Polly Walters aka Lola (manicurist) in "Smart Money (1931)" aka Peggy in "Blonde Crazy (1931)" aka Daisy in "Young Bride (1932)" aka Molly Lane in "Expensive Women (1931)" (Died in 1994 at age 81)
Suzanne Danielle aka Serving Girl in "Flash Gordon (1980)" aka Kim in "The Boys in Blue (1982)" aka Dahlia in "The Golden Lady (1979)" aka Emmannuelle Prevert in "Carry on Emmannuelle (1978)" aka Pilar in "California Cowboys (1984)" aka Maria in "The Trouble with Spies (1987)" (age 55)
[An Nahar] The Sudanese military on Saturday denied bombing civilians in an operation which rebels said left 16 villagers and five government troops dead near the South Sudanese frontier. "Nope, nope. Wudn't us. Musta been somebody else flew in and bombed 'em."
Four rebels were maimed and "less than three" killed in the fighting, "Less than three" works out to two, one, or zero, assuming we don't go into negative numbers. Surely he could be a bit more precise than that?
Mubarak Abdelrahman Ahmed, of the rebel youth wing in South Kordofan state, told Agence La Belle France Presse by satellite telephone.
Oil-producing South Kordofan remained under Khartoum's administration when South Sudan became independent in July, but fighting since June has pitted Nuba rebels, once allied to rebels in the South, against the Sudanese army.
The latest action began on January 7 with aerial bombing at Angola village that left nine civilians dead and 26 maimed, followed the next day by bombing around al-Buram that killed seven, Ahmed alleged.
The areas are about 30-40 kilometers north of the poorly-defined north-south border. Access to the region is restricted, making independent verification difficult.
Sawarmi Khaled Saad, the Sudanese army front man, denied any bombing occurred but said government troops had conducted a "wide operation" that expelled rebels from the area and reopened a road. "We don't have figures for dead or maimed" on either the government or rebel sides, he said.
The rebels' Ahmed said Sudanese troops moving from the state capital Kadugli captured the former garrison of Tess last Monday "but we retook it immediately."
As the troops moved east to al-Buram, the main battle occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
"We destroyed one complete convoy ... five big trucks carrying ammunition and guns", while four other trucks were captured and the bodies of five government soldiers left on the ground, Ahmed said.
A similar conflict is going on in nearby Blue Nile state.
The United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... says hundreds of thousands of people have become internally displaced or otherwise severely affected because of fighting in the two states.
Refugees fleeing to Ethiopia and South Sudan are reporting food shortages and rising levels of malnutrition, with "particularly alarming" signs coming from rebel-held areas, Valerie Amos, the U.N.'s top emergency aid official, said during a visit to Khartoum this month.
The government, citing security concerns, continues to bar U.N. and foreign aid workers from the warzone.
South Kordofan's governor, Ahmad Harun, is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan's Darfur region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Mali's army has deployed extra troops and military equipment to its largely-desert north where Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb operates, officials said Friday.
"The Malian army has deployed men, equipment and over 200 vehicles to the north," an administrative source said.
An Agence La Belle France Presse journalist saw two Mig fighter aircraft already stationed at the airport in Gao, a town in northern Mali, while two smaller planes carried out reconnaissance flights from Timbuktu.
"Today our men are in Tinzawaten (near the Algerian border) to secure our country," a Malian officer based in Gao said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the press.
She said Tuareg rebels recently returned from fighting in Libya who had settled near the town had decamped upon the arrival of the armed forces.
On Thursday, AQIM threatened to kill five Westerners kidnapped in Mali in late November if there were efforts to rescue them.
"We send a warning to La Belle France, Britannia, the Netherlands and Sweden: if they authorize this operation it will mean the death of their nationals and amount to an attempt on their lives," AQIM said in a statement in Arabic.
"According to information we have received, the alliance of crusaders led by La Belle France, which supports certain regimes like those of Algeria and Mauritania, is preparing an imminent military operation to free their hostages."
The statement was emailed to AFP in Rabat and carried by the ANI news agency in Mauritania which has published several AQIM statements in the past. These have never been disclaimed.
Thursday's warning came three weeks after Mali and Algeria agreed to boost military cooperation in the fight against AQIM, and diplomatic and military sources in Bamako say Algerian soldiers are in the north for support.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Gunmen have attacked two pubs in northeastern Nigeria, killing four people amid a wave of such violence blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... , residents and police said Saturday.
The attacks occurred in two neighboring states on Friday night and involved gunnies riding on cycle of violences storming in on the drinking spots.
"Unknown gunnies attacked a beer parlour at BCJ (a district) and killed two persons," Gombe state police front man Ahmed Mohammed said on the phone.
Umar Dukku, a resident in the area said two gunnies stormed into the bar and fired indiscriminately. One person was maimed in the attack.
"They just fired into the beer parlour and zoomed off on the cycle of violence they parked outside," Dukku said.
In nearby Adamawa state two gunnies arrived on a cycle of violence and opened fire on an open-air pub in the Dandu area in the state capital Yola late Friday, also wounding a policeman while fleeing.
"We took two dead bodies of the victims to the hospital last night," local community leader Tijjani Tukur said. "The gunnies arrived in the area and opened fire on people drinking at the open air tavern."
Adamawa state police spokeswoman Altine Daniel confirmed the attack but said only a policeman was injured.
"There was an attack on an outdoor beer joint by some gunnies last night in which a policeman was shot in the leg and is being treated in hospital," Daniel said.
Adamawa has been hit by a series of such attacks in recent days, with much of the violence blamed on the radical Islamist Boko Haram.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the state holds governorship elections on January 2l, with campaign periods often provoking violence in Nigeria.
Yola was also targeted last week when gunnies opened fire on worshippers at a church, killing at least eight people. On Wednesday, gunnies attacked a cop shoppe in the city, leaving one officer dead.
Also last week, gunnies opened fire on Christian Igbos at a house in the town of Mubi in Adamawa as they mourned the death of a friend killed in a shooting the night before, leaving 17 dead.
Adamawa was also hit by an attack late Thursday on a Moslem village by a suspected Christian mob from a nearby community which left two dead and several homes and mosques burnt.
A curfew has been declared in Yola and other trouble spots.
Spiraling violence in Nigeria, most of it blamed on Boko Haram, has sparked fears of a wider conflict in a country roughly divided between a mainly Moslem north and predominately Christian south.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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Dozens of al Qaeda terrorists militants have taken a small town about 105 miles southeast of Sanaa, witnesses said on Sunday. They said the terrorists militants entered the town of Radda in al-Baydah province on Saturday night without much resistance from a small contingent of police and seized an ancient citadel and mosque.
The capture of Radda expands terrorist militant control outside of the province of Abyan, where they have taken over several towns since an uprising against the Saleh regime began early last year that culminated with a power transfer deal in November.
Residents in Radda, with a population of 60,000, said the group was led by Tareq al-Dahab, a suspected terrorist militant who had been handed over by Syria to Yemen recently while trying to sneak into Iraq. Dahab is the brother-in-law of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric linked to al Qaeda who was killed in an air strike last year.
Yahia Abu Usba, deputy head of the Yemeni Socialist Party, said that the security forces appeared to have done very little to stop the terrorists militants from entering the town and warned that al Qaeda wanted to strike at the oil-rich Maarib Province next, bringing it closer to Sanaa.
[Iran Press TV] As the United States continues its threats of war against Iran, its Department of Defense has recently dispatched some 15,000 troops to neighboring Kuwait.
Late last year, Marine General James Mattis quietly won the White House's approval for the deployment into the small nation which is separated from Iran by a narrow stretch of the Persian Gulf.
Mattis says the deployment aims to keep Iran in check and keep the US prepared for threats in the region.
The latest deployment adds to the strong presence of US-led troops in the region in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Although weeks have passed since the US vacated its troops from Iraq, it still has advanced presence in the area through its embassy in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , where thousands of armed military contractors are still being employed.
Also late last year, the US equipped neighboring United Emirates with advanced weaponry aimed at disrupting underground nuclear activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Dployed from where? Are these the troops withdrawn from Iraq last month?
[An Nahar] Kuwaiti riot police on Saturday used tear gas and batons to disperse hundreds of stateless demonstrators for the second day in a row and tossed in the slammer dozens, witnesses and a rights group said.
A day after riot police beat stateless protesters demanding citizenship in Jahra, northwest of Kuwait City, demonstrations expanded on Saturday to include Sulaibiya, west of the capital.
The independent Kuwait Association of Human Rights said three of its members monitoring the protests were tossed in the slammer but one of them was later released.
Riot police chased demonstrators and tossed in the slammer dozens of them in the two towns where most of the 105,000 stateless, locally known as bidoons, live, witnesses said.
The demonstrators gathered in the afternoon to protest the excessive and unnecessary use of force used by police against the demonstrators on Friday, bidoon activists said on social networking website Twitter.
Several protesters were maimed and as many as 50 tossed in the slammer in Friday's police crackdown. The interior ministry said 21 coppers were maimed in the festivities, five of whom were hospitalized.
Some local media claimed their journalists and cameramen were beaten by police on Saturday.
The leftist Progressive Movement condemned in a statement what it called the "unjustified use of force" against bidoon protesters and called for a peaceful solution to their decades-old problem.
Kuwait's interior ministry issued three statements earlier this week warning bidoons not to protest or face punishment.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... urged Kuwait on Friday to scrap the decision banning stateless people from demonstrating.
"This is a shameful effort to curb the rights to peaceful expression and assembly of Kuwait's bidoons," Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East director, said in a statement.
Kuwait has long alleged that bidoons, and in some cases their ancestors, destroyed their original passports to claim the right to citizenship in order to gain access to the services and generous benefits provided by the state.
In a bid to force the bidoons to produce their original nationality papers, Kuwait has refused to issue essential documents to most of them, including birth, marriage and death certificates, according to a June HRW report.
Fifty-two bidoons are on trial for protesting and another 32 are under investigation.
The government says only 34,000 of bidoons qualify for citizenship.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Turkish security forces have tossed in the calaboose 30 members of the Kurdish Communities Union in large-scale operations in 17 provinces across the country, Press TV reports.
Seven members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were among the people jugged in the operations, which were conducted on Friday.
The nationwide operations against the Kurdish Communities Union, which is a Kurdish umbrella movement, have triggered a controversy, with some Turkish activists saying that such actions will constrict the space for free political activity in the country.
The BDP says that the home of one of its members, MP Leyla Zana, has also been raided and the police have seized her documents and computers.
"The home does not officially belong to Leyla Zana, and when we were informed that the police were going to raid the home, we came here and told them that this is where she resides, but they still entered the home and searched it, even though they knew that it was a politician's home," senior BDP member Pervin Buldan said.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Turkish officials said the home belongs to another person, who is suspected of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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TAMPA, Florida: The Kosovo-born American citizen accused of plotting bomb attacks around Tampa was a loner who had grown increasingly radical in his Muslim faith and publicly railed against Jews and Christians in videos he posted on the Internet, according to relatives and friends.
Sami Osmakacs life in the US began about a dozen years ago, when he was 13 and his family immigrated to the US, according to a video he posted on YouTube. Those who know Osmakac said he mostly kept to himself in high school who loved rap music and rapped about bombs and killing in a song he made with a friend. As he grew older, they said, he grew increasingly confrontational: One Tampa-area activist said Osmakac physically threatened him, and Osmakac was jailed on charges that he head-butted a Christian preacher as the two argued over religion outside a Lady Gaga concert.
Osmakac, 25, is now jailed on a federal charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and could face life in prison if convicted. US authorities say he planned to use a car bomb, assault rifle and other explosives in an Islamist-inspired attack on various locations around Tampa, including a sheriffs office.
His family in Florida has said the charges are untrue.
He was just .. troubled. Yeah, that's it, troubled...
Family members told the AP that Osmakac was born in the village of Lubizde in Kosovo, a tiny hamlet of scattered houses near the Cursed Mountains, a row of snowcapped peaks that divide Kosovo from Albania. The area is home to many adherents to Sufism. The Osmakacs are followers of a Sufi sect that has its own shrine just outside the village. Kosovos tiny Roman Catholic minority also resides in the area, as the village next to Lubizde, Dedaj, is comprised entirely of Roman Catholic ethnic Albanians.
Osmakac spent his early years in a home shared among his father and two uncles, but difficult living conditions and simmering ethnic intolerance sent the family searching for prosperity elsewhere. Osmakacs family, like many who fled, brought their traditional trade of baking to what are now Croatia and Bosnia, where many of his relatives have remained after Yugoslavias break-up after a series of ethnic wars in the 1990s. Osmakacs immediate family was in Bosnia during the bloodiest of all those wars, which left more than 100,000 dead, and eventually fled to Germany and then the US.
As a child, Osmakac was a quiet and fun boy, said his aunt Time Osmankaj. She said his family regularly sent money home to relatives trying to eke out a living as the wars left those who remained extremely poor.
Osmankaj said the family returned to Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, for visits during the summer months. But in recent years they noticed a change in Sami, who grew a beard, donned religious garments, and was frequently accompanied by two devout Muslims from Albania and two from Bosnia. He also began to shun his relatives during his trips to Kosovo.
The relatives didn't do anything about the obvious warning signs, of course...
His aunt said she learned of his last visit in October 2011 through neighbors and that she did not meet with him. Authorities in Kosovo have said he used those visits to meet with Islamic radicals there.
Islam came to Kosovo with the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the 15th century, but it had not grown political until more recently. For instance, hundreds of Muslims have taken to the streets to protest a ban imposed by Kosovo authorities on wearing headscarves in schools. Protesters also have demanded that new mosques be built to accommodate a growing number of faithful after a Roman Catholic cathedral was built last year in the center of the capital, Pristina.
Avni Osmakac told WTVT-TV in Tampa that his brother had tried to travel to Saudi Arabia last year so he could study Islam, but that he had problems with his visa and never got farther than Turkey. Sami Osmakac wanted to become an imam and teach Islam in the Middle East, his brother said.
Osmakacs family had settled in Pinellas Park, Florida, where his father opened a bakery and bought a home. There, Osmakac attended at least two high schools and was mostly a loner, classmate Alan Stokling wrote in an e-mail to the AP.
We were just the ghosts at Lakewood High School, he wrote. He was one of those government rebel types. ... All of our conversations consisted of him talking about how stupid everybody at the school was. Not just the students, but the teachers, the people who financed institutions like it.
Stokling said the two did have something in common: a love of rap music. Stokling said Osmakac had a friend with a studio setup in his room and asked Stokling if he wanted to make a song together. Osmakac recorded his part he was alone while recording and Stokling recorded his section.
The next day, Osmakac gave Stokling the CD. Samis part came on and he was talking about murder and bombing and stuff, Stokling recalled. I wasnt surprised by that. It wasnt anything different from regular hip-hop songs.
What was different was the songs ending: Stokling said Osmakac rapped about killing Jews.
The weirdest ad libs Id ever heard, Stokling said. They were so beyond the realm of what was accepted back then as far as what was a consistency in the realm of a rap song that it was comical.
The two discussed religion only once, when Osmakac asked about Stoklings religion. When Stokling said he was a Christian, Osmakac got kind of quiet then started laughing to himself under his breath in a smug fashion. In his own mind he seemed to be an elitist. Thats the vibe I got from him.
Osmakacs run-in with the preacher outside the Lady Gaga concert in April 2011 was far less subtle. According to police accounts of the fight, which the preacher recorded on video, Osmakac said, thumping his heart with his fist for emphasis: My message is, if you all dont accept Islam, youre going to hell.
At the mosque where Osmakac began worshipping in 2010, he mostly kept to himself. However, he occasionally had run-ins with other area Muslims. At the mosque, he and another man were cited for trespassing in November of that year after a heated discussion with Ahmed Batrawy, vice president of the Islamic Society of Pinellas County.
In another instance, he accused the Council on American-Islamic Relations of being an infidel organization, said Hassan Shibly, executive director of the councils Tampa office.
First time that's ever happened...
And Ahmed Bedier, a Muslim community activist and radio host, said Osmakac had threatened him because Bediers organization encourages minorities to get involved in politics.
He thought I was taking people out of the faith, Bedier said. On at least one time, he got very close as if he was going to hit me, and someone held him back.
Bedier reported Osmakacs behavior to authorities more than a year and a half ago. However, he said Osmakacs hatred was so overt that many people suspected he may have been a government informant.
#2
Actually, mug shots have long been used by police to make those they arrest look criminal. It helps to persuade others that they are criminal, and it reinforces the cops own opinion that they did right by arresting them. Ugly==criminal.
A great example of this is when they arrest an attractive woman they accuse of being a prostitute. If she is wearing an attractive blouse, she is made to remove it and wear prisoner's garb.
Then she must wash her face in cold water and harsh soap in a low sink, "to remove any makeup", even if she isn't wearing any, with a rough towel to dry her face, which causes flushing. Then an officer ruffles up her hair, "looking for contraband", and she is not allowed to brush it back into place.
Then she is put in front of a gray or gray block wall, under florescent lighting, that makes anyone look bad. If she is distraught, which is common, red eyes help make her look uglier.
Importantly, if this is pointed out, police strongly deny it, using "security" as the reason; but this is just an excuse, because they do not do this to all prisoners, just those they want to morally justify.
NEW BERN, North Carolina: Three members of a homegrown terror ring who conspired to attack the Quantico US Marine Corps base and foreign targets were sentenced Friday to between 15 and 45 years in federal prison.
Their names, you'll be surprised to read, are not 'Nate', 'Ned' and 'Norman', but rather...
Hysen Sherifi, 27, will serve 45 years in prison; Ziyad Yaghi, 23, got nearly 32 years; and Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 24, was sentenced to 15 years. They faced the possibility of life in prison. Each said they would appeal their convictions and claimed innocence.
Dozens of members of Raleighs Muslim community made the five-hour round-trip to coastal New Bern to witness the hearing for the men whom supporters believe were unjustly convicted.
Yeah yeah, they were railroaded, all just because they were discussing how to murder infidels rather than being caught in the act...
Defense attorneys argued for lesser sentences since the men were convicted of discussing terrorism rather than committing terrorist acts.
I believe I am innocent. There was no conspiracy, said Serifi, who called his guilty verdict unfair and prosecutors tyrants.
But US District Judge Louise Flanagan said the men went beyond talk to planning violence.
Yaghi was a self-starter in pursuing holy war against those deemed un-Islamic and brought several potential jihadi recruits to ringleader Daniel Patrick Boyd, whose rural Johnston County home was a warehouse of weapons, Flanagan said. Yaghi traveled to Jordan and Israel to look for avenues to join other militants and to scout targets for an attack.
Sherifi discussed an attack on the Quantico, Virginia, Marine Corps base with Boyd, a Muslim convert who had lived on the base as a child with his Marine officer father.
Hassan used his Facebook account and Internet forums to post his own comments and videos by others encouraging Muslims to fight nonbelievers and Muslims who did not agree with their desire to establish mandatory religious law, prosecutors said. Hassan also attempted to contact Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim preacher and Al-Qaeda propagandist, and e-mailed a co-conspirator a copy of Al-Awlakis tract 44 ways to support Jihad, Flanagan said.
I'll bet that set off an alarm at the NSA...
You willingly became part of the Internet propaganda machine that is a canker on this world, Flanagan said. You were prey, and a component, of something that was incredibly harmful and destructive.
The trio is among eight men who federal investigators say raised money, stockpiled weapons and trained in preparation for jihadist attacks. The plot had a specific purpose to inspire others to adhere to radical Islam and if you did not you were fair game, prosecutor Jason Kellhofer said.
Hassan called his actions stupid, but not a crime.
I did post some highly inflammatory things on the Internet, but I am no terrorist, he said. He rejected Flanigans sentence, and his father, Aly Hassan, accused the judge and prosecutors of targeting Muslims.
Only the ones who plan to murder Americans...
Youre prosecuting Islam. The judge should be sitting here with the government, Aly Hassan said, pointing to the prosecutors.
Yaghi was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism and conspiracy to carry out attacks overseas. Sherifi was convicted of both crimes, two counts of firearms possession, and conspiracy to kill federal officers or employees for plotting the Quantico attack. Hassan was convicted of providing material support to terrorists, but acquitted of a charge of conspiracy to carry out attacks overseas.
Boyd pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges in February and has yet to be sentenced. Two of his sons pleaded guilty to similar charges and were sentenced to eight years and nine years in prison.
Another defendant, Anes Subasic, is set to be tried separately, while an eighth indicted man is at large and believed to be in Pakistan.
We'll warm up a drone for him...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
15 years will pass in an instant.
What are we going to do when this generation of post-9/11 terrorists matriculate from prison after years of palling around with other hardcore Muslims in the prison system?
I don't think they'll be "reformed"...
Posted by: American Delight ||
01/15/2012 8:21 Comments ||
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#2
if they're naturalized, revoke their citizenship and deport their asses
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 9:29 Comments ||
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#3
Yep. So they can meet with Steve's warmed-up drone. Ah, the cycle of life.
This is the second report posted. Nonetheless, the 48 Hour Rule Holds, so no ululating or fat ladies singing just yet. After all, such people have died before, only to be found wandering the landscape just in time to be killed a second or third time.
But we'll keep the Accordion Lady on stage...
Leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, may have been killed in a US drone attack, Pakistani media reported.
Pakistani TV channel, Geo News reported that Hakimullah Mehsud has died in a US drone attack on January 12.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said that they have intercepted radio communications of Pakistani Taliban discussing if their leader had died in a US attack on January 12. The death may have occurred in North Waziristan.
In the intercepted communications some Taliban militants have confirmed the death and some have criticised them for talking about it on the radio. Pakistani Taliban have denied reports about Mesud's death, according to Geo TV.
#6
I'd like to play "Deuling Accordians" with the accordian lady.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/15/2012 17:03 Comments ||
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#7
I don't mean to be a negative Nancy, but aren't there many more Mehsuds to take his place?
And even more Mehsudullahs, RandomJD. But generally not as well trained as the first generation, or with the Rolodex and personal followers. In Iraq we got inside their training cycle, so the new Number Three was less capable of organizing, managing, and training those below until the organization collapsed. I think it was Newsweek that had an article recently about empty Taliban training camps, with so many dead that the rest were afraid to continue. It was sometime last year or the year before that Strategy Page wrote about how many jihadis we've killed in Iraq and Af-Pak, and it was in the tens of thousands in each arena -- not much in terms of total population, but significant relative to trained cadres. I'm sorry I can't give the links, but I somehow misplaced them.
Pakistani intelligence officials say they have intercepted militant radio communications indicating the Pakistani Taliban's leader may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan.
Fat lady warming up...
The officials said Thursday they overheard Taliban militants in around a half a dozen intercepts discussing whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio. "shut up, man! Ixnay on the eaderday!"
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group's leader was killed and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred "he wasn't there. He was....on vacation"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 09:56 ||
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#1
who gets the Pie Hat of Doom if he's toast?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 13:42 Comments ||
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#2
Update
The Taliban has gone all poetic: The Pakistani Taliban said Hakimullah was still alive, but their denial was far less assertive than one issued in 2010 after media reports said he had been killed in a drone strike.
"There is no truth in reports about his death. However, he is a human being and can die any time. He is a holy warrior and we will wish him martyrdom," TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said.
"We will continue jihad if Hakimullah is alive or dead. There are so many lions in this jungle and one lion will replace another one to continue this noble mission."
A blast struck a Shiite Muslim religious procession on Sunday killing 13 people and injuring 20 others in central Pakistan. The bombing in Rahim Yar Khan district, in Punjab province, came as Shiites were marking the 40th day of mourning the death of Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussain.
Suhail Zafar, a senior police official, said, "Thirteen people have been killed and 20 more injured."
Police were do not yet know what caused the blast. Zafar said that police experts had collected some evidence to show it could be a bomb. He added, "We are examining those evidences."
Abid Qadri, another senior police official in Rahim Yar Khan, said: "It was not an act of terrorism. A long flag in the procession struck the high transmission power wire and caused the explosion in the transformer."
If this turns out to be the case, the article can be moved to the non-WoT page. Until then ...
[Dawn] The Crime Investigation Department (CID) police on Saturday said they had jugged the suspected criminal mastermind of a string of terrorist attacks in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported.
According to Additional IG CID Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh, Mohammad Daud, the suspected criminal mastermind behind the Sea View kaboom and the attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine, was jugged in possession of 50 kilograms of kaboom.
The suspect has revealed the names of three foreigners involved in the Sea View blast, including a woman who was killed in the blast, said Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh.
According to suspect, a Chechen couple, Abu Saleh and an Azerbaijani national were brought to Bloody Karachi from Quetta with a purpose to attack Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine.
One of their boom jackets blew off at Sea View, killing all three suicide kaboomer along with their local aids Shoaib and Atiq Swati.
The jugged suspect also brought two jacket wallahs Badshah Khan and Abdullah from North Wazoo who attacked the Ghazi Shrine on October 7, 2010.
Earlier, CID jugged another two suspected gunnies of banned but still somehow murderously active Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) from Shah Latif Town.
According to CID official Mazhar Mishwani, suspects were sent to target SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam. Five rockets, two 222-rifles and 55 bullets were recovered from the suspects, said Mishwani.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane are going to be pissed.
[Dawn] At least six people, including two coppers, were killed as armed bully boyz dressed in police uniforms attacked the DPO's office in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... on Saturday.
According to police, bully boyz attacked the cop shoppe using hand grenades and rockets. An exchange of fire was reported between security personnel and the attackers.
Authorities had summoned army and paramilitary troops for the operation, which was being supervised from the army headquarters (GHQ).
All the attackers were killed, said police officials, while one was locked away by security personnel. DOES NOT COMPUTE... LOGIC OVERLOAD... IF ALL WERE KILLED WHY WAS ONE JUGGED?... WAS HE INCARCERATED WHEN HE WAS DEAD?... OR DID HE PEG OUT AFTER INCARCERATION?... MENTAL PROCESSING SYSTEM GOING DOWN FOR REBOOT...
Two of the attackers were reported to have blown themselves up by detonating their suicide jackets, they said. But were pieces of them then incarcerated? Or were they in jug when they blew?... I'm so confused...
The attackers targeted the main cop shoppe in Dera Ismail Khan city, provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.
About half a dozen bully boyz had stormed the station located in a sensitive area housing government offices, district courts and lawyers' offices.
They hurled hand grenades and opened fire on the office of district police chief, he said. Then they were banged and maybe incarcerated...
The neighbouring offices were also evacuated by security forces for the operation. "Everybody out! Quick! Into the jail!"
"What'd we do? What'd we do?... Hey! That guy in the cell just blew up!"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A paramilitary soldier was maimed in exchange of fire with faceless myrmidons in Tank on Thursday night.
Officials said that myrmidons attacked Garni Sheikh Fort with rockets and heavy machine guns injuring a Frontier Constabulary soldier identified as Haji Mohammad. The security forces retaliated and forced the attackers to flee.
The area was cordoned off on Friday morning and paramilitary forces conducted a searchoperanon.One suspected person was locked away and weapons were also recovered.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... body of a schoolteacher, Naimatullah, was recovered here on Friday.
The body had been thrown near a fort. The dear departed was teaching in a government-run school.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A cycle of violence dealer was rubbed out and his associate maimed in what appeared to be an act of assassination in a New Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... locality, police said on Friday.
They said that the attack took place late on Thursday night near UP Mor within the remit of the New Bloody Karachicop shoppe.
Assailants riding a cycle of violence intercepted a car near UP Mor in North Bloody Karachi`s Sector 11 and opened indiscriminate fire, the police said, adding that 50-year-old Syed Mushtaq Hussain Zaidi, who was driving back home in Federal B Area along with friend Kamran Karim, sustained multiple bullet wounds and was struck down in his prime.
The assailants managed to escape.
They said that Mr Karim also sustained bullet wounds and was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment.
A duty officer at the New Bloody Karachicop shoppe said that victim Zaidi was a resident of Federal B Area`s Block 12 and owned a motorbike showroom in North Bloody Karachi. He was father of two.
He said that both friends were said to be sympathisers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... Initial investigations suggested that the killing might have a sectarian motive. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... police said they were investigating the case without ignoring the possibility of a personal or business enmity.
Later, the funeral prayer for the victim was offered at the Shuhdah-i-Karbala Imambargah in Ancholi.
Enraged people staged a protest demonstration against the killing and blocked main roads.
All major markets were shut due to the uncertain condition obtaining in the neighbourhood. The victim was laid to rest in the Wadi-eHussain graveyard.
Till late in the night, no case was registered at the New Bloody Karachicop shoppe regarding the targeted attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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Gunmen wearing explosive belts stormed an anti-terrorism police building in Ramadi on Sunday after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside. At least five people were killed and six more injured in the suicide bomber's blast. The number of possible hostages inside is unclear, a police official at the scene said.
The building, which also holds several al Qaeda suspects in a jail, has been cordoned off.
The police official said, "Police and army are surrounding the building. There is no exchange of fire, but the security forces are studying storming the building and saving the hostages."
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq : Security sources said here that the result of the suicide bomber reached today to 64 killings and 137 wounded, most of them were women and children.
The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the explosion was targeted against the pilgrims who were visiting Al-Khatwa mosque, 18 km west of Basra. The pilgrims in Basra are divided into two groups, the first head for Kerbela, but the weaker ones walk to this mosque.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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"It is the policy of the Israeli government, and the Obama administration, that all options remain on the table. And it is crucial that the ayatollahs in Tehran take this policy seriously," said Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the U.S. heh.....
#4
Very Strange indeed,
unless this is some sort of scam to confuse the Iranians, this might be the final straw that will push us to go at it alone.
I wish there was some way to impeach Obama before the damage is irreperable.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
01/15/2012 12:30 Comments ||
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#5
Watch the hands and not the mouth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2012 12:30 Comments ||
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#6
I dunno, grom. Publicly claiming that we've been sending private warnings has the benefit that Iran doesn't have anything solid against us to justify closing the straits. Which lets "X" get in a few more licks, maybe?
Of course this is Ø, so you may be right.
Posted by: James ||
01/15/2012 12:32 Comments ||
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#7
AP normally I would agree but this is an anti-American President. He may actually be complicating the American and Israeli problem on purpose.
#8
remember: Hillary and Susan Rice are not Israel or Joooo lovers by any means
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 13:40 Comments ||
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#9
I dunno, grom. Publicly claiming that we've been sending private warnings has the benefit that Iran doesn't have anything solid against us to justify closing the straits.
(a) Iran doesn't need anything solid.
(b) The "crazy" I referred to was the idea that Israel should ignore existential threat because of potential danger to US personnel in Iraq---danger that's all Bambi's doing, anyway.
#10
ION WAFF > IRAN WARNS OF CRUSHING RESPONSE, as punishment for alleged US-Israeli killings of Roshan + other Iranian nuke scientists.
Perhaps more importantly, ARTIC = Iran hints at activation of any + all "Potentials" that may be useful to carry out Iran's punishment, i.e. TERROR GROUPS FOR TERRSTRIKES AGZ CONUS, ISRAEL???
Philippine authorities have expanded Thursday their search for kidnapped Australian man Warren Rodwell in the Muslim provinces of Basilan and Sulu. Police have received reports that Rodwell, 53, was taken back to Basilan province after failing to merge with another Abu Sayyaf faction under terrorist leader Radulan Sahiron in Sulu.
Sahiron is reported to be ill and did not want to take Rodwell into his custody in the province where security forces are also battling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.
Basilan's police chief said the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers led by Radzmier Alih returned to the province late on Tuesday on a speedboat and landed in Sumisip town. Alih is a sub-leader of the notorious terrorist commander Puruji Indama.
Senior Superintendent Alexis Lineses said, "On January 10, Australian kidnapped victim Rodwell and his captors, Abu Sayyaf's Radzmier Alih, of Basilan and some few men left the coastal line of Sitio Bual Nagka in the village of Lumapid in Talipao town in Sulu aboard a jungkong fast motorboat, believed to be heading back to Sumisip in Basilan,"
"The reason for the transfer were the pressure from the police and military operations and the leaked of information of their presence in Sulu, as well as the unpreparedness of Radulan Sahiron to receive Rodwell in Patikul. We are evaluating these reports."
The military has received similar reports, and has ordered security forces to step up its intelligence and operations against Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and Basilan. Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said, "We are intensifying our operations -- both on the grounds and information gathering -- and we are now concentrating our efforts to locate Warren Rodwell."
Military authorities also distributed to soldiers photo copies of a picture of Indama, who is said to be holding Rodwell in Basilan.
Abu Sayyaf militants are also holding a kidnapped Japanese man, an Indian national and two Malaysians and several Filipinos in the Sulu Archipelago.
Philippine authorities have admitted the presence of Jemaah Islamiya terrorists in Sulu province. Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, military chief in Western Mindanao, said they have identified 5 Jemaah Islamiya members who are being protected by the Abu Sayyaf.
He said the terrorists -- Qayim, Mauiya, Marwan, Saad and Amin Baco -- are being tracked down by security forces. Mauiya was one of the terrorists who held three members of the International Committee of the Red Cross -- Italian Eugenio Vagni, Swiss Andreas Notter and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba who were kidnapped in 2009. The trio was freed after private negotiators allegedly paid a huge ransom to the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.
Three soldiers were injured in a bomb blast while on foot patrol near a village in Yala province.
As they were heading down a local road, an unknown number of terrorists militants hiding nearby detonated the improvised bomb with a mobile phone. The explosion wounded M-Sgt Star Suebsuan, the team leader, Pvt Manoch Phanthieng and Pvt Rattanachai Chuchaiharn and damaged two pick-up trucks parked on the road.
"Following concern raised by the Israeli embassy about a possible attack by a group of Lebanese Islamic fascistiin Bangkok, Thai police officials had been coordinating with Israeli officials since before the New Year."
Defense Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha said Thai and US intelligence officials were monitoring the movements of other individuals and were stepping up precautions in areas deemed to be at risk such as tourist sites and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport.
A defense ministry source said Israeli intelligence had contacted Thai officials on Dec. 22 with information that two or three suspects could be planning an attack in Thailand. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... the individuals traveled to the south and left the country.
The Israelis alerted Thai officials again on Jan. 8 of the danger of an attack around Jan. 13 to 15 in areas where there are often large concentrations of Western tourists, such as the Khao San Road, which is popular with young backpackers.
Defense Minister Yuthasak said the Israeli embassy and synagogues could also be targeted and that the attacks could come in the form of car booms.
The suspect jugged in Bangkok on suspicion of planning to blow up Israeli targets in Thailand has been identified as 47-year-old Hussein Atris, an Lebanese man holding a Swedish passport
An examination of the passport, which was obtained by Ynet,
Image of the passport can be seen at the link -- no doubt of interest to some Rantburg readers...
revealed that Atris was born in southern Leb and married a Swedish woman in 1996. The marriage made him eligible for a Swedish passport, which he allegedly exploited for the benefit of Hezbullies's terrorism apparatus.
According to reports by Swedish media, Atris previously owned a hair saloon in Gothenburg, before returning to Leb more than 10 years ago. Moreover, one of his relatives, Germany resident Muhammad Atris, was involved in the past in the Iranian liquidation of four Kurdish opposition figures in 1992.
There are few true secrets nowadays, between a voracious press and the Internet.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed this guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... Thai police were looking for Atris' accomplice, who is believed to be in his 30s or 40s. Police in Bangkok published the suspect's composite portrait, which bears great resemblance to Hezbullies operative Naim Haris. The latter's photo was unusually published last year, by the Shin Bet, which at the time identified him as an operative in charge of recruiting Hezbullies agents worldwide..
NYTimes piece
The failure of an Arab League mission..., an international community with little leverage...a government as defiant as its opposition is in disarray...
The opposition speaks...about a civil war that some argue has already begun...some soldiers have defected from the military, the more essential security forces..have remained cohesive...[thus] his [Assad's] fall is not imminent or even likely. Although innocent people are being killed this slow-mo civl war has the advantage of draining Hezballah, Russian and Iranian resources so maybe the Obama Admin's weakness isn't such a bad thing.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/15/2012 15:42 ||
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#3
when they keep protesting in the face of army/security forces fire it's a short time til the regime falls.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 17:02 Comments ||
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#4
when they keep protesting in the face of army/security forces fire it's a short time til the regime falls.
This is true only if the security forces identify with the protestors. If the troops are predominantly non-Sunni and the protestors are mainly Sunni, then it's only a matter of time until the Hama massacre is re-enacted in cities across Syria.
#5
the Alawites are a minority. It's going to become a war where the security forces flee with their families soon to avoid the consequences
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 18:16 Comments ||
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#6
the Alawites are a minority. It's going to become a war where the security forces flee with their families soon to avoid the consequences
Actually, non-Sunnis are a 25% minority, compared to Iraq's 16% Sunni Arab population, which ruled for roughly a century, suppressing both Kurds and Shiites, before our blood and treasure earned for the Shiites dominance over the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds. Short of Western intervention, the Alawites will continue running Syria for a while, whether or not Assad remains the leader. The Alawites will attempt to maintain solidarity with Sunni Arabs by insinuating that foreigners (whether Arabs, Americans or Jews) are responsible for the protests, but the bottom line is that they will fight to the death because they can't just leave* - someone has to take them...
* This is what the disgruntled folks who are always promising to leave the country, if some presidential candidate gets elected, keep forgetting. You don't just leave. Some country has to take you in. And if you go there anyway, capture means deportation to your home country. The Jews who fled the Nazis, had no way of realistically fighting the Nazis, and therefore couldn't really rue their choices when they were deported back to Nazi-occupied Europe for extermination - they had done all that was humanly possible. The Alawites are holding the guns - they'd be nuts to leave as refugees and risk being discovered abroad and deported back to certain death in Syria.
#7
dream world, Robert. The Alawites will (rightly so) expect a sectarian cleansing
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2012 19:35 Comments ||
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#8
dream world, Robert. The Alawites will (rightly so) expect a sectarian cleansing
Time will tell. For a time, Hafiz Assad looked like he was tottering under an Ikhwan onslaught of assassinations and bombings. Then he carried out the Hama operation, and that was the end of the Ikhwan, for almost three decades. Never underestimate the power of the state, in the hands of a ruthless despot, against mere insurgents.
Note that Iraqi Sunnis carry out bombings at will against the ruling Shiites, whereas Syrian Sunnis are practically powerless against the ruling Alawites. This is yet another reason that the real countdown isn't the one towards the collapse of the Syrian regime, but the one towards a series of climactic massacres that will once again restore the calm that endured for decades after the destruction of the Ikhwan at Hama.
[An Nahar] A Russian ship suspected of carrying munitions for 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... arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on "January 11 or 12," shipping expert Mikhail Voitenko told Agence La Belle France Presse Saturday.
"The ship Chariot arrived at Tartus on January 11 or 12," said Voitenko, basing his conclusions on an examination of data from the vessel's automatic identification system (AIS) transponder.
"After leaving Limassol, the ship set sail for Tartus. After travelling two-thirds of the way, the team unplugged the AIS transponder," he added.
He believed that the vessel has docked at the Syrian port, he said. It was Voitenko who in 2009 revealed the mysterious disappearance of an Arctic Sea ship, an incident that sparked international concern.
A source from the ship's operator Westberg told AFP Friday that the ship transporting "dangerous" cargo was bound for Syria.
According to Russian media, the vessel may be transporting up to 60 tons of ammunition supplied by Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport through freight company Balchart.
The Chariot stopped over in Cyprus for refueling and was allowed to set sail from the port of Limassol after its Russian owners agreed to change the destination to Turkey rather than Syria. But the crew decided to revert to its original itinerary after leaving the Cypriot port, according to a Westberg source. No one saw that coming?
Westberg Ltd, which is headquartered in St Petersburg, could not be reached by AFP Saturday.
The United States on Friday raised concerns with Russia and Cyprus over the ship.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
The rebels really need to convey the strong message to Russia, that "You stop supporting Assad, or after we're in power, no Russian will ever set foot in Syria again!"
"If you stay neutral, we'll think about leasing you a Mediterranean port. But if you keep this crap up, you can forget it."
[An Nahar] 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... is to reassess the work of its heavily criticized observer mission in Syria at a meeting later this month, the organization's chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Saturday.
"There is an overall reassessment of the work of the observer mission which we will discuss at the next ministerial meeting to be held in Cairo on Saturday, January 21," Arabi told Agence La Belle France Presse during a visit to Oman.
"There has been partial progress until now but there is daily bloodshed in Syria that the League aims to end," he added.
Arabi said he met with the Omani minister responsible for foreign affairs, Yussef bin Alawi, on efforts to achieve a political settlement in Syria and protect its citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2012 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.
International Criminal Court
[An Nahar] Gunmen have attacked two pubs in northeastern Nigeria, killing four people amid a wave of such violence blamed on Islamist group 
cycle of violence
TAMPA, Florida: The Kosovo-born American citizen accused of plotting bomb attacks around Tampa was a loner who had grown increasingly radical in his Muslim faith and publicly railed against Jews and Christians in videos he posted on the Internet, according to relatives and friends.
Pakistani intelligence officials say they have intercepted militant radio communications indicating the Pakistani Taliban's leader may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan.
According to Additional IG CID Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh, Mohammad Daud, the suspected 
[Dawn] At least six people, including two 
[Dawn] A paramilitary soldier was 
A 
Gunmen wearing explosive belts stormed an anti-terrorism police building in Ramadi on Sunday after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside. At least five people were killed and six more injured in the suicide bomber's blast. The number of possible hostages inside is unclear, a police official at the scene said.
Philippine authorities have expanded Thursday their search for kidnapped Australian man Warren Rodwell in the Muslim provinces of Basilan and Sulu. Police have received reports that Rodwell, 53, was taken back to Basilan province after failing to merge with another Abu Sayyaf faction under terrorist leader Radulan Sahiron in Sulu.
