[Iran Press TV Latest] Afghan President Hamid Karzai has approved the removal of foreign observers from the electoral watchdog tasked with reviewing voting fraud, his office says.
The supposed international electoral watchdog has been credited by the UN and Western governments with helping to expose a massive fraud in last year's presidential poll, forcing Karzai into a second round of voting that was eventually cancelled due to his rival's withdrawal.
The move gives President Karzai the power to appoint all five members of Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
Meanwhile, western diplomats have expressed deep concern at the decree by President Karzai granting him total control over a key electoral body. It's good to be the king...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] Armed with assault rifles and scissors, the Shabaab's religious police are imposing a reign of terror, as well as crew cuts and bushy beards, on Somalia's youth.
Wearing a T-shirt with a Western print, a pair of tight jeans and wavy gelled back hair, Ahmed Aydarus Abdi is a dedicated follower of fashion, but not the style advocated in the Shabaab's hardline Wahhabi brand of Islam.
"I was stopped by Shabaab gunmen who asked me questions about my haircut. They said the way I designed my hair was very silly," he said.
"Without waiting for my reply, one of the gunmen pulled out a pair of scissors and cut off huge locks on one side of my head. He was dealing with it like it was grass, not human hair," Abdi said.
As he recounted how he reluctantly had to finish the job himself, the 19-year-old cast worried glances around him, aware that his appearance was likely still offensive to the canons of Shabaab sartorial elegance.
His friends encouraged him to comply.
"If he had attempted to defend his right to wear his hair the way he chooses, he would have been lashed in public, so we restrained our friend," 20-year-old Mohamoud Hassan said. "He was humiliated and cried after we left the Shabaab behind," he added.
Fear runs high in the streets of Mogadishu, where residents are bracing for a huge offensive led by government troops and African Union forces against the Shabaab-led insurgents.
Allegiance to Qaeda
The Shabaab, whose leadership recently proclaimed allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, control around 80 percent of the country.
While the Shabaab's "Jaysh al-Usra" (Army of suffering) is planting bombs and preparing to counter their enemy, the movement's other branch "Jaysh al-Hisbah" (Army of morality) is keeping civilians in check.
Units known as the Islamic social mobilization brigades criss-cross the busiest parts of town to blare instructions through loudspeakers: calls to join the global jihad, give to the poor and respect a pure Islamic clothing style.
The population is routinely reminded by preachers in mosques that a full veil is recommended for women while Islamic gowns, short hair and long beards are more becoming for men.
Complaining not an option
Many youths are outraged but complaining too loudly is not an option. "What is this? The Shabaab are claiming to have political authority but they are behaving like fashion designers. What do they have to do with the way we dress or do our hair?," said one indignant 21-year-old in Mogadishu.
He asked to be named only as Abdullahi however: "You see, I live in the Bakara market area," he said, referring to the capital's main Shabaab bastion.
Not all young people disagree with the Shabaab's strict dress code, at least not in public.
"I support the way of life being promoted by the Shabaab. They are following Allah's laws," said Amina Abdurahman, a 23-year-old woman.
She argued that France and Turkey applied equally draconian rules by banning headscarves. "I haven't heard the world condemning France or Turkey but every opportunity seems good to denounce the Shabaab and the Taliban."
One youth in Adle village, near Mogadishu, recounted how his house was raided by Shabaab following a tip-off as he was watching a pirated copy of a film called "Ninja Killer" with a group of friends.
"Most of us jumped out the windows. Unfortunately, I was one of the six who got caught and flogged for misconduct," Abdulle Moalin Hassan said.
Fear of the religious police has other consequences on people's daily lives.
When buses drive into Shabaab-controlled areas, the driver only needs to shout "is hagaajiya" (re-arrange) for the men and women to hastily split and take seats in their respective ends of the vehicle.
"I tell the passengers to split in two groups when we approach Shabaab areas. They can't be mixed, especially if they are not married," Mogadishu bus driver Ali Mohamed told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
Poor youts. They're martyrs to fashion, I tell ya!
#2
I take it that the guy in the picture is colorblind.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2010 13:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Jim, only those Africans who spend their constituents' hard-earned money in Paris boutiques adhere to Western color coordination schemes. The traditional color coordination pattern in Africa is, "The more color, the better." I have some absolutely delightful pieces of African cloth, some of them harmonizing according to the tastes of the tourists who shop in the market, and some of them in colors I would never have thought of putting together, but they work.
#6
IIRC, from the National Geographic in the 1960s, "atabi" was silk that was treated with water to create a stripy, ripply color. The cat got its name from this pattern, Anglicized to "tabby".
[Maghrebia] Mauritania on Monday (February 22nd) expressed "outrage" over Mali's release of four Salafist prisoners last week and recalled its Ambassador to Mali for "consultations" on the matter. Normally diplomatic notes don't start "What the hell?"
"In a surprising move, Malian authorities handed over to a terrorist organisation a Mauritanian citizen sought by Mauritanian justice," the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC) said in a statement, adding that the measure is "a violation of agreements signed by both countries in the areas of judicial co-operation and security coordination".
Malian authorities on February 18th released the four prisoners in what analysts called a deal to save the life of Pierre Camatte. The Frenchman was kidnapped last November in Mali by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has also claimed responsibility for abducting three Spanish aid workers and an Italian couple in Mauritania.
A leader of the ruling Union for the Republic Party (URP), Saleh Ould Dehmach, told Magharebia on February 21st: "With all due respect for Malian sovereignty, I think that such an unprecedented step poses a hazard to the entire region."
"The Malian authorities should have respected the rights of their neighbour before taking such an action," added the URP official. "This is more of a reward to a group of outlaws."
Dehmach said Mauritania is not intimidated by groups like AQIM and that "Mauritanian authorities have mobilised the security forces ... to face down terrorist groups that carry out criminal operations in the region and take foreign hostages".
"It was our duty to ask people in the north (of Mali) to get involved. We owe this to France, a friendly country," the advisor told the agency on February 22nd.
But many Mauritanians contacted by Magharebia said that by giving in to al-Qaeda's demands, Mali would make kidnapping foreigners a profitable business across the region, with heavy consequences for development.
"I think the Malian state ought to have handed over the wanted Mauritanian terrorist to the Mauritanian government instead of releasing him," said merchant Saeid Bouh Ould Lemrabott. "Releasing AQIM activists and paying ransoms will enhance all forms of terrorism, including trading in foreigners."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Bangladesh deployed the army at another southeastern hill town on Tuesday after 100 houses were burnt in fresh clashes between Buddhist tribals and Bengali Muslim settlers, police and witnesses said.
More than 50 people were injured in Khagrachhari town in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, 300 km (188 miles) southeast of Dhaka, after settlers attacked tribals who were protesting against deadly clashes on Saturday between the two groups.
Thousands of landless Bengalis were settled in the 5,500-sq- miles (14,200 sq km) region, bordering India and Myanmar, under a government plan in the 1980s to ease population pressure in the plains and also to defuse a tribal insurgency.
Relations between the settlers and the tribal groups have been tense over land ownership, often leading to violence.
On Saturday at least two tribals were killed and around 100 others including settlers were injured before the army brought the situation under control in Baghaichhari, a town 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Khagrachhari.
A tribal organisation, the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), called for the protests, including a blockade of roads in the hill towns.
The Bangladesh government signed a peace deal in 1987 with tribal Shanti Bahini guerrillas who had waged a 25-year insurgency for political autonomy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The UPDF is opposed to the deal, saying it has failed to establish the rights of tribal people.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
In late January, Kim Jong Il held a meeting of his highest officials, including Jang Sung Taek, Director of the Ministry of Administration of the Party, aiming to find ways to alleviate the negative side effects of November's currency redenomination. In the meeting, the group apparently agreed to release emergency supplies of rice to those on the brink of starvation.
According to a Daily NK source, "Following the meeting, which he chaired, Kim Jong Il handed down a handwritten decree to the chief secretaries of all provinces on January 20 in which it was stated, 'Preventing anyone from starving to death is your obligation.'"
Chief Secretaries of Provincial Committees of the Party, the recipients of the decree, handed on the threat to their subordinates, warning provincial cadres, "You will resign if anyone starves to death, because this was a direct instruction from the General."
In the decree, the three most vulnerable provinces were named as Yangkang, South Hamkyung, and Kangwon Provinces, so the officials governing those provinces are understandably nervous. They are the provinces where most casualties occurred during the March of Tribulation, and they remain the most food insecure.
Under the decree, the Ministry of Procurement and Food Policy makes daily deliveries of 5kg of relief rice to each people's unit and 5-15kg to each factory and enterprise. Chairpersons of people's units and managers of factories are required to observe the circumstances of the people under their control and provide those in the greatest danger of starvation with relief rice first.
#1
So I guess starving is OK, as long as they don't starve to death. Got it. And if anyone starves to death, it's the governor's fault, not Kimmie's for getting NorK into the situation in the first place. Check.
Am I the only person who is thinking that they better be careful to bury the dead where the government can't find the bodies and can them?
#6
Concentration camp rations were 550 calories per day until early 1945, when they went down to 240 calories a day in some camps. How many calories a day do the cadres allow the people in NKor?
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned that his country is now under a permanent and increased threat of militant attack.
He also announced plans to fingerprint and face-scan visitors from 10 high-risk countries.
Mr Rudd said there was a growing threat from Islamist radicals born or raised in Australia. Last week, five Australians of foreign origin received heavy sentences for conspiring to launch a jihadist attack.
Mr Rudd said that many "home-grown terrorists" were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, as he released a new report compiled by intelligence agencies. "This white paper is clear: some of the threat we now face comes from the Australian-born, Australian-educated and Australian residents."
Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new centre of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of last July point to an ongoing threat there.
Australia will spend A$69m ($62m; £40m) on new biometric facilities and will set up a national control centre to co-ordinate efforts to fight extremism. The government also plans to work with communities to stamp out radicalism by helping all ethnic groups integrate better with mainstream society.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said about 40 people have been arrested in Australia on terror charges since 2000. Last week five Australian citizens of Lebanese, Libyan and Bangladeshi origin were jailed for up to 28 years for gathering weapons in preparation for an attack on an unknown target. In August, five men with alleged links to Somalia's al-Shabab militants were arrested and charged over an alleged plot to attack a Sydney military barracks.
"Whilst the numbers are small... it only takes one to get through," he said, adding that the techniques used by home-grown militants were evolving. "We are now seeing emerging the potential so-called lone wolf escapade where we don't have sophisticated planning but an individual is seduced by the international jihad and as a lone wolf does extreme things," he told ABC radio.
He said the 10 countries to face more stringent entry procedures would not be named yet. "There may be a diplomatic effort required in regards to some of those countries, as you would expect," he said.
Australia has not suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil, but 95 Australians have been killed in militant bombings in neighbouring Indonesia since 2001.
#2
We face the same in the USA but our leaders are delusional and cowardly they bury the obvious in assessments along with the threat from the KKK-esque boogie man.
Posted by: jack salami ||
02/24/2010 21:09 Comments ||
Top||
DIGGERS fighting in Afghanistan have been banned from having their sperm frozen and stored at taxpayers' expense.
More than a dozen soldiers joined the program before they left for Afghanistan in case they were killed or wounded and rendered infertile. But Defence officials have ruled that soldiers need a valid medical reason to join the "free" fertility service. Ummmmmmmm...how about, "unlike a "defence official", I may get killed"?
Ten unauthorised samples from Diggers sent to battle the Taliban have been removed from storage. Three samples remain in storage at public expense.
At least four American war widows conceived after their husbands were killed in action.
Jennifer Ward, the Melbourne mother of slain Digger Benjamin Ranaudo, said it was a disgrace the same service had been denied to Aussie soldiers heading to battle zones. "Our boys are heading off fighting for freedom and their country," she told the Herald Sun. "You'd think Defence could pay a few dollars to freeze some sperm for them."
#2
put it in the frezzer wives and hope the other kids don't think it's a popscicile
Posted by: chris ||
02/24/2010 13:33 Comments ||
Top||
#3
But Defence officials have ruled that soldiers need a valid medical reason to join the "free" fertility service.
Bureaucratic drones usually don't have 'a set' or very small ones that are basically evolutionarily ornamental and therefore can't comprehend a warrior caste being interested in doing this. The bureaucrat, instead, would be happy to remove the strain from the population to begin with.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Syrian man of Kurdish origin has been arrested in southern Spain for throwing a shoe at visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, police said Tuesday. It's already gotten real old, Bubba.
The 27-year-old man failed to hit the Turkish leader in the incident late on Monday in the city of Seville.
Images shown on CNNTurk and carried by Spanish television showed the incident occurred as Erdogan, who is on an official visit to Spain, was about to get into his car after leaving Seville city hall.
A police spokesman said the man was a Syrian of Kurdish origin.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Erdogan is an Islamist and no friend of the West!
Careful there, Levin. This kind of thing has been tried before. And they might fight back. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to unleash a withering attack Wednesday on private contractors working for the company formerly known as Blackwater in Afghanistan, accusing them of flouting regulations and endangering the U.S. mission.
Key to beating the Taliban in Afghanistan will be the ability of U.S. forces to win support from the Afghan people, many of whom do not distinguish between U.S. contractors and the U.S. military, Sen. Carl Levin will say, according to an advance text of his remarks.
"If we are going to win that struggle, we need to know that our contractor personnel are adequately screened, supervised and held accountable -- because in the end, the Afghan people will hold us responsible for their actions," the Michigan Democrat will say.
"If we don't fix the problems of oversight and make sure contractors like Blackwater play by the rules and live up to their commitments -- we'll be doing a disservice to our troops by making their already difficult and dangerous job even more so."
Though more than 100,000 contractors operate for a variety of contractors in Afghanistan, Levin singled out Paravant, a company that had "no meaningful distinction" from the company formerly known as Blackwater, which is currently known as Xe Services, he said in the advance text.
#1
Levin cited a December 9, 2008, shooting at the U.S. military's range at Camp Darulaman during which a Paravant program manager carrying an AK-47 got on the back of a moving car, then shot and wounded a Paravant trainer on his team when the car hit a bump, Levin said.
More commonly referred to as an "accidental discharge." He was the boss, and he was fired. Next please.
#2
I went through the whole article because the headline said, "key senator". I am still trying to find the name of that senator. All I see is a moron for a senator.
Posted by: Art ||
02/24/2010 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Key senator Blowhard plans to lambast Blackwater actions in Afghanistan. Does this crap play well for him back home?
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The alleged Punjab government patronage of the regrouped banned Jihadi outfits has given a wake-up call to the federal government that is piqued at their holding of public rallies for getting votes in the Punjab by-elections.
Raising the issue on a point of order in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Sherry Rehman lashed out at the way banned Jihadi outfits were being allowed to stay freely in the Punjab. She said they could not be allowed to hijack the country's foreign policy and national security.
The same issue was raised by PML-Q legislator Sheikh Waqas Akram on Monday when he questioned the visit of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to a Madrassa of a banned religious outfit.
Former information minister Sherry Rehman said it was not just an issue where sectarian groups were being patronised for an election campaign, but also how they were holding rallies all over Lahore, brandishing their weapons and propagating their terrorist ideologies with total impunity.
Sherry said it was shocking to see how banned terrorist organisations were allowed to challenge the writ of the state to hijack the country's domestic and foreign policy and preach hatred against non-Muslims and moderates. "What is the point of our innocent civilians and soldiers dying in a borderless war against such terrorists when armed, banned outfits can hold the whole nation hostage in the heart of the Punjab's provincial capital," she asserted.
"What right do these groups have to tell us they will wage Jihad in the region, when this parliament and this government have decided otherwise? Pakistan is going up in flames, challenging an unprecedented enemy with bravery and commitment, but here we see militants and terrorists openly thumbing their nose at not only the Punjab government but also our security agencies and our federal government as well," she remarked.
Sherry said the federal government should urgently seek to assist the Punjab government if they lacked the capacity to book such criminals. "There is much talk about the rule of law in the country. Well, my question is who gives them the right to decide what is Jihad and what is not? Who gives them the right to flout the law of the land so openly? Are there two sets of laws for these people," she asked, adding: "Nobody can silence parliament, and nobody should be allowed to ignore the law of the land."
Earlier, Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said the government was taking concrete measures to overcome extremism in the country and bring harmony among various sects.
Responding to points of order, he said the federal government had taken notice of the activities of a Punjab minister, who had been allegedly found involved in promoting and patronising sectarianism in the Jhang district.
He said the Punjab government had been asked to investigate the matter and take appropriate measures in this regard. The minister said the armed forces were engaged in combating terrorism and in these critical times, there was a need for promoting religious harmony instead of supporting extremists.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Unfortunately MNA the Jihadis have been used by the Pak Army/Government since the 70's re foreign policy!
[Al Arabiya Latest] Around 180,000 eligible Iraqi voters are expected to cast their ballots in Jordan as part of global out-of-country voting in the March 7 poll, Iraq's electoral commission said on Tuesday.
"About 180,000 Iraqis in Jordan are expected to vote on March 5, 6 and 7 at 16 polling stations," Nehad Abbas, head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Jordan, told a news conference.
"Eleven stations will open in Amman, two in Zarqa, two in Irbid and one in Madaba," he added, and urged Iraqis in Jordan to vote "even if they were living there illegally."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Couldn't get us to pay for absentee ballots? The jordanians gonna round up the illegals, stamp palestinian on their forehead, send them to Israel? Come to think of it, doesn't this sound eerily similar to clinton's Camp David Accord scam? Ya know, the part where yassar arafat got all those iraqi's relocated to Oklahoma City? Where's Jayna when we got questions. heh ;~)
JERUSALEM -- Israel's parliamentary opposition leader on Tuesday praised the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month, in the first such comment from a top official. Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima Party said the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was good, but she did not indicate who was behind the killing.
"The fact that a terrorist was killed, and it doesn't matter if it was in Dubai or Gaza, is good news to those fighting terrorism," she said at a conference of the Jewish Agency board of governors in Jerusalem. Doesn't much matter who did it, either ...
Israel has refused to comment on assumptions that a Mossad team carried out the assassination. Dubai police have released pictures and passports with names of Israelis, saying the forged passports were used by the hit squad.
The Israelis have said they were victims of identity theft. Britain, Ireland and Germany have called Israeli ambassadors in for explanations about the forged passports, but Israel has not accepted responsibility.
Israel has come under withering criticism from the usual some quarters in Europe and elsewhere in the wake of the killing of al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on Jan. 20. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was grilled about Israel's alleged role in the killing when he met European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that as long as there is no evidence beyond media reports linking Israel to the killing, the minister felt "there is no need to relate to the matter."
In the only Israeli government comment to date, Lieberman said last week, "Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies." He added, "I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports."
Livni, a former foreign minister, served in the Mossad in the 1980s. In her address Tuesday, she rejected criticism of the assassination of al-Mabhouh, who Israel says was behind the kidnapping and killing of two soldiers in 1989 and more recently was in charge of obtaining rockets for Hamas militants in Gaza.
"The entire world must support those fighting terrorism," Livni said. "Any comparison between terrorism and those fighting it is immoral."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Israel's parliamentary opposition leader on Tuesday praised the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai last month, in the first such comment from a top official
on Tuesday called on Palestinians in the West Bank to launch an uprising against Israeli forces, in response to the inclusion of the Ibrahimi Mosque and Rachel's Tomb on a list of Israeli heritage sites.
"Let's you and him fight!"
Haniyeh's comments came during a session of the Palestinian Legislative Council, where he stated that Arab and Muslim countries should respond by supporting Palestinian resistance, and not by offering a political cover for the resumption of negotiations.
"The Israeli decision to include the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque [Rachel's Tomb] in Bethlehem on a list of Israeli heritage sites comes at a time when discussions around the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the news," Haniyeh said.
"Israel's policy is to cover old crimes with new ones," he added.
Commenting on other issues, Haniyeh called for the release of detainees from Palestinian Authority prisons, an end to discussing the resumption of peace talks, and a halt to security coordination with Israel. Palestinian reconciliation should be achieved on the basis of Palestinian constants and the right to resist Israel, he added.
The de facto prime minister also called for the undertaking of practical efforts to end the siege on Gaza and to open all crossings into and out of the besieged Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Have the Gazans entered some kind of Jim Jones suicide pact, or are they just insane?
Or both?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2010 13:26 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's intelligence minister said on Tuesday the leader of the rebel group Jundallah was in a U.S. military base before being captured by the Islamic state, state television reported.
"Abdul Malik Rigi was in an American military base 24 hours before his arrest ... He also travelled to some European countries ahead of his arrest ... Americans issued Rigi an Afghan passport and an identification card for travelling to Pakistan," Heidar Moslehi told a news conference, Iran's Press TV reported.
Asked whether Rigi had been to an American base in Afghanistan, where the Iranians allege he was issued with an Afghan passport, a US official told AFP: "This is of course a totally bogus accusation."
Iranian local media earlier said that security forces have arrested Rigi, the alleged mastermind behind several deadly bombings and killings in the country.
The Iranian intelligence ministry was cited as saying he was arrested along with two members of his group, in a report by Fars news agency.
Fars also quoted Mohammad Marziah, prosecutor of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, as saying the militant was arrested in an "ambush and is currently held by intelligence forces."
The governor general of southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan hailed Rigi's arrest, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
"The arrest has returned complete security to the region, and this province will follow the path of progress rapidly," the governor general, Mohammad Azad, said.
Sistan-Baluchestan attacks
Iranian officials have accused Rigi of carrying out several attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan, the restive province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan which lies on a major narcotics-smuggling route.
It houses a significant population of Sunni Baluchis and is a hotbed of Sunni insurgency against the Shiite rulers of the Islamic republic.
In October 2009, Jundallah claimed it was behind a brutal suicide bombing in the provincial town of Pisheen that killed 42 people, including seven commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and several tribal leaders.
The attack was one of the deadliest against the Guards, the elite force set up to defend Iran's Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.
The group also claimed a May 2009 bomb attack on the Shiite Amir al-Momenin mosque in Zahedan that killed more than 20 people and wounded 50.
Iranian officials on several occasions have said Rigi was supported by intelligence services of Pakistan, Britain and the United States.
They also said Rigi used to reside in Pakistan and often crossed the border into Iran to oversee attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan.
Soon after the Pisheen bombing, Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Guards demanded Pakistan hand over Rigi as Tehran had "proof" he was supported by Pakistan's intelligence agency.
Iran has also detained Rigi's brother Abdul Hamid who is currently on a death row.
Abdul Hamid too has said the Jundallah group received orders from the United States to carry out attacks inside Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Hey, let's make a deal, you stop supporting Nasrallah/Hizbully and we stop supporting Rigi. ???
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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Afghan President Hamid Karzai has approved the removal of foreign observers from the electoral watchdog tasked with reviewing voting fraud, his office says. 
In late January, Kim Jong Il held a meeting of his highest officials, including Jang Sung Taek, Director of the Ministry of Administration of the Party, aiming to find ways to alleviate the negative side effects of November's currency redenomination. In the meeting, the group apparently agreed to release emergency supplies of rice to those on the brink of starvation.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to unleash a withering attack Wednesday on private contractors working for the company formerly known as Blackwater in Afghanistan, accusing them of flouting regulations and endangering the U.S. mission.
