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Gunmen attack Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
1 23:18 SteveS [6] 
1 15:24 Snusort Spomose2148 [1] 
9 16:25 Pappy [3] 
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1 06:54 Big Thromoth3646 [4] 
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3 15:51 Frank G [3] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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2 11:37 Besoeker [4]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
2 19:52 JosephMendiola [3]
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5 19:12 Barbara [3]
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8 23:14 SteveS [3]
5 21:05 Skidmark [2]
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Page 4: Opinion
4 14:00 Bill Clinton [1]
2 10:33 Procopius2k [1]
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Page 6: Politix
2 21:12 Skidmark [3]
9 22:38 newc [2]
6 12:59 OldSpook [1]
17 21:56 Pappy [3]
7 21:07 swksvolFF [3]
1 10:56 JohnQC [1]
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Saw the 1932 film, Freaks, the other day. The Hilton sisters had a fairly big role(s) in a very interesting cast. The film was quite ahead of its time IMHO and was very sympathetic to the namesake folks.
Posted by: Snusort Spomose2148 || 06/08/2014 15:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Mysterious Militants Kill Taliban Commanders
[Tolo News] Recent video footage of eleven Afghan Taliban's commanders being hanged by masked men in Nuristan province has been released to Afghan media outlets.

According to local officials and residents, the masked men are part of a Pak terrorist group seeking to punish Afghan forces of Evil they believe have failed to fulfill their duties.

The mysterious footage has gone viral across social media, showing masked men communicating in sign language before hanging the Taliban turbans.

Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, the Governor of Nursitan, has said the masked men belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LET), a Pak-based Islamic terrorist organization. He said they have traveled to Kamdish Province to destabilize the region and compel the Taliban to take more drastic action in the fight against the Afghan government.

"Following the elections, a group of forces of Evil in Kamdish district, which received financial and technical cooperation from foreign intelligence, began operating under the name of 'Masked Men' and against the Taliban group," Governor Qayoum said.

According to him, Afghan cops have begun launching operations in the area to clear it of any hard boys, Pak or Afghan.

Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes...
a number of Kamdish residents told TOLOnews that the masked forces of Evil have targeted Taliban snuffies who failed to disrupt the election process.

"Those who have rejected further war or have shown deficiency in the war are killed," one resident named Hajji Manan said.

"These people have emerged in the area and follow their own goals in the region, they want us to fail in reaching our goal," another resident Hazrat Mohammad said.

According to Governor Qayoum, LET's masked forces of Evil in the area number around 150 men.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Posted by: gorb || 06/08/2014 3:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, they're dead. They are Moslems and Moslems killed them. Who can be against that?

Moslems like to kill people. When they don't have any other people to kill,... they get bored and start working on each other. Its just their values.

LOck a few Moslems in a room together and eventually they eat each other. Its just Moslem nature.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 || 06/08/2014 6:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

As long as it keeps them preoccupied and not bothering others, it's as good as it gets.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/08/2014 9:46 Comments || Top||

#4  What happens when one mooselimb sect decides another is not mooselimb enough.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/08/2014 10:42 Comments || Top||

#5  A side benefit is, since they were killed by Muslims, there's no 72 virgins. That's close to 800 goats that will not be molested in the afterlife.

Al
Posted by: frozen al || 06/08/2014 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  The Pak ISI are not happy with the pace of attacks in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Slinelet Pelosi7787 || 06/08/2014 13:56 Comments || Top||

#7  why not Mysterious Militants Mysteriously Kill Taliban Commanders?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/08/2014 14:11 Comments || Top||

#8  #1, its a good thing.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 06/08/2014 15:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Moslems like to kill people. When they don't have any other people to kill,... they get bored and start working on each other. Its just their values

All armed ideological groups have an enforcement arm. A group, if they're of any size, 1-2 if they're a cell. Sometimes it's internal, sometimes it's funded by the sponsors.

Sometimes it extends to the 'legitimate' if the ideologues gain power. The GRU for the Soviet Army, or the IRGC for the Iranian military.

Maybe you ought to add a dog to your act, Hemingway. It's getting tiresome watching your one-trick pony. A real dog - not what passes for your commentary.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/08/2014 16:25 Comments || Top||


Taliban Shadow District Governor Killed in Farah
[Tolo News] Taliban shadow district governor, Malawi Rahmatullah Hafiz, and three other turbans were killed in a clash between the residents of Bakwa district of Farah province, local officials said.

Two Bakwa residents were maimed in the clash.

The incident happened when Taliban turbans wanted to shoot a number of Bakwa residents for supposedly cooperating with the Afghan government, said Gen. Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi, the provincial police chief.

However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Taliban turbans have not yet commented about the clash.

Bakwa district is known for its insecurity because of the frequent Death Eater activities targeting Afghan National Security Forces.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Death Toll Doubles in Attack on Afghanistan's Abdullah
[An Nahar] The corpse count from two kabooms targeting Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
doubled on Saturday, with at least 12 people confirmed dead in an attack that triggered strong international condemnation.

Abdullah survived the liquidation attempt on Friday when the blasts, including a suicide kaboom, targeted his campaign motorcade in Kabul ahead of next week's hotly contested run-off election.

It was the second attack on Abdullah during Afghanistan's fractious election season, which has seen an uptick in violence with Talibs threatening to disrupt the polls.

"The casualty toll has increased to 12 people, while a further 40 people, including one woman, were maimed," Sayed Gul Agha Hashemi, head of Kabul police's criminal investigation branch, told AFP.

Afghan officials on Friday said that six people were killed in the attack. Abdullah himself escaped unhurt but said he had lost three of his campaign workers.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  You want Democracy in a Moslem environment?

Yeah?

Git some .
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 || 06/08/2014 6:54 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somali, AU Forces Hunt Shebab Militants in Capital
[An Nahar] Somali and 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 have carried out a major security swoop in Mogadishu, arresting dozens of suspected Shabaab Death Eaters believed to have infiltrated the capital, the government said Saturday.

The security operation, which began on Monday, comes in the wake of a string of Shabaab boom-mobileings and suicide commando attacks against high profile targets in the city, including the heavily-fortified office of the country's internationally-backed president as well as the national parliament.

African Union troops and the national army have been gaining territory from the Shabaab in the centre and south of Somalia, but the al-Qaeda-linked rebels have often just melted away -- and there are fears that some fighters and commanders have moved back to parts of Mogadishu.

"The Somali National Security Forces along with African Union forces on Monday morning began major search operations in parts of the capital, Mogadishu," Information Minister Mustafa Duhulow said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Somali pirates free 11 crew kidnapped in 2010
[Al Ahram] Eleven crew members held hostage by Somali pirates for more than three years have been released, regional and United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
officials said on Saturday.

The number of attacks by Somali pirates has fallen over the last two years due to increased naval patrols and the presence of well-armed security teams on ships. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
38 crew members remain in captivity, the U.N. said.

The 11 men freed on Friday were crew on Malaysian-owned cargo vessel MV Albedo which was hijacked 900 miles (1,500 kms) off Somalia in November 2010 while sailing from the United Arab Emirates to Kenya.

"They are all healthy," said Abdi Yusuf Hassan, the interior minister of Galmudug
...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth...
region. He said no ransom was paid.

MV Albedo's 23-man crew was made up of sailors from Pakistain, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran when it was seized.

Seven of the ship's crew were released in 2012 while four others drowned when the ship sank last year.

Media reports have suggested one hostage was killed soon after the vessel was hijacked.

Nick Kay, the U.N.'s envoy to Somalia, said the 11 crew have been flown to Kenya and will be sent back to their respective countries in coming days.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Arabia
Yemen soldier killed in 'Qaeda attack': Security
[Al Ahram] A suspected Al-Qaeda attack on an army checkpoint in southeast Yemen on Saturday killed one soldier and maimed another, a security source said.

The attack targeted an army checkpoint in the Al-Qatn area of the semi-desert Hadramawt province, the source said.

The source said that the gunnies, suspected Al-Qaeda myrmidons, had fled.

Yemeni troops launched an offensive in late April to dislodge Al-Qaeda forces of Evil from their strongholds in the south of the country.

One hundred soldiers and 500 forces of Evil were killed in the operation, a military front man said on Thursday.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is considered by Washington the global jihadist network's deadliest franchise.

The group was created in a merger between the network's Yemeni and Saudi branches, and it has been targeted by US drone strikes this year.

Taking advantage of a collapse of central authority during a 2011 uprising that forced veteran strongman President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
from power, Al-Qaeda seized swathes of the south and east.

They remain deeply entrenched in Hadramawt province further east, where they have carried out a series of spectacular attacks in past months.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


India-Pakistan
Gunmen attack Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
The Illusory Pak Sovereignty stays unblemished
Heavily armed gunmen have attacked Karachi's international airport, killing at least five security guards and hurling grenades, reports say.

Pakistani media reported between four and 10 gunmen had attacked Jinnah International Airport's old terminal.

Dawn News said security personnel had surrounded the airport and sealed off roads.

All operations at the terminal have been suspended and flights are being diverted, it said.

Staff are being evacuated.
Posted by: Frank G || 06/08/2014 15:48 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Jinnah Carter International Airport?
Posted by: SteveS || 06/08/2014 23:18 Comments || Top||


Bomb blasts kill two Pakistani soldiers
[The Peninsula] Two soldiers were killed Saturday in separate kabooms in a restive Pak tribal region near the Afghan border, the military said.

The kabooms took place in Bajaur tribal district, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal regions, where troops have been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked bad boys.

"Two soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in Bajur today in two different improvised bomb blasts planted by Death Eaters along road side in Bara Kamangara area and near a Pak post on Pak-Afghan border respectively," the military said in a statement.

Nobody has so far grabbed credit for the attacks but roadside kabooms are often used by the Pak Taliban, who launched their insurgency in 2007.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
59 dead as police battle militants in Iraq's Mosul
[Al Ahram] Clashes between Iraqi security forces and forces of Evil killed 59 people in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
on Saturday, as heavy fighting in the northern city entered its second day, officials said.

The dead comprised 21 police and 38 hard boys, a police lieutenant colonel and a mortuary employee said.

Fighting broke out in Mosul on Friday morning and continued into the night, while twin suicide kabooms targeted a minority group east of the city and soldiers rubbed out jacket wallahs to its south.

At least 36 people were killed in Friday's violence in Mosul and elsewhere in Nineveh province.

Saturday's deadly fighting came as jihadists took students and staff hostage at Anbar University in Ramadi, west of Storied Baghdad, prompting an assault by security forces to try to free them.

Militants have stepped up their attacks in recent days.

On Thursday, forces of Evil seized several parts of the city of Samarra, north of the capital, in a major assault that was only repelled after house-to-house fighting and helicopter strikes that left dozens dead.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  The article doesn't state who the "militants" are. One would assume Al-Qaeda linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant?
Posted by: Squinty || 06/08/2014 14:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I've posted an article for tomorrow that agrees with you, Squinty. But I don't feel qualified to make that judgement if it isn't stated -- I've been learning as fast as I can since I discovered Rantburg, but I was not designed by nature to be an intelligence analyst. From tomorrow's article:

Powerful jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been blamed for most of the latest attacks, and is believed to be responsible for much of the violence in the country.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/08/2014 15:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Armed Mormon Brigade
Posted by: Frank G || 06/08/2014 15:51 Comments || Top||


60 people killed in wave of car bombs across Baghdad
A wave of car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital late on Saturday, killing more than 60 people, security and medical sources said.

There were a dozen blasts in total, the deadliest of which occurred in the Bayaa neighbourhood, where a car bomb killed 23 people, many of them young people playing billiards.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but the Shia community is a target for Sunni insurgents who have been regaining ground and momentum in Iraq over the past year.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How's that Status of Forces agreement working out for you? Oh, wait, never mind.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/08/2014 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  a WAVE of car bombings....

Everybody get down and perform your holiest waza with the little wiffir thingy thrown in... and be sure your butt is in the air this time.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 || 06/08/2014 7:03 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippine mayor, two others slain in ambush
[The Peninsula] Gunmen rubbed out a town mayor and two other people in a daylight roadside ambush in the Philippines on Saturday, police said.

Mayor Ernesto Balolong was walking in his rural town of Urbiztondo, north of Manila, when gunnies opened fire killing him, his police escort and a bystander, the police report said in Manila.

The gunnies fled in a van which was later found abandoned in a nearby town.

Police do not have a motive for the attack on the mayor who was a member of President Benigno Aquino's ruling party.

In other attacks, local officials in the Philippines have been targeted by political rivals or communist Death Eaters but Sherlocks could not immediately say if Balolong had previously received any threats to his life.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Political hacks. Not the communist Sparrow teams. There would have been few to no witnesses and the van would have never been found.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/08/2014 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Agreed. Unless the quality has gone down, the NPA would've done a more professional job.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/08/2014 16:30 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two Bishops Kidnapped in Syria Held Captive by ISIL, in 'Good Health'
[An Nahar] Two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria in April 2013 are currently in the northern city of Raqqa and held captive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original...
(ISIL).

According to a report published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday, the two bishops are "in good health" and are currently detained in the region of Tal Abyad, which is located in north of Raqqa governorate, near the Turkish border.

The two bishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, were kidnapped at the end of April, reportedly near the rebel-held town of Kafr Dael, near Aleppo in northern Syria.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated Asbat al-Ansar is allegedly the group behind the abduction of the two bishops.

The newspaper said that Asbat al-Ansar, which was loyal to al-Nusra Front, became discreetly loyal to ISIL.

The kidnappers reportedly didn't realize the fuss that the abduction operation would create, prompting them to ask ISIL leadership for assistance.

The ISIL group then was handed over the two bishops and moved them to al-Raqqa.

No group has officially grabbed credit for their kidnap, but sources close to the Greek Orthodox Church and the Syrian authorities have claimed the kidnappers were "Chechen jihadists".

Christians constitute some five percent of Syria's population, a patchwork of religious and ethnic groups.
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant


Kerry calls on Russia, Iran, Hezbollah to end Syria war
[Al Ahram] US Secretary of State John Kerry called on key backers of President Bashar al-Assad to end the three-year war in Syria, during an unannounced visit to neighbouring Lebanon on Wednesday.

"I call on... Iran, Russia, and I call on Hezbollah, based right here in Lebanon, to engage in a legitimate effort to bring this war to an end," Kerry told reporters in Beirut.
That should do it...
Posted by: Fred || 06/08/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BADA bing bada BOOM.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 || 06/08/2014 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember Jawn, if they win, it ends the war. By most historical accounts, that qualifies as 'legitimate'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/08/2014 9:45 Comments || Top||

#3  What color is this line?
Posted by: AlanC || 06/08/2014 12:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Shut Up John, just shut up, stop talking.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 06/08/2014 15:16 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
2Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
2Arab Spring
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2Taliban
2Govt of Iran
1Pirates
1TTP
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Shabaab
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
1Islamic State of Iraq
1Lashkar e-Taiba

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2014-06-08
  Gunmen attack Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
Sat 2014-06-07
  Heavy clashes, suicide bombings kill 36 in north Iraq
Fri 2014-06-06
  Boko Haram kills "hundreds" in Nigeria
Thu 2014-06-05
  Libya: Haftar Escapes Suicide Attack
Wed 2014-06-04
  At Least 120 Dead in Clashes in Yemen
Tue 2014-06-03
  Somali gummint claims to have whacked 74 Shaboobs
Mon 2014-06-02
  5 Gitmo Terrorists Arrive in Qatar "With No Sign They Are -- Under Custody"
Sun 2014-06-01
  Bowe Bergdahl, Army Sergeant Held by Taliban Since 2009, Is Released
Sat 2014-05-31
  U.S. Confirms American Carried Out Syria Suicide Bombing
Fri 2014-05-30
  Syrian Regime Rains Barrel Bombs on Aleppo as ISIL Executes 15, including Kids
Thu 2014-05-29
  Top Iranian officer beheaded in Syria
Wed 2014-05-28
  Wanted Hizbullah Commander Killed in Syria
Tue 2014-05-27
   23 Terror, Religious Extremism Groups Busted In Xinjiang
Mon 2014-05-26
  New leader of Caucasus insurgency threatens "crushing blows"
Sun 2014-05-25
  Toll from Syria rebel attack on Daraa rally up to 37


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