Taliban gunmen attacked Afghanistan's presidential palace and surrounding buildings, including the CIA's Afghan headquarters, early on Tuesday, with explosions and gunfire shaking the city center.
A Reuters reporter at the palace said the attack began soon after 6.30 a.m., when at least one man opened fire with an automatic rifle at a gate to the palace in the central Shash Darak district.
Karzai's whereabouts were not immediately known, though he was due to attend a press event at the palace after 9 a.m.
Reporters had been gathering at the palace when the attack began and dived for cover as government forces returned fire. Heavy explosions resounded and the gunfire intensified.
Schoolchildren walking to classes nearby were also caught in the exchanges.
The Taliban claimed responsibility the attack in a text message to Kabul reporters from spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
"Today at 6.30 a.m. a number of suicide bombers attacked the presidential palace, defense ministry and the Ariana Hotel," Mujahid said.
The Ariana Hotel is known to house the headquarters of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan. A thick plume of smoke was seen rising from the building.
[Pak Daily Times] Around 43 climbers, which included nineteen foreigners and 24 locals, were evacuated from Nanga Parbat by helicopters, while 37 suspects have been placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! . Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio wondered: Where the hell was Chumbaloni? And where was his $600?... Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... has directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to ensure arrest of the gunnies behind the killings of the foreign tourists on the towering mountain. He issued the directives at the federal cabinet meeting on Monday. The cabinet had put aside its scheduled agenda and focused on Nanga Parbat killings and termed it a national tragedy. Also, China on Monday vehemently condemned the murder of three of its citizens in the attack. The Chinese embassy issued a statement condemning the attack and calling for Pakistain to "severely punish" the perpetrators besides ensuring the safety of Chinese citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Mountain-climbing tourist season cancelled until further notice.
Pak Chambers of Commerce, Tourism Vendors complaining loud-n-wide to Islamabad + mighty Pak Army.
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Unabated assassination claimed lives of another four people in different incidents across city on Monday.
A man was rubbed out in Korangi Industrial Area within the precincts of Defence cop shoppe.
Police said the victim Sheikh Maqsood, 40, resident of Defence Housing Authority was going at his workplace when unidentified gunnies targeted him. Resultantly he was struck down in his prime. The body was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) for an appointment with Dr. Quincy. Police said the dear departed had his own business in Joria Bazaar locality. Police suspected that the motive behind his killing was personal dispute, while further investigation was underway.
A young man belonging to Katchi community was bumped off on Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai road within the limits of Kalri cop shoppe.
Police said the dear departed identified as Abdul Razzak alias Aju, 27 was on the way to somewhere, when unidentified armed riders accosted him and opened fire. As a result, he was struck down in his prime. SHO Haji Sanaullah said the victim was apparently killed in an ongoing violence between Katchi and Baloch community.
A meat vendor was rubbed out in Block-6, Gulshan-e-Iqbal locality.
Police said unidentified gunnies riding on cycle of violences came and resorted to indiscriminate firing on the victim, identified as Raja, when he was sitting at the shop. Resultantly, he was struck down in his prime.
Police said the identity of a victim was yet to be ascertained. The body has been moved to morgue for identification.
Separately, a body of a man was found near from Quetta Town, Super Highway within the remits of Sohrab Goth cop shoppe.
A young man was found dead near Nasir Town, an area of Memon Goth.
Police said Afzal Shah, 32, a resident of Malir's Jafer Tayar Society had left his home for some work, when unidentified persons kidnapped him and later his body was found at the same location. Police said the victim worked at a private garments factory, while the motive behind his killing could not be ascertained.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: An alleged hit man of coppers was killed in an encounter with West zone police in Haroonabad area of Site-B, here on Monday. As per details, West zone police conducted targeted raids on the information provided by a detainee Nisar. When police reached the criminal hideout, they shot up the police party, in retaliatory firing accused Obaidullah alias K2 sustained bullet wounds and was struck down in his prime. Police said that deceased was involved in targeting and killing at least eight coppers across the metropolis.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Rangers claimed to have detained around 22 suspects in separate targeted raids and operations across various parts of the metropolis on Monday. Rangers personnel said they conducted targeted raids and operations in areas including Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Northern Bypass, Safora Chowk, Nusrat Bhutto Colony, Nazimabad, Ahsanabad, North Karachi and Machar Colony and captured around 22 criminals. The officials also claimed to have recovered 36 weapons of different calibers from their possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Rebels killed eight soldiers in Indian-held Kashmire on Monday in the deadliest such attack in five years, marring a landmark visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Himalayan territory.
The military convoy was ambushed on the outskirts of Srinagar, as it headed towards a nearby base camp, officials said.
"Eight troopers died in the attack and 13 others have been maimed," a senior police official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The condition of one of the injured was critical, he said.
The attack marked the deadliest single day for Indian security forces in Held Kashmire since July 2008 when a landmine killed nine soldiers on a bus on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Monday's attack came amid a high state of alert which has been imposed ahead of Singh's arrival on Tuesday for a two-day visit to the territory, his first since June 2010. Singh strongly condemned the attack in a statement issued in the capital New Delhi.
"This cowardly attack will not deter the security forces who are engaged in bringing peace and order to the valley," he said.
Police sources said cycle of violence-borne rebels shot up the army vehicles before lobbing a grenade at one of them.
As the rebels fled, they threw another hand grenade at a group of paramilitaries, severely injuring one officer.
They then abandoned their bike and escaped before the army cordoned off the area, the sources said.
Hizbul Mujahideen, a local rebel group, grabbed credit for the attack.
Security officials had earlier said that police and paramilitary forces were being deployed in strength across the region, with additional checkpoints set up along major highways.
"A high alert is there. We do face a threat from the rebels," Abdul Gani Mir, Kashmire's police chief, told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Israeli warplanes hit targets in central and southern Gazoo early on Monday after Paleostinian rocket fire struck Israel, sources from both sides of the conflict said.
The raids came just hours after hard boyz fired five rockets at southern Israel, two of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said.
The air force "targeted terrorist infrastructure including two weapon storage facilities in the central Gazoo Strip and a rocket launch site in the southern Gazoo Strip," a statement said.
Paleostinian witnesses said the air raids hit uninhabited sites belonging to the radical Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... movement, which is currently feuding with Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers.
Avital Leibovitch, a military spokeswoman, blamed the attack on Islamic Jihad, writing on Twitter that it had "fired five rockets into Israel" noting that the overnight raids had struck sites which "belonged to the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad."
"When Hamas wants, they know how to keep order in the Strip," a military statement said. "We believe this was an isolated incident, but will continue to follow."
No group has grabbed credit for the rocket fire but military officials quoted by the radio also pointed to Islamic Jihad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Keep pounding them, the minute rockets land in Israel.
Make it very painful every time!
[Al Ahram] Egypt has intensified a crackdown on smuggling tunnels between its volatile Sinai desert and the Gazoo Strip, causing a steep hike in petrol and cement prices in the Paleostinian territory.
Paleostinians involved in the tunnel business say that the campaign, which began in March and has included flooding of underground passages, was ramped up in the past two weeks before a wave of opposition-led protests in Egypt expected to start on 30 June.
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has come under political fire at home over a strong challenge to his authority by krazed killer Islamists in the Sinai who have attacked Egyptian security forces in the peninsula.
Egypt's military, struggling to fill a security vacuum in the Sinai since autocrat Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was swept from power in 2011, has pledged to shut all tunnels under the Gazoo border, saying they are used by bully boyz on both sides to smuggle activists and weapons.
The moves against the tunnels have dashed the hopes of many Paleostinians that Mursi, a member of the Moslem Brüderbund from which Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, was born, would significantly ease Egyptian border restrictions on Gazoo, which is also subjected to blockade by Israel.
"Business is clinically dead," said Abu Bassam, who employs 40 workers in a Paleostinian tunnel network in Rafah, a town on the border. "Tunnels are almost shut down completely."
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06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The army on Monday stormed the security zone of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's mosque in the Sidon suburb of Abra and tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a number of gunnies as the Islamist holy man fled to an unknown destination, following festivities that left 16 troops martyred.
Several local TV networks aired live footage showing army troops advancing into Asir's security zone and arresting a number of his gunnies.
Volleys of machinegun fire were being heard in Abra as the army scoured the security zone, while smoke could be seen billowing from some buildings in the area.
"The army has arrested gunnies of Arab nationalities in al-Asir's security zone," al-Manar television reported.
A security source confirmed to OTV that al-Asir was not found in the security zone.
Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said al-Asir and his close aide Fadel Shaker "managed to flee the security zone in Abra around 4:00 pm with the help of gangs."
MTV said al-Asir and Shaker fled the mosque through its backdoor and headed to the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp, where they have hardline Islamist allies.
"The army is saying that al-Asir is not among the captives, the maimed or the dead," LBCI television reported.
But later on Monday, Free Syrian Army political adviser Bassam al-Dada told LBCI that "al-Asir is in the custody of the FSA and he is now inside Syria."
Earlier, reports said al-Asir was entrenched in the mosque while sources said he managed to escape in an ambulance to an unknown location.
LBCI also said that the Lebanese Red Thingy transported more than 20 bodies of gunnies from the security zone in Abra.
As they closed in on al-Asir's complex in Abra in the morning hours, army units came under sniper fire from his gunnies, who sought to push the soldiers back.
Snipers from high-rise buildings helped the fighters in their quest to defend the mosque.
Earlier, scores of employees at Sidon's Serail, that lies near Abra, escaped to safety after the building was hit with gunfire.
Gunmen also blocked the road near Sidon's Sea Castle. But the military later reopened it.
Many people living on high floors came down or fled to safer areas, while others were seen running away from fighting areas carrying children. Others remained locked up in their homes or shops, fearing getting caught in the crossfire. Gray smoke billowed over parts of the city.
The city has come to a standstill as the military continued to evacuate the residents of the buildings near the mosque.
In parts of the city, drivers waved white sheets from their car windows as they moved in a bid to protect themselves from sniper fire.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr issued search and investigation warrants against al-Asir and 123 others including his brother and Salafist-turned singer Fadel Shaker.
Earlier, al-Asir appealed to his supporters through his Twitter account in other parts of Leb to rise to his help, threatening to widen the scale of festivities.
The military command said the number of troops killed in the fighting that erupted at noon Sunday rose to 16. There were also more than 50 injuries among the ranks of the soldiers.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced a day of mourning on Tuesday, calling in a memo for a work halt from 12:00 pm till 1:00 pm
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... the fighting in Taamir near the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole stopped after gunnies from different nationalities belonging to Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Lebanon pot stirred. clashed with the army to ease the pressure on al-Asir's gunnies.
The fighting also reached the city's markets after masked gunnies began appearing there. But the army clamped down on them, preventing the festivities from spiraling out of control.
Abra's festivities erupted when al-Asir's supporters surrounded an army checkpoint in the area, where a vehicle transporting other supporters of the holy man had been stopped.
After the gunnies attacked the troops with gunfire, the army fired back.
The military command vowed on Sunday to "strike back with an iron fist anyone who... spills the blood of the army."
It urged politicians in Sidon to choose sides and to stand either alongside the army, or with "those who promote strife and the killing of troops."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/25/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
other reports are that al-Asir's militia (and that's what it was given the large mass of armaments in the mosque) had about 50 men killed
this is the deadliest intra Lebanese battle in Lebanon in about 20 years
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/25/2013 13:20 Comments ||
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#2
Typical Muslim "Holy Man" Scream threats and Run like Hell out the back door when confronted.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/25/2013 20:23 Comments ||
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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.
Nawaz Sharif
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Unabated 
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Rangers claimed to have detained around 22 suspects in separate targeted raids and operations across various parts of the metropolis on Monday. Rangers personnel said they conducted targeted raids and operations in areas including Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Northern Bypass, Safora Chowk, Nusrat Bhutto Colony, Nazimabad, Ahsanabad, North Karachi and Machar Colony and captured around 22 criminals. The officials also claimed to have recovered 36 weapons of different calibers from their possession.
[Pak Daily Times] Rebels killed eight soldiers in Indian-held 
[Pak Daily Times] Israeli warplanes hit targets in central and southern 
[Al Ahram] Egypt has intensified a crackdown on smuggling tunnels between its volatile Sinai desert and the 
[An Nahar] The army on Monday stormed the security zone of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's mosque in the Sidon suburb of Abra and 
Najib Miqati
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