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Al-Qaeda operatives escape to Oman
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Miranshah militants linked to Afghan poisonings, NDS says
How can this be a 'winning' tactic? Is it even happening or is it just politicians trying to make points out of girls being hysterical?
The recent mass poisonings of Afghan students were plotted in Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, which is considered by some to be militant headquarters, the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) said June 25.

The Haqqani Network and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were involved in some, if not all, of the school poisonings, NDS officials contend.

Not long after the NDS made that observation, another attack occurred June 25, when as many as 100 girls were poisoned at the Rahmat Abad high school in Sar-e-Pul Province.

Tolo News said the victims, between the ages of 7 and 18, were taken to a hospital for treatment.

That was the third poisoning in three days in Sar-e-Pul, and a total of about 300 girls have been affected.

Earlier, on June 19, someone poisoned 116 students in the Karta-e-Solh School in Bamiyan Province.

“As soon I left the classroom, I smelled an odor,” said Nahid, one of the students who suffered a headache and stomach pains during the incident.

“All of the students have similar symptoms – which include headache, stomachache, and shivering – … proving that they all have been poisoned,” said Baber, a doctor at the Bamiyan provincial hospital.

Another poisoning occurred in Bamiyan Province about a month earlier. Nobody has been arrested in either of those cases, but arrests have been made in other poisoning cases.

Hundreds of students, mostly schoolgirls, have also been poisoned in incidents in Takhar, Balkh, Nangarhar and Khost provinces during the past few months.

Arrests made
The culprits have used two approaches – a liquid and a powder – in the attacks, the NDS said. The militants have sprayed liquid poisons in school yards and mixed the powder with drinking water, the NDS said in a statement June 6.
Wouldn't it be easier to mix a liquid in drinking water and sprinkle powder on the ground? And just what poisons are being used? Poisons that seem to sicken without killing while being administered in wildly varying dosages?
Further investigation showed the suspects received the poison and orders to attack from militants in Miranshah, the NDS said.

On June 5, after terrorists poisoned a girlsÂ’ high school in Khajeh Ghar District, Takhar Province, Afghan security forces caught two suspects in possession of large amounts of toxins.

Authorities later nabbed 13 other suspects in connection with one of the Takhar cases. Qari Khalil (a member of the IMU and the Taliban shadow deputy governor of Takhar) and Mullah Yaqub, a Taliban commander, were among those arrested.

Afghans say militants take advantage of poverty in pockets of the country, paying desperate Afghans to commit crimes against their countrymen, and some of the arrests in Takhar support this assessment.

Four of the suspects include schoolteacher Maulvi Najibullah and his wife, Bibi Aisha (YaqubÂ’s cousin), as well as Shukria and Sima Gul (ninth- and eleventh-grade students, respectively). And authorities say the students received 50,000 AFN ($1,000) in exchange for poisoning the Bibi Hajareh School.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/27/2012 08:55 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Somalia marks 52nd year of independence
(Sh. M. Network)- Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the president of the self-declared Somaliland Ahmed M. Silanyo, congratulated the people of Somalia in the country and abroad the anniversary of the Independence of the Somali Republic.

On the occasion of the 52nd, the daySomalia's northern regions attained internal self-rule from the colonist of United Kingdomin in 1960,Somalia president also wished the people of Somalia a blessed and happy Independence Day on 26th June in 1960.

"I want to express my excellent wishes to Somalia and its citizens both in the country and out of the country on the occasion of 26th June, the 52nd anniversary of the Independence," said Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A half century of independence. Man, did they really make a success of it. Yay.....hooray......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/27/2012 17:14 Comments || Top||


Somalia's president to attend anti-piracy conference
(Sh.M.Network)-Somalia's president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed will attend the global anti-piracy conference that begins here tomorrow to affirm his country's commitment to fight the menace.

Mr Ahmed will also seek to shore up support and funding for development initiatives to root out piracy.

He will be among foreign ministers, senior government officials from more than 50 countries and heads of maritime industries at the two-day convention, which ends on Thursday.

Titled "A Regional Response to Maritime Piracy: Enhancing Public-Private Partnerships and Strengthening Global Engagement", the conference was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the port operator DP World.

It will take place at Al Jawhara Gardens Hotel in Jumeirah.

"The president is here to show the world that the country wants piracy to be eradicated once and for all," said Hussein Mahamed, the charge d'affairs of the Somalia embassy in the UAE.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Africa North
Loser In Egypt Presidential Vote Leaves Country
A Cairo airport official says Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
's last prime minister who was defeated by an Islamist in the race for Egypt's new president has left the country for the United Arab Emirates.
 
The official says Ahmed Shafik flew out of Egypt at dawn Tuesday with his three daughters and grandchildren, just hours after the country's prosecutor general opened an investigation into allegations that he wasted public funds during his eight-year-term as a civil aviation minister under Mubarak.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  ...flew out of Egypt at dawn Tuesday with his three daughters and grandchildren, and his account numbers and pass-words FIFY

So much of what happens in the ME leaves me torn hoping both sides lose big.
Posted by: AlanC || 06/27/2012 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Smart guy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 13:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep. Exeunt, stage left, pursued by crazies.
Posted by: mojo || 06/27/2012 14:35 Comments || Top||


Egypt court rejects army powers to arrest civilians
[Saudi Gazette] An Egyptian court Tuesday tossed out a government decree allowing the army to arrest civilians, a setback to military rulers preparing for this week's formal handover to Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first Islamist president.

The Moslem Brüderbund and other opponents of military rule were furious when the army-backed interim government empowered soldiers to arrest civilians, effectively reinstating Hosni Mubarak's
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
hated state of emergency, which lapsed on May 31. "The court has blocked the decision of the Justice Minister that gave military and military intelligence officers powers of arrest," said Cairo administrative court Judge Ali Fikry.

But Brotherhood officials said they had struck some accords with the generals on the president's prerogatives, on an assembly that is supposed to write a long-delayed constitution, and on the fate of the dissolved Islamist-dominated parliament.

"We do not accept having a president without powers. The solution being worked out now is scaling back those restrictions so that President Mursi can deliver to the people what he promised," said Essam Haddad, an aide to the president.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Next "The judges can't be reached for comment"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 2:14 Comments || Top||

#2  President Mursi can deliver to the people what he promised

What did he promise again? Oh, yeah, he promised Sharia and all the strictures and demands of the Koran. How long till we see the total gutting of any secular tendencies in the army and the public executions like Afghanistan under the Talibs?
Posted by: AlanC || 06/27/2012 10:15 Comments || Top||

#3  How about buying some wheat? oh, no money, just get it from Obama's stash.
Posted by: bman || 06/27/2012 14:18 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Electricity Minister: Sabotage attacks are politically-motivated
[Yemen Post] Yemeni Minister of Electricity Dr. Saleh Sumai said that the sabotage attacks targeting the power supply lines and oil pipelines are politically-motivated.

In an interview with the state-run television, Sumai said that the current crisis in the energy sector caused by the repeated sabotage attacks is triggered by the political faults of the former regime and stressed that the National Unity Government (NUG) would avoid committing the same mistakes.

The Marib province, he explained, is not connected to the national electricity network and revealed that the NUG is working to provide Marib, where the biggest power station in the country is based, with 20 megawatt of power and make it a part of the national grit.

Speaking about the NUG's resolve to protect the public services, Sumai pointed out that the government is going to deal with the sabotage attacks as criminal acts and that it would secure the power supply lines no matter what the sacrifices would be.

"Yemen has changed and people must realize the change and adopt to it," he said.Yemen only has 800 megawatt of energy while Somalia, its neighbor which is harshly-hit by civil wars and conflicts, has 1200 megawatt of power, according to the minister.

Sumai noted that the power transmission lines have been subjected to attacks in certain areas and by certain people since the eruption of the revolution which triggered a wave of unrest throughout the country. He further stressed that before February of last year, the power lines have never come under sabotage attacks.

Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Britain
Queen shakes hands with former IRA commander
Posted by: ryuge || 06/27/2012 06:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Northern Ireland, yet another failed demographic invention from Albion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, allowing the creation of Eire was a mistake.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/27/2012 9:01 Comments || Top||

#3  After which, she doused it in carbolic acid.
Posted by: mojo || 06/27/2012 12:05 Comments || Top||

#4  "blegh" pretty much sums up my feelings.
Posted by: Charles || 06/27/2012 12:32 Comments || Top||


Arab Spring Provided New Breeding Ground For British Terrorists -- Spy Chief
The Arab Spring has spawned a new generation of British-born Death Eaters after al-Qaeda lured dozens of would-be bombers abroad to train for possible attacks on the UK, the head of MI5 warned.

Jonathan Evans said the terror network has taken advantage of the unstable region, in the wake of last year's revolutions, to spread its influence and create new bases for attacks.

British would-be jihadis are known to be receiving training in the likes of Libya and Egypt, mirroring what has already happened in the Yemen and Somalia.

And they could return to attack the UK in what is a "new and worrying development", he said.

Mr Evans, the Director General of MI5, warned of the emerging threats in a rare speech, his first in almost two years.

In his talk, he also:

: Revealed that the intelligence services and police are preparing for a potential threat from Islamic fascisti and even lone wolf Death Eaters should the Eurozone collapse.

: Warned State-sponsored and criminal cyber attacks risked "real world damage" including one British company which has suffered estimated losses of £800m after being hacked.

: Suggested a potential return to State-sponsored terrorism by Iran.

: Said it would be "extraordinary and self-defeating" if the Government's proposed new email and phone snooping powers did not go ahead.

Popular revolts across Arab nations were last year welcomed around the world and resulted in, among others, the end of Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
's reign in Egypt and Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
regime in Libya.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, described events at the time as "incredibly exciting".

But in the inaugural Lord Mayor's Annual Defence and Security Lecture in London last night, Mr Evans warned a new terror threat has emerged from an "Arab world in radical transition".

He said while the events offered long term hope there was a "more immediate problem" as al-Qaeda has returned to its native home.

"Today parts of the Arab world have once more become a permissive environment for al-Qaeda.

"This is the completion of a cycle -- al-Qaeda first moved to Afghanistan in the 1990s due to pressure in their Arab countries of origin. They moved on to Pakistain after the fall of the Taliban.

"And now some are heading home to the Arab world again. And a small number of British would be jihadis are also making their way to Arab countries to seek training and opportunities for turban activity, as they do in Somalia and Yemen.

"Some will return to the UK and pose a threat here. This is a new and worrying development and could get worse as events unfold."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are we missing Mubarak + Uncle Muammar Gaddafi yet???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Who'd expected that?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 2:09 Comments || Top||

#3  They make a nice G&T at the Strand in Blackpool. Take the week end off Johnathon, you've earned it!
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 3:36 Comments || Top||

#4  This fails the bullshit test for me!

Some spurious justifications for more state intrusion.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/27/2012 7:11 Comments || Top||

#5  I understand the concern about state intrusion, Bright Pebbles, but OTOH given the way that AQIM has spread into e.g. Mali and collaborated with Tuaregs closely in the wake of the Libyan 'liberation', it's quite likely that both Libya and Egypt really are now hosting training centers.
Posted by: lotp || 06/27/2012 9:50 Comments || Top||

#6  It's totally unfocussed and just makes claims that a rag-bag of civil service promoted state intrusion will do anything except run up false positives.

As MI5 etc are vast opaque bureaucracies managed by ex-public schoolboy types, I guess their utility per pound spent is almost negative...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/27/2012 11:43 Comments || Top||

#7  we have lots of Pakistanis and Somalians with lots of time on their hands being mainly jobless the more religious they are!
Posted by: Fester Clunter7205 || 06/27/2012 16:12 Comments || Top||


Europe
Norwegian Man Trained By Al Qaeda Waiting To Receive His Target Has European Nations On Edge
Western intelligence officials have long feared such a scenario - a convert to Islam who is trained in terrorist methods and can blend in easily in Europe and the U.S., traveling without visa restrictions.

Officials from three European security agencies confirmed Monday the man is "operational," meaning he has completed his training and is about to receive a target. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. They declined to name the man, who has not been accused of a crime.

European security services, including in Norway, have warned in recent years of homegrown, radicalized Mohammedans traveling to terror training camps in conflict zones. Many of the known cases involve young men with family roots in Mohammedan countries.

But the latest case involves a man in his 30s with no immigrant background, the officials said. After converting to Islam in 2008, he quickly became radicalized and traveled to Yemen to receive terror training, one of the officials said. The man spent "some months" in Yemen and is still believed to be there, he said.

The official said the man has no criminal record, which would also make him an ideal recruit for Al Qaeda.

The man has not been accused of a crime in Norway, where traveling abroad to attend terror training camps is not a crime per se.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  if yall know who he is just keep a real close eye on him. O rjust make him disappear!
Posted by: chris || 06/27/2012 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe a "flight" to meet the 13th imam?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/27/2012 7:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Is there a tragic trip-and-fall accident in his murky future?
Posted by: mojo || 06/27/2012 14:33 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm all sympathy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 14:45 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
American Muslims Stone Christians in Dearborn, MI
Posted by: Sputer Flasing4132 || 06/27/2012 05:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Luckily things like this are not happening here in the States.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 8:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the cops are confused too. They probably would have done something if the freagin higher-ups let them.
Posted by: Charles || 06/27/2012 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Take note of how Obama in the beginning of the video emphasized the "Hussein" part of his full name. He IS emphasizing his Muslim religion, especially when he tells of how hard it is supposed to be elected with the namen "Hussein" in the United States of America, supposed a Christian nation.
Posted by: Glaving Creresh1808 || 06/27/2012 13:00 Comments || Top||

#4  swilton@americanarab.com

Sandy Wilton - Arab Festival "Rich in Diversity"
Posted by: Snakes Hupeper5608 || 06/27/2012 13:35 Comments || Top||

#5  IIRC the Saudis were in the lead to "buy" Detroit + other bankrupt Michigan locales for FTZS/EEZ purposes, whilst China wanted to purchase or acquire Michigan as compensation for the US failure to pay its massive public debt to them.

D *** MG IT. ARE THE CANADIANS = MACKENZIE BROS. GOING TO INVADE AS REVENGE PAST US INVASIONS AGZ THEM???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 19:37 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Report: Turkey Deploys Troops On Syrian Border
Turkish daily says tanks, armored vehicles mobilized following downing of Turkish fighter jet by Syrian army

Turkey has deployed a large number of tanks and other armored vehicles to the Syrian border amid rising tensions with Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
over the downing of a Turkish fighter jet by the Syrian army, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported Tuesday.
 
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
addressed his new government and said his country was in a real state of war. He gave no sign of a softer approach towards a pro-democracy revolt by ordering his newly appointed government to direct all policies towards winning.
 
"We live in a real state of war from all angles," Assad told a cabinet he appointed on Tuesday. "When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."

Assad snubbed countries that have been calling for him to step aside, saying the West "takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage".
 
According to Hurriyet Daily, the Turkish deployment included 15 armored tanks in addition to long-distance guns and other military vehicles. "The convoy was heavily guarded en route to the border fearing an attack by Kurdish rebels," the report said.
 
The move comes hours after Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to retaliate against Damascus over the downing of its fighter jet.
 
Erdogan said that Turkey changes the rules of engagement with Syria and branded its former ally as "a clear and imminent threat".
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How many "armored" tanks again Fawquad? I believe it was at least 15, and some bongo trucks as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Is it wrong of me to wonder if there was a crew in that F-4?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/27/2012 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Should declare Eastern Syria (or all of Syria) as Kurdistan and get the Kurds involved and hopefully moving there. Might see Iran and Iraq happily send Kurdish troops to help.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/27/2012 15:09 Comments || Top||

#4  rjschwarz, Turkey is going after the Kurds in Iraq right now. We may have a new short round to deal with. I don't trust the man at all. His country as I recall is in a slump. He may wish to divert attention.
Posted by: Dale || 06/27/2012 20:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
FBI Probe Targets Suspected Islamic Extremists in U.S. Army
[An Nahar] The FBI is investigating more than 100 suspected Islamic Death Eaters in the U.S. military, following the 2009 "lone wolf" attack by an alleged al-Qaeda sympathizer that killed 13 people at a Texas army base, a news report said Monday.

About a dozen of the cases are considered "serious" threats involving suspects believed to be actively planning attacks or in contact with dangerous cut-thoats, National Public Radio reported.

The potential internal threats come from active duty military as well as reserves and civilians with access to military installations, the radio broadcaster reported.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the investigations.

The FBI discussed the investigation at a joint House and Senate committee closed-door hearing last December, according to NPR.
See the NPR report here.
"I know one can say that as a percentage of the millions of people in active military service or working with contractors, the numbers you talk about are a small percentage of the total," Joseph Lieberman, the senator who presided over the hearing, told NPR.

"But the reality is it only took one man, Nidal Hasan, to kill 13 people at Fort Hood and injure a lot more."
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  of course the fact that the Islamic extremists are all, well, moslem, doesn't really mean anything at all... its just a statistical quirk
Posted by: Lord Garth || 06/27/2012 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I know it's totally out-of-the-box thinking, ....but are any of those under "investigation" enrolled in flight training or excited about becoming chemical officers or nuclear engineers?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 3:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Not sure if you're in contact with AlQ you can be described as "lone Wolf"...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/27/2012 7:21 Comments || Top||

#4  "Lone Wolves" make excellent intelligence sources, enable thousands of IR's to be written, and generally require little care and feeding.... until they go crackers before an overseas deployment and begin killing people.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 8:52 Comments || Top||

#5  That terrible racist FBI, how dare them target peacefull muslims....
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/27/2012 14:38 Comments || Top||

#6  "Doh"
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/27/2012 15:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Going to Penn State, are they, + N-O-T for Sandusky!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 19:39 Comments || Top||

#8  About a dozen of the cases are considered "serious" threats involving suspects believed to be actively planning attacks or in contact with dangerous cut-thoats, National Public Radio reported

Well, as long that they complete mandatory diversity-awareness training, I'm sure it'll all turn out alright...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/27/2012 23:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Top leadership of TTP eliminated: Rehman Malik
[Dawn] Adviser to prime minister of interior affairs, Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
while talking to media persons outside the Supreme Court of Pakistain has said the top leadership of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has been killed, DawnNews reported.

He added that some low-level-leaders of the banned outfit still exists in many cities though.

The adviser to the PM condemned the attack carried out by the TTP on a private television network office in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Alleged Mumbai plotter was planning new attack: police
[Dawn] An alleged key plotter in the 2008 Mumbai attacks now in Indian police custody had been living in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
for two years and was "talent-spotting" for another "massive attack", an Indian police official said on Tuesday.

Sayeed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Hamza and Abu Jindal, was cooled for a few years
Please don't kill me!
at Delhi airport on June 21 on his arrival from Saudi Arabia. Police revealed his arrest only on Monday, after interrogating him for five days about the three-day rampage in the financial hub of Mumbai that killed 166 people.

Police said Ansari helped coordinate the attack by 10 members of Pakistain's 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) thug group from a "control room" in the Pak city of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and also helped to train the gunnies.

Until his arrest, Ansari had been living in Saudi Arabia on a Pak passport, an official at New Delhi's anti-terrorist police unit told Rooters on condition of anonymity.

During his stay in the desert kingdom, Ansari sought to recruit volunteers for another Mumbai-style attack, the official said. He would not say where the planned attack was to have taken place or even whether India was the target.

Asked how India had learned of Ansari's whereabouts, the official said: "We had inputs and we acted on them." He would not elaborate, but some Indian media, quoting sources, said the United States, which has sought to deepen its counter-terrorism relationship with India, had provided the information.

The Hindu newspaper, quoting government sources, said the arrest came after months of painstaking diplomatic talks between Riyadh, Washington and New Delhi. Indian officials had travelled to Saudi Arabia to lobby for him to be handed over, it said.

It was not clear whether Ansari was in Saudi custody before his deportation from the kingdom or even how he had travelled to Delhi. One newspaper said the Saudis had asked India to send a plane to take him home.

The Saudi embassy in Delhi could not be reached for comment.

Indian media, quoting intelligence and police sources, said Ansari had admitted during interrogation to training the attackers, teaching them Hindi and speaking to them by telephone during the attack. He said Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, the suspected criminal mastermind of the attack and founder of the LeT, was present in the Bloody Karachi "control room", media quoted the sources as saying.

Washington has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Saeed's arrest.

Ansari's arrest casts a fresh spotlight on Pakistain's history of backing thug groups as a tool of foreign policy.
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant...
Pakistain's ISI military intelligence agency nurtured the emergence of the LeT in the early 1990s to serve as a proxy to fight Indian forces in Kashmire.

Pakistain denies backing thug groups, but experts believe the security establishment maintains a relationship with LeT.

Pakistain's government has not commented on Ansari's arrest.

A Gulf-based source familiar with the Ansari case said Pakistain had exerted pressure on Saudi Arabia not to release him into Indian custody. "The ISI wanted Abu Hamza to be handed over to Pakistain rather than anywhere else," he said.

An Arab diplomat in Islamabad expressed surprise that Saudi Arabia had handed over Ansari to India.

"This makes no sense that the Saudis would help India and anger the Paks. The Saudis see Pakistain as their nuclear guarantee against Iran and they would never go against the ISI," he said.
And yet they did. Perhaps the Saudis are annoyed at the new friendship growing between Pakistan and Iran, with that oil pipeline planned to run between the two.
India's Foreign Ministry and analysts played down any suggestions that Ansari's arrest could damage diplomatic talks with arch-rival Pakistain on a host of disputed issues.

"This arrest is unlikely to have a negative impact on talks between India and Pakistain unless further investigations reveal that the cooled for a few years
Please don't kill me!
person was used by Pakistain to plot another terror attack on India," said B. Raman, a former top Indian intelligence official and now security analyst.
There is that little stumbling block, neatly laid by Pakistan in its own path.
The Mumbai attacks heightened tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistain, which have fought three wars since 1947, and have continued to cast a pall over fragile relations ever since.

Ten hard boyz arrived on the Mumbai shoreline in a dinghy on Nov. 26, 2008, before splitting into four groups and embarking on a killing spree. They held off elite commandos for up to 60 hours in two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre in the city. The only attacker to survive was sentenced to death in 2010.

A voice believed to belong to Ansari was recorded talking to the gunnies attacking the Jewish centre. He is reported to have told the attackers to convey to the media that the "attack was a trailer and the entire movie was yet to come."
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  So-o-o-o after Penn State, those FBI Boyz searching for Islamic extremists in the US Army will be off to Saudi Arabia next.

Where, as per the Secret Service, they may get in trouble wid the local Hooker Babes???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 19:45 Comments || Top||

#2  NEW KERALA > PAKISTAN SUPPORT FOR 26/11 [Mumbai attack] CONFIRMED: CHIDAMBARAM, following arrest in India of Abu Hamza aka ABu Jindal.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > ATTEMPT TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON [post-Salala] PAKISTAN WID ARREST OF ANOTHER [Mumbai = 26/11] MASTERMIND |INDIA ARREST OF MUMBAI ATTACK PLANNER SHEDS LIGHT ON PAKISTANI ROLE.

* SAME > [Abu Hamza/Jindal arrest] MARATHWADA BECOMING "NEW PAKISTAN, SAYS BAL THACKERAY [Shiva Sena Chief], hence also poses a national security threat to India.

"Land of Saints" Marathwada devol into "Land of
Evil/Terrorism" = a major or strategic battlefield for Hindu-vs-Muslim Extremists.

* SAME > US PAYS HIGH PRICE FOR PAKISTAN ROUTES CUTOFF: ADMIRAL. USN VADM. Mark Harnitchek.

PAK-centered SDN only costs the US 1/3 of the average US$20,000 cost to ship a container from the US to Afghanistan - NDN thru CENTASIA is over 3X-more costly.

VERSUS

* SAME > "DON'T BLAME US, ABU HAMZA IS INDIAN"!- PAKISTAN.

Uh, uh, OOOOOOOPPPPPPPS, INJUH, YOUR BAD???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 21:33 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkey Says It May Target Any Syrian Forces Nearing Border
[NY Times] Buoyed by support from its NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
allies, Turkey escalated its warnings against Syria on Tuesday, even as some American and allied officials privately raised questions about whether the Turkish warplane shot down by Syrian air defenses -- provoking the denunciation -- had been on a spy mission.

In response to the downing, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey warned Syrian forces to stay clear of their troubled border or face a military response to any perceived threat. Mr. Erdogan's bellicose tone came as ambassadors from the Atlantic alliance, seeking to avoid a wider conflict, held emergency talks in Brussels at Turkey's behest.

After the meeting, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the alliance considered Syria's actions in shooting down the Turkish warplane to be "unacceptable."

While the American and allied officials emphasized that some intelligence reports flowing in since the downing last Friday were murky and often conflicting, they said a preliminary analysis of the available data suggested that there may have been more to the aircraft's mission that just a routine training exercise to test Turkey's air defenses.

They pointed to several unanswered questions about the episode, including why, given the tensions between the two countries, Turkey was flying an unarmed reconnaissance plane so close to the Syrian border, where the aircraft was struck, and whether it received any warnings to leave Syrian airspace.

Syria maintains that the plane was brought down by antiaircraft fire well within its airspace. But Turkey says the plane was attacked over international waters after straying briefly into Syrian space.

American military and NATO officials said they were examining these claims as well as radar tracks and other classified information to better understand what happened.

But the officials said they were loath to publicly challenge an ally's version of the downing, which the White House and the State Department have condemned as unjustified and have cited as an example of the recklessness of the security forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
of Syria.

"On a political level, NATO is taking the Turks at their word," said a senior United States official who has reviewed classified reports of the episode.

One senior NATO diplomat said that even if the Turks were spying, it should not alter the international reaction. "When this happens between neighboring countries, you give a warning and then send up interceptors," said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. "You don't just shoot down the plane."
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Note to self.
Stock up: popcorn & condiments.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 2:13 Comments || Top||


Russia Says Syria Downing of Turkey Jet Not a 'Provocation'
[An Nahar] Russia on Tuesday said its regional ally Syria's downing of a Turkish jet should not be viewed as a provocation and urged all nations to tone down their rhetoric over the incident.
Go ahead. Shoot a Russian plane down. See what they call it.
"We believe it is important that the incident is not viewed as a provocation or an intentional action, and that it does not lead to destabilizing the situation," the foreign ministry said in its first comment on Friday's Phantom 4 jet downing.

"The escalation of political propaganda -- including on the international level -- is especially dangerous when there are efforts under way to mobilize all influential outside players" in arranging a lasting grinding of the peace processor.

The statement was issued only moments after Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had accepted an invitation to attend an international meeting on the conflict in Geneva on Saturday.

The U.N. announcement came as a surprise because the meeting has still not been formally agreed by Western and regional governments amid infighting over participation in the talks of close Syria and Russia partner Iran.

Russia supplies air defense systems to Syria and had remained conspicuously silent about the plane downing even as NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
leaders met to consider the Western military bloc's response.

The Moscow statement urged all sides to exercise "restraint" and for Turkey and Syria to establish direct dialogue that could help avoid a potential military escalation between the two uneasy neighbors.

"We believe that the best line of conduct in this situation is restraint and constructive cooperation between Turkey and Syria aimed at clearing up all the circumstances of the incident and preventing such tragic events from happening again," the ministry statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Russia Says Syria Downing of Turkey Jet Not a 'Provocation'

A business decision then?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 8:31 Comments || Top||

#2  One did not realize that the Russians were in possession of such a dry and rarified sense of humor.
Posted by: Shinter Javirong9154 || 06/27/2012 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah. Kinda like shooting down a 747 isn't a "provocation"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/27/2012 18:25 Comments || Top||

#4  If the wreckage is found in Syrian waters, it should be amusing to hear Turkey's explanation. After all, Erdogan did call the jihadist volunteers attempting to smuggle arms to Hamas "peace activists".
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 06/27/2012 19:01 Comments || Top||

#5  The jury is still out amongst the MilBlogs/
Forums as to whether it was Russian forces, present or en-route; or Russian-controlled Syrian ADS Network that originally downed Turkey's RF-4???

* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > SYRIA TO RECEIVE NEW RUSSIA ARMS SOON: THINK-TANK [CAST = Russia]

* FYI DEBKA > claims that British SPECOPS have entered Syria, + that Assad's Presidential coumpound has been attacked.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 23:29 Comments || Top||


U.N. Mission in Syria to Stay Suspended
[An Nahar] The United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
mission in Syria will remain suspended because conflict between government and opposition forces is intensifying, a top U.N. official told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

And U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
has still not secured agreement on a political transition plan that all the major powers can back so that an international meeting on the conflict can go ahead this week, diplomats said.

Herve Ladsous, U.N. peacekeeping chief, said civilians in Syria face "increasing danger" and "conditions are not conducive to resume operations," diplomats at a closed Security Council meeting on the conflict said.

The almost 300 unarmed U.N. monitors halted operations on June 16 as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's crackdown against opposition groups intensified.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


U.S. Says Signs Growing Assad Losing Control of Syria
[An Nahar] The United States said Tuesday that a "desperate" Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
was slowly losing his grip on power, citing defections and fighting raging increasingly close to Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
Washington offered new support to its NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
ally Turkey after Syrian forces shot down one of its fighter planes and also pushed back on Russia's insistence that Iran should take part in a planned international conference on Syria.

"Clearly, Bashir al-Assad has been slowly -- too slowly -- losing his grip over his country," White House front man Jay Carney said on Air Force One as President Barack Obama
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today...
flew to a campaign event in Atlanta.

"I would note that recent high-level military defections to Jordan and Turkey are another testament to the regime's loss of control over the situation in Syria."

"It is clear, however, that Assad is desperate to hang on to power at all cost, as evidenced by his continued use of air power and Shabiha gangs."

A steady stream of high-ranking military officers have defected to Turkey in recent days and several pilots have made their way to Jordan.

Carney said it was also a "fair assessment" that deadly combat around elite Republican Guard posts in the Damascus suburbs between rebels and army units was a further sign of Assad's declining authority over his country.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  As soon as they start behaving like a dictator, that means they fear losing control.
Posted by: gorb || 06/27/2012 10:56 Comments || Top||


Erdogan tells Syria to beware Turkish wrath
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Syria to beware the wrath of Turkey after the shooting down of a warplane and said he had ordered the armed forces to react to any military threat from Syria near the two countries' border.

Erdogan's warning to Syria reflected increased tensions not only on the Mediterranean coast, where the aircraft was shot down last Friday, but on a long common land border criss-crossed by rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad.
Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike...
In Syria itself, Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
suburbs were gripped by the worst fighting in the capital since the uprising against Assad began 16 months ago. The city had long been seen as a bastion of support for the president.

"Our rational response should not be perceived as weakness, our mild manners do not mean we are a tame lamb," he told a meeting of his parliamentary party. "Everybody should know that Turkey's wrath is just as strong and devastating as its friendship is valuable."

NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
member states, summoned by Turkey to an urgent meeting in Brussels, condemned Syria over the incident that resulted in the loss of two airmen. The cautious wording of a statement demonstrated the fear of Western powers as well as Turkey that armed intervention in Syria could stir a sectarian conflict across the region.
Posted by: Fred || 06/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/27/2012 2:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The Maasai give no warning when offended, death by the blade can arrive very swiftly, without comment or remorse. Something to be said for the tribal ways, nothing lost on meaningless dialogue and bluster.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/27/2012 3:26 Comments || Top||

#3  C'mon, Erdogan. No need to get your moustache in a wad. Putin himself says it wasn't a provocation.
Posted by: gorb || 06/27/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||

#4  As for "help" from US, Erdogan should remember the 4th ID floating offshore all dressed up with no place to go. What goes around, comes around.
Posted by: rwv || 06/27/2012 17:01 Comments || Top||

#5  And so the Blame Game begins - the RF-4 is being proclaimed as shot down by an Iran-made AD Sys, inferring that any US-Israeli, etc. air campaign agz Iran's NucProgs will be more costly as per air losses than what the former perceive.

Another is that the RF-4 was a wily dastardly deceptive "false flag" Mil Ploy intended by Turkey [US-NATO?] to lure Syria into initiating direct milaction which would justify Turkey [US-NATO?] devastating mil response agz Baby Assad + Syria???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/27/2012 21:16 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2012-06-27
  Al-Qaeda operatives escape to Oman
Tue 2012-06-26
  U.S drone strikes al-Qaeda vehicles in Aden
Mon 2012-06-25
  Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi Declared Egypt's President
Sun 2012-06-24
  Yemen Army Takes Control of Qaida Bastion Azzan
Sat 2012-06-23
  Turkish Warplane Vanishes over Syria Border
Fri 2012-06-22
  It's Over: A Dozen Dead After Taliban Take Hostages In Kabul Hotel
Thu 2012-06-21
  29 Soldiers among 58 Dead in Violence across Syria
Wed 2012-06-20
  'Al-Qaeda militant' takes hostages at bank in Toulouse
Tue 2012-06-19
  IDF hits terror cell near Gaza fence
Mon 2012-06-18
  Nigeria: 21 killed, 100 wounded in church blasts
Sun 2012-06-17
  Baghdad bombs target Shiite pilgrims, 32 killed
Sat 2012-06-16
  Yemen army seizes Shuqra after Qaeda pullout
Fri 2012-06-15
  Syria Violence Kills More Than 60
Thu 2012-06-14
  Army takes over in Egypt
Wed 2012-06-13
  At Least 73 Dead in Shelling and Clashes across Syria


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