The Nekkid truth about Linda's design is a little too racy to link. If you saw Linda in the 1995 movie Jade, you might remember this scene. Proceed at your own risk.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews51/jade_blu-ray/large/Jade_1080_7.jpg
A policeman sacrificed his life for the sake of others, embracing a suicide bomber in southeast Afghanistan on Saturday morning to dull the blast as it detonated, eyewitnesses said.
Bless him.
The bomb killed the officer, Murad Khan, and eight minors between the ages of 7 and 17. It wounded two more people, said police spokesman Haji Yaqoob of Khost province.
The bomber attempted to enter a village where coalition forces were conducting training exercises with Afghan police, but officers at a checkpoint recognized his explosive vest and stopped him, police said. The training session had convened near the checkpoint, and Yaqoob believes it was the target.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2013 11:21 ||
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Too bad they aren't a good as this man!
Posted by: chris ||
03/09/2013 12:02 Comments ||
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A suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan killed eight children and one policeman. The target of the strike was Afghan and international forces. In a statement, the the provincial governor of Khost said, "A suicide attacker blew up his explosives on a road beside a joint patrol of Afghan police and international forces in the city of Khost."
Police said that the officer had died when he grabbed the attacker. The head of Khost's rapid reaction police unit said, "A suicide attacker wanted to target a joint patrol in Khost city, but he was identified and grabbed by a policeman. The attacker detonated himself killing the policeman and eight children. Two children were also wounded."
[Al Ahram] A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... civilian contractor was killed by three people wearing Afghan security force uniforms on Friday in the latest suspected "insider attack" to target the international military coalition.
"The civilian died when three individuals wearing Afghan uniforms and driving an Afghan security force vehicle forced their way into the base in eastern Afghanistan," a front man for the NATO-led force said.
The front man said that all three of the attackers were killed by Afghan and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops but added that no other details were available as an assessment of the attack was still under way.
Afghan officials, who declined to be named, said the incident occurred in the Tagab district of Kapisa province.
NATO soldiers are fighting alongside Afghan colleagues to thwart Talibs, but more than 60 foreign soldiers were killed in 2012 in "insider attacks" that have bred mistrust and threatened to derail the training process.
If the attackers are confirmed to be Afghan soldiers or police, it would be the first insider attack since January when a British soldier was rubbed out by an Afghan soldier in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
A text message from the Taliban did not claim responsibility for Friday's attack but claimed that two Afghan army soldiers had killed nine American soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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Strikes by Egyptian security forces spread swiftly around the country on Friday, as police walked off the job or took to the streets. The security forces are angry at being blamed for crackdowns on protests against the Islamist president and accusing his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to control them.
The wave of police discontent adds a new layer to Egypt's turmoil and political breakdown. In a sign of the disarray, a powerful hard-line Islamist group said its members would now take over policing a southern province because most security forces in the province were on strike.
Strikes by policemen and riot police were reported in at least 10 of Egypt's 29 provinces, including at several stations in the capital, Cairo.
The police discontent comes after relentless protests and unrest around the country since late January -- which in turn followed an earlier wave of protests in November and December. In past weeks, protesters have taken to the streets largely in anger against Islamist President Mohammed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, which the opposition accuses of trying to dominate power in the country. But other factors have fueled unrest, including a declining economy and fuel shortages.
Near daily, the demonstrations have turned into clashes with police in multiple cities, resulting in the killing of around 70 protesters. Each death has increased public anger against the security forces, fueled further by reports of torture of some activists by security agents. The force is already widely hated because of its legacy of abuses and brutality under ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Now that has sparked a backlash by many of the lower-ranking members of the security forces. Protesting police accuse Morsi of using them to crack down on his opponents and demand the resignation of the current, Morsi-appointed interior minister, who they accuse of engineering efforts to bring Islamist sympathizers into the ministry.
Police officers in the southern city of Sohag marched in front of one station, holding signs reading, "No to the Brotherhoodization of the ministry."
Police in charge of protecting the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which makes up the backbone of Mursi's rule, have gone on strike, as have others tasked with escorting Mursi's motorcades.
Some members of the Central Security forces -- the riot police force that is at the forefront of cracking down on protesters -- have come to near munity.
On Thursday, protesting riot police trapped the Central Security's top commander for several hours inside their camp at the city of Port Said, refusing to deploy in the city against protesters. On Friday, the Interior Ministry announced that the commander, Gen. Maged Nouh, had been removed from his post and replaced by his deputy, Ashraf Abdullah.
Port Said, located at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, has been the center of the heaviest violence during the unrest. Many fear a new wave of violence on Saturday when a court issues new verdicts and sentences in a contentious trial over a deadly soccer riot in Port Said in February 2012. A first set of verdicts on Jan. 28 -- in which 21 Port Said residents were sentenced to death over the riot -- sparked the city's initial uprising because its population sees the trial as unjust and politicized.
On Saturday, the court is scheduled to issue verdicts on around 50 more defendants, mostly Port Said residents but also including nine police officers. If the police personnel are convicted or handed heavy sentences, it will likely further fuel resentment among the security forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
These are the "democratic reforms" Kerry talks about?
#3
These are the "democratic reforms" Kerry talks about?
His thinking runs thusly: some of the people wanted these guys running things, so the outcome by definition is democratic. And since, by definition everything done democratically is both right and good, how can he fail to approve?
#4
On Saturday, the court is scheduled to issue verdicts on around 50 more defendants, mostly Port Said residents but also including nine police officers
[Egypt Independent] Central Security forces and police tasked with maintaining security around the headquarters of the Moslem Brüderbund in the Cairo district of Moqattam withdrew from their positions, privately-run satellite channel ONtv reported.
The central security and police members joined their fellow strikers and protestors inside the Moqattam cop shoppe.
Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted members of the police who were deployed to secure the Brotherhood headquarters as saying that they do not work for the benefit of a certain political faction. They added that as the head office of a preaching group not a political party, it is not entitled to police security.
A number of governorates are currently seeing a wave of strikes by the Central Security Forces and police, as personnel of different ranks in the sectors of Central Security, Criminal Investigation and Public Security continued their sit-in and abstaining from work.
These moves come after strikes in mid-February that petered out. After a number of police personnel were killed or injured during festivities in several Egyptian governorates, police have started reiterating their demands with renewed vigor.
Their demands include the dismissal of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, raising and renewing the level of armaments, and insulating the Interior Ministry from internal political conflicts.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] The leader of a new al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) brigade was allegedly killed in northern Mali, ANSA reported on Thursday (March 7th).
El Kairouani Abu Abdelhamid al-Kidali was reportedly eliminated by French and Chadian forces in Aguelhok, Sahara Media said.
The news followed reports of the deaths of al-Qaeda leader Abdelhamid Abou Zeid and his chief rival Mokhtar Belmokhtar. On Wednesday, Ansar al-Din leader Iyad Ag Ghaly was also rumoured dead.
On November 28th, AQIM announced the creation of the "Youssef ben Tachfine" brigade, led by al-Kidali. The new brigade is made up mainly of Touaregs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Egyptian police withdrew on Friday from their headquarters in Port Said that has been the target of protesters and transferred its protection to the military, the Interior Ministry said.
"It has been decided to give the military the responsibility of securing the police headquarters," a statement said.
The military has been deployed in Port Said since rioting began in late January.
Earlier, an Egyptian protester was rubbed out in overnight festivities in Port Said when police fired on protesters outside their headquarters, a doctor said on Friday.
Karim Sayid Abdel Aziz, 33, died of a bullet wound to the head, said Dr. Mohammed Arnous who treated him in a Port Said hospital. Abdel Aziz had been shot three times.
A medic told Agence La Belle France Presse that 73 people were maimed in the festivities, including five people who suffered bullet wounds and 19 who were hit by birdshot.
The festivities on Thursday resumed after protesters marched on the police headquarters, which they had already set ablaze on Tuesday, chanting "the interior ministry are thugs," an AFP correspondent reported.
The unrest in the Suez Canal city, fueled by January death sentences handed down to football fans over deadly rioting last year, flared again on Sunday, with six people, including three coppers, dying in the festivities.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"It has been decided to give the military the responsibility of securing the police headquarters," a statement said.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/09/2013 8:21 Comments ||
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#3
Karim Sayid Abdel Aziz, 33, died of a bullet wound to the head, said Dr. Mohammed Arnous who treated him in a Port Said hospital. Abdel Aziz had been shot three times.
pretty obviously a suicide
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2013 14:09 Comments ||
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[Egypt Independent] The interior minister sacked commander of the Central Security Forces (CSF) Maged Nouh on Friday, after he failed to contain the anger of the CSF officers who staged a sit-in in at least seven CSF camps in Cairo alone, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
Ashraf Abdallah, a long-serving CSF officer, has been appointed the new commander. His first task, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports, is to negotiate with the officers of the CSF and to convince them to end their strike.
Earlier, the website of state-run newspaper Al-Ahram had reported that on Thursday Abdallah met with leaders of the Central Security camps, and agreed to meet with their demands.
In relation to the crisis facing the security services, the Interior Ministry announced that it will hand over the headquarters of Port Security Directorate to the Armed Forces to secure, one day before the expected court ruling in the case of Port Said Massacre of February 2013, in which dozens of the city residents are defendants.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the ministry called on the people of the city of Port Said to "calm the situation and ensure the safety of all government and private establishments."
Two people were killed on Thursday in the fifth day of festivities between security forces and demonstrators in Port Said.
Clashes had erupted last Sunday in the vicinity of the Port Said Security Directorate after the Interior Ministry announced the transferal of the defendants of the Port Said case to Zagazig prison, awaiting the verdict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Heavy festivities between hundreds anti-government protesters and security forces have continued in the city of Mahalla, Gharbiya governorate, on Friday night.
At least 18 protesters were reported injured.
Protesters who chanted against the ruling Moslem Brüderbund managed to block the Shoan railway crossing earlier in the evening.
Police have used Central Security Forces from the nearby government of Menofiya to deal with angry protesters.
Police has been on strike to press for the dismissal of the interior minister in parts of Gharbiya governorate on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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A breakaway Islamic extremist group said Saturday it killed seven foreigners who its members kidnapped from northern Nigeria, according to an online message purportedly from the group.
The message, identified as coming from Ansaru, could not be immediately verified by The Associated Press, though it included photographs the group claimed showed the dead, who were kidnapped from a construction company compound in February. Those kidnapped included three Lebanese citizens and one each from Britain, Greece, Italy and the Philippines - all employees of Setraco, a Lebanese construction company with an operation in Bauchi state, local officials said at the time.
British officials declined to immediately comment Saturday. Two Nigerian military spokesmen declined to immediately comment when reached by the AP, while a presidential spokesman and a spokeswoman for the country's domestic spy service could not be immediately reached.
[An Nahar] Armed Islamists in northern Mali killed four civilians in an overnight attack not far from the city of Timbuktu, local officials said Friday.
Mayor Mamady Konipo said four residents of Tonka, which lies south of Timbuktu, were killed by a group of men in the bush near their homes, apparently trying to steal their car.
The deadly attack was confirmed by a Malian security source.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Indian police said yesterday they had seized 31 AK-47 rifles, an automatic rifle, a light machine gun and some ammunition in Mizoram as those were being smuggled into Bangladesh from Myanmar via India.
Our Correspondent in New Delhi says three persons, Moni Tripura, Robi Chakma and Sabuj Chakma, were incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in this connection. Indian police claimed the arrestees are Bangladeshi nationals.
Joseph Lalchhuana, superintendent of police, CID (Crime) of north-eastern state of Mizoram, India, told the Press Trust of India yesterday that 23 AK-47 assault rifles, the Browning automatic rifle and the light machine gun had been seized on Thursday near Lengpui airport in Aizawl, Mizoram capital.
He said yesterday the interrogation of the three arrested people led to the seizure of eight more AK-47 rifles, 86 bullets of the AK-47s, 24 bullets of the machine gun and 699 bullets of the Browning rifle.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim swung his cue at Hurley's head... Inspector General of Police (Bangladesh) Hassan Mahmood Khandker told The Daily Star last night that he was not aware of the seizure made by the Indian police.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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Something's fishy here, not nearly enough ammo.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/09/2013 8:23 Comments ||
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If that's a BAR, they should put it on Ebay and make some money
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/09/2013 11:47 Comments ||
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#3
not nearly enough ammo.
Is the rest of the world sharing our ammunition shortage, or is that merely a local phenomenon?
[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion early yesterday tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... Dhaka city unit Assistant Secretary General Selim Uddin Selim at Karwan Bazar for violating a tribunal order to appear before the court.
On March 6, International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued arrest warrants against three Jamaat leaders, including Selim, for repeatedly failing to show up before the court and explain "their derogatory" remarks about the tribunal.
Nayeb-e-Ameer of Uttara unit of Jamaat Mahmudur Rahman was arrested along with Selim on Garden Road in Karwan Bazar around 3:00am, director of the Rab intelligence wing Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan said.
He said Mahmudur was arrested in connection with the recent nationwide violence.
Issuing the arrest warrants against Jamaat acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan and central executive council member Hamidur Rahman Azad and Selim, Tribunal-2 asked the authorities concerned to produce them before it on March 21.
On February 7, the tribunal asked the three to explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for making provocative and derogatory remarks about the tribunal and asked them to appear before the court on February 20.
The tribunal issued the notice based on reports published in The Daily Star and the Prothom Alo on February 5 on a Jamaat rally held in the city the previous day.
The Prothom Alo quoted Selim as saying, "There is no scope for the controversial tribunal to deliver any verdict if the country is to be saved from a civil war."
The Daily Star in a report headlined "Jamaat warns of civil war" quoted Rafiqul Islam as saying, "Don't push the country into a civil war by delivering one-sided verdicts against our leaders. If anything happens to Quader Mollah, every house will be on fire."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Fanatics vandalised a temple at Munshiganj and set fire to another in Rangpur in the early hours yesterday, creating widespread panic among the local Hindu community.
In Munshiganj, myrmidons vandalised five idols at a temple at Shashongaon village of Sirajdikhan upazila on Thursday night.
Locals found the idols, including that of the goddess Kali, totally destroyed when they went to the temple to worship yesterday morning, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.
Md Abul Kashem, upazila nirbahi officer, and Sheikh Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sirajdikhan Police Station, visited the spot.
OC Mahbubur alleged that a gang of myrmidons was attacking the temples in the area to create panic among the Hindus.
He assured the local Hindus that the hunt was on to nab the fanatics.
In Rangpur, myrmidons destroyed the idol of Sree Radha Govinda before setting the temple on fire at Amashu-Kukrul in Rangpur city in the early hours yesterday.
Goutam Roy, of the Burimata Temple Committee, said some fanatics set the tin-shed temple ablaze around 5:30am, leaving the idol and some holy books burnt.
Hearing the crackling of flames, people rushed to the temple and doused the fire, said Kartik Das, a religious leader of the local Hindus.
Abdur Razzak, superintendent of police of Rangpur, told The Daily Star, "We have sent a police team to the area and started an investigation to find out those responsible for the fire."
Haradhan Saha, a ward councillor, alleged that myrmidons set fire to the temple to destroy communal harmony in the area.
Md Shahabuddin Khalifa, officer-in-charge of Rangpur Kotwali Police Station, said "Dhirendra Nath Roy, president of the temple committee, lodged a case against some unnamed myrmidons in connection with the incident."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Placate the ones whose houses were burned, and pretend there's nothing to see.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/09/2013 15:03 Comments ||
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Hundreds of people in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore attacked a Christian neighborhood Saturday and set fire to homes after hearing accusations that a Christian man had committed blasphemy against Islam's prophet, said a police officer.
"What blasphemy, Mohammed?"
"I dunno, Belal -- someone said the kaffir blasphemed. Kill! Riot! Jihad!"
"Since someone said...Let me get gasoline and matches. Kill! Riot! Jihad!"
Blasphemy is a serious crime in Pakistan that can carry the death penalty but sometimes outraged residents exact their own retribution for perceived insults of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
Key word there being perceived. Reality has nothing to do with it.
Pakistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and people of other faiths, including the nation's small Christian community, are often viewed with suspicion.
The incident started Friday when a young Muslim man accused a Christian man of committing blasphemy by making offensive comments about the prophet, according to Multan Khan, a senior police officer in Lahore.
A large crowd from a nearby mosque went to the Christian man's home on Friday night, and Khan said police took him into custody to try to pacify the crowd. Fearing for their safety, hundreds of Christian families fled the area overnight.
Khan said the mob returned on Saturday and began ransacking Christian homes and setting them ablaze. He said no one in the Christian community was hurt, but several policemen were injured when they were hit with stones as they tried to keep the crowd from storming the area.
The scene was chaotic. An Associated Press photographer on the scene said roughly 50 homes and a small church were set on fire. One man was seen carrying a dog and some puppies from a burning house. Refrigerators, washing and sewing machines, cooking pots, beds and other household goods were ripped from homes, smashed and torched in the streets.
[Dawn] Eleven suspected gunnies were killed in action by security forces in the northwestern tribal regions of Khyber and Upper Orakzai, DawnNews reported on Friday.
Security forces also destroyed several hard boy hideouts during the operation.
In Khyber tribal region's Tirah Valley, the forces used fighter jets to target orc positions, killing three suspected gunnies and destroying several of their hideouts.
Fresh festivities between the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and Ansarul Islam (AI) gunnies erupted in Bar Qamber Khel area of Khyber tribal regions Tirah valley claiming the lives of at least 11 hard boys.
In Orakzai's Nindar Mela and Utmela areas, eight gunnies were killed during shelling by fighter jets and three orc hideouts were also destroyed.
Orakzai and Khyber are among Pakistain's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pak Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked gunnies are said to have carved out strongholds.
In another incident three children were maimed when a concealed bombwent kaboom! in Ali baba market in Pabbi area. The three boys were aged between 7-12 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pak paramilitary forces on Friday said they captured a large quantity of arms and enjugged You have the right to remain silent... eight suspected sectarian faceless myrmidons from the troubled southwestern city of Quetta.
Quetta, the capital of oil and mineral rich Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province which borders Afghanistan and Iran, was recently hit by two sectarian kabooms killing nearly 200 Shia Moslems.
Al Qaeda linked Sunni krazed killer organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... (LeJ) claimed both attacks and threatened further killings of Shias.
"Our troops raided a house in the Dasht suburb of Quetta and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition dumped underground in the courtyard of the house," Colonel Maqbool Ahmad, a bigwig of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told news hounds.
Ahmad, who supervised the raid, said they also detained eight faceless myrmidons from the house in Dasht, 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Quetta city.
"The nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! persons must have connections with sectarian organizations and may lead us to unearth faceless myrmidons involved in terrorist activities in Quetta," he added.
The arms and ammunition seized included 120 kilograms (260 pounds) of explosives, 1,000 explosive detonators, guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Gunmen attacked a checkpoint on Friday near Samarra, north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killing five anti-Qaeda gunnies and wounding two others, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Four of the attackers were also killed, the police officer said.
The attack comes a day after gunnies killed seven Sahwa fighters and maimed one other in two separate attacks -- one south of the Iraqi capital, and the other west of Kirkuk in the north.
The Sahwa are made up of Sunni Arab rustics who joined forces with the U.S. military against al-Qaeda from late 2006, helping turn the tide against the insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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Malaysian police on Friday rounded up 79 people in Sabah for their suspected links to the sultan of Sulus attempt to retake the territory as crack troops and fighter jets continued an assault to end a confrontation with the sultans armed followers trapped in two villages in the eastern Malaysian state.
Federal police chief Ismail Omar said the arrests had all happened in areas outside the battle zone where Malaysian forces were chasing the followers of Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III.
The crackdown on suspected allies of Jamaluls supporters is part of the Malaysian governments aggressive response to the incursion into Sabah by Agbimuddins group. 60 people, 52 of Agbimuddins fighters and eight Malaysian policemen, have been killed in fighting since March 1.
A radio station reported that explosions from howitzer attacks were heard starting at 6:45 last night, hours after Malaysian F-18 Hornet fighter jets dropped bombs on an area in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town where the Sulu sultans followers had been on the run since Tuesday.
Jamalul on Thursday declared a unilateral ceasefire and offered an exchange of prisoners after air strikes and heavy artillery attacks by Malaysian forces scattered his followers on Tuesday. But Malaysia turned down the ceasefire offer and demanded that Agbimuddin and his men give up unconditionally or be killed.
The fate of Agbimuddin remained unknown as Malaysian elite military and police teams went into the final stage of search and mopping-up operations on Thursday at Tanduao and Tanjung Batu villages where the last of Jamaluls followers had been cornered.
A brigadier general from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), identified only as Musa, was among the 32 killed in a fire fight with Malaysian troops in Tanjung Batu on Wednesday.
Twenty-one Filipino UN peacekeepers seized by Syrian rebels on the Golan Heights arrived in Jordan on Saturday, hours after their captors released them from an ordeal of more than three days.
"They arrived in Jordan; they are on Jordanian land now," Jordanian government spokesman Samih Maaytah told AFP.
The United Nations and the Philippines government also confirmed that the 21 members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), had crossed safely into Jordan from Syria where rebels battling the Syrian regime seized them on Wednesday.
"We can confirm that the peacekeepers have been released," UN peacekeeping spokeswoman Josephine Guerrero said in New York.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the release but said all sides in the Syrian conflict must respect the "impartiality" of UNDOF which monitors a ceasefire line between Syria and Israel in the strategic Golan plateau.
Ban "appreciates the efforts of all concerned to secure their safe release," said a statement released by his press office after the Filipinos crossed from Syria into Jordan.
"The secretary general emphasizes to all parties the impartiality of United Nations peacekeepers," it added.
#1
So, which side of the Golan Heights border were they on? Syrian or Israeli? UN "peacekeepers" in Syria doesn't sound too bright considering the conditions at this time.
UN efforts to secure the release of 21 peacekeepers abducted in the Golan dragged on into a third day on Friday. Meanwhile, Manila said rebels holding the Filipinos were sticking to their demand Syrian troops leave the area.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous was to brief the Security Council on the abduction later Friday as concern mounted about its implications for the future of the four-decade-old UN force patrolling the sensitive armistice line between Israel and Syria.
The refusal by the Syrian rebels to compromise had dampened hopes of a swift release and forced Manila to step up its negotiation efforts, Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
The 21 Filipinos, members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) monitoring the armistice between Syria and Israel that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, were abducted by the rebels on Wednesday just one and a half kilometres (a mile) to the Syrian side of the ceasefire line. The rebels are demanding that Syrian troops move 20 kilometres (12 miles) back from Jamla, an area at the southern end of the armistice zone, Hernandez said.
The demand of the rebels for the repositioning of Syrian forces in the area of Jamla is still outstanding so this is still being worked out, he said on ABS-CBN television.
The Philippine government had previously received information that raised hopes the 21 would be released on Friday morning, Philippine time, and the government now did not know if or when they would be freed, Hernandez said.
We are trying to intensify our negotiations with the rebel groups, he said adding that the hostages were nonetheless being treated well.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had added a fresh demand.
They are now demanding a new condition that the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross guarantees the safe exit from the strife-torn area of Jamla of civilians, the Britain-based watchdogs director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.
Concern has been mounting that the Filipinos seizure might prompt more governments to withdraw troops from the already depleted UN mission.
Nah. Send in the mighty Uruguayans!
Israeli officials warned that any further reduction in its strength risked creating a security vacuum in the no-mans land between the two sides on the strategic Golan Heights, which it seized in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Israeli army revealed that it helped eight UN peacekeepers redeploy through Israeli-held territory overnight from an isolated post in the area where the hostages are being held.
Eight UNDOF soldiers were evacuated from a post located within the demilitarised zone in the Syrian Golan Heights, the spokeswoman told AFP, adding that Israeli troops escorted them north to another UN base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me get this straight. The Rebels that kidnap or indiscriminately detonate explosives in population centers are the bad Rebels right? Then theres another class of good Rebels. They're the ones worthy of US aid and training. But all of the them seem prone to shouting alu akbar and say theyre fighting for the same cause. This whole 'Unity of Vision' stuff sure is confusing.
[An Nahar] A U.N. convoy attempting to pick up 21 Filipino peacekeepers that their Syrian rebel captors had agreed to free was forced back by a barrage of army shelling on Friday, a watchdog said.
In New York the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery... said efforts to secure the peacekeepers would resume on Saturday.
"Arrangements were made with all parties for the release of the 21 peacekeepers," said U.N. peacekeeping spokeswoman Josephine Guerrero, "but due to the late hour and the darkness it was considered unsafe to continue the operation. Efforts will continue tomorrow."
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the village where the soldiers are being held came under intense shelling.
That was denied by Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, who said everything was being done to get them out safely.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a U.N. convoy entered the village of Jamla to collect the peacekeepers but the army shelled the area.
"When the U.N. vehicles entered into Jamla, the Syrian army shelled a nearby village. The U.N. cars then withdrew from Jamla," said Abdel Rahman.
Ladsous and expressed hope that a possible ceasefire would lead to the freeing of the peacekeepers, who have been held by Syrian rebels since Wednesday.
"That village is subject to intense shelling by the Syrian armed forces," he said. "There is perhaps a hope, but it is not done yet... that a ceasefire of a few hours can intervene which would allow for our people to be released."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A Syrian official working in the office of the governor of Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... was killed on Friday by a bomb planted in his car, an official television channel reported, blaming the attack on "terrorists".
"Terrorists planted an bomb in Asaad Mohanna's car," said al-Ikhbariya television, using the regime's term to refer to rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Despoiler of Deraa... forces.
"He was in charge of running the office of the governor of Damascus."
Al-Ikhbariya said the attack occurred in the heavily fortified northwest area of Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Poor writing,
A man working in his office was killed by a bomb in his car?
Be explicit, was he in his car, or office?
Or was the car parked right by his office.
(Should have known better)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/09/2013 15:09 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Russia will not pressure Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... to step down, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC during an interview on Friday.
"Russia is not in the regime-change game, and there is absolutely no chance of Moscow telling Al-Assad to stand down", he said.
Lavrov stated that Moscow is against "interference in domestic conflicts," pointing out that Al-Assad himself has no intention of resigning.
"I can only say it is not for us to decide who should lead Syria. It is for the Syrians to decide", Lavrov reiterated.
Russia and China, Al-Assad's staunchest international allies, vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions last year threatening sanctions against the Syrian regime. The latest Russia-China veto deepened an acrimonious battle at the Security Council over who is to blame for the world powers' failure to get international action to halt the two-year Syrian conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2013 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.
Strikes by Egyptian security forces spread swiftly around the country on Friday, as police walked off the job or took to the streets. The security forces are angry at being blamed for crackdowns on protests against the Islamist president and accusing his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to control them.
[MAGHAREBIA] The leader of a new al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) brigade was allegedly killed in northern Mali, ANSA reported on Thursday (March 7th).
[Egypt Independent] The interior minister sacked commander of the Central Security Forces (CSF) Maged Nouh on Friday, after he failed to contain the anger of the CSF officers who staged a sit-in in at least seven CSF camps in Cairo alone, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
[Bangla Daily Star] Fanatics vandalised a temple at Munshiganj and set fire to another in Rangpur in the early hours yesterday, creating widespread panic among the local Hindu community.
Hundreds of people in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore attacked a Christian neighborhood Saturday and set fire to homes after hearing accusations that a Christian man had committed blasphemy against Islam's prophet, said a police officer.
Malaysian police on Friday rounded up 79 people in Sabah for their suspected links to the sultan of Sulus attempt to retake the territory as crack troops and fighter jets continued an assault to end a confrontation with the sultans armed followers trapped in two villages in the eastern Malaysian state. 
UN efforts to secure the release of 21 peacekeepers abducted in the Golan dragged on into a third day on Friday. Meanwhile, Manila said rebels holding the Filipinos were sticking to their demand Syrian troops leave the area.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
