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Today: 73 articles and 144 comments as of 15:49.
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Syrian troops, tanks enter Homs, Tafas
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Rosario Dawson aka Laura Vasquez in "Men in Black II" aka Naturelle Riviera in "25th Hour" aka Ruby in "Kids" aka Becky Scott in "Clerks II" aka Abernathy Ross in "Death Proof" (age 32)



She must be a NASCAR driver.



Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot 05/08

Josie Maran aka Thelma the Cigarette Girl in "The Aviator" aka Lulu Fritz in "Little Black Book" aka Marishka in "Van Helsing" aka Kira Hayden in "The Gravedancers" aka Mia Townsend in "Need For Speed: Most Wanted (VG)"(age 33)


She does have Big Brown Eyes.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/09/2011 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Surprised that NASCAR photo doesn't have and NSFW on it. Not complaining mind you, just surprised.

That looks like a whole lotta woman, yeow.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/09/2011 13:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Test. Just trying to get my nic.
Posted by: MS || 05/09/2011 23:30 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
NATO: Insurgency weakened
From the News Source That Shall Not Be Named:
On Monday, NATO announced that it has significantly weakened the Taliban insurgency, capturing or killing thousands of militants in Afghanistan during the past three months.

Thanks to the surge, NATO has moved into areas that have until lately been left to the Taliban's tender mercies and inspirational justice.

Winter operations have weakened the Taliban. Over the last three months, NATO has killed or captured about 500 Taliban leaders and 2,700 grunts.

NATO has seized more weapons caches in the past six months than in the previous two years.

In desperate response, the Taliban have been resorting to lots of "spectacular" suicide attacks to prove to those of weak mind that they are still relevant, but they haven't really succeeded in retaking anything. They have been getting their butts handed to them on a fairly regular basis, though.

If things keep up and the Taliban don't have a hand to play for their vaunted "spring offensive", the coming troop drawdown could be larger.

"This violence will have no lasting impact in light of the gains Afghan and coalition forces have made through the winter."

Giving the bad guys no R&R over the winter: Good.
Giving them time off during the winter (or ever, for that matter): Bad.
Posted by: gorb || 05/09/2011 13:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was worried they were talking about Libya.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/09/2011 14:27 Comments || Top||

#2  That "winter" you refer to wouldn't happen to be the legendary Brutal Afghan Winter,TM would it?
Posted by: Mike || 05/09/2011 14:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Well I was wrong about one thing.

I said that the only way to defeat the Taliban was to kill Pushtuns by the thousand, and Western public opinion (or the leftist media that claims to speak for it) wouldn't tolerate that.

I guess their transnational ideology is more important to these people than the corpse count.

Posted by: phil_b || 05/09/2011 18:05 Comments || Top||

#4  We're the only ones paying attention to the corpse count, phil_b. They're reading the headline, which makes their man look good, then moving on to stories about bin Laden and panics on airplanes, or whatever. My ex-sister-in-law posted on her Facebook page how she hoped the killing would let the troops come home, and does anybody know what they think of us abroad...she just discovered politics and the world in 2008, and she thinks Republicans are horrid and mean. I have no idea where she gets her news.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/09/2011 19:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Indeed tw,

A quick peruse of Google news and xinhua was the only news agency I could find that reported the numbers killed/captured.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/09/2011 20:37 Comments || Top||


Toll rises to at least 22 in southern Afghanistan fighting
[Al Jazeera] Afghan cops appear to be close to quelling a wave of Taliban attacks in which several people died during a second day of violence in one of Afghanistan's biggest cities.
How times have changed. Well done, guys!
At least 22 people, including 18 fighters, have been killed in Kandahar city, according to the governor of Kandahar province.

Two attackers who were holed up in a building near Kandahar's intelligence headquarters are dead, leaving just one more inside, Zalmay Ayoubi, a provincial front man, told the AFP news agency.
The janitorial staff is not pleased about the mess.
"Two attackers were rubbed out. There is one person still in there," he said.

"Eight vehicles packed with explosives were found today and destroyed by foreign forces. One jacket wallah driving a car was identified, shot at and killed by Afghan cops."

Kandahar's streets were said to be virtually deserted on Sunday, while roads into the city have been blocked off.

Kandahar city is the birthplace of the Taliban and the economic hub of southern Afghanistan.

Major assault
Taliban forces unleashed a major assault on Saturday on government buildings, including the intelligence agency headquarters and a cop shoppe.

NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
troops and helicopters could be seen supporting Afghan forces in the clash.

Fighting had temporarily stopped overnight after Afghan forces had secured the government buildings which had been attacked.

Of the dead attackers, eight were reported to have detonated their boom jackets, while four fighters were said to have been captured.

The size and scope of the assault, which began at noon, cast doubt on the effectiveness of a year-long campaign to secure Afghanistan's south and Kandahar in particular.

The Taliban claimed more than 100 fighters took part and said its goal was to take control of the city.
Doesn't seem to have worked. Bummer, dudes.
It was the most ambitious attack since the fighters declared the start of a spring offensive last month against NATO and Afghan troops.

Nearly all the fighters are believed to have beat feet late last month from Kandahar city's main Sarposa prison.

More than 480 Taliban members beat feet through a 300-metre long tunnel that took five months to dig.

The Kandahar assault is the latest in an ongoing series of attacks by the Taliban on prominent government installations.

Al-Qaeda 'Dire Revenge™'
A statement from the office of Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
, the Afghan president, on Saturday said the attacks were Dire Revenge™ for the recent killing of al-Qaeda's leader by US forces.
They really are pulling out all the stops -- and it doesn't seem to be having the desired effect. The ISI must not be enjoying life just now, poor dears.
"Al-Qaeda and its terrorist members who have suffered a major defeat with the killing of the late Osama bin Laden
... who sleeps with the fishes...
in Pak territory have tried to hide this defeat by killing civilians in Kandahar and take their Dire Revenge™ on the innocent people of Afghanistan," the statement said.

The Taliban issued a statement on Friday saying that the killing would boost the morale of the group, and threatening that it would show its strength.

"The martyrdom of Sheik Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current jihad against the invaders," the Taliban said.

"The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes."

However,
The didactic However...
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban front man, told the AP news agency on Saturday that the Kandahar assault was not a Dire Revenge™ attack for bin Laden's death but a plot that had been in the works for months.

"This operation has been planned for a long time, for the past month or two," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Taliban release video, threaten trial of captured Canadian
[Pak Daily Times] The Taliban released a video on Sunday of a Canadian man captured this year in a volatile province of central Afghanistan and said he would be put on trial for spying, unless Canada's government accepted unspecified demands for his release.

The man was jugged in Ghazni city in February by hard boyz who accused him of collecting secret information, although Canada's foreign affairs department said the 26-year-old had travelled to Afghanistan as a tourist.

Canadian authorities have said they would prefer that the man not be identified while negotiations to secure his release go on. "The evidence and documents found in his possession had shown that he entered Afghanistan for spying purposes and was an active agent, gathering intelligence on the Taliban," said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban front man said. "The Islamic Emirate once again calls on the Canadian government to take immediate action to solve this issue or the hostage could face a court," Mujahid said in a statement. The Taliban released a video of the man, who appeared clean-shaven, in which he answered questions from an unseen interrogator. The man said he had travelled to Afghanistan because he had a strong interest in its history.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
Group of Libyan rebels surrender to government forces
A group of Libyan rebels in the western city of Misrata have surrendered to government forces, according to state television Sunday.

Al-Jamahiriya
... An Arabic neologism coined by Muammar al-Qadaffy. The word jamahiriya was derived from jumhuriya, which is the usual Arabic translation of republic. It was coined by changing the component jumhur ‐ public ‐ to its plural form, jamahir — the masses. Thus, it is similar to the term People's Republic, only more denigrating to the actual inhabitants of the country...
television quoted a military front man as saying that 'members of the gangs in Misrata have turned themselves in and gave up their weapons.'

'Their confessions will be broadcast later,' said the front man, who did not provide exact numbers about the surrenders.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/09/2011 14:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure they will be treated fairly, until one day -- gone!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/09/2011 14:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Thus begins the end of the resistance in western Libya.

NATO = epic fail
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/09/2011 14:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey Daffy - nooo spiking.

I blame the UN.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/09/2011 15:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, where is France? I thought they were getting into the game, but they were just doing fancy stretching? Man I hate soccer.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/09/2011 15:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Coming up next on "Bad Idea"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/09/2011 16:51 Comments || Top||

#6  They got their backs to the Mediterranean and so they surrender. Too bad they never learned to swim.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/09/2011 17:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Hope their wills are already made out....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/09/2011 21:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Hope their wills are already made out....

They'll be all right. Islamists staged a revolt against Gaddafi in 1995. He imprisoned them by the thousands. They then staged a prison revolt in which 200 guards were killed. Then he slaughtered them. Gaddafi's threshold for killing fellow Libyans is pretty high, possibly because of the tribal links - when you kill someone, you are potentially making an enemy of his entire tribe.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/09/2011 22:09 Comments || Top||


Thousands stage rally in Morocco
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Moroccan protesters have taken to the streets of Marrakesh to call for reforms and demand the King give up some of his powers. It was the second such protest in two days. Over 7,000 demonstrators demanded a new constitution and an end to corruption in the country.

They also condemned last month's kaboom that left 17 people dead in Marrakesh.

On Saturday, hundreds held a similar rally in the city, calling on the ruling monarchy to make changes to its policies.

"The king must not be at the center of power there must be a separation of power," AFP quoted a protester as saying.

Several massive rallies have been held since protests began back on February 20. Human rights and civil groups as well as independent journalists have also joined the movement.

The king has already announced some reforms in an effort to silence protesters.

But the protesters say that the ruling monarchy must make serious changes to the way it is running the country. They are demanding constitutional reforms that would reduce King Mohammed's powers and make the justice system more independent.

The protesters want an end to corruption, prison torture, and unemployment.

The Monarchy is desperate to avoid an Egyptian- or Tunisian-style revolution.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope more moderate Morocco can make the transition peacefully. You'll note they still have a King, not a President-for-life.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/09/2011 6:49 Comments || Top||


Airstrikes on Tripoli, Zintan
[Al Jazeera] NATO air attacks have hit Libyan government weapons depots near Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, the capital, according to a rebel front man in the town.

Separately, two loud kabooms rocked a western sector of Tripoli on Sunday as jets flew overhead, witnesses told the AFP news agency.

An international coalition began carrying out attacks on forces loyal to Muammar Qadaffy, Libya's long-time ruler, on March 19, under a UN mandate to protect civilians in the country. NATO took command of operations over Libya on March 31.

"NATO struck weapons depots five minutes ago in an area which lies about 30km southeast of Zintan," Abdulrahman, the rebel front man, told the Rooters news agency by telephone on Sunday.

"We heard a loud kaboom ... I think the strike hit some of them [the depots].

"We are now at a cemetery burying 11 people martyred during yesterday's fighting, in which 35 other fighters were also maimed."
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Heavy fighting grips Libya's besieged Misrata
[Emirates 24/7] Intense fighting erupted on Sunday near Misrata as smoke billowed from fuel depots bombed by Libyan regime forces laying siege to the lifeline port city where rebels awaited arms from Italia.

The fighting broke out in the resort area of Burgueya, west of Misrata, the North African country's third city about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Tripoli.

A thick plume of smoke spread over Misrata from blazing fuel depots bombed a day earlier, while long queues could be seen at fuel stations amid fears of shortages, an AFP correspondent said.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years ...
"destroyed the only tanks that were full," said Ahmad Monthasser, a rebel from Misrata.

"Someone pointed out the exact location of the fuel depots. This means inside the city there is a fifth column that is collaborating with Qadaffy," he said.

Government troops have intensified their attacks on the port of Misrata, the main source of supplies to rebels fighting to oust the veteran strongman in western Libya.

Misrata is seen as a make-or-break city in the Libyan conflict, which broke out in mid-February after Qadaffy's security forces waged a bloody crackdown on protests inspired by regime-changing movements in Tunisia and Egypt.

On Friday, Suleiman Fortiya, who represents rebels in Misrata, said they were bracing for a new ground assault on the port city.

"I am sure there will be a lot of fighting on the ground in the future. That is what Misrata is worried about because he (Qadaffy) is doing a big preparation to march on Misrata," he said.

On Saturday, Qadaffy's troops unleashed a salvo of Grad rockets
...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km....
on towns in Libya's western mountains near the border with Tunisia as it bombed Misrata's fuel depots.

At least nine rebels were killed and 50 maimed in fierce festivities in the northwestern town of Zintan as Qadaffy forces pressed the rebels on several fronts.

The day before, Qadaffy's forces dropped mines into Misrata's harbour using small helicopters bearing the Red Thingy and Red Islamic Thingy emblems, the rebels said.

"It seems that the more desperate Qadaffy gets, the more he unleashes his firepower on the people," said Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the opposition National Transitional Council.

A barrage of shells on Saturday struck Zintan and Wazin, western towns near the border with Tunisia, forcing 20,000 people to flee, said Ghoga, while loyalist fighters attacked the southern oasis towns of Ojla and Jalo, which neighbour oil facilities.

The towns were "heavily bombarded by Grad missiles," a rebel information officer told AFP, adding Qadaffy's troops were "firing randomly" and that overwhelmed rebels had pulled out of Wazin.

"The fighting was too heavy for them," he said.

Hundreds of regime troops backed by tanks had come to within 15 kilometres (nine miles) of Zintan's eastern edge Saturday morning before the rebels drove them back twice as far to the Al-Aluwinia area.

It was there that the heaviest fighting took place throughout the day, as black smoke rose from the town virtually emptied of its population.

Qadaffy forces abandoned their vehicles as well as some prisoners.

The mountainous area of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, was one of the first to rise up against Qadaffy's regime in March. Rebels last month captured a border post there.

Ghoga said Qadaffy was under immense political and economic pressure from the world community and so was wreaking "havoc on the population, on the civilians and the cities."

Representatives of the international community have promised ê250 million (175 million euros) in humanitarian aid to the rebels and said the Qadaffy regime's frozen overseas assets, estimated at ê60 billion, would be used later to assist the Libyan opposition.

Unlocking Qadaffy's funds abroad would, however, pose "many difficulties" as the international resolutions freezing them remained in force, said Giorgio Sacerdoti, international law professor at the University of Bocconi in Milan.

"The government in Tripoli has not disappeared and the resolutions of the UN and the European Union do not say that he (Qadaffy) is illegitimate," he added.

The economic situation in rebel held areas, including Benghazi, is steadily worsening, with costs of basic commodities skyrocketing and the rebel administration facing shortage of funds as receipts from oil exports have come to a virtual halt.

"We are still discovering different segments that need to be paid, every single moment a new need arises," said Ali Torhuni, who manages the economic portfolio for the rebels.

Torhuni said the daily cost of administering the rebel-controlled east, including a partial payment of some salaries, adds up to ê100 million.

By that estimate, the ê250 million in humanitarian aid the interim body secured in Rome on Thursday, would last less than three days.

On Sunday, the rebels were waiting for arms to arrive from Italia, which Rome hastened to explain were "self-defence material" without any assault weapons.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
La Belle France, Perfidious Albion and Italia have also put a small number of "boots on the ground" in the rebel-held east.

About 20 British advisers and 10 each from La Belle France and Italia were reportedly holed up in the rebel bastion of Benghazi and working with senior rebel commanders to turn a ragtag, poorly armed and badly trained force into a fighting machine.

The group is keeping a low profile amid fears the Libyan regime could use their presence as evidence the uprising was orchestrated by Western powers.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Yemen opposition sets 2-day deadline for Gulf plan
[Emirates 24/7] Yemen's main opposition warned on Sunday they would side with protesters in rejecting a Gulf-mediated transition plan unless embattled President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
agreed to it within 48 hours.

The Common Forum, an alliance of parliamentary opposition groups, reiterated its support for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan to end three months of political unrest in the impoverished state but insisted Saleh also commit himself.

"We renew our commitment to the Gulf plan but the other party (the president) must also demonstrate its seriousness within the next two days," the Common Forum said.

"Any further delay or procrastination on the part of the president to sign the agreement will force us to back the 'choice of the people,' opposing the plan, it said in a statement.

It accused the Sanaa regime of political manoeuvres and asked GCC member states to put a halt to official delegations sent by Saleh's regime.

The warning came as a Yemeni delegation led by Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar on Sunday began a tour of all six GCC states, except Qatar, according to official news agency Saba.

President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
has accused Qatar of plotting against his country since it openly proposed his ouster.

The GCC has said it is waiting for a "signal" from Saleh to revive efforts to end the deadlock in Yemen, which also faces a threat from Al-Qaeda, a sporadic rebellion by Zaidi Shiites in the north and a separatist movement in the south.

Saleh has reportedly insisted on endorsing the agreement as the chief of the ruling General People's Party (GPC) and not as Yemeni president, a position rejected by the Common Forum.
The regime and opposition said on Friday that the GCC chief has requested each side present a list of 15 people to sign the agreement in Sanaa.

The GPC said it has presented the list, including its deputy secretary general, Abdulkarim al-Aryani, while the Common Forum said it was preparing the opposition's list.

However,
The over-used However...
representatives of protesters crowding the squares of Yemen's main cities have rejected the initiative since it was first unveiled last month, insisting on the immediate departure of Saleh and on putting him on trial.

Around 150 people have been killed since protests demanding Saleh's ouster started in late January.

The GCC plan proposes the formation of a government of national unity, Saleh transferring power to his vice president, and resigning after 30 days, a day after parliament passes a law granting him and his aides immunity.

GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani travelled to Sanaa last week to invite members of the government and the opposition to sign the transition plan in Riyadh and to obtain the president's signature but he returned empty-handed.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen opp. threatens to join protests
[Iran Press TV] Opposition groups in Yemen have threatened to join anti-regime protesters if a plan to oust President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
fails.

Security forces opened fire on teacher demonstrators in Taizz on Sunday, killing three people. In Hudaydah, pro-government thugs attacked protesters, killing one person and injuring six others, AFP reported.

The protesters were calling for the ouster of Saleh, who has been ruling the country for nearly 33 years with several opposition members arguing that he has failed to realize his long-promised reforms.

The political crisis deepened in the country after Saleh refused to sign a deal proposed by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council
... the Medes and the Persians are very sensitive on the subject of the Persian Gulf, which the Arabs refer to as the Arabian Gulf...
([P]GCC).

The [P]GCC's Secretary General Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani failed to persuade Saleh to ink the deal during his visit to Sana'a ten days ago.

The deal proposes that Saleh should resign from his post within 30 days after signing the accord in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

According to the deal, aimed at solving the country's political crisis, a new government will be formed by the opposition within seven days and should arrange presidential and parliamentary elections within 60 days.

Also on Sunday, Yemen's opposition coalition called on [P]GCC states to pressure Saleh to relinquish power ahead of their Tuesday summit.

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in cities including Sana'a, Aden and Taizz, calling for corruption and unemployment to be tackled and demanding Saleh's resignation.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Al Markajul official picked up
[Bangla Daily Star] CID personnel last night picked up Moulana Abdul Rashid, vice-chairman of non-governmental organisation Al Markajul Islami Bangladesh,
... an ambulance service reputed to be a cover for jihad...
from his office in the city's Shyamoli with links to the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004.

Sixty-year-old Rashid from Gopalganj was picked up shortly after 11:00pm, said Criminal Investigation Department officials. The grenade attackers decamped Bangabandhu Avenue, the scene of the crime, by the NGO's ambulance, they said.

Preferring anonymity, a CID official said, "Rashid is being quizzed at the CID headquarters at Malibagh. He will be produced before the court tomorrow [today]. We will seek his remand showing him incarcerated in the August 21 grenade attack case."

The CID jugged Rashid on information from Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI)
Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west.
leader Moulana Sheikh Farid, who is now on remand.

On Rashid's involvement in the grenade attack, Moulana Sayeed Nur, acting chairman of the NGO, said, "The allegation is baseless."
Tut tut, my good man! And tut!

Rashid's son Hafez Abdullah said he was unaware of the cause of his father's detention.

"We could not contact him, as his cell phone remained switched off after he was picked up," said Abdullah.

Twenty-four people, including AL leader Ivy Rahman, were killed and more than 300 others injured in the grenade attack on an AL rally on August 21, 2004.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: HUJI


Caribbean-Latin America
Death in Durango: Toll in Mass Graves Rises to 157
To see a map, click here. To see a map of Durango, click here
The death toll in three mass gravesites in Durango, Durango rose to 157 Friday as security forces exhumed 38 more bodies, including 13 on Friday, according to Mexican press reports.

The last 13 were recovered in the Vicente Suarez colony, the last grave area to be found.

Exhumations continue on the other two gravesites in La Providencia and La Fuentes colonies in Durango city.

Forensic authorities have identified the first of the victims as Efrain Gamboa Cazares, 31, who was apparently buried alive. Gamboa Cazares lived in Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango.
To see the last two Rantburg reports on the Durango city mass graves, click here and here.
Posted by: badanov || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Suspected drug hitmen dumped six headless bodies outside a school in northern Mexico Monday a day after forensics pulled victims out of a nearby mass grave in a stream of unrelenting violence that is pressuring Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Assailants left the bloodied, beheaded men outside the secondary school in the colonial city of Durango just before dawn and sprayed threatening messages on a nearby wall, hours before students were due to put on a show to celebrate Mother's Day, Durango state attorney general's office said.
Feliz Dia De Las Madres!
Posted by: Frank G || 05/09/2011 19:41 Comments || Top||


Mexican Security Forces Reinforce in Torreon, Coahuila
By Chris Covert

More than 1,000 Mexican Army soldiers arrived in Torreon, Coahuila Saturday, part of a reinforcement of security forces, according to Mexican news reports.

A total of 252 soldiers arrived aboard two Mexican Army jetliners which the rest arrived over land with mobile equipment.

The reinforcements are part of a renewed security effort in the area ordered by Mexican Secretario de Gobernación (SEGOB) (Interior Minister) Francisco Blake Mora following a meeting which included the governors of Durango and Coahuila.

The La Laguna area includes the twin cities of Torreon, Coahuila and Gomez Palacio, Durango. The area sits astride several Mexican east-west highways including Mexican Interstate Highway 30 and 40, two major lateral roads in the Mexican interstate highway system.
To see a map, click here. To see a map of Coahuila click here
The area has been spared the worst of intergang and counternarcotics violence, but it has seen a few direct attacks on police forces.
To see the last Rantburg reports on drug cartel violence in Torreon, Coahuila click here and here.
The deployment is the largest deployment of security forces in Torreon since last summer, when approximately 300 Policia Federal effectives were sent to La Laguna to beef up security.

It is possible that the new larger deployment is a response to recently acquired intelligence that the Sinaloa drug cartel has formalized an alliance with the Gulf cartel and was moving operations east.

The new deployment would make lateral movement of product and cartel security elements through La Laguna much harder because one of the highways runs crosscountry from the port of Mazatlan, Sinaloa to the US border cities of Piedra Negras, Coahuila, as well as Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

Reynosa and Matamoros are still contested areas between rivals Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel, while Nuevo laredo remains in Los Zetas control.

In related news, a news item listed in El Diario de Coahuila last week described a deployment of Mexican Army troops and equipment arriving by rail in Nuevo Laredo.
Posted by: badanov || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  an 18 yr old was stopped in Tijuana with a .50 Barrett and an American military anti-tank weapon still in its' case with the manual. Might wanna trace back those serial numbers
Posted by: Frank G || 05/09/2011 18:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Beautiful piece of ordnance, and beautifully made in the USA to boot.

Gawd, I am proud to be an American!
Posted by: badanov || 05/09/2011 19:29 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Nine dead in clashes in Russia's south
[Al Jazeera] A police officer and eight fighters have been killed in festivities in Russia's North Caucasus and the city of Astrakhan.

A shootout ensued early on Sunday after police discovered an encampment in a wooded area of the Kizlyar region of Dagestan, killing a police officer and seven fighters, Vyacheslav Gasanov, an interior ministry front man, said.

The men were believed to have been preparing terrorist attacks for Monday, a secular holiday in Russia observing the Nazi defeat in World War II, the police said.

Officers also reported that one fighter had been killed and two others jugged in the city of Astrakhan.

Near-daily violence plagues the mainly Mohammedan North Caucasus, where poverty and religion has helped nurture an armed campaign to establish an independent state governed by sharia, or Islamic law.

The region includes Dagestan and Chechnya, where Russia drove separatists out of power a decade ago in the second of the two Chechen Wars.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria


Europe
Czech police detain Pakistani terror suspect
[Pak Daily Times] Czech police have jugged a Pak national wanted on an international warrant for murder and terrorism, Czech Interior Minister Jan Kubice said on Sunday. The suspect was jugged last week after applying for asylum in the central European country. "The police... found out that there was an international arrest warrant for him issued by Pakistain for murder, terrorism and other criminal offences," Kubice said during a talk show on Czech Television. "Pakistain can request extradition, which it has not done at this time," he added. The interior minister did not give any other information about the suspect and said a court would decide about any possible extradition. He said there were no reports showing the European Union member faced any threat of a terror attack.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Home Front: WoT
Just Another Boring Flight to San-Fran
From the Aaaay-Peeee.
SAN FRANCISCO -- A crazed man whose political and religious beliefs are completely irrelevant and so won't be mentioned who pounded on the cockpit door as an American Airlines flight from Chicago approached San Francisco on Sunday evening has no clear or known ties to terrorism, police said on Monday.
And no one's going to say otherwise, even if the smart boys at FBI toss his life completely.
Authorities have not established a possible motive for why
None. They're clueless. No, really, the authorities are clueless.
Rageit Almurisi, 28, got up from his seat and went toward the cockpit door 10 minutes before the flight was supposed to land, San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said.
Maybe he was upset over paying $8 for a Bloody Mary?
But Rodriguez told the San Francisco Chronicle that Almurisi had no clear connection to terrorism.
Rodriguez wouldn't know, would he. The good sergeant likely has been conditioned by all the lefty politics in San-Fran to keep his mouth shut.
Almurisi, who had a Yemeni passport, was yelling in Arabic unintelligibly as he brushed past a flight attendant, Rodriguez said.
How do we know it was unintelligible? Perhaps it made perfect sense in Arabic.
A male flight attendant tackled him,
Good job. Hope you drove your knee into Almurisi's kidneys...
and other crew members and two passengers -- a retired Secret Service agent and a retired San Mateo police officer -- aided as he banged on the cockpit door, Rodriguez said.

"They were able to get him to ground and a flight attendant put him in plastic handcuffs," Rodriguez told The Associated Press.
After landing on him a few more times.
The Boeing 737 carrying 162 people landed safely at 9:10 p.m. and the man was taken into police custody.
Here's hoping they thumped him down the jetway...
The flight came from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
What was his stop before Chicago?
Though he carried a Yemeni passport, it wasn't clear if Almurisi's nationality was also Yemeni, Rodriguez said.
He could have been a Pakistaini...
During the scuffle, Almurisi sustained some bruises in his kidneys and was checked at a hospital before being transported to San Mateo County Jail, the officer said.
Let's hope he's peeing blood for a few days...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/09/2011 11:08 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...was yelling in Arabic unintelligibly as he brushed past a flight attendant...

They never heard the phrase "Allan Snackbar"?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/09/2011 11:34 Comments || Top||

#2  This is just a misunderstanding. He was just excited because he thought he had found 72 virgins in San Francisco.

Posted by: Frozen Al || 05/09/2011 12:25 Comments || Top||

#3  But Rodriguez told the San Francisco Chronicle that Almurisi had no clear connection to terrorism.
Well if that's the threshold to become concerned, then I'm worried. Most of the interdictions in the past two yrs in the USA were of those having no connection. Even so, having connection to al-Awalki didn't seem to matter.
Posted by: jack salami || 05/09/2011 13:08 Comments || Top||

#4  You mean TSA didn't profile him properly? Oh, he's potential Al Qaeda. Can't be racial profiling anyone that doesn't look like they were born in Kansas. Then they get the third degree from the TSA.
Posted by: Daffy Ebbirt9759 || 05/09/2011 13:30 Comments || Top||

#5  A few more incidents like this & I suspect someone will apply several zip ties tightly around the neck of the perp to subdue him.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/09/2011 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  A few more incidents like this & I suspect someone will apply several zip ties tightly around the neck of the perp to subdue him.

And attach a leash to each one and give each of his wives one of the handles.
Posted by: gorb || 05/09/2011 15:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds like they understood him *perfectly*.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/09/2011 15:07 Comments || Top||

#8  c'mon Al, get a grip. Not even a whacked-out jihadi would expect to find that many virgins in the City.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/09/2011 15:08 Comments || Top||

#9  You cannot discount a connection to terrorist organizations on the cuff. The average joe or joette is not buying that govt crap any more.

Yemeni passport ya say? Well that is better than a pakistani passport, where 90% are forgeries, heh.

It would be revealing to backtrack this guy's travel and entry into the States and see what if any checking was done concerning any background checks on him by Customs. Dollars to dinars there was nothing in the anglicized spelling of his name, so Customs and immigration just told him to have a nice day.

Real confidence builder, while US citizens are treated like criminals through TSA portals and their infamous orgasmatron machine.

[/rant]
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/09/2011 15:28 Comments || Top||

#10  The TSA may have let this one crazed terrorist on board, but that six-year old girl a couple of weeks ago got a very thorough pat-down.
Posted by: Matt || 05/09/2011 16:48 Comments || Top||

#11  See the TSA pat down an infant.

I hope (s)he had a fully loaded diaper.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/09/2011 17:29 Comments || Top||

#12  But Rodriguez told the San Francisco Chronicle that Almurisi had no clear connection to terrorism.

This statement is absurd!
There might be some doubt about his motive (likely islamofascism) or whether he's connected to any organization.

The terrorist act committed in front of multiple witnesses establishes a very clear and obvious connection to terrorism however.

The 9/11 war was called 'War on Terror' in order to avoid giving offense to Muslims. As a result of this PC nomenclature the meaning of 'Terror' has shifted. To the SF 'terrorism' is synonymous with islamofascism.
Posted by: Cravimble Guelph7432 || 05/09/2011 18:38 Comments || Top||

#13  An amusing bit was that, assisting in his takedown was a retired cop and a retired Secret Service agent.

Apparently, his bruising was significant enough so that they had him checked out in a hospital.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/09/2011 19:31 Comments || Top||


#15  Uh, uh, JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY [The Bangles]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/09/2011 20:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Bin Laden had support network in Pakistan - sez Obama
Hey, you think we're stupid? Osama bin Laden likely had "some sort" of a support network inside Pakistan, US President Barack Obama said, but added "Hey, you think we're stupid" it will take investigations by Pakistan and the United States to find out the nature of that support.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Three wounded in bombing outside Peshawar minister's house
[Dawn] A bomb went kaboom! Sunday outside the home of a provincial minister in the northwestern Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, with initial reports saying three people were maimed, police said.

The bomb detonated near the residence of agriculture minister Arbab Ayub Jan, who said the kaboom took place just after visitors to his house had left by car. Three of the guests were maimed.

"It was a remote-controlled device planted under a billboard near my house," Jan told AFP by telephone.

"Perhaps those responsible thought I was in the car."

Senior police officer Mohammad Ejaz told AFP, "We have rushed teams to find out details. Initial reports say that three people were maimed."

The minister belongs to the secular Awami National Party (ANP) whose leaders have in the past been the targets of bully boy attacks. The ANP leads the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, of which Peshawar is the capital.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


'Militant' held in Lakki
[Dawn] Police claimed to have tossed in the clink a myrmidon in Michenkhel area of the district on Saturday.

An official said that a contingent of Lakki cop shoppe launched action against a wanted myrmidon on secret information.

"The tossed in the clink myrmidon identified as Mohammad Afzal was wanted by law-enforcement agencies in murder, attempted murder and militancy related cases," he said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising...
a local journalist Mohammad Shoaib affiliated with a private news channel was injured when his motorcycle collided with another bike near Gambila Bridge on Manjiwala link road.

The injured journalist was taken to city hospital wherefrom he was referred to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar on late Friday night.

However,
The all-purpose However...
now his condition is stated to be stable after getting necessary treatment.

In another incident, a man was killed over a money dispute in Mammakhel village in the limits of Shaheed Asmatullah Khan Khattak cop shoppe of Naurang town on Saturday.

Police said that Humayun and Mohammad Ayaz bumped off Naseebullah and managed to escape.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hundreds of terrorists waiting to cross into Kashmir
NEW DELHI: The Line of Control could turn red-hot once again. Even as disclosures by Guantanamo Bay detainees show al-Qaida had plans to bomb an Indian airliner and that Pakistan army and ISI have for long been directly involved in training and directing anti-India terrorists, Indian security forces are bracing for a "hot" summer in Kashmir and elsewhere.

Latest intelligence inputs show over 100 terrorists are waiting at the "launch pads" along the LoC to infiltrate into J&K, with another 700-800 militants holed up in different terror-training camps in Pakistan.

This comes even as a fresh set of US cables released by Wikileaks has reinforced the direct links between ISI and anti-India terror outfits like Laskhar-eTaiba, which even hold that the Pakistan army plays a role in selecting the targets to be attacked.

The US records, based on the interrogation reports of 779 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, also clearly show that Washington was well aware that Pakistan's security establishment was running terror-training camps directed against India.
Then again, we didn't need Wikileaks to tell us that...
Abdul Azia, an al-Qaida courier and LeT operative from Algeria arrested by the US in 2002, for instance, is quoted as saying that ISI "allowed" militants to sneak inside India to bomb, kidnap or kill Kashmiri people. His mission, he said, was to "kill Indians in India".

Other detainees held that al-Qaida, apart from the plan to bomb an Indian airliner, was interested in India as "a platform to send operatives to the US or UK because of the large Muslim population there and the low-level of scrutiny given to travellers of Indian nationality".

Indian security and intelligence agencies maintain that there are still 34 'active' and eight 'holding' camps operational across the border. The 'active' camps in PoK range from those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Forward Kahutta and Peer Chinasi to the ones in Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu and Abdullah Bin Masud. The North-West Frontier Province also remains a prominent centre for training jihadis, especially in the densely-forested and hilly Manshera region.

The recent ceasefire violations by Pakistan -- thrice in two weeks -- are seen as attempts to infiltrate terrorists into J&K. "Firing from across the border generally takes place to provide cover to terrorists who want to infiltrate. Security forces have been asked to remain vigilant as such attempts may be repeated," said an official.

The ceasefire violations along the LoC took place on May 5, April 24 and April 22. The Indo-Pak ceasefire, along the 198-km international border in J&K, the 778-km LoC and the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line in the Siachen-Saltoro Ridge region, came into force as a confidence-building measure in November 2003. While in the initial years it largely held, Pakistan army has gone back to its old gambit of giving "covering or diversionary fire" to help infiltrating militants.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Intehwesting - use Indjuh = India as a platform to attack the US + UK. I guess that shouldn't bea usrpise given the general Islamist threat to Asia, aka RUSSIA-CHINA-INDIA, sub-aka WHERE THE CHEAP/FREE NUKES-WMDS ARE, + new fighting Manpower.

I still remember the US Govt. warning about a possible threat to GUAM, ala the INDONESIA BOMB PLOT.

* NEWS KERALA > USING [African-Amer]AMERICAN MUSLIMS TO ATTACK US WAS OSAMA'S STRATEGY, vee scehmas for both TerrOps agz Race War campaigns agz CONUS.

* DAILY TIMES.PK > BIN LADEN VOWS NO US SECURITY [widout PALESTINIAN SECURITY] IN FINAL TAPE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/09/2011 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  So much for the dreaded spring terror offensive on the Indian border. Thus far the Mighty Pakistani Army (including the ISI) is batting 1.000.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/09/2011 15:43 Comments || Top||


Dupe URL: Pakistan breaches trust, names local CIA boss
Paks breach trust. Boy howdy, that caught me by complete surprise.
WASHINGTON: Amid bitter, recriminatory exchanges between the United States and Pakistan over the Osama bin Laden extermination, planned bilateral visits of President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington DC and a return trip of President Barack Obama to Islamabad are both in jeopardy. Ties between the two sides are expected to slide further following Pakistan's "outing" of the CIA station chief in Islamabad on Saturday.

In a sign of how bad ties are between the two countries, Pakistani media on Saturday once again publicly named the CIA station chief in Islamabad, a breach of both protocol and trust, that is bound to enrage Washington.

A Pakistani TV channel and a newspaper considered mouthpieces of the country's military said the ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met CIA station chief Mark Carlton to protest US incursion into Abbottabad to kill al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. CIA station chiefs remain anonymous and unnamed in public although the host government is told.
If we had a CIA worth anything at all, Mr. Pasha would shortly have an automobile accident for having done this...
Earlier, the Obama administration had asked Pakistan to disclose names of its top intelligence operatives to determine whether they had contact with Osama or his agents.
That's rather clueless of Bambi. No intel agency gives that information away.
The latest breach indicates that a section of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment is determined to run the CIA out of the country fearing that the ISI's links with terror groups and its sheltering of terrorist leaders will be exposed.
They wanted us out of the country before that. Out with the CIA, the transport trucks to Afghanistan, the Predator drones, all the infidels. They'll let us leave our money.
Zardari has been waiting to come to US practically every week for several months now, with Hussain Haqqani, his ambassador in Washington, doing the spadework for the visit. The visit was first slated for March and then pushed to May as ties headed south after the Raymond Davis episode.
Makes you wonder whether Mr. Davis had been to Abbottabad...
Obama meanwhile had promised to visit Pakistan when the White House announced his India trip, in part to assuage Islamabad's wounded pride at being left out. No dates were announced but it was expected sometime later this year. But Pakistan's furious reaction to the wide-spread belief that it sheltered Osama has for now wrecked both trips. There is also growing realization in Washington that the military junta fully controls Pakistan and it rather pointless to publicly engage a weak civilian government that cannot deliver on promises.
If we promise not to visit Pakistain until it has a strong government that controls the military and ISI, Misha will be president...
The disclosure that the CIA established a safehouse in Abbottabad within sighting distance of the Osama's compound under the ISI's nose had also rattled the military brass.
It does rather raise the issue of basic competence within the ISI...
And in a further embarrassment for the ISI, it now transpires that Osama lived in village just off the town of Haripur on the Abbottabad Highway for 2-1/2 years before he moved into the new compound. That would make it at least 7-1/2 years that he lived close to urban settlements.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
General among 17 killed in 'Qaeda mutiny' at Baghdad jail
[Pak Daily Times] The accused criminal mastermind of last year's Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
church siege overpowered a policeman while being led to questioning, sparking a jail mutiny Sunday that killed six police, including a general, and 11 inmates.

The daring incident by suspected al Qaeda cut-throats came as security was tightened in Iraq, where authorities fear reprisals after the death of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
in a US special forces raid in Pakistain on May 2, with 24 coppers already having been killed in a car boom south of Storied Baghdad on Thursday.

Among the coppers killed in Sunday's incident was Brigadier General Moayed al Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Storied Baghdad's central Karrada district; a lieutenant colonel and two first lieutenants, the capital's security front man Major General Qassim Atta said at a news conference.

"This incident was planned well in advance," Atta told news hounds, putting the corpse count at six police and 11 inmates.

"The criminals were high-level members of the Islamic State of Iraq (al Qaeda's front group). The prime minister has ordered a committee to investigate the incident."

One of the inmates killed was Huthaifa al Batawi, who stands accused of planning the October 31 siege on a Storied Baghdad church in which 46 hostages and seven security force members died, and who triggered the prison uprising.

According to Atta, Batawi overpowered the police lieutenant who was leading him to an interrogation room at around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday, taking his weapon and shooting him dead.

Batawi, who was the Storied Baghdad chief of al Qaeda's front group in Storied Baghdad when he was jugged on November 27, then freed several other prisoners, all of whom were jugged with him in connection with the church massacre.

The group killed Saleh and several other officers before a group of four attempted to flee the prison, at which point Iraqi police reinforcements arrived and killed the would-be escapees. The remainder holed up inside the prison and the mutiny did not end until that group was killed at around 4:30 am (0130 GMT) on Sunday.

"Their cases had been transferred to the courts on April 24 but yesterday, the major crimes unit received a tip about a new case against them," Atta said.

"So, Brigadier General Moayed called for Huthaifa to be interrogated. When the police went to get him, he overpowered him." A senior Iraqi counter-terrorism official largely verified Atta's account, but said that five detainees attempted to escape in a police vehicle before being bumped off.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, also put the corpse count at six police and 10 inmates killed. He added that two police were seriously maimed. He had earlier said that eight coppers and 10 inmates were killed, but revised that later Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Sounds like a gangster story out of Chicago, from the 1920's.

Which shows how far the Iraqis have come.

I wonder if anyone will connect the 'Arab Spring' to the fact that Iraq has an elected Parliment, courtesy of W and our military? Maybe history will connect the dots, but not the media - not this media.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/09/2011 13:46 Comments || Top||


9 captured, arms cache seized in Ninewa
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi army force detained nine persons wanted in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism and seized an explosives cache separately in Mosul city Sunday, a security source said.

“A force from the Iraqi army’s 2nd Division stationed in Mosul arrested nine wanted men in different areas of the west coast in Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The detained men are now under investigative custody at the 2nd Division command headquarters,” he added.

In a separate incident, the army forces, acting upon intelligence tip-offs, seized a cache of arms and munitions in Talkeef district, north of Mosul.

“The cache contained anti-tank weapons, improvised explosive devices and thermal bombs,” he added.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mosul has a "west coast"?
Posted by: American Delight || 05/09/2011 14:00 Comments || Top||


Qaida mutiny in Baghdad jail kills 18
BAGHDAD: The accused mastermind of last year's bloody Baghdad church siege grabbed a policeman's gun mid-interrogation on Sunday and led a jail mutiny that left eight police, including a general, and 10 inmates dead.
We've seen this movie too, haven't we?
The daring incident by suspected al-Qaida insurgents came as security was tightened in Iraq, where authorities fear reprisals after the death of Osama bin Laden in a US special forces raid in Pakistan on May 2, with 24 policemen already having been killed in a car bomb south of Baghdad on Thursday.

Among the eight policemen killed in Sunday's incident was Brigadier General Moayed al-Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Baghdad's central Karrada district; a lieutenant colonel and two first lieutenants, a senior counter-terrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This cell, which was dismantled in November, was accused of a large number of terrorist operations -- not just the one against the church," the official said. "Several investigations were ongoing against them, and that's why they were still being held by this unit."

An interior ministry official, who did not want to be named, said that Huthaifa al-Batawi, who stands accused of planning the October 31 siege on a Baghdad church in which 46 hostages and seven security force members died, was among those killed. He said, without elaborating, that six other people were wounded in the uprising at the interior ministry detention facility in Baghdad. According to the counter-terrorism official, Batawi, who was the Baghdad chief of al-Qaida's front group in Baghdad when he was arrested on November 27, was being interrogated because officials were seeking intelligence of possible attacks in the wake of bin Laden's death.

Batawi managed to grab the weapon off the first lieutenant who was questioning him and shot him dead, before taking hostages and releasing a group of fellow inmates.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
No leads in deadly bombings, as three more killed in southern Thailand
Extensive searches have not turned up any evidence about the suspects behind bombings on Saturday which killed seven soldiers and police, and shootings in the troubled south yesterday claimed another three lives.

Security officials conceded yesterday they had made no progress in hunting those behind the two bombings that killed three soldiers and four policemen in Yala and Pattani provinces. Soldiers, paramilitary rangers and police scoured Raman district in Yala and Rueso district in Narathiwat yesterday.

Three soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in a bomb blast as they were patrolling a local road. It is believed that the attackers may be hiding in Raman district.

A source had identified an insurgent group led by Abdulrohing Da-eesor. The group probably includes the suspect's nephew, Roning Da-eesor. They were reported to have stayed in Ban Sato village to plot the bomb attack.

Bomb experts said explosives weighing at least 20 kilograms had been put into a gas cylinder buried in the road. The bomb, which was detonated by a battery, was better made than those usually found in the area.

No progress was made by another police squad in the Kapho district of Pattani in their hunt for bombers who killed four policemen near a football field on Saturday. Police yesterday organised funeral ceremonies for their colleagues.

At 12:30 p.m. yesterday a couple who operate a fruit wholesaling business were gunned down in their pick-up truck in Pattani province on their way back home to Yala.

They were identified as Sem Kaewkhongthon, 65, and his wife Pornpen Paolohit, 52. Their 27-year-old son Roongrote Kaewkhongthon was seriously wounded.

Witnesses said they were shot by four men on two motorcycles.

Another shooting attack took place in Narathiwat province about 6 p.m. yesterday.

Coconut wood buyer Somchai Jehha, 41, from Songkhla was killed and local residents Saree Ma, 30, and Hafeesu Yaena, 17, were wounded when two pillion riders repeatedly fired an assault rifle and another gun at their gathering in a coconut plantation.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Syria Thwarts Attempts by Armed Men to Infiltrate Lebanon
[An Nahar] The Syrian army has thwarted attempts by "gunnies" to escape to Leb by land and sea, the Syrian al-Watan newspaper reported Sunday.

The daily said that the Syrian military was making strong efforts to "eradicate terrorist cells" in the country.

The report came a day after the National News Agency said that two badly maimed Syrians crossed into northern Leb from the Syrian village of Tal Kalakh.

NNA said the two men were found on a bank of Nahr al-Kabeer in the border area of Bukayaa, suffering from bruises and wounds.

The agency said that they were taken to a hospital in the town of Qbayyat and placed under police guard. Authorities will continue their investigations into the incident, it added.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian troops, tanks enter Homs, Tafas
[Al Jazeera] Syrian troops backed by tanks have entered residential areas in the country's third largest city, Homs, and Tafas, a town in the south, activists say.

The forces reportedly entered the Bab Sabaa and Bab Amr neighbourhoods in Homs in the early hours of Sunday amid the sound of gunfire.

A 12-year-old child was killed, according to rights groups, but Al Jizz could not independently verify the report.

Residents told Rooters news agency that at least eight tanks moved into Tafas, near the southern flashpoint city of Deraa, around 6am. Gunfire was heard and army and security forces broke into houses to arrest youths, they said.

Thousands of villagers from the rural Hauran Plain converged on Tafas on Friday and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud demanding the overthrow of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad.
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...

The army intensified its presence across the Hauran region, having partly pulled out of Deraa this week and redeployed in nearby rural towns, witnesses said.

Protesters have been prevented from entering Deraa, which remains surrounded by tanks, even after troops withdrew from the city following an 10-day siege. Activists say dozens of people were killed during days of "indiscriminate" shelling of the city.

Online activists said around 30 tanks remained inside the coastal city of Baniyas on Sunday, a day after security forces conducted a raid there.

They said 250 people had been jugged.

A Syrian rights campaigner told the AFP news agency that security forces killed four women who were among about 150 people demonstrating on the main coastal highway from Marqab village, near Baniyas, calling for the release of jugged people.

"Members of the security forces asked them to leave and, when they refused to do so, they opened fire killing three of them and wounding five others who were hospitalised," the activist said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea...
in the city of Deir El-Zour, demonstrators have torn down a golden statue of President Assad's elder brother, Basil, who had been the presumed heir to Hafez Assad.
Posted by: Fred || 05/09/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
53[untagged]
3Govt of Pakistan
3al-Qaeda
2Govt of Syria
2Global Jihad
2Hezbollah
1Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2011-05-09
  Syrian troops, tanks enter Homs, Tafas
Sun 2011-05-08
  Gunfire disrupts pro-Osama rally
Sat 2011-05-07
  Drones kill 17 in North Waziristan
Fri 2011-05-06
  Fidel, Meshaal criticise way Osama was killed
Thu 2011-05-05
  Pakistan warns US not to stage more raids
Wed 2011-05-04
  No release of Bin Laden death pic
Tue 2011-05-03
  US: Pak Compound was Built Specifically for Bin Laden
Mon 2011-05-02
  Osama bin Laden sleeps widda fishes
Sun 2011-05-01
  Osama bin Laden dead
Sat 2011-04-30
  Saif al-Arab Gadhafi Reported Titzup
Fri 2011-04-29
  Blast kills 14 in Marrakesh; suicide bomber suspected
Thu 2011-04-28
  Some Syrian military units appear to be fighting each other.
Wed 2011-04-27
  Yemen's Ruling Party and Opposition To Sign Deal in Riyadh soon
Tue 2011-04-26
  NATO air strike pounds Gaddafi compound
Mon 2011-04-25
   470 inmates escape Kandahar jug

Better than the average link...



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