[An Nahar] A jacket wallah targeted a provincial head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency on Monday, wounding the spy and killing a child in the increasingly volatile north of the country.
The bomber detonated next to a car carrying the National Directorate of Security (NDS) official at 8:20 am (03:50 GMT) in Maymanah in Faryab province, Lal Mohammad, police front man for the northern region, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The chief of NDS was going to his office when the attacker, a person wearing a boom jacket, detonated near his car.
"One child is killed and six other people, including the provincial chief of NDS, are injured," said Mohammad.
The Taliban could not be reached for comment immediately, but the militia has stepped up targeted liquidations as part of its 10-year insurgency designed to evict U.S.-led foreign troops and their allied government in Kabul.
Attacks in the Afghan capital and high-profile political liquidations over the summer have fed perceptions that a decade after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, the West is losing the war in Afghanistan.
But in the decade of fighting, Afghanistan's north has been relatively quiet compared to the Taliban heartland in the south.
Police confirmed the NDS official was Monday's target.
"A suicide bomber targeted the head of the NDS. He's injured with five other people. One civilian is killed," said Faryab police chief Sayed Ahmad Sameh.
In the west, five Afghan soldiers were killed and three others maimed in a Taliban ambush on Saturday, said defense ministry front man Zahir Azimi.
He said another soldier was missing after the attack in the Bakwa district of Farah province.
International troops have started to withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of a 2014 deadline for foreign combat soldiers to leave, although coalition forces will remain to train up Afghan national security forces.
But there is concern about the ability of Afghanistan's army and police to protect their country against the Taliban-led insurgency.
The north of Afghanistan, dominated by ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks, has traditionally been more secure than the south and east, but an increase in attacks has raised fears about stability.
On Saturday, two men were killed at a U.S.-run development base in the first suicide kaboom since 2001 in the northern and Tajik-dominated Panjshir province, which is bitterly opposed to the Taliban.
Some Tajiks have stepped up calls on the government to abandon peace efforts with the Pashtun-dominated Taliban after one of their leaders, peace broker Burhanuddin Rabbani ... the murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan... , was assassinated in Kabul on September 20.
The United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... says violence is up by nearly 40 percent on last year with an average of 2,108 incidents a month in the first eight months of 2011.
A report to the U.N. Security Council showed that the number of civilians killed over the summer rose five percent compared to the same period in 2010.
But last week, an officer in the U.S.-led NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... military said the number of Taliban attacks in the country had declined for the first time.
Overall bad turban attacks are down in the past two months compared to last year and the Taliban have failed to seize back territory lost in the south, said deputy chief of staff Major General Michael Krause.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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A suicide car bomb blew up near a government building in Mogadishu on Tuesday, killing at least three people. Somali police officer Mohamed Adam said, "A suicide car bomber blew up in front of a building that houses the ministry of foreign affairs and the planning ministry."
It was the second such attack in the capital this month.
Shopkeeper Farah Hussein said he saw three bodies, including one which seemed to be the suicide bomber. Hussein said, "I see three dead people including the suicide car bomber who is totally burned and ripped apart. Among the dead is a person who was selling items on a wheelbarrow and a pedestrian. The street is busy and always full of traffic. Fortunately there weren't many pedestrians at that moment."
Ambulances evacuated the injured and government forces fired in the air to disperse the crowd which had gathered in the area.
[Dawn] A Pak vessel that had been taken over by a group of Somali pirates earlier this week was rescued by the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) near the coast of Somalia on Sunday.
A statement issued by the CMF said: "It became evident that the Pak crew were being held against their will by the Somalis, whose weapons were then seized and destroyed."
When contacted, a Pakistain Navy official confirmed the CMF's claim.
The ship's crew were later set free by the Royal Navy, and the Pak crewmembers thanked the British personnel for ending their captivity.
The CMF is a multi-national naval partnership which aims to combat terrorism and crimes at sea. It is commanded by a US Navy vice-admiral and a deputy commander, who is a British Royal Navy Commodore.
Earlier in July, Somali pirates had released the Merchant Vessel Suez after keeping its crew hostage for more than 10 months.
The pirates had demanded a $2.1 million ransom.
Despite repeated attempts, Pakistain Navy's director general public relations Commodore Irfanul Haq could not be contacted for comments on the report.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION SOMALI, TOPIX > AL-SHABAAB THREATENS WAR AGZ KENYA.
and
* SAME > AL-SHABAAB THREATENS/WARNS WILL BRING DOWN KENYAN SKYSCRAPERS, + destroy Kenya's tourism, etc. in righteous eye-for-an-eye Al-Shabaab indignation.
AS vows to fan + expand the "flames or war" into Kenya + Nairobi, unless any + al Kenyan mil forces leave Somalia.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Kenyan forces are likely to see action in a major battle in the Somali town of Afmadow, 620 kilometres south of Mogadishu, in the coming days.
Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers, together with allied combatants from Ras Kamboni Brigade and units of the Kenyan military, were on Monday said to be headed there.
Residents of Tabto and Qoqani towns in Lower Juba region confirmed that the bulk of the hapless Somali government forces in alliance with combatants loyal to Ras Kamboni Brigade, clan-based moderate Islamists, are gradually moving towards Afmadow, the district headquarters under al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader... control.
Al-Shabaab has mobilised hundreds of fighters, confiscated vehicles to transport them to the town, promising to make the Kenya army, which it dismissively described as not-combat-tested "to feel the pain of bullets".
Some of the Islamists are experienced fighters trained by international terrorists. Being a lightly armed guerrilla force, it has in the past attacked and melted away. It remains to be seen whether it will choose to confront head-on a conventional army with tanks and air cover.
"The Kenyan troops supported by tanks and other military vehicles have taken up positions near Qoqani," an elder in a nearby village, Mr Saleban Mohamed, said.
"I saw around 32 trucks and tanks, with hundreds of troops," he added.
"The Kenyan soldiers are heavily armed and they have started digging trenches near Qoqani," another witness, Mr Abdulahi Sayid Adam, said
Withdraw troops
Al-Shabaab front man Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage threatened to launch terror attacks in Kenyan cities if Nairobi does not withdraw its troops.
"Kenya has peace, its cities have tall buildings and business is booming there, while Somalia is in chaos. If your government ignores our calls to stop its aggression on Somali soil, we will strike at the heart of your interests," he said in an address intended for the Kenyan population.
Hassan Turki, a senior southern al-Shabaab leader, said his men would force the Kenyan troops "to test the pain of the bullets." (READ: Al-Shabaab warns Kenyan soldiers)
Al-Shabaab fighters were on Monday said to be boosting defences and sending "hundreds" of fighters towards Kenyan and TFG positions.
"I saw around 50 trucks and pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns, with hundreds of fighters heading towards the Kenyan border," Mr Abdi Jumale, a resident in the al-Shabaab-held port of Kismayu told AFP by telephone.
Al-Shabaab commanders confiscated at least a 100 trucks late on Sunday from the Lower Shabelle region, outside the capital Mogadishu, to transport fighters to the battle zones, witnesses said.
"Many trucks were taken from civilians to transport fighters, they are heading towards the Juba region," a resident of al-Shabaab-held Afgoye district near Mogadishu told AFP, asking not to be named for security reasons.
"They have collected all weapons near Afgoye, and gathered hundreds of young fighters," another said.
The assault came after Internal Security Minister George Saitoti vowed to attack al-Shabaab "wherever they will be".
In the past five weeks, a British woman and a French woman have been kidnapped from beach resorts in two separate incidents, dealing a major blow to the tourism industry.
On Thursday, two Spanish aid workers were seized by gunnies from Dadaab refugee camp, the world's largest with more than 450,000 mainly Somali refugees.
Under growing pressure
Kenya has been under growing pressure to take action and attempt to restore confidence that it could safely host tourists and one of the world's largest aid communities.
The troop movements have heightened tension in the area with villagers and pastoralists in the affected district fearing battles between the coalition forces and the fighters of al-Shabaab.
Other sources confirm that war planes, presumed to be from Kenya have occasionally been flying over the military positions.
Despite the wide confirmation that Kenyan troops have crossed the border on Sunday, Somali officials continue denying any such intervention.
A Kenya Army helicopter crashed on take-off from Liboi Town inside Kenya, killing five soldiers.
They were lifting off from the area where they had returned after operations inside Somalia when the incident happened, according to a Department of Defence statement.
Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee summoned Prof Saitoti and Defence minister Yusuf Haji for a closed-door briefing.
Outside the committee room, Prof Saitoti repeated the reason for Kenya's engagement in Somalia.
In Kismayu, the main base for al-Shabaab and their al-Qaeda allies, rebels began heading to Afmadow.
"All al-Shabaab's fighters and their armed vehicles in Kismayu have taken the road towards Afmadow," Ismail Aden, a Kismayu resident told Rooters.
"Al-Shabaab have left only 10 fighters here... people are afraid here, they do not know what will happen," he said. Kismayu is about 120km south of Afmadow.
A Somali military commander told Rooters his soldiers were also advancing on the town of Afmadow, which is near a now deserted al-Shabaab base hit by air strikes on Sunday.
Another Kismayu resident said the snuffies had urged residents to defend the port town.
Logistics support
Somali government front man Abdurahman Omar Osman alias Engineer Yarisow, reiterated that Kenya only helps Somali forces through training and logistical support.
"People may be confusing Somali troops trained in Kenya that are crossing to the other side with Kenyan soldiers," Mr Yarisow said.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
They already had the mother of all battles. It didn't turn out well.
[Tripoli Post] An NTC field commander by the name of Wessam bin Hamaidi has said that families of former Libyan regime officials streamed out of Sirte on Monday, including the mother and brother of the runaway Al Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... front man Moussa Ibrahim.
Gesturing at seven cars loaded with men, women and kiddies fleeing a disputed pocket of the runaway leader's hometown, Hamaidi, who is in charge of military operations in Sirte's eastern front, has been reported telling AFO: "These are families of regime officials; there is Moussa Ibrahim's mother and brother among them."
A throng of some 150 National Transitional Council fighters formed around the vehicles in a chaotic scene before the families were whisked off, AFP's news hound on the scene said. He also quoted Hamaidi saying that the fleeing passengers included other "wanted" people but "no big fish." He said there were fighters mixed in with the fleeing civilians.
"Our strategy of surrounding the neighbourhoods is working as you can see families of regime officials are coming out," he said.
Shortly afterwards, during intense fighting, the revolutionaries, firing machine guns and mortar stormed the Dollar and Number 2 neighbourhoods, where diehard Al Qadaffy loyalists and snipers are holed up.
Hassan al-Droe, an NTC representative from Sirte, told AFP that relatives of Al Qadaffy regime officials started fleeing in the morning, taking advantage of a lull in the fighting.
"This morning a lot of families from the regime left the two neighbourhoods in 20 cars," Droe said, adding that the passengers included men, women and kiddies. He said NTC fighters took the families to Qasr Abu Hadi, a village just south of Sirte and Al Qadaffy's birthplace.
He said the fleeing Libyans told the fighters that Al Qadaffy's son, Muatassim was still inside the city. The NTC fighters believe Muatassim is hiding in the city and keep on saying that it was only a matter of time before they took control over the last two pockets of resistance in Sirte.
"The way the families came out has raised hope that we will capture the neighbourhoods very soon," he said as machinegun and mortar fire rocked the area besieged by NTC fighters.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Libyan fighters raised the new government's flag over the oasis of Bani Walid Monday and hoped for the swift fall of the other remaining redoubt of Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation... loyalists, Sirte, as relatives of his henchmen decamped.
Cries of Allahu Akhbar (God is Greatest) and bursts of celebratory machinegun fire filled the desert air over the centre of Bani Walid, as the new regime troops feted their capture of the loyalist bastion after a six-week siege.
"The city of Bani Walid has been completely liberated," said Saif al-Lasi, a commander of the Zliten Brigade, one of the National Transitional Council units which took part in the final assault launched on Sunday.
"The road is now open east towards Sirte, south to Sabha and west to Tripoli," he told AFP.
NTC field commander Jamal Salem said his fighters had encountered "heavy resistance" from Qadaffy loyalists holed up in the Saharan town, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... a pro-Qadaffy TV channel confirmed the death of Qadaffy's youngest son, Khamis, who had been reported killed by National Transitional Council fighters late in August.
Arrai, a Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... -based broadcaster that has become the favoured forum for Qadaffy and the remnants of his ousted regime, said late on Sunday that Khamis was killed on August 29 in Tarhuna, some 80 kilometres southwest of Tripoli while fighting "enemies of the homeland."
His cousin Mohammed, son of Qadaffy's close ally and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, was killed in the same incident, added the broadcaster.
It is the first time that pro-Qadaffy media has confirmed the death of Khamis, whose demise had been announced several times since Libya's conflict erupted but always denied by the ousted regime.
The most recent official statement on his death came on August 29 when interim justice minister Mohammed al-Allagy said Khamis had been killed and buried in Tarhuna.
But that statement was denied by a pro-Qadaffy channel the next day.
Khamis, 28, commanded a brigade seen as the most effective and loyal force of the Libyan leader.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last... families of former Libyan regime officials streamed out of Sirte today, including the mother and brother of Qadaffy's front man Mussa Ibrahim, an NTC field commander said.
"These are families of regime officials; there is Mussa Ibrahim's mother and brother among them," said Wessam bin Hamaidi gesturing at seven cars loaded with men, women and kiddies fleeing a disputed pocket of Qadaffy's hometown.
A throng of some 150 National Transitional Council fighters formed around the vehicles in a chaotic scene before the families were whisked off, an AFP news hound at the scene said.
Hamaidi, in charge of military operations in Sirte's eastern front, said the passengers included other "wanted" people but "no big fish," adding there were fighters mixed in with the fleeing civilians.
Hassan al-Droe, an NTC representative from Sirte, told AFP that relatives of Qadaffy regime officials started fleeing in the morning, taking advantage of a lull in the fighting.
"This morning a lot of families from the regime left the two neighbourhoods in 20 cars," Mr Droe said. NTC fighters, he said, took the families to Qasr Abu Hadi, a village just south of Sirte and Qadaffy's birthplace.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... five maimed Libyan fighters are receiving hospital treatment in Germany, and some 40 more are to be flown in by the German military on Tuesday, hospital and foreign ministry officials said today.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] A television station based in Syria that supports Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation... confirmed on Monday that the deposed Libyan leader's son Khamis had died in fighting southeast of the capital Tripoli on Aug. 29.
Khamis commanded an elite military brigade and his death marked the highest-profile pro-Qadaffy casualty since the uprising began that ended Qadaffy's 42 years in power.
Arrai television announced Khamis's death, along with that of his cousin Mohammed Abdullah al-Senousi, Qadaffy's intelligence chief, saying they were killed during a battle with National Transitional Council (NTC) forces in the city of Tarhouna, 90 km (60 miles) southeast of Tripoli.
The TV station, which has broadcast audio messages from Qadaffy and his front man since the Libyan capital was overrun by NTC forces in August, posted pictures of Khamis and Senousi and broadcast verses of the Koran, the traditional way of mourning.
It said Khamis and Senousi died "while confronting the enemies of their homeland" on Aug. 29.
NTC military officials had said in August that Khamis was killed in Tarhouna and buried in the city of Bani Walid but there was no confirmation at the time from Qadaffy loyalists.
Khamis had been reported dead twice before during the uprising, only to reappear.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told Rooters the United States could not yet independently confirm Khamis's death but said similar information was being received in Washington from "reliable sources."
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[Emirates 24/7] Deadly festivities erupted overnight in the Yemeni capital as tension spiked following a new wave of killings of anti-regime protesters by troops loyal to veteran President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... Eight people were killed and 27 maimed in the street battles, which saw tribes and troops opposing Saleh ranged against loyalists, medics and a tribal source said Monday.
Four of the victims were killed in shelling that targeted the Change Square where protesters demanding the ouster of Saleh have camped out for months, medics said.
Some 10 rockets landed around the square, including one close to a field clinic, a medic at the facility said.
Fierce festivities took place in the northern Sanaa neighbourhood of Al-Hassaba between rustics led by Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, who opposes Saleh, and followers of Sheikh Saghir bin Aziz, who remains loyal to the embattled leader.
The brother of Aziz, Sheikh Saleh, 35, was killed when shrapnel penetrated his head, a medic at the Saudi German hospital said, adding that five others were maimed.
Two people killed in festivities in Al-Hassaba, and one of the four killed in the shelling of Change Square, were taken to the Science and Technology Hospital, according to Dr. Mohammed al-Sarmi.
He said 22 maimed were hospitalised.
A tribal source in the office of Sheikh Sadeq, who leads the influential tribe of Hashid, said a civilian was killed when a rocket hit his house in Bahrain Street, in Al-Hassaba.
Saleh on Sunday charged that the protests were being militarised and were part of a coup led by Islamists, apparently referring to the Islah (reform) party, which is known as the Mohammedan Brothers of Yemen.
Protesters said Saleh's forces were trying through the shelling to force them to leave Change Square.
"The shelling came after Saleh's speech. He is trying to terrify us to force demonstrators to go home, but they will not before achieving all their goals by bringing down the regime," leading protester Walid al-Ammari told AFP.
Clashes also broke out overnight in Ziraa Street, east of Change Square between troops from the dissident First Armoured Division, led by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, which provides protection for protesters, and Central Security forces loyal to Saleh.
Tension had escalated in Sanaa after demonstrators raised the stakes on Saturday, marching towards zones of the capital controlled by Saleh's forces, prompting deadly response from loyal troops and gunnies.
Saleh's forces rubbed out 12 protesters on Saturday, while six people, including four demonstrators and two soldiers of Ahmar's division, were killed on Sunday, according to medics. Dozens of others were maimed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... Ahmar's First Armoured Division said it lost 10 soldiers, including a major, in gunfire from Saleh loyalists over the past two days.
It accused the elite Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, and other security bodies led by relatives of the veteran leader, as well loyal "thugs" of being behind the killings.
"This was part of the series of crimes committed by Saleh and his bloody gang against peaceful demonstrators and their guards of the soldiers of the free Yemeni army that backs the revolution," according to a statement.
Violence also erupted on Sunday in the flashpoint city of Taez, where Aziza Ghaleb, 21, became the first woman to be killed while marching in anti-Saleh protests since January.
General Ahmar has called on the international community to take immediate action to stop the bloodshed and force Saleh to step down.
Despite mounting pressure from Western governments as well as the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saleh has for months refused to sign the deal, even though he has repeatedly promised that he would.
According to a letter from Yemen's youth movement sent to the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... earlier this month, at least 861 people have been killed and 25,000 maimed since mass protests erupted across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Unlike Mubarak, Qaddafi, Asad, et al, I thought Saleh never had that much control over his own country to begin with. What difference would a Yemeni coup make anyway?
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/18/2011 15:03 Comments ||
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[Yemen Post] After a few hours of respite following yesterday's demonstrations and festivities, more violence broke out in around midnight, across several districts of the capital, Sana'a.
Residents reported that unlike in their attack of the demonstrators where mostly guns and machine guns had been involved, the regime used its heavy artillery against General Mohsen's dissidents' troops.
"I was wake up by loud kabooms, it sounded like shelling...something big anyway", said a woman near Beit Buss who added that she was worry the fight would spread throughout the rest of Sana'a.
At "Change Square" where the government troops started to target the encampment with RPG's and mortar shells, protesters hurried to nearby buildings, desperate to find a better suited shelter than a simple tent.
So far medical sources reported that an estimated 3 people were killed on the University ground itself and another 6 were severely injured as a mortar shell landed near their house.
In Hasaba, Sheikh Sadeeq al-Ahmar's stronghold, more shelling and intense fighting resumed as rustics opposed to the regime defended their leader's territories, not giving out an inch.
In and around the University, defected General Mohsen's troops were enthralled in a fight against the Elite Republican Guards, now dubbed the "Family Guards", as their Head is none other than president Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed Ali.
After a short break during Fajr prayer at dawn, the 2 opposing parties continued their fight for control, leaving residents fearful of what the future might bring.
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10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Turkish FM says inmates' crimes erased as a result of exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, denies claims prisoners may post threat to Turkey, 'Today's Zaman' reports.
[Dawn] Militants ambushed Pak troops on Monday, killing nine soldiers in gunbattles that lasted several hours on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar in the northwestern tribal badlands, officials said.
Peshawar is the main city in northwest Pakistain and a gateway to the semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border that Washington calls the most dangerous place on Earth and a global headquarters of al Qaeda.
Another three members of the Frontier Corps paramilitary were maimed in the attack and at least 14 Islamic fascistikilled in retaliatory fire in Bara district, in the tribal district of Khyber, which borders Afghanistan, the officials said.
"It was an ambush in the afternoon. It continued for two to three hours, and there have been casualties in the ambush. There have been killings of the hard boyz as well," military front manMajor General Athar Abbas ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... told AFP.
He was unable to give a casualty count, but military and political officials in the northwest said nine paramilitary troops were killed.
"The Islamic fascistiattacked FC troops during a search operation. They came and attacked from a small hill where Islamic fascistiwere hiding," the political agent of Khyber, Rehan Gul Khattak, told AFP.
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[Dawn] Pakistain said on Monday that Afghan and US-led forces had failed to hunt down a Taliban holy man responsible for a spate of cross-border raids despite repeated requests from Islamabad, a complaint likely to deepen tension between the neighbours. This is the very same Mullah Fazlullah the Paks were unable to catch when he was terrorizing Swat.
Well, holy men sometimes do miraculous things. You infidels might negate that by your presence. Plus he and his buddies shot at us in Swat.
The attacks in which bully boyz loyal to Maulvi Fazlullah took part killed about 100 members of Pakistain's security forces, angering the army which faces threats from multiple beturbanned goon groups.
"The problem refuses to go away," Mighty Pak Armyfront man, Major-General Athar Abbas, told Rooters.
Fazlullah was the Pak Taliban leader in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Valley, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Islamabad, before a 2009 army offensive forced him to flee.
Also known as FM Mullah for his fiery radio broadcasts, he regrouped in Afghanistan and established strongholds, and poses a threat to Pakistain once again, said Abbas. The mullah had a portable FM broadcaster. Whenever he felt the urge he would pick up the microphone, turn on the power, and rant. Pakistain's intelligence agencies were somehow incapable of getting a fix on the transmitter. 30 years ago, using less sophisticated equipment than is currently available, that sucker could have been fixed within 200 yards within five minutes of the time he started transmitting.
You're forgetting the djinns. Terrible source of interference, those djinns.
Fazlullah, a leading figure in the Pak Taliban insurgency, is based in Kunar and Nuristan provinces in Afghanistan, said Abbas.
He is a prime example of the classic problem faced by Pakistain's military. To whit, incompetence.
Militant leaders can simply melt away in the rugged mountainous frontier area in the face of army offensives. ... even while transmitting a couple thousand watts of identifying radio signal...
In Kabul, National Directorate of Security front man Lutfullah Mashal said "terrorist groups usually come from the other side of the border and do some attacks".
"One thing for sure I can say that no one is regrouped or settled here in Afghanistan," he added. "We got problems of our own, with bad guys coming across the border and exploding. If we got bad guys coming across the border minding their own business then we're not interested. If they're attacking in the other direction we'll get around to it when we have time. Right now we ain't got time."
Ties between Kabul and Islamabad, marred by mistrust in the best of times, have been heavily strained in recent months.
First, Afghanistan complained that Pakistain was shelling Afghan border areas in response to beturbanned goon raids.
More recently, Afghan officials accused Pakistain's spy agency of involvement in the suicide kaboomliquidation of the chief Afghan peace envoy with the Taliban.
Pakistain denied the accusation. "No, no! Certainly not!"
"With this new element, friction will increase.
The problem is the issue is highly politicised given the state of affairs in the region, with accusations coming from both sides," said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute of Peace Studies.
"What was simply a border security issue is now politicised, and will impact bilateral relations."
Multiple Threats
Fazlullah, who Swat residents said ordered beheadings, public executions and the bombing of girls' schools, is the last thing Pakistain needs.
It is battling a Taliban insurgency, and has been facing stepped up US pressure to attack Afghan beturbanned goon groups who cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan since US special forces in May killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who now dances with worms... in a Pak town, where he had apparently been living for years.
"Now Fazlullah and his group are trying to re-enter Swat through Dir," said Abbas, referring to a border region in northwest Pakistain which was relatively stable before the holy man's men recently staged attacks there on security forces.
The United States wants Pakistain to help stabilise the unruly, mountainous border region once described by President Barack B.O. Obama as the most dangerous place in the world.
Doing so would require Pakistain to break up complicated and powerful networks that include al Qaeda, the Afghan and Pakistain Taliban and Arab fighters.
Critics say Pakistain has created chaos in the area by using bully boyz as proxies in Afghanistan to block the influence of old rival India, allegations it denies.
Pak officials have urged the United States to focus on defeating its enemies in Afghanistan instead of blaming Islamabad for its failures.
Asked about Pakistain's complaint about Fazlullah, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a front man for NATO's ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said:
"We are working with Pakistain to achieve our shared goals of lasting stability and security in Afghanistan and the broader region."
Residents of the Swat Valley, once a tourist destination with cascading rivers and forest-clad slopes, are still haunted by memories of a life of fear under Fazlullah.
The Taliban capitalised on a widely criticised government peace deal with the Taliban to take control of Swat, home to more than a million people. In April 2009, the United States termed the agreement an abdication to the Taliban.
"There is no village in Swat where Fazlullah's men did not murder someone's brother or father or son. There is no place where they did not destroy homes and families. Most people of Swat are against the Taliban," said Nisar Khan, a 40-year-old farmer in Swat. "We are now armed; we have weapon permits from the army. There are many soldiers here."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IIRC TOPIX > US TROOP PULLOUT FROM EASTERN AFGHANISTAN LEAVES PAKISTAN HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO MILITANT ATTACKS.
The US appears to be claiming that it is simply realigning/posturing its AFghan forces to better "protect/defend Kabul"???
* SAME/BIGNEWS NETWORK > AMERICAN TROOPS MASS NEAR PAKISTANI BORDER.
Islamabad feeling the twitchiness.
and
* SAME [old]> OFFICIAL: TALIBAN NOT INTERESTED IN PEACE TALKS BECAUSE IT KNOWS US "TIME IS UP".
[Dawn] A khasadar ...a rural policeman in Pakistain or India... was killed and a levies trooper injured when their convoy was hit by an improvised bomb in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday.
Bara Assistant Political Agent Rehan Khattak told Dawn that the convoy was on a patrol in Akakhel area when the incident occurred.
He said that when the convoy reached Miran Talab area, an IED planted on the roadside went off killing a khasadar Aman Gul on the spot while levies official Mehtab Khan was left at death's door. He was taken to a military hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.
Officials said that the security forces surrounded the area and started a search operation but no arrests could be made.
In Jamrud tehsil, khasadar force recovered the body of a young local resident from a dry stream on Sunday morning. Officials said that unidentified gunnies had kidnapped Alamgir, a resident of Shahkas, three weeks back.
Also in Jamrud, gunniesrubbed out a proclaimed offender in Gudar area. The dear departed belonged to Badhber, Peshawar and had taken refuge in Jamrud after he was declared a proclaimed offender by Peshawar police.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel Tuesday morning after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, apparently healthy but gaunt and frail-looking. His release by Hamas was part of a prisoner swap that ultimately will include the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. 477 prisoners were freed on Tuesday, after Shalit was returned to Israel.
Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip says the militant group has officially turned over captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to Egypt as part of a prisoner swap with Israel.
"Gilad Shalit has returned to his country, his homeland and his family. For over five years we have been . . . with Gilad Shalit. Today, Gilad Shalit is with us," said Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, an Israeli army spokesman.
Shalit was taken by Hamas militants from Gaza into Egypt, then handed over to Israeli officials and taken across the border. He was given a medical examination and then a chance to speak to relatives by telephone. Shalit was flown by military helicopter to Tel Nof air force base, where he was reunited with his family just after 1 p.m. local time.
He saluted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who embraced him. Netanyahu told Shalit, "How good that you have returned home."
Netanyahu told reporters that Israel had paid a "heavy price" to obatain Shalit's release. Netanyahu said, "On this day, all of us are united in happiness and pain"
While Israeli officials offered a subdued homecoming ceremony for Shalit, Hamas leaders organized a jubilant reception for their comrades. The first busloads of released Paleos, crossed the border into Egypt around the same time Shalit was brought over to the Israelis. The Palestinians were taken to Gaza and the West Bank, where triumphant crowds awaited them.
Buses transporting the freed prisoners arrived in Gaza around midday. Crowds of Hamas militants, including some of the men who kidnapped Shalit in 2006, were among the well-wishers.
In the West Bank, Palestinian youths briefly fought Israeli troops after a misunderstanding about where the prisoners would be dropped off. Relatives had been expecting the freed inmates to arrive at the Bitunyah crossing, but they were instead taken to the Mukatah, the headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government in Ramallah.
Hamas leaders have portrayed the swap as a failure for Israel and have said it will embolden the struggle to end what it calls the occupation of Palestinian land. Israeli leaders said they got the best deal they could.
Shalit's father appeared Monday before the Israeli Supreme Court, where he faced relatives of terror victims who oppose the deal. Several motions were filed urging the court to annul the deal, and some angrily confronted the father. Shalit submitted a written response to the objections. The court rejected the appeals late Monday night.
#1
I'd have bet big money he was dead. He looks surprisingly good for a dead guy. Good thing nobody took my bet
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/18/2011 11:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Interesting, only 1000 palestinians for a single Israeli soldier. I figure Israel would have still gotten the better deal even if it had been 10,000 palestinians and a player to be named later.
#4
He almost looks TO well, if you catch my drift. For now though I'm just thankful he's alive and re-united with his family.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/18/2011 19:03 Comments ||
Top||
#5
It was one thousand and twenty-seven, anymouse. That makes a difference. ;-)
At any rate, Egypt kidnapped their own Israeli, the one that they didn't give to Defence Secretary Panetta as promised recently. They plan in demanding some eighty Egyptions currently in Israeli jails, if I recall.correctly. clearly Egyptians are more valuable than Palestinians...
#6
After a brief meeting with his family, he's still looking at weeks of debriefing. And hopefully, the released prisoners will have more tracking devices in them and their clothing than can be easily counted.
Dubbed the "Switchblade," a miniature "kamikaze" drone designed to quietly hover in the sky before dive-bombing and slamming into a human target will soon be part of the US Army's arsenal, officials say. Weighing less than two kilos, the drone is small enough to fit into a soldier's backpack and is launched from a tube, with wings quickly folding out as it soars into the air, according to manufacturer AeroVironment.
Powered by a small electric motor, the Switchblade transmits video in real time from overhead, allowing a soldier to identify an enemy, the company said in a press release last month.
"Upon confirming the target using the live video feed, the operator then sends a command to the air vehicle to arm it and lock its trajectory onto the target," it said.
#1
There was a vid of this posted at rantburg a while back, but was pulled from Youtube due to copyright infringement. It doesn't hover (implying a helicopter style power plant), but flies and is controlled like an RC airplane.
#2
Saw that vid. Really neat since it is a quick set up, the soldier can do a quick recon with the drone since it has a video feed, then fly it into the best target. It is very popular with the troops.
#9
"Make it holler "Allahu Akbar!" as its final insult."
Me likee.
Make sure it uses a genuine Arab accent. (Or better yet, Iranian.)
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/18/2011 17:44 Comments ||
Top||
#10
"Hooah!". They'll get it
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/18/2011 19:09 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Leave to the media to misidentify a hunter/killer drone as a 'kamikaze'. To be a kamikaze requires that the human actually be physically contained in the suicide vehicle. Otherwise, the Switchblade is just the next logical step in the development of killer drones: first the Buzz Bomb, then things like the Firebee and the HARM missile, now the true hunter/killer drone that can be issued as a munition.
[Emirates 24/7] Arab foreign ministers stopped short of suspending Syria from their regional organization on Sunday over its military crackdown on dissent, instead urging the government and opposition to negotiate an end to the violence.
"We will call all of the parties of the opposition and government to hold a dialogue within 15 days," the League's Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said after the meeting. It should be held at Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... headquarters and a Syria-based committee would be set up to work to end violence.
Disappointed protesters began banging on the doors of the vaporous Arab League building as Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani read out the decision.
"The people demand the suspension of Syria's membership at the Arab League!" the protesters chanted.
Initial reaction from Syria was also negative.
"Syria has reservations on the call by the League for a comprehensive dialogue to take place at its headquarters and says it is capable of running its own affairs and security," Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.
Arab governments were silent for months while Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Latakia... 's troops tried to put down the uprising with tanks and machineguns.
But the country is now in danger of descending into a civil war that could destabilise its neighbours.
Arab states have demanded an end to the bloodshed and called for political reform but do not agree on how to apply pressure.
A permanent delegate to the League told Rooters earlier that the emergency meeting of the ministers would consider suspending Syria's membership but that some states opposed such a move.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... says 3,000 people have died in the crackdown including at least 187 children.
Thousands of Syrian troops opened fire in the resort town of Zabadani on the border with Leb on Sunday, residents and activists said, a day after heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... in the area between army defectors and loyalist forces.
More than 100 civil society groups issued a collective appeal to the League's Secretary General Nabil Elaraby to isolate Syria's government and cooperate with United Nations investigations of alleged human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abuses.
"I met with all parties of the opposition and they all said they were against suspending Syria's membership as that would cut off all links between Syria and the Arab League," Elaraby told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So the Arab League "voted present." It would be good if the Arabs stepped up to the plate occasionally to police their own miscreants.
[An Nahar] Syrian troops killed 25 people, 21 of which were rubbed out during search operations in the flashpoint central city of Homs on Monday, a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... watchdog said.
"Twenty-one people, some civilians and others coppers, were killed in Homs during operations by the army and the security services in several neighborhoods of the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Army defectors reportedly killed 11 Syrian soldiers, four in a bombing, as the unrest sweeping Syria edged closer to all-out armed conflict and the U.N. chief urged an immediate end to the bloodletting.
The Syrian Observatory reported the soldiers' deaths and said four civilians were also killed in the country as President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Owner of Expensive Suits... 's regime pressed its brutal crackdown on dissent.
"Gunmen suspected of being army defectors blew up a bomb by remote control as an army vehicle passed by Ehssem in the countryside of the (northwestern province of Idlib), killing an officer and three soldiers, and wounding others," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse in Nicosia.
Earlier, the Britannia-based Observatory reported that five soldiers were killed in festivities with gunnies suspected too of being army defectors in the flashpoint central province of Homs.
Analysts have warned that the longer the repression continues, the more chance there is of opposition groups taking up arms, while U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned at the weekend that Syria risked "a full-blown civil war."
Pillay said that more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the crackdown on anti-regime protests.
Earlier this month, a top army defector now living across the border in Turkey called for military aid to help his armed opposition group topple the Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... regime.
Colonel Riad al-Assad, who defected in July, appealed for weapons for the "Syrian Free Army" he has set up.
"If the international community helps us, then we can do it, but we are sure the struggle will be more difficult without arms," he said in the interview published by the English-language Hurriyet Daily News.
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... meanwhile urged Assad to immediately stop the killings of civilians, a day after the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... called for "national dialogue" to end the violence.
"There are continuous killings of civilian people. These killings must stop immediately," Ban said in Bern.
"I told Assad: 'Stop before it is too late'," he said.
"It is unacceptable that 3,000 people have been killed. The U.N. is urging him again to take urgent action."
Ban also called on Assad to accept an international commission of inquiry into rights violations ordered by the U.N. Human Rights Council in April. Damascus has blocked Sherlocks from entering the country.
The Observatory reported that scores of soldiers were also maimed in confrontations Monday with suspected army defectors, including at least 17 in Idlib province.
In Homs, 20 soldiers decamped into nearby orchards after festivities with suspected defectors killed seven troops, the watchdog said. An earlier toll said five died in the fighting.
And it reported the deaths of four civilians, three in the city of Homs and one in a prison in Hama, two hotbeds of dissent against the Assad regime. Six civilians were also maimed in Homs where security forces opened fire and carried out raids.
The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network spurring protests, meanwhile issued a statement accusing security forces of intensifying their crackdown on doctors who treat maimed demonstrators.
"Security forces recently intensified their campaign against doctors, hospitals and private clinics suspected of treating people maimed in pro-freedom rallies" without notifying security services, the LCC said.
Doctors are required to immediately notify security services of the arrival of a maimed person, regardless of the severity of his injuries, which invariably leads to the patient's arrest, it said.
The Violations Documenting Centre, a partner of the activist network, said 250 doctors and pharmacists have been tossed in the slammer since mid-March, 25 of them in the past few weeks.
The violence in Syria prompted Arab foreign ministers to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Ministers agreed to renew contact with the Syrian government and opposition groups to spur the launch of a national dialogue within 15 days.
Assad's regime blames "armed gangs" for the violence that has wracked Syria for the past seven months, but activists say most of the deaths are caused by security forces putting down non-violent protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
If his daddy was around, there wouldn't be a city of Homs.
[An Nahar] U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Monday urged Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... to immediately stop the killings of civilians and to accept an international probe on human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations.
"There are continuous killings of civilian people. These killings must stop immediately," said the U.N. chief in Bern.
"I told Assad, 'stop before it is too late'," said Ban, noting that thousands have perished in the regime's brutal crackdown on dissent.
"It is unacceptable that 3,000 people have been killed.
"U.N. is urging him again to take urgent action," he said.
The U.N. secretary-general also called on Assad to accept an international commission of inquiry into the violations.
The U.N. Human Rights Council had ordered in April a probe into the situation in Syria earlier this year, but Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... had blocked Sherlocks from entering the country.
During an emergency session in August, the council commissioned another probe.
At the end of September, the head of the investigation team said his team hoped to be allowed to visit Syria, although it had not yet been in contact with the Syrian authorities.
Concerning the exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, Ban said that Israel's plans to release 477 Paleostinian security prisoners in order to secure the freedom of captive soldier Gilad Shalit marked a positive step towards peace.
"The recent announcement of the exchange of prisoners is welcome, it is a positive movement for peace," Ban said in Bern.
The Paleostinians have been "suffering for six decades, they have not been able to enjoy genuine freedom or human rights."
"The U.N. has been working very hard, and fully supports the process" towards peace, added the U.N. secretary-general.
If the swap goes to plan, it would mark the first time in 26 years that a captured soldier has been returned to the Jewish state alive.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/18/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Somali pirates
l-Shabaab
A television station based in Syria that supports Muammar 
[Dawn] Militants ambushed Pak troops on Monday, killing nine soldiers in gunbattles that lasted several hours on the outskirts of 
[Dawn] Pakistain said on Monday that Afghan and US-led forces had failed to hunt down a Taliban 
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel Tuesday morning after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, apparently healthy but gaunt and frail-looking. His release by Hamas was part of a prisoner swap that ultimately will include the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. 477 prisoners were freed on Tuesday, after Shalit was returned to Israel.
Arab foreign ministers stopped short of suspending Syria from their regional organization on Sunday over its military crackdown on dissent, instead urging the government and opposition to negotiate an end to the violence.
President-for-Life Bashir 
President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
