equipment could have come from:
1) The Pakis
2) Afghan police and/or military
3) abandoned by US military.
My betting is on 2)
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/12/2009 14:36 Comments ||
Top||
#5
How much of it was captured from NATO/US forces, and how much of it came from the "Mighty" Pak Army?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/12/2009 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Not all that much equipment was shown.
I don't know, the message seemed to be: "If you want to live in a stone quarry with rusting hulks of cars and wander around in rags, throw in with the Taliwackoed?"
[Quqnoos] At least one civilian has been killed and three others wounded in a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials say. The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into the convoy of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Shajoy district of the southern province of Zabul.
ISAF forces have confirmed that they were the target of the suicide bomber.
Zabul's Deputy Governor, Gulab Shah Ali Khail, says one woman has been killed and three others injured in the blast.
Quqnoos' correspondent, Abdullah Abid, in Zabul says that international and Afghan forces have cordoned off the blast scene.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying eleven foreign soldiers have been killed in the incident.
An Afghan Army official who talked on the condition of anonymity has told our correspondent that three ISAF soldiers have been wounded in the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Mail and Globe] Somali pirates said on Wednesday they had hijacked a fishing vessel and another ship in the Indian Ocean believed to be carrying oil.
Pirate Hassan said by telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere that three gunmen were wounded while seizing the second vessel overnight on Tuesday.
"They hijacked it from the Indian Ocean and its 24 crew are safe. There was brief fighting before we captured it. Three of my friends were injured," Hassan told Reuters. "We think it is carrying fuel."
Heavily armed pirates from Somalia are holding at least 11 vessels and more than 200 crew hostage, including a British couple whose yacht was hijacked off the Seychelles.
The presence of a multinational naval force patrolling the strategic shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia, has failed to curb their attacks. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme and a pirate called Osman both said a fishing vessel had been hijacked off the northern Somali coast earlier in the week.
"Our colleagues hijacked a Yemeni fishing boat near Hafun on Monday night," Osman told Reuters.
On Sunday, pirates seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for Somalia, maritime experts said. Then on Monday, the gunmen launched their longest-range hijack attempt yet -- opening fire on a giant Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker 1 000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Pirates
#1
TOPIX > CANADA: EXPERT SAYS TAMIL TIGERS AMONG MIGRANTS [Wanted or pro-Violence dedic LTTE Members hiding among legitimate Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka fighting]. LTTE desires to regroup, rebuild, + riase funds in new international safe havens vee CANADA, NORWAY, AUSTRALIA, + BRITAIN.
And PALAU'S EX-GITMO UIGHURS [budding STRATEGIC PRESENCE in MICRONESIA = CENT/WESTPAC]???
#2
...Y'know, some enterprising insurance company is missing out on a real opportunity here: cut rate policy for your vessel operating off the Somali coast IF you carry arms and send your crew through a certified weapons training course. It would only take a few pirate crews being blown away for this shiat to stop and stop quickly.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/12/2009 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
[Maghrebia] An Algiers court on Monday sentenced three Moroccans to three years in jail on terror-related charges, APS quoted judicial sources as saying on Tuesday (November 10th). Yacine Bouheltit, Bilel Elloui and Mohamed El-Hamedi reportedly crossed the border to meet up with terrorist groups in northern Algeria. They were arrested after security services intercepted a cell phone call during which Bouheltit asked a known Algerian terrorist for help in joining al-Qaeda in Iraq.
This article starring:
BILEL ELLUI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
MOHAMED EL HAMEDI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
YACINE BUHELTIT
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
A Russian-born German man was sentenced to life behind bars Wednesday for the brutal murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman, a racially motivated crime that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
Alex Wiens, 28, his face covered by a hood and his eyes hidden behind dark glasses, was motionless as the court in the eastern German city of Dresden found him guilty of murdering Marwa al-Sherbini, dubbed the "veil martyr."
On July 1, in the same courthouse, Wiens had plunged an 18-centimeter (seven-inch) kitchen knife at least 16 times into Sherbini, 31 and three-months pregnant at the time with her second child. Her son, three-year-old Mustafa, watched her bleed to death at the scene.
Sherbini's husband, Egyptian geneticist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was also stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a guard who apparently mistook him for the attacker.
On crutches, unsure if he will ever walk again, Okaz gave wrenching testimony during the trial, telling the court how Mustafa, who now lives with family in Egypt, misses his mother.
The trial centered around Wiens' motives for the murder and whether he was fully in control of his faculties at the time.
Prosecutors said he was driven by "an unbridled hatred of foreigners." In a statement read by his lawyer, Wiens admitted being hostile to foreigners but denied this was the motive for the attack.
In a dramatic last-minute twist, a document suddenly arrived from Russia showing that Wiens had been declared unfit for military service in 2001 because of an "undifferentiated schizophrenia."
Defense lawyers said that the stabbing had not been premeditated, that Wiens always carried a knife in his backpack, and that his psychiatric condition mitigated the crime.
The courthouse, so lightly guarded when the murder took place, now resembled a maximum security prison, with some 200 police officers and snipers on hand following death threats against Wiens, who was shielded by bulletproof glass.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He should probably be executed but this is as good as it gets over there ('Life' is about 10 years? unless some other prisoner administers his own justice?) See, I'm not anti-Muslim! Sometimes I'm anti-anti-Muslim.
#2
Egypt is so pissed they issued a fatwa. But this is the same country that kidnaps Christian women, forcing them to convert... after raping them, of course.
NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors on Thursday took steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization.
The organization -- called the Alavi Foundation -- has long been suspected of being under Iranian government control. Prosecutors say the foundation has been helping to illegally funnel money back to the Iranian government.
The government filed a forfeiture action in federal court in New York to seize four mosques in the city and in Maryland, California and Houston. The government also wants to take control of a 36-story office tower on New York's Fifth Avenue.
The filing starts what could be a drawn-out legal process.
The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims. Many of them are fearful of a backlash after last week's Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American soldier.
The mosques and the office tower will remain open while the forfeiture case works its way through court.
#1
How does the Big O feel about this? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/12/2009 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Interesting that these four mosques and a skyscraper were seized but the one associated with both 9/11 and the more recent events in Ft. Hood were not.
#4
Yah, that's what I'm wondering. In the wake of a number of massive crimes committed by Sunnis we're going to arrest a couple shi'ites. Not that there aren't bad people in both beliefs (as well as not-bad people) but the lack of an actual punishment-to-perps linkage is kinda bugging me.
#5
We (BOA) the Big O Administration are buddies with the Saudis, so nothing will happen to the Wahhabi mosques. It has been this way for successive presidents. What can I say?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/12/2009 18:21 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Buwaya - you oughtta see a doctor about that stutter :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2009 18:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Funny echo we got in here...
Funny echo we got in here...
funny echo we got in here...
Did someone say something? I can't hear for all the echoes!
Buwaya's multiple duplicates have been cleaned up -Scooter
#8
From the Miami Herald(AP):
Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation managed the office tower on behalf of the Iranian government and, working with a front company known as Assa Corp., illegally funneled millions in rental income to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran's nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank.
The U.S. has long suspected the foundation was an arm of the Iranian government; a 97-page complaint details involvement in foundation business by several top Iranian officials, including the deputy prime minister and ambassadors to the United Nations.
"For two decades, the Alavi Foundation's affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series of American laws," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
There were no raids Thursday as part of the forfeiture action. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the property.
As prosecutors outlined their allegations against Alavi, the Islamic centers and the schools they run carried on with normal activity. The mosques' leaders had no immediate comment.
Parents lined up in their cars to pick up their children at the schools within the Islamic Education Center of Greater Houston and the Islamic Education Center in Rockville, Md. No notices of the forfeiture action were posted at either place as of late Thursday.
At the Islamic Institute of New York, a mosque and school in Queens, two U.S. marshals came to the door and rang the bell repeatedly. The marshals taped a forfeiture notice to the window and left a large document sitting on the ground. After they left a group of men came out of the building and took the document.
#11
Many of them are fearful of a backlash after last week's Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American soldier.
Right.
Kinda like we're so far into our orwellian la-la land that I don't even have the energy to unpack the outrageous nonsense and errors just in that one sentence.
But as I run out the door, here's a perfunctory effort ....
Really, how many are fearful, and how do you know, and can you show your data? How reasonable does such a fear sound in the face of recent history (starting w/ 9/11), in which there has been practically zero occurrence of any "backlash" identifiably related to any ongoing news events?
His being a Muslim-American soldier has nothing to do with it, of course. The shouting "allan snackbar", the commo w/ AQ, the contact w/ radical imams - uh, those MIGHT color people's initial view of the Ft. Hood atrocity. Reasonably so. Again - as the data set of "systematic, widespread, or significant backlash against the American-Muslim community as a result of islamo-fascist terrorism" is an EMPTY data set, WTF are you even talking about?
I know, I know - literally railing against the tide here. But it's useful to periodically remind ourselves of how awash our society is in misinformation, outright fabrication, and outlandishly unreasonable frameworks, thanks to our "education" system and our "media" - and also to our astonishingly mediocre and cowardly "elites" inside the Beltway (figuratively and literally).
Very very little of today's perilous and bizarre national political situation would be possible without the mass misconception, bigotry, and misguided moral narcissism created by the country's failed/hijacked institutions.
#12
Verlaine - the source of the disease is traceable back to the origins of PC-Correct. I have a murky theory as to which group of 60s militant bra-burners that concept derived from but, who knows, it may pre-date them.
#13
What about all the Saudi funded mosques in the US? Daniel Pipes wrote many years ago about the anti-Christian, anti-American, hate filled teaching that goes on in Wahabist mosques all over the US--in fact, some of the 911 killers were members of these mosques--was the one the Fort Hood murderer attended in Virginia one of their's?
Will update as info comes in
12:50 CST:
Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and for the joint task force investigating the crime, said Hasan "has been charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder under Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice." He told a news conference that "additional charges may be preferred in the future."
Grey described the murder charges as "the first step in the court martial process" and emphasized that a multi-agency investigation of the Nov. 5 shooting continues. He indicated that investigators have not yet settled on a motive for the massacre.
"We're looking at every reason for this shooting," he said. "We're aggressively following every possible lead."
Grey added: "We still believe that there was only one gunman at the scene involved in the actual shootings." The statement left open the possibility that someone else instigated the attack. Investigators have been examining Hasan's relationship with a radical Muslim prayer leader who formerly served at a Northern Virginia mosque that Hasan attended for a time in 2001. Hasan lived in the Washington area while he was working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District.
Grey said he would not release any details that might jeopardize the investigation or the eventual legal proceedings. But he suggested one argument for premeditation when he told reporters that Hasan did not have any legitimate reason to be at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center last Thursday.
"We do know that the suspect was not at the Readiness Center for any scheduled appointments or command-directed activity," Grey said as he stood with representatives of other agencies investigating the crime, including the FBI and Texas Rangers.
Authorities have said Hasan will be tried in a military court because he is a service member, the shooting took place on an Army post, and all of those slain were Defense Department personnel. Of the 13 who died, four were officers, eight were enlisted soldiers and one was a retired chief warrant officer who was working as a civilian at Fort Hood.
11:48 CST:
An announcement was made Thursday at a press conference at Fort Hood, officials said.
Authorities decided to charge Hasan in a military court, officials said. Additional charges may be filed; however, the murder counts are the most serious of offenses, officials told NBC News.
It was not yet decided whether to charge Hasan with a 14th count of murder related to the death of the unborn child of a pregnant shooting victim.
Military officials can consider the death penalty.
DEVELOPING: Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan will be charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in last week's Fort Hood mass shootings, NBC News reported Thursday.
Hasan, 39, is suspected of killing 13 of his comrades Nov. 5 when he opened fire at a soldier processing center at the military base in Killeen, Texas.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/12/2009 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
and treason?
Posted by: Gleretch Scourge of the Hemps3981 ||
11/12/2009 12:56 Comments ||
Top||
#3
That's a quick Art. 32 investigation.
Art. 118. Murder
Additional charges may be filed;
could include -
Art. 92. Failure to obey order or regulation
Art. 93. Cruelty and maltreatment
Art. 94. Mutiny or sedition
Art. 104. Aiding the enemy
Art. 124. Maiming
Art. 128. Assault
Art. 133. Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman
Art. 134. General article
I'd toss in Art. 107. False official statements for breaching his oath of office.
Courts Martial deliberations are going to take a while to work through a full list they could assemble.
[Dawn] A landmine attack and ambush killed 10 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border Wednesday, in a sign that violence is spreading away from the frontlines of a major anti-Taliban offensive.
Wednesday's deaths were reported in Mohmand, where the paramilitary Frontier Corps has been operating for well over a year against the Taliban, and after security officials warned that the militants are stepping up attacks elsewhere.
'Eight soldiers were martyred and two were wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine buried on the roadside,' Major Fazal ur-Rehman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told AFP.
The attack happened on the outskirts of Safi town near the Afghan border in Mohmand tribal district, the paramilitary said.
'The soldiers were on a routine patrol. The landmine was buried by militants. The explosion damaged the pick-up,' said Rehman.
He said the incident was separate to a Taliban ambush that left two paramilitary personnel dead and eight others missing after militants attacked a another convoy nearby at Ghanam Shah on Wednesday.
Local official Rasool Khan said two security personnel, initially reported as missing, later made contact. 'A search operation is continuing for the remaining eight who are missing,' Khan told AFP by telephone from Mohmand.
Two bodies were recovered after the ambush and 10 rebels killed after attack helicopters shelled suspected militant hideouts in the area on Wednesday.
The United States has put Pakistan on the frontline of its war against Al-Qaeda and has been increasingly disturbed by deteriorating security in the country where attacks and bombings have killed about 2,500 people in 28 months.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Frontier Corps has not generally seemed up to the challenge in the past, but it's not clear whether even the elite would have fared better in this attack. Having attack helicopters show up to help is a good sign.
[Dawn] Seven militants were killed as security forces further consolidated their positions on all three axes in the ongoing Operation Rah-i-Nijat in South Waziristan.
According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) handout, the militants were killed in an intense exchange of fire that took place at a newly-established check post at Fort Knoll. Security forces lost two lives, including an officer.
During a search operation at Torwam, security forces recovered a cache of weapons and ammunition. Kaniguram was declared safe after eight tunnels inside the compounds were discovered along with a number of weapons and ammunition.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday reiterated the firm resolve of the government to weed out terrorism and appreciated the Security Forces' valour and sacrifices in the fight against terror.
"We are determined to curb terrorism. Whole the nation is united to rid this menace and I appreciate the success of Security Forces and law enforcing agencies," he said.
"We have arrested the masterminds of WFP and IIU suicide attacks and more arrests were made on their information," he informed the National Assembly.
Responding to points raised by Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, the Interior Minister said, "situation is different from the past. Today we have a focal point where information pours in from all intelligence agencies and action is proposed when and where needed."
He said 3 D policy of the Prime Minister has been effective and the forces are achieving successes against terrorists.
He said Taliban are following a destabilizing agenda but, "We shall never let them succeed in their ulterior and anti state motives. We shall continue striking these cruel and paid murderers."
"Whole the nations was united and we shall fight them out," he said.
Earlier, MNA Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had recommended to the government not to close the doors for negotiations and evolve a homegrown strategy keeping in view the national interests.
"We should formulate our own policy learning from the experiences of other countries in fighting terrorism," he had proposed, also urging to be vigilant to kidnapping for ransom, robbery, car theft and other crimes.
He said 2009 has been the worst year in terms of suicide attacks with number rising to 80 wherein hundreds of people lost their lives.
He also urged the government to expedite efforts to providing relief to IDPs from FATA.
He mentioned to certain cases where the NWFP residents tried to shift elsewhere and purchase land but they were asked to get an NoC. "This situation would generate serious problems for the Federation."
Sherpao proposed such action that show presence of the government and demanded from Interior Minister to inform the House in detail about the measures.
He also mentioned to unanimous recommendations of a committee constituted on this issue and said, had these recommendations been implemented, the situation might have improved.
He said it was not the conventional war and intelligence information bore pivotal role and proposed a trained force to fight terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Ma'an] Gunmen ambushed an Egyptian patrol shortly after it seized contraband cement intended for Gaza, leaving one officer and five soldiers wounded, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
The security source mentioned by The Associated Press said Egyptian security forces were searching for a smugglers warehouse in the mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, south of the Rafah border crossing.
The security forces, travelling in a convoy of two armored vehicles and almost twelve police vans, seized 200 tons of cement intended by smugglers to be transported into Gaza via a network of tunnels, according to a local security official.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I'm impressed. Never would have guessed the tunnels were so good they could move bulk goods like hundreds of tons of cement through them. That has to be some expensive cement by the time it's delivered. What kind of construction can support that investment?
#3
Might not want the extent of their building activities to be known.
Posted by: Sluque the Rasher of Bacon4421 ||
11/12/2009 12:25 Comments ||
Top||
#4
To build more, deeper, bigger tunnels, of course with truck sized elevators at each end.
Think of it as an U with hidden entrances at each end.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/12/2009 13:54 Comments ||
Top||
#5
How else are they going to build their four-lane-highway tunnel?
But seriously, the Egyptians are going to lose control of the Sinai at this rate. You can't let this sort of systemic organized, regimented corruption go on for long without it generating its own quasi-governmental organization to rival the nominal authorities.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/12/2009 17:04 Comments ||
Top||
Manila - The beheading of a kidnap victim is the latest proof that a small number of Islamic militants in the Philippines are defying a sustained US-backed military campaign to extinguish them, observers say.
The grisly development this week came just ahead of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Southeast Asian nation, throwing the spotlight on joint efforts by Filipino and American forces to crush the Abu Sayyaf.
"The Abu Sayyaf are still well-entrenched in the jungle. They are capable of mounting terrorist attacks," said Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Political Violence and Terrorism Research think-tank.
"They have funds to buy bomb ingredients and train potential bombers."
The Abu Sayyaf was founded in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda-network to fight for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, analysts say.
The militants, who have never numbered more than 1 000, operate in remote and often lawless islands of the southern Philippines, resorting to kidnappings for ransom and other crimes to raise funds.
US Special Forces advisers first arrived in the volatile southern Philippines to train and equip the Filipino military to combat the Abu Sayyaf in 2001.
It was part of then US president George Bush's so-called "war on terror", and the jungles of Basilan and Jolo islands were seen as an important part of the Southeast Asian theatre.
Only a few hundred US troops have been in the south at any time, according to the Philippine military, and they have been active in building infrastructure as part of a development push alongside the training.
Philippine authorities say the Abu Sayyaf's numbers have fallen from about 1 000 eight years ago to 300-400 now, thanks to the military campaign.
US intelligence and weaponry have helped Filipino soldiers capture or kill the main leaders of the Abu Sayyaf early in the mission, but younger, more radical rebels have taken their place, according to Banlaoi and other analysts.
And despite the military crackdown, the group continues to carry out brutal attacks.
Clashes in the southern islands since the start of the year have left 48 Filipino soldiers and at least 70 Abu Sayyaf militants dead, according to a tally by AFP based on authorities' reports.
In September, two US soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the deadliest attack by the Abu Sayyaf so far on the American contingent.
And on Monday the Abu Sayyaf dumped the severed head of a school principal they kidnapped in October on Jolo island, a gruesome reminder of their chilling brutality.
Julkipli Wadi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of the Philippines who has closely followed the Abu Sayyaf, said a constitutional ban on foreign troops joining combat mission had tied the Americans' hands.
"If the gauge of success is the elimination or neutralisation of the Abu Sayyaf, then it would appear that the cooperation has been a failure," Wadi said.
Philippine military intelligence officials told AFP the Abu Sayyaf has over the years built up funding through kidnapping and extortion, while moonlighting as drug couriers.
More than 80 percent of its members are below 25 years of age, many of whom are high-school drop outs lured by promises of monetary rewards from criminal activities by the group, the officials say.
The government's chief negotiator for the Muslim insurgency, Nabil Tan, said the Abu Sayyaf also took advantage of the bitter memories Jolo Muslims still felt from an American campaign of pacification in the early 1900s.
In 1906, American general John 'Blackjack" Pershing's army killed over 1 000 Jolo Muslims who refused orders to disarm some years after Spain ceded the islands to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War.
Suicidal Muslim fighters were defiant, forcing Pershing to commission the making of the .45 calibre handgun because the .38 revolver appeared to have little effect on them.
"Their (US military advisers') presence is seen as a challenge by the local militants. People still remember General Pershing to this day," said Tan, who is also a native of Jolo. - AFP
#3
"The Abu Sayyaf are still well-entrenched in the jungle. They are capable of mounting terrorist attacks," said Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Political Violence and Terrorism Research think-tank.
#5
Wiping out 60-70% of the enemy, including its leadership, is failure? If the Flip army keeps failing like that, Abu Sayyaf will be extinct as the Dodo bird.
#7
"If the gauge of success is the elimination or neutralisation of the Abu Sayyaf, then it would appear that the cooperation has been a failure," Wadi said.
Philippine authorities say the Abu Sayyaf's numbers have fallen from about 1 000 eight years ago to 300-400 now, thanks to the military campaign.
#8
More than 80 percent of its members are below 25 years of age, many of whom are high-school drop outs lured by promises of monetary rewards from criminal activities by the group...The government's chief negotiator for the Muslim insurgency, Nabil Tan, said the Abu Sayyaf also took advantage of the bitter memories Jolo Muslims still felt from an American campaign of pacification in the early 1900s.
[Straits Times] SUSPECTED Islamic insurgents shot and killed two Muslim civilians in Thailand's restive south, where more than 4,000 people have died in nearly six years of unrest, police said on Wednesday.
A former deputy village chief was shot dead in troubled Narathiwat province late on Tuesday as he walked near his home, said police.
In Pattani province a Muslim villager was killed in a drive-by shooting, also on Tuesday.
More than 4,000 people have been killed and thousands more wounded in Thailand's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia since January 2004.
The shadowy insurgents, who never publicly state their goals, have targeted Buddhists and Muslims alike, with victims ranging from rubber plantation workers to teachers and security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran hanged on Wednesday a Kurdish activist convicted of "armed action" against the Islamic republic, Fars news agency reported, quoting the justice chief in Kurdistan province.
"The death sentence against the convicted man (Ehsan Fatahian) was carried out this morning," Ali Akbar Gharoussi said.
The Iranian Kurdish activist "was found guilty of armed action against national security" and "admitted" being a member of the outlawed Komalah Kurdish leftist opposition group, Gharoussi said.
According to group leader Abdullah Moh'tadi, Fatahian left the non-violent Komalah two years ago.
When asked by Al Arabiya about why he thinks the young man was hanged Moh'tadi said: "the Iranian regime is trying to intimidate ethnic minorities from joining the Green Wave", referring to the movement started in Iran for democracy during the last presidential election.
"One of the methods to deter people is stricter sentencing in ethnic provinces such as Kurdistan, Baluchistan and Ahwaz," he added
The 27-year old Fatahian was initially to serve 10 years in jail but his sentence was changed to death by a higher court.
Rights group Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says it put to death at least 346 people last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Yeah, but listen to them bitch and moan when we hang the Ft. Hood shooter.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A Lebanese Military court has sentenced to death four people on charges of spying for Israel and conspiring with the regime to wage a war on the country.
Two of the defendants were tried in absentia because they had reportedly fled to Israel, the Lebanese media reported on Wednesday.
The other two were a staff sergeant in the Lebanese internal security services and his wife.
The four were found guilty of "conspiring with Israel, allowing it to launch an attack against Lebanon and to make contacts with its agents in Lebanon."
Lebanon launched a counter espionage crackdown last spring through which it arrested at least 100 suspects.
According to senior Lebanese security officials the arrests have dealt a severe blow to Israel's spy networks in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/12/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#6
As mojo mentions, her dancer/athlete background made her fun to work with for the stunt coordinator.
The "behind the scenes" stuff on the Serenity DVD mentions something along the lines of "did you know that Summer can backkick someone in the head around a pole?" "We should work that in!"
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] At least one civilian has been killed and three others wounded in a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials say. The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into the convoy of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Shajoy district of the southern province of Zabul. 
[Mail and Globe] Somali pirates said on Wednesday they had hijacked a fishing vessel and another ship in the Indian Ocean believed to be carrying oil. 
[Maghrebia] An Algiers court on Monday sentenced three Moroccans to three years in jail on terror-related charges, APS quoted judicial sources as saying on Tuesday (November 10th). 
A Russian-born German man was sentenced to life behind bars Wednesday for the brutal murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman, a racially motivated crime that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
[Dawn] A landmine attack and ambush killed 10 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border Wednesday, in a sign that violence is spreading away from the frontlines of a major anti-Taliban offensive.
[Dawn] Seven militants were killed as security forces further consolidated their positions on all three axes in the ongoing Operation Rah-i-Nijat in South Waziristan.
[Dawn] Ten suspected militants were killed after helicopter gunships shelled militant hide-outs in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.
[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday reiterated the firm resolve of the government to weed out terrorism and appreciated the Security Forces' valour and sacrifices in the fight against terror. 
[Ma'an] Gunmen ambushed an Egyptian patrol shortly after it seized contraband cement intended for Gaza, leaving one officer and five soldiers wounded, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday. 
[Straits Times] SUSPECTED Islamic insurgents shot and killed two Muslim civilians in Thailand's restive south, where more than 4,000 people have died in nearly six years of unrest, police said on Wednesday. 
