[Dawn] Three militants wearing suicide vests tried to attack Afghan intelligence service offices in Kandahar on Monday, resulting in a deadly gunfight, the provincial government said.
The head of Kandahar provincial council, Ahmad Wali Karzai, said the trio tried to enter the National Directorate for Security (NDS) compound in the volatile southern city.
"They were blocked by NDS guards. One of them blew himself up and the two others were killed by security forces in an exchange of fire," said Karzai, whose brother is Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Sustained gunfire and a "huge blast" were heard in the city centre shortly after 1:00 pm, an AFP reporter said, while a source at the security service said "terrorists" were firing from a primary school compound.
Karzai said a worker at the school was injured during the shooting and two intelligence operatives were also wounded.
It sounds like the Kandahar intelligence staff didn't get their security training from the CIA home office.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOI) officials say they have detained 76 insurgents in different parts of Afghanistan over the past week You just know that's gonna screw up the peace process.
The statistic reports, which were provided by the MOI, indicate that 176 people were killed during the past week and more than 136 of them were militants.
Zemarai Bashari, spokesperson for the MOI, addressed the reporters in a press conference and said that 29 civilians were killed during the previous week - a 36 percent decrease in this trend.
The remarks come as four civilians were killed and fourteen others were wounded Sunday in Kandahar when a car carrying de-miners struck an IED.
Twelve Afghan Police were killed last week, and this shows a significant increase in ANP deaths compared with other weeks, said MOI officials.
"The enemy attacks unfortunately compared with other past weeks have increased 4 percent," said Zemarai Bashari, spokesperson for the MOI.
The MOI officials said that ANP forces managed to discover and dismantle more than 130 bombs and IEDs in the country within the last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] An Iranian and a Tajik accused of aiding men who killed Chechen leader Sulim Yamadayev in Dubai have been sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by deportation, Gulf News newspaper reported Monday.
The Iranian, a clerk identified by the initials M.T., and the Tajik, a businessman whose initials are M.K., were given the sentence by Dubai Court of First Instance judge Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad on Monday, the online edition of the newspaper reported.
The two men pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers described the charges against them as "groundless and uncorroborated," the English-language daily said.
Yamadayev, a bitter foe of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was shot dead on March 28, 2009 in a parking lot outside his apartment at Dubai's Jumeirah Beach Residence complex.
A former Chechen separatist, Yamadayev switched sides in the late 1990s and became the commander of Vostok, an elite battalion which fought the rebels. He was honored with Russia's top decoration, the Hero of Russia award.
He was dismissed from the military in late 2008 amid bitter rivalry with Kadyrov.
Yamadayev left Russia and moved to Dubai in 2009, fearing for his life after a brother was assassinated in September 2008, according to the Russian media.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen put four Shiite rebel supporters on trial on Monday on charges of spying for Iran in a move that could strain a truce to end a northern war that drew in neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia last year.
Muamar al-Abdali, 35, Walid Sharafeddin, 33, Abdullah al-Duleimi, 43, and Sadeq al-Sharafi, 26, were charged with "providing the Iranian side with photographs of security installations, military camps, ports, islands and maritime installations harming" Yemen, according to the charge sheet.
Sanaa has repeatedly accused elements in Iran of backing the rebels, a charge Tehran has strongly denied.
The prosecution demanded the maximum penalty for the defendants, which is execution by firing squad.
"During the period between 1994 and Aug. 25, 2009, they undertook to spy for a foreign state and hold illegal communications with those working for Iran's interests," the indictment said. The men were arrested in July and August.
"They received support and funding to carry out intellectual and political projects serving Iranian interests, and submitted to them reports on the political, economic and social situation in the country."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A clash between police and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir left at least 15 including four policemen injured when police halted their attempt to bring out a procession at Andarkillah in Chittagong yesterday.
Police arrested 11 suspected Jamaat-Shibir activists after they took shelter inside nearby buildings and a mosque.
Eyewitnesses said the Jamaat activists brandishing sticks came out on to the streets and started pelting brickbats at police at the busy intersection creating panic among pedestrians and commuters.
More than 200 activists tried to bring out a procession from Andarkillah Shahi Jame Mosque immediately after Asar prayers around 5:15pm, police said.
When on-duty policemen at the mosque gate tried to prevent the Jamaat-Shibir men from bringing out the procession a scuffle broke out resulting in a clash with the law enforcers, said witnesses.
Eyewitnesses said the Jamaat activists brandishing sticks came out on to the streets and started pelting brickbats at police at the busy intersection creating panic among pedestrians and commuters.
They damaged four vehicles and broke furniture of two bookshops on the ground floor of Shahi Jame Mosque Market.
Helal Uddin, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Police Station, rushed to the spot and resorted to truncheon charging to disperse the activists. The Jamaat-Shibir men retreated towards Terri Bazar area and Najir Ahmad Chowdhury Road from where they kept on pelting brickbats at police.
Md Mohiuddin, officer-in-charge of the police station, said the agitators pelted stones, potted plants, hand-made bombs and even fired bullets. The law enforcers lobbed at least 15 teargas shells and 30 rubber bullets in return.
At least four policemen and 15 others were injured during this battle. Injured policemen Kader, Rafik, Mainuddin and Khorshed were rushed to the police hospital at Dampara Police Lines.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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Well sure. Cognac ain't cheap ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il can freely dispose of 20 percent of his country's budget, a former secretary of North Korean Workers' Party has said that. Hwang Jang-yop told the Asahi Shimbun, "Only 30 percent of the budget is spent on public services, while 50 percent is earmarked for military spending." Hwang defected to South Korea in 1997.
Hwang was interviewed by the daily during his visit to Japan on April 4-8. "Kim Jong-il's dictatorship is 10 times worse than his father's. People have a painful life," he said.
Asked if the North is likely to abandon its nuclear weapons program, he said, "There is no such possibility. But the North won't use the weapons. They're a means to maintain the regime."
To the question why Kim's eldest son Jong-nam was passed over for the succession, he said, "At first, Kim Jong-il thought of choosing his eldest son as his successor. But he seems to have changed his mind as he fell in love with Ko Young-hee, the mother of Jong-un, his third son, after Jong-nam's mother Song Hye-rim died." I seriously doubt Kimmie is the romantic type ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Now THAT is a discretionary budget! 20% off the top.
(At the expense of desperate people who have been suffering for 60 years. Great guy.)
*spit*
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Langly, BC ||
04/13/2010 0:11 Comments ||
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#5
I'm willing to bet that the 20% represents Party spending, not just Kim family dosh. Since the other two items were "public services" and the military. The Party isn't technically part of the public, and really, even for a shithole like North Korea, you can't waste 20% of a national budget on beer and hookers, not even if you count the palatial bunkers and private guards.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/13/2010 11:17 Comments ||
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#6
Asked if the North is likely to abandon its nuclear weapons program, he said, "There is no such possibility. But the North won't use the weapons. They're a means to maintain the regime."
I bet the Iranian Govt are thinking the same thing!
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Up to 71 civilians were killed in a weekend strike by Pakistani jets near the Afghan border, survivors and a government official said Tuesday -- a rare confirmation of civilian casualties that risks undercutting public support for the fight against militants.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2010 12:24 ||
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#1
War is hell.
Maybe the civilians shouldn't be hanging with terrorists.
Also it must be noted: A 'civilian' is merely a terrorist without a gun.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
04/13/2010 12:45 Comments ||
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#2
No doubt it will be learned that the air strike was made under the targeting direction of the US. All innocents are victims of the US and all victims of the US are innocents, kind of by definition.
#2
A high rad pencil of Cobalt 60 is used for radiometric scanning of welds of very thick metal to detect weld flaws. I think it was in argentina where the wire holding such a pencil broke. the pencil fell out of the lead pig shielding transporting it and it rolled out the back door of the van carrying it. It looked so cool a guy picked it up and put it into his back pocket.
His entire family had to be treated for radiation burns. He himself lost the "family jewels" and a goodly portion of the buttock under the pocket into which the pencil was deposited. I saw the photos of before and after the surgery: not pleasant at all.
#3
Agreed. This seems historically to be an occupational hazard for scrap metal.
http://www.allbusiness.com/manufacturing/fabricated-metal-product-manufacturing/261868-1.html
#4
There's an awful lot of that stuff floating around in the 3rd world because it is very useful, but their governments have yet to put strict controls on its disposal. It is used both to sterilize food and medical equipment.
Cobalt 60 has a half life of only 5.27 years, so is pretty depleted after 10 years.
#5
Google 'contaminated Mexican steel incident', a fascinating story. I first read it in the 1980's and it just stuck in my memory: Date: 6 December 1983-February 1984
Location: Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Type of event: dispersal of lost radioactive source
Description:
A scrap yard in Ciudad Juarez obtained a used medical teletherapy unit containing about 6,000 1-millimeter pellets of cobalt-60, totalling over 400 curies. On 6 December the source container was deliberately ruptured, scattering pellets throughout the yard. A magnetic loader further dispersed the pellets, many of which ended up in scrap metal converted into steel products around 10 December. Products included steel rebar from a Chihuahua plant, table pedestals from Falcon Products Company in Juarez (some of both items were shipped to the USA), products from a foundry in Torreon, and products from a producer in Guadalajara. The contamination was undetected until 16 January 1984, when a truck carrying contaminated rebar took a wrong turn at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico, triggering automatic radiation sensors. Later that day five other trucks carrying contaminated steel were stopped at a border crossing at El Paso, Texas. Efforts to collect contaminated steel progressed over the next few weeks, with about 500 to 931 tons estimated to have entered the USA. In late January contaminated steel was traced to a table manufacturer in St. Louis, Missouri, and 2,500 castings were recalled from 40 states and replaced; most tables were in warehouses but some were removed from restaurants. In February Mexican authorities reported 3 or 4 individuals had received doses of 100 to 450 rem. The U.S. DOE assisted Mexico in aerial surveys 20-26 March which identified 21 contaminated areas. One contaminated pickup truck was found in a residential neighborhood with children playing in it. In Sinaloa Mexican authorities demolished 109 houses built with contaminated rebar. One worker subsequently died of bone cancer, with another 4 injured. A total of at least 10 individuals received significant exposures.
Consequences: 1 fatality, 4 injuries
I searched Google a bit for a full report, didn't find a free one. The discovery of the contamination seemed almost accidental/providential.
#9
I don't know about any of the other moderators, gromky, but I don't know how to change headlines once they've been published. Since nobody caught it in time, we're stuck for all eternity... or at least until the back-up and the back-up of the back-up crash simultaneously and irretrievably.
[Dawn] A US drone fired two missiles into a Taliban compound in Pakistan's tribal area near the Afghan border late Monday, killing at least five militants, security officials said.
The compound, located in mountainous Boya village about 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of North Waziristan region's main town of Miramshah, belonged to a militant commander. "The compounds was owned by local Taliban commander Tariq Khan," a security official told AFP, adding that the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles. "We have confirmation of five people killed," an administration official said, adding that the death toll may rise. AT least two militants were believed to have been wounded.
Monday's missile attack came as Pakistani security forces killed 39 militants in heavy fighting in Orakzai, another tribal region, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] More than 100 militants armed with rockets and automatic weapons attacked two security checkpoints in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, sparking intense fighting that left at least 41 militants and two soldiers dead, officials said.
The clashes were the latest violence in the Orakzai tribal region, where the military launched an operation in March to rout Pakistani Taliban fighters who have fled there to escape other offensives. Officials say more than 300 suspected militants have been killed in three weeks of constant airstrikes and occasional ground clashes.
Security forces successfully repelled the attacks early Monday morning against checkpoints in the villages of Shireen Dara and Sangrana in Lower Orakzai, local administrator Samiullah Khan said. Two soldiers were killed and three wounded in the fighting, he said.
''More than 100 militants attacked the security checkpoint in Shireen Dara,'' Khan said. ''They fought a gunbattle for two hours and fired several rockets.''
After the battles subsided, authorities found the bodies of 15 dead militants around the two checkpoints, said two intelligence officials. Insurgents removed the bodies of at least 26 others who were killed, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Fighter jets destroyed three militant hide-outs in Sangram village in Orakzai on Sunday, killing 10 suspected insurgents, Khan said. A day earlier, similar strikes killed nearly 100 suspected militants in the Orakzai and Khyber tribal areas, according to officials.
Government reports are almost impossible to independently verify because journalists are prohibited from traveling to the country's semiautonomous tribal areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
War by body counts? Guess some countries have more of an appetite for keeping score than what we do (after Vietnam).
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/13/2010 6:22 Comments ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Pakistani intelligence service has set free at least two senior Afghan Taliban militants even as it helped the United States detain the Taliban's second-ranking commander in the area, The Washington Post reported.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the releases had occurred as the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, worked with US intelligence operatives to capture Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar and other insurgents.
The quiet actions by the ISI were detected by the US intelligence agencies but not publicly disclosed, the report said. The US officials declined to identify the Taliban figures, who were released because of the secrecy surrounding US monitoring of the ISI, The Post noted. But the freed captives were senior Taliban members the United States wanted in its custody, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How about every time they do that, we redirect 20 million to the Indians instead?
[Geo News] Fifteen militants including a commander were killed in a clash with security forces in Jandola area adjacent to South Waziristan while a security man also embraced shahadat.
According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), militants launched an assault on a check post of security forces in FR Jandola area located near South Waziristan, killing a security man. Security forces repulsed forcefully and killed 15 militants including a commander identified as Usmanullah. Those killed included nationals from Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Uzbekistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and six others were wounded on Monday by a car bomb explosion west of Baghdad, according to a police source.
A car rigged with explosives went off on Monday (April 12) targeting an Iraqi army convoy in Abu Munaysar region near Abu Gharieb district, killing two soldiers and injuring six,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The blast damaged three vehicles,' he added. Security forces sealed off the whole region as a precautionary measure."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Two persons were killed and 22 others were wounded in the suicide explosion in western Mosul, a police source said on Monday.
Two persons, including a traffic policeman, were killed and 22, including five policemen, women and children, were wounded in a car bomb blast that hit a Federal police patrol in al-Zanjili area, western Mosul,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The same source had said earlier that the explosion killed 2 persons and injured 13, including four policemen, women and children.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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Two Saudi militants have been killed by Iraqi security forces and US troops during a raid on their hideout southwest of Kirkuk.
The Director of the Kirkuk Districts Police Department Sarhad Qader told Voices of Iraq news agency that three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were killed on Sunday in a joint mission by American and Iraqi soldiers at the town of Wadi al-Khanazee, some 45 km (30 miles) southwest of Kirkuk. Two of the dead militants were identified as Saudi nationals.
The senior security official noted that two jackets laden with explosives, a precision rifle and a considerable munitions cache were discovered in the operation.
Qader went on to say that the operation was carried out upon intelligence tip-offs that the gunmen were planning terrorist attacks in Kirkuk.
Thousands of Saudi nationals have slipped into war-shattered Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003.
In these modern times there are so few opportunities for the Saudis to get rid of the most idiotic of their excess idiot sons. They must be congratulated on having found this ploy, and having got the sons believe so firmly in it, too.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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Israel issued an "urgent" warning Tuesday to its citizens to leave Egypt's Sinai Peninsula immediately citing "concrete evidence of an expected terrorist attempt to kidnap Israelis in Sinai."
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2010 13:23 ||
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#1
Oh, Virginia, where to begin...
To wit,
ISRAEL NN > [Bammer Nuke Summit] MERIDOR: NUKES COULD REACH TERROR GROUPS, most dangerous espec in volatile MIDDLE EAST; + SARKOZY: IFF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DOESN'T ACT ON IRAN, ISRAEL WILL.
* SAME > OBAMA: GREATER RISK OF NUCLEAR WAR [ than since WW2 + COld War.
ARTIC + BAMMER > NUCLEAR TERROR-MILITANCY = RISK OF NUCLEAR ATTACK VEE MILTERR GROUPS HAS CONVERSELY INCREASED AS RISK OF HISTOR = COLD WAR-STYLE "GREAT POWER/SUPERPOWER" NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION-WAR HAS GONE DOWN [global nuclear war + mutual desturction].
* SAME > PERES: SYRIA IS ARMING HIZBULLAH WITH SCUDS WHILE TALKING PEACE.
* TOPIX > HIZBOLLAH MAY PUT NUKES [andor Other NBC-CBRNE WMDS] ON SCUDS; + ISRAEL: HIZBULLAH SCUDS ARE THREAT/ REGION-DESTABILIZING, + ISRAEL WARNS LEBANON SCUDS.
SYRIA's, LEBANON'S ASS-IS-GRASS IFF THE HIZZIES HUZZIES HEZZIES HIZBIES, ETC. FIRE SCUDS AT ISRAEL.
A Palestinian terrorist militant was killed and two others were wounded on Tuesday when Israeli troops shot at them as they tried to plant explosives near the border, according to an Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv and Palestinians in Gaza. An official of Al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir al Balah said the terrorist militant, Marwan al-Jarba, 22, was dead when he arrived, and the two other men had injuries that were moderate to serious.
Islamic Jihad, a small, more radical competitor of the ruling Hamas party, said in a statement that it had sent men to strike at Israeli forces along Gaza's eastern boundary but that the group was spotted and attacked. Residents said the Israelis used machine guns, artillery and missiles. Tanks also rolled in to chase down the Palestinian assailants.
"Fatah, the Popular Front, and Hezbollah are enemies that must be fought. The first two are secular, and the third is operating to spread Shia among Muslims. But we will not fight them now -- we will only fight the Jews." This, in short, is the doctrine of Abu Abdullah al-Ghazi, spokesman of the radical Islamic movement "Jaish al-Umma" (Army of the nation).
According to reports in Arab media, the new organization, which is affiliated with the Salafist stream of fundamentalist Islam, is currently operating in the Gaza Strip, where it is laying its rots. Al-Ghazi claims that the organization already has over 200 fighters and thousands of supporters.
Al-Ghazi's remarks indicate a sign of growing trouble for Hamas in the kingdom it has built for itself in the Gaza Strip. The creation of individual cells of various extremist groups affiliated with the "World Jihad", an organization belonging to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, is becoming more and more widespread, and constitutes difficulty for the Hamas leadership, as such cells are comprised of armed operatives who are not obligated to obey Hamas, which is currently trying to maintain calm.
Even if the numbers mentioned by al-Ghazi are exaggerated, one can safely assume that there are currently at least dozens of activists affiliated with the World Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Some of them are Egyptian, while others are European converts to Islam, who have managed to infiltrate the Strip thanks to the smuggling tunnels.
I assume it is against these people that the Israeli order of expulsion is aimed.
All of this has caused quite a headache for Hamas. An example of this can be seen in the series of "vengeance attacks" and mysterious explosions near the homes and headquarters of Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip -- attacks which al-Ghazi denies his organization is involved in.
It is the Hand of Allah. Nothing can be done against the hand.
If these organizations continue to gain steam, Hamas will have trouble concealing its distress, as was the case last August, when the conflict between Hamas and the Salafist organization Jund Ansar Allah escalated and the fighting claimed the lives of 24 people. The conflict ended in a crushing victory for Hamas, but it was most likely just the first round.
A writer for the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, recently embarked with two of his colleagues on a mission to learn more about the organization, and said he made his way to al-Ghazi's hiding place in the Gaza Strip to interview him. The ideas voiced during the interview, based on widespread al-Qaeda world views, would not sit well with the Palestinians organizations, Hamas, or its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.
#1
According to reports in Arab media, the new organization, which is affiliated with the Salafist stream of fundamentalist Islam, is currently operating in the Gaza Strip, where it is laying its rots. Al-Ghazi claims that the organization already has over 200 fighters and thousands of supporters.
Supported by Saudi/MB?
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Palestinian Islamist Jihad said Monday that Hamas-run security forces in the Gaza Strip had briefly detained its fighters to prevent them from attacking Israeli troops. "Four members of al-Quds Brigades (Islamic Jihad's armed wing) were released after being detained by Hamas-run internal security services in northern Gaza for over four hours," an official said on condition of anonymity. "The group's weapons and possessions were confiscated and they were forced to sign an oath not to undertake any jihad (holy war) actions against the Zionist enemy because of an unannounced period of calm."
"Please don't invade us again!"
Hamas spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment.
Both Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires at the end of the 22-day Gaza war in January 2009, but Palestinian fighters have occasionally fired rockets and Israel has carried out some limited incursions since then.
Hamas has said it and other fighting groups have agreed to suspend rocket fire but have vowed to fight back if Israeli forces cross into Gaza.
But Islamist Jihad, a smaller and more radical Islamist group, has rejected such ceasefires in the past, and on Monday the official said "there is absolutely no period of calm between the resistance and the enemy."
The number of rockets fired from Gaza has dropped by around 90 percent since the end of the war as Hamas has quietly reined in smaller armed groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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Muslim militants disguised as policemen and soldiers detonated bombs and opened fire Tuesday in a series of coordinated attacks in a southern Philippine city, triggering clashes that killed at least 12 people.
About 25 Abu Sayyaf militants were involved in the attacks in Isabela city on the island province of Basilan, one of the most daring operations by the al-Qaida-linked group in recent months, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.
The dead included three marines and three militants, including an Abu Sayyaf commander identified as Bensar Indama, who wore a police uniform. A policeman and five civilians were also killed, including one who died in a hospital in nearby Zamboanga city after being airlifted from Basilan, Dolorfino said. Nine people were wounded by the blasts and gunfire, including two militants who were captured, he said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2010 13:49 ||
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Fighting raged between terrorists militants and security forces on a southern Philippine island where al Qaeda-linked militants are active, a top Filipino military official said Tuesday. At least 11 people died, including three marines, a police officer, four civilians and three militants, according to Western Mindanao Command regional military commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino.
Dolorfino said about 25 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group disguised in police and military uniforms launched attacks in Isabela City, the capital of the island of Basilan. The terrorists militants carried out blasts near a church, a sports center and judge's house, and they traded gun fire with security forces.
Dolorfino said terrorists militants appeared to have been planning "something big" and believes security forces may have foiled a major attack. He said the terrorists militants may have been using explosives as a diversion to carry out a high-profile kidnapping. There were no immediate reports of any kidnappings, however.
Two suspected terrorists militants were injured and five more were captured. Authorities were interrogating them. Troops are on the hunt for remaining terrorists militants that have fled the city.
[Straits Times] THREE soldiers were killed as they tried to stop communist rebels extorting money from political candidates in the southern Philippines, a military chief said on Monday.
The deaths were the latest incidents of violence related to the communist New People's Army (NPA) using the May 10 national elections to raise funds, said Major General Carlos Holganza, the local military commander.
The soldiers were ambushed in the outskirts of the city of Davao on Sunday as they were patrolling for NPA members who were collecting money from political campaigners.
'This is part of our efforts to keep the election safe and secure. We have hit the main terror group which has been influencing the area,' said Maj-Gen Holganza.
The military said last month the communists were set to rake in millions of dollars from extortion this year, thanks to protection money forked over by politicians running in the May elections.
Candidates ranging from village councillor all the way up to the president are being asked to pay between 5,000 and 20 million pesos (S$155 and S$620000) or their campaigners will be attacked, the military warned.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] INDONESIAN police killed one suspected terrorist and arrested four others during two raids in Aceh province on Monday, a senior officer said.
The raids came as police revealed that six alleged terrorists detained elsewhere on Sumatra island on Sunday included suspects who took part in the 2004 truck bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
'Police arrested four terror suspects and shot dead a suspect in two anti-terror raids today,' Aceh police chief detective Esa Permadi told AFP.
'The men arrested are suspected of participating in military training activities in Aceh.' The man killed by police during a raid on a house in Aceh Besar district was identified as Enaltao, 38, who was suspected of assisting Indonesians in military training in the southern Philippines.
One suspect was also arrested in that operation and three others were detained after another raid on a shophouse in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, detective Permadi said.
National police spokesman Edward Aritong said the six men arrested at a road block on Sunday were part of a new terrorist group that was disrupted in February when police discovered a training camp in Aceh.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Lebanese military prosecutor on Monday called for three men to be sentenced to death on charges of spying for Israel and the attempted murder by one of them of an al-Qaeda suspect.
Judge Samih al-Hajj charged the defendants -- two Lebanese and one Palestinian -- with "providing Israel with information as well as facilitating its aggressions and terrorist acts on Lebanon," according to the charge sheet.
Palestinian Mohammed Ibrahim Awad and Lebanese Robert Edmond Kfoury are both in custody. The third suspect, Lebanese Elias Riyad Karam, was charged in absentia.
Awad is also charged with the attempted murder of his relative Naim Abbas, who is suspected of involvement in an al-Qaeda cell in the Ein-el-Hellhole Ain al-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Nah, boys, Abbas is the spy. I briefed him myself. Awad is clean, you can trust him.
Ain al-Helweh is the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps and authorities say it has provided sanctuary for extremists and fugitives from the law. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinians. Which is why the camps and much of Lebanon are one giant hellhole ...
Lebanon launched a crackdown on espionage rings in April 2009, arresting dozens of suspects accused of spying for Israel, including security officials and policemen who were allegedly equipped with sophisticated surveillance and communication gear.
Israel has made no public comment on the arrests.
Lebanon and Israel remain technically at war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labor or the death penalty. One of the most high-profile cases is that of Mahmud Qassem Rafeh, a 63-year-old retired member of Lebanon's security services.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
bwahahaha! They missed the other 289!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2010 18:30 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Quqnoos] Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOI) officials say they have detained 76 insurgents in different parts of Afghanistan over the past week
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen put four Shiite rebel supporters on trial on Monday on charges of spying for Iran in a move that could strain a truce to end a northern war that drew in neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia last year.
[Dawn] A US drone fired two missiles into a Taliban compound in Pakistan's tribal area near the Afghan border late Monday, killing at least five militants, security officials said.
[Dawn] More than 100 militants armed with rockets and automatic weapons attacked two security checkpoints in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, sparking intense fighting that left at least 41 militants and two soldiers dead, officials said.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Pakistani intelligence service has set free at least two senior Afghan Taliban militants even as it helped the United States detain the Taliban's second-ranking commander in the area, The Washington Post reported.
[Geo News] Fifteen militants including a commander were killed in a clash with security forces in Jandola area adjacent to South Waziristan while a security man also embraced shahadat.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and six others were wounded on Monday by a car bomb explosion west of Baghdad, according to a police source.
Two Saudi militants have been killed by Iraqi security forces and US troops during a raid on their hideout southwest of Kirkuk. 
A Palestinian 
"Fatah, the Popular Front, and Hezbollah are enemies that must be fought. The first two are secular, and the third is operating to spread Shia among Muslims. But we will not fight them now -- we will only fight the Jews." This, in short, is the doctrine of Abu Abdullah al-Ghazi, spokesman of the radical Islamic movement "Jaish al-Umma" (Army of the nation).
