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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Pakistani Taliban leader Ehsanullah Ehsan 'surrenders'
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
The MOAB Hit Afghanistan So Hard It Cracked Buildings In Neighboring Pakistan
[Daily Caller] The U.S. military’s non-nuclear "mother of all bombs" (MOAB) hit the Islamic State in Afghanistan so hard that it cracked buildings in neighboring Pakistan.

Villagers complained to Dawn, a newspaper in Pakistan, that the bomb cracked numerous houses and a mosque in Malana village located in the foothills of the White Mountain, which serves as a border between the two countries.

The MOAB hit an ISIS base last Thursday in the foothills of the White Mountain on exactly the other side of the border in the Afghan province of Nangarhar, leaving 90 dead, though initial death tolls placed the number at only 36. Green Beret Staff Sgt. Mark De Alencar died of small arms fire in early April in the same province.

"We felt light shocks, but did not realise it was because of a bomb," said Muhammad Hassan, one of the Malana villagers who spoke with Dawn.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2017 03:25 || Comments || Link || [336134 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looking for damage reparations are they?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2017 7:10 Comments || Top||

#2  ...would make good 'Free Stuff' Democrats.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2017 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  And there is more where that came from, bucko
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/18/2017 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Come to think of it, I think I got some very expensive cracks that showed up in my foundation after that bomb hit . . . .

Either way, if true, it gives me even more confidence that the thing did its job.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2017 10:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Not that there's any connection between an al-Qaeda/ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan and numerous houses and a mosque across the border in Pakistain.

Nope.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 10:38 Comments || Top||

#6  It'll buff right out...
Posted by: Raj || 04/18/2017 11:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Time to upgrade those Paki building codes.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2017 12:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Frackers!
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/18/2017 12:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Talk about sending a message.
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2017 13:04 Comments || Top||

#10  I guess we know where the other ends of those tunnels are - err, were - now.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/18/2017 13:19 Comments || Top||

#11  Any additional tremors are earth quakes, courtesy of the US MOAB,creating new fault lines near your Mosque.
Posted by: Nero White 3083 || 04/18/2017 14:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Reports of terrorist attack in Fresno. Several deaths.
Posted by: Nero White 3083 || 04/18/2017 16:55 Comments || Top||

#13  The MOAB is real ball buster. I heard today there is one non-nuclear bomb that is even larger.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/18/2017 17:32 Comments || Top||

#14  Glenmore I was wondering that too; wonder if someone had the wide angle looking for little puffs of dirt.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/18/2017 19:26 Comments || Top||

#15  "I'll smack you so hard they'll feel it in Pakistan!"
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2017 19:58 Comments || Top||

#16  What Did I Tell You? Even More MOAB Madness
Posted by: newc || 04/18/2017 20:58 Comments || Top||


4 mine making factories destroyed in Afghan forces operation in Helmand
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least four factories producing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) were destroyed during an operation conducted by the Afghan commandos in southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province.

Local officials said the operation was conducted on Sunday night in the vicinity of Marjah district.

At least 800 various types of Improvised Explosive Device and two vehicles were also destroyed during the operations.

The destruction of the four factories will have a positive impact to reduce the deadly roadside kaboomings which is one of the main tactics of the turbans to attack the government and security officials that also leads to civilian casualties.

According to the officials, the Afghan cops are currently busy in a counter-terrorism operation in various parts of Helmand, including Nawa and Marjah.

The operations were launched several days ago as the security officials are saying that the clearance operations are being conducted as part of the Khalid operations.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Around 2,000 kgs of explosives seized in Kabul
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Around two thousand kilograms of explosives were seized during an operation by the Afghan forces in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said the explosives were kept inside a house and the holy warriors were apparently using them in terrorist attacks.

The Ministry further added that the operation was conducted in the vicinity of Char Asiab district of Kabul which resulted into the confiscation of the explosives.

MoI also added that an investigation is underway in this regard.

The Taliban gunnies mostly use the explosives of Ammonium Nitrate type to manufacture Improvised Explosive Devices which are mainly used in roadside kaboomings.

Roadside bombings are considered as the main cause of the casualties of the security forces, babus government employees, and the ordinary civilians.

This comes as the Afghan forces on Saturday foiled a plot by the anti-government armed holy warriors to launch rockets on Kabul city.

At: least ten rockets prepared for the attack was discovered and confiscated from the Khak-e-Jabar district o Kabul before the holy warriors manage to fire them on the city.

The latest developments comes as the anti-government armed holy warriors are attempting to destabilize the key cities of the country including capital Kabul, a move which the gunnies often adopt as the weather gets warm.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Was Kharzai there to complain?
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2017 10:49 Comments || Top||


Taliban kill alleged adulterers and spies
[FOXNEWS] An Afghan official says that Talibs have stoned a man and a woman accused of adultery to death.

Salim Sallhe, front man for the governor of Pashtun-infested Logar province, said the incident happened on Sunday in a remote area of the Mohammad Agha district where the government does not hold authority. Sallhe says a preliminary police investigation says the stoning did not take place in public.

Elsewhere in northern Sari Pul province, officials say Talibs killed three women and a young boy who were accused of spying.

Zabiullah Amani, the front man for the provincial governor, said the victims were accused of providing the government with information from inside Taliban-held territory.

Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had no comment on the two reports.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Nugal administration bans Al-Sadi’un Bil-Haq group from its territory
[GOOBJOOG] The local administration of Nugal region has banned al-Sadi’un Bil-Haq group, following the faction’s support by individuals in several towns in Somalia.

The Governor of Nugal region, Omar Abdulahi Faraweyne has announced the ban on the group in Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
regions and order the closure of all the centers linked to the al-Sadi’un Bil-Haq group.

" Puntland has been engaging fighting against ISIS and al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
bully boys, now we declare war against this new group, we call upon the public to collaborate with the security agencies in order to annihilate the group and its secret cells," said Faraweyne.

He said that government has instructed the security forces to arrest any member linked to the group.

The new group which its name roughly translated "proclaimers of the truth" was declared early this month in Egypt by an Egyptian citizen named Mostafa Kamel Mohammed.

Several groups in Puntland, Somaliland and other parts of Somalia have pledged allegiance to the group and announced establishment of the group in their respective constituencies.

Somali holy mans earlier denounced the group describing it as "an anti-Islamic group" and urged the public to stay alert from accepting its holy warrior ideology to apostatize other people.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Hafter aide claims LNA has military links with Misratans
[Libya Herald] There are many social and military contacts between Misrata and tribal elders in the east as well as with the Libyan National Army (LNA) a close aide to armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter has claimed.

Abdelbasset al-Badri has told the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram al-Arabi that Misrata had an important and active role in Libya and could not be ignored.

"We have contacts with many of the sons of Misrata" he said, "and they are the sons of Libya like all other Libyans."

Badri said that more and more Misratans were "listening to the language of reason". He insisted that he did not "fully blame" the city of Misrata for supporting terrorist groups inside Benghazi, where there were "radical Islamic currents". He said there were similar currents in Misrata but added that these were not shared throughout the city.

Badri said thon the lam amounts of money had been paid by the Benghazi Defence Brigades to young men, including secondary school students, who had been "tricked" into going in to battle against the LNA .

Badri gave no details of the military links he claimed between Misrata and the LNA but said that the sheikhs elders in the city were in contract with their counterparts in the east.

Badri’s comments may cause increased tension in Misrata where the military council is endeavouring to oust the elected municipal council, most recently bricking up the council offices. In the recent past Badri has been used by Hafter as a personal envoy. Last month he was in Moscow
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Clashes erupt between tribes and IS group in Sinai
[IsraelTimes] Egyptian officials say three people injured as terror group launches RPG attacks in response to kidnapping of three of its members

Egyptian security officials say three people have been injured in festivities between Death Eaters and local tribes in the Sinai peninsula.

The officials told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named Monday that members of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group launched RPG attacks Sunday in response to the kidnapping of three of its members by local tribes.

According to tribal sources, the unrest started when IS Death Eaters shot at a truck smuggling cigarettes into the area, where they impose a strict version of Islamic law that prohibits the sale of tobacco. The area around the city of Rafah is at the heart of an ongoing battle between Death Eaters and security forces.

The official sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media. The tribal sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram: Troops rescue 1,623 persons, kill 21 terrorists
[THEEAGLEONLINE.NG] Troops of 3 Battalion, 22 Brigade Nigerian Army on Operation Lafiya Dole, assisted by 10 Civilian JTF based on information received, on Monday embarked on an offensive on suspected location of Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
murderous Moslems at Jarawa general area, Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno State.

While advancing, the troops came under heavy fire at Jarawa village.

The troops responded decisively and went further to clear Deima, Artano, Saduguma, Duve, Bardo, Kala, Bok, Msherde and Ahirde settlements.

During the operation, the troops neutralized 21 Boko Haram murderous Moslems and rescued 1,623 residents of Jarawa who were held captives by the terrorists.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Britain
At least 12 suffer burns following acid attack at London nightclub
[RT] British police have launched an investigation and a manhunt after a suspected "noxious substance" caused at least 12 revelers to suffer burns at Mangle E8 nightclub in Dalston, East London. Hundreds were evacuated from the bar following the incident.
Acid attacks are a South Asian thing, kinda...
Two men, both in their 20s, remain in serious but stable condition in hospital. Ten others were treated for minor injuries, according to Metropolitan Police.

"We sent multiple resources to the scene including paramedics in cars, ambulance crews, a number of officers, an advanced paramedic and our hazardous area resource team," the London Ambulance Service said.

"Police were called to a licensed premises in Sidworth Street, Dalston, at approximately 1:10am on 17 April, after members of the public complained of a noxious substance," an official statement from a police spokesperson said.

A Metropolitan Police front man also told The Express that the substance has not been identified.

"The only information that we have is that it was an unknown corrosive substance thrown within the nightclub," a London Fire Brigade spokeswoman said.

"It was identified by a PH paper test as a strong acidic substance."

An escalated dispute between two groups reportedly prompted a male suspect to spray the "noxious substance" directly at two victims, according to the Metropolitan Police. The incident is not "gang-related," police said in a statement.

Around 600 people were at the scene at the time of the incident, with 200 leaving the premises immediately, and 400 evacuated by the police.

An investigation is currently underway. No arrests have so far been made, but a manhunt is underway.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Tajikistan's Islamic State Contingent Reportedly Suffers Grave Blows
[EURASIANET.ORG] Media outlets have in recent days reported on the death of senior Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group faceless myrmidons from Tajikistan -- including US-trained former riot police commander Gulmurod Khalimov -- in what appears to amount to a devastating blow to the radical organization’s Central Asian contingent.

The Times of London cited military sources in Iraq as saying that Khalimov was killed by a missile strike on the city of djinn-infested Mosul
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


St Petersburg attack: 'Man who trained bomber' arrested near Moscow
[BBC] A suspect accused of helping to prepare the St Petersburg metro bombing has been detained near Moscow, Russian security officials say.

Abror Azimov, who was born in 1990 and is from Central Asia, was held in Odintsovo district west of the capital.

He is the ninth person to be detained in connection with the attack, which killed 14 and maimed more than 50 earlier this month.

It was carried out by Kyrgyz-born Russian Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22.

Abror Azimov is believed to have trained Jalilov ahead of the suicide kaboom, Russia's Tass news agency reported.

He was carrying a pistol and a package containing two smartphones at the time of his arrest, reports said.
Smartphones? More arrests to come, then.
The other eight people detained in connection with the attack - six in St Petersburg and two in Moscow - are also from Central Asia.
This article starring:
St Petersburg
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


India-Pakistan
Three killed in shootout during tribal jirga
[DAWN] At least three rustics were killed and six others injured when an armed clash broke out between two groups during a jirga in Gulistan area of Qila Abdullah district on Sunday.

A bigwig of the Levies Force said the two sides had organised the jirga to resolve a murder dispute between them.

Sources said a tribal elder, Lala Khan Badaizai, had gone to the Gulistan area, along with some other elders, to attend the jirga held at the residence of his cousin Niaz Badaizai, who had a murder dispute with a rival group.

During the proceedings of the jirga some harsh words were excha­nged by the two groups. As a result, a clash broke out, which claimed the lives of three people on the spot.

The dead included the young son of Lala Khan Badaizai and his gunman.

The Levies official confirmed that three people had been killed in the shootout, adding that six other persons were maimed.

Personnel of the Frontier Corps
...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations....
(FC) and Levies Force shifted the bodies and the injured to hospital, said the sources.

The condition of three of the injured people was said to be serious.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:


8 Pak army jawans killed amid heavy shelling on LoC
[Daily Excelsior] Eight Mighty Pak Army jawans were reported killed when troops from this side retaliated to unprovoked heavy shelling and firing from across the Line of Control (LoC) in several areas of Nowshera sector in Rajouri district today.

Reports said eight Pakistain troopers were killed after their post was hit by a mortar shell across Nowshera sector this morning. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
there was no official confirmation of the Pak casualties.

Two Army jawans on this side sustained minor injuries.

Official sources said all schools along LoC in Nowshera sector were closed down this morning as soon as Pakistain army resorted to heavy mortar shelling and firing at Lam, Jhanghar, Kalsian and Kallal sectors of Nowshera tehsil in Rajouri district at 8 am today.

Troops from this side retaliated effectively, leading to heavy exchanges. Both sides used 82mm mortars, automatic and semi-automatic weapons in shelling and firing. Pakistain army targeted several civilian areas in the shelling.

Sources said there were reports of some cattle having perished in the shelling and damage to many houses. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
they couldn’t be corroborated as official teams were yet to reach the spot in view of shelling that continued throughout the day today.

"The official teams were expected to reach the forward villages tomorrow morning to assess the damages caused by shelling and firing," sources said.

They added that several mortar shells landed in the civilian areas but there were no casualties on the Indian side. The panic-stricken civilians remained confined to their houses throughout the day in view of intense shelling.

According to sources, intensity of mortar shelling and firing with automatic weapons was very high from 8 am to 3 pm after which it came down to intermittent till 5.30 pm. The shelling and firing stopped in the night.

Describing Pakistain shelling and firing as unprovoked, sources said Pakistain was trying to create trouble on the LoC by repeatedly targeting forward Indian posts and civilian areas in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

This is the sixth ceasefire violation this month.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistani Taliban leader Ehsanullah Ehsan 'surrenders'
[Al Jazeera] A prominent leader of the Pak Taliban's Jamaat-ur-Ahrar (JuA) faction, Ehsanullah Ehsan
...formerly the front man for the Pak Taliban, now the lips and tongue of the Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group in Mohmand Agency...
, has surrendered to security forces, the military said.

The announcement was made on Monday by Asif Ghafoor, Pakistain's military front man, at a press briefing in Rawalpindi, near capital Islamabad.

Ghafoor offered no further details on the arrest, including when and where it took place.

"The people, the state and the institutions of Pakistain have made considerable progress in the betterment of the country's security situation," said Ghafoor.

"We have progressed to the point that the people who've been planning attacks on Pakistain's soil from across the border have started to see that the situation has changed.

"In this regard, I would like to share with you that the banned Jamaat-ur-Ahrar and Tehrik e-Taliban [TTP] spokesperon Ehsanullah Ehsan has surrendered himself to security forces."

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the capture, but Ehsan had been conspicuously absent from his prominent role in liaising with journalists since late 2016.

"If a person who is doing the wrong thing feels that they are on the wrong side and that they should come back towards good, then I don't think there can be a bigger success of the state than this," Ghafoor added.

JuA did not immediately offer a comment on the security forces' claim. If true, it would mark the highest-profile surrender by a Pak Taliban capo in years.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336111 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat ul-Ahrar

#1  Threat of MOABite bomb ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2017 7:23 Comments || Top||

#2  ISI offered a lucrative consulting contract.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2017 13:16 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Three wounded in explosion southeast of Baghdad
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Three civilians were maimed Monday when an bomb went kaboom! in southeastern Baghdad, security sources were quoted saying.

Alghad Press quoted the sources saying that an bomb went off in Jisr Diyala (bridge) district, southeast of the capital, wounding three people.

The United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has said that violence in the country lef 1115 casualties, excluding security members, during March. Baghdad was the second most affected province with 84 deaths and 246 injuries, according to the organization’s monthly casualty count.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 02:04 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:


Tales of ISIS in Tal Afar, west of Mosul
Detained IS dissidents set free in mysterious attack west of Mosul

Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Attackers invaded a prison west of Mosul where the Islamic State holds dissident members, killing three of its guards, according to a local source in Nineveh.

Seven inmates were set free from the prison which held between 15 and 20 detainees arrested by the group over the past few months for declaring dissent, Alsumaria News quoted the source saying Monday.

IS members raised alert and launched searches in the region to catch the fugitive detainees.

IS on alert after top Baghdadi aide assassinated west of Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members raised alert in their stronghold town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, after a senior aide to supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was assassinated.

A local source in Nineveh told Alsumaria News that unknown gunmen killed Hassab-Allah al-Qawqazi near his home in central Tal Afar. According to the source, Qawqazi’s dwelling originally belonged to a security officer, and was seized after IS took over Tal Afar in 2014.

Qawqazi kept a low profile most of the time, and his assassination prompted wide-scale searches across the region for perpetrators.

Tal Afar had previously seen assassinations of senior IS members, with recurrent reports denoting growing divisions and conflicts within the extremist group’s ranks as Baghdadi’s whereabouts or survival remain matters of controversy. IS has lost several senior commanders over the past few weeks in central Mosul since an offensive was launched in February to retake the western side of the city.

Pro-Iraqi government paramilitary troops, al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), have been active around Tal Afar, recapturing several nearby villages and towns since a U.S.-backed offensive was launched in October to retake Mosul, Islamic State’s largest bastion in Iraq.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 02:04 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Western Mosul Offensive News

Police: 60 Islamic State members, including senior member, killed in western Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi police said they killed 60 Islamic State militants on Monday during incursions in western Mosul, including a senior member.

Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen Shaker Jawdat, said his forces killed 60 IS members while advancing in al-Farouq, a district near the Old City’s Nuri al-Kabir Mosque. He said the incursion was backed by fighter jets from the U.S.-led coalition and artillery strikes.

Those killed included Aziz Fares al-Anzi, the group’s former chief vigilante for southern Mosul’s town of Qayyara, according to Jawdat.

He added that 13 booby-trapped vehicles were destroyed while booby-traps in houses were deactivated.

Two army soldiers killed during clashes with IS in western Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Two elite fighters from the Iraqi army were killed Monday during encounters with Islamic State militants in western Mosul, according to officers.

Cap. Jabbar Hassan, from the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, told Anadolu Agency that two members from the force were killed during clashes that broke out late Sunday and extended through Monday morning at the Tenek and Thawra districts.

Hassan predicted that security troops would fully take over Tenek on Monday. Meanwhile, security sources were quoted saying Iraqi troops recaptured a third of al-Thawra, which troops invaded Sunday.

Coalition strikes kill IS drone experts, destroy factory in Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Airstrikes by the U.S.-led international military coalition killed Islamic State foreign drone experts and destroyed a drones factory in western Mosul on Monday.

The Iraqi military intelligence service said in a statement the strikes targeted a drones factory belonging to the group in Islah al-Zerai district.

Islamic State militants have largely relied on bomb-supplied drones in targeting Iraqi security forces and civilians in both western and eastern Mosul. Some of those attacks targeted areas recaptured by Iraqi security in the eastern side, leaving some civilians and security members dead.

Flooding cuts off aid supplies, escape route from west Mosul

[IraqiNews] Flooding has made all bridges across the Tigris in and out of western Mosul impassable, cutting off aid supplies and escape routes for people fleeing the Islamic State-held part of the Iraqi city.

With the bridges down, hundreds of civilians crossed the surging river on small wooden boats on Sunday, some carrying babies and all carting suitcases or bags full of clothes.

They were some of the around 400,000 people still in western Mosul where Iraqi military forces are trying to dislodge IS from the Old City.

Mosul’s permanent bridges over the Tigris river have been destroyed during the fighting, but the army had built two pontoon bridges which had allowed people to flee to safety in the east, and aid to get through to a camp for the displaced on the western side of the river.

But since the bridges were closed on Friday, no aid convoy has reached the Hammam al-Alil camp, southwest of Mosul, the main arrival point for displaced fleeing the fighting, a camp and a U.N. official said.

It was unlcear whether the bridges had become submerged or damaged by the floods, but soldiers blocking the approach roads said they were unusable.

The camp, like other facilities in western Mosul, is supplied by road from Erbil, some 80 km (50 miles) to the east, in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region where aid agencies are based.

Issam al-Jibouri, a displaced resident who went by boat to western Mosul to take supplies to needy relatives, said: “We urge more efforts to reconstruct the bridges or bring larger boats.”

Like others, he had to pay 1,000 Iraqi dinars ($1) for the brief trip.

Iraqi forces control 75% of western Mosul: municipal official

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces have become in control over 75 percent of the western side of Mosul as battles continue with Islamic State militants, according to a local official.

Hossam al-Abbar, a member of the Nineveh province council, said in statements Monday that security troops were controlling 75 percent of the western side. He said battles are currently concentrated around the Grand Nuri al-Kabir Mosque in the Old City, where troops prepare to storm the area with snipers, hand grenades and assault rifles, excluding artillery and aircraft to prevent civilian casualties.

Government troops, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, recaptured eastern Mosul in January after three months of battles. They charged at the western side in February.

The Joint Operations Command said earlier this week its forces were controlling 60 percent of western Mosul. Police forces said Sunday they fully besieged the strategic Old City, home of the mosque where IS first declared the establishment of its rule in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 02:04 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
13 Palestinians said wounded in clashes with Israeli forces over prison hunger strike
[IsraelTimes] At least 5 reported hurt from live fire during riot outside of Ofer Prison, festivities also reported in Bethlehem.

Israeli forces reportedly used live fire to disperse protests outside the Ofer Prison in the West Bank on Monday wounding at least five people, while seven others were hurt in a series of demonstrations in support of hunger-striking Paleostinian prisoners.

At the Ofer Prison near Ramallah a total of 11 protesters were maimed, including the five by live fire, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.

Two other Paleostinians were also reportedly injured by rubber bullets fired by Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem, according to Channel 2. Their condition was not immediately clear.

A violent demonstration also took place in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to Channel 10. There were no immediate reports of injuries there.

Elsewhere in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip on Monday, thousands of Paleostinians participated in rallies showing solidarity with the prisoners, including in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus.

Barghouti called for the strike to send a message to the Fatah leadership and Abbas, who excluded Barghouti’s people from a recent Central Committee meeting and didn’t give Barghouti the position of deputy chair to the PA.
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
on Monday called on the international community to "intervene quickly to save the lives" of the hundreds of Paleostinian prisoners who earlier in the day launched a mass hunger strike to protest their conditions of imprisonment.

At a rally marking the annual Paleostinian "Prisoner’s Day" in the West Bank, Abbas sent his support to the hunger-strikers and said Israel was being "stubborn" for refusing to "accept the just humanitarian demands of the prisoners."
Running as fast as he can to get in front of the crowd...
According to the Ynet news website, Abbas made no mention of the strike’s initiator and leader Marwan Barghouti.

Some Paleostinian officials have attributed Barghouti’s call for the strike to an attempt to send a message to the Fatah leadership and Abbas, who excluded Barghouti’s people from a recent Central Committee meeting and didn’t give Barghouti the position of deputy chair to the PA.

Among the demands from Barghouti and the prisoners are the resumption of a second monthly visit by family members (a benefit that was cancelled by the International Committee of the Red Thingy due to budget cuts), the prevention of family meetings being cancelled for security reasons, and the restoration of academic studies and matriculation exams to prisoners. Other demands include more television channels being available in cells and cell phones in security wings.

An Israeli prison spokesman said around 1,100 Paleostinian prisoners launched the mass hunger strike.
Paleostinian officials said 1,300 Paleostinians launched the mass hunger strike to protest the conditions in Israeli prisons. Israeli prison service front man Assaf Librati put the number at around 1,100.

Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences for his role in murderous terror attacks during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. He is a popular figure among Paleostinians, with polls suggesting he could win the vote for president of the Paleostinian Authority.

Barghouti put in solitary, moved to new prison over hunger strike
Consequences.
[IsraelTimes] Israel Prisons Service also transfers dozens of other inmates in bid to foil protest, determined not to give in to their demands.

The punitive move also came after Barghouti, who is serving five life terms for murder, published an opinion piece in The New York Times to explain the hunger strike launched Monday by Palestinian security prisoners.

The Walla news site said that placing Barghouti in solitary confinement was a punishment for the op-ed. This was not officially confirmed.

Israel Prisons Service officials are also investigating whether the article was smuggled out of prison by Barghouti’s lawyers or his wife, the Hebrew-language Ynet news site reported.

Barghouti is the former leader of the Tanzim armed wing of Fatah and the founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Fatah terror group. He was convicted on five counts of murder and one attempted murder, and was implicated in and held responsible for four other terror attacks. He is serving five life terms for the murders, and an additional 40 years for attempted murder.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mmmmm these Kabobs are delicious
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2017 7:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Fuel situation must be pretty desperate if they are fighting to get INTO prison.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/18/2017 14:15 Comments || Top||


Hamas operative killed in Gaza tunnel collapse
[IsraelTimes] Member of terror group dies in cave-in, a common occurrence during digging and repair work in underground smuggling and attack shafts.

A member of the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror group was killed Sunday night in a tunnel collapse in the Gazoo Strip, the organization said.

It was not immediately clear whether the tunnel was one used for smuggling goods over the Egyptian border or a shaft intended for infiltration and attacks against Israel.

Tunnel deaths have been a common occurrence in the Strip.

In February three Paleostinians died in a smuggling tunnel between Gazoo and the Sinai Peninsula after inhaling toxic gas while conducting repair work. Several Hamas members have been killed in collapses since the beginning of the year.

Last year, 22 members of Hamas’s armed wing were killed while "preparing equipment," the group has said, the majority in a string of tunnel collapses.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Hamas' Burial Plan- low premiums, guaranteed
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2017 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if the Israelis could use MOABs as an anti-subsidence measure for their West Bank settlements?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/18/2017 14:18 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army Advances in Central Hama Province
[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] Syrian army forces and their allies advanced on Monday in the central province of Hama under the cover of intense Arclight airstrikes, approaching the outskirts of a terrorist-held town a day after capturing a strategic town from murderous Moslems.

The push toward the town of Tibet al-Imam came a day after troops and allied forces captured the town of Soran, a month after Soran was lost in a terrorist offensive.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian air force jets had conducted nearly 25 Arclight airstrikes on Tibet al-Imam and nearby villages since midnight.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops are now at the eastern entrance of Tibet al-Imam after capturing nearby hills under the cover of intense bombardment.

SANA’s correspondent in Hama said that an army unit, in cooperation with supporting forces, repelled an attack by hard boyz from al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
on al-Satehiyat village in the western countryside of Salamiya area in Hama province.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Al-Qaeda faction thwarts first Syrian Army assault on Taibat Al-Imam in rural Hama
[ALMASDARNEWS] Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) retained full control over Taibat al-Imam on Monday as a Syrian Arab Army (SAA) assault earlier in the day proved to be mostly probing attacks which revealed a high number of jihadist bully boyz to be entrenched inside the town ahead of the anticipated government offensive.

Subsequently, commander-in-chief Suheil al-Hassan requested the Russian Air Force to intensify its sorties on the Islamist stronghold as little to no civilians are believed to be inside Taibat al-Imam with most fleeing the volatile battlefield in advance.

Nevertheless, the Tiger Forces ‐ assisted by the 47th and 87th brigade of the SAA’s 11th Division ‐ managed to keep control of the al-Qitban checkpoint that will now be used as a launching pad for renewed assaults on Taibat al-Imam.

The Tiger Forces often deploy diversionary attacks before unleashing the bulk of its assault troops on jihadist belligerents, causing great distress for enemy combattants of Suheil al-Hassan. The Major General is now drawing up plans for the decisive assault on Taibat al-Imam while Russian sorties do the dirty work in the meantime.

While the SAA neutralized dozens of HTS bully boyz in the battle for Souran yesterday, the Tiger Forces also captured a handful of HTS bully boyz from Turkistan.

HTS is considered a tacit al-Qaeda group and is considered a terrorist organization by most countries worldwide, including the United States and Russia.

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra



Who's in the News
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5Commies
5Sublime Porte
4Govt of Pakistan
3Taliban
2Moslem Colonists
1Arab Spring
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1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Jamaat ul-Ahrar
1Narcos
1al-Qaeda
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1al-Nusra

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2017-04-18
  Pakistani Taliban leader Ehsanullah Ehsan 'surrenders'
Mon 2017-04-17
  Pirates killed while trying to hijack ship near Somalia
Sun 2017-04-16
  At least 43 killed as car bomb hits Syria evacuees
Sat 2017-04-15
  Islamic State mufti killed in Mosul air strike, Iraqi forces say
Fri 2017-04-14
  Iraqi command says controls 60% of western Mosul
Thu 2017-04-13
  US drops MOAB on ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan
Wed 2017-04-12
  Bomb attack on Dortmund team bus
Tue 2017-04-11
  ISIS shells east of Mosul with chlorine gas, 10 casualties
Mon 2017-04-10
  Man steers car into town hall in Germany, fire breaks out
Sun 2017-04-09
  Church bombing north of Egypt's capital kills 26
Sat 2017-04-08
  Iranian brigadier general killed by jihadist militants in northern Hama
Fri 2017-04-07
  U.S. launches cruise missiles against Assad's forces
Thu 2017-04-06
  Al-Qaeda assassinates prominent Free Syrian Army commander in Idlib
Wed 2017-04-05
  Global outcry over suspected Syria chemical attack
Tue 2017-04-04
  ISIS raid in Yemen leaves scores of Houthi troops dead on the battlefield

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