#2
Off topic: Fred, look in the mail for my belated donation to the costs of keeping this wonderful place running.
Ladies and gentlemen of Rantburg, please do your bit. The bank account has run a bit dry while Fred's attention was forcibly turned to non-electronic issues, and he so hates to ask. There are Paypal and Amazon buttons in the right column below the blogroll link list, or an email link directly to Fred in the yellow box -- for those not quite up to those modern methods.
#1
If a bug would destroy the crops it would be Allah's will!
Spray the poppies with fungus and virus don't plow them under.
Do the spraying at night when they sleep.
At least, 13 people were wounded in a suicide attack in Nangarhar, an eastern Afghan province, provincial officials said. Five children and one policeman were among the wounded left by the suicide attack.
A police officer said at the site who declined to give his name, "The blast targeted a convoy of NATO-led troops but caused no loss of life or damage to the troops."
No groups, including the Taliban have made immediate claim for the suicide attack.
Victims of the suicide attack, which was carried out in a motorcycle, immediately were taken to a nearby hospital by the Afghan Police forces.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs by issuing a statement strongly condemned the attack and wished a quick recovery for the wounded of the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[Al Arabiya Latest] Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday removed two of the country's top security officials - each with longtime ties to the Americans - over last week's attack on a national conference to explore peace with the Taliban.
The removals of the interior minister and intelligence chief surprised U.S. officials and may cause major disruption within Afghanistan's intelligence and security establishment at a critical juncture - as the U.S. and NATO escalate the war and the Afghan government commits to offering peace to the insurgents. The move is likely to fuel speculation over differences within the Karzai administration over its efforts to reconcile with the Taliban.
The head of the National Directorate of Security, Amrullah Saleh, was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance that helped the United States oust the Taliban regime in 2001. As a young man, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar served in Afghanistan's Communist-era intelligence agency and fought mujahedeen opposed to the Soviet occupation.
"It's a very significant event. There will be a massive fall-out from these resignations both in the Interior Ministry and the NDS as alliances are shuffled," said Candace Rondeaux, senior analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group think tank.
"They appear to be forced resignations, and reflect significant worries of Karzai's administration over the loyalty of those leading key security agencies in the country," she said.
Replacing the security chiefs comes after Karzai's May visit to Washington which had eased strains in the bilateral relationship. U.S. officials say the Afghan delegation had impressed with their preparations for the visit, widely seen as a boost to Karzai after a turbulent year marred by prolonged controversy over his re-election in a fraud-marred poll last August.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Algerian security forces killed two terrorists overnight Friday (June 4th) near Tikdja, Bouira province. Another terrorist was killed earlier Friday in Ain El Hammam, some 50 km east of Tizi Ouzou, Tout sur l'Algerie reported. The action came within days of AQIM leader Abou El-Abbes' surrender in the same region.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni security forces have arrested more than 30 foreign nationals on suspicion of having links with al-Qaeda, among them three Frenchmen, an American and a Briton, a security official said on Sunday.
"Some of them were arrested on suspicion of belonging to al-Qaeda while others were arrested according to lists provided to Yemen security forces by U.S. intelligence," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Most of those arrested came to Yemen to study Arabic in the same school where Nigerian Omar Farouk had studied," the official said.
He was referring to Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to blow up a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas day and who had studied in the Sanaa Institute for the Arabic Language, in the Yemeni capital's old city.
"During the month of May, a number of foreigners were arrested, including one Frenchman, one American, one Briton, two Malaysians (and) five Nigerians," the official said.
"There are a number of foreigners who were arrested prior to May," including two French nationals arrested in April, he added.
The source provided details on one of the French nationals, Jeremy Johnny Witter, whom he said was arrested in May.
Witter, born in 1986 and who comes from Orsay, near Paris, arrived in Yemen to study Arabic at the Sanaa Institute in November 2009, after having lived in Egypt for seven years, the official said.
Meanwhile, Yemen said it won't hand over Anwar al-Awlaki who U.S. investigators have linked to recent al-Qaeda attacks on American targets to its ally, the U.S., if he is captured.
If arrested, U.S.-born Awlaki, would be tried in Yemen whose constitution forbids the extradition of citizens, said Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi the interview with Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram. The pursuit of Anwar al-Awlaki is the responsibility of our security forces alone, he added in the interview, published today by the official Saba news agency.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has witnessed several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
Al-Qaeda has suffered setbacks amid U.S. pressure on the government to crack down. But its presence threatens to turn Yemen into a base for training and plotting attacks, a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said in September.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Detective branch (DB) of police arrested another top leader of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh from the city's Sabujbagh on Saturday.
On secrete information, a DB team arrested Shahed bin Hafiz from a road at Bashabo in the afternoon.
Shahed was a member of the JMB's first Majlish-e-Shura (highest decision-making body of the outfit), DB assistant commissioner Rafiqul Islam, who led the drive, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"Shahed was appointed as one of the six shura members at a meeting in which executed JMB chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman was appointed as the amir (chief)," said Rafiqul after primary interrogation.
Other shura members were Nasrullah of Thakurgaon, Rakib Hossain Russell alias Hafez Mahmood of Jamalpur, Alamgir Hossain Rana, Salahuddin alias Salehin of Mymensingh and Khaled Saifullah.
Shahed got introduced with two other executed JMB leaders Ataur Rahman Sunny and Khaled Saifullah while he was studying at Mohammadia Arabia Madrasa at Jatrabari in the city.
The two introduced him with Abdur Rahman and in no time Shahed became a trusted member of JMB.
Son of Hafizar Rahman of Pakulla village of Sonatola upazila in Bogra, 40-year-old Shahed has a cloth shop, Classic Fashion, at New Market in the town.
DB officials said they also collected Shahed's several photographs that show that he is an expert in martial art.
Shahed's arrest came after a couple of weeks into the arrest of JMB supremo Moulana Saidur Rahman with his wife and three other JMB leaders from Dhaka and Narayanganj.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"Let go of the Kingpin's suitcase? NEVER!"
-- Big Trouble
Six Die in Gang related Violence in Northern Mexico
Six people were executed in northern Mexico in ongoing gang and drug related violence, including the first murder in Juarez in almost 24 hours.
Two unidentified people were shot to death and a third wounded in an assassination in Chihuahua Saturday afternoon, according to published Mexican news reports. Several witnesses, including the victims' family, watched as armed suspects gunned down three people riding in a Volkswagen Beatle on Calle Parque Pastizales in the Camino real district of Chihuahua.
An unidentified man was found tortured and shot to death in Chihuahua Sunday morning, say Mexican news accounts.
Investigators at the scene have suggested that the man was shot at night and dumped at the scene on Calle Sicomoro near a railroad crossing. The victim has been shot in the head.
An unidentified man was found executed in south Chihuahua. Investigators say he was found near the intersection of calles 16 de Septiembre and 51st with a single gunshot to the head.
A man investigators said was the son of an ex-military man was found shot to death in his home near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts. Fortunato Alberto Cruz Rivas, 41, was found executed with a shot to the head in his home near a farm.
An man in his 20s was found shot to death in Juarez, making this victim the first on almost 24 hours to be murdered. Jamie Portillo was found near the intersection of calles Meza del Huracan and Camino Sin Fuego. Investigators at the scene found at least seven spent weapon cartridge casings, but did not identify the weapon caliber used in the slaying.
Witnesses say Portillo was shot by armed suspects riding aboard a green colored car
#1
A very bad sign. In a cave near Cancun, several bodies were found, and the hearts had been cut from three of them.
I suspect that this may be another throwback to the old Mezoamerican religions, in their current incarnation as the Santa Muerte cult.
If so, this doesn't just mean decapitations, but hearts cut out, and eventually ritualized cannibalism. Not something that would be cool with 1-2 million cultists, some of which are now living in the US.
Cardioectomy is not cool. Neither are death cults.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two men arrested at John F Kennedy airport in New York were charged Sunday with conspiracy to kill Americans outside the country, U.S. justice officials said.
From the standpoint of their residency, not their upbringing ...
were arrested Saturday at John F. Kennedy Airport before they could board separate flights to Egypt and then continue on to Somalia, federal officials in New Jersey and the New York Police Department said in a news release.
During a lengthy investigation, an NYPD undercover officer recorded conversations with the men in which they spoke about jihad against Americans.
"I leave this time. God willing, I never come back," authorities say Alessa told the officer last year. "Only way I would come back here is if I was in the land of jihad and the leader ordered me to come back here and do something here. Ah, I love that."
Investigators "remain concerned that once they reach their foreign destinations, they may be redirected against targets back home, as we've seen in the past," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. "We are also concerned that should they remain undetected and fail in their foreign aspirations that they might strike domestically, as was discussed as a possibility in this case."
Alessa, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Almonte, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, both American citizens,
... but not necessarily from Joisey ...
face charges of conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap persons outside the United States by joining al-Shabab, a violent extremist group based in Somalia and connected to al-Qaida, authorities said. Al-Shabab was designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group in 2008.
Teams of state and federal law enforcement agents who have been investigating Alessa and Almonte since 2006 took them into custody, authorities said. They are scheduled to appear Monday in federal court in Newark.
The two men had planned their trip to Somalia for several months, saving thousands of dollars, undergoing tactical training and test runs at paintball fields to condition themselves physically, and acquiring equipment and clothing they could use when they joined al-Shabab in Somalia, officials said. Both had bragged about wanting to wage holy war against the United States both at home and internationally, according to a criminal complaint.
Officials said the two men were not planning an imminent attack in the New York-New Jersey area.
Somalia has welcomed the arrest of two New Jersey men who allegedly planned to join al-Shabab.
"Foreign terrorists here are an obstacle to lasting peace in Somalia. So we welcome the move and we are calling on all governments to take such steps against al-Shabab and all terrorists at large," said Sheik Abdirisaq Mohamed Qaylow, a spokesman for the Ministry of Information.
He's part of the government that controls about four city blocks in Mog. Betcha the other tribes and Al-Shabab aren't as pleased ...
This article starring:
Carlos Eduardo Almonte
Mohamed Mahmood Alessa
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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The case of Ahsanul Haq shines a light on a murky side of the militancy infecting Pakistan: the extent to which retired members of the security agencies allegedly support or tolerate Islamist militants they once nurtured for foreign policy aims.
[Dawn] Fifty people were reportedly killed as a result of ongoing clashes between two tribal groups in the Khyber agency. Ten people were killed on Saturday when clashes began and another 40 died on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
The U.S. recently reported that, in the last few months, American and Iraqi forces had killed or captured 34 of the 42 most senior al Qaeda leaders in Iraq. American intelligence has discovered that this huge loss has paralyzed al Qaeda in Iraq, which is now unable to find volunteers to replace all the lost leaders.
Nobody wants to be a Number Three anymore, because they can't get health insurance.
The losses have also cut communications with other al Qaeda groups, especially the senior leadership in Pakistan. The large loss of leaders also led to an unprecedented capture of documents and al Qaeda leaders willing to talk. Many family members of these leaders were also willing to discuss their experiences. For example, the widow of slain (in April) al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri revealed that she and her husband (they are both Egyptian) came to Iraq in 2002, having been offered sanctuary by Saddam Hussein.
No, no! Saddam Hussein was a typical secular fascist strongman. He would have had nothing to do with a radical Islamist terror group. I know this is so because I read it in the New York Times! Mrs. al Masri must be mistaken, or lying out of her love for Chimpy BusHitler.
Many other al Qaeda were found to be terrorists hiding out in Iraq, under Saddam's protection, and having nowhere to run after 2003. While many of the terrorist leaders were Iraqis who used to work for Saddam (and also had nowhere to run, given their known crimes), there were hundreds of foreigners. Few of them are left, outside of prison and graveyards.
This devastation began two years ago. Between mid-March and mid-April, 2008, al Qaeda suffered major losses in Iraq. American and Iraqi troops killed or captured 53 al Qaeda leaders.
And clearly they've been talking together over tea ever since. How odd that nothing has been mentioned in the New York Times editorials. Ah well, perhaps some of their johnnies have been reading Rantburg over lunch in an attempt to keep up.
Posted by: ed ||
06/07/2010 11:47 ||
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#1
"...al Qaeda leaders willing to talk."
They can't figure out the omertà thing. It's not part of their culture.
BAGHDAD A car bomb exploded outside a Baghdad police station on Sunday, killing four police officers and wounding 12 other people.
The blast at the station in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amil occurred during a morning shift change when a motorist stopped in front of the main gate and detonated the car, said a police official.
Elsewhere, an Iraqi Army soldier and 19 other people were wounded as part of a series of bombings across Iraq on Sunday, the police official said. One of the explosions occurred near City Hall in Mahmudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, and wounded the City Council president and seven other employees, the authorities said. The seriousness of the injuries was not immediately clear.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces in Diala freed a hostage east of Baaquba city but failed to arrest his kidnappers, according to a local security source on Sunday.
Combined security sources, acting upon intelligence tip-offs confirming the presence of a hostage in the area, raided a house in al-Muqdadiya district, (45 km) east of Baaquba, and freed the kidnapped man, a government employee,' the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The security forces intensified their efforts in search of the kidnappers but could not arrest them,' he added. The source did not give further details.
Diala has witnessed several kidnappings during the recent months, carried out by the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in retaliatory acts against security agencies, civilians or pro-government sahwa (awakening) tribal fighters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Three persons were wounded in an improvised explosive device blast in southern Baghdad on Sunday, a local security source said.
An IED went off Sunday evening on the main road in the area of al-Dora, southern Baghdad, leaving three people injured and three civilian vehicles,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The source added that the powerful explosion also caused severe damage to three civilian vehicles and nearby stores and buildings.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/07/2010 00:00 ||
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AT LEAST four Palestinians were killed after the Israeli Defence Force fired at militants dressed in diving gear off the coast of Gaza, Haaretz said today. The Israeli military said the Navy spotted men in diving suits, opened fire and prevented a terror attack.
"An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them identifying hitting them," an Israeli army spokesman said.
Palestinian health official Moawiya Hassanain said four bodies in diving suits were retrieved by a rescue team. Hamas security sources said a fifth man was missing, presumed dead. The Palestinian naval police said two people were still missing. The incident occurred before dawn local time today close to the Gaza coast.
Several Thais suspected to be involved in a series of bombings in the three southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala were believed to be posing as tom yam restaurant workers in several states in the peninsula.
Thai authorities have identified several tom yam restaurants in Malaysia who were working in cahoots with the suspects by hiring them, most of whom hold both the Malaysian and Thai citizenships. Thai security sources believe the restaurant owners were also giving financial help to the separatist's groups.
"Our checks show that besides working at these restaurants, the suspects are also working at construction sites. Some of them entered Malaysia legally while the rest are illegals. It is believed that after carrying out attacks, the suspects would run across the border to Malaysia and hide from the Thai or Malaysian authorities." The source added that the tom yam restaurant network started in Malaysia many years ago and it had been estimated that there were about 1,000 members.
Another Thai security source said they were trying to get the co-operation of the Malaysian authorities to investigate the matter. "It is learnt that each restaurant owner contributed RM50 per month to the network and the money is used to finance the separatist's activities," he claimed. The source said the network played an important role as it supplied financial aid to several separatist groups.
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.
