[Khaama Press] The Talibs group in Afghanistan reacted in panic at the recent US decision to increase the number of troops as part of the train, advise and assist mission in Afghanistan.
The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group front man Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement has said "If US failed to win war with a hundred thousand troops, it will not win with a few hundred. Deployment of 700 SOF is propaganda effort because US and allies are compelled to periodically reinvigorate spirits of their morale lacking troops."
This comes as the US military officials have said the US military is planning to send hundreds of new troops to advise and assist the Afghan cops during the counter-terrorism operations.
The officials have also added that the new troops to be deployed will act similar as the US special forces to advise and assist the Afghan cops in the frontline.
Reports regarding the deployment of new troops emerge as the US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... unveiled his administration’s new strategy regarding Afghanistan and South Asia late in August last year.
President Trump vowed to continue the US mission in Afghanistan besides reaffirming the continued support of Washington to the Afghan government and the Afghan national defense and security forces.
The new strategy, according to the US officials, will be implemented based on the conditions in a bid to force the Taliban group to opt reconciliation.
#3
The difference is that the US has cut aid to Pakistan, has hit targets inside Pakistan, and has, tangentially, targeted Pakistan ISI support for Taliban in the borderlands and Afghanistan
[Khaama Press] The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... bully boyz suffered casualties in the latest Arclight airstrikes conducted as part of the ongoing campaign to suppress the Taliban-led insurgency as well as the other turbans who are attempting to expand foothold in this province.
The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan military informed regarding the new airstrikes by releasing a statement covering the operational update of the Afghan national defense and security forces.
The statement further added that the latest airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of Qaisar district of Faryab province.
According to the Shaheen Corps, at least two Taliban bully boyz were killed and three others were maimed in the airstrikes.
The Shaheen Corps of the Afghan military also added that an air campaign is still underway in parts of the province where the turbans are attempting to conduct insurgency.
The anti-government armed Death Eater groups including the Taliban bully boyz have not commented regarding the report so far.
Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern parts of the country where the anti-government armed turbans are actively operating in a number of its districts.
Several turbans including key members and commanders of the anti-government armed turbans were killed in similar operations in this province earlier this month.
#1
Hilmand remained the country's major opium poppy cultivating province, followed by Kandahar, Badghis, Faryab, Uruzgan, Nangarhar, Farah, Balkh, Nimroz and Badakhshan.
The poppy province seem to be targeted much more often than previously.
[PAJHWOK] Two sons of a former Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) commander have been killed and he injured in a clash with Taliban insurgents in western Ghor province, an official said Saturday. Gunmen loyal to Taliban commander Abdul Hamid... Rest of it's behind the pay wall.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
A very Victorian story
Of mystery and mourning and worry,
Disconsolate widows
And wan, weary kiddos:
Afghanistan, gothic and Ghorey.
#3
HIG is distinct from Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), a legal Afghan political party composed of, among others, some reconciled HIG members. HIG shares most elements of Taliban ideology and HIG insurgents cooperate with the Taliban in some parts of Afghanistan despite some ideological differences. --globalsecurity
Posted by: S. Tenille3210 ||
01/14/2018 10:08 Comments ||
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#4
HIG is distinct from Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), a legal Afghan political party
Why would a legal political party need commanders? Is that not a military title?
[EN.RFI.FR] An affiliate of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) gang has grabbed credit for attacks in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... , including one that injured three French soldiers in Mali on Thursday and an attack in October that killed four US soldiers and three from Niger.
One of the three French soldiers was maimed and flown to La Belle France for treatment after a suicide kaboom on a convoy travelling between Menaka and Indelamine regions.
The attack took place on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the start of La Belle France's military intervention against armed Islamists and Tuareg separatists in Mali.
"A vehicle approached the convoy and went kaboom! near a VAB [armoured vehicle]," French army front man Patrick Steiger told the AFP news agency.
Three Malian soldiers were also injured on Thursday in an ambush in the northern town of Hombori and a policeman was kidnapped and a cop shoppe looted and set on fire in the north-western town of Lere, the Malian army said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2018 00:00 ||
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[REUTERS] The leader of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’s affiliate in West Africa has grabbed credit for an attack that killed four U.S. special forces and four soldiers from Niger in October, Mauritania’s independent Nouakchott News Agency (ANI) reported on Saturday.
The troops were killed when their joint patrol was attacked near the village of Tongo Tongo, on the Mali-Niger border, on Oct. 4 by dozens of forces of Evil armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
The incident drew attention to the little-known U.S. military presence in Niger -- it has 800 troops stationed there -- and became a major publicity headache for President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s administration.
Security officials had identified the perpetrators as Islamist forces of Evil loyal to Adnan Abu Waleed al-Sahrawi, the leader of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara operating along Mali’s border with Niger and Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , but there had previously been no confirmation from al-Sahrawi himself.
This article starring:
ADNAN ABU WALID AL SAHRAWI
Islamic State in the Greater Sahara
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2018 00:00 ||
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#5
More info:
The Panama-flagged Sanchi was bringing the condensate from Iran to South Korea when the collision with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal, carrying grain from the US, happened in the East China Sea. The crewmen of the Crystal were all rescued.
Condensate is very different from the black crude that is often seen in oil spills. It is toxic, low in density and considerably more explosive than regular crude. Condensate creates products such as jet fuel, petrol, diesel and heating fuel.
ranian officials now say all 32 crew members - 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis - on the tanker are dead.
The tanker was carrying 136,000 tonnes of ultra-light crude but Chinese officials say there is no major slick. China Central Television said that the Sanchi had gone down after "suddenly igniting" around noon (04:00 GMT).
[Khaama Press] The Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... personnel of the Pak military have tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! at least eight Afghan nationals during an operation in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province.
According to the Pak military, the Afghan nationals were among at least sixteen suspects held during the intelligence-based operations.
The Inter Services Public Relations, media wing of the Pak military, said the Afghan nationals were held for illegal stay and several weapons and ammunition were also recovered during the same operations.
"FC Balochistan conducted IBOs in Sambaza, Sibbi, Hazar Ganji areas. 16 suspects arrested including 8 illegal Afghan refugees. Weapons and ammunition including grenades, IEDs, rockets, explosive recovered," a statement by ISPR said.
The Pak officials are saying that counter-terrorism operations are underway in Balochistan and other parts of the tribal regions of the country to suppress the murderous Moslem groups.
This comes as a suicide kaboom rocked Quetta city, the quiet provincial capital of Balochistan, last week that left at least eight dead and several others maimed.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain (TTP) had reportedly grabbed credit behind the attack.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Two non-combatants were killed and four others were maimed on Saturday when kabooms hit areas in northern and southern Baghdad, a police source was quoted saying.
A police source told Alghad Press that an bomb planted near a popular market in Youssefiya, south of Baghdad, went kaboom!, killing one person and wounding another.
Alsumaria News quoted another police source saying that a civilian was killed and three others were maimed when an bomb, placed near commercial stores in Husseiniyat al-Rashidiya, an area north of the capital, went off.
Possibly the same attack, possibly a different one:
[ARABNEWS] A suicide kaboom near a security checkpoint in the Iraqi capital killed at least five people on Saturday, a police officer said.
The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , had earlier gave an "initial toll of three people killed and 11 maimed" in the attack.
The Baghdad military command said the jacket wallah targeted a checkpoint near Aden Square in northern Baghdad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are the work of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/14/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Jpost] A strike by the Israeli Air Force on Saturday night destroyed a 180 meter long terror tunnel below the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesperson confirmed on Sunday morning.
Israel denied claims the tunnel was used for smuggling of goods, asserting it was intended by Hamas to bring terrorists and weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip for a possible future combined attack on the Kerem Shalom crossing from the Egyptian side.
The target struck was a tunnel that passed below the Kerem Shalom crossing . The tunnel also passed beneath several strategic targets, such as a gas pipe. It was completely destroyed by the strike.
On Saturday night the IDF announced it would be closing the Kerem Shalom crossing after an assessment of the current security situation, but did not provide further details.
"The terrorist organization Hamas is responsible for everything happening in and out of the Gaza Strip," an IDF statement said. So the tunnel is gone but the pipe is OK?
#1
Hopefully the pipe filled the remainder of the tunnel with gas.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2018 6:23 Comments ||
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#2
I had wondered why the Kerem Shalom crossing was suddenly closed. Repairs are going to be interesting — and time consuming, not to mention expensive — if the barrier needs to be extended to that point. That new tunnel-finding technology the Israelis invented must be a doozy.
[Ynet] Gazoo's Interior Ministry calls on Cairo to investigate the incident, in which 33-year-old Abdullah Zeidan from the Shati refugee camp was shot in the chest by Egyptian forces; Paleostinians claim he did not cross naval border.
A fisherman from the Gazoo Strip was rubbed out by the Egyptian army overnight for unclear reasons, Paleostinian officials said Saturday, calling for an immediate investigation into the incident.
Medical sources in Gazoo said that Abdullah Zeidan, 33, from the Shati refugee camp, was shot in the chest by Egyptian forces near the naval border with Egypt in the south of the coastal enclave.
He was taken to hospital but died early Saturday morning.
Gazoo's interior ministry said an initial investigation indicated "the Paleostinian fishing boat did not cross the Egyptian (maritime) border" and remained in the Paleostinian waters of the town of Rafah.
"We call on the Egyptian authorities to open an urgent investigation into this incident," front man Iyad al-Bozum said in a statement.
The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group, which dominates Gazoo, condemned the "unjustified" attack.
Egyptian officials did not immediately comment.
The head of the fishing union in Gazoo announced a halt in fishing until Sunday evening in protest at the killing.
Fishermen from Gazoo have often brought in catch from Egyptian territory to sidestep restrictions imposed by Israel's naval blockade of the enclave.
Gazoo fishermen say that the limited fishing zone imposed by Israel is not big enough to meet demand of the coastal strip's 2 million people.
Egyptian forces, meanwhile, have in the past shot up Paleostinians trying to smuggle weapons and other items from the Sinai Peninsula into the strip.
[IsraelTimes] Arab MK says IDF tried to prevent his attendance at solidarity protest for Ahed Tamimi in Nabi Saleh; army declares area a closed military zone
Hundreds of Paleostinian protesters clashed with Israeli troops on Saturday near the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, as a rally was held there in support of a 16-year-old Paleostinian girl nabbed Please don't kill me! for slapping and shoving IDF soldiers.
Aheh Tamimi, along with her mother Nariman and cousin Nour, was arrested in December over a widely shared video in which the three could be seen violently accosting soldiers in Nabi Saleh, in an apparent attempt to provoke them. The mother and daughter were both charged in a military court earlier this month with aggravated assault of soldiers over the incident and remain in Israeli custody.
Nour Tamimi, 21, was also charged with aggravated assault of a soldier, but was ordered released by the court.
On Saturday, a rally was held for the Tamimis, with the Israeli military saying that hundreds of Paleostinians threw rocks at soldiers and shouted slogans inciting violence against Israelis. The IDF said troops responded with riot dispersal means and that there were no reported injuries.
The IDF also declared the area around the village a closed military zone, in light of the violence, the army said. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... it said it allowed Joint (Arab) List head Ayman Odeh to enter the village despite the closure. The army said it didn’t know whether Odeh participated in the festivities.
A spokeswoman for Odeh said soldiers tried to prevent the politician from entering the village and asked to search his car, but eventually let him continue without doing so. Odeh later posted a video of himself at the rally, which he said was attended by "thousands of Paleostinians and Jews who came to call for the release of the heroes Ahed and Nariman Tamimi."
[IsraelTimes] IDF says aircraft targeted ’terror infrastructure,’ but won’t confirm on its nature; attack follows Israeli announcement that Kerem Shalom Crossing would be closed Sunday.
Paleostinian media reported that Israeli jets targeted a tunnel between the Gazoo Strip and Egypt late Saturday night.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that its aircraft carried out strikes on "terror infrastructure" in the southern Rafah region of the Gazoo Strip, but would not comment on what exactly was bombed.
In general, tunnels between Gazoo and the Sinai Peninsula are used to transport commercial goods and, in some cases, weaponry into the Strip, as a way to circumvent the Israeli and Egyptian blockade.
In its statement, the army added, "The Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", terror organization is accountable for all activity in and from the Gazoo strip."
The attack came shortly after the military announced it would not be opening the Kerem Shalom Crossing into the Gazoo Strip on Sunday, following a "situational assessment."
The army said the decision to not open the crossing, which ordinarily sees hundreds of goods-bearing trucks pass through it each day, was made after extensive rioting took place along the security fence surrounding the coastal enclave on Friday.
Once a rare move, this will be the second time Kerem Shalom is punitively closed in under a month, as Israel seeks to force the ruling Hamas terrorist group to return quiet to the Gazoo Strip.
On Friday, approximately 1,000 Paleostinians took part in violent demonstrations in four separate locations along the security fence surrounding Gazoo, rolling burning tires and throwing rocks at the barrier and the soldiers on the other side, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
In response, "troops fired live rounds selectively towards three main instigators, who posed a threat to IDF soldiers and the security fence," the army said.
The Hamas-run Gazoo health ministry said dozens of Paleostinians were maimed by live fire, rubber bullets and tear gas during the riots.
On Saturday, the Defense Ministry’s chief liaison to the Paleostinians warned residents of the Gazoo Strip that the Hamas terror organization was using them in its quest for violence against Israel.
"Hamas holy warriors send young people to riot at the [Gazoo border]... while hiding behind them and claiming that these riots are spontaneous and peaceful," Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said on Facebook.
[SUNSTAR.PH] THE police have locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... Group (ASG) in downtown Zamboanga City, the police said Saturday, January 13.
Chief Inspector Helen Galvez, Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula information officer, identified them as Emran Ismael, who carries the aliases of Bantong Basinti and Bantong Basiri; and, Bryan Mohammad alias Pojong Attiun. Galvez said they were arrested at 9:15 p. m. Friday at a shopping mall along La Purisima Street in the village of Zone III, Zamboanga City.
She said the suspects have standing warrants of arrest for the crime of seven-count kidnapping and serious illegal detention penalized under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines with no recommended bail.
She said the suspects were involved in the kidnapping of seven workers of the Golden Harvest Plantation on June 11, 2001 in the village of Tairan, Lantawan, Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... . She said they were positively identified by two witnesses who are under the witness protection and security benefit program of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The Abu Sayyaf bandidos executed by beheading some of the hostages while the others have either escaped or rescued by pursuing military troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] A counterattack by Syrian opposition groups in northwest Idlib province has recaptured several villages, taken prisoners and liberated more than two-thirds of the territory captured by regime forces.
The push by factions including the radical Levant Liberation Committee slowed an offensive launched two weeks ago by Assad regime troops, Iranian militias and Russian jets toward the Abu Zuhour air base, which has been held by the opposition since 2015.
The regime offensive has displaced about 200,000 people, opposition front man Yahya al-Aridi told Arab News on Saturday. "They are now refugees," he said. "This is a disaster for them."
Nevertheless, the morale of the anti-Assad forces was high, al-Aridi said. He said the pretext for the regime offensive was "a few people classified as al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... , and the brutality perpetrated is horrible. The freedom fighters are just doing a good job and are liberating many of the villages captured by the regime."
Al-Aridi described a recent meeting between an opposition delegation and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as "very fruitful," and said there was an understanding of the rebel view that the conflict should be resolved through UN-sponsored negotiations in Geneva.
Russia is sponsoring what it calls a Syrian national dialogue conference at the end of January in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "There is no clear picture about the Sochi meeting and the viewpoints on it are quite similar," al-Aridi said. "Guterres is not encouraged toward the Sochi meeting."
In Damascus, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, said he was "deeply worried" about civilians caught up in the violence in Idlib. He said he was also particularly concerned about the fate of the people of eastern Ghouta, the opposition-held rural suburb of Damascus where more than 400,000 have been trapped under regime siege since 2013.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2018 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.
[Khaama Press] The Talibs group in Afghanistan reacted in panic at the recent US decision to increase the number of troops as part of the train, advise and assist mission in Afghanistan.
[PAJHWOK] Two sons of a former Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) commander have been killed and he injured in a clash with Taliban insurgents in western Ghor province, an official said Saturday. Gunmen loyal to Taliban commander Abdul Hamid...
[REUTERS] The leader of 
[IsraelTimes] IDF says aircraft targeted ’terror infrastructure,’ but won’t confirm on its nature; attack follows Israeli announcement that Kerem Shalom Crossing would be closed Sunday.
