KABUL: US Marines and Afghan soldiers killed 40 Taliban in a joint operation in Afghanistan's west on Monday, the Afghan army said.
And a good time was had by all -- on the winning side, anyway.
"At the request of the local population
Ohhh, that's a nice touch!
an operation was launched by the Afghan army and the US Marines in the district of Bala Buluk" in the western province of Farah, Afghan army commander Jalandar Shah Dehnam said. During the operation, 40 Taliban had been killed and several injured, he said, adding that six Afghan soldiers had also been wounded.
Heal well and quickly, lads, or there won't be any targets left by the time you get back.
"We do not know if the Americans sustained any casualties," he said.
A US army spokesman confirmed that an operation was under way in Farah, but did not give further details. Muhammad Younus Rasoli, deputy governor for the province said, "More than 30 Taliban have been killed and a number of others wounded." The operation was launched late on Sunday.
Separately, Taliban killed 12 Afghan civilians in the east and north -- half in an ambush on a group of truck drivers and half when a van hit a roadside bomb, AP quoted the Afghan government as saying.
Making friends of the populace in their inimitable way, which is why the popularity of the jihadis has dropped across the Ummah to half of what it was, only a little while ago.
On Sunday, Taliban ambushed a group of truck drivers in eastern Kunar province, killing six of the drivers and burning their vehicles, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
A seventh truck driver had been kidnapped. Also on Sunday, a private van hit a roadside bomb in northern Faryab province, the ministry said in a separate statement. Six of those inside were killed and another seven injured, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Jingle trucks
Jingle trucks
Jingle while we pray
Oh what fun it is to ride o'er a roadside bomb today!
#3
Again, looking at a map, this adds evidence for the McCrystal geographic strategy. Farah is WEST of Helmand. While fighting on a central front from Helmand through Oruzgan to Wardak, ISAF is sweeping the area west and north, to create a safe zone for the hold and build phases to take root. Meanwhile temporarily conceding the status quo in areas east and south of that main front, (or even withdrawing from the most exposed positions, as in Nuristan).
The swing area seems to be Kandahar province. With current force levels its all ISAF can do to hold on to the current position there, with Taliban openly controlling several rural districts, and covertly controling much of Kandahar city. With the requested troop increases ISAF could take a more aggressive posture in Kandahar as well.
Islamist militants in Somalia have executed two people they accused of spying for foreign organisations.
Hundreds watched as a firing squad arranged by the al-Shabab group shot the pair in the capital, Mogadishu. Al-Shabab officials said the men had been found guilty of working for the US CIA and African Union peacekeepers.
Analysts say the killings may have been in retaliation for a US raid earlier this month, in which an al-Qaeda suspect is said to have been killed.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says al-Shabab has carried out amputations and lashings in the past, but this is their first public execution in the city. He says the death sentence was announced and the men were shot almost immediately by 10 masked men.
He says an al-Shabab official told reporters before the execution that the men had admitted spying - one for the AU, the other for the CIA.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Don't forget boyz, anybody named Mohammed is a CIA spy.
Posted by: ed ||
09/29/2009 0:34 Comments ||
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#2
TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > ETHIOPIA: SOMALIA SITUATION IS WORSENING.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the government is ready to fight Shia rebels in the north of the country for five or six years if necessary. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 47th anniversary of the overthrow of a Shia Muslim state, Mr Saleh urged the rebels to accept a ceasefire.
The rebels accuse the government of breaching a recent truce.
Hundreds have died in a recent flare-up in the five-year conflict, which has left 150,000 people displaced. International concern about the conflict has intensified after witnesses said that more than 80 people were killed in a government air raid on a camp for displaced people on 16 September.
The government offered two ceasefires, but fighting resumed within hours of each.
Dozens more people were reported killed in Saada and Amran provinces on Thursday.
The rebels, known as Houthis, complain of discrimination. They say they want greater autonomy and a greater role for their version of Shia Islam. Both sides see unwelcome influences from abroad, with the government accusing rebels of having Iranian backing and being accused itself of being influenced by Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Any chance at getting season tickets?
Posted by: ed ||
09/29/2009 0:35 Comments ||
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MIAMI (Reuters) - An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said on Monday. The review team is examining each prisoner's case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.
President Barack Obama had set a January 22 deadline to shut the detention camp although Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that "it's going to be tough" to meet the deadline.
As the review team makes its decisions, military officials at Guantanamo post an updated list in the camps to let the prisoners know how many from each nation have been judged free to go.
"It was an opportunity to just provide better communication," said Navy Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. "There's a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them."
The prisoners are well aware of Obama's announcement that the camp would be closed and have heard piecemeal information from their lawyers and relatives during phone calls arranged by the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross, he said.
The list is posted in Arabic, Pashto and English. The latest list of 78 prisoners includes two Uzbeks sent to Ireland and a Yemeni returned to his homeland on Saturday, an indication that some progress is being made in thinning the camp population of those who are not considered a threat.
"We are not focused on whether the deadline will or won't be met on a particular day," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "We are focused on making ... the most progress that is possible."
Some on the list are among the 30 ordered freed by U.S. courts but still awaiting transfer, including 13 Chinese Uighurs. The Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to accept most of them. Also on the list are 26 other captives from Yemen, nine from Tunisia, seven from Algeria, four from Syria, three each from Libya and Saudi Arabia, two each from Uzbekistan, Egypt, the West Bank and Kuwait, and one each from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.
Most were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust al Qaeda in response to the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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We, or a crowded commuter train, will be seeing them again.
Posted by: ed ||
09/29/2009 0:37 Comments ||
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to the extent that we will be seeing them again as foot soldiers in Pashtunistan, the cost benefit for keeping gitmo detention camp open to hold them probably isnt too strong.
TWO successive US drone strikes killed eight militants in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in the remote tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.
In the first attack a US drone overnight fired two missiles killing five suspected Taliban in the lawless region of South Waziristan, a Taliban bolthole where Washington says Islamist fighters are hiding out and planning attacks on Western troops stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan.
"A missile from a US drone fired on a compound of local Taliban commander Irfan Mehsud and killed five militants and injured six," said a security official in the area, who declined to be named. A local administration official confirmed the toll.
The Mehsuds have been dropping like flies lately ...
The missiles targeted Sara Rogha, a village northeast of regional hub Wana and a stronghold of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike in August.
The security official said the spy plane fired two missiles on the compound, adding that reports suggested three of the dead could be Uzbeks.
"The death toll may rise," he said. "The compound is completely destroyed and militants have surrounded the area."
An intelligence official, who also refused to be named, said militants were pulling their dead from the debris.
Just the right time for a follow-on missile ...
He said his reports suggested low-level insurgent commander Irfan Mehsud had survived.
In the second attack a US drone targeted a Taliban compound linked to the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a Pakistani official said, an area where Washington says the militants and al-Qaeda fighters are hiding out and planning attacks on Western troops stationed in Afghanistan.
"The missile hit a house of an Afghan militant linked with Haqqani, three militants were confirmed dead," a security official said by telephone.
Intelligence officials in the area confirmed the attack and the death toll, saying that five militants were also wounded.
"The target was a house in Dande Darpakel on the outskirts of Miranshah," the official said.
HANGU: Six Taliban were killed and nine others injured when helicopter gunships pounded hideouts in Upper Orakzai on Monday, said officials. The officials said the strikes which targeted Ghalju, Mulla Pati and Khadezai areas destroyed three Taliban hideouts.
Meanwhile, local Taliban kidnapped four Levies Force personnel, and killed one of them. The political authorities held a jirga to discuss Taliban threats to the Levies Force, but the meeting ended without reaching a conclusion.
Also, the political authorities have recovered a leading businessmen and the owner of Daud Armoury, Hakimullah Daud, and arrested two kidnappers. Hakim was kidnapped from Peshawar in March.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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DUBAI: Al Qaedas second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, in an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera on Monday, eulogised former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and called US President Barack Obama a criminal. Zawahri praised Mehsud for his role in mobilising fighters in the region, and challenging the new crusaders and their agents, in reference to the NATO forces and the Pakistani and Afghan security forces. Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan in August.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Ayman also repor referred to POTUS BAMMER as a "FRAUD".
See also TOPIX > ZAWAHIRI THREATENS US WITH "FLOOD OF DEATH" IN AFGHANISTAN; + PAKISTAN PM: US WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO BOMB QUETTA [savin' Mullah Omar].
* ION TOPIX/PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA
PLANS ALL-OUT ATTACK ON MAOISTS [using approxi 100,000 Federal Paramilitary troops, NOT its Army].
#3
Hey, Gaddafi likes Obama and thinks he ought to be President for life. Chavez likes him. ACORN is sold on him and vice versa. Get on board Zawahiri with the dictators and their ilk (SARC).
PESHAWAR: At least four people including a prominent anti-Taliban cleric were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a car in Bannu near North Waziristan, said police. The attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into a vehicle carrying pro-government local leader Abdul Hakeem, said police official Iqbal Marwat. Witnesses said Hakeem was on his way to office when the bomber struck.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistani forces not successfully protecting friendlies in Bannu, next to N Wazir. Are they seriously trying?
MINGORA: Local peace volunteers killed 10 Taliban including dangerous commander Momin alias Malang in Barikot tehsil of Swat on Monday as troops arrested 10 Taliban and 10 others surrendered. A volunteer was also killed in the clash. Meanwhile, troops have handed over security arrangements in Mingora and other parts of Swat to police, and it has been decided to wind up unnecessary checkposts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Volunteers?! Would they have much experience? Sounds like a militia or something.
#4
All spoke a strange, hushed dialect, wore local garb, and were said to have trained extensively at Fort Bragg.
And disappeared into the hills quickly, they did, only to volunteer their services at another location ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 7:46 Comments ||
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#5
Unless HVTs are involved, I seriously doubt Ft Bragg resources were used. Sounds to me more like a "sons of Swat" movement. Even the Pakistani army has figured out about the hold phase of clear-hold-build, and whatever their motives wrt to Quetta or N wazir are, they clearly want to win in Swat.
MIRANSHAH: At least 12 Taliban were killed in a clash with security forces in Razmak tehsil of North Waziristan on Monday. The clash erupted after Taliban fired rockets at the Shawaal Rifles Camp 75 kilometres from Miranshah killing two troops and injuring five others. Official sources said at least 110 missiles have been fired at the army camp over the last 24 hours.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Bill roggio raises some interesting issues about the byzantine relations of the Pakistani army and ISI to the different taliban groups. The gist is that the Pakis are mainly focusing on the Mehsuh groups in Swat and S Wazir, who threaten them, and avoiding conflict with the Haqqani network in N Wazir (and the quetta shura, but thats not so directly related to this story). The continued battle of Ramzak seems to indicate its not QUITE that simple though.
JAMMU: As the country bid farewell to goddess Durga, the demon-slayer, on Dashami and witnessed the evil king Ravana being vanquished on Dussehra, a humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly.
The sound you hear is hundreds of jihadi panties wadding up.
Exhibiting astonishing, raw courage, Rashida Begum took on the two terrorists who had barged into her home late Sunday night in Thana Mandi village in Rajouri district. The woman, in her early forties, grabbed an axe and swung it wildly, killing one of the armed terrorists and injuring the other. Seeing his partner meet a bloody end, the other terrorist fled in sheer dread.
Having found the pickings not quite so easy as he'd assumed.
A Rajouri-based police officer said the two terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had entered Noor Ahmad's home around 9pm with the intention of holding the family hostage.
I'll bet they didn't knock politely or wipe their feet or anything. I'd be annoyed too.
Police said the two also wanted information on some local targets that Noor and his family members refused to provide.
We told you, bug off!
Angered by the resistance, the two began beating them up, threatening to eliminate the family, when Noor's wife, Rashida, took them by surprise, pouncing on one of them from behind.
That's it. You are SO on time out, young man!
She brought down an axe in powerful blows, killing the terrorist on the spot.
What part of 'no' do you not understand?
She then charged at his partner who, nonplussed, was trying to gather his wits.
Such as they were ....
Rashida and the rest of the family members soon overpowered him and snatched his weapon. However, the terrorist escaped under the cover of darkness, but not before receiving sharp cuts in the face-off with the furious housewife.
And STAY out!
Rajouri's additional superintendent of police Shabir Ahmed said investigations were on establish to identity of the duo but the slain terrorist was believed to be Osama, a Pakistan-based LeT commander, wanted in many cases of extortion and terror related activities. ``We are awaiting more details from the spot where a police team is carrying out further investigation,'' Ahmed said. Security forces are combing the area for the escaped terrorist.
And I'll bet they are doing so with utmost courtesy, remembering to wipe their feet on the doormat and say 'please' and 'madam' to all the good housewives in the village.
lotp, I am soooo going to be on my best behaviour when I come to call. After reading this a second time, I'm still shaking.
tw, I confess my house is sadly lacking in axes. May I offer you a cup of hot tea and some lemon-cinnamon cookies when you come, instead?
Posted by: john frum ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Wow! Took out a commander! No wonder their panties are in a bunch.
This is disinformation. We know that house is stocked with firearms of a wide variety of calibers, a veritable arsenal. Intruders enter at their own (mortal) risk.
#4
I am reminded of when my sainted mother would tell some punk, "Keep a civil tongue in your head." I thought it was a kind of firm, motherly advice.
I didn't get that the kid had a choice regarding his tongue and his head. I guess some mothers mean what they say.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
09/29/2009 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
These terrorists were not married. Any married man would know not to rile up a housewife in her early 40s like this. If those wanna-be terrorists want to see a tough guy, they should come a see the husband of this housewife. He's probably lived with her for 25 years and calls her "sweetie". He'd better!
#6
Gee, I only use the handle, not the whole axe! Doesn't do as much damage to DW's collectibles. There IS an axe in the tool shed, though. A white ash axehandle can do a job on a fella's nose, it can. Also up side the head or across the knees, as well as unmentionable places. I used to aim at the Adam's apple, but that was too hard to hit in a running fight.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/29/2009 20:14 Comments ||
Top||
#7
You've led a much more exciting life than I can imagine, Old Patriot.
The Israel Air Force bombed a rocket launching device in the Gaza Strip Monday evening, which was aimed at Israel and set to fire, the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office reported. The IAF confirmed that the launcher was hit and destroyed.
Drones? We don't need no steenkin' drones ...
Earlier Monday evening, a mortar shell was fired from Gaza at Israel, but apparently exploded within Palestinian territory.
Own goal!
The IAF strike came after several incidents of rocket and shell fire from the Hamas-ruled territory over the course of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Yom Kippur, when good Jews who are neither sick nor pregnant fast from sundown the night before until three stars are visible in the night sky. They tend to get headachy and cranky if they have to put in a full day's work instead of spend it in synagogue, praying.
Three Qassam rockets exploded in the Negev, two Sunday night and one just hours before the IAF attack. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the incidents.
Monday morning, Palestinian militants opened fire at IDF troops patrolling the border fence between Israel and Gaza. An exchange of fire ensued, but none of the soldiers were hurt.
Shortly afterward, Gaza militants fired several mortar shells into Israel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. The IDF registered the firing of another Qassam rocket, but could not locate the explosion site. The rocket apparently exploded within Palestinian territory.
On Friday, for the first time since ending its winter offensive in Gaza, the IDF killed three Islamic Jihad militants who were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.
Approximately 55 rockets and mortar shells have been launched at Israel during the last three months, totaling more than 250 since the end of Operation Cast Lead and more than 750 in 2009, the IDF said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Monday evening? sounds like the IAF waited for break the fast ;)
May the IAF have a happy, healthy, prosperous, blessed and SUCCESFUL new year!
#2
"...On Friday, for the first time since ending its winter offensive in Gaza, the IDF killed three Islamic Jihad militants who were preparing to fire rockets into Israel."
Fall is best time for hunting terrorists from the air because the clouds are still minimal and the terrorist body temperature is significantly above ambient. However, I think the IAF has also improved the optical sensors the drones carry.
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/29/2009 12:47 Comments ||
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Two US soldiers and a Filipino marine were killed on Tuesday in a landmine explosion on the restive southern Philippine island of Jolo, a spokesman for the Philippines military said. Two Philippine Marines were also wounded in the blast near a local Marine outpost outside the town of Indanan, said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner in Manila. He did not elaborate.
The US embassy said it was looking into the incident but gave no details. However police sources in the south said that the landmine explosion came while Philippine soldiers in the area were carrying out operations against local Muslim extremists with ties to the Al-Qaeda network.
The head of military forces in the southern Philippines, Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, confirmed there had been an explosion involving the US troops but gave no details. Asked if the Americans were involved in combat operations, he said: "No, they were just there to help in building a school."
#1
There is nothing "restive" about the island of Jolo. It is clear the ASG are targeting the humanitarian efforts. Just like when they targeted the same efforts on Basiland island, the people will turn on them.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/29/2009 11:40 Comments ||
Top||
Suspected Islamic terrorists militants have killed five Muslim civilians in Thailand's troubled south, where a five-year separatist jihad insurgency rages unabated, police said on Tuesday.
The body of a Muslim man who had been stabbed to death was found floating in a river in Pattani province late Monday, while gunmen broke into a house in the same province and shot dead two other men, they said. In neighbouring Narathiwat province gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a former local administration official and his nephew on Monday, said police.
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: US Marines and Afghan soldiers killed 40 Taliban in a joint operation in Afghanistan's west on Monday, the Afghan army said.
MIAMI (Reuters) - An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said on Monday. The review team is examining each prisoner's case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.
TWO successive US drone strikes killed eight militants in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday in the remote tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said.
DUBAI: Al Qaedas second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, in an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera on Monday, eulogised former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and called US President Barack Obama a criminal. Zawahri praised Mehsud for his role in mobilising fighters in the region, and challenging the new crusaders and their agents, in reference to the NATO forces and the Pakistani and Afghan security forces. Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan in August.
PESHAWAR: At least four people including a prominent anti-Taliban cleric were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a car in Bannu near North Waziristan, said police. The attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into a vehicle carrying pro-government local leader Abdul Hakeem, said police official Iqbal Marwat. Witnesses said Hakeem was on his way to office when the bomber struck.
MIRANSHAH: At least 12 Taliban were killed in a clash with security forces in Razmak tehsil of North Waziristan on Monday. The clash erupted after Taliban fired rockets at the Shawaal Rifles Camp 75 kilometres from Miranshah killing two troops and injuring five others. Official sources said at least 110 missiles have been fired at the army camp over the last 24 hours.
JAMMU: As the country bid farewell to goddess Durga, the demon-slayer, on Dashami and witnessed the evil king Ravana being vanquished on Dussehra, a humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly. 
The Israel Air Force bombed a rocket launching device in the Gaza Strip Monday evening, which was aimed at Israel and set to fire, the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office reported. The IAF confirmed that the launcher was hit and destroyed. 
