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'Gaddafi surrounded'
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Heather Thomas aka Felicity in "Against the Law" aka Ellen Carlyle in "Hidden Obsession" aka Paula Bukowsky in "Red Blooded American Girl" aka Teri Marshall in "Cyclone" aka Jody Banks in "The Fall Guy (TV series)" (age 54)



Gorb, before opening, please put down any sharp objects or otherwise potentially dangerous items and make sure your Meds are up to date.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/08/2011 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm ready to exercise! W00t!
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/08/2011 0:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Happy Birthday, Fred. Marilyn's blowing it out for you?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/08/2011 7:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Happy birthday, TW. Happy belated birthday, Frank.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Thank you, Fred. Back atcha, my dear birthday twin. Happy belated, Frank G.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/08/2011 10:27 Comments || Top||

#6  TW, Fred, and Frank's birthday? Happy birthday to all of you.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/08/2011 11:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Happy birthday or slightly belated birthday to all 70 or so Rantburger born in early September. Must have soemthing to do with how Thanksgivings are celebrated in Rantburg???
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/08/2011 11:15 Comments || Top||

#8  new meaning to "doing the stuffing"?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/08/2011 12:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Stuffing the bird?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/08/2011 12:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somali Pirates Release 7 Danes
[An Nahar] Somali pirates have released a Danish family, with three teenage children, and two other Danes who they took hostage in February, the Danish foreign ministry said Wednesday.

"The seven Danes have been released and brought to safety," the ministry said in a statement, adding that all were doing well under the circumstances.

No details were provided on the release, but Danish press reports suggested a ransom had been paid.

The Johansen family, a couple in their 50s and their three teenage children, and two guests had been sailing some 300 nautical miles from Somalia when they were seized by pirates on February 24.

They were reportedly moved to the mountain village of Hul-Anod in the restive northeastern Puntland region of Somalia in March, but after a failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
by government troops to free them they were transferred to the pirates' mother ship, a Greek vessel captured earlier.

Jan Qvist Johansen, his wife Birgit Marie, and their three children aged 13 to 17 years old left Denmark in August 2009 on a round-the-world trip by yacht. They had initially planned to return at the end of this summer.

The Danish foreign ministry said Wednesday that the pirates were still holding six sailors, two Danes and four Filipinos, from the seized cargo ship, Leopard.

"Danish authorities are following this matter very closely," the ministry said.

Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Africa North
New Libya peace bid as Niger denies Gaddafi asylum
[Emirates 24/7] Libya's new authorities launched a fresh bid Tuesday to stave off a battle in Bani Walid, one of Muammer Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years...
's last bastions, as Niger denied the toppled strongman decamped across its border.
No asylum? Hokay, just kill him then...
Representatives of the new leadership expressed optimism about talks to end a standoff over the oasis town, which was encircled by anti-Qadaffy forces last week, after the negotiations for its surrender collapsed on Sunday.

"The result of these talks is that our colleagues from Bani Walid met us and were reassured that we do not mean them harm and we will preserve their lives," Abdullah Kenshil, said chief negotiator of the National Transitional Council.

The gathering at a mosque in Wishtata village, on the outskirts of the besieged town, started and ended with prayers and celebratory gunfire.

Also on Tuesday, anti-Qadaffy forces disarmed a tribe loyal to the fallen dictator east of his hometown of Sirte, seizing their weapons, an AFP correspondent reported.

As the tensions eased, rumours swirled that Qadaffy had decamped to neighbouring Niger following reports that a convoy of up to 200 vehicles had crossed from Libya.

The convoy drove through the city of Agadez, a stronghold of the former Tuareg rebellion the ousted Libyan leader once supported, a Niger military source said on condition of anonymity.

"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey," the source said.

"There are persistent rumours that Qadaffy or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source said, adding the convoy included civilian and military vehicles.

The new leadership in Tripoli simply confirmed it knew of a convoy crossing into Niger.

"We can confirm that around 200 cars crossed from Libya to Niger, but we can't confirm who was in this convoy," Jalal al-Gallal, the NTC front man in the Libyan capital, told AFP.

But Niger's Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum was adamant the ousted Libyan leader was not in the convoy.

"It is not true, it is not Qadaffy and I do not think the convoy was of the size attributed to it," he told AFP by phone from Algiers.

"The truth is that several people, of varying importance, arrived in Niger. That's it, there are no high-profile figures, certainly not Qadaffy himself nor any of his sons," Bazoum said.

He said the only officials in the convoy were Libyan TV executives.

When asked whether Qadaffy was welcome in Niger, the minister said that decision was the presidency's but added: "Qadaffy in Niger could cause some problems."

Neighbouring Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now...
, another regime with close ties to Qadaffy which has not ruled out offering him shelter, was elusive when addressing reports the convoy was heading to Ouagadougou.

"We have no such information at the moment. Obviously, if they cross our border, we will find out... We are simply going to monitor the situation throughout the day," a government official said.

La Belle France, too, said it has no information to suggest Qadaffy had entered Niger.

And Qadaffy's front man Mussa Ibrahim insisted his boss was still in Libya and ready with his sons to fight to the death.

Qadaffy is "in excellent health and planning and organising Libya's defence," Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday. "He is in place that those scums did not reach. He is fighting inside Libya.

"We are still powerful," he said, adding that the sons of the runaway dictator "had assumed their role in the defence of and sacrifice for" their country. He however did not name them.

Pledging "a fight to the death or until victory," Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Bani Walid, said: "We will fight and resist for Libya and for all Arabs."

Local officials said most senior figures had decamped Bani Walid with Qadaffy's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, for Sabha, further south, that is still in the hands of regime loyalists.

Two other sons of Qadaffy, Saadi and Mutassim, were also reported to be in Bani Walid.

Those at Tuesday's meeting on Bani Walid were reassured by NTC number two Mahmud Jibril that "no one will be mistreated" if they put down their arms.

"God willing, the negotiations will be successful," he said, calling the talks "an historic opportunity for Bani Walid and the Warfalla tribe" that dominates the region.

Representatives of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, urged Libya's new leaders to declare a general amnesty, saying the Wishtata meeting had cleared the suspicions of its people.

"We are here to spare bloodshed," a Bani Walid leader, Sheikh Abdel Qadir Mayad, told the gathering, even as NTC fighters took up forward positions ready to storm the town.

"Bani Walid has reached the stage where they realise the previous system is over. Bani Walid is with Libya, it is not an exception," said the sheikh.

No festivities were reported on Monday in Qadaffy's hometown of Sirte or the southern oases of Sabha and Al-Jufra.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
said its warplanes had on Monday bombed a military radar site, a command and control bunker, four armed vehicles, for surface to air missile systems and two "military settlements" at Sirte.

An AFP correspondent said forces of the new regime on Tuesday disarmed a pro-Qadaffy tribe east of Sirte, seizing 150 light weapons.

The operation was launched at dawn by fighters of the "Zintan Martyrs' Brigade" deployed in the Umm Khunfis frontline district some 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Sirte.

The raid targeted encampments of the pro-Qadaffy Hossnia tribe dug into the desert some 30 kilometres inland, who possessed weapons that had been handed out by pro-Qadaffy forces, a brigade commander, Adel Semfez, said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


'Gaddafi surrounded'
[Emirates 24/7] A front man for Tripoli's new military council says the former rebels know where ousted Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy
...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation...
is hiding, and it is only a matter of time until he is captured or killed.

Anis Sharif says Qadaffy is still in Libya, and has been tracked using human intelligence and technology . Sharif refused to say where he is, but said he is trapped in a 40-mile- (60 kilometer-) radius area surrounded by rebels.

"He can't get out," Sharif says Wednesday. He says the former rebels are preparing to either detain him or kill him.

Locating Qadaffy would help seal the new rulers' hold on the country.

Convoys of Qadaffy loyalists decamped across the Sahara into Niger earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Ruling Party Delays Vote on the GCC Proposal
[Yemen Post] Leading members of the Yemen ruling General People Congress party announced on Tuesday that a vote on the mechanism of transfer of power enounced by the Gulf-brokered proposal would be delayed.

The party members were set today to discuss ways of taking the country out of its political deadlock by exploring a potential transition of power. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
it seems that despite international calls and warnings of a looming civil war, many of the People's Congress members were too reticent to even discuss the matter.

According to government sources, vice-president Hadi is growing frustrated over the lack of willingness of the regime to negotiate. In regards to the matter he said: "There is great danger of further agitation."

For several days now, the capital, Sana'a has been on high alert, expecting the "escalation campaign" led by the Opposition to turn into carnage. More military personnel have been seen of late, patrolling the streets of the capital and closing the roads leading to the airport as the regime claims that rustics loyal to defected General Mohsen and Sheikh al-Zindani, a well know holy man, are preparing an imminent assault on Sana'a International Airport.

Hadi told the press that the Committee would congregate again on Wednesday.

Under the new revised "mechanism of transfer" proposal, president Saleh would immediately transfer his power to vice-president Hadi, but will have three months, as opposed to one, to formerly step down as president of Yemen. Upon his resignation, a new coalition government would be then formed under Hadi's leadership.

This interim government would lead Yemen through a two-year transition period, allowing it to bring changes to the Constitution. The proposal also makes provision for a restructuring of the military, which so far is essentially under the control of Saleh's sons and nephews.

Many of the regime's loyalists are still boycotting the move, despite having received president Saleh's permission to negotiate.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen amends power transfer deal
[Iran Press TV] Yemen's ruling party has approved changes to a power transition plan brokered by Persian Gulf Arab states intended to ease President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
from office.

The amendments were made after Saleh gave the green light for his General People's Congress party to accept the changes.

Amendments approved by the ruling party would have Saleh transfer his presidential powers to his deputy, Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi, after signing the deal but gives the Yemeni dictator 90 days to formally resign, Rooters reported.

The initial version of the deal by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council
... the Medes and the Persians are very sensitive on the subject of the Persian Gulf, which the Arabs refer to as the Arabian Gulf...
([P]GCC) called for Saleh's resignation in 30 days.

If Saleh leaves Yemen, after ruling the country for almost 33 years, elections will be held and the opposition will be tasked with forming an interim unity government for a two-year transition period with Hadi as the interim president.

The interim government will also draft a new constitution during the transition period.

The new plan also requires reforming the country's military structure within three months of Saleh signing the deal. Currently, Saleh's son and nephews hold military and security power.

Saleh, who is currently in Soddy Arabia recovering from a June liquidation attempt, has backed out of signing the power transition deal three times at the very last minute.

Since Saleh left the country for Soddy Arabia for medical treatment in early June following an attack on the presidential palace, Yemenis are holding anti-government protests across the country on an almost daily basis to demand his ouster.

Hundreds of people have been killed and many more have been injured since the beginning of the anti-government protests in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Nizami denied bail in 10-truck arms case
[Bangla Daily Star] A Chittagong court on Wednesday rejected the bail prayers of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami
...During the liberation war of 1971, Nizami formed the Al-Badr Force and acted as its supreme commander. The Al-Badr militia took active part in rape, extortion, looting and killing of Bangladeshis who supported the liberation, including a pre-planned massacre on December 14, 1971, when the Al-Badr militia along with Pakistan Army rounded up hundreds of doctors, professors, writers, and other Bengali intellectuals, and executed them...
and two other charge-sheeted accused in two cases relating to 10-truck arms haul in 2004.

Judge SM Muzibur Rahman of Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 passed the order after the defence lawyers submitted separate petitions to the court seeking bail for the three accused.

The two other accused are: Enamul Hoque, former general manager (admin) of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL), and Deen Mohammad.

All of the eleven set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock accused, including Nizami and state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, were produced before the tribunal at 11:45am Wednesday.

The court fixed October 3 as the next date for hearing, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

It also asked the authorities concerned to publish an advertisement in two national dailies the two runaway accused -- Ulfa leader Paresh Barua and former additional secretary of industries ministry Nurul Amin -- to appear before it on October 3 in connection with the cases.

The two cases were filed -- one for smuggling firearms and the other under the arms act -- a day after ten truckloads of arms and ammunitions were seized at a CUFL jetty in the port city on April 2, 2004.

Earlier on August 8, another court in Chittagong rejected bail prayer of former state minister for Babar in the two cases.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


JMB man held in Naogaon
[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police in a joint drive locked away a member of banned orc outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working toward establishing Bangladesh as an Islamic state in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Mohammedan Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. The JMB at its peak was reported to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade, few of whom actually went kaboom!. JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, Soddy Arabia and Libya. Reports have claimed that funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Soddy Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia. The top leadership of JMB was captured in 2005 and hung in 2007, which pretty much shot their bolt.
(JMB) in Atrai upazila of Naogaon Tuesday night.

The arrestee, Md Quamran Ali Pramanik, 50, was a runaway convict, reports our Rajshahi correspondent quoting Lt Mahdin of Rab-5.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-5 of Bagmara camp and Atrai police raided the house of Quamran at Hatkalupara village around 8:30am and locked away him.

Quamran was placed in long-term storage for 31 years and six months by a court on July 26, 2007, in a case filed on charge of extortion and torture, Rab and police said.

He was among the 25 accused, including former BNP minister Aminul Haque, in the case.

Fazlur Rahman, a resident of Hasanpur village in Bagmara, filed the case on March 30, 2007 with the local cop shoppe.

He (Fazlur) was kidnapped and tortured by JMB men for ransom in April 2004.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh


Home Front: WoT
Feds Warn of 9/11 Attack on NY or DC
Federal authorities have come across
Suggests actual information - finally translated some page on Osama's computer?
what they believe may be a credible threat to the U.S. homeland surrounding the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, several sources tell Fox News.

The threat would target New York City or Washington, D.C., sources said. Authorities have obtained what they believe is information on possible suspects tied to central Al Qaeda, but they have not necessarily determined names of possible suspects.

According to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the threat, "People are aggressively pursuing leads,"
One would certainly hope so
and it is "specific enough to elicit worry." Another senior U.S. official stressed the threat is still "unconfirmed" so it is being chased down and investigated.

President Obama has been briefed on the seriousness of this threat,
Boy, that makes me feel better

according to a senior administration official.
One does wonder whether this is being leaked in order to distract public attention from tonight's speach. Isn't that a sorry commentary?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/08/2011 18:50 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if Pakistan told us they got something out of (allegedly) recently-captured Younis al-Mauritani?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/08/2011 20:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect, based on the POTUS Camp David flight diversion, that they've known about this for a while and they thought they could bust the plot, but they've faile4d. I sure hope they get it together in time or they're wrong.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/08/2011 21:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I wouldn't be surprised on the 10th year of 9/11 that someone would try.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/08/2011 21:16 Comments || Top||

#4  If they're going to try something, they'd better do it between now and the latter part of January 2013, when we'll have a President who will fight back instead of kiss their asses.
Posted by: Barbara || 09/08/2011 22:46 Comments || Top||

#5  More info:

"The official said the plot was believed to involve three individuals, including a U.S. citizen. U.S. officials believed the threat was a vehicle laden with explosives, but "the intelligence picture is not completely formed," the official said. "Not enough is known about the potential operatives and their plotting."

The threat is believed to entail a vehicle bomb, but "we cannot rule out other means," a U.S. official said.

A senior law enforcement official involved in briefings about the matter told CNN Justice Department Producer Terry Frieden that his best information is that the three individuals had not yet entered the United States.

The information came in around noon Wednesday, one official said."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/08/2011 23:11 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Two Pakistan Airlines flights get bomb threats
[Dawn] Two flights operated by Pakistain's state-owned airline received bombs threats on Wednesday, and both landed safely, one in Turkey, the other in Malaysia.

The first flight was headed for Manchester, England, when it was notified of the threat near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, and contacted the control tower in Istanbul to seek permission for the landing, state-run state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

PIA front man Mashood Tajwar confirmed the flight had received a threat and had landed. All passengers were safe.

Later, a second PIA flight from Islamabad to Kuala Lumpur also received a bomb threat. It landed in Kuala Lumpur and all 176 passengers disembarked safely, said Tajwar.

Tajwar did not say how the threat was delivered, but a local television station said it was by email.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


School blown up in Khyber
[Dawn] Unidentified beturbanned goons blew up a government school
In that part of the world, schools are for blowing up.
in Khyber tribal region's Sapah area razing the building to the ground, police said on Wednesday.

Explosive devices were planted outside the school building that went off completely destroying it. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Soon after, law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Quetta blasts to avenge Qaeda arrests: Taliban
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban has grabbed credit for twin suicide bombs in Quetta Wednesday that killed at least 24 people, saying they were to avenge the arrests of Al Qaeda operatives.

"We carried out the attacks," Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP in a phone call from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location.

He said the two bombs, which also maimed 82 people, were "to avenge the arrest of our mujahedin brothers by Pak security forces in Quetta recently".

Asked whether he was referring to the arrests, announced Monday, of Younis al-Mauritani -- believed to be a senior Al Qaeda leader who had planned attacks abroad -- and two others, he said "Yes."

"We will launch a bigger attack in future," Ehsan said.

Pakistain said Monday that its forces had placed in durance vile al-Mauritani, described as a senior Al Qaeda leader believed to have been responsible for planning attacks on the United States, Europe and Australia.

He was picked up in the suburbs of Quetta -- the main town in southwestern Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
province, bordering Afghanistan and Iran -- along with two other high-ranking operatives after the US and Pak spy agencies joined forces.

The twin suicide bombs on Wednesday targeted Pakistain's paramilitary force, the Frontier Corps which was responsible for the capture of the Al Qaeda operatives, police said.

One attacker detonated his bomb-laden car outside the residence of the deputy chief of the Frontier Corps in Quetta city, before a second attacker went kaboom!" inside the house, said senior police official Hamid Shakil.

The attack on the home of deputy chief Farrukh Shahzad maimed him, killed his wife and injured at least one of his children, security officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Envoy set free after being held near Osama compound
[Dawn] Danish Ambassador to Pakistain Uffe Wolffhechel and his wife were taken into custody on Tuesday by law-enforcement personnel from Bilal Town where Al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden
... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...
was killed in a raid by US special forces in May this year.

District Police Officer Karim Khan said Mr and Mrs Wolffhechel were taken into custody because they had not obtained prior permission to visit Abbottabad.

Sources said security personnel stopped the ambassador's official car when it was going to Bilal Town where the Osama compound is located. They were taken to Nawan Sher cop shoppe where they were kept for at least one hour and later shifted to some other place.

The sources said the ambassador and his wife were questioned, but released later and allowed to return to Islamabad.

According to the sources, the Federal Investigation Agency has been asked to investigate the Danish ambassador's visit.

The sources said the ambassador and his wife had also visited Thandyani. They were being followed from Thandyani by intelligence sleuths and were stopped in Bilal Town.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  They are arresting ambassadors on Martha's Vineyard now? Oh, wait! I'm doing that Osama/Obama confusion again.

This kinda makes you wonder if something *else* is going on in Abbottabad (or nearby Costellobad) even after their most famous houseguest made his late night departure.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/08/2011 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  No one Western is allowed in the ISI safe house area!
Posted by: Paul || 09/08/2011 12:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Danish. Cartoons. Surprised he travels freely anywhere in Pakzoo.
Posted by: Skunky Glin**** || 09/08/2011 17:16 Comments || Top||


Iraq
US forces capture a suspect north Nassiriya
THI QAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Security sources announced today that the U.S. forces conducted an aerial landing north of Nassiriya city during which a suspect was arrested, while the provincial council called on the central government to adopt a clear cut stand on the U.S. arrest activities in the province.

"Four U.S. helicopters arrested a person in Rifa'I area, 90 km north of Nassiriya, early this morning," the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

Another attempt was made on a house who's occupant is from the Sadrist Trend, but no arrest was made. The Iraqi side had no knowledge of the operation, the source added.

A leading member in the Sadrist Trend denied that most of the arrested people were members of his trend, stressing to Aswat al-Iraq that only two members were among those arrested.

The U.S. forces conducted six aerial landing operations that resulted in the arrest of 13 people who were charged with attacking American forces in the area.

Nassiriya, center of Thi Qar province, lies 380 km south of the capital, Baghdad
Posted by: Steve White || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sahwa leader assassinated in Diala
DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Security sources in Diala province announce a leading figure in the pro-government Al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces was killed and another wounded in bomb blast east of Baaquba city.

The source told Aswat al-iraq that the bomb was directed against Sheikh Jassim al-Jubori which led to his killing and wounding one of his bodyguards. The source added that he has family relation with the candidate for the ministry of defence Abdulla al-Jubori who escaped an assassination attempt in Shahraban area.

Baaquba, center of Diala province, lies 57 km north east of the capital, Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Ranger gunned down in southern Thailand
A ranger was killed Thursday afternoon when terrorists insurgents opened fire at his pickup truck in Narathiwat province. Police said two men on the roadside in Kuja village, opened fire at the truck driven by Cpl Yongyuth Sujarit, 45. Yongyuth hit in the head and killed.

Three other rangers, who were sitting at the back of the truck, jumped down and returned fire at the two terrorists insurgents. They exchanged shots for about five minutes before the two attackers retreated and fled into the forest.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/08/2011 06:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Attack on Syria military bus injures 15
[Iran Press TV] At least 15 people, including Syrian security forces, have been injured after a roadside bomb hit a military bus near the southern city of Dara'a, SANA reported.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  My only reaction to this as to Libya and Egypt and etc. is "A Pox on both your houses."
Posted by: AlanC || 09/08/2011 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  No popcorn for "injured"!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/08/2011 14:18 Comments || Top||


12 Killed as Syria Forces Sweep through Homs
[An Nahar] Syrian security forces killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, including nine in a tank-backed raid on the flashpoint city of Homs, activists said.

The Local Coordination Committees, which organizes the anti-regime protests on the ground, said nine people were killed in the central city of Homs, one in Hama to the north and two in Sarmin, Idlib province.

The forces used "gunfire and stun grenades to terrorize the people near the police headquarter around the citadel at the downtown," the LLC said in a statement sent to Agence La Belle France Presse.

The activists said forces backed by tanks swept early morning into Homs, where communications and Internet services were cut in many neighborhoods.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "military reinforcements including 20 truckloads of soldiers entered the city," and that there was "intense gunfire in the market and governorate headquarters."

"Many ambulances were roaming the streets of the city," it added.

Heavy machinegun fire was heard in the Bab Dreib and Bostan Diwan neighborhoods of Homs after 2,000 protesters had set out for the area following the deaths of four people near the city on Tuesday.

The activists said demonstrations also took place in several other parts of the strife-torn country, including Hama, but that a massive clampdown prevented rallies in the port of Latakia.

The United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
says 2,200 people have been killed since democracy protests flared in Syria in mid-March.

Syria's regime, which has promised to launch a wide range of reforms to appease the protesters, blames the unrest on foreign-backed "armed terrorist gangs."
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iran Says Deputy Chief of Kurdish Rebel Group Killed
[An Nahar] Iranian forces have killed the deputy commander of Iraq-based Kurdish rebel group PJAK, the Islamic republic's elite Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Majid Kavian, deputy commander of the terrorist (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan) PJAK group, with the alias of Samakou Sarhaldan was killed on Saturday," September 3, the Guards said on its website Sepahnews.

The report did not mention under what circumstances Kavian was killed, but quoting a statement attributed to PJAK, the Guards said Kavian "was killed by artillery shrapnel."

The report said Kavian had been engaged in "terrorist operations inside Iran" since 2003.

In July, Iran launched a major offensive against PJAK rebels, shelling districts around Iraq's border for weeks but halted it during the Mohammedan fasting month of Ramadan to give the rebels a chance to withdraw from border areas.

The Guards resumed the offensive on September 2, with their operations officer Colonel Hamid Ahmadi saying the fighting would "continue until all counter-revolutionaries, rebels and hard boyz have been cleared away."

According to the Guards, so far more than 30 PJAK rebels have been killed and 40 maimed in the second wave of attacks, while Iran has suffered two casualties.

On Monday, PJAK declared a truce and called on Iran to reciprocate in order to prevent further bloodshed.

Iran responded a day later, saying that Iraq's Kurdish autonomous government, which is acting as a mediator, must clarify the details of the truce before making a decision.

"Since the content of the unilateral ceasefire announced by the PJAK terrorist group is not clear-cut, the government of the autonomous (Iraqi) Kurdistan region which mediated this act should clarify the intention of the ceasefire as soon as possible," the Guards said in a statement.

PJAK rebels have engaged in festivities with Iranian forces in recent years, drawing retaliatory bombing of their rear-bases in mountainous border districts of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In mid-August, Turkey began its own campaign of shelling and air raids against bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Kurdistan, which has ties with the PJAK.

Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
has criticized Iran and Turkey over their military actions targeting suspected rear-bases of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



Who's in the News
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2TTP
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2Govt of Iran
1Jamaat-e-Islami
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1Pirates
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2011-09-08
  'Gaddafi surrounded'
Wed 2011-09-07
  Bomb at Delhi High Court kills 11, 76 injured
Tue 2011-09-06
  'Qatari Emir survives assassination'
Mon 2011-09-05
  Pakistan detains top al-Qaida suspect
Sun 2011-09-04
  Sudan declares emergency in Blue Nile state
Sat 2011-09-03
  European Union Lifts Sanctions on Libya
Fri 2011-09-02
  Russia recognises Libya's rebel government
Thu 2011-09-01
  Al Qathafi Reject Rebels' Ultimatum to Surrender
Wed 2011-08-31
  Saleh Authorizes his party to Conduct Negotiations with Opposition
Tue 2011-08-30
  Qadaffy's wife, daughter, 2 sons flee to Algeria
Mon 2011-08-29
  29 dead in suicide bomb attack in Iraq mosque: Officials
Sun 2011-08-28
  Rebels claim capture of last army base in Tripoli
Sat 2011-08-27
  Al Qaeda's No. 2 , Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Killed in Pakistan
Fri 2011-08-26
  Rebel council to take Libya's seat at Arab League
Thu 2011-08-25
  Yemeni premier back home from Riyadh


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