Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Good way to receive a success is to get the useful custom essay online or releases just about this post, or just get know just about our costs choosing the essay writing organization.
[Quqnoos] A suicide attack killed at least 16 civilians in a bazaar on Thursday in southern Uruzgan province, officials said. The incident occurred in a crowded bazaar in Deh Rawud district, wounding 13 others -- most of the civilians.
A local police official in the volatile Uruzgan province put the death toll even higher, saying 20 people were killed in the blast.
In Uruzgan's neighbouring Helmand province, a suicide bomber struck a police convoy on Thursday, wounding four civilians. The attack took place in Musa Qala, a town in the volatile Helmand province, said district chief Mullah Abdul Salam.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that the number of civilians killed by anti-government forces in 2009 rose 40 percent for a year earlier to over 1,600. The UN says suicide attacks and roadside bombings were the main cause of civilian casualties last year in Afghanistan.
No group, including Taliban, has claimed immediate responsibility for the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
If the US and NATO were not in A'stan these kind of killings wouldn't be happening. They'd be limited to executions at soccer stadiums and such. Oh, and fake reporters blowing up politicians.
[Maghrebia] Touareg mediators are reportedly close to reaching an agreement with al-Qaeda kidnappers for the release of Burkinabe hostage Philomene Kaberee, ANSA and El Khabar reported on Wednesday (January 13th). The 39-year-old was abducted last month, along with her Italian husband and Ivoirien driver, when terrorists ambushed their minibus in eastern Mauritania. The hostages were then moved to Mali.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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(Reuters) - A Yemeni air strike on two cars killed at least six suspected al Qaeda militants in northern Yemen on Friday, a Yemeni security official said. "Two cars carrying eight dangerous al Qaeda members were hit in an area between Saada and al-Jouf," the security official told Reuters. "Two may have survived and escaped," he added. Drat, blast, and damn. We can always pray they have sucking chest wounds ...
Or contract tetanus from a scratch, or sepsis...Or were watched from above as they joined another group of miscreants. Lots of desirable outcomes, actually.
The source confirmed Qassem al-Reni was killed: "He is the al Qaeda military leader and senior planner of most operations in Yemen. "He escaped two previous airstrikes," he added.
The source said another al Qaeda militant, Ayed al-Shabwani, was killed in the same air strike.
Yemen had already intensified operations against al Qaeda since a Yemen-based wing of the group said it was behind a failed December 25 attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner.
Yemen declared open war on al Qaeda on Thursday and warned its citizens against aiding the global militant group.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pro-government Yemen tribesmen have killed 10 Houthi rebels in the Arab Gulf country after they tried to take up positions in homes in a northern town, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
It said that members of the Shoulan tribe killed the rebels in a barrage of rifle fire. Houthi rebels revolted against the government since 2004, complaining of social, economic and religious marginalization.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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Yemeni clergies have issued a decree calling for jihad in case of a foreign military intervention as the prospects of an American military presence in the country grows stronger. "If any party insists on aggression, or invades the country, then according to Islam, jihad (holy war) becomes obligatory," Yemen's council of clerics said in a statement signed by 150 clerics and read at a media conference on Thursday.
Northern Yemen has been the scene of a relentless military offensive by government forces, joined by the Saudi army, against Houthi fighters seeking greater rights for the country's "repressed" Shia minority.
The United States stepped into the stage late last year, reportedly using drones for pounding a number of southern provinces as part of what Washington calls a pursuit of an al-Qaeda cell operating inside the Yemeni territory.
The fetwa by Yemeni clerics comes a day after senior US Senator Carl Levin called on Washington to consider drone attacks against "al-Qaeda extremists" in Yemen.
The Democratic lawmaker from Michigan urged airstrikes, clandestine actions, and increasing US military aid to the Sana'a government as options that US President Barack Obama's administration should consider in dealing with the "threat from al-Qaeda militants" in Yemen.
On Thursday, Sana'a declared an open war with the so-called Yemeni al-Qaeda and warned citizens against hiding militants and asked them to cooperate with security forces. "The war security forces launched against al-Qaeda elements is open whenever or wherever we find these elements," a government news website reported, quoting an unnamed security source.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Its always the (un)holy men who are our biggest enemy!
CHICAGO -- Two Chicago men were indicted Thursday on charges they planned a violent attack on a Danish newspaper and helped lay the groundwork for the November 2008 terrorist rampage killed 166 people in the Indian city of Mumbai. Businessman Tahawwur Rana and his associate David Coleman Headley already had been charged with assistance to terrorism but the 12-count indictment expanded allegations against Rana to include the Mumbai attacks. Both are in federal custody in Chicago.
Retired Pakistani military officer Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed and reputed terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri -- described as having been in regular contact with al-Qaida's No. 3, Sheikh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid -- also were charged in the new indictment. Abdur Rehman and Kashmiri are accused of being involved with the plans to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, which in 2005 printed 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
Officials say the defendants were linked to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, translated as Army of the Pure, which has long been involved in violent conflict with India over the disputed Kashmir territory. The Indian government has blamed the group for the Mumbai attacks and the U.S. government has designated it as a foreign terrorist organization.
Headley, 49, formerly named Daood Gilani, is the son of a Pakistani father and an American mother. He has authorized the government to disclose that he is cooperating in the investigation, prosecutors said. His attorney, John Theis, declined to comment Thursday. Changed his name but not his spots ...
Nah, just used his "American name". I've got a Hebrew name as well as the English one that's on my birth certificate and passport. "Sarah bat Moshe v'Rifka", for the curious -- the last time I used it was during the bat mitzvah of trailing daughter #2. Likewise a childhood playmate of the trailing daughters whose Chinese name is, as I recall, Ping Qua, but whose American name -- the one on her birth certificate -- is Gina.
Rana, 49, is a Pakistan-born Canadian national who has based his First World Immigration Service company and other businesses in Chicago for more than a dozen years. A message seeking comment was left for his attorney, Patrick Blegen. Blegen has called Rana a legitimate businessman who was duped by Headley and denies the charges against him.
Kashmiri has been described as a leader of the terrorist group Harakat-ul Jihad Islami. The indictment marks the first appearance in the case for al-Yazid, described as a leader of Al Qaeda's activities in Afghanistan.
The indictment alleges Headley attended terrorism training camps run by Lashkar in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003. He is accused of conducting surveillance of Mumbai targets in five trips over two years preceding the 2008 attacks.
Headley received approval from Rana in June 2006 to open a Mumbai branch of First World Immigration Service as a cover for his surveillance activities, according to the indictment. It said Rana directed a First World employee to prepare documents supporting the story and showed Headley how to get a visa for travel to India.
The indictment said Headley photographed and videotaped potential targets, including the Taj Mahal Hotel and other sites later attacked with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices by 10 terrorists who stormed through the city, killing dozens and wounding hundreds more, including Americans.
Headley also is accused of conducting surveillance at Jyllands Posten newspaper offices in the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aahus. Rana allegedly sent a January 2009 e-mail to the newspaper pretending to be interested in placing an ad for First World, the indictment said.
The following month, Abdur Rehman allegedly took Headley to meet with Kashmiri in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. Kashmiri reviewed Headley's surveillance and suggested using a truck bomb on the paper, according to the indictment. That May, Kashmiri told Headley to meet with unnamed contacts in Europe who would provide money, weapons and manpower for the attack, the indictment said. But Headley was arrested while the plans still were under way, it said.
Headley is charged with 12 counts. Six charge a conspiracy to murder and maim people in India and provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The maximum punishment is the death penalty. Rana is charged with three counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman are charged with conspiracy to murder and maim people in Denmark. They would face a possible death penalty if they were to be brought to the United States and convicted.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2010 10:56 ||
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Pay heed, clock-punchers: There's a war on.
WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon inquiry into the case of the alleged Fort Hood shooter could lead to punishment of up to eight Army officers, a U.S. official said late Thursday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to refer findings on the officers to the Army for further inquiry and possible punishment. The report on what went wrong in the case of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused in the shootings, is expected to be released Friday.
The official said a Pentagon inquiry finds fault with five to eight supervisors who knew or should have known about the shortcomings and erratic behavior of the shooting suspect. Hasan is accused of killing 13 people at the Texas Army base on Nov. 5.
Let's start with the psychiatry residency program director at Walter Reed ...
The officers supervised Hasan when he was a medical student and during his early work as an Army psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The official described the confidential report on condition of anonymity because it has not been made public.
According to information gathered during the internal Pentagon review and obtained by The Associated Press last week, Hasan's strident views on Islam became more pronounced as his training progressed. Worries about his competence also grew, yet his superiors continued to give him positive performance evaluations that kept him moving through the ranks. That led to his eventual assignment at Fort Hood.
Recent statistics show the Army rarely blocks junior officers from promotion, especially in the medical corps.
Hasan showed no signs of being violent or a threat. But parallels have been drawn between the missed signals in his case and those preceding the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner. President Barack Obama and his top national security aides have acknowledged they had intelligence about the alleged bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, but failed to connect the dots.
The Pentagon review is not intended to delve into allegations Hasan corresponded by e-mail with Yemen-based radical cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, before the Fort Hood shootings. Those issues are part of a separate criminal investigation by U.S. law enforcement officials.
Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Authorities have not said whether they plan to seek the death penalty.
After the Fort Hood shootings, Gates appointed two former senior defense officials to examine the procedures and policies for identifying threats within the military services. The review was led by former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Navy Adm. Vernon Clark.
#1
So now middle ranks are caught between Scylla of PC and Charybdis of common sense---the later studiously avoided by their superiors. Another way to weaken the only group that can effectively defend your constitution against the current threat.
#3
Well put grom. They don't care about the people actually doing things. The first head to roll should be that bastard who's first instinct was to worry about the impact Hasan could have on Muslim relations, Chairman of JCS I think. Then Gates. THEN the people who passed Hasan 'up and out'. I have no faith left in the FBI, and expect little or nothing from them.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/15/2010 6:06 Comments ||
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#4
Thanks Grom. I had exactly the same reaction to this but wasn't sure how to put it; and since I have no military experience, wasn't sure it was a valid analysis. You put it well. Ditto WM.
#7
I will always believe Hasan with his many terrorist connections, contacts, and money transfers simply had to be the subject of an active, on-going intelligence or counterterrorism operation.
#8
The military likes moral courage. One aspect is whether you're willing to risk your career to do the right thing.
It would help if, in addition to ruining your career, doing the right thing would actually make a difference.
In situations like this, doing the right thing would have ruined your career, and the maj would have gone on his merry way even though "assailed by islamophobes".
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/15/2010 8:28 Comments ||
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#9
Spot on Richard. Been there, seen it happen. STILL does not preclude a confidential request for a Commander's Inquiry and/or AR 15-6 investigation, or anonymous Department of the Army Inspector General (DAIG) written complaint/phone call to DSN: 329-1060, or anonymous request for Congressional Investigation. All of which MUST be addressed and answered in writing through the chain of command. Can you imagine someone in Hasan's chain of command coming forward right now and saying:
Gosh fellas, I'm glad you finally brought this shi* up. Here is my certified letter to the DAIG at the Pentagon.
I smell leadership complacency and as you have pointed out, lack of "moral courage."
#10
Military medical is almost a completely different organization from the rest of the military. Everyone part of the medical system, to include Medevac, have a singular focus and a "real" mission, 24/7.
That is, unless the line military is actually fighting, they are training, and under training rules. So there is a lot of b.s. about relatively unimportant things. But medical is always serious, as they are always taking care of real medical problems. No interest in b.s.
So "militarism" is right out among the medicos, if it interferes at all with their mission. There are Colonels as young as young Captains.
Hasan is 39 years old, but this is deceptive. He was enlisted for eight years, and after his education he only became a doctor in 2003. He was only promoted from Captain to Major in 2009.
Most Army physician medical officers go through their Officer Basic Course as Captains. If they are in highly desired specialties, as soon as they graduate, they are promoted.
Compared to the rest of the army, he is like a 32 year old PFC.
Since almost his entire time in ranks as an officer was in school, I am not surprised that his being a kook was ignored, as long as he did well at school. Think of it as the "Hawkeye Pierce" model. They don't care if they are a good officer, as long as they are a good, or at least passable doctor.
#11
Not sure, but I recall that he was not proficient, hardly passable, at his job.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/15/2010 9:17 Comments ||
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#12
Correct. He was NOT a passable doc; he had multiple problems both at the medical school and in his residency. He was on academic probation and had failed several courses at the med school. He took six years to graduate instead of four. His residency performance was marginal.
I appreciate (and agree with) the idea that military medical is 'on call' all the time. Hasan was letting people down from the time he entered medical school to the time he shot up Fort Hood and murdered the people there.
People responsible in the medical school and residency program need to be held to account.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2010 9:37 Comments ||
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#13
An article in The American Thinker on 1-15-2010 by Lance Fairchok
Political correctness and group exceptionalism let him, and probably others, skip by...If he were a member of a militia however, he would have been out. The DOD's security clearance questionnaire asks about militia membership, but not a peep about radical or violent Islamic groups.
We've got a problem with PC throughout our society that causes untold problems. Being mealy-mouthed, weasel-worded, or PC just makes us stupid.
#14
Unfortunately it really has gone well beyond simple PC attitudes. Gov't sanctioned 'group think' has now been institutionalized via 40+ years of affirmative action and other guilt based, 'feel good lets fix it' programes.
#15
Any officer or enlisted man who did as the Secretary of Defense asks would have been labeled a racist and drummed out of the service.
The President knows that.
The Secretary of Defense knows that.
Every man and woman in the Services knows that.
Every man, woman, and child in the United States knows that.
Posted by: Kelly ||
01/15/2010 10:27 Comments ||
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#16
So , his programme director , his educational supervisor , clinical supervisor , associate deans , panel sessions , annual reviews of competency , and fellow 'registrars' didnt pick up on his behaviour ?
The mind boggles .. It truely does .
I dont know how it works in the USA , but medical recruitment is pretty stiff and rigid over across the pond, the military feed staff into civil sectors for core training .
5 years in Med school
2 years in Foundation
3 years on the job training
and then prove fitness to practise every 5 years along with appraisals and CPDs
It can only seem to me that politically correct overruled medical judgement. If that is the case then one can only envisage a total overhaul of the militarys medical recruitment policys.
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/15/2010 10:38 Comments ||
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#17
Keep in mind that 50% of all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class. He sure swings the bell curve tho'.
#18
Ok so lets roll the clock back a year. Lets say I'm at Ft Hood and GirlThursday tells me he's a terrorist ( cause I'm a stupid officer that live in my own world)love ya GT, but could not resist. I check and agree thinking he a potential hand grenade. So I send a letter to the IG and CID explaining I think this guy believes we are wrong on this war. I say in my opinion he could be a threat to our soldiers. At the very least I think he should not be giving support to troops that he does not support. Lets say I am lucky enough to be at every event where he openly sites we are wrong. Both agencies will call him in. He will spout that I am a muzzie hater and I am the problem. They will not have probable cause to dig through his emails sent from home. He is a peace loving muzzie and CAIR will sue the FU(K out of me in civil court. It won't matter much because I will be put out of the Army on Racial and slander charges. I will be remided this is America and even dumbass muzzies get free speech aroud here. Remember its not a crime in America to speak your voice, it is a crime to slander someone. Our lower leaders know too well that this is how it works. It's not about being bold, it's all about the PC culture at the TOP! Up until the time when he walked into the replacement depot with a gun he broke no laws. Being a muzzie with a gun in Texas is not against the law. Believeing that we are wrong in Afghanistan and iraq is not a crime, or Murtha, Reid, and the majority of both houses would be in jail.
We are all frustrated here. He walked a seam in America's system that I don't believe we can fix. We do not need to build a McCarthy era all over. I do have exception to the officers that were standing there when he said the things he did. Those folks needed to take his ass out back. Confront him, make an event out of it.
Where I believe we failed, both the system and our soldiers is in the OER process. It is slow and has its own set of issues but the standards he failed to achieve in school was our only real safeguard against this nut. And not so much about him going on a shooting pree but his ability to provide a level of care.
We should never let ourselves believe he went to med school, then joined the Army, and went through the Army schools, so he could walk into a depot and kill a handfull of soldiers. What we failed to recognise is he was a weak doctor, poor student, and did not provide the level of care our troops deserved. This could have put him out to go shoot up a 7-11 and then blame it on the Army.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/15/2010 11:13 Comments ||
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#19
Being a muzzie with a gun in Texas is not against the law.
Correctly me if I'm wrong, but Ft Hood was a no-gun zone. The law and regulations are different the moment you enter the federal military installation from Texas.
After failing to purge the CIA after 9/11 and seeing the consequences of business as usual, this time some have to be held accountable if any change is to occur. There are a lot of things in the military which are just a big ass problem waiting to happen. The question is when not if. And anyone who's been in a position that involves said situation, just hopes they're not the one on station when the proverbial crap hits the fan. It's not about 'fair'. There is no 'fair'. It's about dealing with human behavior particularly the one to shuffle the problem off without anyone being held accountable.
When the 507th Maintenance got ambushed at the start of the last Iraq campaign everyone knew that CSS personnel were not getting even basic training in dealing with combat environments. It took that disaster to finally get the Army to face up to that gross deficiency. Unfortunately, it takes such bloody wake up calls before the lumbering institution will pay attention. Nothing makes it pay attention as to watch heads roll.
#20
Procopius.Wrt combat training for support units:
There's no PC organization dedicated to preventing combat training for support units.
Thus, the military can get its act together in this area without argument.
See the diff?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/15/2010 13:16 Comments ||
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#23
Good news. And I apologize for my unfounded criticism of all Officers of the other day. I was really out of line, its just that we had two officers in one unit that almost killed troops by friendly accidental fire/ and also the missing 200,000 of equipment incident. Long, boring stories that are off limits, but the Officer Corps does seem in need of a few upgrades in the Army. I should have distinguished "psychiatry" from other areas. Sigh. Good can come out of all the turmoil though, hopefully. Hope you forgive me, and I am out of the Army now so I can finally express myself, but I go overboard sometimes.
#24
GirlThursday, you are an asset to this site in my opinion, nor am I alone. You've discovered the flip side of a righteous rant, which is that no matter the subject there are Rantburgers with the knowledge to challenge one's positions. Respect is earnt by either supporting one's statements with data, gracefully conceding the point, or modifying the position to take into account valid objections. You passed that test just now. Well done, dear! :-)
#25
Any officer or enlisted man who did as the Secretary of Defense asks would have been labeled a racist and drummed out of the service.
What is important in that sentence is the use of the past tense. Perhaps Gates' comment is a signal that things are starting to change. I would not be surprised to see PC, affirmative action, and objections to profiling be a thing of the past in 5 years. There's a whole lot of change coming, but not what some had hoped for.
#26
nimble.
I'll believe it when I see it and I don't expect to see it.
In the first place, the officers and EM will not believe Gates. There's no reason they should.
Somebody will have to try to bell the cat and end up not thrown out.
Problem is, he'll be thrown out--imo--and so everybody else will learn the lesson.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/15/2010 16:52 Comments ||
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#27
Girl Thursday, your all good. Your point of view is appriciated round here, its yours, dont apologise. We do however bite back. I was out with a CPT and he called arty in on us back in 82! Damn near got us too. Had to teach him about fire missions in the dark.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/15/2010 17:44 Comments ||
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#28
I'll believe it when I see it and I don't expect to see it.
That's a very reasonable position. But we're living in very unreasonable times. I suspect the world will look as different 5 years from now as 1930 seemed in 1935. But I could be wrong.
#29
I was out with a CPT and he called arty in on us back in 82!
49, remind me some time over drinks to tell you about the FA-18 pilot who dropped a practice bomb on on the foc'sle of one of our squadron's cruisers. Or the A-6 crew during GWI doing a RTB clear-load who, had they dropped their bombs ten seconds later, would have taken out one of their own ships.
So yeah, there's f-ckups. Some of them get called on it sooner or later. Others get a pass.
#30
Procopius.Wrt combat training for support units:
There's no PC organization dedicated to preventing combat training for support units.
Ah, think again. When the Battle of the Bulge happened in December 1944, there were no clerks, no bakers, no mechanics. They all became infantrymen. In January 1968 in Tet, again, there were no clerks, no bakers, no mechanics. They all became infantrymen. They weren't up there in skill with the line personnel, but they made a good showing of themselves none the less.
Something happened between then an the debacle of the 507th. The Army altered its personnel makeup which changed its composition but failed to make adjustments to compensate for that social change. It required more, not less, training to make up for social change. It was known and ignored. PC said they're all the same, interchangeable, it didn't make a difference, till it bit them in the ass in a manner they couldn't ignore or hide.
#31
The purpose of an Army/Air Force/Navy is to close with the enemy and do whatever it takes to prevent said enemy from hurting us.
When did you last see this on a recruiting ad?
(Please note that I left out the Marines)
Posted by: Kelly ||
01/15/2010 19:58 Comments ||
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#32
procopius.
During the Battle of The Bulge, there was no influential group in the US organized to prevent the use of cooks, clerks and jerks, ash &trash, and other remfs as Infantry.
Today, we have CAIR and all the PC morons who will violently oppose what it takes to prevent another Ft. Hood type shooting.
That's the diff I was referring to. To which I was referring.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/15/2010 23:01 Comments ||
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This was a terrorist incident even if the authorities never said it or figured it out; therefore, Home Front WoT.
SEATTLE (AP) -- A man who went on a shooting rampage at a Seattle Jewish center, killing one woman and wounding five others, appealed for forgiveness and blamed his medication as a judge sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without parole.
''I am not a man filled with hate,'' Naveed Haq told the court. ''I would like to say I apologize from the depth of my being.''
Haq, 34, drove from his Eastern Washington home in Pasco to Seattle on July 28, 2006, and held a teenage girl at gunpoint as he forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. He stalked through the second-floor office, firing as workers dove for cover beneath their desks or leapt from windows.
Pamela Waechter, director of the charity's annual fundraising campaign, was killed as she fled down a stairwell. The shooting ended after Haq spoke with a 911 operator, criticized Israel and U.S. foreign policy, demanded to get on CNN, then gave himself up, saying he had made his point.
Haq was convicted last month at his second trial, after prosecutors detailed his extensive preparations for the attack -- including writing anti-Israeli manifestos, mapping the center's address on the Internet and test-firing his guns as he drove toward Seattle. They also played jailhouse recordings of conversations in which Haq told his mother he had done ''a good thing.''
His first trial ended with jurors unable to decide whether he was legally insane at the time of the killing.
Haq's lawyers pleaded with King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas on Thursday to ignore the mandatory life sentence for aggravated first-degree murder, the only alternative punishment after prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty. They argued she could consider his bipolar disorder in imposing an exceptionally low sentence of 25 years.
After hearing from victims, people involved with the Jewish Federation and Waechter's daughter, Nicole, the judge declined. ''Mr. Haq understood his plan, knew it was wrong and carried it out anyway,'' she said.
One victim, Cheryl Stumbo, told Haq she would work to change the world through love and charity, not hate. ''You failed at everything you tried to do that day,'' she said. ''You failed, while I triumphed.''
Another victim, Carol Goldman, spoke of the gallows humor that helped distract her from horrific memories -- joking about scar contests and making up T-shirts that read ''Spleenless in Seattle'' for one victim whose spleen had to be removed. Goldman said it was nice to hear Haq's apology, but it made little difference.
Tammy Kaiser, a former Jewish Federation worker who suffered knee, back and scalp injuries when she jumped out a window to escape the shooting, glared at Haq defiantly and alluded to some of the final words of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl before he was beheaded by al-Qaida extremists in 2002: ''I am Jewish.''
Haq's father, Mian, also addressed the court, apologizing and saying he and his wife tried to instill positive values in his son, who had never shown signs of violence. As the court hearing ended, Mian Haq approached Stumbo and others from the Jewish Federation.
''This isn't how I raised him,'' he said softly. ''When I die, I'm going to ask God why this happened.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
What's become of the Associated Press?
Check it out: there is no mention in the article of the words, "Islam," "Muslim," or that this cretin was also convicted of a "Hate Crime."
According to Wikipedia;
...following a 12/2005 conversion to Christianity, his "Bible study group leader, Albert Montelongo, said that Haq talked about having bipolar disorder and that he seemed depressed by the conflict with his family over his religious conversion. According to Montelongo, Haq converted because he perceived too much anger in Islam and wanted to find a new beginning in Christianity.
...Four weeks later, Naveed Haq attended his father's Islamic Center of Tri-Cities and met senior member Muhammad Kaleem Ullah (who had previously bailed him out of jail)."
Back to the AP article:
Haq's father, Mian, also addressed the court, apologizing and saying he and his wife tried to instill positive values in his son, who had never shown signs of violence. As the court hearing ended, Mian Haq approached Stumbo [wounded in the shootings] and others from the Jewish Federation.
''This isn't how I raised him,'' he said softly. ''When I die, I'm going to ask God why this happened.''
Uuuuh, you don't need to wait, Mian, it's all there, in every sura of your barbaric Quran.
WASHINGTON: Shut up and put up, is the curt message the United States is sending Pakistan after Islamabad's incessant whine about drone attacks on its territory. Washington says the complaints are hypocritical considering Pakistani leaders support the strikes in private and the hits are clearly damaging terrorists with minimum civilian casualties.
In a public rebuke to the Pakistani leadership on Thursday, a leading US lawmaker, supported by the Obama administration, told reporters after a visit to the region that he was ''very unhappy'' with the vocal criticism of the drone strikes from top officials in Islamabad when in private they "not only understand and acquiesce but in many cases support the drone attacks."
Washington, US Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, told reporters in a conference call, would prefer "a silence on their part rather than a public attack on us that creates real problems for us in terms of the Pakistani public and helps create some real animosity" against the United States.
"I just think it's wrong for them, I've told them that to their face," said Levin, who met in Pakistan with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan's army chief of staff Ashfaq Kayani.
Gilani, Kayani, and interior minister Rehman Malik are seen as part of the hard-line clique that has adopted the tactic of whipping up public hysteria against US and India with phony, malicious charges, including feigned outrage about drone strikes and charges of interference in Baluchistan, to win the support of the fundamentalist constituency and rally a demoralized army.
The tactic has led even Pakistani civil society activists like Asma Jehangir to contend that their government is engineering a hostile atmosphere even as the people desire peace. India's foreign secretary Nirupama Rao too alluded to it at a conference in New Delhi on Thursday when she accused Pakistan of using “terrorist ideologies to promote unscrupulous political or institutional agendas."
Levin's rebuke has been quietly endorsed by the Obama administration, which has launched a drone strike after each visit by a US interlocutor in the past fortnight during which Pakistan complained about the attacks. Seven drone strikes have followed the December 30 attack in Khost that killed seven CIA and affiliated personnel, including one on Thursday targeting Hakimullah Mehsud, who evidently engineered suicide strike on the CIA forward base by a Jordanian doctor.
There were conflicting reports about the fate of Mehsud, with some Taliban spokesman contending he had escaped the attack.
The US has now launched a counter-campaign to show that contrary to exaggerated Pakistani accounts of civilian casualties, the drone strikes have actually attrited terrorists based in Pakistan.
According to the blog Long War Journal, which tracks the drone strikes, the ratio of civilian to al-Qaida casualties in 2009 was one to ten (43 to 463) and not the other way around as suggested by the Pakistani leadership. Unmanned aerial vehicle attacks have been "extremely successful" at "knocking off a significant number of Taliban leaders and Al-Qaeda leaders," Levin said.
The US assertion has been backed by some of Pakistan's civil society activists not manipulated by the hard-line militaristic leadership. According to Farhat Taj, an Oslo, Norway-based researcher originally from the Fata region, contrary to the anti-US propaganda spread by Islamabad, the people of Waziristan, suffering from occupation by Al Qaeda and Taliban, actually welcome the drone attacks.
''They see the US drone attacks as their liberators from the clutches of the terrorists into which, they say, their state has willfully thrown them,'' Taj said in a recent article in which she said her kinsmen described the Pakistani intelligence agencies and the Taliban as ''two sides of the same coin.''
Washington has apparently cottoned on to the Pakistani perfidy judging by Levin's public dressing down. Emboldened by the findings, the Obama administration has cranked up the attacks in recent days, unleashing a drone strike every other day in January this year. The stepped-up attack follows the more than 50 strikes that the Obama administration initiated in 2009, more than all the attacks ordered by the Bush administration during its eight years.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/15/2010 15:48 ||
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#1
"But we wanna be the good cop for a while..." the pakiwakis moan.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/15/2010 16:02 Comments ||
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#2
''They see the US drone attacks as their liberators from the clutches of the terrorists into which, they say, their state has willfully thrown them,'' Taj said in a recent article in which she said her kinsmen described the Pakistani intelligence agencies and the Taliban as ''two sides of the same coin.''
From the horses mouth what us Rantburgers know bt the general public dont!They need to be educated about the duplicity of the Pakis!
#8
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM [old]> UK THINK-TANK: IN JUST THREE YEARS ISLAMIST PAKISTAN WILL DUMP THE WEST. Year 2013 = 2013-2015 just to round off.
* 2012 > ISLAMIST IRAN declares it is not just a NUCLEAR STATE [e.g. NucEnergy], but a NUCWEAPS STATE???
* Year 2013 [or shortly after] > NUCLEAR RADIC ISLAM declares US-ALLIES/West has lost the GWOT due to failure of same to stop PROLIFERATION TO MILITANT-TERROR GROUPS [NUC MILITANCY-TERRORISM, etc.].
** NEWSMAX OP-ED/TOPIX > THE JIHADI DECADE COMETH.
AKA PRE-WW2 MUNICH = "MUNICH CONFERENCE 21" [21st Century], where to avoid REPEAT OF WORLD WAR ONE [Post-Cold War + 21st Century = now ISLAMIST/MILITANT-LED MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE NUCWAR = NUCTERR] select sovereign nations will be allowed to be invaded, partitioned, or taken over etc. in international agreement.
#9
OOOOOPSIES, forgot IIRC Year 1933 > GREAT DEPRESSION-ERA USA = US Govt-Congress decides to NOT fortify GUAM,,etc IN ORDER TO NOT ANTAGONIZE A MILITARIST JAPAN WHOM WAS ALLOWED TO KEEP ITS POTENT MILBASES IN CNMI + MICRONESIA.
The US WARPLAN was to send to the rescue the USN Fleet + USAAC [Army Air Corps/Force] Bombers at Hawaii in case Japan mil attacked the Philippines + Asia, but JAPAN = ADM. YAMAMOTO changed that by attacking PEARL HARBOR first + wiping out said US PHIL-rescue forces on Dec. 7th, 1941.
In an apparent preparation to launch a military offensive against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani military has closed all routes to the Orakzai Agency.
According to the Dawn, the military moved security forces into key positions in Orakzai, the former headquarters of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud and a group headed by Tariq Afridi of Darra Adamkhel.
The closed routes to the region would be manned by Frontier Corps check posts.
Tribesmen in Orakzai have extended support in the counter-insurgency drive, the report said.
Troops have taken position in the villages, both in upper and lower areas of Orakzai to protect the tribesmen.
Sources said that the decision to launch an operation was reached after officials received information that most of the suicide bombers sent to strike Peshawar, Hangu, Darra Adamkhel, Lahore and Islamabad were trained in Orakzai.
Over 30 pro-government tribesmen as well as Taliban militants have died in clashes in the past two weeks in Orakzai.
#3
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > PAKISTAN WANTS CHINESE MISSLE DEFENSE BY 2012; + PAKISTAN CRITICIZES INDIA FOR "ARSENAL ADDITIONS" [PAK-alleged INDIAN massive arms buildup].
A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.
The death would be the latest victory for the CIA-led missile campaign against militant targets in Pakistan's insurgent-riddled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a campaign that has recently escalated. One Thursday is believed to have missed Pakistan's Taliban chief.
The intelligence officials said a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. The FBI's Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group.
Rahim is wanted for his alleged role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, according to the FBI site.
The hijackers demanded that 1,500 prisoners in Cyprus and Israel be released and that they be flown out of Pakistan. At one point, the hijackers shot and threw hand grenades at passengers and crew in one part of the plane. Some 20 people, including two Americans, died during the hijacking.
Rahim had been tried and convicted by Pakistan, but he and three suspected accomplices were apparently released in January 2008. All four were added to the FBI list late last year.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The three Pakistani intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to speak to media on the record. They cited field informants and sources in militant ranks.
But the information is nearly impossible to verify independently because access to Pakistan's tribal regions is restricted.
#1
It seems (to me) we are closing in fast on the various commmand structures within each AQ affiliated organisation .
If we keep peeling away the outer security layers then eventually there will be no cover for the "top dogs"
If Im being totally up front , this policy of continued airstrikes is something the Obama administration has got right, long may it continue
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/15/2010 12:48 Comments ||
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#2
Credit where due, Oscar. In the end this battlefield of the War on Jihadism may be President Obama's only permanent legacy, even if the plan was based on work done by his predecessor.
Pray for sepsis.
The leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, was wounded in a suspected U.S. drone strike Thursday, intelligence and Taliban sources told CNN Friday.
A Taliban spokesman denied Thursday and again Friday that Mehsud was hurt. The spokesman, Azam Tariq, said Mehsud had left the site of the attack -- a converted religious school -- before the missiles struck. He dismissed reports of an injury to Mehsud as propaganda.
Other Taliban and intelligence sources, however, said doctors were treating Mehsud for wounds he sustained in the drone strike.
The drone attack killed 10 people, with four missiles landing near a madrassa, or religious school, Pakistani intelligence and local officials said Thursday. The school had been converted into a training camp for militants, the officials said.
The strike happened in the village of Pasal Kot. That's in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's volatile tribal region that is the site of previous drone strikes and clashes between the Pakistani military and Islamic militants.
It comes a few days after Mehsud appeared in a video the Pakistani Taliban released. In it, he sits next to Human Khlalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the man believed to be the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian army captain at a base in eastern Afghanistan on December 30.
Taking into account the sad loss of intelligence from the al-balawi attack, its suprising how fast the information on his whereabouts was gleaned, processed and acted on .
Good work field operators
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/15/2010 12:40 Comments ||
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#2
My bet is the intel was available since before the al-Balawi attack, but now there is both more will and more urgency to hit back. (Many of our intel assets may not be fully usable any more, so we have to roll up who we can, while we can.)
#3
That may well be true Glenmore , but these guys aint too keen on staying in one spot for too long (for obvious reasons) which begs the question , did the information on his whereabouts come from the ISI/ other pak assets or was it 'our boys' rolling on what they knew
Now if doctors are treating him ,he is hurt , and hurt reasonably badly imho . And if they are then some intel community knows exactly where he is .
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/15/2010 13:06 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Two suspected militants and an Indian army soldier were killed on Thursday during a gun battle in Indian-administered Kashmir, in the latest of a series of recent clashes, police said.
The exchange of fire erupted late Wednesday when the Indian army and counter-insurgency police raided a house where militants were said to be hiding about 70 kilometres south of the summer state capital Srinagar.
"The ensuing encounter left two militants and a soldier dead," a police spokesman said, adding two troopers and a policeman were wounded in the clash that lasted more than 12 hours.
One of the militants killed was identified by officials as Adil Pathan, a senior commander of Hizbul Mujahedin.
On Thursday last week, Indian commandos stormed a hotel in Srinagar where two militants had been holed up for nearly 24 hours, killing the gunmen. A civilian and a policeman were also killed during the siege.
Indian-administered Kashmir had been relatively stable in recent months, but Indian police have reported several prolonged clashes between troops and militants since the siege.
Suspected rebels have also killed three of their former colleagues during the last week, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The government disclosed in the National Assembly on Thursday that the banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) had carried out the bomb blast in Karachi's Ashura procession that killed 45 people and injured 46 others. Comes as a surprise, huh? How'd they pick them out of all the other suspects who specialize in murdering Shiites?
Speaking at the start of a debate on an opposition-moved adjournment motion on the Karachi violence, Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed the government had sufficient evidence that showed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-i-Muhammad and Al Qaeda had formed a network which was behind terrorist activities. Picked right up on that, didn't they?
The interior minister said a final report on the Karachi bombing would be presented in the house in 10 days. He said that so far 30 people had been arrested on charges of involvement in looting and burning shops in Boulton Market soon after the Ashura blast on Dec 28. They'll be let off for lack of evidence, natch...
These people, he said, were identified through CCVT footages collected by security officials. They belonged to various groups and weapons stolen from two arms shops had been recovered from them, he added.
About the target killings in Karachi, Mr Malik said activists of various political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan People's Party and MQM-Haqiqi were the target of terrorists. He declared that action would be taken against all "criminal elements" whether they were in the PPP or Muttahida. He said that no incident of target killings had taken place over the past three days.
The minister said that several areas of Karachi, including Pak Colony, Malir, Baldia and Sherpao Colony, had been declared "dangerous". He said that "gangsters" were present in these localities and action would be taken against them at all cost.
Mr Malik denied that any operation was launched in Malir. Even some PPP members had stated that an operation was under way in Malir. He said only two houses had been raided in Malir and in one of them gangsters had detained a kidnapped person.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least two people including the leader of a peace committee have been killed in an explosion near Halamzai tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Thursday.
According to official sources, peace committee leader Muhammad Akbar was on his way from Ghananai Tehsil after holding a jirga when he met with the incident.
Militant had planted a remote-controlled explosive device, which hit his vehicle. Eight others were also injured in the attack.
The injured have been shifted to Ghananai hospital and a search operation is underway in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A court sentenced 11 Iraqis, including al-Qaeda militants, on Thursday to death by hanging for planning and carrying out massive truck bombings in Baghdad last August that killed 95 people and wounded more than 1,000.
The trial was the first to convict suspects arrested in the wake of three major attacks in the second half of 2009 that saw insurgents defy the war-torn country's fledgling security forces and penetrate the heart of the capital. "They are sentenced to death for the crime they planned," Ali Abdul Sattar, president of the criminal court, said at a hearing in the Iraqi capital.
The Aug. 19 attacks just minutes apart outside the ministries of finance and foreign affairs caused massive destruction, killed 106 people and wounded around 600 others.
Those convicted included Salim Abed Jassim who confessed that he received funding for the attacks from Brigadier General Nabil Abdul Rahman, a senior army officer during the rule of Saddam Hussein now living in Syria.
Also sentenced to death by hanging were Ishaq Mohammed Abbas, an al-Qaeda in Iraq leader and his brother Mustapha, the court official told AFP. Both men had once been detained but were later released from Camp Bucca, a now closed U.S.-run prison in the southern city of Basra. "These men were the brains behind the attacks in August," a security official involved in an investigation into the Aug. 19 attacks told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The others bought the explosives and transported them into Baghdad," he added.
The Aug. 19 truck attacks on what dubbed "Black Wednesday" was marked Iraq's worst day of violence in 18 months and prompted outrage among citizens at how the bombers had been able to commit such atrocities.
The government, which blamed the bombings on al-Qaeda and Saddam loyalists from the executed dictator's outlawed Baath party, admitted at the time that negligence at checkpoints allowed the attackers to enter the capital. Despite outrage over the Aug. 19 atrocities, bombers managed to commit similar carnage in October and December, when they again struck government buildings in attacks that killed at least 280 people and wounded 1,000 more.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraq's election organizers on Thursday barred nearly 500 politicians and parties from contesting the country's upcoming national poll, including many linked to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.
"We decided this afternoon to exclude around 500 names and political entities from the list of candidates," said Hamdia Husseini, a senior official with the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
Husseini did not specifically mention the Baath party, but said the excluded candidates "fell under the law of the committee of justice and integrity" which bars Saddam loyalists from taking part in elections.
She said those who had been barred had three days to appeal the decision, during which time they could also present an alternative list of names to contest the March 7 vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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At least 15 people have been killed and 80 others injured in a series of bomb blasts in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
Three explosive devices were detonated in two different places of the sacred city on Thursday. Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) went off at a crowded market place near the shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH), while a car bomb exploded near a mosque teemed with worshippers, Press TV correspondent, Wisam al-Bayati reported.
The market placed was packed with people when the explosion took place and most of the casualties were women and children.
Security forces cordoned off the area. No group has so far claimed the responsibility for the deadly attacks.
Iraqi officials told Press TV that the number of casualties may rise as some injured are in critical conditions.
Iraq has been witnessing violence-related incidents nearly on a daily basis since the US-led invasion of the oil-rich country in March 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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A member of the armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas was killed while handling explosives in the Gaza Strip overnight, a Palestinian medic said on Friday. Imad al-Selkawy, 25, suffered fatal injuries in the accidental blast, which occurred at Deir el-Balah in the centre of the Palestinian territory, the medic said.
Hamas's armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades confirmed the death in a statement, saying its activist had been killed during a "mission of jihad," a phrase it uses to describe such incidents.
[Ma'an] Egyptian security forces said they seized a cache of explosives in the northern Sinai after receiving information on stores of the goods waiting to be transported into the Gaza via the tunnels.
The security source said the explosives were found in a one-meter-deep hole in the desert, with approximately 50 kilograms of dynemite adn some other materials likey used in previous wars fought in the Sinai.
The announcement comes as Egypt continues to build a steel wall beneath the Gaza-Egypt border in what it says is an effort to stop arms smuggling between the areas.
The tunnels have been a lifeline for Gazans, faced with a crippling siege imposed by Israel, which controls the major crossings into the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
faced with a crippling siege imposed by Israel,
This is one of my pet peeves. THESE BOZOS HAVE A BORDER WITH A FRIENDLY ARAB COUNTRY. IT THEY'RE HURTING FOR FOOD BLAME THE EGYPTIANS!!!!
[Al Arabiya Latest] A bomb exploded near a car carrying three Israeli diplomats in Jordan on Thursday but none was hurt, Israeli media said.
The blast occurred at around 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) close to the Allenby Bridge crossing over the Jordan river between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israel's Army Radio said. Asked about the report, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry said: "We are checking and not commenting for now."
Israel's Channel Two television said the car had been en route from the Israeli embassy in Amman but that the ambassador, Danny Nevo, was not aboard.
The Israeli supervisor at Allenby crossing, Yoni Dotan, said he had heard no explosion. "We only heard about this through the media reports," he told Reuters by telephone.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THAI police said on Thursday they brought charges against five alleged arms traffickers over a sanctions-busting planeload of weapons seized last month en route from North Korea.
The Belarussian pilot and four Kazakh crew were charged with possessing illegal weapons and ammunition, smuggling weapons and other banned products and for failing to report their cache, Police Colonel Supisarn Pakdinaruenart told reporters.
The five men were arrested last month after their Ilyushin-76 plane was impounded in Bangkok with a 35-tonne cargo of weaponry including missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The police have questioned 21 witnesses and it is now for the Attorney General's office to decide if the case will go to court, Mr Supisarn said.
The suspects have been held since they were arrested at Bangkok's domestic Don Mueang airport on December 11 after the haul was discovered. Permission to detain the men must be renewed every 12 days and the third extension on their incarceration lasts until January 18.
The Russian-made plane requested to land at Don Mueang airport where the suspects claimed they were carrying oil drilling equipment bound for Ukraine. But a flight plan obtained by researchers showed the plane was bound for Iran, while US intelligence chief Dennis Blair said last month that it was headed for an unspecified Middle East destination.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] SEVEN communist guerrillas, three of them minors, were killed in a clash with government forces on Thursday in the hills outside the Philippine capital, the army said.
An army infantry unit fought a 30-strong group from the New People's Army (NPA) near the town of Dona Remedios Trinidad, 50km north of Manila, before dawn, Lieutenant-Colonel Arnulfo Burgos told reporters.
The bodies of the seven dead rebels were recovered by the troops, who sustained no casualties during the hour-long firefight. One of the dead was a girl who appeared to be under 18 years old, he added.
The retreating rebels left behind eight assault rifles along with the dead, Col Burgos said.
The Philippine military said last month it had shrunk the territory of long-running Maoist insurgent operations, leaving four central islands free of guerrillas for the first time in decades.
Chief of staff Victor Ibrado said the government hoped by the time of upcoming presidential elections in May to have destroyed the NPA, which had seen its fighting force depleted to below 5,000 personnel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2010 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.
[Quqnoos] A suicide attack killed at least 16 civilians in a bazaar on Thursday in southern Uruzgan province, officials said. The incident occurred in a crowded bazaar in Deh Rawud district, wounding 13 others -- most of the civilians. 
(Reuters) - A Yemeni air strike on two cars killed at least six suspected al Qaeda militants in northern Yemen on Friday, a Yemeni security official said. "Two cars carrying eight dangerous al Qaeda members were hit in an area between Saada and al-Jouf," the security official told Reuters. "Two may have survived and escaped," he added.
A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A court sentenced 11 Iraqis, including al-Qaeda militants, on Thursday to death by hanging for planning and carrying out massive truck bombings in Baghdad last August that killed 95 people and wounded more than 1,000.
A member of the armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas was killed while handling explosives in the Gaza Strip overnight, a Palestinian medic said on Friday. Imad al-Selkawy, 25, suffered fatal injuries in the accidental blast, which occurred at Deir el-Balah in the centre of the Palestinian territory, the medic said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A bomb exploded near a car carrying three Israeli diplomats in Jordan on Thursday but none was hurt, Israeli media said.
