Under a deal reached last week with Pakistan, the United States has decided to send Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials to confront with the remarks [sic: remnants?] of Al-Qaeda in Chitral.
It may be recalled that Chitral area is on the border with Afghanistan. It is close to Shia-dominated areas of Gilgit, according to report of Radio Tehran.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/07/2006 00:16 ||
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Don't the Special forces sometimes work with/under the CIA? ;-)
#3
Lotp is spot on. After Korea the Klingons began to look down their noses at the military. They permitted their para-mil capability to go unresourced and atrophy. The key to gummit promotion and advancment was not to be found doing the manly macho type of stuff. Their air branch did a hell of lot of good work in SE Asia a few decades back, but with a few exceptions their men on the ground did not endear themselves to SF. Most were older men and humping the bush and training the indig for months on end was understandably not their cup of tea. It's a young man's game. Now the mission is much, much larger and beyond the Klingon scope and limited capability.
Four Taliban fighters were killed when Afghan army attacked their hideout in southern Afghanistan on Friday night. The action was carried out following intelligence reports that some armed militants were hiding in the Jaldak area on Kabul - Kandahar Highway. General Rehmatullah Raofi, Afghan National Army commander for the southern region, said the area was cordoned in the evening and the fighters were ordered to lay down arms. They opened fire at the soldiers and in retaliation, four Taliban were killed.
Remember how, a year ago, an incident like this would routinely result in the Afghan army soldiers being disarmed and executed in the head? Now it's the Taliban getting whacked. Progress? I think so.
Raofi said the group had entered the area to carry out terrorist attacks. The clash took place in close to the area from where an Indian engineer was kidnapped and later beheaded by Taliban last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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well maybe the Afghans resented getting shot in the head. I would be pissed :-)
yep, better training, time, armaments and close cooperation with MNF help when necessary. The country might turn around if Pakland would just disappear
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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The Taliban claim to have shot down a US helicopter in Afghanistan, killing all those on board. An Aljazeera correspondent in Afghanistan said Muhamad Hanif, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed that his movement had brought down the US Chinook.
The US-led forces said the 10 multinational force soldiers on board were all killed, but denied that the Chinook, which crashed near the Pakistan border, had been brought down by the Taliban. "We have no indication that that happened," said a spokeswoman responding to Hanif's claim. "The crash occurred in a very mountainous terrain and the landing zone was very difficult. It was a mountain-top landing zone. There were various weather factors that could have come into play ... There were high winds. We are investigating any possible causes for the accident but there were no enemy actions detected at the scene."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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An Egyptian who blew himself up in an attack on a multinational force in the Sinai peninsula was a 19-year-old student of Islam at a Cairo university, security sources said on Saturday.
Eid Salman Mohammed Salim launched his suicide attack on April 26 on vehicles used by the Multinational Force and Observers. There were no MFO casualties.
The MFO observes the implementation of Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel in the Sinai.
Salim's father had identified his son's head at a morgue in El Arish, a town in northern Sinai where his family lived. Salim was a student of Islam at al-Azhar University in Cairo.
"Eid came from his university on the morning of the incident, left his identity card and papers at home, and told his father that he was heading to work. Then he disappeared," one security source said.
Salim was a relative of two men wanted in April 24 bombings in the Red Sea resort of Dahab, which killed 19, the sources said. The suspects, Salman Salim el-Zayout and Salim Atta, were killed in clashes with the police in Sinai on Sunday.
DNA tests were being conducted to identify the remains of a man who carried out a second suicide attack on April 26 near a police station, the sources said. Nobody was wounded in that attack.
Security sources are blaming a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004 on a group called Tawhid wal Jihad, which was also the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group before it began calling itself Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq.
Including the Dahab bombs, the Sinai attacks have killed at least 117 people. The Red Sea resort of Taba and beach camps further south were bombed in October 2004 and Sharm el-Sheikh was hit in July 2005.
Men identified by the authorities as members of the group have come mainly from El Arish, which is a poor town on the Mediterranean coast.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/07/2006 00:33 ||
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Strange, very stange indeed. "A student" of the wonderful, peace based faith of Islam.
.... told his father that he was heading to work ....Quite a vocation I'd say.
#6
Perhaps it's time for them to make Islamic Studies a graduate degree, with something (anything!!) else as the prerequisite undergraduate degree, like medicine or law. Obviously the poor lad lacked the maturity to properly understand the material of the Religion of Peace.
A suspected terrorist was killed in crossfire between police and a gang of miscreants at Tejgaon in the city in the early hours of yesterday. The deceased was identified as Waliul Islam alias Tapon (30), son of Toybur Rahman, a resident of Basabo under Sabujbagh police station. He hailed from Uthanpara under Bakshiganj thana in Jamalpur district.
I have no idea where that is.
A team of RAB-2 arrested Tapon from Chunkuthia bazar area under Keraniganj thana at around 12.30pm on Friday.
"Tapon, we don't know yet what youse done, but we're going to find out, so why don't youse come wit us, 'k?"
The RAB personnel interrogated him at its office.
At the office or in the dungeon annex?
During the interrogation he informed RAB men of whereabout of his associates.
"Ooch! Ouch! They're at the Trade Fair! Please put those pliers down!"
Following his information a team of RAB-2 along with Tapon went to the westside of International Trade Fair ground at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at around 3.30am.
The magic moment approaches ...
Sensing danger the criminals fired upon the RAB personnel who also retaliated.
"I got a tingly sensation all over -- it must be the RAB! Open fire, boyz!"
Tapon was caught in line of fire while he tried to flee the scene and died one the spot.
"I'm gettin' out of .. [THUNK] [THUD] rosebud ..."
RAB men recovered a revolver and two rounds of bullet from the spot.
And three more in Tapon's head. The shutter gun was unavailable, must have been checked out by RAB-5.
The body was sent to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for autopsy.
"Here you go Dr. Quincy, this will be quick."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:28 ||
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This almost cheers me up. They have no problems calling a terrorist a terrorist in the Bangla papers.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 0:48 Comments ||
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So long as he's a commie terrorist, of course. Islamic terrorists get a 'get out of jail free' card.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 1:02 Comments ||
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The failure to tackle the radicalisation of young British Muslims played a leading role in provoking the London bombings on July 7 last year, official reports are expected to say this week.
MPs and senior civil servants will claim that many Muslims growing up in Britain have too little "incentive" to turn their backs on Islamic extremism
RAB " suspected" terrorist Incentive Program.
Simple, sure, and cost effective answer to any country's Islamic extremism problems.
#4
The failure to tackle the radicalisation of young British Muslims played a leading role in provoking the London bombings on July 7 last year, official reports are expected to say this week.
MPs and senior civil servants will claim that many Muslims growing up in Britain have too little "incentive" to turn their backs on Islamic extremism
Fascinating, junkirony ! True, of course, if incomplete -- the current culture actually encourages extremism of all sorts, rather than otherwise.
#5
EU/Brit policy is, unfortunately, suspecting someone is bad is being judgemental, even using the word 'miscreant' could get you an ASBO (Anti-Social Behavior Order) Outsourcing the problem to the RAB would be cheaper/better and the EU thinkers could smugly wash their hands of the problem. Solves Bangla's budget problems too.
Britain's intelligence services will face a fresh barrage of criticism on Thursday when a parliamentary committee publishes a report into the London terror attacks that shows a direct link between the bombers' ringleader and a terrorist cell.
The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has been studying the lessons of the 7 July bombings and will make wide-ranging recommendations on how the security services should adapt to the changing face of terrorism.
Its report will be published alongside the government's official account into the bombings, which confirms that the four bombers - all from the north of England - carried out a cheap and simple plot to bomb London using techniques they had found on the internet.
The ISC has found there was a direct link between the bombers' ringleader, Sidique Khan, who killed six people when he blew himself up on a tube train at Edgware Road, and a terrorist cell that had been under surveillance by the security services.
The revelation will prove damaging. Previously it was believed Khan was linked to the cell only through a third party. That he had direct links to the group under surveillance raises questions over why he was not placed under closer supervision.
After the London bombings, it emerged that Khan travelled to Pakistan, where he met with radical Muslim groups. But the committee heard that, though the intelligence agencies had been monitoring Khan in the UK, they did not believe him to be a terrorist threat, instead thinking he was intent on committing fraud.
The ISC report also looks at how the Foreign Office deals with warnings from overseas of potential attacks. It raises questions over the paucity of intelligence-sharing between British and Pakistani intelligence services.
According to those familiar with its contents, the report will also say that intelligence failures surrounding the London bombings were chiefly down to a lack of resources.
#1
Goes to the culture of watching rather than acting. In New York City all sorts of crime went down when the police started enforcing laws against subway turn-stile jumping and grafitti. I think it's called something like the Broken Window Theory of law enforcement. Perhaps if British police were allowed to actually arrest miscreants, the really bad guys would start to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. :-(
A Swedish prosecutor yesterday ordered two servers hosting a Chechen rebel website to be impounded. The website, www.kavkacenter.com, is very critical of Russian policy towards the breakaway republic Chechnya, and supports the Chechen armed struggle against Russia.
"They came to the office and held a short meeting about our relationship to the client. Someone from the National Criminal Investigation Department also took part," the owner explained. "The prosecutor then decided to search the premises and to confiscate two servers."
"I see this as an outrage. I don't agree with what's written on the website but I respect their right to free speech."
The prosecutor's actions were spurred by a complaint from the Russian Embassy, according to the Finnish owner of the servers and the hosting company owner. The website is accused of incitement, according to the company owner. "The material in question is a number of pages in the site's letters pages in which an attack in Nalchik in October 2005 is praised," he told TT.
News agency TT was reporting on Friday night that the internet address was linking to a temporary homepage with identical content, hosted in a server in Lithuania. Lithuania's supreme court recently decided despite Russian opposition that the website can remain up. However, by Saturday morning, the site's content appeared not to be accessible at the address.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/07/2006 00:50 ||
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Kavkaz: Where a certain eastern med Soros fanboi got his info on Chechnya.
#3
I am no more upset by these baby killers having their website seized and shut down than I am by padeophiles having their stuff sized and shut down. Oh but they are the same. These are followers of that paedo clown are they not?
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 4:19 Comments ||
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Intel thing SPoD, no one wants them to survive or even breathe our oxygen for 1 minute.
#5
All of that gatehered inteligence is useless if the lawyers will not let you act on it. The lawyers will not let you act on it 99.9% of the time. I submit these sites therefore offer little actionable inteligence value. Their only other purpose than recruting more jihadi is giving lawyers something to say no about.
No dead jihadi, no dead islamo-fascists, no dead ben Laden, no value.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 6:45 Comments ||
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Kavkaz has been closed down several times. It'll be back.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 9:03 Comments ||
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They'll just find a chinese server that won't ask any questions.
Posted on the off-chance that Europe still matters.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Some 30,000 people marched Saturday in an anti-war and anti-globalization demonstration in which police said groups of hooded anarchists torched at least four banks, smashed shop windows, and threw gasoline bombs at police buses outside the capital's police headquarters before running off down side streets.
Officers used tear gas to disperse a small group of anarchists near the U.S. Embassy just north of the city center, and in central Syntagma Square, where rioters threw stones and chairs at a McDonald's restaurant.
Of course, have to demonstrate their rage against The Man, and where better than Mickey D's?
One policeman and two demonstrators were injured, and 30 suspected rioters were detained, authorities said.
The clashes erupted as some 30,000 anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrators marched peacefully through the city center. "We want jobs not bombs," read one of the many banners carried by marchers, who stopped briefly outside the U.S. and British embassies before heading to Syntagma Square.
They then proceeded to trash the place. Must be earnest job seekers.
The march was organized by the European Social Forum, which is holding a four-day meeting on the outskirts of Athens.
The ESF website is the usual tranzi-lefty progressive nonsense.
The march, which also included representatives of workers unions, left-wing groups and about 10,000 foreign activists, brought public transport services in central Athens to a halt, while shops shut down.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:40 ||
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I want a living wage job and bombs. I want fruit cakes like you anti-war ant-globalization types kept away from me. I want Anarchists jailed, put in real re-education camps, and kept far away from me.
Oh yea and a Pony too. A nice pony would be great too.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 4:15 Comments ||
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What?? No giant puppets, no anti-Bush signs, no chants of how the Americans/Joooooos are going to get everyone killed? (At least, none reported)
#3
Right Barbara. Someone didn't send these anarchists the instruction on how to properly rage against the machine. Jeesh, you think it wouldn't be that hard to get ahold of it since it hasn't been updated since the 1960's.
Unknown attackers hurled a hand grenade against the leftist Turkish daily Jumhuriet, which is located in a populated area in the European part of Istanbul, the Turkish Ihlas news agency said Saturday quoting a Turkish police official. "However, the grenade failed to explode because there was no pressure on the detonating device," the official said. He added that a large number of policemen were rushed to the scene of the incident.
"Experts in explosives immediately succeeded in defusing the bomb," the official said. He added that an investigation was launched together with a search for the assailants after securing their pictures from the daily paper's outside monitoring cameras.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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For when a letter to the editor just won't suffice.
Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2006 21:35 Comments ||
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NEW YORK - Five foreign passengers on a US airliner were detained in a brief security scare Saturday until authorities learned they were in the United States for a legitimate purpose, an FBI spokesman said. The men raised suspicions on a domestic flight headed to Newark International Airport as they were referring to helicopter flight manuals and speaking to each other in a foreign language. Rightfully so, people got suspicious, said Stephen Kodak, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Four of the detained passengers were identified as Angolan military personnel and the fifth was from Israel, FBI special agent Steve Siegel said.
Police boarded the American Airlines plane after it landed and detained the five passengers on request of plainclothes air marshals aboard the aircraft, which was bound from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas. The five men were released after spending more than two hours in the custody of the FBI, according to Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for the airports operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. They had been going through training over in Texas to be helicopter mechanics. This was all authorized, according to the FBIs Kodak.
I'm sure they understand the concern.
They were in the United States for a legitimate purpose, he said. During the flight, the five men had helicopter manuals and were looking over them, leaning across the aisle to speak to each other, he said.
The plane landed at 3:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) in Newark in the US state of New Jersey and was taken to a remote location at the airport, La Vorgna said. Authorities also conducted a special screening of the planes luggage. Other passengers on the plane told US television that they observed nothing out of the ordinary and that the men drank wine and napped during the flight.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:01 ||
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Good decision on the part of the FBI. A legitimate concern was raised and investigated. That is what we expect of our law enforcement people. Carry on.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2006 0:06 Comments ||
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Finally the FBI gets something right. Don't think I want anyone as stupid as these lads working on my helo, or anything else. Thank you Kodak.
Srinagar: A Hizbul Mujahideen explosives expert and mastermind of most car bomb attacks in Jammu and Kashmir since 2004 was on Sunday killed in an ambush by security forces in Pulwama district. The self-styled district commander of the outfit Muhstaq Ahmad Bhat, was killed in the encounter in Nooripora area, a defence spokesman said.
Bhat alias Gowhar, a resident of Shikargah village of Tral had been active since 1993 after undergoing extensive training on arms and making of improvised explosive devices in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Gowhar was the mastermind of all car bomb blasts in the valley since 2004, causing large number of casualities among both security forces and civilians, the spokesman said adding that Gowhar had been involved in the killing of civilians in Tral and Anantnag.
Beheading of Gujjar couple in northern part of Tral in 2004 was his handiwork, the spokesman said. Working under the code of Aijaz, he said the slain militant was overall coordinator of Hizbul Mujahideen with expertise in planning, preparation and execution of all IEDs in South Kashmir and around Srinagar, prominent being Pulwama and Bemina, Nishat and Burn Hall blasts in Srinagar.
He said two of his close associates Rayees Dar and Sohail Faisal were also involved in the IED blasts. PTI
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2006 19:17 ||
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New Delhi, May 7: The Centre has strengthened the security cover for the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Karwai district of Karnataka following intelligence warnings about a possible terrorist attack.
Talking to this correspondent, a high-ranking official of the Union home ministry said: "There are intelligence inputs that suggest militants may target the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Karnataka. The security arrangements for Kaiga have been reviewed and adequate arrangements made to prevent any untoward incident."
The official added: "Soon after the terror attack at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore, the Union home ministry decided to provide permanent security cover to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc), Maharashtra." He said: "Around 400 armed commandos of the Central Industrial Security Force have been deployed at Barc." Specially-trained CISF personnel have also been put on alert at all 22 atomic and space research centres throughout the country.
"Around 6,000 armed CISF personnel are already guarding nuclear and atomic research centres in the country. Now they have been instructed to remain extra vigilant," the official said.
The CISF has also been instructed to beef up security at all sensitive installations situated in the Northeast. Security has been beefed up at the Guwahati Oil Refinery, at ONGC establishments at Nazira and Jorhat, at the Doyang Hydro Electric Project in Nagaland and the Numli Garh Refinery in Assam.
In addition, the Centre has directed the security agencies to strengthen the protective cover at all coalfields in the country. Security has been beefed up at Eastern Coalfields Ltd (Sitalpur, West Bengal), Central Coalfields Ltd (Kargali, Ranchi), Singareni Collieries Ltd (Andhra Pradesh) and Neyveli Lignite Corporation (Chennai).
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2006 19:04 ||
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PESHAWAR: A local jirga on Saturday ordered the demolition of a tribesman's house after the body of a man who had attacked a security checkpost was found in his house. Unidentified people recently attacked a security checkpost in the Charming area in Bajaur Agency, killing three khasadar force men and injuring another. The body of a man involved in the attack was found in the house of tribesman Wali Muhammad. The jirga imposed a fine of Rs 300,000 and decided to hand over Wali Muhammad to the local political administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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And they complain about Israel?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
05/07/2006 10:08 Comments ||
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Fighters battling the Pakistani army in the Waziristan tribal region have distributed leaflets in the name of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, calling for the assassination of Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president. "I also pray to the one and the only Almighty Allah to teach a telling lesson to Bush, Musharraf and their forces, and give a chance to the lions of Islam to kill the slave of Bush in Pakistan," reads the leaflet.
Musharraf has survived several al-Qaeda assassination attempts by Pakistani jihadi groups since siding with the US in a global "war on terrorism" following the 9/11 attacks on the US. And bin Laden's Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, who is believed to be moving between the Pashtun tribal lands on either side of the Pakistan-Afghan border, had last month issued a videotape again calling for Pakistanis to overthrow Musharraf.
Printed in Urdu, the leaflet began with an introduction in Arabic saying that it was a message from bin Laden calling on Muslims everywhere to aid the tribes people under attack from Pakistani forces in Waziristan. Its signoff read "Mujahideen Emirates Islamia Afghanistan", or the Holy Warriors of Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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The assassination of Musharraf would leave the United States no altrnative but to protect the nucular arms inside Pakistan. The only thing that keeps the U.S Military outside Pakistan borders today is probably Musharraf himself. Binny, for his own sake, and that of all his Al-Qaida and Talibon buddys had better hope Musharraf lives a very long and productive political life.
Unidentified armed men gunned down a former Taliban leader in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday, his relatives said. Mulla Samad Barakzai, head of Taliban's Department For Promotion of Virtue and Prevention Of Vice in the southern Helmand province, was shot dead in the Pushtoon-Abad area of Quetta, the provincial capital. No one has claimed responsibility for the murder. Barakzai, had been living in Baluchistan since the fall of the Taliban. Motives behind the murder are not clear. It is believed that Barakzai was in contact with Hamid Karzai government.
Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing
HALA JABER
EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraqs unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the countrys top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty.
Nobody but her killers knew just how much she had suffered until a film showing her death on February 22 at the hands of two musclebound men in military uniforms emerged last week. Her familys worst fears of what might have happened have been far exceeded by the reality.
Bahjat was abducted after making three live broadcasts from the edge of her native city of Samarra on the day its golden-domed Shiite mosque was blown up, allegedly by Sunni terrorists.
Roadblocks prevented her from entering the city and her anxiety was obvious to everyone who saw her final report. Night was falling and tensions were high.
Two men drove up in a pick-up truck, asking for her. She appealed to a small crowd that had gathered around her crew but nobody was willing to help her. It was reported at the time that she had been shot dead with her cameraman and sound man.
We now know that it was not that swift for Bahjat. First she was stripped to the waist, a humiliation for any woman but particularly so for a pious Muslim who concealed her hair, arms and legs from men other than her father and brother.
Then her arms were bound behind her back. A golden locket in the shape of Iraq that became her glittering trademark in front of the television cameras must have been removed at some point it is nowhere to be seen in the grainy film, which was made by someone who pointed a mobile phone at her as she lay on a patch of earth in mortal terror.
By the time filming begins, the condemned woman has been blindfolded with a white bandage.
It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear.
Just as Bahjat bore witness to countless atrocities that she covered for her television station, Al-Arabiya, during Iraqs descent into sectarian conflict, so the recording of her execution embodies the depths of the countrys depravity after three years of war.
A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.
Her cries Ah, ah, ah can be heard above the Allahu akbar (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.
Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.
Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.
The voice of one of the Arab worlds most highly regarded and outspoken journalists has been silenced. She was 30.
As a friend of Bahjat who had worked with her on a variety of tough assignments, I found it hard enough to bear the news of her murder. When I saw it replayed, it was as if part of me had died with her. How much more gruelling it must have been for a close family friend who watched the film this weekend and cried when he heard her voice.
The friend, who cannot be identified, knew nothing of her beheading but had been guarding other horrifying details of Bahjats ordeal. She had nine drill holes in her right arm and 10 in her left, he said. The drill had also been applied to her legs, her navel and her right eye. One can only hope that these mutilations were made after her death.
There is a wider significance to the appalling footage and the accompanying details. The film appears to show for the first time an Iraqi death squad in action.
The death squads have proliferated in recent months, spreading terror on both sides of the sectarian divide. The clothes worn by Bahjats killers are bound to be scrutinised for clues to their identity.
Bahjat, with her professionalism and impartiality as a half-Shiite, half-Sunni, would have been the first to warn against any hasty conclusions, however. The uniforms seem to be those of the Iraqi National Guard but that does not mean she was murdered by guardsmen. The fatigues could have been stolen for disguise.
A source linked to the Sunni insurgency who supplied the film to The Sunday Times in London claimed it had come from a mobile phone found on the body of a Shiite Badr Brigade member killed during fighting in Baghdad.
But there is no evidence the Iranian-backed Badr militia was responsible. Indeed, there are conflicting indications. The drill is said to be a popular tool of torture with the Badr Brigade. But beheading is a hallmark of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by the Sunni Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
According to a report that was circulating after Bahjats murder, she had enraged the Shiite militias during her coverage of the bombing of the Samarra shrine by filming the interior minister, Bayan Jabr, ordering police to release two Iranians they had arrested.
There is no confirmation of this and the Badr Brigade, with which she maintained good relations, protected her family after her funeral came under attack in Baghdad from a bomber and then from a gunman. Three people died that day.
Bahjats reporting of terrorist attacks and denunciations of violence to a wide audience across the Middle East made her plenty of enemies among both Shiite and Sunni gunmen. Death threats from Sunnis drove her away to Qatar for a spell but she believed her place was in Iraq and she returned to frontline reporting despite the risks.
We may never know who killed Bahjat or why. But the manner of her death testifies to the breakdown of law, order and justice that she so bravely highlighted and illustrates the importance of a cause she espoused with passion.
Bahjat advocated the unity of Iraq and saw her golden locket as a symbol of her belief. She put it with her customary on-air eloquence on the last day of her life: Whether you are a Sunni, a Shiite or a Kurd, there is no difference between Iraqis united in fear for this nation.
#8
During the Cold War, most Soviet women were allowed to earn university degrees but were quietly relegated or kept in the kitchen. Wid these Radical Muslims aka God-based Lefties, leaving the kitchen for anything > public death.
A lone suicide bomber wearing a belt loaded with explosives blew himself up in a camp of the Iraqi Army in the northern city of Tikrit killing three senior officers, police said on Saturday. A police source told KUNA that another officer was seriously wounded in the bombing attack, adding that the bomber was clad in military fatigues when he set off the explosives. Security has been unstable in Iraq, with recurring attacks by insurgents, including members of the defunct Baath Party and advocates of Islamic slogans.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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An Iraq civilian was killed and two others were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire at their car in central Kirkuk, a police source said in statements to KUNA. The source also said that unknown gunmen lobbed a hand grenade at the Al-Huweija police directorate, casuing minor material damage. He added that military equipment and amunitions belonging to Saddam's army were seized in the region of Taza.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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Four Iraqi civilians were killed and 31 others wounded on Saturday when British troops in Basra opened fire near a location where a British helicopter crashed earlier today in Al-Saee in Central Basra. A source of the Basra Police told KUNA that the British troops opened fire at some civilians who pelted the troops with stones near the location of the helicopter crash. It added that a curfew was declared from 8:00 pm till 6:00 am Sunday.
Furthermore, a health official in Basra told KUNA that the 31 civilians who were wounded in the incident were rushed to nearby hospitals. Eyewitnesses said that two British tanks were set ablaze by demonstrators.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I think British forces are rediscovering the stick aspect of the carrot and stick approach.
#2
If they need to desecrate the dead as in Fallujah, they need more than a few rounds of 5.56mm fired. A volley of 30mm cannon shells would have saved the two expensive Scorpions.
Early on Friday, at least three Palestinians were wounded during an IDF raid of the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank, said members of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen and searched homes for wanted militants. Two wanted suspects were arrested, Israel Radio reported. The IDF said soldiers came under fire, but that no troops were hurt.
Because the Paleos can't shoot straight.
Witnesses said more than 30 armored jeeps and three Rachel Corrie Memorial D9 bulldozers drove into Balata before dawn Friday. Troops imposed a curfew and began searching homes. Bulldozers driving through narrow alleys tore down some shop windows and doors, residents said. IDF jeeps blocked the three entrances to Balata, which is adjacent to the city of Nablus.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades announced over loudspeakers that their men were surrounded by troops in some houses, and called for gunmen to come to their help.
"Help! Help! The evil Joooos got us surrounded!"
"What do you want us to do?"
"Something!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:22 ||
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#1
The phrase "refugee camp" in Middle East news has always bugged me. Call me a traditionalist, but to me a refugee camp is a bunch of tents, the UN handing out food and, if your lucky, a porta-john or two. In Paleo-land, a refugee camp seems to have multi-story cinder block buildings, and in this particular case, alleys and shop windows. WTF?
Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in Nablus on Friday shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian youth who they said was attempting to hurl a firebomb in their direction, the radio reported.
IDF troops entered Nablus on Friday to arrest a man wanted by Israel. The Palestinian was shot and killed when a group of protesters threw stones and firebombs at soldiers after the arrest, witnesses said. Palestinians said four men, including two members of a militant group, were arrested in the raid.
Young, stupid and dead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:21 ||
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#1
play with fire IDF. You might get burned shot in your stupid forehead - consider it a mercy killing or Darwin in action
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2006 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
I blame this on a lack of parental supervision. When we were kids, if we threw molotovs at armed soldiers we would get such an ass-whupping.
Jerusalem police arrested a young Palestinian woman who planned a stabbing attack in the capital city on Saturday afternoon, Israel Radio reported. The Issawiya resident, arrested on downtown Jerusalem's Hanevi'im Street, was carrying a large knife.
She told police she intended to attack a Jews.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:16 ||
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Salah Al-Din brigades, military wing of Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli army patrol in Southern Jenin, the West Bank, Friday. The brigades said in a statement one of its groups attacked the patrol and scored direct hits. One of the attackers was hit during confrontations with the Israeli army forces, said the statement. It added that the attack was in retaliation of the Israeli air raid that killed five members of the committees in Gaza earlier today.
Fatah military wing, Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades, also said it launched two rockets at Southern Israel tonight. It said the attack was in solidarity with the killing of five members of the popular resistant committees.
Somehow, they never seem to run out of money for rockets, do they?
It's the Gaza Widows Ammunition Foundation, funded by generous moose-limbs from around the world ...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2006 00:00 ||
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A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence. Hamass military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.
Abbas, who became president of the Palestinian Authority last year after the death of Yasser Arafat, was formally warned of the danger by the Israelis and cancelled a planned visit to the territory. The murder plan is the clearest sign yet of the tensions inside the Palestinian Authority between Hamas, which swept to power after elections in January, and Abbass Fatah movement. Hamas leaders, who refuse to recognise the state of Israel, suspect Abbas of obstructing their attempts to govern, which have been hampered by a financial boycott from donor nations. Hamas considers Abbas to be a barrier to its complete control over Palestine and decided to kill him, said a Palestinian source who was an adviser to Arafat and is a close acquaintance of Abbas. It is understood that the attack would also have targeted Mohammed Dahlan, Abbass strongman in Gaza.
The sources were unable to say who in Hamass secretive leadership had given the order to kill Abbas. But an indication of its hostility towards Abbas came last week. In a statement to Al-Jazeera, the Arab television news network, Mohammed Nazzal, one of its leaders, accused the president of being party to besieging and isolating the Hamas-led government.
Abbas, who is guarded by his own security men, divides his time between his Gaza and Ramallah offices. While in the West Bank he is relatively safe, but Gaza stronghold of Hamas and numerous rogue terrorist organisations is a dangerous place. Shortly after his election to the presidency Abbas narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the Gaza Strip. A recent request to the Israeli government to let him bring in new weapons for his presidential guard was rejected by Shaul Mofaz, the outgoing Israeli defence minister. However, the Israelis could not ignore intelligence information regarding the imminent threat to Abbass life. We monitor every movement of Hamas in Gaza, said an Israeli intelligence source. So when we learnt that Abbass life was in danger, we made sure to inform him without delay.
#1
Irony so thick here you can cut it with a chainsaw.
"The murder plan is the clearest sign yet of the tensions ...between Hamas...and Abbass Fatah movement." Gosh, do ya think? Oh, you mean besides the gunplay, killings and financial skullduggery.
#5
Abbas, who is guarded by his own security men, divides his time between his Gaza and Ramallah offices, reading MOSAD INTSUMS, and looking over his shoulder.
A Thai border patrol police unit responding to a reported bomb attack against a military patrol unit in Ra-ngae District of the country's southernmost province of Naratiwat was ambushed Saturday afternoon by suspected insurgents.
Police said an unknown number of insurgents using AK47 and M16 automatic weapons attacked the border patrol police bomb squad, but the police fought back.
The exchange of gunfire lasted 10 minutes before the insurgents left the scene.
Several officers were wounded by a bomb blast and were sent to a nearby hospital.
Earlier, a bomb planted by militants exploded in a rural village of this southern province before dawn, causing no injuries, another was defused and a third, fake, explosive was found, police said.
No casualties were reported when the first bomb, weighing about 10 kilograms, exploded in the village of rural Su-ngai Padi District at 05:20 a.m.
The bomb was hidden inside an iron box and placed in a garden behind a house owned by a school teacher who was away visiting relatives at the time of the incident.
The explosion caused a large crater, police said, but no one was injured.
Another bomb was found 20 metres from the house, but the authorities defused it, police said, adding that the militants had intended to detonate it via a cell phone, but failed as officials had earlier cut off the signals of all mobile telephone systems.
Police said they also found a decoy bomb some 200 metres away. It was hidden inside a black bag and left near a public phone booth.
Two soldiers and a civilian were seriously wounded when an unidentified gunman attacked them in Jolo, Sulu, a known stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, officials said on Saturday.
The attack at kilometer 2 in Indanan town left two soldiers of the Armys 51st Infantry Battalion injured in the face and head. The gunman fled after the attack.
The attack occurred shortly before noon Thursday and two of our soldiers and a civilian were wounded, said Air Force Capt. Jose Ritchie Pabilonia, a spokesman for the Southern Command.
Pabilonia did not identify the soldiers, who remain in critical condition at a military hospital in Jolo. The condition of the civilian, Amil Katra Mohammad, is still unknown.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the ambush, but the area is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf and renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front, both blamed for previous attacks on security forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/07/2006 00:32 ||
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The real tragedy here is that the soldiers will probably die in that hospital unless the US troops insist they get moved to Zamboanga. The military hospital emergency room is called The hall of heros. The floor is slanted a few degrees with a six inch trench in the middle. It is a blood trench of WWI era. Right next door to the military hospital is a civilian one that was recently rebuilt and furnished by the US ambassador Richardonne, PACOM, USAID, Canada, and others. The Phil military wont allow the civ hospital to treat the military, the hospital commanders ego would rather see the troops die than ask for help from a muzzie hospital. The helicopter ride is about an hour to Zamboanga and they dont like to make a special flight for their soldiers. The US usually steps in and requests to be allowed to evac the troops and the US docs treat them.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/07/2006 15:03 Comments ||
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London, May 06 A group opposed to the government of Iran announced on Saturday that its members had executed a local commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan.
The Baluchi group calling itself Jondollah said in a statement that its members had killed IRGC Colonel Hamid-Reza Kaveh. The statement also denied that some of Jondollahs members had been arrested by authorities.
In March, the group claimed responsibility for an armed attack on a convoy of government officials in the province, which left twenty-two government and provincial officials dead and at least seven, including the governor of the city of Zahedan, critically wounded.
In April, Irans state-run media reported that security forces had killed the groups leader Abdolmalek Reigi along with 11 of its members on the border with Afghanistan. The claim proved to be false after Reigi subsequently appeared on an Arabic-language satellite channel denying such rumours.
Iran has not confirmed the groups latest announcement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2006 00:10 ||
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oh...booo, hooo. The poor little prick got whacked. Booo, hooo.
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is set to trigger a diplomatic row between Britain and the United States by calling for Guantánamo Bay to close.
The decision by the government's chief legal adviser to denounce the detention centre in Cuba as 'unacceptable' will dismay the Bush administration, which has continually rejected claims that the camp breaches international laws on human rights.
But Goldsmith will tell a global security conference at the Royal United Services Institute this week that the camp at Guantánamo Bay must not continue. 'It is time, in my view, that it should close.' An urbane lawyer who eschews the limelight, Goldsmith is not known for shooting from the hip in such unequivocal terms; however, it is clear he has harboured grave doubts for some time over the legality of Guantánamo under international law.
'There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise,' Goldsmith will say. 'Fair trial is one of those - which is the reason we in the UK were unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards.'
Although privately some senior ministers believe Guantánamo should be closed down, no one has so far condemned the camp in such open and trenchant terms. To date, the strongest criticism of the camp has come from Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland minister, who said on Newsnight in February that it was his personal belief that the camp should close, while the Prime Minister said only that it is an 'anomaly' that will have to end one day.
Goldsmith's speech will be welcomed by human rights groups and senior members of the judiciary who have long campaigned for the government to use its influence to persuade its ally to close the camp. The former Law Lord, Lord Steyn, now chairman of the human rights group, Justice, said last month that 'while our government condones Guantánamo Bay the world is perplexed about our approach to the rule of law.'
Steyn made it clear that if the British government were to criticise Guantánamo it would have significant consequences. 'You may ask: how will it help in regard to the continuing outrage at Guantánamo Bay for our government now to condemn it?' Steyn said. 'The answer is that it would at last be a powerful signal to the world that Britain supports the international rule of law.'
In February, a high court judge, Mr Justice Collins, condemned America's approach to human rights after reading a report by the UN human rights commissioner which found evidence of torture at the camp. 'America's idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations,' Collins said.
Last week, two high court judges heard a legal argument that the government should demand the release of three British residents held in Guantánamo on the grounds that they had been subjected to torture. Lawyers for the men said the government should lobby for their release because they were being detained 'unlawfully'. But Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Tugendhat said that, while the argument was a powerful one, 'decisions affecting foreign policy are a forbidden area'.
Goldsmith will use his speech to acknowledge the judges' concerns and point out that the increased terrorist threat has increased divisions between the government and legal experts.
'I would suggest that the greatest challenge which free and democratic states face today is how to balance the need to protect individual rights with the imperative of protecting the lives of the rest of the community,' Goldsmith will say.
'The UK government is constantly being criticised for striking the wrong balance. Sometimes the criticism comes from the right, from those who see the Human Rights Act as a charter for criminals and terrorists which impedes the executive's freedom of manoeuvre at every turn. Sometimes the criticism comes from the left, from those who see in every government initiative a threat to civil liberties. Such criticism is inevitable.'
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2006 19:37 ||
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How long did the UK hold on to German POWs even after the surrender in May 1945?
#2
Lord Goldsmith sir. Closure of Gitmo is a superb idea, send over some transports from 501 Squadron at Brize Norton and you can have the entire stinky muzzi lot. Not sure how the folk in nearby Gloucestershire will take it, but the haul is yours sir, have a splendid day.
They'll all be shot tomorrow; the prison will close the following day.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/07/2006 19:51 Comments ||
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#5
Sorry - we have no Lords here other than the one true Lord - take your argument to Starbucks...for $4.50 they'll listen and give you some Soy latte or shit in a Venti cup. Until then...we are no LONGER a colony, asshole.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2006 19:59 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2006 21:04 Comments ||
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Yawn. This really isn't news this is the socialist line from the EU and it always has been. That dog doesn't hunt.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 21:11 Comments ||
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#10
Better check out your backyard Lord Goldsmith. All of your prisoners are running around loose, rolling their eyes, seething, and calling for your govt's downfall and probably your 'ead. You've got homework to do before you start complaining about your cousins across the Pond.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2006 21:55 Comments ||
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Parts of Pakistan are a safe haven for militants and the country is the likely hiding place of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a top US counter-terrorism official said during a visit to Afghanistan, in remarks that drew a sharp response from Islamabad.
Henry Crumpton, the US ambassador in charge of counter-terrorism, on Saturday lauded Pakistan for arresting hundreds and hundreds of Al Qaeda figures but said the country needed to do more.
Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is no. I have conveyed that to them, other US officials have conveyed that to them, Crumpton told reporters at the US Embassy in Kabul after talks with Afghan officials.
The chief spokesman for Pakistans army, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, dismissed Crumptons assertion that Pakistan was not doing enough.
It is totally absurd, he said. No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan, and if someone claims so, it is absurd.
Crumpton praised Pakistans capture Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a top Al Qaeda strategist with a US$5 million bounty on his head, in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in November.
Pakistan has also launched repeated counter-terrorism operations in its lawless tribal regions close to the Afghan border over the past two years, in which hundreds of militants and soldiers have died.
Our expectation is that they will continue to make progress, and we know that its difficult, he said. Pakistan cant remain a safe haven for enemy forces, and right now parts of Pakistan are indeed that.
Crumpton said US officials continue to believe that bin Laden is somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, adding that there was a higher probability bin Laden was on the Pakistani side than the Afghan one.
If we knew exactly where bin Laden was, wed go get him, Crumpton said. But were very confident hes along the Pakistan-Afghan border somewhere, he said.
A senior security official in Islamabad said that Crumpton, during meetings with Pakistani intelligence and government officials this week, praised Pakistan for its efforts to hunt down militants.
I am surprised that he praised us here, and is saying something else in Kabul, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/07/2006 00:20 ||
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"Binny likely hiding in Pakistan." Really? Who would have possibly thought that?
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/07/2006 0:49 Comments ||
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It is totally absurd, he said. No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan, and if someone claims so, it is absurd.
This is just such a typical Middle Eastern type comment. There is such a disconnect between our cultures. Them: Lying is honor. Us: Lying v/s honor. In the end, they are only lying to themselves and we just roll our eyes, nod our head and get the job done without them onboard. Which means, in the end, we owe them nothing - which in the case of Middle Eastern countries is not such a bad thing.
#3
adding that there was a higher probability bin Laden was on the Pakistani side than the Afghan one.
There is an even higher probability that he is in Rawalpindi.
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2006 9:58 Comments ||
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The Shia muslims of Gilgit in Pak Kashmir have an interesting allegation that predates 9/11.
It seems during the rule of the dictator Zia Ul Haq, he ordered a pogrom of the Shia population.
A loyal SSG (commando) officer was chosen. He organized a "lashkar" of Arab volunteers who were in ISI run camps in Pakistan for the Afghan "jihad".
The Lashkar was apparently led by an arab commander... Osama Bin Laden.
The officer was allegedly Pervez Musharraf.
Zia paid for this pogrom with his life. A young shia PAF airman ensured his plane had a controlled flight into terrain.
Posted by: john ||
05/07/2006 10:04 Comments ||
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#5
had a controlled flight into terrain.
That's one way to describe it.
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
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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.
Four Taliban fighters were killed when Afghan army attacked their hideout in southern Afghanistan on Friday night. The action was carried out following intelligence reports that some armed militants were hiding in the Jaldak area on Kabul - Kandahar Highway. General Rehmatullah Raofi, Afghan National Army commander for the southern region, said the area was cordoned in the evening and the fighters were ordered to lay down arms. They opened fire at the soldiers and in retaliation, four Taliban were killed. 
A suspected terrorist was killed in crossfire between police and a gang of miscreants at Tejgaon in the city in the early hours of yesterday. The deceased was identified as Waliul Islam alias Tapon (30), son of Toybur Rahman, a resident of Basabo under Sabujbagh police station. He hailed from Uthanpara under Bakshiganj thana in Jamalpur district.
Unknown attackers hurled a hand grenade against the leftist Turkish daily Jumhuriet, which is located in a populated area in the European part of Istanbul, the Turkish Ihlas news agency said Saturday quoting a Turkish police official. "However, the grenade failed to explode because there was no pressure on the detonating device," the official said. He added that a large number of policemen were rushed to the scene of the incident.
NEW YORK - Five foreign passengers on a US airliner were detained in a brief security scare Saturday until authorities learned they were in the United States for a legitimate purpose, an FBI spokesman said. The men raised suspicions on a domestic flight headed to Newark International Airport as they were referring to helicopter flight manuals and speaking to each other in a foreign language. Rightfully so, people got suspicious, said Stephen Kodak, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
PESHAWAR: A local jirga on Saturday ordered the demolition of a tribesman's house after the body of a man who had attacked a security checkpost was found in his house. Unidentified people recently attacked a security checkpost in the Charming area in Bajaur Agency, killing three khasadar force men and injuring another. The body of a man involved in the attack was found in the house of tribesman Wali Muhammad. The jirga imposed a fine of Rs 300,000 and decided to hand over Wali Muhammad to the local political administration.
Fighters battling the Pakistani army in the 
Unidentified armed men gunned down a former Taliban leader in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province on Saturday, his relatives said. Mulla Samad Barakzai, head of Taliban's Department For Promotion of Virtue and Prevention Of Vice in the southern Helmand province, was shot dead in the Pushtoon-Abad area of Quetta, the provincial capital. No one has claimed responsibility for the murder. Barakzai, had been living in Baluchistan since the fall of the Taliban. Motives behind the murder are not clear. It is believed that Barakzai was in contact with Hamid Karzai government.
A lone suicide bomber wearing a belt loaded with explosives blew himself up in a camp of the Iraqi Army in the northern city of Tikrit killing three senior officers, police said on Saturday. A police source told KUNA that another officer was seriously wounded in the bombing attack, adding that the bomber was clad in military fatigues when he set off the explosives. Security has been unstable in Iraq, with recurring attacks by insurgents, including members of the defunct Baath Party and advocates of Islamic slogans.
An Iraq civilian was killed and two others were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire at their car in central Kirkuk, a police source said in statements to KUNA. The source also said that unknown gunmen lobbed a hand grenade at the Al-Huweija police directorate, casuing minor material damage. He added that military equipment and amunitions belonging to Saddam's army were seized in the region of Taza.
Four Iraqi civilians were killed and 31 others wounded on Saturday when British troops in Basra opened fire near a location where a British helicopter crashed earlier today in Al-Saee in Central Basra. A source of the Basra Police told KUNA that the British troops opened fire at some civilians who pelted the troops with stones near the location of the helicopter crash. It added that a curfew was declared from 8:00 pm till 6:00 am Sunday.
Early on Friday, at least three Palestinians were wounded during an IDF raid of the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank, said members of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen and searched homes for wanted militants. Two wanted suspects were arrested, Israel Radio reported. The IDF said soldiers came under fire, but that no troops were hurt.
Jerusalem police arrested a young Palestinian woman who planned a stabbing attack in the capital city on Saturday afternoon, Israel Radio reported. The Issawiya resident, arrested on downtown Jerusalem's Hanevi'im Street, was carrying a large knife.
Salah Al-Din brigades, military wing of Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli army patrol in Southern Jenin, the West Bank, Friday. The brigades said in a statement one of its groups attacked the patrol and scored direct hits. One of the attackers was hit during confrontations with the Israeli army forces, said the statement. It added that the attack was in retaliation of the Israeli air raid that killed five members of the committees in Gaza earlier today.
A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence. Hamass military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said. 
London, May 06 A group opposed to the government of Iran announced on Saturday that its members had executed a local commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the south-eastern province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan.
