakop upazila in Khulna. They will be missed, since the Rab didn't miss...
As a Rab patrol team signalled a white microbus crossing Dhaka City Corporation office at Mirpur-10 to stop at 1:30am, "Light 'em up, Clancy!"
the passengers tried to escape defying them, "It's the Rab! We must escape! Open fire!"
Rab sources said. The criminals opened fire on the Rab personnel as the team chased them. The Rab team retaliated that ensued a gunfight.
One imagines a circus clown car but with bullets whizzing through the air in all directions. One apologizes for sharing this.
After the incident, Shahar Ali was found bullet-hit in head at the spot and sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctor on duty declared him dead. "He's dead, Jim!"
"Achieving a double tap behind the right ear using only stray bullets is quite an accomplishment, sergeant."
"Thank you, doctor. We've been practicing."
His accomplices, however, managed to flee the scene on the microbus. On the microbus, not in it. Definitely a clown car.
An assistant sub-inspector of Rab was also injured in the gunfight, Rab sources said. "Aaaiiieee!"
"What's the matter, sub-inspector!"
"A splinter, sir! It reeeeally hurts!"
"These things will happen when stray bullets fly, sub-inspector. Next time be more situationally aware."
"Yessir, sergeant! More aware, sir!"
Maj Khandaker Golam Sarwar of Rab-4 told The Daily Star that Ali was convicted in several cases including seven for murder with different police stations in the city. "He had the death sentence on twelve systems!"
There are cases against Ali for realizing extortions from Shenpara, Rokeya Sarani, Shewrapara, Kazipara and Monipur, he added. "Nice chapatti stand y'got here! Be a shame if it exploded some night!"
Earlier, the authorities concerned issued a red notice through Interpol as he was in neighbouring countries at large for long time, police said.
A real badman wanted in many, many systems.
So much for Shahar Ali. What's the story with Farukh Khan, the Scourge of Dakop upazila?
In another incident, a notorious pirate "Aaaarrr!"
of the Sundarbans was killed at about 12:30am on the bank of river Bhadra under Dakop upazila of Khulna district.
That's a bit early for your run-of-the-mill encounter...
Farukh was accused in two murder cases, two robbery cases and three other cases under arms act filed with Dakop and Koira police stations.
Only two systems, but lots of badacting.
"He wuz a pirate, he wuz!"
On information, police went to the spot as a group of pirates were preparing for looting on Bhadra riverways, Officer-in-charge of Dakop Police Station Ziauzzam said. Police fired 13 rounds as they came under attack. "Batten the mains'l! Splice the jib! Hoist the Jolly Roger!"
Ah. It's not an Rab report, but the police striking out on their own. See if you can spot the differences.
After the incident, Farukh was found dead on the spot. "Which spot?"
"That spot."
Two policemen, constables Biddut and Babul, sustained injuries in the incident. They are undergoing treatment at Dakop upazila health complex. "Owwwww!"
"Oh, shuddup! Don't be a baby!"
"Am I gonna lose the nail, doc?"
"Prob'ly. Take your hand outta the car door before you close it next time!"
Police recovered a shutter gun, a pipe gun, four used shells and two bullets from the spot. "Arrrrr! They missed me cannon!"
"Shuddup. You're dead!"
Two separate cases, one for assaulting police and another under arms act, were filed with Dakop Police Station yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A shutter gun AND a pipe gun AND two bullets -- that's quite a haul! I'm not an insider -- did Fred used to work with Bangladeshis or did he just stumble upon the delightful RAB through his extensive reading?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against two U.S. defense contractors by Iraqi torture victims, saying the companies had immunity as government contractors.
The lawsuit was filed in 2004 on behalf of Iraqi nationals who say they or their relatives had been tortured or mistreated while detained by the U.S. military at the Abu Ghraib prison. The plaintiffs sued CACI International Inc, which provided interrogators at Abu Ghraib, and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc's Titan unit, which provided interpreters to the U.S. military.
By a 2-1 vote, the appellate panel found the two companies had government contractor immunity and the claims were preempted, based on a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and other precedents in the national security and foreign policy areas.
"During wartime, where a private service contractor is integrated into combatant activities over which the military retains command authority, a tort claim arising out of the contractor's engagement in such activities shall be preempted," Judge Laurence Silberman said in the ruling.
Judge Merrick Garland dissented. "No act of Congress and no judicial precedent bars the plaintiffs from suing the private contractors -- who were neither solders nor civilian government employees," he said.
"The plaintiffs in these cases allege that they were beaten, electrocuted, raped, subjected to attacks by dogs and otherwise abused by private contractors working as interpreters and interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison," Garland wrote.
Attorneys representing the victims and their families had argued the contractors were not immune because the alleged torture at the prison fell outside the scope of the work they had agreed to perform.
A federal judge in 2007 dismissed the claims against Titan because the translators performed their duties under the direct command and exclusive operational control of the military. But the judge ruled the lawsuit against CACI could go forward because its interrogators were subject to a dual chain of command involving company and military officials, with significant independent authority retained by CACI supervisors.
The appeals court disagreed and ruled that claims against both companies must be dismissed.
The Taliban has announced its surrender in Swat Valley, one of its major strongholds until a Pakistan Army offensive regained control earlier this summer.
Its announcement, made on one of its pirate radio stations, came as its charismatic leader Maulana Fazlullah was reported to be surrounded by Pakistani troops, and there were claims that he had in fact already been arrested.
Their collapse in Swat, if confirmed, will deal a serious blow to the Taliban's Pakistan leadership which has been in disarray since its leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in an American drone attack in north Waziristan, close to the Afghan border, last month....
#1
Maulana Fazlullah was reported to be surrounded by Pakistani troops, and there were claims that he had in fact already been arrested.
"Off to the ISI safehouse in Quetta for youse! Don't worry, there's a comfy chair and you can have tea with Omar"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2009 14:48 Comments ||
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#2
So they all head South to Waziristan and then declare "surrender". I know at least some of them had been evacuating the area over the past weeks as some had been caught in transit.
ISLAMABAD: Former President Pervez Musharraf has said that military aid provided by the US to Pakistan for the war against terror during his tenure had been used to strengthen defences against India, the first such admission by any top Pakistani leader.
Musharraf admitted that he had violated rules governing the use of the military aid, and justified his actions by saying he had "acted in the best interest of Pakistan."
In an interview with a news channel, he said he "did not care" whether the US would be angered by his disclosure.
The former military ruler, who resigned as President in August last year to avoid impeachment, said he was not ready to compromise on Pakistan's interests.
India and several influential lawmakers in the US have been saying that Pakistan had used funds given to it by the US to take on militants to strengthen its defences against India. However, Pakistan had been denying the charges.
Musharraf said that if he had not supported the US in the war against terror after the 9/11 attacks, American forces could have entered Pakistan to capture its nuclear assets. He said it was also possible that the US and India could have jointly attacked the country.
Musharraf said Pakistan's nuclear programme was so advanced during his tenure that scientists had not only begun enriching uranium but had also developed plutonium-based weapons.
Asked about scientist A Q Khan's claim that he had been forced to make a confession about running a nuclear proliferation network, Musharraf said Khan "had done a lot but he was lying that he was forced to apologise before the nation".
Musharraf said he expects justice from the country's Chief Justice Ifthikar M Chaudhry if he is tried for treason and for the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Musharraf, whose act of imposing emergency in 2007 was declared as "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court, claimed Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz had assured him that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will not insist on his trial for treason.
Sharif has been pressuring the Pakistan People's Party-led government to put Musharraf on trial.
Musharraf said if he is put on trial for treason, all the judges who supported his decisions should also be tried.
He had declared the emergency on November 3, 2007 after sacking 60 members of the higher judiciary, including Chaudhry.
The former President, who is currently living in London, told Express News channel that he expects justice from Chaudhry if he is tried for treason and for the killing of Baloch Nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
The Balochistan High Court had on Friday issued notices to Musharraf and his aides to appear before it in connection with the killing.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/13/2009 13:40 ||
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#1
I'm shocked, shocked!
/Capt. Renault
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2009 14:27 Comments ||
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A 50-year-old man, the father of a former militant, was shot dead in a village in Jammu and Kashmirs Kishtwar district by terrorists, police said Sunday.
Three militants led by Mohammad Amin, the area commander of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) separatist outfit, barged into Ghulam Mohammad Chaupans house in Sigdi village, some 250 km from here, Saturday night and shot him dead, an official said. Chaupan was the father of Raquib, a HuJI militant who had surrendered before the security forces in 2007.
This appears to be a revenge killing. Families of militants who have surrendered are soft targets of active militants and they intimidate them, the official said.
Jaish-e-Mohammad ("army of Mohammad"), which is linked to a series of atrocities including an attack on the Indian parliament and the beheading of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, has walled off a 4.5 acre compound just outside the town of Bahawalpur. Pakistani authorities have turned a blind eye to the new base, in the far south of Punjab province, even though it is believed to have been built to serve as a radical madrassah - Islamic school - or some kind of training camp.
British security sources believe Rauf helped organise the July 7 and 21 attacks in 2005. He was born in England to Pakistani parents and brought up in Birmingham where his father was a baker. It was in Bahawalpur that Rauf was arrested in 2006, before his mysterious and still unexplained escape from custody.
Bahawalpur is a backwater, a dusty, dirt-poor town which is swelteringly hot in summer. Its isolation allows it to function quietly as a centre for ideological indoctrination and terrorist planning, a jihadist oasis surrounded by parched fields. Once mentally prepared, promising students are dispatched to camps for training jihadists in warfare, in the north west of the country.
Aside from Rauf, two other two other notorious British-Pakistani militants had connections with Jaish: Shehzad Tanweer, one of the 2005 bombers of the London transport system; and Omar Sheikh, who was found guilty in Pakistan of the murder of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl. It emerged last week that British intelligence believes that Rauf is still alive, despite claims that he died in a US missile attack in Pakistan's tribal area in 2008.
Bahawalpur and the surrounding districts also serve as a safe resting place for jihadists battling in Afghanistan, including, it is believed, for British-born Muslims who go to fight there. They have respite from the threat of US spy planes that patrol the tribal area in the north west, killing militants with deadly missile strikes. In Bahawalpur alone, there may be as many as 1,000 madrassas, many of which teach a violent version of Islam to children, who are mostly too poor to go to regular school.
Jaish has its headquarters in Bahawalpur and it openly runs a imposing madrassah in the centre of town, called Usman-o-Ali, where it teaches its extremist interpretation of Islam to hundreds of children every year. The group was banned by Pakistan back in 2002 and designated by the US as a "foreign terrorist organisation". The Sunday Telegraph was prevented from entering the madrassah, which also has a mosque that should be open to everyone.
Jaish's new site, about 5km (3 miles) out of Bahawalpur at Chowk Azam, on the main road to Karachi, is much larger, with evidence that it could contain underground bunkers or tunnels. Surrounded by a high brick and mud wall, little can be seen from the road. However, The Sunday Telegraph discovered that it has a fully-tiled swimming pool, stabling for over a dozen horses, an ornamental fountain and even swings and a slide for children all belying claims by the group and Pakistani officials that the facility is simply a small farm to keep cattle. There were signs of construction activity.
A man at the site, who gave his name as Abdul Jabbar, who wore a visible ammunition vest under his shirt, would not allow The Sunday Telegraph to enter, and suggested it was time for the newspaper to leave. "We're not hiding anything. Nothing happens here. We have just kept some cattle for our milk," said Mr Jabbar, who sported the long hair that is typical for Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. A man on a motorbike followed as The Sunday Telegraph drove away.
The new facility is known to the regional administration and, with a hefty army cantonment in Bahawalpur, the military would also be aware. It has deeply worried some Pakistani security personnel. One described it as a "second centre of terrorism", to complement the existing Jaish madrassah in the middle of town. The officer, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Jaish should never have been allowed to buy the land. He said they initially acquired 4.5 acres, then they forced the adjacent landowner to sell them another 2 acres. "It's big enough for training purposes," he said. On the inside walls, there are painted jihadist inscriptions, including a warning to "Hindus and Jews", with a picture of Delhi's historic Red Fort, suggesting they will conquer the city.
Bahawalpur was where Rashid Rauf fled in 2002, after being implicated in the murder of his uncle in the UK. His family friend Ghulam Mustafa, a radical imam, ran a madrassah, the Dar-ul-Uloom Medina. He married Mr Mustafa's daughter, and his wife and children are still believed to live there. No-one was willing to talk about Rauf in Bahawalpur. Attaur Rehman, the deputy head of the Dar-ul-Uloom Medina madrassah, which is run out of an unmarked building in a back street and is closely associated with Jaish, said: "We don't say anything about this, I won't talk to you. I'm fed up with you media people."
Publicly, Pakistani officials insisted that the new compound is innocuous and even that there is no extremist threat in Bahawalpur. Mushtaq Sukhera, the Regional Police Officer for Bahawalpur, the most senior police officer for the area, admitted that the Usman-o-Ali madrassah in the middle of Bahawalpur "belongs to "Jaish" . He said that Jaish also owned the facility out of town. "But there's nothing over there except a few cows and horses," he said.
"No militancy, no military training is being imparted to students (at Usman-o-Ali)," said Mr Sukhera. "There is no problem with militancy (in south Punjab), there's no problem with Talibanisation. It's just media hype." Others tell a different story. Somewhere between 3,000 and 8,000 men from southern Punjab are currently fighting jihad in Afghanistan or Pakistan's north western tribal area, according to independent estimates, said Ayesha Siddiqa, an analyst who has studied the area.
They are often known as the "Punjabi Taliban", whereas the main Taliban forces are ethnic Pashtuns, the group that straddles north west Pakistan and Afghanistan. "These guys [in Bahawalpur] aren't connected with a war, they don't have any ethnic affiliation with Afghanistan," said Dr Siddiqa. "These guys are purely ideologically motivated. That makes it much more difficult to crack them during investigation or to break their will to fight."
#1
What are the tiled swimming pool and ornamental fountains used for, if not swimming, especially with mixed company present? AQI also trained near pools of water. I trust eyes in the sky are monitoring the entire area.
#2
Sure would be a shame if the school and shiny pool suddenly got drone-zapped. Since the Pak army "doesn't know" about it, they can't complain but so loud.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2009 12:56 Comments ||
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#4
If we did dronezap it, all we would hear about is the whining how we attacked a helpless bunch of innocent students.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/13/2009 16:24 Comments ||
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#5
Better a 3AM strike by a Tomahawk missile fired from off the coast by a LA-Class nuke sub. Pakistan will never see it coming. We WILL have to build one without all those US markings. I'm surprised we're not doing that already.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/13/2009 17:44 Comments ||
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#6
Shhhh, OP - don't let the cat out of the bag.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/13/2009 18:10 Comments ||
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#7
See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > 5000 UZBEK MILITANTS IN WAZIRISTAN, + HINDU OPPRESSION/
PERSECUTION OF MUSLIMS IN NDIA TURNING PAKISTAN YOUTHS TOWARDS TERRORISM.
[Dawn] Suspected militants set off a powerful bomb blast Saturday in Indian-administered Kashmir killing three people and wounding at least seven others, police said.
The explosives were packed in a car parked near the central jail in the main city of Srinagar and detonated by remote control as a police bus drove past, said senior police official Hemant Lohia.
Lohia said two policemen and a woman passer-by were killed instantly. Seven wounded people have been hospitalized. He described the condition of at least three of them as critical.
A Pakistan-based terrorist militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast, a news agency report said.
Press Trust of India said a Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen spokesman had called news organizations in Srinagar to say it had set off the blast. However, there was no immediate independent confirmation of the group's claim.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistani helicopter gunships killed 22 militants and destroyed three of their hideouts on Saturday in attacks in the Khyber region on the Afghan border, paramilitary force officials said.
Troops also killed five militants and captured 18 during a search in the Swat valley, the military said.
The attacks came a day after the army said it had captured five top Pakistani Taliban members in the Swat region, including their spokesman, Muslim Khan, dealing another blow to the Islamist militants fighting the government.
Taliban advances early this year and a string of attacks in cities raised fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability and alarmed its ally the United States, which even suggested the civilian government was 'abdicating' to the militants.
But an offensive in Swat launched in late April and attacks on the Taliban in their Afghan border strongholds including South Waziristan have reassured the United States of Pakistan's commitment to the fight against militancy.
Security forces launched an offensive in Khyber at the beginning of the month in an effort to clear out insurgents who have been attacking trucks in the Khyber Pass carrying supplies to Western forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Officials of the paramilitary Frontier Corps based in Khyber's main town of Jamrud said helicopters had attacked in two places in the remote Tirah valley killing the 22 militants.
'Three places were targeted and 13 of their vehicles were also destroyed,' a force spokesman said.
There was no independent verification of the militant casualty toll.
According to government figures, more than 150 militants have been killed in the 12 days since the military swung into action in Khyber, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun regions, days after a suicide bomber killed 22 border guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Authorities in northwest Pakistan Saturday sacked more than 350 tribal police when they failed to report for duty after a militant leader threatened reprisals against those who did not resign, an official said.
Around 500 tribal policemen in the lawless border district of Khyber were Friday given 24 hours notice to report but only 142 turned up on Saturday, the senior official said.
Militant commander Mangal Bagh, who has ties to the Taliban, in an FM radio broadcast threatened that lawmakers, army and paramilitary troops in the region who did not resign would see their homes demolished and other harsh penalties.
Hours after his speech on Thursday, militants blew up three houses belonging to khasadars, or tribal police, residents said.
There are about 2,500 people in the tribal police in Khyber district but 500 did not report for duty Friday after the militant's threat and only 142 turned up on Saturday.
'I have terminated the services of 358 tribal policemen, we will make new appointments soon,' Khyber region's administration chief Tariq Hayat told AFP by telephone.
Pakistan launched a military offensive last week in the area, home to the fabled Khyber Pass into neighbouring Afghanistan and where a suicide bomber killed 22 tribal policemen late last month.
The offensive is targeting fighters from Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam), a militant group battling the government in Khyber, part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt.
'These khasadars were getting salaries from Pakistan but were obeying someone else,' Hayat added.
Khasadars are locally recruited tribesmen who know their area well and are considered helpful in tracking down militant centres and hideouts.
Militants from Pakistan's feared Tehreek-i-Taliban adopted similar tactics in the northwest Swat valley, where hundreds of police deserted during a violent uprising that demanded the imposition of Islamic law.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A mob protesting against alleged desecration of Holy Quran by some Christian youths torched a church in a village near Sambrial, about 30km from here, on Friday afternoon. The protesters also ransacked two houses adjacent to the church.
According to reports reaching here, 15-year-old Hina was going home after attending a Quran class in a mosque in her Jaithikey village when five people, identified as Fanish Maseeh, Saleem Maseeh, Qaisar Maseeh, Danish Maseeh and Nadeem Maseeh, allegedly snatched the holy book from her and threw it into a drain.
A large number of villagers armed with bricks, stones and sticks attacked the church and set it on fire.
Rescue 1122 personnel rushed to the place and extinguished the fire.
All markets in Sambrial and adjoining areas were closed and police patrolled the village to avert further violence.
Gujranwala Commissioner Hashim Tareen, acting DCO of Silakot Tariq Zaman, DPO Waqar Ahmad Chohan and local legislators visited the village and held talks with leaders of religious groups.
The DPO told reporters that the father of one of the accused had been detained and the people involved in the incident would be arrested soon.
Local Christian leaders condemned the burning of the church.
Emanuel K. Gill, Bishop Samuel Pervaiz and Javaid Silvestre told reporters that the situation was alarming and the government had failed to protect minorities and their places of worship. They demanded that those who attacked the church should be arrested.
Senior police officials claimed that the attackers were local people.
There are more than 100 houses of Muslims and 30 of Christians in the village. All the Christians have left the village to save their lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
allegedly snatched the holy book from her and threw it into a drain.
Young lady, I'd like to see that supposedly "Defiled Koran"
Hmmm seems remarkably clean for being thrown in a sewer.
You're under arrest for Starting a Riot and Blasphemy.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/13/2009 12:18 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Tension mounted between Pakistan Rangers and the Indian Border Security Force on Friday night after some powerful explosions reportedly took place on the Indian side of the border near Wagah.
BSF alleged some rockets were fired from Pakistan, but the Rangers denied it, saying they were having a meeting over the issue and trying to ascertain what had happened.
Rangers spokesman Nadeem Raza told Dawn that people of a border village heard powerful explosions from the Indian side at around 10.30pm and the force's officials were alerted.
'Rangers' high-ups, who took notice of the incident, are busy in an important meeting and the BSF high command has also been contacted for getting details of the incident,' he said.
An emergency flag meeting was called between the two border forces. He said an official announcement would be made after the conclusion of the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces arrested three members of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) network during a raid in southern Samarra city on Saturday, a local police source said. Samarra lies 120 km north of the Iraqi capital.
"The Iraqi police and the Samarra Isnad (Support) Council forces, acting on intelligence tip-offs, conducted a search raid in the area of al-Rakka, southern Samarra, and arrested three AQI members," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "One of the three arrested gunmen is involved in the murder of several security men and civilians after kidnapping carried out by his group on the international Baghdad-Mosul highway in 2006 and 2007."
The source noted that the gunmen have surrendered without clashes and several medium and light arms were seized in their possession.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 106 suspects were arrested near the district of Amirli, a source from the Touz Khormato police said.
A combined force from the Iraqi army and police detained 106 suspects in a search raid inside villages in Amirli, Touz Khormato, (100 km) northeast Tikrit, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The arrested will be remanded under investigative custody as of Sunday (Sept. 13)."
Tikrit, the capital city of Salah al-Din province, lies 175 km north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Nine people, including four members of a government-backed Sunni militiaman's family, were killed in Iraq on Saturday in attacks that also left 38 wounded, officials said.
A roadside bomb in Baquba, north of Baghdad and the capital of Diyala province, successfully targeted relatives of a Sahwa (Awakening) member, a police officer said, giving the toll. Two family members were wounded, he added.
The Sahwa, known as the Sons of Iraq by U.S. forces and comprised of former insurgents, began to ally with American troops in 2006 in an effort to combat al-Qaeda rebels. The force, which is now under the control of the Baghdad government, was credited with reducing violence, firstly in Anbar province, an al-Qaeda hotspot and then in other areas of the country.
In Baghdad, three people were killed when a parked car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army base and close to the health ministry, an interior ministry official said. An official at Medical City Hospital in the capital said 35 people were being treated for injuries.
In western Baghdad, a civilian was killed and another wounded when a homemade bomb exploded as they drove past in their car.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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Police said they successfully defused a bomb placed inside a Quran, the Muslim holy book, at a Shiite shrine in the capital's Kadhimiyah district.
And in the northern city of Mosul, a traffic policeman died when a roadside bomb targeting a passing Iraqi army patrol was detonated, local police said.
The latest casualties come after the number of violent deaths in Iraq hit a 13-month high in August, raising fresh concerns about stability after the government admitted that security is worsening. Government statistics showed that 456 people -- 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 Iraqi soldiers -- were killed. That was the highest monthly toll since July 2008, when 465 died.
The high number of Iraqis killed last month was partly explained by twin truck bomb attacks on the finance and foreign ministries in Baghdad that left at least 95 people dead and 600 others wounded on Aug. 19.
On Thursday, a top U.S. officer said al-Qaeda has staged the majority of violent attacks in Iraq since the end of June when U.S. troops withdrew from the country's cities.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sunnis need to think about what being a minority people means.
#3
Thaat must have been a HUGE Koran to hold a bomb.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/13/2009 11:52 Comments ||
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#4
I dunno. A block of plastic explosive the size of a pack of playing cards, a cell-phone detonator, and the void filled with ball-bearings would be nastily effective.
Two Palestinians were killed and three other people reported missing on Saturday after a smuggling tunnel running under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed, witnesses and medical officials reported.
Rescue teams rushed to the area and pulled out the two bodies. Gaza emergency services chief Mo'aweya Hassanein reported that rescue activities for three missing people in the tunnel at the time of the collapse were still going on.
Security sources from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the reason for the tunnel's collapse was not immediately known. Residents reported hearing a huge blast shortly before the collapse.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Missing in a tunnel, I wonder where they could be?
Posted by: Steven ||
09/13/2009 15:50 Comments ||
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#2
LOL, Steven. Snark award forthcoming. Heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2009 15:56 Comments ||
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#3
Another bad day for the Palestinian Tunnel Authority, eh?
Five military rangers were killed in Thailand on Sunday, police said, when an armed group attacked their base in Yala, a province in the far south that has seen an upsurge in jihadi terrorism separatist violence. Police officials said the attack on the base in Muang district came in the early evening and lasted about 10 minutes. The base is some way from the nearest town and further details were not immediately available.
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.
[Quqnoos] Afghan and international forces struck a Taliban compound in Kunduz province on Saturday, killing a number of militants, NATO says. The operation was intended to target Taliban commanders and facilitators in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, where a large number of Taliban insurgents have recently been stationed. 
[Bangla Daily Star] Nearly 50 Afghan civilians, security forces and militants were killed in a spate of attacks around the war-torn country, including an overnight military raid targeting insurgents in the increasingly violent north, officials said yesterday. A roadside bomb killed two US troops in the east.
[Dawn] Seven Afghan policemen were killed in a Taliban raid on their post in northern Afghanistan where attacks linked to the militants are soaring, the local governor said Saturday.
A number of mortar shells hit parts of central Mogadishu on Friday evening leaving at least ten dead. One of the mortars landed in a residential area while another crashed onto the city's main jail.
[Dawn] Suspected militants set off a powerful bomb blast Saturday in Indian-administered Kashmir killing three people and wounding at least seven others, police said.
[Dawn] Pakistani helicopter gunships killed 22 militants and destroyed three of their hideouts on Saturday in attacks in the Khyber region on the Afghan border, paramilitary force officials said.
[Dawn] Authorities in northwest Pakistan Saturday sacked more than 350 tribal police when they failed to report for duty after a militant leader threatened reprisals against those who did not resign, an official said.
[Dawn] A mob protesting against alleged desecration of Holy Quran by some Christian youths torched a church in a village near Sambrial, about 30km from here, on Friday afternoon. The protesters also ransacked two houses adjacent to the church. 
SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces arrested three members of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) network during a raid in southern Samarra city on Saturday, a local police source said. Samarra lies 120 km north of the Iraqi capital.
SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 106 suspects were arrested near the district of Amirli, a source from the Touz Khormato police said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Nine people, including four members of a government-backed Sunni militiaman's family, were killed in Iraq on Saturday in attacks that also left 38 wounded, officials said.
Police said they successfully defused a bomb placed inside a Quran, the Muslim holy book, at a Shiite shrine in the capital's Kadhimiyah district.
