Sudanese government aircraft, army and militia attacked three towns in West Darfur state on Friday, causing heavy civilian casualties, Darfur rebels and witnesses said. "The government attacked the town of Abu Surouj this morning ... a direct attack with cars and horses and bombardment," rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr told Reuters from Darfur. "Now they have continued their aggression to three towns ... including Suleia." He put the initial death toll at around 200 but said it was hard to tell because the army was still there.
The governor of West Darfur state Abu el-Gasim confirmed the armed forces had moved on Sirba, Suleia and Abu Surouj -- the last a city of some 150,000 people that also houses displaced people from other attacks -- to retake them from the rebels. But he denied any casualties or bombing. "There were a few houses burned but no wounded and no civilians have been killed. I was following the situation carefully," he told Reuters.
Abu Surouj resident Malik Mohamed said he had escaped during the attack early on Friday. "First of all I saw two helicopters and Janjaweed on horses and camels, after that I saw cars," he said. "The helicopters hit us four times and around 20 bombs were dropped," he said by telephone. His voice breaking, he said he had no idea where his family was. "I am outside the city and can see burning. They (the attackers) are still inside."
Residents of el-Geneina, the state capital, told Reuters they could hear Antonov planes and had seen helicopters. Darfur rebels said that until the attacks they controlled the area north of el-Geneina, where they have often fought army troops, and which aid workers have been forbidden from entering. Ashr had said previously the rebels expected the attacks because Khartoum had again mobilised militia groups, known locally as Janjaweed, in the area.
Yehia Abakr, a resident of Sirba, told Reuters by telephone he fled the town centre when the forces attacked. "They have killed many people," he said.
The militia stand accused of widespread atrocities and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for a junior cabinet minister and an allied militia leader accused of war crimes. Khartoum refuses to hand them over.
This article starring:
Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr
Abu el-Gasim
International Criminal Court
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- An armed group has assassinated five Algerian security elements in the area of Wadi Suf, some 580 kilometres east of the Algerian capital. A security source said that the armed group took by a surprise the security agents who were on board two cars and fired bullets towards them. The same source added that four of the security elements sustained injuries and were transferred to nearby hospitals.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Local security forces arrested at least seven people suspected of being involved in last week's attack at the Israel Embassy in Mauritania, Army Radio reported. Three bystanders of French origin were wounded in the incident which was later claimed to be carried out by al-Qaida.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Algeria's Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday (February 6th) that ongoing investigations led to the arrests of six suspects in the December 11th suicide bombings that targeted UNHCR offices and the Constitutional Court building in the district of Hydra in upper Algiers.
The government revealed that the same individuals are also suspected in the December 11th, 2006 attack on a bus carrying employees of American-Algerian firm Brown & Root - Condor in Buchawi, west of the capital.
The ministry statement said the men an information technology engineer for PRC Construction, several contractors, an employee in a real estate development agency and a deliveryman were all members of the Farouq Battalion, formerly led by terrorist Abderrahmane Bouzegza. Bouzegza was killed in January by security personnel during an operation carried out in the Souk al-Had area of Boumerdès that also led to the arrests of four of his close aides.
The interior ministry explained that the justice ministry had issued 43 subpoenas against Bouzegza, who had been wanted by security forces since 1998.
Security forces announced that the names of the other arrested suspects were not previously known to them. The suspects reportedly became involved with al-Qaeda for financial reasons. Al-Qaeda groups in Algeria often seduce citizens into service with promises of large sums of money. With the current announcement, the government has now identified all the perpetrators of the December 11th attacks.
Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni commented on the dismantling of the cell, saying: "It was the result of strong professionalism and effectiveness exhibited by the security agencies and army forces that are tasked with the anti-terrorism effort." At the same time, he praised "citizens' contributions in achieving these results, thanks to their vigilance and the spirit of citizenship they have shown by standing alongside security forces in combating terrorism."
Despite the victory, the minister warned against laxity and called on Algerians to remain vigilant.
In the February 7th issue of Al-Nahar, security sources unveiled documents confiscated from a member of al-Qaeda. The material reportedly included plans for the assassination of Culture Minister Khalida Toumi. This is the first time in Algeria that a terrorist plot targeting a minister in the current government has been disclosed.
The Algerian public followed the announcements with great interest. Othmane, a 34-year-old advertising worker, told Magharebia the dismantling of the terrorist cells assures citizens that the tight security measures have begun to bear fruit. He said the successful investigation will also allay the fears of many Algiers residents of a return to the violence of the 1990s. He concluded that the news "makes us optimistic about the end of this crisis once and for all, for we have grown tired of living in an atmosphere of fear and instability."
His position is shared by 35-year-old business owner Karima Hemiche, who said she has new hope of walking in the streets without fear of falling victim to a terrorist bombing. Hemiche told Magharebia that she was surprised by the involvement of an information technology engineer in the terrorist plots. She wondered about the reasons for his involvement, especially as the news has frequently linked poor social conditions with terrorism.
This article starring:
Abderrahmane Bouzegza
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Moroccan authorities are detaining a Moroccan suspect on charges of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people, court officials and lawyers said on Friday.
Abdelilah Ahriz, 29, will remain in custody in Sale prison outside Rabat pending a trial, they added. "Ahriz is charged with belonging to a terrorist group and complicity in destroying of means of public transport with explosives," a court official said, in reference to Madrid bombings.
Last year, Ahriz was sentenced to three years in prison for similar charges but an appeals court turned down his sentence and freed him last May.
He was re-arrested last month in Rabat after Spanish authorities pressed his case with new evidence.
Spanish Judge Juan Del Olmo recently travelled to Morocco to question Ahriz and take DNA samples, Moroccan government officials said.
Ahriz is allegedly linked to the 2004 attacks by DNA found on a comb in the flat in a Madrid suburb where seven suspects blew themselves up when police closed in on them, they added. His fingerprints were also found in a house near Madrid where the explosives were assembled, according to these officials. In October a Spanish court found 21 people guilty of involvement in the bombings on March 11, 2004, but cleared three men of masterminding the attack. Victims were shocked by the sentences, which in many cases were much lower than the state attorney had requested and left the public without any clearer idea of who devised the attack that ripped apart four commuter trains.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
(KUNA) -- A man accused of being linked to the September 11 attacks in the United States was extradited from the UK to Spain Friday, Scotland Yard said. Farid Hilali, 39, a Moroccan, was flown out of the Royal Air Force base of Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, southern England. The extradition was in connection with a European arrest warrant alleging he committed terrorist offences, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
Last week the House of Lords overturned a court order for Hilali's release. The House of Lords is the highest court in the land.
In April last year lawyers for Hilali, who was first arrested in London in 2003, were granted a writ by High Court judges to obtain his release. He was awaiting extradition to Spain on charges of conspiracy to murder. But the House of Lords allowed an appeal by the Spanish authorities against the High Court ruling. They affirmed the June 2005 decision of a senior judge to order Hilali's extradition.
Lord Hope, announcing the decision on January 30, said the "offences of conspiracy to commit the offence of murder of persons in the United States and of destroying, damaging or endangering the safety of aircraft... are the only offences in respect of which he is to be extradited". Setting aside the High Court's order, Lord Hope said there was "no reason whatever" to believe Hilali would not have a fair trial.
This article starring:
FARID HILALI
al-Qaeda
Lord Hope
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
He's charged with ""offences of conspiracy to commit the offence of murder of persons in the United States ...", so they send him to Spain. Oh good, justice is done.
(KUNA) -- A rocket was fired in Pakistans northern city Friday night from an unknown location but there was human loss, said police. A rocket fired from unknown location landed in Jameel Chowk in Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), police sources told KUNA. They said there were no casualties but the rocket explosion damaged four shops.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The Swat peace committee released two militant commanders after their surrender to security forces on Friday, and three suspects were arrested at Fizagat checkpost, sources said.
After preliminary investigation, the sources added, security forces released the militant commanders on the Swat peace committees surety that they would not participate in militant activities. Separately, the security forces arrested three suspected persons at the Fizagat checkpost and shifted them to an undisclosed location, while the government relaxed curfew from 6am to 8pm.
They can be released tomorrow, after they've had a good meal and a chance to wash up.
This article starring:
KHALID KHAN
TNSM
MAULANA FAZLULLAH
TNSM
MAULANA HAZRAT BILAL
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
Indian security forces thwarted a plan by terrorists to attack tourists visiting the western state of Goa, one of India's most popular holiday destinations.
The attack was planned for the Christmas-New Year period in North Goa's Calangute-Baga beach area, state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported. The plan was discovered when police detained a suspect recently, it said. ``We have sounded the alert all over the state and security has been strengthened,'' the broadcaster cited Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat as saying yesterday. Police are making sure ``the security of the people'' isn't compromised.
Indian authorities typically increase security in Goa during the holiday period. Israel's government in December 2006 advised its citizens to avoid visiting the region, saying al- Qaeda was targeting the state.
The suspect detained said the attack failed because he was unable to obtain about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives from Pakistan, Doordarshan reported.
Security forces have information that terrorists made three visits to the coastal areas and places where tourists gather to prepare the attack, it cited Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik as saying. One target may have been a discotheque, Doordarshan reported, citing unidentified police officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
The political authorities Friday arrested three people from the Yakaghund area of Mohmand Agency on the directions of intelligence agencies and shifted them to an undisclosed location, sources said.
Two of the arrested people, including senior clerk Shuja, were employees of the Yakaghund Degree College and a watchman, Afzal Khan. Earlier, the authorities had also arrested a notary, Riaz alias Toor Khan. However, the Frontier Corps and political authorities refused to comment on the issue.
Grenade blast: Meanwhile, a grenade explosion killed seven-year old Jehanzaib, who was playing with it at his house in the Shati Kor locality of Gandab area in the agency.
Disputed villages: Also on Friday, a 25-member jirga of disputed villages was held in the Kodai area and the participants said they would not take part in the elections as part of Peshawar and Charsadda districts. They still considered their villages to be part of the agency and demanded the government include the areas in the agency, the maintained.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
(KUNA) -- An unmanned drone crashed in a Pakistani northern city, wounding two minors Friday night, said police. An unmanned drone crashed due to unknown reasons in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and landed on the roof of a house near University Road, police sources told KUNA.
They said the crash wounded two children and damaged boundary wall of the house. They said the causes of crash were unknown and added that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officials immediately took aircraft debris into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
(KUNA) -- At least six people, including a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, were injured in a powerful grenade attack by rebels near Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Friday. A BSF vehicle was attacked through a grenade this afternoon in Bandipore near Srinagar, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported. Six people -- a BSF trooper and five civilians -- were injured in the blast, the news agency said, quoting a BSF official. The injured have been admitted to a hospital. The condition of one of the civilians is stated to be critical. No rebel group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Harkatul Mujahideen
BAGHDAD - Iraqi police arrested 31 Shiite activists Saturday in early morning raids south of Baghdad, and five American soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings, officials said.
The U.S. troops were killed Friday four in Baghdad and one in the northern Tamim province, the military said. At least 3,958 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
#1
Explosives don't grow on trees. We need to retaliate in kind against those who provide the explosives and those who provide the manpower. We are not, and why would they cease on their own ? This behavior is standard for phucking Arabs, there is no reason to believe it will end unless and until we kick ass.
After the VN war, the VN were screwing around with Red China. Result, China sent a massive incursion into North Vietnam and killed everyone and everything in their path. End of game.
#4
lotp, I was referring to the war, day after day, decade after decade, as the Arabs do in Israel.
No agreements, no final solution, no advancement to toleration, no consideration of the opponents positions, and especially, no forgiveness, just blood letting.
#5
lotp is by and large correct. I think that some is home grown but only because of the technology and knowledge infusion from Iran. I would dearly love to send the Iranian mullahs and leadership along with the IRGC to H*ll with allan and mohamhead.
Someone took a page out of Saddam's little black book of poisons by using thallium. This someone is a rat bastard who needs killing.
Iraqi authorities are investigating a case of poisoning at a Baghdad sports club popular with the army in which two children have died and nine people have been taken to hospital. All were reported to have eaten cakes laced with thallium, the toxin that was often used by Saddam's secret police to kill political opponents. Security officials said it was the first known incident of deliberate thallium poisoning since the fall of the regime.
Police said they had traced the two cakes to a bakery in Baghdad's Adhamiya district. This Sunni Arab stronghold was a bastion for supporters of the late dictator, and more recently a major locus of activity for Sunni extremists.
Perhaps the baker should sample his own recipe?
"This is a disturbing incident," said Mohammed Abbas, a police official. "The use of thallium in this way appears to show that someone in Adhamiya is reviving the techniques of the mukhabarat [the Saddam-era secret police].
"What happens if al-Qaida gets the know-how? We are urgently trying to discover how much thallium is out there and who would know how to utilise it."
Interior ministry officials said they believed the cakes were intended to kill senior members of the club. No treatment for thallium poisoning is available in Iraq and doctors say they are desperately trying to get the antidote. World Health Organisation officials in neighbouring Jordan, where some of the most serious cases are being treated, have requested help from Britain, which has flown medicines and other supplies to Basra. Arrangements are being made to take them to hospitals in Baghdad and Amman. The British department of health said: "The World Health Organisation has asked for assistance from the UK government in responding to a health incident in Iraq involving a small number of Iraqi citizens. We are cooperating fully in providing assistance."
Mohammed al Askari, a defence ministry spokesman, said the incident occurred at the capital's Airforce club about 10 days ago, when a former employee, a combat sports coach, turned up with two cakes as gifts for officials at the club. He had reportedly been fired several months earlier and had fled to Syria. The Airforce club is owned by the defence ministry and runs one of Iraq's best-known football teams. Its manager, Samir Khadim, was a star of the Iraqi team throughout the 90s.
Khadim said the former employee, who he declined to name, "came to the club saying he wanted to have a reconciliation with a number of the officers and administrators here. He brought with him two handsome-looking cakes as a kind of peace offering." But Khadim, who was not at the gathering, said the cakes went uneaten and were taken home by two officers to share among their families. Hours later the six-year-old daughter of one began to show signs of illness. The family took her to a hospital in Baghdad, where doctors pumped her stomach, but she died shortly afterwards.
Hours later the officer began to feel ill, as did three other members of his family. Again doctors pumped their stomachs. Blood tests were taken, and four days later they tested positive for thallium. The other officer also soon fell ill; he too lost a daughter, and five close relatives were also affected. The two officers remain on the critical list.
Thallium was a favoured method for dispatching enemies of Saddam Hussein. It causes a slow, painful death. In the 80s a number of leading Kurdish rebels, including the present speaker of the Kurdish regional parliament, survived assassination attempts using thallium.
So someone knew how to do this, and the doctors knew what they were looking at quickly because they'd seen it before.
Police said one man had been arrested in the investigation.
Khadim said: "These poor children were poisoned by mistake. For sure I and the other officers were the real target. I hope this is not the start of a trend and they find out who has these poisons. Iraq has enough on its plate already."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
You sponsor terrorists, give shelter to thugs, and wonder when the snake you raised bites you?
I grieve for the two little girls, they were as innocent as can be, but I'm not surprised this happened, and undoubtably will happen again.
You raise wolves, you suffer their bites.
BTW, thallium is a metal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2008 2:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Thallium poisoning is a slow, nasty way to die. I lost a friend to it some years ago.
I believe it has been used in some pesticides.
I would agree with Steve that perhaps the baker should sample his cakes, but it might make the rats who ate his corpse sick.
US troops killed eight suspected insurgents and captured 26 - including an alleged Shiite militia leader - in two days of raids across Iraq, the US military said Friday.
The eight were killed Thursday and Friday in separate raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq across the country's central and northern regions, the military said. At least 22 others were killed in the operations, it said. The militia leader was detained along with three other suspects late Thursday in the Mashru area south of Baghdad, a US statement said.
The military said the man was believed to be a "special groups" leader - language it uses to describe Shiite Muslim militias allegedly backed by Iran. The US says the groups have broken ranks with Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. The radical cleric in August called a six-month cease-fire, which is due to expire later this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
(KUNA) -- A US Army force stormed a faculty building in Baghdad and arrested its security guards without providing any justification for the operation, spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Basil Al-Khatib told KUNA on Friday.
The force broke into the dentistry faculty building of al-Mustansyria University western Baghdad this afternoon and arrested three security guards, Al-Khatib said, adding that members of the force went through some of the faculty's items and documents. The University's dean will hold a press conference tomorrow at the faculty to reveal details of the incident, the spokesman noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Getting information from those guards will be like pulling teeth.
#3
#1: Getting information from those guards will be like pulling teeth. Posted by: Canuckistan sniper|| 2008-02-09 11:52
A little water-boarding, and they'll sing like canaries. Battery cables hooked to certain parts of the anatomy also work wonders, especially if the other end is hooked to a 2KW generator...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2008 15:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Is it safe?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2008 15:33 Comments ||
Top||
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqi policemen were wounded on Friday in a booby-trapped car explosion that targeted their patrol vehicle in southwestern Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Kirkuk police chief, Brigadier Sarhad Qader, told KUNA that the explosive-laden car blew up in Huwaija district, southwestern Kirkuk, targeting the patrol vehicle and wounding three policemen on board.
Moreover, Qader said Kirkuk police successfully executed a security operation in northeastern Kirkuk last night, adding that a weapons cache was found holding more than 2,000 mortar shells and other weaponry.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Two Palestinians, who were apparently out to steal metals, attacked Moshav Kfar Hess's security officer on Friday. The officer, who was lightly wounded, was able to shoot and lightly wound one of the attackers. According to a preliminary investigation, the Palestinians came on horseback and initially attempted to run over the officer with the horses. After they had failed, they allegedly attempted to attack him themselves. Security and police forces who were rushed to the scene evacuated the wounded attacker to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. Police were investigating the incident and searching for the second attacker.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I hope no horses were injured.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/09/2008 0:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
This doesn't make a lot of sense, if you're going to steal "Metals" you need a truck, not Horses. (Unless the "Metals" were Silver and Gold)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2008 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
Two houses in Sderot were directly hit by Kassam rockets late Friday, causing several people to suffer from shock. One man suffered from chest pains and was evacuated to hospital. Two other Sderot residents suffered from light injuries after falling down while looking for shelter from the rockets.
Palestinian gunmen claimed responsibility for eight out of over 30 rockets which have hit Israel since early morning. The Salah-a-Din faction, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for four Kassam rockets, and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rest. Hamas said it would not be deterred by Israel's cutback of the power supply. "The Zionist enemy must understand that the policy of assassinations, of attacks, of embargo, of cutting electricity and fuel will not halt the resistance and will not break the back of the Palestinians," said a senior Hamas official, Ismail Radwan. "We warn them of a large volcano that will erupt if their aggression increases."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Popular Resistance Committees
#1
If you could do more than shoot off unaimed fireworks you would already be doing it, Your threat
"We warn them of a large volcano that will erupt if their aggression increases." ,
sounds more like a middlin small fart to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2008 2:13 Comments ||
Top||
(KUNA) -- Israeli troops on Friday imposed a curfew on the town of Azzoun near Qalqilia City north of the West Bank, before making an incursion to the town and launch a search operation, according to reports. To that, al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah Movement, announced that an Israeli settler was injured by a gun shot. Israeli sources did not confirm the news.
Furthermore, Clashes took place between Palestinians and Israeli troops at the city of TulKarm, as a number of people were injured by a rubber bullets and tear gas in the demonstration that took place in the town of Bilain near Ramallah. The demonstrators, who organize the march every Friday, were protesting against the building of the isolation wall. Since June 2002, Israel has been building the wall inside the West Bank citing security reasons. However, because of its location and the impact of its structure on residents of the West Bank, the wall was seen by Palestinians as a violation of international law and human rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
Suspected terrorists rebels shot dead three Muslims in drive-by shootings in Thailand's jihad insurgency-torn south today.
A 29-year-old woman was gunned down while driving a motorcycle in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia, and two middle-aged men were killed in a separate shooting while driving a pick-up truck.
Police said two soldiers were also wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the province where another villager was hurt in a separate bomb blast. Authorities declined to give further details.
Sri Lankan troops captured Tamil Tiger rebel positions and killed at least 42 militants, including an area leader, during two days of fighting in the islands north, the military said on Friday.
The military said they had captured rebel positions in the north-western district of Mannar on Friday. The clashes occurred along a border that separates government and rebel territory. The government is trying to drive the rebels from their northern stronghold and bring an end to a 25-year civil war. But analysts say neither side is winning as the rebels repeatedly hit back with suicide and roadside bombings and air attacks.
Rebel positions: A one kilometre stretch of LTTE positions were captured by the troops this morning. The confrontation killed 12 LTTE terrorists, while two soldiers died and five were wounded, said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The military said fighting on Thursday killed 30 Tiger rebels, including the area leader, and wounded 24 others in the northern districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar and the north-eastern district of Trincomalee. One soldier was killed and eight were wounded from the fighting.
A civilian and a soldier were wounded from rebel mortar bomb fire on Friday into a village in the northern area of Weli-oya. The rebels, who are fighting for a separate state in the Indian Ocean islands north and east, were not immediately available for comment. There was no independent confirmation of what had happened or how many people were killed, and analysts say both sides exaggerate enemy casualty figures and play down their own.
Fighting between the military and the rebels has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. It said the rebels were using the truce to re-arm. The military has captured large swathes of territory from the Tigers in the east of the country in recent months and vastly outnumbers them.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
analysts say neither side is winning as the rebels repeatedly hit back with suicide and roadside bombings and air attacks.
It's a war of attrition, dumbass. I am continually amazed that "analysts" are ignorant of basic facts of warfare. The government can resupply, the Tigers find it difficult because the government is interdicting their sea-based supply lines.
Iran's nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines, diplomats and experts said Thursday.
They said that few of the IR-2 centrifuges were operating and that testing appeared to be in an early phase, with the new machines rotating without processing any uranium gas.
More significant, the officials said, is the fact that Iran appears to have used know-how and equipment bought on the nuclear black market in combination with domestic ingenuity to overcome daunting technical difficulties and create highly advanced centrifuges.
Iran's uranium enrichment work has raised concerns in Washington and other Western capitals because it can produce the radioactive material needed for nuclear bombs. Tehran says it is only pursuing lower-level enrichment to make fuel for atomic reactors that will generate electricity.
Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, which it started developing during nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity built on illicit purchases and revealed only five years ago.
That secrecy heightened suspicions about Iran's intent, but Iranian leaders argued the country has a right to run a peaceful enrichment program and dismissed the U.N. demands, saying they planned to expand the project rather than freeze it.
Up until recent weeks, Iran had publicly focused on working with P1 centrifuges outmoded machines that it acquired on the black market in the 1980s. Workers set up more than 3,000 of the machines in the large underground hall near Natanz, a city about 300 miles south of Tehran.
But diplomats told The Associated Press that Iranian experts now are testing a small number of more advanced IR-2 machines. They described it as a hybrid of the P-2 centrifuge once peddled on the black market by A.Q. Khan, the scientist who oversaw Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons. P1 centrifuge: 2 SWU/year
P2 centrifuge: 5 SWU/year
3000 P1 = 1 18-20KT bomb/year
3000 P2 = 2.5 bombs/year
50000 P1 = 18 bombs/year
50000 P2 = 45 bombs/year
The diplomats, who agreed to discuss the development only if granted anonymity because they weren't authorized to divulge the confidential information, said it was unclear whether the new generation centrifuges were in the underground facility or an aboveground pilot site at Natanz.
The P-2 centrifuge sold by Khan can enrich uranium gas up to three times faster than a P-1, but it is made from maraged steel a high-nickel, low-carbon steel that is difficult to manufacture and hard to smuggle through international controls.
One of the diplomats said the Iranians had circumvented that problem by making the centrifuge's rotor tubes out of carbon fiber, presumably using machines and technology developed for Tehran's missile sector and using a German version as a model. The German model would be the URENCO carbon fiber rotor at 40 SWU/year. If the Iranians kept to the same size as the P1 centrifuges but spun them at URENCO speeds, then 10 SWU/year.
3000 @ 40 SWU = 22 bombs/year
50000 @ 40 SWU = 360 bombs/year
U.S. carbon fiber Centrifuges = 300 SWU/year. Go do the math.
A former U.N. nuclear inspector, David Albright, said the ingenuity demonstrated by such a development was impressive. "If you learn how to make carbon fiber rotors, you are very far ahead," said Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks countries under nuclear suspicion. "They are much cheaper and easier to make, and you can learn to spin them very fast."
Using a hypothetical example of the efficiency of a P-2-based centrifuge compared with the P-1, Albright said 1,200 of the more advanced machines could produce enough material for a single nuclear warhead in a year, compared to 3,000 of the older model.
Iran has stonewalled the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency for years on details of its centrifuge development program, but in recent months has shown more cooperation under a plan agreed to last year that commits Tehran to lifting the veil of secrecy on all past nuclear activities.
Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, was given new information on Iran's "new generation of centrifuges" during talks in Tehran a priority as the agency tries to establish how far along Iran is in developing the technology. ElBaradei is to report on the progress of his probe next month to the 35-nation IAEA board.
Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief representative to the IAEA, declined to discuss specifics of the probe but told AP that "we have made good progress."
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2008 07:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I'm sorry. I went through all the anxiety and nightmares the last time around. I do not have the strength to go through that again. So I'm just going to leave it to you all until it's resolved.
#2
The NIE ended any possibility that the president could build a case for action against Iran. The president has been largely ineffective in building his case, or even in containing the slow-motion coup being run from DOS and CIA.
A dream: that when the bombs begin to go off, the CIA and DOS are wiped out first. Yeah, I know, it doesn't work that way.
Ironic that the Lefties are bringing closer the situation that they profess to want to avoid.
Or maybe, they they are trying the create the circumstances Described by Hume in "Leviathan."
#3
"developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge"
I don't discount that for a second. Many of the members of my mechanical engineering master's degree class were Iranian, and a portion of them were clearly not on our side when the Shah was deposed. The Iranians in my class split into two camps practically overnight, and I suspect the members of the pro-Western camp are here and being productive U.S. citizens. As for the anti-Western ones, they were smart guys who have had 30 years to hone their skills. Hopefully we will bomb their facilities during weekday daylight hours when they are likely to be there. I can say that because I found them to be menacing 30 years ago and they're a lot more menacing now.
#5
One large nuke, from the US, Israel, Britain, France, or any other nuclear-equipped nation, would set their plans back a decade or two, which would help. Unfortunately, we don't have people in this nation today that have the willpower to do such a thing. Well, not in any position of authority, anyway.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2008 19:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The NIE ended any possibility that the president could build a case for action against Iran.
Visa Vi Iran:
This World will become much uglier if events drift along on the present course.
Understandably More Nations will feel tempted if not obligated to begin Nuke Programs themselves.
Existing Rump Powers like North Korea, Pakistan and possibly that strange Union of Myanmar will git friskier and flex their punnies if Asian and ME powers like, Japan, The Thais, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey etc. start packing Heavy Strategic Weapons.
I'm fairy certain that The Bush Admin, Olmert's Admin, France and many others have done extensive Brain Storming about the current dilemmas! Keep The Faith!
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Sudanese government aircraft, army and militia attacked three towns in West Darfur state on Friday, causing heavy civilian casualties, Darfur rebels and witnesses said. "The government attacked the town of Abu Surouj this morning ... a direct attack with cars and horses and bombardment," rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) commander 
(KUNA) -- An armed group has assassinated five Algerian security elements in the area of Wadi Suf, some 580 kilometres east of the Algerian capital. A security source said that the armed group took by a surprise the security agents who were on board two cars and fired bullets towards them. The same source added that four of the security elements sustained injuries and were transferred to nearby hospitals.
Local security forces arrested at least seven people suspected of being involved in last week's attack at the Israel Embassy in Mauritania, Army Radio reported. Three bystanders of French origin were wounded in the incident which was later claimed to be carried out by al-Qaida.
Algeria's Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday (February 6th) that ongoing investigations led to the arrests of six suspects in the December 11th suicide bombings that targeted UNHCR offices and the Constitutional Court building in the district of Hydra in upper Algiers. 
Moroccan authorities are detaining a Moroccan suspect on charges of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people, court officials and lawyers said on Friday.
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The Swat peace committee released two militant commanders after their surrender to security forces on Friday, and three suspects were arrested at Fizagat checkpost, sources said.
The political authorities Friday arrested three people from the Yakaghund area of Mohmand Agency on the directions of intelligence agencies and shifted them to an undisclosed location, sources said.
(KUNA) -- At least six people, including a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, were injured in a powerful grenade attack by rebels near Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Friday. A BSF vehicle was attacked through a grenade this afternoon in Bandipore near Srinagar, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported. Six people -- a BSF trooper and five civilians -- were injured in the blast, the news agency said, quoting a BSF official. The injured have been admitted to a hospital. The condition of one of the civilians is stated to be critical. No rebel group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
US troops killed eight suspected insurgents and captured 26 - including an alleged Shiite militia leader - in two days of raids across Iraq, the US military said Friday. 
KUNA) -- A US Army force stormed a faculty building in Baghdad and arrested its security guards without providing any justification for the operation, spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Basil Al-Khatib told KUNA on Friday.
Sri Lankan troops captured Tamil Tiger rebel positions and killed at least 42 militants, including an area leader, during two days of fighting in the islands north, the military said on Friday. 
