Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Charisma Carpenter aka Cordelia Chase in "Angel (TV Series 19992004)" aka Cordelia Chase in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series 19972003)" aka Lacy in "The Expendables (2010)- The Expendables 2 (2012)" aka Jane Grant in "See Jane Date (2003)" aka Kim in "What Boys Like (2003)" aka Playboys Playmate of the Month for June 2004 (age 42)
Candace Kroslak aka Ally in "Take Me Home Tonight (2011)" aka Brandy in "American Pie Presents The Naked Mile (Video 2006)" aka Lindy Maddock in "Ocean Ave. (TV Series 20022003)" aka Mandy Pierce in "Days of Our Lives (TV Soap 2011)" aka Teresa in "Demonicus (2001)" (age 34)
[Bangla Daily Star] Taliban faceless myrmidons executed five civilians near Kabul for working with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... troops, authorities said yesterday, the latest in a series of jihad boy activities in villages around the capital.
The news of the incident in Wardak province's Jalrez district, 40 kilometres south of Kabul, came a day after the faceless myrmidons publicly lashed two Afghan men and just weeks after the public execution of a woman for adultery.
In Jalrez, the rebels captured six Afghans returning home from work at a NATO base. The bodies of five of them were found yesterday, all booby-trapped with explosives, a statement from the provincial governor's office said.
Their hands were tied behind their backs, a witness told AFP.
The sixth man fled his captors, the statement added, blaming the killings on the Taliban, the main bad boy group fighting the Western-backed government of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and a 130,000-strong US-led NATO force.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
A foretaste of what will come after ISAF pulls out..
Posted by: American Delight ||
07/23/2012 6:06 Comments ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: An Afghan man killed his two teenage daughters when they returned home four days after running away with a man in a southern village, police said Sunday.
The father, who shot the girls, has been detained on murder charges in Nad Ali district in the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of the Taleban insurgency, provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang told AFP.
He killed two of his daughters. His daughters had run away with a young man four days ago. When they returned home their father killed them, Farhang said.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for the young man, who is said to be working as an interpreter with NATO forces in the southern province, Farhang said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Cut his Pe-pe off very short.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2012 14:46 Comments ||
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Somalia's Islamist al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... beturbanned goons said on Sunday they had executed three of their own members for treason, two of them for guiding US missiles to kill fellow turbans.
It was the first time al-Shabaab, under pressure from African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... , Kenyan and Æthiopian troops as well as US drone strikes, had admitted to killing its own fighters for betrayals.
(Sh. M. Network)-A powerful blast targeted Somali government troops in Baidoa town, seriously maimed at least five people, Witnesses said on Sunday.
Locals near the site of the kaboom told Shabelle Media via phone that unknown assailants have thrown a hand grenade into an army base in Baidoa, wounding five soldiers, mostly seriously.
The victimized government soldiers were immediately rushed to a hospital in the town for a medical treatment. Baidoa, 250 kilometers North-west Mogadishu is the third largest city inSomalia, and it has been relatively stable since Æthiopian and Somali troops captured from Al shabab cut-throats early this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh. M. Network) --Deadly fighting between Somali soldiers along with the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops, primarily Kenyan military is reported took place Sunday in Lower Jubbe region, south of the country, Witnesses and Officials said Sunday.
According to the local residents, the skirmish erupted in the early hours on Sunday, after heavily armed Al shabab Islamic fascistitied with Al Qaeda have attacked on several Somali-Kenyan military bases in Qoqani and Kulbiyow villages, causing unconfirmed losses on both warring sides.
The locations were being used by members of Al shabab as training bases for years in the past, before the forces rolled in.
"The Islamic fascistitargeted Somali and kenyan troops in the remote Qoqani and Kulbiyow villages, with both sides exchanged heavy and slight weapons during the attack and counter attack on Sunday," a local resident, who asked not to be named, told Shabelle Media by phone.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh.M.Network)- Æthiopian police clashed on Saturday with scores of Moslems protesters complaining that the state is interfering in their religion, witnesses and officials said.
The protesters, some wearing masks, blocked the entrance of the Anwar Mosque in the west of the capitalAddis Ababaand hurled stones at riot police who had surrounded the compound after noon prayers.
"Police broke inside the mosque and cooled for a few years Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! many people, including several members of the (protest organising) committee. They also fired teargas at protesters outside," said an activist who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Another witness said he had seen empty tear gas canisters strewn on the ground. It was not immediately possible to verify these reports.
Thousands of Moslems have staged sporadic street protests in the capital since late last year, arguing that the government is promoting an alien branch of Islam, the Al Ahbash sect, which is avowedly apolitical and has numerous adherents in the United States.
Wikipedia has an article on them here. It sounds like they are mostly nonviolent and apolitical...except when they aren't.
The government denies promoting Al Ahbash, but is determined to prevent Islamic militancy spilling over from neighbouring Sudan or lawless Somalia.
Around 60 percent of Æthiopians are Christian and 30 percent Moslem, mostly of the moderate, pragmatic Sufi tradition.
Diplomats and analysts say there could be potential for any krazed killer groups to exploit sectarian divisions and trigger violence.
The government accuses "extremist elements" of sparking violence at the protests.
Government front man Shimeles Kemal said police had cooled for a few years Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! 'several' people on Saturday but denied that police had used teargas.
"These were masked assailants from bully boy groups that prevented mosque attendants from leaving the compound after the completion of noon prayers," he said.
"They tried to incite violence, they threw stones and damaged property."
Activists have reported several deaths during previous festivities, but no casualties were reported on Saturday.
Al Ahbash, also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, was founded in the early 1980s by Sheikh Abdullah al Harrari, an Æthiopian holy man who was forced to leave his country forLeb in 1950.
The protesters say the government is promoting the ideas of the group through Æthiopia's highest Moslem body, the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, and preventing overdue elections that could bring alternative views onto the Council.
Shimeles denied that the government was trying to influence Moslem affairs. "Our constitution bans any government interference in religion," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh. M. Network) )--The second batch of peacekeeping forces from neighboring Djibouti serving under African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia(AMISOM) arrived in Somalia's central town of Beledweyne on Sunday to replace Æthiopian troops.
Reliable sources said that man military planes carrying Djibouti soldiers and army officers landed on an airstrip in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 km) north of Mogadishu,to help bring stability in the troubled Hiiraan region.
Military Officers have welcomed the deployment and escorted to their army bases in the town.
Somali forces aided by thousands of Æthiopian troops, who are not under AMISOM, captured the central Somali town from 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... Islamist beturbanned goons in December 31, 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Police have cooled for a few years Please don't kill me! two men and found grenades the suspects had planned to detonate at undisclosed locations in Nairobi.
The two men aged between 20 and 25 years were cooled for a few years Please don't kill me! in Kitale at around 7.30pm on Saturday as they prepared to travel to the city. A third man escaped.
Rift Valley police boss John Mbijiwe said detectives had been trailing them for some time and they pounced on the two as they prepared to travel to Nairobi.
He said the two Kenyans had been recruited into Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... , the Somalia-based terrorist group.
"We are interrogating them to know the source of the grenades. We know they intended to detonate them at crowded places like churches and bus stops," Mr Mbijiwe added.
The suspects were driven to Nairobi under tight security and handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.
The arrest comes barely 48 hours after Nairobi police boss Anthony Kibuchi disclosed that Al-Shabaab had planned to cause "massive destruction" in Nairobi over the holy month of Ramadhan, which started last Saturday.
In Kitale, the two had checked into a room in a guest house, where officers from the local cop shoppecooled for a few years Please don't kill me! them.
A third man escaped, said area police commander Lucas Ogara.
"We cooled for a few years Please don't kill me! the two after we were tipped by concerned members of the public," said Mr Ogara.
Police said one of the suspects lives in West Pokot County and the other in Rachuonyo, Nyanza.
Mr Ogara said the Russian-made grenades could have caused massive damage if the suspects had managed to sneak them to Nairobi. "These grenades are capable of bringing down a big building," he said.
A manager at the guest house, Mr Protus Ochieng, described the suspects as "suspicious" and showed some "weird behaviour."
"They kept on moving in and out of the room in a suspicious manner," he recalled.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A blast has hit the builing of Saudi intelligence service in Riyadh, killing deputy of the newly-appointed intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, according to reports.
The kaboom took place on Sunday when Bin Sultan's deputy was entering the building, Yemen's al-Fajr Press quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
Saudi media have so far refrained from showing any reaction to the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Four Syrian refugees and four members of the Turkish security forces were hurt on Sunday when riots broke out at a refugee camp in Turkey near the Syrian border, the Dogan News Agency said.
The festivities erupted when a group of 1,500 or so ethnic Turkmen refugees from Syria arrived at the camp, near the town of Islahiye, witnesses told Dogan. Television footage showed armoured personnel carriers entering the camp and police firing weapons into the air to disperse groups of men fighting each other with fists and clubs. CNN Turk television reported that some Turkish police had briefly been taken hostage.
Turkey's state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... says Turkish security forces have used tear gas, batons and shots had gun sex to quell unrest at two camps housing Syrian refugees.
More than 43,000 Syrians have taken refuge in eight camps along Turkey's 566-mile (911-kilometer) border with Syria, but Sunday was the first time official media have reported violence among the refugees that required security forces to intervene.
#2
The Army has had MP battalions for ages. When the Marines sign up for 'nation building' gambits, its a big hole in the TDA in liaison training with host nations since most second and third world [or even our neighbor Mexico, but I repeat myself] countries employ their military in constabulary functions.
[Dawn] Two houses were damaged in a kaboom at Ali Sherzai Street in the limits of Peshtakhara cop shoppe here on Saturday.
A police official said that the bomb, planted near the residence of Rahimdad Khan, an elder of the area, went off at around 5am in the morning. He said that the blast damaged two houses and blew up main gates of both of them.
He said that the bomb, packed in a plastic can, weighed about one kilogram. He said that inmates of both the houses remained unhurt in the blast.
The apparent target, he said, was the family of Rahimdad Khan. He said that the family denied having any kind of enmity or links with any krazed killer organization. A case against unidentified gun-hung tough guys was registered as the complainant did not nominate anyone in the FIR.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain's security forces' fighter jets pounded thug hideouts, killing a dozen gunnies and injuring another five in various areas of Orakzai agency on Sunday, DawnNews reported.
Three thug hideouts were destroyed in the attacks.
The Arclight airstrikes targeted four hideouts in the remote Ghaljo and Dabori areas of the northwestern Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... , military officials said. The locations were being used by members of the Pakistain Taliban.
The corpse count could not be independently verified and gunnies often dispute official figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
How could they spare those jets from the Indian Front?
[Dawn] Three people were killed and five others maimed when an armed clash broke out between two groups near Sohrab Goth on Saturday over some petty monetary dispute, police said.
After the casualties, a violent protest from one of the parties which claimed to have lost its three men led to the blockade of the Superhighway for nearly an hour. They also clashed with the police that left two coppers, including the area SHO, injured.
"There is a residential-cum-commercial neighbourhood called Jannat Town behind Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth," said DSP Iftikhar Lodhi, the area's sub-divisional police officer.
"There are a number of meat shops in that area for the last several years. Jannat Town's union or a kind of managing committee manages the market's operation and collect a monthly fund for that purpose."
He said the union and the meat sellers had a dispute over the payment of funds for the last several months and on Saturday they turned violent.
The situation turned ugly when arguments over the issue between a group of people representing the union and meat sellers first led to a scuffle and then firing from one of the sides.
Both sides traded gunfire that spread panic in the area. "The firing continued for a few minutes and left three people dead
and five injured.
The dead have been identified as Shah Faisal, Rasool Khan and Mirza Khan. All of them were young and in their late-20s or mid-30s," he added.
The injured were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.
A heavy contingent of the police and Rangers rushed to the spot but failed to calm the situation.
A number of people erupted into the streets and blocked the Superhighway, a key link between the city with the upcountry, due to which the commercial and heavy traffic remained suspended for almost an hour.
The police finally managed to persuade the protesters to end their blockade. They later dispersed.
"We have identified the gunnies from both sides and we are collecting more facts before launching a targeted operation in pockets of the area as we believe that they would not have left the area," said a police brass hat. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... before the police launched their targeted operation a number of personnel came under armed attack near the office of the Gadap SP.
The firing from faceless myrmidons left Sohrab Goth SHO Inspector Sultan Mahmood and his colleague maimed.
"Both the injured have been shifted to a private hospital on Stadium Road. The attack appears to be a move to discourage coppers when they were preparing for the operation but it will go on as per the plans," said DSP Lodhi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Afghan officials said Sunday that hundreds of shells and rockets have been fired into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistain, hitting homes and killing four civilians along frontier areas from which bully boyz have in the past staged cross-border attacks.
The Afghan government has not yet openly blamed the Pak military for the artillery barrage, which reportedly hit districts in the eastern provinces of Nuristan and Kunar.
In the latest reported cross-border violation, nearly 400 rockets and shells were fired into Afghanistan on Saturday and killed at least four people in Dangam district along the border, according to Kunar provincial police chief Gen. Ewaz Mohammad Naziri.
He said those attacks and others in nearby Nuristan had led hundreds of families to flee the area.
There is little or no Afghan or NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... military presence in the area and large swaths of the region are controlled by beturbanned goon groups.
The information could not be independently verified because the area is largely off-limits to news hounds.
Kabul's Foreign Ministry front man Janan Mosazai said, "The rocket attacks in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan are not acceptable to us and we are strongly condemning these attacks.We believe that the continuation of such rocket attacks will have a negative impact on the friendly relations between Afghanistan and Pakistain."
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... discussed the issue of artillery fire coming from Pakistain at a weekly meeting of his national security council, a statement said. It added that Karzai ordered an in-depth investigation into the attacks.
The issue of cross-border attacks was discussed in Kabul last week during an official visit by Pakistain's new Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
Ashraf openly complained at a news conference about attacks against Pakistain originating in Kunar.
Last week, Pakistain said dozens of snuffies from Afghanistan's Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... attacked a village near Pakistain's northwest Bajur tribal area and appeared to be targeting members of a militia fighting Pak Taliban.
Local Pak officials said 15 snuffies and two anti-Taliban hard boyz were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Two bombs killed five people and maimed 14 in a busy market southeast of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... on Sunday, police and hospital sources said.
The bombs detonated in Madaen, a town 30 km (20 miles) southeast of the Iraqi capital.
#3
WAFF > IRAQI INSURGENTS [Al-Qaeda in Iraq = AQI] KILL 100 TO START NEW OFFENSIVE | [NY Times] IRAQI INSURGENTS KILL AT LEAST 100 AFTER DECLARING NEW OFFENSIVE.
Gunmen attacked a military base north of Baghdad early Monday, killing at least seven Iraqi soldiers. A medic at the main hospital in the nearby town of Balad confirmed receiving the bodies of seven soldiers and were treating two others for injuries from the attack on the base in Albu Slaib, 55 miles north of Baghdad.
An Iraqi army first lieutenant put the toll at 15 dead and four injured. Both spoke anonomously.
A car boom in the centre of the Iraqi city of Najaf maimed 23 people on Sunday, security and medical officials said, a relatively rare attack in the Shiite holy city.
The 7:00 am (local time) attack struck near a restaurant in Najaf's old town, provincial health department front man Salim Naama said.
Of the 23 maimed, four were seriously hurt, he said.
"The Death Eaters tried to put the car near the shrine, but security measures prevented them from getting there, so they blew it up in the old city," provincial police chief Major General Abdulkarim al-Amiri told AFP, referring to a shrine to a principal figure of Shiite Islam that is located in Najaf.
He did not give a precise toll from the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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CAIRO Airport officials say Egypt is allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision means Palestinians can freely leave Gaza. It also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Perhaps all the Gazooks should settle in the Sinai...
Gaza is ruled by Hamas, a branch of new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsis Muslim Brotherhood. The blockade was imposed after Hamas took control of Gaza by force in 2007. It banned most Palestinians from leaving.
The officials said the decision was applied early Monday for the first time, when seven Palestinians waiting at Cairo International Airport were allowed into Egypt without the usual security clearances and visas.
No formal announcement was made.
Won't need one...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 08:04 ||
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#1
Rev up the D-9's
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/23/2012 9:30 Comments ||
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#2
Good luck with all those Gazooks, Morsi. You're gonna need it.
#5
1. It was part of Egypt till they lost it to the Israelis in war, years later then decided to recognize it as an independent entity when they no longer exercised control.
2. Relative to a large part of the Egyptian population, the Gaza is more prosperous and the people better off economically. It's all relative.
#6
Some of them are going to be newcomers fleeing Syria, per Ma'an:
About 100 Palestinians residing in Damascus have arrived in Cairo en route to the Gaza Strip, as violence between the regime of Bashar Assad and rebel fighters intensifies, Egyptian officials said Sunday.
The Palestinian embassy in Cairo is liaising with Egyptian authorities to allow the Palestinians into Egypt after they left Syria without applying for visas due to the unstable situation.
The Palestinians are not registered as refugees in Syria, but rather Gaza residents living there.
JERUSALEM: Gunshots fired across the border from Egypt on Sunday hit an Israeli army bus but caused no casualties, a military spokeswoman said.
So it was the usual fearsome jihadi hard boyz shooting off their guns...
An Egyptian security source said officials were still investigating what he described as Israels claims that a sniper opened fire from inside the Egyptian lands near Egypts borders with Israel toward a bus carrying Israeli passengers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Officials have found clues in their hunt for car bombers who attacked Sungai Kolok district on Friday, said Narathiwat Governor Apinant Suethanuwong. He said security camera footage has provided clues about the car bombers, but did not give further details.
The bombing happened about 6:15 a.m. on Friday, wounding eight people. Police said the explosion came from a 50 kg gas cylinder placed inside a pickup truck that was parked in front of Pro Computer and OA Thailand Co on Charoen Khet Road. The blast completely destroyed the truck, damaged three cars and a motorcycle parked nearby and set on fire the building of the company which occupies four adjoining units of four-story shophouses.
Governor Apinant said attackers often launched attacks in key locations during busy times of the day - early in the morning, at noon and in the evening. He said additional female military rangers would be brought in to help with security operations.
Meanwhile, a storeroom at the Ban Pa Phai rubber fund cooperative in tambon Tanyonglimor of Rangae district in the same province was torched at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
In another incident which occurred almost at simultaneously, two gunmen on a motorcycle sprayed bullets at a tea shop in Cho Airong district, seriously wounding Ahayagri Maming, 48.
Police believed the two incidents were the work of southern terrorists insurgents.
Yesterday morning, two soldiers were seriously wounded in a roadside bombing in Narathiwat's Muang district. Six soldiers of a security unit were patrolling a local road on three motorcycles at about 9 a.m. when a bomb went off.
Police said the five-kilogram home-made device buried on the roadside was detonated remotely by mobile phone. Pvt Arisman Wayeng, 23, and Pvt Sangworawut Ngamprom, also 23, were wounded.
The Syrian regime threatened Monday to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, in its first ever acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi vowed, however, that Damascus would not use its unconventional arms against its own citizens. The announcement comes as Syria faces international isolation, a tenacious rebellion that has left at least 19,000 people dead and threats by Israel to invade to prevent such weapons from falling into rebel hands.
Syria's decision to reveal the long suspected existence of its chemical weapons suggests a desperate regime deeply shaken by an increasingly bold rebellion that has scored a string of successes in the past week, including a stunning bomb attack that killed four high-level security officials, the capture of several border crossings and sustained offensives on the regime strongholds of Damascus and Aleppo.
"No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria," Makdissi said in news conference broadcast on Syrian state TV. "All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression."
While the statement Makdissi read out promised not to use the weapons against the Syrian people, he later noted that Syria is not facing an internal enemy in the rebellion, which the regime has described as being funded from abroad and driven by foreign extremists.
Syria is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas, Scud missiles capable of delivering these lethal chemicals and a variety of advanced conventional arms, including anti-tank rockets and late-model portable anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel has said it fears that chaos following Assad's fall could allow the Jewish state's enemies to access Syria's chemical weapons, and has not ruled out military intervention to prevent this from happening.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday the Syrians have moved chemical weapons material from the northern end of the country, where the fighting was fiercest, apparently to both secure it, and to consolidate it, which U.S. officials considered a responsible step.
But there has also been a disturbing rise in activity at the installations, so the U.S. intelligence community is intensifying its monitoring efforts to track the weapons and try to figure out whether the Syrians are trying to use them, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the still-evolving investigation.
Makdissi did not discuss last week's bombing claimed by the rebels that killed four top Syrian security officials, but assured journalists that the situation was under control, despite reports of clashes throughout the country and especially in the major cities of Aleppo and the capital Damascus.
"Yes, there were clashes on certain streets in certain neighborhoods, but the security situation is now much better. Everyone is feeling reassured," he said. "We are not happy about this, but this is an emergency situation and it will not last more than a day or two and the situation will return to normal."
His comments were backed up by activist videos taken Monday morning showing sweeps by Syrian militia through Damascus neighborhoods once held by rebels, kicking down doors and searching houses in mop up operations against the fighters that had managed to hold parts of the capital for much of last week.
It was a different story in Aleppo, however, where the Britain-based Syria Observatory reported fierce fighting in a string of neighborhoods in the northeast of Syria's largest city, including Sakhour and Hanano.
Several videos posted by activists showed cheering rebels celebrating around a burning tank in Sakhour and driving around another one they had captured.
The Observatory said many people fled these neighborhoods in the subsequent lulls in the fighting. The Associated Press could not independently verify the battle scenes shown in the videos posted by the activists.
Aleppo, Syria's biggest city with about 3 million residents, has been the focus of rebel assaults by a newly formed alliance of opposition forces called the Brigade of Unification. The group said Sunday it was launching an operation to take the city. Much of the fighting in the large city has been confined to neighborhoods in the northeast.
Even as the government appeared to be reasserting control in the capital after the weeklong rebel assault, the Arab League offered Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family a "safe exit" if he steps down.
"This request comes from all the ... Arab states: Step aside," said Qatari Prime Minister Hamid bin Jassim Al Thani at an Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Doha, Qatar, that concluded at dawn Monday. He urged Syria to form a temporary transitional government to plan for a possible post-Assad era. Makdissi dismissed the offer as "flagrant interventionism."
The Arab League has already suspended Syria's membership and it is doubtful that Assad will pay much attention to their calls. He ignored a similar request to step down in exchange for asylum by Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki last February.
#7
So the world has reached a logical impasse. Syria will only use its WMD if attacked from the outside. But the USA and Israel cannot wait until the Syrian Gov't collapses in order to secure(or destroy) those weapons. Hence the West is forced to act before a collapse. And the Syrians will see this as a foreign attack. The final outcome .. is anyone's guess.
#9
It's not as big a deal for Israel and the US. Israel has already demonstrated that it can defeat the Syrian air defense system and launch a strike mission deep into Syrian air space without loss or regard.
That was back when the Syrians weren't, you know, distracted.
The Israelis and the Americans have gotten better since. The Syrians have not. Their Russian air defense system is junk.
So launching airstrikes, or air insertion of commando teams, etc., are actions that would not be deterred simply because the Syrians could shoot back. As the Syrians have demonstrated, they can't.
I don't say this to be cocky, and I'm mindful that things can go wrong (e.g., Desert One). But if we or Israel really, really, really want to take down the Syrian WMD capability, we have opportunities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 14:50 Comments ||
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#10
And so I guess - that's the questino of the day. The USA and Israel can "take down" the WMD capability of the Syrians. But can we really take it down 100%??? Because a success rate of 99.5% could still be a FAIL ... if just a few of those weapons survive and fall into the wrong hands.
#15
While the threat confirms how much trouble the regime is in, I think its likely he will use chemical weapons to further ethnic cleansing or perhaps in an attack on the refugee camps in Turkey. The latter unlikely but possible.
#16
This whole Syria situation is looking like Libya all over again. It is not the so-called freedom fighters struggling for peace and freedom. That being said, it seems more to me like the Great Game.
So my main question is: What is there that the US govt is required to do to protect our national interests?
One of our national interests is to prevent the spread of chemical and biological weapons if Pencil Neck falls and his regime does indeed possess these weapons. These weapons in the wrong hands can do us harm. So it seems to me that this issue would be one of very few that we really need to address. If we do, it should be executed in a very limited operation limited to that task. Israel has a real dog in this fight, more than the US. They need to step up to the plate.
So far as Syria regime change is concerned, that is not our national objective, with respect to the resources of our govt. The WMD issue is, with respect to weapons falling into the wrong hands that can come back to harm us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/23/2012 20:49 Comments ||
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#17
This guy is hilarious. Like anyone would attack him when they can send guns to the rebel alliance.
No, what he will do retreat and "lose control" of some sort of nasty shi4, like Marburg or even Cholera. Then he will say something like, "It's a damn shame those ignorant bastards opened a can of whoop-a$$ on themselves. They should have known better. I am so sorry they are all dead now."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/23/2012 21:00 Comments ||
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#19
Alaska Paul: good point. We should be working to dethrone Pencilneck as I believe that's in our best interests long-term. But we should be thinking two to three moves ahead so as to understand what our best interests are (beyond the nebulous, feel-good phrases like 'democracy') and how to get from here to there. That's something Champ doesn't get.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 21:20 Comments ||
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#20
"They need to step up to the plate." Yes, they are being pushed now. In and out is not likely this time. I wish them the best but I see a protracted event this time. Unintended consequences. Russia has spent allot of money on their equipment, many upgrades. This looks like a pressure cooker with no relief valve. Should Russia secure the WMD product as they did for Saddam we might see Putin do that to remove a hot button issue. Then work a deal with Assad.
#21
Fire can purify. Fire like a star's more... For Marburg or something it's worth considering with a storage depot at ground zero.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
07/23/2012 22:46 Comments ||
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#22
You know, dead is dead. There is a morality play to be written about stopping a Marburg epidemic with nuclear fire.
I am not going to write it, but psychologists have already plowed that field with their questions about pushing people into or out of the way of a runaway train.
I hope that the rest of us can forgive the French for nuking the whole place.
#23
Link Barak was more specific: âIâve ordered the Israeli military to prepare for a situation where we would have to weigh the possibility of carrying out an attack against Syrian weapons arsenals.â He told reporters.
âThe state of Israel cannot accept a situation where advanced weapons systems are transferred form Syria to Lebanon.â
Posted by: Water Modem ||
07/23/2012 23:52 Comments ||
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Intelligence minister says authorities have shut down two networks involved in training nuclear scientists' killers
Iran has placed in long-term storage Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! some of those responsible for liquidations of its nuclear scientists, state media reported on Sunday, in a continued hunt for those it says are working to sabotage its nuclear program.
Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Iran had shut down two networks inside and outside the country he said were involved in training the killers, Fars news agency reported.
Moslehi did not say how many people had been placed in long-term storage Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! , for which killings they were allegedly responsible, where the networks were operating or how they trained the assassins.
"They (the two networks) took steps not to leave any clues behind but they were stricken by mistakes," he said.
Iran says 30 cooled for a few years ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in connection with liquidation of nuclear scientist
About 30 suspects have been cooled for a few years ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in connection with the liquidation last year of a nuclear electronics expert, Irans intelligence chief Heidar Moslehi said Sunday
Moslehis comments, reported by the official IRNA news agency Sunday, gave no other details on the arrests, including whether they are new or among those previously announced.
At least five Iranian nuclear experts have been killed since 2010. In May, Iran hanged a man convicted in the killing of a nuclear physicist in early 2010.
Also Sunday, Irans nuclear chief said more domestically produced nuclear fuel has been supplied to a medical research reactor, and said the country could produce nuclear fuel for ships if it wanted.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/23/2012 06:40 ||
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#1
They'll never guess that the real nuclear saboteurs are two of their very best scientists, ones they'd least expect. They need to torture all of them to find out which ones.
[An Nahar] A Syrian force infiltrated on Sunday into Leb's eastern border region of Masharii al-Qaa and opened sporadic fire among the residents of the area.
Security sources told MTV channel that the Syrian force is formed of 30 troops and infiltrated 500 meters into Lebanese territories.
According to the sources, the Syrian troops raided several houses in the area.
An informed source told LBCI that the Syrian army established a military post in the house of a Lebanese citizen in al-Joura town the region.
On Tuesday, a Syrian force infiltrated the area of al-Qaa in Leb and remained in the region for some 20 minutes.
Since the start of anti-regime protests in Syria in March 2011, Syrian troops have repeatedly infiltrated Leb's eastern and northern regions in pursuit of armed terrorist gangs.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] One more Syrian general crossed into Turkey overnight, bringing to 25 the number of generals who have fled the unrest in Syria, a foreign ministry diplomat told Agence La Belle France Presse on Sunday.
Turkey has given sanctuary to dozens of army defectors who have formed the Free Syrian Army in opposition to President Bahsar Assad's regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Turkish police fired tear gas on stone-throwing Syrian refugees who were protesting Sunday at the lack of food and water at camps on the border with their conflict-ravaged homeland.
A Turkish official said demonstrations erupted at two of the 10 camps set up along the border which are sheltering about 40,000 Syrians who have fled the escalating violence at home.
"The festivities were some of the most violent of recent months," the official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The unrest flared after Syrian rebel fighters seized a nearby border post after hours of fighting during the night, the third now held by the anti-regime Death Eaters.
"We have had no food for three days," said a young Syrian boy standing outside the container city of Kilis, which is home to some 15,000 people who have taken refuge from Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's bloody crackdown.
"We have no water. They give us cards for shopping but we need money, we need weapons to take to our fellow fighters," said Ahmet Abbas.
The Kilis camp lies nearby the Oncupinar border crossing which faces the Al-Salama outpost on the Syrian side, the latest to be seized by the rebels.
"Kill us!" cried a Syrian woman carrying a baby in her lap, as dozens of gendarmerie forces and police were passing by. "Get rid of us," she shouted.
Refugees at the Kilis camp said two demonstrators has been killed but the Turkish official said there was no confirmation of any deaths, although one Turkish policeman was injured.
After the festivities, many refugees gathered outside the camp, and some were leaving Turkey in their cars, heading back to the Syrian side of the border.
Similar protests erupted at the Islahiye camp about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away, the official said.
Turkish officials say the country has invested $200 million helping the refugees.
Earlier this month, a fire in refugee camps in southern Turkey's Hatay province killed two people, which officials said due to an electrical short-circuit.
"Police, soldiers are Alawites. Therefore, they don't like us here," said another refugee Sabri Hallac. "We beat feet from Assad but here we are treated the same."
Assad is from Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The protesters are Sunni Moslems.
"We don't have money to sustain our life here. They are selling one loaf of bread for one Turkish lira (55 cents)," said Hallac. "Everybody here will starve to death."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] Turkey sent batteries of ground-to-air missiles to the border with Syria on Sunday, media reports said, boosting its firepower as rebels in Syria seized several border posts.
As fighting raged in Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... and Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , rebels were said to have taken control of three crossing points on the border with Turkey, which is sheltering thousands of Syrians who have fled the conflict at home.
A train convoy carrying several batteries of missiles arrived in Mardin in southeastern Turkey and will be transferred to several army units deployed on the border, according to the Anatolia news agency.
Television footage showed at least five vehicles in the convoy were carrying air defense missiles, in the latest show of force by Syria's one-time ally which is now a fervent critic of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's regime.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last month after the downing of a military jet initially blamed on Damascus that it now regarded Syria as a "clear and imminent threat".
Syria has in turn accused Turkey of sheltering rebels and training and supplying hard boyz fighting the regime in a conflict that erupted in March 2011 and has now claimed at least 19,000 lives according to activists.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... Syrian rebels were now in control of the Jarabulus, Bab al-Hawa and Al-Salama posts along the nearly 900-kilometer (560-mile) frontier with Turkey, a diplomat and Anatolia said.
An amateur video showed gunnies celebrating the takeover of the Al-Salama post, north of Aleppo, which the diplomat said occurred early Sunday.
The crossing faces the Turkish border post of Oncupinar near Kilis in the southeast, where refugees at a camp there clashed with Turkish police after demonstrating over their living conditions.
The video footage supplied by the shows one fighter, who identifies himself as front man for the "Northern Storm Brigade" of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said the border post was now under their control.
"Bab al-Salama has been liberated from the hands of Assad's mafia, after a suffocating siege on them," he said, without giving his name.
Regime forces "withdrew after suffering losses", he added, describing Turkey as a "sister nation".
Several men standing behind him hold up their weapons to celebrate, chanting: "Allahu Akbar! (God is greatest)".
The man called the takeover of the outpost a step on the road "to liberate Aleppo, and then Damascus, and then the presidential palace".
Anatolia reported that rebel fighters took Al-Salama after hours of fighting during the night, and that the sounds of the battle could be heard from the Turkish side of the border.
On Tuesday, rebels took control of the Jarabulus border post, north of Lake Assad in Aleppo province.
Rebel forces gained control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing on Thursday, but on Saturday, a group of some 150 imported muscle were in control of the post, an Agence La Belle France Presse photographer said.
Some fighters said they belonged to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), while others claimed allegiance to a group called Shura Taliban. They were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket launchers and improvised mines.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
ISTANBUL: Turkey sent batteries of ground-to-air missiles to the border with Syria on Sunday, media reports said, boosting its firepower as rebels in Syria seized several border posts.
A train convoy carrying several batteries of missiles arrived in Mardin in southeastern Turkey and will be transferred to several army units deployed on the border, according to the Anatolia news agency. Television footage showed at least five vehicles in the convoy were carrying air defense missiles, in the latest show of force by Syrias one-time ally which is now a fervent critic of President Bashar Assads regime.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last month after the downing of a military jet initially blamed on Damascus that it now regarded Syria as a clear and imminent threat.
Syria has in turn accused Turkey of sheltering rebels and training and supplying militants fighting the regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT: A new rebel alliance said Sunday it had launched an offensive to liberate Syrias largest city, Aleppo, while government troops backed by helicopter gunships wrested back control of rebel-held neighborhoods in the capital Damascus.
Is it just me or cannot the Arab and Muslim world do something without creating yet another splinter group?
The attack on Aleppo, Syrias commercial hub that has been a bedrock of support for President Bashar Assad, was a sign of the rebels growing confidence and capabilities days after they killed four members of Assads inner circle in a Damascus bombing.
Right now, Assads inner circle has been dismantled and Assad has lost his balance, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Al-Ahmad of the rebel Free Syrian Army said at a meeting in Turkey. This war is now being waged in the heart of Syria in Damascus.
The battles in Damascus and Aleppo signal a new and bloody phase of Syrias civil war, with combat in heavily populated cities. The escalating bloodshed and increasing chaos is threatening to spill across borders into a larger regional conflagration. It has put Syrias neighbors, particularly Israel, on edge.
With the conflict moving from the countryside and smaller cities into the two main urban centers, an activist group said the death toll had risen to more than 19,000 since the uprising began in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said July is shaping up to be the deadliest month of the conflict so far, with 2,752 people killed in the first three weeks already nearly as many as the previous month.
Damascus and Aleppo, the countrys largest cities with populations of 2.5 million and 3 million respectively, are both home to elites who have benefited from close ties to Assads regime, as well as merchant classes and minority groups who worry their status will suffer if Assad falls.
Col. Abdul-Jabbar Mohammed Aqidi, the commander of what appeared to be a new confederation of rebel groups called the Unity Brigade, said in the video posted on Youtube: We gave the orders for the march into Aleppo with the aim of liberating it.
He called on government troops to defect and join the opposition, and said rebels will protect members of Assads Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam, saying our war is not with you but with the Assad family.
Until the Assads are dead. Then the war will be with the Alawites...
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said the fighting is concentrated in several neighborhoods. He said rebels are in full control of the central Salaheddine district and the nearby Sakhour area. He added that thousands of residents have fled tense quarters of the city for safer neighborhoods and the suburbs.
Aleppo is witnessing serious street battles, Saeed said, with fierce clashes on the road leading to the citys international airport, known as Nairab, as rebels tried to surround the airfield to prevent the regime from sending reinforcements.
Syrian state TV, however, played down the scale of the violence, saying government troops were hunting down terrorists and killing large numbers of them. The government refers to those trying to overthrow Assads regime as terrorists.
In Damascus, the Observatory also reported attacks by government forces in the neighborhoods of Mazzeh and Barzeh that had once been held by rebels. It said that troops used helicopters gunships in the attack, causing heavy casualties. Maj. Gen. Nabil Zughaib, described as a missile expert, was also shot dead along with his wife and a son in the Damascus neighborhood of Bab Touma, according to the Observatory.
Syrian state TV denied government forces were using helicopters in Damascus, and said the capital was calm and troops were just mopping up the remnants of the terrorists in cooperation with residents. Television also showed images of calm streets in Damascus and workmen cleaning up rubble in the once-rebel held Midan neighborhood, in effort to portray a capital where everything has returned to normal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2012 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.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: An Afghan man killed his two teenage daughters when they returned home four days after running away with a man in a southern village, police said Sunday.
(Sh. M. Network) --Deadly fighting between Somali soldiers along with the 
Pakistain's security forces' fighter jets pounded
Three people were killed and five others 
David Cameron
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Turkey sent batteries of ground-to-air missiles to the border with Syria on Sunday, media reports said, boosting its firepower as rebels in Syria seized several border posts.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
