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Al Shabaab rebels declare war on rivals
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 08:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If she had strung the clothes line a little lower she wouldn't have needed to wear heels.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2009 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  NNSFW (Negligee Not Suited For Work)



The formal look

Front to Back

Daily Gam Shot

From a Page in time

Spaghetti Strap Tester

Flying High

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/30/2009 10:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Gulf Bravo,
I don't know about you, but I'd be worried about any girl with an itch!

Posted by: Frozen Al || 09/30/2009 11:37 Comments || Top||

#4  GB, the reason for posting a 4096x3284 5.7MB pic on the front page is...?
Posted by: KBK || 09/30/2009 22:45 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
A-10 close call
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/30/2009 10:24 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is a training aid in the "danger close" block of instruction.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 09/30/2009 12:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I love the sound of a GAU-8 in the morning, just not quite so close, please.
Posted by: Parabellum || 09/30/2009 18:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Pull your people back before danger close strike if you can. A-10 was a wonderful project. They saved our asses more than once.

Please keep them.
Posted by: newc || 09/30/2009 23:47 Comments || Top||


Bus Attack Kills 30 Civilians in Kandahar
[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a civilian bus Tuesday in the southern Kandahar province, killing 30 civilians and wounding 39 others "The incident took place at around 10:30am when a bus carrying civilians hit a mine as it passed through the Maiwand district," according to statement released by the Afghan Interior Ministry.
At least 10 childern and seven women were among the dead.
At least 10 childern and seven women were among the dead, according to the statement.
There's no obligation in Islam to protect the weak or the helpless. That's up to Allen, the Merciful...
The statement added that all the victims were 'innocent civilians' and blamed 'enemies of Afghanistan', a term commonly used to refer to Taliban militants, for the bloody attack.

A District Police Chief in Kandahar, Bismullah Khan, said some of the more seriously wounded civilians were taken to a NATO base for treatment.

Militants are planting more roadside bombs than ever as they intend to target US and NATO troops. But the explosive devices kill far more Afghan civilians than they do military personnel. A recent UN report has described 2009 as the deadliest year in terms of civilian deaths in Afghanistan ever since beginning of the Afghan war in 2001.

A total of 1,500 civilians died in Afghanistan from January through August this year, up from 1,145 for the same period of 2008, according to the report. The UN report blames the Taliban for most of the attacks that had left civilian casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Muslims must kill. If they can't reach infidels...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/30/2009 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  talibs are still very strong in Kandahar. There home base, after all (aside from Pakistan) still not enough ISAF troops.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  THIS IS ISLAM
Posted by: newc || 09/30/2009 23:42 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somalia's al Shabaab rebels declare war on rivals
Somalia's al Shabaab rebels said on Wednesday they would fight rival Hizbul Islam militants for control of the southern port of Kismayu, and residents said the insurgents had started digging trenches. Relations between al Shabaab and one-time allies Hizbul Islam degenerated last week after al Shabaab named its own local council to run Kismayu, excluding Hizbul members. Until then, the two groups had controlled the port in an uneasy coalition.

Last Thursday, a Hizbul leader said they would not recognise the new administration, and both sides rushed in reinforcements. "We have decided to fight the group that invaded our town. It is jihad," Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, the al Shabaab spokesman, told reporters in Kismayu. "This group has brought back all the evil acts we banned: killing, looting, drugs, unveiled women. Instead of fighting the infidels ... they came to destroy our Islamic authority."

"Residents should stop hesitating," Yaqub said. "They should follow us and join the jihad. Otherwise, let them join Hizbul Islam and we will fight them all.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2009 06:31 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We need more of this in Somalia!
Posted by: Paul2 || 09/30/2009 12:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
NY suspect pleads not guilty to charges
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Afghan immigrant, accused of planning to bomb commuter trains in New York with explosive devices made out of cosmetic materials, has pled not guilty to the charges.

On Tuesday, Najibullah Zazi filed the no guilty plea with a Brooklyn federal court. The 24-year-old suspect is on trial for alleged plans of a terrorist attack on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York, FOX News reported.

Allegations state that Zazi had also stored beauty products containing hydrogen peroxide and acetone, claimed to be key ingredients in the combination of the devices.

Meanwhile, the prosecution, who claims Zazi could have unleashed the next worst catastrophe after the 9/11 attacks, has pushed for his imprisonment.

Zazi is accused of ties to Pakistani "militants" and keeping "bomb-making instructions on his laptop."

"Zazi remained committed to detonating an explosive device," the prosecution said.

However, his attorney Arthur Folsom has said that FBI agents have not yet found the elements to connect them to Zazi. "No traces of any kind of chemical was found in his vehicle."
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


India-Pakistan
Farmer's Daughter Axes Terrorist, Then Shoots Him With His Own Gun
Jammu-Kashmir: Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night. After they started beating her father, she dropped one militant with an ax, then shot him dead with his own weapon. She then shot & wounded a second militant. Supt Shafqat Watali said Miss Kausar's reaction was "a rude shock" for the militants. "Normally they get king-like treatment but this was totally unexpected," he said.

Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. "I couldn't bear my father's humiliation. If I'd failed to kill him, they would have killed us," she said.
Another in our series Women Who Are Tired of Putting Up With This Sh*t.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/30/2009 04:15 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Eh. Once is a lucky break & a feel-good story. Twice is probably a product of a clever Indian propaganda mill, along the same lines as that "shutter gun" guy in Bangla.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/30/2009 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  "Normally they get king-like treatment but this was totally unexpected,"

Up until they start beating family members, that is.
Posted by: gorb || 09/30/2009 10:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I suspect the "militants" are prone to taking "bed warmers", I mean wives, from the locals and that might not be a future the girl wanted.
Posted by: tipover || 09/30/2009 10:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Another found Texan. Not born there, but welcome anytime!
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 09/30/2009 10:46 Comments || Top||

#5  It is a good thing the terrorists only faced a little girl. They would have been in real trouble if momma had gotten riled up.
Posted by: whatadeal || 09/30/2009 17:24 Comments || Top||

#6  [glower]
H-MCD, ya beats me to the punch!
[/glower]
;-)
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 09/30/2009 18:28 Comments || Top||


32 suspects arrested in search operation: ISPR
[Geo News] The security forces continued search and clearance operations in Swat and Malakand during the last 24 hours.

According to a press release issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), at least seven terrorists voluntarily surrendered to security forces in Bar Shaur area of Swat. In Runial also, four terrorists voluntarily surrendered.

The security forces conducted search operation in Alam Ganj and apprehended three suspects. In Pinidar Banda also, four suspects were captured during search operation.

The security forces conducted search operation in Palai and apprehended 15 suspects. Also, during Snap action by 60 BR in Charbagh and surroundings 4 suspects were apprehended.

A local terrorist commander Umer Nawab was apprehended in Charbagh and five other terrorists voluntarily surrendered to security forces in Dagai and Sirsanai.

The security forces continued relief activities. 305,060 cash cards have been distributed amongst the IDPs of Malakand.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Three 'militants,' one woman killed in Kashmir
[Dawn] Three militants and a female bystander were killed on Monday during a fierce gun-battle with soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

Fighting broke out near Tral town, about 40 kilometres south of the regional capital of Srinagar, when Indian troops raided a suspected militant hideout. 'A woman was killed in the crossfire,' a police spokesman said, adding that three troopers were injured. 'Two of the dead militants were Pakistani nationals,' he said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Policeman injured as landmine explodes in Kohlu
[Dawn] A police constable was injured as a landmine exploded in Kohlu on Monday, DawnNews reported.

According to Kohlu police, the constable was going somewhere on his motorcycle in Mewand when his vehicle hit a landmine.

The constable received serious injuries as a result of the blast. He was immediately shifted to civil hospital Kohlu for medical treatment.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Security forces kill 16 militants in Waziristan clashes
[Dawn] At least 16 suspected militants were killed in clashes with the security forces in the last 24 hours in Waziristan. Separately, in the Orakzai tribal region, helicopter gunships pounded militant positions, killing 10 insurgents and wounding several others in three villages, intelligence officials told AP.

In Waziristan, the militants attacked security check posts in Nawazkot, Spin Qamar and Razmak during clashes with security forces in which 16 militants were killed.

Bodies of two militants were recovered near the FC camp in Razmak. The militants were then buried in a mass grave in Ladha.

Meanwhile, according to an Associated Press report, one Pakistani soldier was killed and seven others were critically wounded in a militant rocket attack on an army camp in the northwest. The military responded by firing heavy artillery on the Razmak, Ladha and Makeen areas, killing 18 insurgents, the AP quoted two intelligence officials as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  nawazkot and SQ are in South Wazir, only Ramzak (where we have already heard about a clash) is in N Wazir.

Adds to evidence that the Pakis are planning an attack on S wazir (where there are Mehsud folks), Taliban are trying to preempt.

I still can figure out what is happening in N Wazir.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  North Wazoo is Haqqani country. He's an asset, not a threat.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  thats my point. If Haqqani and ISI are in cahoots, as appears to be the case, why is there an incident at Ramzak? To throw us off?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 14:38 Comments || Top||


Radio Ozodlik: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader Tahir Yuldashev killed all over again?
Radio Ozodlik (RL Uzbek Service) reported a call from Pakistan this Monday, September 28. The caller identified himself as Tahir Yuldashev's follower and bodyguard and said that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader had been wounded in early September and died the following day.

The "bodyguard" refused to identify himself. He even asked not to broadcast his voice on the air claiming that he feared for his life.

Neither Islamabad nor Kabul or command of the US-led counter-terrorism coalition in Afghanistan confirmed Yuldashev's death. No information is available on where the terrorist ringleader who used to give Central Asian leaders nightmares and who closely cooperated with Taliban and Al-Qaeda died.

The death of Yuldashev or Yuldash was already reported on countless occasions but he himself refuted all these reports on tape or film usually released before the Moslem holidays of Ramazan-haiit and Kurban-haiit. The recent Moslem celebration, however, took place without Yuldashev's traditional address to the faithful.

Caller to Radio Ozodlik said as well that some other field commanders had been killed with Yuldashev. The man added that Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was trying to keep its leader's death under the lid. In any even, an ethnic Tatar by name of Abdurakhman, 40, was already promoted to fill the vacancy.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

#1  would be a nice takedown, but I suppose we need more evidence.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Now just what is that tube under the barrel?
Laser? Flashlight? grenade launcher?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/30/2009 17:26 Comments || Top||

#3  ION HOT AIR > US INTEL: WE'VE INFILTRATED AL QAEDA [Humint Ops].

More popul known as A'TREASONIN' IN THE RANKS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/30/2009 22:20 Comments || Top||

#4  HOT AIR POSTERS > opine "More likely one of them has infiltarted the current Administration in Washington DC"; + [US had infliltrated AQ] "by letting of them become POTUS"???

*** cough *** *** cough ***.......
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/30/2009 22:23 Comments || Top||


Tahir Yuldachev is dead: bodyguard
[The News (Pak)] There has been no claim or evidence yet that Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), died in a US drone strike in South Waziristan recently but a man claiming to be his bodyguard phoned the Radio Liberty in Prague on Tuesday to claim that the Uzbek commander was dead.

The caller, who spoke Uzbeki language and claimed he was calling from somewhere in Pakistan, maintained that Yuldachev was killed after the death of Baitullah Mahsud in a similar US missile attack. The man who phoned Radio Liberty refused to identify himself. He claimed to have served as bodyguard to Yuldachev, who is also known as Tahir Yuldash, for a year in the past and quit the IMU as he wasn't happy with its policies.

The caller disclosed that an Uzbek militant, Abdur Rahman, had taken Yuldachev's place as the new IMU head. He said Yuldachev failed to recover from head and leg injuries sustained by him in the missile attack.

There was no way to confirm the claim made by the identified caller. The IMU or its allied Uzbek militant group, Islamic Jehad Union, hasnít commented on this claim yet. They would be expected to deny the claim, though the militant groups in recent times have been arguing that such claims are made at the behest of their enemies to provoke some of the most wanted militants to come forward and show their presence so that they could be tracked down.

Yuldachev, stated to be in his late 30s, became the head of the IMU after the death of Juma Namagani in fighting against the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 or early 2002. There have been sightings of Yuldachev in South Waziristan, mostly in Wana area before he and his fellow Uzbeks were expelled by Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen following intensive fighting a couple of years ago. He and his fighters then shifted to parts of South Waziristan controlled by Baitullah Mahsud.

Before moving to Waziristan, Yuldachev and his Uzbek militants were living in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and trying to destabilise Uzbekistan by sending fighters there across the Afghan-Uzbek and Afghan-Tajik border. Yuldachev has been producing videotapes to propagate the IMU cause against the government of President Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan. In his messages, he has also been criticising the US for its alleged anti-Muslim policies and praising the al-Qaeda and Taliban for resisting the Western powers.
This article starring:
Abdur RahmanIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Juma NamaganiIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Tahir YuldashevIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan


Two drone strikes kill 12 in Waziristan
[Dawn] Twelve militants, some foreigners among them, were killed and another six injured in two US drone attacks in North and South Waziristan on Tuesday.
Expands on yesterday's carnage...
A drone fired two missiles at the house of Irfan Shamankhel, son of Sher Alam Mehsud, a local commander of the banned Tehrik Taliban Pakistan in South Waziristan. The foreigners killed in the attack remained unidentified.

Since the death of Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack in August, 65 Taliban, including local and foreigners, have been killed in 10 attacks by US drones in South Waziristan.

An intelligence official told Dawn that the US drones had been hovering above the Sara Rogha area since morning and a thick column of smoke started billowing from the house after the attack. The house that came under attack was reduced to ashes.

Fears of a military operation in South Waziristan have touched off a wave of migration to adjacent Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts.

In another attack in the evening, two missiles were fired from a drone on the house of Mustafa in Dandy Darpakhel, North Waziristan. Seven militants were killed and five others injured. Local people said that militants had cordoned off the entire area and were retrieving bodies. Sources said that Mustafa was an Afghan national and had close relations with Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. Thick smoke was seen rising from the compound.

Agencies add: Unmanned drones have carried out more than 70 missile attacks in the border region over the last year, but Washington rarely acknowledges the strikes. The United States says the mountainous region is a base for militant attacks on American and other Nato troops in Afghanistan and a stronghold of Al Qaeda's senior leadership.

South Waziristan has seen a spike in violence in recent days, including suicide attacks and rocket and mortar exchanges between the Taliban and the Pakistani army. The army has moved into other areas in the northwest over the last year, but has so far avoided major operations in Waziristan.

Residents of Dandey Darpakhel village, the scene of the second strike, said they saw drones flying over the area for hours before the strike.

'We heard big explosions,' said villager Ahmad Hasan. 'I went to the scene and saw three bodies. I also saw three or four people with serious wounds.'

The village is home to a religious seminary of Al Qaeda-linked Taliban leader Siraj Haqqani. The US has accused the Haqqani network of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Dandy Darpakhel, North Waziristan

you shoulda seen Darpakhel before it got Dandied up. It was a shithole
Posted by: Frank G || 09/30/2009 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  No doubt they hired themselves a civil engineer and an interior decorator, Frank. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/30/2009 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3  US drones had been hovering above the Sara Rogha area since morning

We need to get the mufflers upgraded on our death-from-above killbots. I have enough experience in noise reduction (acoustic and electronic) to know that this is no simple feat. Still, I hope DARPA or somebody is at least throwing some money at the problem.
Posted by: Free Radical || 09/30/2009 12:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I just love drones.
Posted by: Dave UK || 09/30/2009 12:59 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Eighteen Killed, Dozens Wounded in Iraq Attacks
[Asharq al-Aswat] At least 18 people, most of them members of Iraq's security forces, were killed and dozens wounded in bomb attacks on Monday, the worst violence to hit the country in more than two weeks.

In the deadliest incident, a suicide attacker killed seven police and wounded 10 when he blew up a water tanker packed with explosives at a quick response unit's headquarters on the highway from the western city of Ramadi towards Jordan and Syria.

A police officer, who gave the toll, said the attack was carried out 35 kilometres (20 miles) west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which was a key insurgent base in the aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003.

Violence in the predominantly Sunni Arab city has dropped dramatically in recent years, although a similar suicide car bomb killed eight people at a security checkpoint there on September 7.

Anbar, Iraq's biggest province, became the theatre of a brutal war focused on the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, while several towns along the Euphrates river valley became Al-Qaeda strongholds and later safe havens for insurgents.

But since 2006 local Sunni tribes have sided with the US military and unrest has dwindled as rebel fighters have been ejected from the region.

Elsewhere on Monday, five soldiers were killed and 28 people -- including nine troops and an unknown number of policemen -- were wounded by back-to-back bombs in western Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

The first explosion, a homemade bomb targeting an army patrol, wounded just one civilian and caused some damage but a secondary device inflicted fatalities.

"As the army and some civilians gathered and police arrived on the scene, another IED (improvised-explosive device) exploded nearby," killing five soldiers and wounding 28 people, an official said on condition of anonymity.

In a further attack, in the southern province of Diwaniyah, a bomb went off inside a minibus, killing three people and wounding five, a hospital official said.

In the restive northern city of Mosul, two policemen were killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb that targeted a patrol in the centre of the city at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), a police official said.

A policeman was also killed in similar circumstances in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

Monday's death toll of 18 was the highest since September 10, when at least 26 people were killed in violence across the country.

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 last month. That was the highest such toll since July 2008, when 465 died.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sent extra troops to the west of the country three weeks ago to secure the border with Syria, which he has repeatedly accused of giving terrorists the shelter needed to mount attacks inside Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  "Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sent extra troops to the west of the country three weeks ago to secure the border with Syria, which he has repeatedly accused of giving terrorists the shelter needed to mount attacks inside Iraq."

uh, there is another border that might be important also
Posted by: lord garth || 09/30/2009 2:45 Comments || Top||


Suspect Arrested in Iraqi Taekwondo Team Murders
[Asharq al-Aswat] Iraqi commandos and U.S. forces have arrested a suspect in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi taekwondo team whose highway ambush became one of the symbols of Iraq's lawlessness during its worse years of sectarian violence.

The U.S. military announced the arrest in a statement Sunday, but did not say when it took place or identify the suspect. The Iraqi military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Athletes and sports officials were frequent targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts at the height of the civil strife in 2006 and 2007. Sportsmen were targeted for ransom or as victims of the sectarian violence.

The military statement said Iraqi forces working with American military advisers captured the suspect in Anbar province, a one-time Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital.

The taekwondo team was driving to a training camp in neighboring Jordan in May 2006, when their convoy was stopped on the highway in Anbar between Fallujah and Ramadi, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad. All 15 athletes were abducted.

More than a year later, the remains of 13 team members -- mostly skulls and bones entangled in tattered sports uniforms -- were found near the main highway leading to Jordan.

News of the arrest was met with some satisfaction by family members.

"We are still overwhelmed by sadness and bitterness. But the arrest of one of the killers will bring some relief to us," said Ali Hussein Hamid, whose cousin Ahmed Ali was among the team members killed.

Hamid said Ali had been a member of the Iraqi national team for two years when he was abducted. Ali's body was identified through the uniform he was wearing and an identification card he was carrying, he said.

Several top athletes and sports officials were kidnapped over that stretch, including the Sunni head of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs and an Iraqi international soccer referee. A top player on the Iraqi Olympic soccer team, a national volleyball player, an Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were also among those abducted.

Most recently, gunmen killed the coach of Iraq's national karate team, Izzat Abdullah, a 45-year-old Sunni, near his house in Mosul in June.

While insurgent violence has fallen off dramatically since 2007, crimes committed for money -- from bank robbery to kidnapping for ransom -- have been on the rise.

On Sunday, kidnappers freed a Christian doctor abducted the night before from her home just east of Mosul, according to a family member.

Suaad Shamoun said his cousin, Mehasin Beshir, was released after the family paid a ransom. Shamoun did not disclose the amount paid.

Iraqi police searched for Beshir after she was taken at gunpoint late Saturday from her home in a small Christian village just east of Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, an Iraqi police official said.

The gunmen appeared to have gained access to the doctor's house, where she routinely treated people. A woman, apparently working with the kidnappers, told the doctor she was ill and dropped by for treatment. Gunmen then stormed in behind the woman and abducted the doctor, a second security official said.

There are few official statistics on the number and kinds of kidnappings, in part because the government remains focused on the bombings and other insurgent attacks that continue to plague Baghdad and northern Iraq.

On Sunday, a suicide car bomber killed two policeman and wounded a civilian at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a policeman said.

In nearby Fallujah, a roadside bomb struck a police patrol, killing one officer, a police official said. Five people, including three policemen, were wounded in the attack, the official said.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Meanwhile, a police commander said recaptured al-Qaeda-linked prisoners do not need to be moved to the Iraqi capital as part of an investigation into their recent break out of a prison in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wanted the recaptured prisoners transferred to Baghdad. But provincial police commander, Maj. Gen. Hamad al-Namis, told reporters Sunday the prisoners do not need to be moved to another city because they can be sent to a new prison near Tikrit.

Five of the 16 were al-Qaeda-linked prisoners awaiting execution. At least eight of the 16, including three al-Qaeda-linked prisoners, have been hunted down following the jailbreak on Wednesday.

More than 100 officials and guards at the prison have been detained for questioning in the case.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel to free 20 for Shalit film
Israel has said it will release 20 Palestinian women from detention in return for proof that captured soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it was waiting to receive video taken recently by his militant captors in Gaza.

The Israeli statement said the deal had been proposed by Egyptian and German mediators as a "confidence-building measure". The Hamas group is demanding the release hundreds of prisoners, many serving lengthy sentences for carrying out militant attacks, in exchange for the soldier. Mr Shalit's captors have released several letters and an audio message, but he has been denied access from the international humanitarian officials despite repeated requests.

Sources close to the negotiations said the exchange was scheduled to take place on Friday, after a list of the women had been circulated to allow any legal objections to be lodged. The BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says this is the latest in a series of on-again, off-again negotiations.

The Shalit case constantly makes headline news in Israel and the public is hungry for any information about him.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2009 06:25 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I told you to release Shalit years ago. Not a tape.

I say go ghengis khan on these idiots.
I know what he is surrounded with (Scumbags all) and I also know it is Haram.

Set him free now or hells bells.
Posted by: newc || 09/30/2009 23:44 Comments || Top||


Israeli injured in WB shooting; settlers blame checkpoint removal
Ma'an/Agencies - An unidentified Israeli settler was shot in his car while traveling in the occupied West Bank near the illegal settlement of Shvut Rachel north of Jerusalem Tuesday night, Israeli media sources reported.

The man suffered mild to moderate wounds when a bullet hit his hand. Israeli police and border guards said the shots came from "unknown assailants," but noted they may have come from "terrorists situated at the side of the road."

The Israeli English news website Ynet quoted a settler leader as saying the "attack is a direct result of the removal of roadblocks. It's only by some miracle that the outcome of these attacks has been no worse than injuries, but you cannot base security policies on miracles."
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another sacrifice to "World Opinion".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/30/2009 3:17 Comments || Top||

#2  a sacrifice to the notion of settling without regard to strategy or security, in isolated spots beyond the security barrier.

The removal of road blocks, in addition to assuaging opinion in Israels main trade partners and in its principal ally (whose President has now walked back from a settlement freeze) has also enabled an economic boom in the WB which has strengthened Fatah against Hamas, and which has given the WB a stake in stability. The economic peace is Bibis big initiative, and I think Bibi knows quite well what he is doing. Far more than folks who think a nation of seven million people can afford to completely ignore opinion amongs it trading partners.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 9:55 Comments || Top||

#3  15 years of post-Oslo experience show that your statement is total bull, liberalhawk
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/30/2009 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  If you want to count unbalanced UN resolutions and snarky articles in the press you can. If you want to count trade and cultural relations, that gives a different result.

Do you want to watch the mouth, or the hands?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 12:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I'd count dead bodies, blown-up pizza parlors and "Death to Juice" proclamations. Although, I suppose that if the body parts are thrown a long distance they can be considered outliers for statistical purposes.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/30/2009 13:08 Comments || Top||

#6  outliers for statistical purposes.

Your room, SteveS.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/30/2009 13:56 Comments || Top||

#7  well the pizza parlors have been pretty safe since 2004/2005, and even Sderot has been quiet since Cast Lead. So something seems to be working, on the ground.

But of course I read grom in 1 as saying that Israel got nothing out of world opinion, and that was what my #2 was about. Not the body count, but what Israel got in return for concessions from the world, not from the Pals. I think the appropriate metrics for that are trade and other things that make life in a small country viable.

In terms of the Pals, are you suggesting that economic improvement in the WB hasnt improved the security situation?

Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 14:11 Comments || Top||

#8  "Death to Juice" proclamations

From WHOM? From Abbas and Fayed? from Hamas? From dinnerjacket? From Sarkozy,Brown, and Merkel? From ANSWER?

I mean the eliding of distinctions is cute and all that, but as some point adults have to make policy, and that means making relevant distinctions.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Liberalism: an ideology, or a form of learning disability?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/30/2009 14:40 Comments || Top||

#10  are you capable of actually, you know, discussing the issues at hand, like the route of the security barrier and the location of settlements, as opposed to calling names?

RB has this wonderful fantasy world thing sometimes - I can defend a policy being carried out by an Israeli govt headed by Bibi Netanyahu, and I am accused of being a learning disable liberal for that reason. Oy.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 09/30/2009 14:45 Comments || Top||

#11  are you capable of actually, you know, discussing the issues at hand

Nope.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/30/2009 15:02 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Four killed as Thai terrorists target civilians in south
Suspected Islamic terrorists militants shot dead four more people in southern Thailand, police said Wednesday, bringing to nine the civilian death toll in the troubled region over three days.

In the latest in a series of attacks targeting civilians, gunmen in a pick-up truck followed a Muslim local government chief and shot him dead in Narathiwat province on Wednesday, also injuring another man, police said.

On Tuesday four gunmen in fake police uniforms went to an irrigation official's house in neighbouring Pattani province and pretended to ask for escaped militants, police said. They then sprayed bullets at four people inside the house, killing a male Muslim security guard and a Buddhist woman who also worked at the office, they said. Two other men were wounded. Meanwhile, a Muslim man was killed in a drive-by shooting, also in Pattani on Tuesday.

Terrorists Insurgents killed five Muslim civilians in separate incidents on Monday, shooting four and stabbing one to death, police said.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2009 06:19 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Good late morning!
Posted by: Steve || 09/30/2009 07:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Two for the price of one?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2009 10:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Only at Rantburg, Richard, and then perhaps only once. Treasure the day! :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/30/2009 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Domino was a "Thunderball"



Prim and Proper

Double Cross

Peeking through the screen door

Twofer Daily Gam Shot

Something more comfortable

Nightie Night


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/30/2009 12:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Fred and I did independent bloids this am (I thought he was going to do it last night). I put mine up just a few minutes after he put his up.

What's scary is that on the headlines we duplicated, we have about the same opinion.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2009 12:48 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2009-09-30
  Al Shabaab rebels declare war on rivals
Tue 2009-09-29
  US missile strikes kill eight
Mon 2009-09-28
  Ismail Khan Survives Suicide Boomer
Sun 2009-09-27
  Twin suicide kabooms kill 23 in Peshawar, Bannu
Sat 2009-09-26
  Iraqi forces catch five Qaeda jailbreakers
Fri 2009-09-25
  US drone attack kills 10 in Pakistan
Thu 2009-09-24
  Qaida-linked inmates break out of Iraq prison
Wed 2009-09-23
  Ahmadinejad to present UN with 'solution' to world crises
Tue 2009-09-22
  Al-Shabaab proclaim allegiance to bin Laden
Mon 2009-09-21
  Hafiz Saeed under 'house arrest', was Pak army's iftar guest
Sun 2009-09-20
  AQ Khan blows the whistle on Pakistan
Sat 2009-09-19
  U.N. probes use of its vehicles in Somalia bombing
Fri 2009-09-18
  Colo. Man in Suspected NYC Subway Plot Admits Al Qaeda Ties
Thu 2009-09-17
  Noordin Mohammad Top: Dead Again!
Wed 2009-09-16
  IDF nabs Park Hotel attack terrorist


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