Small bands of elite American Special Operations forces have been operating with increased intensity for several weeks in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, picking up or picking off insurgent leaders to weaken the Taliban in advance of major operations, senior administration and military officials say.
More than a dozen senior military and civilian officials directly involved in the Kandahar operation agreed to discuss the outlines of the offensive on the condition that they not be identified discussing a pending operation. But in general, the military under Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior American and allied commander, has been willing to talk about operations in advance to try to scare off insurgents and convince the local population that their government and its allies are moving to increase security.
The operation in Kandahar, a sprawling urban area, is designed to be a slowly rising tide of military action. That is why the opening salvos of the offensive are being carried out in the shadows by Special Operations forces.
Large numbers of insurgent leadership based in and around Kandahar have been captured or killed,' said one senior American military officer directly involved in planning the Kandahar offensive.
Senior American and allied commanders say the goal is to have very little visible American presence inside Kandahar city itself, with that effort carried by Afghan Army and police units.
Stepped up bombings and attacks against foreign contractors, moderate religious leaders and public officials are viewed as proof that Taliban insurgents are trying to send a message to Afghan tribal leaders not to cooperate with the American offensive.
And while allied officials say they will be relying heavily on Afghan forces to take the lead in securing the city, that same tactic has so far produced mixed success in Marja, where Marine Corps officers said they ended up doing much of the hard fighting.
To shape the arrangement of allied forces ahead of the fight, conventional troops have begun operations outside of Kandahar, in a series of provincial districts that ring the city. American and allied officers predict heavy pockets of fighting in those belts. Kandahar, according to a senior military officer, is infested' with insurgents, but not overrun as was Marja.
The plan has echoes of the troop surge' in Iraq, when additional American forces were sent to attack the insurgents who were operating in the belts outside the Iraqi capital, planning attacks, constructing roadside bombs and launching assaults.
Other similarities to Iraq include the plans to woo local tribal leaders in and around Kandahar, similar to the way soldiers and Marines in Anbar Province courted the tribal Sunni sheiks in Iraq to fight insurgents. The United States and its allies in the Afghan government will try to unite local tribal leaders in and around Kandahar to turn in Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. As in Iraq, officials said, the strategy will include monetary incentives in the form of economic development money for local leaders and tribal officials who support the government's security efforts.
As the military pace increases, the centerpiece of the offensive's political effort will be a series of shuras' Afghan-style town hall meetings between tribal leaders and government officials to try to convince locals that they will get a better deal from the government than from Taliban administration. The aim of the shuras, said Mark Sedwill, the senior NATO civilian in Afghanistan, will be firstly to get their support for security operations to go ahead, and secondly, to identify their needs for security, governance and development.'
The next step after the security operations and the shuras will be to roll out squads of Afghan civil administrators with Western advisers, who, in theory, will try to bring government services and resources to districts. This may be the most difficult hurdle, since there are doubts among Western officials about the ability of the Afghan government to supply an ample number of effective and qualified civil administrators.
Rather than civil assistance, many residents fear only military action. Already in Kandahar, many locals view Afghan and NATO checkpoints and convoys as great a danger on the roads as Taliban bombs and checkpoints.
Instead of bringing people close to the government,' cautioned Haji Mukhtar, a Kandahar Provincial Council member, more combat will cause people to stay further from the government and hate the foreigners more.'
While the overt parts of the Kandahar offensive will begin in coming weeks several dozen platoon and company-size outposts for American and allied forces have already been constructed in recent weeks along the approaches to Kandahar military officials warn that securing the city could take months. Military commanders say their goal is to show concrete results by late summer or early fall, in advance of Ramadan and national parliamentary elections.
Officers already are also preparing for a spike in attacks with improvised explosives. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has traveled to NATO capitals to offer allies access to American-made armored transport vehicles and a host of technology and surveillance measures to find and defuse roadside bombs.
#1
I'm sure the Taliban have noticed more concentration on Kandahar recently but does the MSM find it necessary too publish every little move that our soldiers make? I'm sure they have the internet too and more than likely watch it too know when they are coming.
Posted by: chris ||
04/26/2010 12:55 Comments ||
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#2
Arrests are forthcoming......
Posted by: Kelly ||
04/26/2010 20:02 Comments ||
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KANDAHAR: A suicide bomb attack in southern Afghanistan killed four people on Sunday, shattering a period of calm in the region. The suicide bomber on foot and wearing an explosives-packed vest targeted a group of security guards as they stood in a bazaar, said Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, a spokesman, for the Zabul provincial government.
Two security guards and two civilians were killed in the attack, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It said 12 other people were injured in the attack. The bomber exploded near them,' Rasoulyar said, adding that the attack happened in a highway bazaar in the Shahjoy district.
Separately, a demonstration by Afghan tribesmen turned violent on Sunday as they set fire to fuel tankers during a protest over the alleged killing of civilians in a military raid, officials said.
Provincial police chief for Logar Colonel Ghulam Mustafa, said US and Afghan troops had raided a compound overnight, in which three men believed to be terrorists were killed. The troops captured several armed men and seized ammunition, Mustafa said, leading them to believe the people in the compound were terrorists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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KUNDUZ: Two Chinese engineers working on a road-building project in northern Afghanistan have been freed several months after being abducted, an Afghan provincial government spokesman said on Sunday.
Ahmad Jawad Bedaar, spokesman for the governor of Faryab province, said the engineers had been held for about three months and were freed in a rescue operation on Saturday. He said no ransom had been paid, but gave no further details of the release and did not identify the abductors. The abduction of foreigners and Afghans for ransom has become a serious hazard in rural parts of Afghanistan. The Taliban have also made political demands in some cases.
The Chinese engineers had been working on a road project in Faryab in Afghanistan's northwest. China has a number of economic projects in Afghanistan, including a multi-billion-dollar copper mining deal that is Afghanistan's largest outside investment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Scores of schoolgirls in the Afghan province of Kunduz have fallen ill over the past week, in what authorities allege is mass poisoning by insurgents. Perhaps. Or it could just be some odor and mass hysteria.
On Sunday, 13 girls were taken ill. This follows two separate incidents earlier in the week when about 70 girls complained of dizziness and nausea. An inquiry has already begun, health officials told the BBC.
The Taliban - which oppposes female education - denies carrying out an attack, the Reuters news agency says.
The girls said they noticed a strange smell in class before the onset of their symptoms, but health officials said the gas remains unidentified. None of the symptoms experienced by the girls are reported to to be serious.
The incidents all involved different schools.
In May 2009, Afghan authorities launched an investigation after about 90 schoolgirls fell ill in Kapisa province. Although officials suspected deliberate poisoning, the results of the inquiry were inconclusive.
In recent years there has been an increase in attacks on schoolgirls in Afghanistan, mainly in the south and east of the country where several acid attacks on schoolgirls have been reported. Girls were banned from attending school during the rule of the Taliban, who were overthrown in the American-led invasion of 2001.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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(CNN) -- Islamist rebels advanced on a pirate haven in central Somalia and battled government troops in Mogadishu in a clash that killed at least 10 people, ambulance crews and a local journalist reported Sunday.
Fighters from the al Qaeda-linked militia al-Shabaab were advancing on Harardhere, the pirate stronghold on the Somali coast, a local journalist in contact with pirate sources told CNN. Harardhere is about 430 km (270 miles) north of Mogadishu. The pirates recently captured a boat loaded with weapons from Yemen that were intended for the militia, and had stopped paying bribes to the Islamists, said the journalist, whose identity is not being disclosed for security reasons.
The journalist said a spokesman for al-Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government, said the Islamists are only a few kilometers from Harardhere. The journalist reported that the pirates appeared to be retreating from Harardhere to the port town of Hobyo, Somalia with their captured ships.
The European Union naval force that patrols the waters off Somalia said it had no information about the situation.
U.N. reports have found that Yemen is a source for arms shipments into Somalia despite a longstanding U.N. embargo on weapons. The Yemeni government, which is battling its own al Qaeda uprising, has attempted to crack down on arms dealing within its territory but also faces an influx of Somali refugees.
KHARTOUM - Clashes between south Sudan's army and Darfuri Arab tribes killed 58 people, raising tension along the border with the north of the country as results of the first open elections in 24 years are released, officials said on Sunday.
Sudan's oil-producing south was allowed to keep a separate army and form a semi-autonomous government in a 2005 peace deal ending more than two decades of civil war with the north. Southerners will vote in a referendum on Jan. 9, 2011 on independence.
There was movement from the Rizeigat (tribe) and from the SPLA (the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army). I can't tell you who attacked who first but they clashed,' Rizeigat Arab tribal leader Mohamed Eissa Aliu told Reuters from South Darfur.
It happened on Friday and those killed from the Rizeigat were 58 and 85 injured,' he said, adding the attack was in Balballa, South Darfur, which borders Western Bahr Al Ghazal in the south.
The SPLA said they were attacked by the northern army (SAF) in Raja, a remote part of Western Bahr Al Ghazal state, near where at least 5 officials from the dominant northern National Congress Party (NCP) and four others were killed by an SPLA soldier during five days of voting which began on April 11.
Our company came under attack from the SAF forces yesterday afternoon,' SPLA spokesman Malaak Ayuen said late on Saturday. The SAF was using four land cruisers with mounted machine guns.' He could not give further details.
A SAF spokesman denied any involvement but confirmed the SPLA attack on the Rizeigat in Darfur, calling it a clear violation of the (peace deal).'
The north-south border there is one of many disputed areas yet to be demarcated.
On Sunday, the SPLA said it had been attacked for a second time in Raja and had been forced to retreat. They reinforced themselves and launched another attack and occupied the place,' Ayuen said on Sunday.
Of the around 100 SPLA troops in the area, 47 had reported back with the others likely still in the bush, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Standard news release unedited
More than 800 officers and soldiers with Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy returned home Friday morning to a naval base in the Zhoushan Islands in eastern China after serving in Somali waters.
During the 128-day tour of duty, the flotilla rescued three merchant ships from pirate attacks and escorted 661 vessels, including a 20-km-long flotilla of 31 merchant ships, reportedly the biggest ship group to have been escorted in the Gulf of Aden.
Good for them. While China is no doubt not acting from the purest of motives, it's right that they act responsibly.
The group saw its biggest action Feb. 25, when about 100 suspicious vessels were fast approaching and reportedly "harassing" the merchant ships. Shipboard helicopters took off and launched warning shots at several small boats that were about to attack.
According to a Xinhua reporter on board one helicopter, the suspicious vessels, intimidated by high explosive shells and flares, fled.
Previously, the shipboard helicopters had made six emergency takeoffs and drove off five groups of suspicious vessels.
The team also visited the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines at the invitation of the two nations' navies.
Two frigates, along with the supply ship Qiandaohu, set sail for the Gulf of Aden Oct.30, 2009 and arrived in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 12.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/26/2010 0:04 Comments ||
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#2
Shooting at pirates? Whoda thunk that would have worked?
FYI, Zhoushan is a major naval base. When the British got Hong Kong from the Opium War, the ministers were royally pissed off. They wanted Zhoushan, as it was far better than the muddy village that was Hong Kong at the time.
#3
ION WMF > PLAN'S NORTH CHINA SEAS FLEET CONDUCTS MILITARY DRILLS, NAVAL VISITS IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCAS.
* SAME > "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" IS BOTH CHINA'S NATURAL DEFENSE AND ITS DEADLY TRAP: CHINA MUST DEFEAT OR OVERWHELM SEVERAL STRATEGIC NODES OF DENIAL BY DIPLOMACY OR BY MILITARY FORCE TO ACCESS THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
* SAME > US CONTROL OF TAIWAN, GUAM, AND SINGAPORE'S CHANGI BASE IS KEY/CENTRAL TO ITS ABILITY TO MIL DEFEAT CHINA IN THE TAIWAN STRAITS AND FIRST ISLAND CHAIN.
* SAME > CHINA'S OKINAWA/MIYAKO FLEET PIERCES THE WEAK HEART OF JAPAN IN THE DAOYUS AND TAIWAN TO SURROUND AND ANNIHILATE THE JAPANESE, + JAPAN'S MOVES TO DEV EAST CHINA SEAS SEABED RESOURCES IN VIOLATION OF CHINA'S CLAIMS/DEMANDS OF SOVEREIGNTY WILL LEAD TOWARDS SINO-JAPANESE MIL CONFLICT.
SAME > 2012: CHINA'S SURFACE AIRCRAFT CARRIER MAY CARRY UP TO SIXTY AIRCRAFT.
SAME > RUSSIA TREMBLING: THE RISE OF CHINESE MILITARY, GEOPOL HAWKS AND THEIR GROWING POLICY INFLUENCE IN BEIJING. HAWKS' DESIRE TO SEE THE FALL OF RUSSIA'S FAR EAST, NORTHEAST PACIFIC, SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA TO CHINA.
** WAFF > GLOBALRESEARCH.CA - AMERICA'S IMPERIAL DESIGN "PROMPT GLOBAL STRIKE": WORLD MILITARY SUPERIORITY WIDOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, as complemented by deployment of EFFECTIVE RELIABLE US GMD-TMD in strategic world regions.
Also read, US-CENTRIC WORLD MIL/MILPOL DOMINANCE WIDOUT NEEDS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
An explosive device detonated in Yemen early Monday near a car transporting Britain's ambassador to that country, but the blast didn't injure the diplomat or any staff of the British mission, according to an embassy spokeswoman.
"There was a small explosion beside the ambassador's car this morning," the spokeswoman said. "He was unhurt, and there were no further embassy staff or British nationals hurt."
She said she had no further details about the alleged attack, which occurred in Yemen's capital, Sana'a. The spokeswoman said the embassy would close "for the time being." She said U.K. officials were cooperating with Yemeni officials to investigate the incident.
In a statement Monday, Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office warned British citizens in Yemen to "keep a low profile and remain vigilant." There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Yemen's Interior Ministry said in a statement that a suicide bomber carried out the "assassination attempt," which bore "the fingerprints of al Qaeda," without elaborating. It said the bomber targeted the car of British ambassador Timothy Torlot at around 8 a.m. Yemen said the explosion killed the attacker.
Yemen has been the focus of U.S. and U.K. antiterror efforts in recent months, particularly after the alleged Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight by a Nigerian man, who told U.S. investigators he received terror training in Yemen.
Gunmen in Mexico have attacked a convoy with the top security official in the western state of Michoacan, killing four people and wounding 10. Officials say Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista was among the injured, but is now recovering.
Some 20 people with assault rifles and grenades carried out the attack. The identity of the gunmen was not immediately known. Michoacan is home to one of Mexico's most feared drug gangs, known as La Familia.
Ms Bautista's convoy was ambushed as she was returning from the opening of a regional fair on Saturday, officials say.
The attackers used assault rifles, grenades, a grenade launcher and a sniper rifle capable to hit through bullet-resistant materials. "In the ambush, they used concentrated fire from these types of weapons, forcing her [Ms Bautista] and her escort to crash into a trailer truck that they had pulled across the road," State Attorney General Jesus Montejano told Mexico's Milenio TV station.
Two of Ms Bautista's bodyguards and two bystanders were killed in the attack. Most of the wounded were bystanders.
The attack comes a day after seven people, including six police officers, died in a shoot-out with suspected gang hitmen in the city of Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the US.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has poured thousands of armed police and troops to wrest control from the powerful gangs.
More information about other shootings near the border further down the text. The US Border Patrol spokesfella acts like someone broke a window in Mexico --- No big deal. In fact, the only element ready for trouble are local officials.
To be fair, if the good Mr. Perez had made a disparaging comment about the events on the Mexican side of the border, we would have been inundated with outcries of imperialism, gringoism, and interference in the affairs of a sovereign state. Pro'ly better for the lower echelon types to play dumb in public statements and prepare behind the scenes for the coming storm.
Gunmen opened fire on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande City-Camargo International Bridge on Saturday morning.
Tamaulipas officials confirmed the attack via the state's emergency notification system amid a flurry of unconfirmed reports about the assault, providing few details about the incident. A Mexican customs facility at the port of entry was damaged, but officials did not report any injuries in connection with Saturday's confrontation between federal authorities and the gunmen.
U.S. customs officials said they were "aware of what's going on in Mexico" but that the incidents had not affected operations on the U.S. portion of the bridge.
"Whatever happened, happened in Mexico," said Eddie Perez, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "Not here."
#1
Third front: Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico? Jeeeze, it is heating up down along the border. Our various governments (Federal, State) really don't want to leave this up to the people; it would probably get fixed but it wouldn't be pretty.
#2
Barry's decided to make this 2010's third front-- after HC and Wall Street. If I were a Tea Partier I'd start strategizing, fast, about a coherent and winning position on Mexico and immigration, which, if played properly, could well turn out to be the sleeper issue that tilts many races in November.
If I were Head Partier, I'd advocate:
1) defend the border. Shift federal resources to AZ, San Diego and the Rio Grande immediately, if necessary, redeploying troops from abroad.
2) fine the employers, and then some.
3) move to a points-based immigration system. More education bumps you to the head of the queue; illiteracy (in your native language) and/or a 6th grade education sends you to the back.
1, 2, and 3 = a winning hand for Nov. 2010. A royal flush, really, across the southwest.
#3
But also take the winds out of Barry's sails with his latino bloc by making a tactical concession on the AZ stop-and-search law. Look worried, shake your head and say it's "the wrong approach," and then IMMEDIATELY shift the conversation to the trifecta of troops for the border, fine the employers, and points-based immigration policy.
#5
Although I applaud the efforts of Arizona, this isn't about immigration but security. The drug lords and cartels aren't interested in being productive citizens of the US. They need to get serious about border security NOW as an immigration policy won't address the real problem with Mexicans. Illegal immigration isn't limited to Mexico, either, as plenty of Asians, Russians, and Africans also are smuggled in. Bambi's aunt is a case in point. When they have grenades and use helicopters to cross the border, it is a declaration of war upon our sovereignty.
#6
Could not agree with you more Lumpy. Unfortunately, as long as Barry and cadre can frame the issue as one of 'Immigration and Citizenship' they can continue to deny national security and illegal drugs aspects in favour of their perogative of social justice.
This fellow isn't extremely difficult to figure out, unless of course you've never studied Marxism at all.
#7
make it unprofitable for employers to hire illegals, and this is solved. no jobs, and they self deport. it happened in Tulsa Oklahoma enmasse about 5 years ago.
how many businesses would slack on checking the validity of an I9 and SSN if they faced a $50k fine per illegal employee for getting caught? of course, it would have to be enforced, but since this is targeting the evil rich who own these companies, ad would be a revenue generator in places like CA, that shouldn't be a problem right
Posted by: abu do you love ||
04/26/2010 13:29 Comments ||
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#8
Barry's strategy for November now is obvious: aim for high turnout from afr-amers and latinos by playing the race card.
He's playing the same race cards as last time. However, it is the purple Kool-Aide drinking die hard donks who go along with this race-baiting program. The voters who voted for him last time have "buyers remorse" from what I can detect. They will not come back to the brand. BO assumes there is a homogeneity among these various groups. Not all the Latinos are illegal aliens or have family members who are illegals. Many Latinos work hard, do things according to law and they don't want illegal Latinos coming here and screwing things up for them cheapening the process they went through. Many Latinos have served in the military as an avenue towards citizenship. The Jewish people seem upset about BO's handling of Israel. Many blacks are joining the Tea Party. The people BO is appealing to may not be the same people who supported Obama in 2008.
I think the trunks often miss good opportunities for getting their message out in a way that resounds with voters. Suppose the trunks said that the blowback from the race-baiters and illegal supporting groups are sexist against women; particularly strong women in power who try to uphold the law and the will of the people? I'm thinking of the Governor Jan Brewer? Cite the unfairness against the Latinos who try to follow the law. The fact that illegals are taking the spots of people who qualify for citizenship. The fact that illegals contribute to staggering health care costs. Many don't pay taxes.
#9
Barry's strategy for November now is obvious: aim for high turnout from afr-amers and latinos by playing the race card.
The problem for Barry is that Blacks and Latinos are fighting for the same jobs and/or government dollars. In fact hostility to illegal immigration is highest among poor Blacks.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/26/2010 14:48 Comments ||
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#10
The debate over illegal immigrants will be reframed with some help from the MSM as a debate over refuges.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/26/2010 17:56 Comments ||
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#11
Refugees. Wasn't that the excuse Clinton used to invade Haiti? [or was it because the Haitians were overrunning Florida beaches nearing the time of Congressional elections?]
#12
how many businesses would slack on checking the validity of an I9 and SSN if they faced a $50k fine per illegal employee for getting caught?
There is no mechanism in place other than to review the documents and affirm that they look real. Do you think this is by design perhaps?
It seems to me that lots of illegals pour money into the SS system. Of course, more than that is taken out in other entitlements such as schooling, medical, food stamps, apartment subsidies, no taxes, no car insurance, and whatever other benefits there are for being illegal. Also of course, it's easier to show the money coming into the SS system, and even easier to bury the evidence of the greater amount of money flowing out of the entitlements.
So they don't care. In fact, they prefer it this way. They figure some other politician will have to deal with the train wreck long after they have retired into obscurity.
#13
Blacks have been taking in that Dem shuck and jive for generations and it has not got them squat, except keep them at poverty and destroyed their families. And now the dems are doing the same thing to the latinos.
People have to wake up or its welcome to serfdom, again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2010 23:13 Comments ||
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Two members of rival Mexican gangs were killed in a running gunfight which included Mexican Federal Police.
In an historical sector of Apan one armed group, said to be "Zetas" intercepted a Jeep Grand Cherokee with license plates from the state of Michoacãn said to be members of "the Family." In the ensuing gunfight, one member of "the Family" was killed and another were wounded. The wounded man was taken to a hospital in Sahagãn City.
The rival gang, presumably the "Zetas", broke into the hospital ward and attempted to execute the wounded, but they were intercepted by the Federales. Shots were exchanged.
The gang then fled towards Tulancingo via the federal highway Mexico-Tuxpan pursued by federal agents.
The pursuit ended in the town of Santo Tomãs, municipality of Zempoala, where the Federales exchanged of gunfire. One gang member died and another was wounded. The Federales seized the Grand Cherokee and a Chevrolet, as well as large-caliber weapons and ammunition.
In the crime scenes in Apan and Sahagãn City remain under police and military control and lockdown as of Sunday April 25th.
#2
It may have created them, but now they have become full time banditos of the old school. Villistas. But in this case, it is only a matter of time before they start stockpiling military weapons, even armored vehicles.
Swiss media report that police have arrested two men and a woman suspected of planning to bomb an IBM Corp research facility near Zurich.
IBM Switzerland spokesman Chris Sciacca says the company "has been notified by Swiss police authorities about an investigation and is cooperating accordingly".
The SonntagsBlick newspaper said police arrested a man and woman from Italy and a Swiss man on April 15 near Rueschlikon, where IBM is building a nanotechnology laboratory.
The US killed eight Taliban fighters today in the second airstrike in three days in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of North Waziristan.
An unknown number of Predators or the more deadly Reapers hit a compound owned by a known Taliban commander in the Khushali Toorkhel area just outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan. The US strike aircraft fired three missiles at the compound owned by known "local rebel commander Haleem Khan," a Pakistani security official told AFP.
Most of the eight Taliban fighters killed in the attack are said to be from South Waziristan. Khan is not thought to have been killed in the attack, and no senior al Qaeda or Taliban fighters have been reported killed at this time.
Today's airstrike took place in a region administered by North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar. Al Qaeda and allied Pakistani and Central Asian jihadi groups shelter in Bahadar's tribal areas, and they also run training camps and safe houses in the region. The Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Bahadar or the Haqqani Network, a deadly Taliban group that is closely allied with al Qaeda and is also based in North Waziristan.
On April 24, the Taliban in North Waziristan ambushed a military convoy, killing two officers and six soldiers. The Taliban claimed 20 soldiers were killed in the attack. The military has not responded to the violation of a peace agreement it has with Bahadar.
Bahadar is also allowing Taliban fighters from the Mehsud tribes in South Waziristan to take sanctuary in his tribal areas, also in violation of his peace agreement with the government.
QUETTA: Police launched a search operation in the Sariab Road area of Quetta on Sunday, rounding up 42 people for alleged involvement in target killings, bomb explosions, thefts, acts of terrorism and other offences.
Police said personnel of the Balochistan Constabulary and the Anti-Terrorist Force conducted raids in Musa Colony, Satellite Town and other areas, arresting 42 suspects. They said pistols, shotguns and other weapons were recovered from the suspects possession.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: Police in Quetta arrested and later released 20 people, including journalists and staff of a TV channel, a private TV channel reported on Sunday.
The people were protesting in front of the Balochistan Chief Minister's House against the manhandling of a journalist, Mustafa Tareen, at the hands of the police, the channel said. The police also seized Tareen's car, which has not been returned so far, the channel added.
The channel said three policemen were suspended for torturing Tareen and arresting the 20 people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: Unidentified men attacked a checkpost near Rabi Canal in Dera Murad Jamali on Sunday and killed three officials on duty. Police sources said the men seized the weapons of the police officials after killing them.
The officials were manning the checkpost when they came under the targeted attack. They were identified as Head Constable Faiz Muhammad and constables Rashid Ali and Mohammad Siddiq. The bodies were handed over to their relatives for burial after autopsy.
The Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed the responsibility for the attack. Police has registered a case and investigations are underway.
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04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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KARACHI: Two policemen were killed on Sunday in different parts of the city. According to details, the body of a police head constable Tariq Khokhar, 37, was found near the Malir River in Ibrahim Hyderi police precincts and later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Police officials said Khokhar was sent to training at Shahdadpur when he was posted to the Special Investigation Unit and he was posted to the Sindh Home Department these days.
The unidentified suspects first kidnapped Khokhar and later his body was found in a gunny bag at an abandoned place.
In another incident, police constable Nawaz Tanoli, 45, was gunned down in an incident of target killing near his residence in Gulshan-e-Mazdoor. The Saeedabad police said two suspects on a motorcycle shot him and escaped. The victim was posted to the city courts police and had also played a role in the Karachi operation in 1992.
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04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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HANGU: At least 14 Taliban were killed and 16 others injured in airstrikes and clashes with security forces in Lower Orakzai Agency, security officials said on Sunday.
Officials said three Taliban were injured in their clash with security forces in the agency's Goyeen area.
Separately, fighter jets pounded various Taliban hideouts in Mashte Maila and Sangra areas of the Lower Orakzai Agency and Shakar Tangi area in the Upper Orakzai Agency, in which six Taliban were killed and 13 injured. Seven Taliban hideouts were also destroyed in the shelling.
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04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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48 hour rule definitely applies ...
The most wanted fugitive in Iraq, former vice president Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has been captured in a joint Iraqi-US military swoop on an alleged al-Qaeda hideout.
The Saturday operation, which took place in northeastern parts of Baqubah, found al-Douri hiding in a cave, Iraqi daily al-Sabah al-Jadid reported.
"The operation succeeded in targeting the central command headquarters for al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which was responsible for violent attacks in four Iraqi provinces: Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, and Baghdad," said the paper, quoting a security official.
The report also said that the raid was aided by US aircraft.
Official sources are yet to confirm the report.
Al-Douri, long sought for his alleged links to militants, had reportedly fled Iraq following the 2003 collapse of the regime led by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
#3
This is most excellent news and could really end the insurgency. Must have got good intel on AQ after Al Masri and Al Baghdadi. Iraq is really looking up, with even an arrest warrant for Raghead Hussein. Today the first Iraqi airlines plane since 1990 flew to Britain, too. Now if the Afghanistan surge is successful, we could focus our attention on Iran....hope its not too late. FT.com reports another focus of sanctions that could slow them down if Bambi would use his worldly charisma to persuade the UNSC:
The US is seeking to convince Russia and China to include Iran's central bank in a United Nations sanctions resolution against Tehran's nuclear programme, a move that would deepen the Islamic republic's economic isolation.
Diplomats say Bank Markazi is a focus of discussions between the US and the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council, even as Washington has scaled back an earlier push to agree a complete embargo on arms sales to Iran. "The central bank remains the one major financial institution which officials have outed as being involved in Iran's illicit activity but has not yet been targeted," said Matthew Levitt, a former US Treasury official now at the Washington Institute for Near East policy, who notes that the US itself has yet to impose unilateral sanctions on Markazi. "Closing that loophole would have a major impact on Iran's ability to finance its proliferation and other illicit activities."
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: A wide-scale security operation has been launched on Sunday in five areas of the Anbar province.
Around 25 thousand security elements are participating in the operation,' a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
He noted that the operation will embrace the cities of Ramadi, Falluja, Heet, Ana, and al-Qaim. The operation targets terror safe hides that have been identified relying on intelligence tip offs,' the source explained.
Ramadi, the capital city of Anbar province, lies 110 km west of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Sunday arrested nine persons in raid operations throughout Basra province.
Seven of the arrested men are wanted for criminal cases, while the two others are wanted for accusations of terror ,' a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that a number of stolen vehicles and quantities of beverages were seized during the operations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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He noted that a number of stolen vehicles and quantities of beverages were seized during the operations.
How the mighty have fallen. They now rely on bootlegging to support their war efforts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2010 15:52 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A civilian man was killed and five others wounded in an improvised explosive device attack in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, a local police source said on Sunday.
Attached to a civilian vehicle, the IED went off on Ramadan 14 street, in the western Baghdad neighborhood of al-Mansour, killing the driver and wounding five civilians others on board,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The explosion also caused damage to several nearby vehicles and buildings,' he added, not giving further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Link fixed at 1145 CT. AoS.
Arab locals pelted security forces in the Hebron area with rocks following the death of terrorist Ali Ismail Ahmed Sweiti, who was killed in a joint operation by the IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police on Monday. Collect the rocks and put them on Sweiti's grave ...
Sweiti was killed Monday morning in an exchange of fire with security forces in the village of Beit Awa.
Earlier that morning, IDF troops and a special police force had surrounded Sweiti's house and called out to him using a megaphone in an attempt to get him to turn himself in. Sweiti, however, barricaded himself inside the house and began to shoot at the troops outside. "You'll never take me alive, you Zionist infidels!"
The troops shot at the outer wall of the house and used various means to destroy parts of it. It was unclear whether he was killed in the exchange of fire or in the house demolition. Does it matter?
Sweiti, who killed 20-year-old border policeman Yaniv Mashiach and wounded two others in an ambush in the southern Hebron Hills on Remembrance Day in 2004, had been on Israel's wanted list for six years. The 42-year-old terrorist, a resident of Beit Awa, was a member of an armed Hamas cell. He was said by the IDF to have taken part in five terrorist attacks between the years 1999 and 2004.
Sweiti joined Hamas in 2002 at the behest of another Beit Awa local, Jihad Mohammed Ismail Sweiti, himself a wanted terrorist and perpetrator of attacks in which Israelis were killed. There's a common thread here. More than one, in fact ...
Together, the two allegedly carried out several shooting attacks against Israeli vehicles in the West Bank between 2000 and 2003. Although Jihad Sweiti was killed by the IDF in 2004, Ali Sweiti continued to be involved in terrorist activity and managed to flee during an attempt to arrest him in 2007.
#3
Barricaded inside a typical block or brick home should be confronted with low-explosive charges. Unlike high explosives, which shatter, low explosives "push" against barriers like walls by either knocking them over, or making a big hole in them.
To do this, you would need something like a direct fire 60mm mortar, which would make a lot less noise than high explosives, but would definitely get the attention of whoever was barricaded inside.
In that such buildings probably have little or no rebar, just one shot would take down a wall quickly.
JERUSALEM - Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli police on Sunday near a march being held by Israeli rightwingers through a tense neighbourhood of annexed Arab east Jerusalem. Israeli 'rightwinger': a citizen of Israel who believes that Jerusalem belongs to Israel.
The fighting took place several hundred metres (yards) away from where the flag-waving marchers made a statement affirming Jewish sovereignty over the whole city.' There were no reports of serious injuries or arrests.
The march had drawn widespread objections in Israel, including from the mostly rightwing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had sought to prevent it from being held.
We have come to say to Obama and to George Mitchell that Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and not to the Arabs,' said Itamar Ben Gvir, one of the march's organisers.
Netanyahu had asked law enforcement authorities to stop the rally taking place but Israel's Supreme Court upheld their right to demonstrate.
Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, of the hardline Yisrael Beitenu party, said he regretted the event. It's a shame that a provocation of this sort takes place,' he told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting. I would rather it didn't happen.'
Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in 1967 in a move not recognised by the international community, after Israel seized it in the Six Day War that the Jordanians lost badly
has been at the heart of a months-old deadlock in efforts to restart the peace process.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:00 ||
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I think the debate is between those who just want to quietly annex east Jerusalem, and those that want to rub the Arabs nose in it.
The important distinction is that the former achieve the goal, while the latter want emotional gratification. The trouble is that by their actions, the latter group actually interfere with the annexation. Which they care about less than getting their emotional stimulation.
#2
Rightwingers? Part of Hildebeast's vast right wing conspiracy? Don't these so-called journalists get it? It doesn't make any difference who's in power in Israel. The Palestinians and muslims don't want Israel to exist as a nation. All the rest is just window dressing.
#3
The Jews may end up having to do the same thing to the Arabs that we may end up having to do to the libtards in this country: the Jews need to drive the Arabs over borders into Jordan (the original home created for "Arab palestinians), Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, while we drive our Libtards over the border into Canada and Mexico, or force them to flee to Europe that they love so much. Either way, the only solution will require overwhelming force, and I don't mean excessive rhetoric.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2010 15:58 Comments ||
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One man was killed and 24 persons were injured in three terrorist presumed insurgent attacks in Thailand's southern border provinces of Pattani and Yala on Monday.
In Pattani's Mae Lan district, a roadside bombing on the Pattani-Yala Road wounded 14 soldiers on military vehicles enroute from Phetchabun to an army base in Yala. All 14 soldiers remain hospitalised, four seriously injured.
The responding security and bomb squad found scattered fragments of a motorcycle, portions of a cooking gas cylinder in the area, and the targeted army vehicle 200 metres from the scene, severely damaged. Four suspects on motorcycles were seen leaving the scene.
Meanwhile in Pho district, terrorists suspected insurgents with assault rifles fired on a municipal garbage truck, killing one worker and wounding four others, Pol Lt- Col Nukul Thaneerat of Khok Pho police station said.
Meanwhile, six soldiers of a special task force in nearby Yala were wounded in a command-detotated bombing while they on the way to an army base in Than To district. Six wounded men were hospitalised , two with serious wounds.
#1
I have the solution to Thailand's border problem: turn over security for the three conflicted provinces to the Japanese. Not the Japanese Army, or police, but a private security force created just to bring security and stability to these provinces, and paid by the increase in security. The security forces get 250,000 Baht for each province for each day there is no incidence of terror. They lose 1000 baht for each terror incident, and 10,000 baht for each death by the terrorists. They get NOTHING for killing terrorists, but they don't LOSE anything for killing them, either. It won't take six months for the whole thing to come to an end.
The Thais, mostly Buddhists, are just too pacific to do the kind of whupash that's needed to put an end to the nonsense. The Japanese, on the most part, don't have that drawback. The Thais also don't have quite the distaste for Japanese on their soil the rest of Southeast Asia has.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2010 16:09 Comments ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2010 00:02 ||
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Ahh, Jewel... Really liked her in Firefly.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
04/26/2010 0:25 Comments ||
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Ah, yes, Abu... Sweet and innocent and yet ...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2010 7:20 Comments ||
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The new modesty policy isn't a bad thing. That which is left to the imagination is often much more intriguing...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/26/2010 7:59 Comments ||
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#4
Steve, I'm feeling a little nostalgic for GB's work--not that your posting isn't in good taste also (Maybe just a little whining on my part). I'll get over it.
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.
HANGU: At least 14 Taliban were killed and 16 others injured in airstrikes and clashes with security forces in Lower Orakzai Agency, security officials said on Sunday. 
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: A wide-scale security operation has been launched on Sunday in five areas of the Anbar province.
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Sunday arrested nine persons in raid operations throughout Basra province.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A civilian man was killed and five others wounded in an improvised explosive device attack in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, a local police source said on Sunday.
JERUSALEM - Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli police on Sunday near a march being held by Israeli rightwingers through a tense neighbourhood of annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
One man was killed and 24 persons were injured in three 
