A man claiming to be Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said by telephone a report he had been captured in Afghanistan was untrue and he vowed to fight on against Afghan and foreign troops. The man telephoned a Reuters reporter late on Friday, hours after the BBC reported the capture of Dadullah, one of the Taliban's top commanders, after heavy clashes in the southern province of Kandahar.
"I am Mullah Dadullah. The reports about my arrest are not only false but a pack of blatant lies," said the man, who sounded like Dadullah. "The Americans and their slaves are trying to boost the morale of their troops by spreading false rumours," the man said. The Taliban refer to the Afghan government as slaves of the United States.
The one-legged and half-brained Dadullah is a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council and is regarded as close to the fugitive top leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. In the past there have been several erroneous reports that he had been captured or surrounded.
The governor of Kandahar province, Assadullah Khalid, told a news conference on Friday that three senior Taliban members had been captured in fighting this week but he declined to identify them or say if Dadullah was among them.
The man claiming to be Dadullah said the Taliban's jihad, or holy war, would continue and he dismissed the report that three senior Taliban had been captured. "I am conducting jihad with other Taliban mujahideen (holy warriors) for the liberation of my country from the occupying infidels," he said, referring to U.S. and other foreign troops. "Jihad will continue against the infidels and their agents."
The man declined to say where he was speaking from, only saying he did not stay in any one place for long. "No senior Taliban leaders were arrested in southern Afghanistan. If anyone was arrested, they might be ordinary Taliban," he said. "Taliban mujahideen are strong and they have made it difficult for the infidels to stay in Afghanistan," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 03:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"No senior Taliban leaders were arrested in southern Afghanistan. If anyone was arrested, they might be ordinary Taliban," he said.
"Whereas I am an extraordinary coward Taliban. See how I bravely call you on the telephone! Neener-neener!"
"Taliban mujahideen are strong and they have made it difficult for the infidels to stay in Afghanistan," he said."
"I would tell you to your face, but that is not convenient at this time so it is clearly not God's will."
#6
The reports of my arrest have been greatly exaggerated...
Posted by: Mark Twain ||
05/20/2006 10:40 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Hello, Mama! Mama? It's your son. Your son Irving. Irving Dadullah. Can you hear me Mama? Yes, it's me. Yes, I know I never call, I never write, but that's why I'm calling. Yes I'm sorry to hear about Mrs. Ishtar's liver, but I don't want to talk about her surgery right now. I'm kind of in a hurry. No. No. Of course I know Mrs. Ishtar, but I'm kind of busy right now, I don't think I've met her daughter. Yes, I'm sure she has a nice personality. Mama, I'm in another country, I can't fly back home just because you lined up a date for me. No, Mama. No, I'm not gay, already. You would be the first to know if I was gay, and I'm not, so please quit asking. (Sigh). What? Oh, yes, Mama. Things have been hard at work recently. Yes, I know I should have stayed at home and been a tailor like Papa, but you know how it is. Mama, did you hear that they were saying they had caught me? Well, they didn't. What? No, I'm not calling from jail. DO NOT pawn your wedding ring. Yes. Yes. No. I don't mean to drive you to an early grave. Mama, It's not my fault that the Infidels keep winning, but you just can't get good help these days. What? Oh. Goodbye Mama. Take care of your hemorrhoids like the doctor said. Goodbye. Right. Okay, goodbye. Uh-huh. Mama, there's someone who wants to use the phone so I have to go now. Uh-huh. Yes. No. Please stop telling people that you think I'm gay. I'm not gay. No. Yes. Yes, Mama. Goodbye Mama. (Sigh). Look, I think there is something wrong with the phone, I can't hear you so well, so I'd better hang up. No, don't call back. I'll try to call next week. Really, I promise. So goodbye. Uh-huh. Goodbye. Yes. Bye-bye. Yes. Kisses."
Afghan security forces have captured three Taliban commanders in a week of clashes that killed about 100 people, officials said overnight. But they did not confirm a BBC report that feared Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah had been caught. An Afghan general said a wounded Taliban prisoner was suspected to be Dadullah. About 100 people were killed in violence that began on Wednesday. It included a large attack on a town in the southern province of Helmand and two suicide blasts elsewhere.
Pak Daily Times puts the corpse count at 200. I can live with that.
There was also heavy fighting in the neighbouring province of Kandahar, in the Panjwai district 25 km (16 miles) west of the provincial capital.
Maybe that's where the other hundred dropped.
The province's governor told a news conference three senior Taliban members had been caught in the Kandahar fighting but he declined to identify them or say if Dadullah was among them. "We've arrested three high-ranking Taliban, members of their leadership council," said the governor, Assadullah Khalid.
Well, how about some other names, then?
The one-legged Dadullah is a member of the Taliban's 10-man leadership council and is regarded as close to fugitive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. His capture would be a major coup for U.S. and NATO forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai, who came to power after the Taliban were overthrown in late 2001. There have been several erroneous reports that he had captured or surrounded in the past.
Most of them are archived here.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks on foreign and government forces in recent months as thousands more NATO peacekeepers arrive in the country.
They're hoping the NATO troops aren't as good as the Americans...
Foreign commanders say the Taliban want to sap domestic support for the deployments, which will push the number of foreign troops to nearly 40,000, the most since 2001. The fighting this week was some of the heaviest since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
It wasn't, however, the most successful. Well, maybe it was, but that's only because they have an unbroken string of abject failures. What's the Pashto word for "looooooooser"?
Khalid said dozens of insurgents, including some foreigners, had been killed in the Kandahar clashes. Many Taliban had been wounded and dozens captured, he said. The BBC said Mullah Dadullah was captured by international troops near Kandahar. Foreign military officials said they could not confirm the report. General Rahmatullah Raufi, Afghan army commander in the south, said a seriously wounded one-legged man had been caught.
Oh, well then, it's probably him.
"We can't say for sure it is Mullah Dadullah. Mullah Dadullah has only one leg and this guy has only one leg, but we suspect it's him," Raufi told Reuters.
I suspect it's a much-feared local commander named Mullah Stumpi.
A Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that Dadullah had not been captured. He said he had spoken to Dadullah by radio on Friday.
That means nothing, either. The Chechens spoke to Khattab by radio a day or two after he was dead. Afghan Islamic Press never has been the most reliable of sources.
Taliban stormed Mosa Qala town in Helmand province on Wednesday evening and fighting raged until Thursday. Thirteen policemen and some 50 insurgents were killed, said Helmand's deputy governor, Amir Mohammad Akhundzada. Forces scoured the area on Friday, hunting down insurgents, he said.
Notice they didn't attack the army. Officer Friendly's not trained as a soldier, so the odds are a little more even.
Afghanistan and the United States say the Taliban benefit from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the lawless border.
No! Reeeeeeally?
Pakistan, fighting Taliban and al Qaeda militants in its tribal border lands, rejected a fresh accusation by Karzai that Pakistan was supporting the Taliban.
Pakistan not only has a problem with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, but all of the fingers of both hands being uncertain about the others.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A very important Taliban commander was captured during two days of fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan that has left nearly 200 rebels dead, officials said Friday. The identity of the man caught in Kandahar province could not be released on security grounds, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said, after reports he was Mullah Dadullah, credited as one of the masterminds of the Taliban insurgency launched nearly five years ago.
I suspect it wasn't him.
The man was badly wounded in a battle in Kandahars Panjwayi fought by Taliban rebels who had come from across Afghanistan, Khalid told reporters. Around 100 were killed, he said, upping a previous figure of 18.
If they came from across Afghanistan, that implies there aren't that many of them in one place. That bit has the odor of rare, aged flounder to it. I'd guess rather that they came swarming across the Pak border, waving AK's and hollering "Allahu Akbar"!
The US-led coalition helping to fight Taliban rebels announced meanwhile that 60 enemy were killed in a separate battle on Wednesday in neighbouring Helmand province. Afghan officials had said about 40 were killed. The new tolls took past 190 the number of insurgents killed in two days of clashes between security forces and Taliban rebels in some of the heaviest fighting since the regime was toppled in 2001 by a US-led invasion. More than 25 Afghan security forces and civilians were also killed in the violence, which included two suicide blasts Thursday that counted a US citizen and an Afghan national among their victims.
Yesterday the "experts" were going on about how precarious the situation in Afghanistan's become due to the Taliban "resurgence." Mullah Dadullah's been replaced by Haqqani, the loser at Shah-i-Kot, so Karzai is in large trouble and Mullah Omar will be warming the Seat of All Power by Christmas.
The figures just don't show it. The number of attacks are up, reflecting the mere availability of cannon fodder and supplies, not a resurgence. The corpse counts say that the Talibs are still fielding warriors, and 1:8 ratios say they aren't even very good ones. Warriors, as I've mentioned a time or two, will lose to disciplined, well-led soldiers 100.00 percent of the time. Individual warriors will beat the crap out of individual soldiers in bar fights most of the time, but discipline and teamwork counter personal bravery and toughness. They've been doing that since the invention of the hoplite, at least. The NATO troops, particularly the Dutchies, aren't Americans, but they're still better than anything the Taliban can field. And the Afghan troops are definitely coming up to snuff; the turbans are directing their attacks against the police, not the army. Barring some unforeseen catastrophe, when Satan Claus brings Mullah Omar his presents this year it'll be in Quetta.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
One other factor that experts seem completely oblivious to is that you can't separate developments between Afghanistan and Pakistan, particularly with much of the border existing only as a legal fiction. Attacks are up in Afghanistan largely because the assembled Bad Guys (Haqqani, Mullah Omar, Tahir Yuldashev, et al.) in Waziristan and the rest of the NWFP and FATA have finally gotten a clue and started actively seizing territory from the Pakistani government. That gives them a secure place to recruit, train, regroup, and formulate new attacks as they go about beating their lives and plotting world domination, hence the uptick in cannon fodder.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 0:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Add to that, one reason why there are more firefights is that the NATO forces (including ours) are taking the fight to the Taliban. The press sees a fight and thinks, 'Taliban resurgence', when what really happened is 'NATO intel, insertion, patrol, and whack the Taliban'. Even the Afghan army and police are getting better at this, and they're doing the same thing.
We'll take 8:1 ratios (20:1 is better). At some point potential Taliban recruits are going to start wondering if it isn't better to study auto mechanics.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/20/2006 0:59 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Bill Roggio is reporting here that: The fighting in Musa Qala in Helmand province is a bonafide major Taliban attack. The Associated Press reports an "estimated 300-400 militants with assault rifles and machine guns attacked a police and government headquarters" in Musa Qala.
#5
It's accommodating of them to bunch up. The figures reported over the last few days show this to be a major mistake, but that's what happens when experience is getting bumped off - harsh lessons must be relearned.
#6
Warrior doees n ot automatically imply poor tactics and indiscipline: the Mongols had good tactics and strong siscipline.
On the opposite sense you have armies where discipline is strong but everything goes top down making them inflexible and unable to adapt to reality on the ground and to seize opportunities (Red Army), units are unable to coordinate (Arab armies, Google for the clsssic "Why Arabs lose wars"). See also what happenned to the British in Issandwhana (where a quertermaster refused tos supply ammo because: "it belonged to another unit") as an example of soldier culture gone nuts
Now the real deadly combination is when you get a warrior impetus and initiative with the dedication to training and discipline of the soldier.
This is a significant milestone in the Afghan War. Tonight al-Jezeera's Jim al-Ehrer Report will scroll pictures of the 200 dead jihidis with their names and home villages at the end of his broadcast in honor of these fallen heros.
Analysts question how long a country of Afghanistan's size can sustain losses fo this magnitude. Soon Gold Crescent Mothers will be protesting at Friday prayer meetings at Kabul's main mosque. Afghan will is sure to collapse soon as more and more Afghans turn on Mullah "Chimpy Cyclops" Omar.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2006 10:35 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Another shining example that Afghanistan is not the center of gravity to the AQ/Taliban. As they move their training and recruiting base out deeper into PAK. I suspect it wont be long before the only news of fighting is raids from cross border, if we are not already there. For us to end this war and not end up chasing them from country to country we must deal with Iran and the Soddi's. We must take the fight to flag pole and stop wrestling with fire bases.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/20/2006 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#12
3dc quote: The Associated Press reports an "estimated 300-400 militants with assault rifles and machine guns attacked a police and government headquarters" in Musa Qala.
These are NVA battalion-sized units. I'm impressed. Iraqi guerrillas can't mount attacks of this size.
#13
eniac: It's accommodating of them to bunch up. The figures reported over the last few days show this to be a major mistake, but that's what happens when experience is getting bumped off - harsh lessons must be relearned.
We don't know that they're bunching up. But they are massing. And it's not a mistake - it's a necessity if they want to kill large numbers of anti-Taliban personnel. Sending ten guys against a fortified position isn't going to do much. Why do they need so many men? It's simple math - 400 guns will usually win out over 20 guns. The trick is to get out of dodge before coalition air support arrives. If they're smart, they'll learn to time these attacks with a stopwatch. If it hasn't succeeded by a set time, they break it off and skedaddle. The Taliban have two big disadvantages compared to the NVA, though - the lack of triple canopy jungle (to hide their retreat) and smart bombs.
#14
These are NVA battalion-sized units. I'm impressed. Iraqi guerrillas can't mount attacks of this size.
They infiltrated from just over the Pak border. I'd be much more impressed if the attack was further north. Of course the insurgents in Iraq can't operate as openly in Syria and Iran as the Taliban can in Pakland. If they could, or if the Saudis providing sanctuary, we'd be seeing bigger attacks in Iraq.
As 49pan points out, the war just drags on until we can destroy the enemy center of gravity in Pakistan. The West will tire. Eye-rolling, spittle spewing fanatics will just keep on keeping on.
Stopping short of confirming or rejecting the arrest of top Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah, a senior provincial official said several Taliban had been arrested during the two days of clashes in Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province last week. Asadullah Khalid, Governor of the Kandahar province, where the 'senior commanders' and other Taliban fighters are believed to be arrested, said three senior commanders were among the militants captured in operation in the Panjwai district of the province.
Speaking at an urgently-called news conference held after the news of Dadullah's arrest spread like jungle fire in Kabul, Khalid said three senior leaders were among the detainees. However, he said their names could not be disclosed for security reasons at the moment. The governor said besides the arrest, several local and foreign Taliban militants had been gunned down in the operations. The previous two days were the bloodiest since the ouster of Taliban in 2001.
Fierce battle was seen in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in which, according to official figures, 72 people, including 58 Taliban, 13 Afghan policemen and one Canadian soldier were killed. Separately, two suicide blasts were carried out in southern Ghazni and western Herat provinces, in which a US and an Afghan national was killed while another US soldier suffered minor injuries.
Afghanistan's southern provinces - Helmand, Kandahar, Ghazni - are in the grip of Taliban-related violence, including suicide attacks, roadside explosions, armed attacks on government and coalition forces and targeted killing of teachers, doctors, NGO officials and pro-government ulema (religious scholars). In the year 2006, more than 20 suicide attacks have so far been registered in the three southern provinces and the central capital Kabul. Security situation in the southern parts of Afghanistan has deteriorated ahead of the NATO expansion to those areas to replace the US forces. The United States had announced withdrawal of some 2,500 of its forces a few months back. The US forces, who were leading the anti-insurgency mission in south, had handed over command to Canadian forces in Kandahar, while British troops replaced them in the neighbouring Helmand province. According to the plan, Dutch forces are scheduled to take charge of security in Uruzgan province, abutting Helmand and Kandahar.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You're right: we don't have him. Ignore the screams from tent 374.
As many as six Taliban militants have been killed in a clash in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Friday, said a provincial spokesman. Mohiuddin, spokesman for the Helmand provincial government, said the police raided in area in the Kajakee districts following intelligence reports that some insurgents were holding a meeting there. A clash erupted and in exchange of fire that continued for more than an hour, six militants were killed when one of their colleague was captured alive, said the spokesman, who declined to reveal identity of the arrested Talibans. However, the government claim was refuted by Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, who said no such clash was taken place in the area. Besides clashing with each other with arms, Afghan government and Taliban are also involved in a media war. Both sides hide the losses they suffer and claim of inflicting heavy losses on the other side in the media.
Earlier in the day, a senior military officer stirred the media by saying that they had arrested a senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah during an operation in the Kandahar province. However, his claim was neither confirmed nor rejected by governor of the province who addressed an emergency news conference hours after the rumours of Dadullah's arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
It's Debka reporting so salt to taste.
Three suicide bombers were reportedly assigned to arrive at the Le Meridien Chari hotel in NDjamena later Saturday where the ambassador is invited to an event. Chad intelligence, helped by foreign agents, are seeking the three bombers who are expected at the hotel with identity cars in the names of Samuel Gruben, Charles Mahashiri and Behamin Shaster.
DEBKAfiles sources report that Irans Revolutionary Guards are suspected of complicity.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 252 reported May 5 that Revolutionary Guards units had landed in Khartoum in transit for Darfur and groups of Iranian agents had been assigned on spying missions in Chad. The units arrived in Sudan with Lt.-Col Asghar Mobarake and Hojat-Ol Eslam Mostafa Ramazani, head of the RG intelligence division.
A man wanted for involvement in bombings of tourist resorts in Sinai killed himself by accident on Friday while trying to attack police who were pursuing him, security sources said. Arafat Ali, 28, was blown up by an explosive device which he had tried to throw at policemen who had encircled him in Rafah, a town which is straddles Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.
The sources said he was second in command of a group called Tawhid wal Jihad, which the authorities say has carried out a series of attacks in Sinai since October 2004. They describe it as a group of Bedouin from the Sinai peninsula with militant Islamist views. The police say they killed the group's leader earlier this month. The group's last attack was last month in Dahab. Nineteen people were killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Reminds me of an incident a US soldier told me about a would-be bomber. This soldier was manning a check-point in Iraq when a man aproached on foot. He was fumbling with something in his pants and a few seconds later he blew up. He had a grenade in his pants, pulled the pin, and dropped the grenade in his pants. Coun't happen to a nicer guy.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/20/2006 16:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Is that a grenade in your pants or are you just happy to....oops, guess it WAS a grenade
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/20/2006 17:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Arafat "Butterfingers" Ali, 28, was blown up by an explosive device which he had tried to throw at policemen who had encircled him in Rafah...
The Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said Yusuf Kadir Tohti and Abdulkadir Sidik went missing in Kazakhstan after being released from a pretrial detention center, where they had been held on accusation of possessing false passports and information of "an extremist character."
"Allegedly, they were secretly deported to China in violation of the non-refoulement principle," the group said in a statement. "At present no information is available as to their whereabouts, and they might have been secretly returned to China."
The two men's extradition have reportedly been requested by China, the group said.
A police officer in the Kazakh capital Almaty, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Friday that the two Uighurs were detained and then "voluntarily" bought air tickets and left for China last week.
The watchdog said there had been other cases of Uighurs disappearing in Kazakhstan, the AP reports.
China has long claimed that ethnic Uighurs militants are leading a violent Islamic separatist movement in northwestern China, and has repeatedly requested extradition of alleged Uighur separatists from neighboring ex-Soviet nations.
The Uighurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims with a language and culture distinct from the majority Chinese.
Criminal forces in Russia and abroad were behind Wednesday's attack that killed a senior local official and six others in the North Caucasus area of Ingushetia, a regional leader said on Thursday.
"Those forces can't reconcile themselves with the fact that life is getting better here and the social and economic situation is stabilizing," Ingushetia's President Murat Zyazikov said, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.
"But no one will be able to impose their ideology on us," Zyazikov added.
Law enforcement agencies have begun an investigation into the attack.
Dzhabrail Kostoyev, deputy head of the Ingushetia interior ministry, was killed along with his driver and bodyguard when the assailant drove his car into a police convoy and detonated a bomb.
The bombing left four other civilians dead, all of them in a car that crashed into Kostoyev's vehicle after the explosion.
Last year, attempts were made on the life of Kostoyev, who was head of the Nazran police department at the time.
The department building was fired upon by a mortar in February. One shell hit Kostoyev's office room, which was unoccupied at thetime. In August, Kostoyev was seriously injured by a roadside explosive device while traveling in his car.
Law enforcement officials said the assassination might have been organized by Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
hey let's get a clue, too someone around him.Just too many ppl know where his office was in the building and his schedule.
Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa.
Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.
Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, who lives in Apt. 302 in The Point apartments, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20 Monticello Gardens, Apt. 304-A, each were charged with trespassing on school property. Both remained in Orient Road Jail on Friday evening. Bail for each was set at $250.
"Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school," said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.
"They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there," Callaway said.
"We're not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was," Callaway said. "We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat."
While on the bus, the men laughed and spoke in Arabic, Callaway said.
Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the men likely meant no harm and that because "they were from Saudi Arabia, that escalated the situation."
He blamed the incident on cultural differences.
"They didn't differentiate between a school bus and public transportation," he said.
The bus picked up the students and the men at about 7 a.m. Friday at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street, deputies said.
The bus driver, a substitute, reached her supervisors by telephone. They relayed the information to Wharton High resource Deputy Mike Eastman, who met the bus when it arrived at school at about 7:30 a.m., and detained the men.
The sheriff's Homeland Security Division, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI all were notified.
Almanajam and Alsidran at first told deputies they were from Morocco, but later admitted being from Saudi Arabia, deputies said. They said they were enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida.
Both arrived in the United States about six months ago and have student visas that require them to be enrolled at the English Language Institute, Callaway said.
Authorities searched the apartments of the two men and found nothing of concern, he said.
Misha says the local FoxNews reports the "authorities" have considered their plan to release these guys on $250 bail right away and want to take a closer look at them.
#6
First order of business, make sure they weren't simply casing out the route, or timing the trip! They were smart enough to leave their cameras behind to 'avoid' suspicion!
#7
Sounds like stupidity all around in this episode. "Casing" is a fairly sophisticated term to describe this activity. The "substitute" bus driver also gets quizzed about this, but not knowing the territory, what else does he or she do when two "youths" hop aboard - who's to say they're not the new "exchange" students?
Probably nothing here, but again, what exactly are they doing in the country anyway?
#12
Yeah, why would they lie about being Saudis?
Why couldn't they get their story straight about why they were going to a high school?
Something stinks here.
#13
My first question is why did the driver let then on ? This could have been a dry run/rehearsal or elictation (wrong people in the wrong place gathering info) - both pre-attack indicators. If these guys are dirty (I'm betting yes) they may have done loads of surveilance on various buses, picked this route and time for tactical advantages, and were in the final stages of the attack plan. They needed to know if there was security on the bus and the only way is to catch a lift and see what happens. Or these two guys could be pawns who were told to do what they did and nothing else ( ow risk to the group with a dead-end cut-out). Unfortunately, if this was pre-op activity, the bad guys learned that anyone can get on a school bus. The trick is to not let them on in the first place.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
05/20/2006 23:44 Comments ||
Top||
Andersen Air Force Base & Apra Harbor, Guam
Balad Air Base/Camp Anaconda, Iraq
Bezmer Air Base, Bulgaria
Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory
Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba
Manas Air Base, Kirgizstan
#4
I would have to make an odd addition to the foreign bases: San Diego. This is because it and Bremerton, Washington are the only two naval bases the US has that are capable of major repairs and all the support missions of the US Navy, Pacific Fleet.
This remains a very weak part of our Pacific operations, thus making these two, and especially San Diego, critical.
In the future, I suggest that Alaska may have the next major deep-water port facility for Pacific support, if either of these two bases become unsatisfactory.
Currently being realigned for Minuteman confinement , so that the "Unregistered Aliens" will have unfettered acces to your Social Security, School taxes and hospital zone taxes.
#9
Nah ... if the Minutemen are sent to Bliss it'll be so they can pick up on the training schools there, including the Mil Intel UAV recon group. They need a job anyway since Aviation is owning UAVs now.
#10
9-11 > America's enemies told America that America either unilater and unconditionally accepts Socialism and SOcialist OWG/World Order, or Amer will be destroyed, which Dubya rightly re-interpreeeeted as America. solely or jointly wid our Allies, either de facto rules the world, or America[West] will be destroyed. Hey, America enemies INSIST WE + WEST RULE THE WORLD, which is a major reason the Lefties wants America post-WOT to voluntarily give up its newfound empire, or be forcibly made to by "the World Community", besides our sovereignty, freedoms, independence, and control of our own Govt. + domestic affairs/endowments, ala "America must obey the world community/UNO". O'REILLY > ULTRA/FAR LEFT = CONTROL DEM PARTY = AMERICA MUST BE ANTI-SOVEREIGN AND LOCALLY/DOMESTICALLY GOVERNED BY A COALITION OF WORLD STATES, WHERE AMERICA IS JUST ONE STATE + AGENDA AMONGST MANY. More popularly known as COMMUNISM, which the chicken little Left is too chicken andor PC to say openly - Its NOT SOCIALISM or COMMUNISM but SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
"ANTI-FASCISM", i.e.anti-Rightist, National SOCIALISM, sub i.e. Left > America is a [LEFT]SOCIALIST country, whether Americans want it or not, like it or not, know it or not, and its not the Left's or Govt's fault they didn't tell you.
#11
Guam > KOREA, where Truman secretly expedited and ordered delivery of approxi several dozen nuclear bombs + additional bombers in case of need against China; and CUBA - ditto nuclear-armed bombers + subs against USSR. What is not well--known that is during KOREA the USAF sent survey teams to the Northern Marianas islands of TINIAN and SIAPAN, espec TINIAN, in case their WW2 airfields + harbors would be needed in support of a nuclear campaign against China. During CUBA + Vietnam, the USDOD gave thought to basing IRBM missle units on Guam's Northwest airfield + Northern Marianas areas, but didn't go through with it.
MIRANSHAH: Suspected insurgents on Friday shot dead a senior pro-government tribal chief in the Khaddi area of Miranshah in North Waziristan. According to sources, Tooti Gul, leader of the 30,000-strong Dawar tribe in Darpakhel district, had been making his way to Bannu from Miranshah by car when he was forcibly dragged from the vehicle by unidentified assailants. They left behind his driver and car. Discovering Gul's body three hours later, paramilitary force personnel took it to Esha check post where it was identified and handed over to family members. Gul's funeral prayers will be held today (Saturday) at Eidgah Darpakhel. In a separate incident, schoolteacher Abdul Ali was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Kotki.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
QUETTA: Suspected tribal militants blew up two state-owned gas pipelines on Friday in Balochistan, disrupting supplies but causing no casualties, a company official said. No one claimed responsibility for the separate pre-dawn attacks in Sui, 350 kilometres east of Quetta, in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province. Tariq Zubairi, a spokesman for the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Ltd, said engineers had started repair work. He refused to speculate on who was behind the bombings, but authorities have blamed supporters of Nawab Akbar Bugti for similar attacks against pipelines and security forces. "We only know that bombs were used to blow up the pipelines," he said. The latest attack came a day after a bomb damaged a pipeline in Sui and killed a 7-year-old girl. It also came a day after dozens of alleged supporters of Bugti laid down arms after talks with pro-government tribal elders.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Indian troops shot dead three suspected Islamic militants along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the army said Friday. "The three were killed on Thursday evening when they refused to surrender and opened fire after infiltrating into our territory," spokesman Colonel Vijay Kumar Batra told AFP.
He said the three, armed with assault rifles, entered the northern Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir from the Pakistani zone of the Himalayan region. The alleged infiltration attempt came ahead of a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kashmiri politicians on May 24 and 25 in Srinagar aimed at seeking peace in the insurgency-racked region.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
ABBOTTABAD: Around 24 people were reportedly killed and dozens others injured when Madakhel tribesmen on Friday attacked the Chamgah and Dohgah villages in Hazara. Allegedly, the tribesmen used heavy weapons and set Chamgah and Dogah on fire. Frontier Constabulary personnel were called to reinforce the Levies in calming the area.
Kala Dhaka Administrator Abdul Latif said the inter-tribal fight took place over the ownership of the burnt villages. "Earlier, both parties had reached an agreement according to Shariah rules and Mera Madakhel was recognised as having a legitimate claim," he said. However, Chamgah and Dogah residents refused to hand over the land upon which Madakhel tribesmen attacked them.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
In a watershed day in Iraqi history, the country's Parliament today approved 39 ministers and state secretaries that form the elected, representative government.
The Parliament confirmed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's choices for the Iraqi national unity government. The 37-member Cabinet contains representatives from all major parties and all major ethnic and secular groups.
Following the vote, the ministers took their oath of office during a session broadcast throughout Iraq. The Parliament met at the Baghdad convention center.
The vote followed months of political discussions following the Dec. 15, 2005, national elections. Still, parties have not agreed on ministers of defense, minister interior and national security.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite Arab, will serve as acting interior minister, whose responsibilities include the police in Iraq. Al-Maliki also appointed Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zaubai, a Sunni Arab, as interim defense minister. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, will be acting state secretary for national security.
With the approval, the constitution the Iraqi people approved Oct. 15, 2005, takes full effect. "Today, the Iraqis have established complete control over their nation," said Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the deputy chief of staff for strategic effects for Multinational Force Iraq.
"They are now in the lead and the U.S. government is just in support of that," he said. "They are the authoritative decision-making body in this country and anything we do from here on, we will have to do in consultation with the legitimate government authority."
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said he is pleased the Iraqis now have a democratically elected government. The embassy looks forward to working with the new ministers to build a free and secure Iraq, he said. He anticipates the new government will have an effect on the number of coalition troops in the country, but feels it is too early to say.
"The current size of our forces, the composition of our forces, the current missions of our forces are not ends in themselves for us," Khalilzad said during a news conference at the Ocean Cliffs press center. "Iraqi self-reliance and increasing security for Iraqis is."
Khalilzad said that with the political changes, especially the Iraqi emphasis on unity and reconciliation, the security situation in the country will improve. He said effective ministers will help breed the atmosphere that will allow the United States and other coalition nations to draw down their troop numbers.
The ambassador hastened to add he believed that with the political changes taking place - with the emphasis on unity - the United States will only draw down troop numbers if conditions on the ground warrant it.
Al-Maliki told Parliament that he would make restoring stability and security top priorities. He stressed the importance of capable and loyal military and police forces.
He said he wants to set an "objective timetable" for withdrawal of coalition forces after Iraqi forces develop the capabilities to maintain order in the country. He said he will stress security in the greater Baghdad area and work to increase the amount of electricity available in the capital.
The Cabinet includes three women: Human Rights Minister Wejdan Mikhail, State Secretary for Women's Rights Faten Abdelrahmane Mahmoud, and Environment Minister Narmine Othman.
A bomb killed at least 10 people in east Baghdad among a crowd of poor Shi'ite labourers gathering for work on Saturday, hours before Iraq's parliament prepared to confirm a new, national unity government in office.
Initial casualty reports from police and medical sources said at least 28 others were wounded. The attack in the Sadr City neighborhood was typical of bombings by minority Sunni Islamist groups like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq.
Witnesses and police said the bomb appeared to have been planted in a spot where the attackers knew large crowds of men would gather, hoping to be hired for a day's casual labor. Such spots have been targeted in the past.
Parliament is due to sit at 11 a.m. (0700 GMT) to approve a government that may hold full sovereign powers for the four-year term of the legislature, ending months of inertia that have seen sectarian bloodshed mount.
Launching a crucial new phase in the U.S.-backed project to install democracy, Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki struck a basic deal on Friday that left the key posts of interior and defense minister vacant, aides and top negotiators said.
There may be some fine-tuning at the last minute but, with jobs for nearly all parliamentary groups barring small Shi'ite and Sunni parties that refused to join, parliamentary approval for Maliki's ministers is likely to be a formality.
The government can be sure of an enthusiastic welcome in Washington, where frustration with Iraqis' sectarian and ethnic haggling has grown over the five months since an election hailed as a final step from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship to democracy.
"For the first time, Sunnis, Kurds and Shias participate with a four-year mandate," a senior U.S. official said in Washington. "This is an opportunity to make some changes."
For President George W. Bush, who launched the invasion in 2003 in the name of Iraqi freedom and ending a perceived threat from Saddam, stability is key to bringing home 130,000 American troops -- a move that might stem his falling approval ratings.
Iraqis too, who turned out in large numbers across all the rival communities, have been growing impatient for a leadership that can address their massive problems -- security certainly, but also a devastated economy and poor basic public services.
Under a constitutional timetable, Maliki's 30 days to form a government end on Monday. Despite confident assertions last month that he would need only a week or two, wrangling among and within Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs came close to thwarting him, as it did his ally and predecessor Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Still, the key security posts at interior and defense have eluded his dealmaking skills, even though all parties are agreed that the jobs should go to a Shi'ite and Sunni respectively.
If no 11th-hour solution is found before the 275 members of the Council of Representatives vote in the fortified Green Zone on Saturday, Maliki will occupy the interior ministry for a week and Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi will run defense.
Complaints among Saddam's once dominant Sunni minority that the Shi'ite majority brought to power by the U.S. invasion was abusing its control of the interior ministry by running death squads within the police focused attention on the interior post.
An upsurge in sectarian killings, some carried out by men in uniform, after February's bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine has prompted growing alarm about the threat of civil war.
Hundreds of people are being killed every month in Baghdad alone and tens of thousands have fled their homes. Some fear the communal violence may have gone too far to reverse.
Maliki, a tough-talking defender of Shi'ite interests since his return from exile in 2003, has won praise from Sunnis for his willingness to seek consensus. But many question whether a government cobbled together according to religious and ethnic labeling can overcome centrifugal forces tearing Iraq apart.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Eighteen Iraqis were injured Friday in acts of violence in different areas of the capital, Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said. The sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen attacked 10 passengers abroad a bus in the Abu Ghraib district today, including three security men in civilian clothes and seven citizens. All 10 were severely injured and the militants escaped the scene, the sources said. And in New Baghdad district, south eastern Baghdad, a bomb planted near one of the walls of the home of an Iraqi police officer blew up at 5:00 a.m. (local time) this morning. Five of his family members were wounded, and the identity of the officer was not disclosed.
In Qahtan Square in Yarmouk district, three Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a bomb exploded as three Iraqi Army patrol vehicles were passing by. One of the vehicles was damaged in the explosion. Furthermore, A booby-trapped car exploded in Al-Ameen district, southern Baghdad, but no injuries or damages were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A diplomat of the United Arab Emirates who was kidnapped several days was set free and was reported en route home, a security source said on Friday. - The source told KUNA that the diplomat, Naji Al-Nuaimi, was freed, three days after being taken hostage, adding that he departed Baghdad International Airport aboard a plane flying to the UAE.
Gunmen of a shadowy group, calling themselves "the flag of Islam," had taken the diplomatic representative at the UAE embassy as hostage while he was visiting the UAE cultural attache at his office in the district of Al-Mansour in the capital. Iraqi Minister of National Security Abdel Karim Al-Enezi had declared that the security authorities "obtained information that would facilitate the release of the UAE diplomat," and the government security forces exerted intensive efforts to track down the hideout where he was being held.
UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nuhyan had told his Iraqi counterpart, Hushyar Zebari, that the abduction of the diplomat would not deter Abu Dhabi from pursuing support for the Iraqi people, and the latter stated that the government had taken all necessary procedures and measures to secure safe release of the diplomat. The Iraqi Government has also rallied support of influential political and religious organizations and groups to help in this "noble mission," he said. The local supreme religious Sunnite Muslim authority had also appealed to the abductors to let him go.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Three people were killed in Southwest of Baghdad during a gun fight between Iraqi police and unidentified gunmen, said a security source on Friday. The source told the press that gun fire erupted in the Jihad neighborhood south west of Baghdad between security forces and unidentified gunmen in which the US forces were called to assist the Iraqi forces in the fight. The fight ended with the gunmen escaping the scene while two citizens and a policeman were killed, added the security source.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Israel killed a top militant commander and an unidentified Palestinian on Saturday in an airstrike on their car, medics said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the missile strike but would not specify who it targeted. A Palestinian family identified the body of the commander as Mohammed al-Dahdouh, an Islamic Jihad commander. Medics had said earlier that the man belonged to Hamas.
#1
A Palestinian family identified the body of the commander as Mohammed al-Dahdouh, an Islamic Jihad commander. Medics had said earlier that the man belonged to Hamas
#2
If there was ever a time in which Mossad should just go on an utter marathon of playing whack-a-mole with Hamas and Fatah leaders, it is now.
NOT elaborate, high-tech stuff. But down and dirty assassinations that LOOK like they were done by the other side. Make a gang war out of it.
Single gunshots, knife wounds, all sorts of gratuitous injuries that look like the assassin was angry at the target. Leaving testicles in the mouth is a good one.
If you don't want to be too nasty, just pull down their pants and stick something humiliating up their bum. They don't care--it's a message to their friends and family.
You don't want just seething. They do that anyway. You want them to seek revenge. And hopefully to escalate the violence by doing something back that is even more humiliating to the other side.
Keep it at the level of street gangs, for in essence, that is what you are dealing with, here.
The Crips and the Bloods. Hamas and Fatah. The Capone gang and the Moran gang. Much of a muchness. Just give them a reason and they will kill each other.
After they ripped off that 800 grand, Haniyeh got mad. We hit Bruno Tattaglia Tareq Abu Rajab at threee o'clock this morning...
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A bomb blast seriously wounded the Palestinian intelligence chief at his headquarters Saturday, in what security officials called an assassination attempt against a key ally of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A bodyguard was killed and nine other people were wounded in the explosion in an elevator shaft of the heavily guarded compound. There was no claim of responsibility. Maybe a bomb vest with a fish in it will show up...
The attack came at a time of growing friction between Abbas and the Hamas-led government over control of Palestinian security forces. Recent clashes between rival groups of gunmen have deepened tensions. Maybe. We don't know yet...
The intelligence chief, Tareq Abu Rajab, who survived an assassination attempt two years ago, is a top official in Abbas' Fatah movement.
Fatah did not openly accuse the Islamic militant Hamas of being behind the blast, but some Fatah members demanded that Abbas dissolve the Hamas-led government and call early elections. Ya gotta have one of these things every three or four hours. It cleans up all the bad blood...
Abbas called the blast "unfortunate" and said it posed a "grave danger" to the Palestinian Authority. Because...this...is the business...we've CHOSEN...
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas canceled all appointments for Saturday and formed a committee to investigate the attack, said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad. ...and check for sales on mattresses.
"We are asking not to make early judgments, accusations or responses that might lead to tension in the Palestinian streets," said Hamad, in apparent anticipation of Hamas being held responsible. I want no inquiries made. I want no acts of vengance. Yet.
Abu Rajab and six aides and bodyguards got into an elevator and were close to the second floor when the bomb exploded before noon at the intelligence headquarters in northern Gaza City. One of the bodyguards was killed, and Abu Rajan and five others in the elevators were seriously wounded. Three others were also hurt, including a secretary riding in an adjacent elevator, doctors said.
The wounded were driven to nearby Shifa Hospital in cars of the intelligence service. Fellow agents fired in the air from the car windows to clear the way. Several members of a new Hamas militia fired toward the vehicles, possibly because they believed they were coming under attack, witnesses said. ...and that's the only thing they know how to do.
Abu Rajab underwent surgery at Shifa. Gaza doctors said they stopped the bleeding and stabilized him, but decided to send him to an Israeli hospital to try to save his leg. If he loses it, can he become a Mullah?
The explosion caused extensive damage and bomb experts were sent to the scene to investigate. Did you make it?
I didn't make it. Did you make it?
Khaled Abu Hilal, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, initially suggested the blast was set off when one of Abu Rajab's bodyguards inadvertently dropped a hand grenade. But he later said his comment was based on inaccurate information. Oh, I'd be quadruple checking that theory.
neener neener - your bodyguards are so stupid they drop hand granades. And your mother wears army boots underneath her abaya!
The intelligence service said the blast was caused by a bomb and that Abu Rajab was the target of an assassination attempt. Do you think one of us would be stupid enough to drop a grenade?
Do You! Don't answer that...
Some Fatah members demanded that Abbas dissolve the government and call a new election. A group calling itself the Fatah Protection Unit also demanded that Hamas disband its 3,000-strong militia within three days. The militia was deployed earlier this week, despite Abbas' vehement opposition.
If the militia is not removed, "we are ready to deploy our men and our fighters in the streets ... to protect Fatah men and all of Palestinian society," the statement said. We got the politicians and the judges and the cops...
Well, so do they.
Oh...
Last week, Abbas sent Abu Rajab to Jordan to look into Jordanian suspicions that Hamas was trying to smuggle explosives into the kingdom and carry out attacks there. The 2,000-member intelligence service and most members of the security forces are loyal to Abbas. I want you to ask around. Tell 'em your dissatisfied with our family...
Abu Rajab has also been involved in security coordination with the United States and Israel. He was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt two years ago when gunmen fired on his convoy, killing two of his bodyguards. Where? On the causeway?
The Shin Bet security service recently arrested a Palestinian woman for trying to smuggle instructions from the militant Hezbollah organization on how to carry out terrorist attacks.
According to the details of the case, which were released Friday, the woman was detained two weeks ago as she crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan into Israel.
The woman was found to be carrying a "disk on key" portable device containing specifications and instructional material pertaining to the execution of bombings.
The Shin Bet believes that the woman was trying to deliver the information to her son, who lives in the West Bank.
Several similar attempts have been foiled in recent years. In some cases, Israeli Arabs tried to smuggle computer chips into Israel inside ordinary electrical devices and appliances.
There's a new sheriff in this town, and he wears a black hat and bushy beard.
On nearly every major street corner, men in camouflage pants, black T-shirts and matching caps, and beards of varying thickness stand in small groups cradling Kalashnikov assault rifles. There are 3,000 of them, placed by the Hamas-led Interior Ministry to impose order on the Gaza Strip's unruly streets.
"Our main purpose is to back up the Palestinian police in case they are unable to implement their orders," said Abu al-Amin, 44, clutching a two-way radio as he led a patrol of more than a dozen gunmen toward al-Saha Square. "We want stability. We want organized security for our citizens."
The new force's showy deployment this week was the latest sign of the Palestinian Authority's evolution into a government of rival armed camps, a result of the economic hardship and political rivalry sharpening in the Palestinian territories.
Staffed almost entirely by the armed wing of Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, the force did not deploy in the West Bank. It nevertheless is being viewed as a threat by the rest of the Palestinian security services, whose ranks are dominated by supporters of Fatah, the secular party that dominated Palestinian politics until this year. Hamas units and Fatah gunmen exchanged sporadic gunfire for hours before dawn Friday, wounding at least four people.
Even on the quiet Muslim Sabbath, the streets here were alive with talk of an imminent reckoning.
"We don't know what is right and wrong anymore," said a taxi driver who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim, 56, and was huddled with colleagues at a terminal on al-Saha Square. "Every day there is a new event, a new move by the authorities -- one day it's Hamas, the next Fatah. All we feel is confusion."
Gaza's 1.4 million residents have seen more gunmen and less order since last year, when Israel evacuated 8,500 Jewish settlers from the strip along with the soldiers who protected them. Claiming credit for Israel's withdrawal, Hamas won parliamentary elections four months later, ending Fatah's long monopoly on political power in the territories.
The Palestinian security forces now are at the heart of a political battle between Hamas officials and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader, while their chain of command has been severely compromised by partisan loyalties. Abbas has called on Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to disband the new security force.
As president, Abbas is commander in chief of the more than 70,000 members of the various Palestinian security services. But his control over them has come into question since Hamas began running the Palestinian ministries seven weeks ago.
Abbas named Rashid Abu Shabak, a Fatah loyalist, to head the Palestinian police, civil defense and powerful preventative security branch under Hamas's new interior minister, Saed Siyam. Although technically one of Siyam's deputies, Abu Shabak reports directly to Abbas. He also has close ties to Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah member of parliament from the Gaza Strip who helped build the preventative security service more than a decade ago.
Rather than fire Abu Shabak, which could trigger violent reprisals, Siyam created the new force mostly from Hamas's armed wing, the Izzadeen al-Qassam Brigades. The brigades asserted responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel during the most recent Palestinian uprising, although they have largely abided by an informal cease-fire for more than a year.
The new force includes some members of the Popular Resistance Committees, a collection of gunmen from various factions partly responsible for firing rockets into southern Israel. The group's leader, Jamal Abu Samhadanah, was named head of the new security force, even though he has a long affiliation with Fatah.
Abbas, commonly known as Abu Mazen, has called on Hamas to integrate its armed wing into the Palestinian security forces as a step toward pursuing peace negotiations with Israel, which the radical Islamic group does not recognize. Hamas leaders have refused because doing so would undermine Hamas's founding policy of armed conflict with Israel, something it has benefited from politically over the years.
But the stance has also made it difficult for Hamas leaders to move against the young gunmen here who often claim to be acting in resistance to Israel even while engaging in common crime.
Robberies, attacks on government buildings and kidnappings by some of the large clans in the strip have been rising as the economic crisis here deepens. One driver idling at the taxi terminal said members of a Gaza clan kidnapped his son last month, and the police refused to do anything until he bought them 50 bullets for $3 each.
"We need the law to be imposed on the ground," said Abu Mohammed, 50, another driver waiting for work. "We have none now. And where were Abu Mazen's forces before?"
The government salaries many Gazans rely on as their primary income have not been paid in two months, while the U.S. threat of sanctions against banks that transfer money to the Palestinian Authority has made it nearly impossible for Hamas to collect money from the outside.
Early Friday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zouhri was detained briefly at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt attempting to smuggle 640,000 euros -- about $815,000 -- into the strip. Palestinian customs officials confiscated the money, and when Abu Zouhri refused to leave without it, security forces loyal to both Hamas and Abbas rushed to the scene. Abu Zouhri eventually departed, and Abbas called for an investigation.
Many here do not believe another security force, especially one so closely identified with one party, will resolve the mounting civil strife.
On some street corners, members of the new Hamas force stand alongside Palestinian police in blue camouflage, military police in red berets, preventative security troops in green camouflage and the Palestinian National Forces in green khaki uniforms. Mostly, though, they stand alone.
"What's going on now is like a volcano," Abu Ibrahim said as he watched three Hamas gunmen take positions on a traffic island of a downtown avenue. "They want Fatah to get into a civil war because their own political decisions are no good. Look at them. Police should be called and come to help, not deploy like an army."
Across the square, a dozen men in the green baseball caps of Hamas constructed a small stage on the back of a flatbed truck for an increasingly common event. Later in the day, Hamas leaders mounted the stage to ask supporters to give money, jewelry and whatever else of value they could spare to keep the government afloat.
"What will solve the crime problem is a better economy," said Asman Samdooni, 27, a Palestinian policeman. "Just pay us. Then things will change."
Amin, the commander of the small Hamas patrol, said the new force was made up of volunteers. As he and his men moved along the street, young men gathered near to offer their services.
"We support them -- the proud, the pure, the holy warriors," said Mohammed al-Saydi, 50, clutching two plastic grocery bags, as he watched Amin's group pass.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We support them -- the proud, the pure, the holy warriors, I mean, lookat them, they've got automatic weapons, a big bushy beard, and they roll eyes and scowl ferociously. How more holy than that can you get, I ask you?
Either a thinly disguised bribe, or the cost of ammo is high, indicating it's getting scarse.
Interesting, either way.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/20/2006 8:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
On some street corners, members of the new Hamas force stand alongside Palestinian police in blue camouflage, military police in red berets, preventative security troops in green camouflage and the Palestinian National Forces in green khaki uniforms.
No longer Palestinians. From now on: rainbow people.
Four Palestinians were wounded in cashes between Palestinian police and members of the newly-established special force. The Hamas-led interior ministry had deployed its new 3,000-strong force on Wednesday. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the new force is legitimate and will not be disbanded.
If Izzy sez it's legit, then it must be legit.
Eyewitnesses said the clashes took place near the headquarters of the Palestinian police's general command. Police said one of its members was wounded along with an internal security soldier. The clashes came after the two groups paraded through the streets in a show of strength.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
At least seven people, including five Tamil rebels, were killed on Friday in fresh fighting in Northern and Northeastern Sri Lanka. Five members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in a conflict with the breakaway LTTE faction led by Colonel Karuna in Trincomalee in Northeastern Sri Lanka, news agency Press Trust of India reported from capital Colombo. In the Vavuniya region in Northern Sri Lanka, two army soldiers were shot dead by suspected LTTE cadres, the agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/20/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Debka report so salt to taste.
In the past two weeks, Iran has been pumping into Iraq two types of extra-lethal weapons in very large quantities. They have already taken their toll in the shooting down of two military helicopters - one American and one British and an estimated 19 deaths of US military personnel.
DEBKAfiles military and intelligence sources estimate the delivery to Iraqi insurgents as consisting of around 1,000 SA-7 Strela ground-air missiles made in Iran, and a very large quantity of a newly-developed roadside bomb, loaded with compressed gas instead of ball bearings and cartridges, to magnify their blast and explosive power.
The supplies have been distributed across Iraq - Basra and Amara in the south, Baghdad and its environs, Haditha in the west, and Mosul in the north.
The new bombs, developed jointly by Irans Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanese Hizballah, have already gone into service with the Shiite terrorists on the Lebanese border with Israel. Israeli military sources say it is only a matter of time before the deadly roadside bombs, already used in Iraq, will also reach Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In Iraq, the new weaponry has had three major effects:
1. The guerrilla-terrorist groups which received the shoulder-carried, highly mobile Strela missiles have scored three hits in fourteen days. On May 6, they fired a missile from one of Basras crowded alleys and downed a British military helicopter, killing all four military personnel aboard. Sunday, May 14, Iraqi insurgents shot down an American helicopter, killing its two crewmen over Yussifiya, inside the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad.
2. The number of roadside bomb attacks, their precision and lethality is going up all the time. Sunday, May 14, four US soldiers died in these blasts in the western Anbar province and Baghdad, while 2 British soldiers were killed and another injured at the same time near Basra. In seven days, the British force stationed in southern Iraq lost seven men, a record for that space of time in the three-year war. In the first half of May, US troop losses spiraled to 19, most of them the victims of the new roadside bombs.
3. Together with the new Iranian weapons, a new array of Shiite terrorist groups has sprung up and is hitting American and British troops. The coalition has imposed a blackout on this disturbing development.
Until now, the insurgent forces fighting the coalition consisted mostly of Baathists, Islamist and al Qaeda. The only Shiite enemy was the radical Mogtada Sadr and his Mahdi Army. The appearance of the new Shiite insurgents is a dread milestone in the Iraq war, one which has caught US and UK commanders by surprise and unprepared for the steep rise in troop losses.
DEBKAfiles Exclusive Iraq sources offer some information on the new groups. One is located north of Baghdad and calls itself Brigades of the Imam Kazim. Another, called Brigades of Imam Ali, claimed the attack on April 27 in Nasiriya in which one of their new roadside bombs killed two Italian troops. In the Rostumiya region south of Baghdad, a Shiite group called Brigades of the Imam Hadi has begun operating. Our sources report that this group has been firing Katyusha rockets at American bases in the region, similar to the mortar attack directed at a British base in Amara Monday, May 15.
After each attack, these unknown quantities issue bulletins describing their actions, some accompanied by video footage from the scene of action.
The blackout was imposed on the new Shiite groups in the absence of American or British intelligence on who they and their commanders are, how they operate and what makes them tick. Research must start from square one to find out whether they are being controlled from Tehran, some Iraqi Shiite faction or elements which chanced to lay hands on the new-fangled weaponry.
#1
This may not be completely accurate, but most likely this is the case. I agree with what Old Patriot posted here. This is a mess as long as there is no control on inflows from Iran & Syria. Of course, Iran is problem # 1. Has been since'79. There is no point being there unless this is handled as a theatre problem. I have the ugly knawing feeling that Bush/Cheney Inc. think they can use American blood to just safe guard their oil pals and keep the oil flowing. No other objective. Paid help just to keep things bubbling along. Otherwise, you have to get serious and clean out the entire rat's nest.
#2
There is no point being there unless this is handled as a theatre problem.
Agreed, but the problem is whether/when the direct military action gets addressed at this level. The Bush administration has in fact been using other means: we tend to forget, for instance, how hard they pushed Syria and how shocked everyone else was at the overt pressure.
The job our military are doing in Iraq is incredibly important, more difficult in many ways than force-on-force operations and a central part of dealing the with early-stage breakup of international power structures going on. Oil is, I think, just a part of it ...
#3
Or, to be a little clearer, oil is certainly a reason for us to be in Iraq. But I don't think it's a matter of protecting "oil pals". I think it's a matter of protecting oil flows to the global economy so that the next 10 years of instability and conflict don't crash the world economy.
#4
The least we could do is step up attacks in Iran. There are ways, let's use them. Let us take the offensive and put them back on their heels for a change.
#8
It always slays me when people riff the president about keeping the oil flowing while they tool along in their gasoline fueled vehicle. This is both cynical and hypocritical. Those who protest should get out and walk.
This is and will be a regional conflict, starting with diplomacy if only to avoid warfare and still achieve our obvious objective: the mad moolahs sans nukes. Once this card is played out (and it looks to be) should we invest blood and treasure.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/20/2006 18:12 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Captain...I understand. But, US servicemen and women are dying almost daily because the blackhats are supplying technology, money, and explosives to the terrorists. Somehow they have to receive a message...crystal clear. I don't want a shooting war. I want to disrupt the fragile infrastructure such that they implode...and implode before they get the first N-warhead.
#10
Anymouse has got it. We either take the gloves off on both the Iranians and these new Shiite militias/insurgents or we should just leave and write the whole thing off. Just letting our guys get whacked with Iranian-sourced weapons is not acceptable. Doing nothing is a sign of weakness and will only encourage more these animals.
#11
Move along, boyz, no Radical Iranian empire in the ME here, NO WMDS in IRAN, Its only Uranium, NOT Plutonium - Mistaken Ditzy Klutzy Dufus Moronic = wilful Warmonger Imperialist Bully Arrogant America makes yet another mistake showing why it needs to come under OWG and Regulatory Socialist-Centralist-Governmentist Totalitarian rule = governance.
#12
"We either take the gloves off on both the Iranians and these new Shiite militias/insurgents or we should just leave and write the whole thing off."
The gloves will come off in due time, as for just walking away, we can't do that either.
Keep in mind, for everything you think you know about the situation, there are a thousand things you don't know.
As for our men and women in the Armed Forces, it hurts to lose even one of them! But it's the job they all VOLUNTEERED for.
"Qari Tahir Yaldevish" is Tahir Yuldashev, the IMU supremo. No clue who "Sheikh Essa" is supposed to be but my guess is another Learned Elder of Islam.
Whether he is viewed as a living legend for jihadis or as a reviled terrorist, the mere mention of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's name provokes strong reactions, and is an invaluable tool in the propaganda war between the two sides.
On the ground, though, at least in the rugged Hindu Kush mountains that span Pakistan and Afghanistan, the reality is that bin Laden, while remaining a source of inspiration in the anti-West struggle, is acknowledged as no longer being in command of al-Qaeda's operations.
In that role, he has been superseded by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, according to investigations and interviews conducted by sia Times Online in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Indeed, in the four years since the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, after years of financial blockades and arrests, has emerged more as a loose (and ideologically divergent) grouping of mujahideen waging open jihad - especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It would be absolutely wrong to say that al-Qaeda has evaporated into the air," a man from the Pakistani tribal areas of Waziristan told Asia Times Online. "The organization is very much active on the ground, but the sharp edges of circumstance have modified it into a new shape and it is now part of mainstream jihadi activity. The ultimate goal of the [jihadi] organization is to launch jihad from Khorasan [Afghanistan] to Jerusalem."
Calling himself Nasir ("supporter"), the man claimed to have intimate knowledge of Taliban and al-Qaeda activities in the region, where the Taliban have gained a strong foothold for their insurgency in Afghanistan and where al-Qaeda operatives are known to have taken shelter since being driven out of Afghanistan in 2001.
"It is true that Osama's activity has not been heard of for a long time, but Dr [Ayman] al-Zawahiri [al-Qaeda deputy leader] is active and moves all over and is now the main engine behind a lot of activity, even outside Afghanistan," Nasir asserted.
Another man, whom Asia Times Online had met in the northern mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and who just called himself a mujahid, said, "The al-Qaeda command structure, as it was known at the time of September 11, which carried out specific missions to target US interests, has largely been abandoned, but it has quickly been replaced.
"Nowadays, Arabs go straight into Afghanistan and join various Taliban commanders. At the same time, the Pakistani Taliban have formed bases in North and South Waziristan. All of them pledge their allegiance to Mullah Omar," the mujahid said.
"All global operations have been shunned for now. Sheikh [bin Laden] is inactive. Actually, Sheikh does not have any money left," a colleague of the mujahid said. Introducing himself as Abdullah ("Servant of Allah"), he was from the Afghan province of Nuristan and said he was part of the Taliban-led resistance. He also described himself as a "host", a term generally used for those who provide shelter to Arab-Afghans - those Arabs who have joined the insurgency and spent time in Afghanistan.
"He [bin Laden] kept changing his location; he spent a lot of money on his people and associates, and of course for his survival. The channels of money kept choking one by one and finally dried up," said Abdullah with a forlorn look on his face.
"This was a strange situation in which everybody [Arab-Afghan] was striving for survival, and once Osama's shelter [money] was off, they were scattered," Abdullah explained.
The most significant result of this was a sharp turn by al-Qaeda toward mainstream jihadist activity, mainly against allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The switch, though, carries with it inherent dangers, both for al-Qaeda and for some Muslim countries.
The Taliban, and to a lesser extent al-Qaeda, have established a de facto Islamic state in the North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan. In effect it is beyond the control of Islamabad. This correspondent planned to travel there, but was warned that it would not be "fruitful", presumably in terms of life expectancy.
Instead, some contacts from North Waziristan traveled to the city of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, to speak to Asia Times Online, including Nasir.
They related that about two weeks ago, three men representing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in charge of Iraqi operations, were summoned from that country. The men met with Zawahiri in South Waziristan and were bluntly told to "immediately stop attacking Shi'ites in Iraq" and to "bring about [Sunni] reconciliation with Shi'ite groups" in Iraq. Further, they were ordered to "develop a common anti-US strategy along with the Shi'ites in Iraq".
This development is significant in the context of the vacuum that now exists within al-Qaeda, given bin Laden's reduced influence. In essence, three forces are in play: the jihadis in Pakistan and Afghanistan who answer to Mullah Omar; the jihadis centered in Iraq under Zarqawi; and the "traditional" al-Qaeda represented by Zawahiri (and bin Laden).
The first two forces are moving further away from the core of al-Qaeda, largely over the issue of takfiri (a belief that sects that are not Wahhabi-based are infidel and apostate).
Bin Laden has opposed this concept, arguing that al-Qaeda should not attack other Muslims, but takfiris see anyone beyond their beliefs as fair game, hence Zawahiri's advice to Zarqawi's men that they stop attacking Shi'ites in Iraq and concentrate on driving out the US-led forces, the "true" infidel.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, powerful figures such as Qari Tahir Yaldevish of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Sheikh Essa (an Egyptian) are very well respected among the al-Qaeda leadership, but they have been at the head of a successful drive to expand the influence of takfiris in Waziristan.
They have found comrades in the likes of Moulvi Sadiq Noor and Abdul Khaliq, who are committed to waging pitched battle against Pakistani military forces in what they call a "real" jihad as the troops represent the Pakistani administration, which they say has become a facilitator of the Americans.
From the wounded body of al-Qaeda, underground networks have largely been abandoned and replaced by open jihad. This jihad, though, has a deadly twist, especially for Pakistan: although Muslim, it's now a fair target.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/20/2006 00:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
once Osama's shelter [money] was off, they were scattered.
"Oh my Sheik, I pledge my life to defend you."
"I'm out of cash to pay your salary"
"See ya"
Posted by: Steve ||
05/20/2006 9:16 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan security forces have captured three Taliban commanders in a week of clashes that killed about 100 people, officials said overnight. But they did not confirm a BBC report that feared Taliban commander 
A very important Taliban commander was captured during two days of fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan that has left nearly 200 rebels dead, officials said Friday. The identity of the man caught in Kandahar province could not be released on security grounds, provincial governor Assadullah Khalid said, after reports he was 
Stopping short of confirming or rejecting the arrest of top Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah, a senior provincial official said several Taliban had been arrested during the two days of clashes in Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province last week. Asadullah Khalid, Governor of the Kandahar province, where the 'senior commanders' and other Taliban fighters are believed to be arrested, said three senior commanders were among the militants captured in operation in the Panjwai district of the province.
A man wanted for involvement in bombings of tourist resorts in Sinai killed himself by accident on Friday while trying to attack police who were pursuing him, security sources said. 
The Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said Yusuf Kadir Tohti and Abdulkadir Sidik went missing in Kazakhstan after being released from a pretrial detention center, where they had been held on accusation of possessing false passports and information of "an extremist character."
MIRANSHAH: Suspected insurgents on Friday shot dead a senior pro-government tribal chief in the Khaddi area of Miranshah in North Waziristan. According to sources, Tooti Gul, leader of the 30,000-strong Dawar tribe in Darpakhel district, had been making his way to Bannu from Miranshah by car when he was forcibly dragged from the vehicle by unidentified assailants. They left behind his driver and car. Discovering Gul's body three hours later, paramilitary force personnel took it to Esha check post where it was identified and handed over to family members. Gul's funeral prayers will be held today (Saturday) at Eidgah Darpakhel. In a separate incident, schoolteacher Abdul Ali was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Kotki.
QUETTA: Suspected tribal militants blew up two state-owned gas pipelines on Friday in Balochistan, disrupting supplies but causing no casualties, a company official said. No one claimed responsibility for the separate pre-dawn attacks in Sui, 350 kilometres east of Quetta, in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province. Tariq Zubairi, a spokesman for the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Ltd, said engineers had started repair work. He refused to speculate on who was behind the bombings, but authorities have blamed supporters of Nawab Akbar Bugti for similar attacks against pipelines and security forces. "We only know that bombs were used to blow up the pipelines," he said. The latest attack came a day after a bomb damaged a pipeline in Sui and killed a 7-year-old girl. It also came a day after dozens of alleged supporters of Bugti laid down arms after talks with pro-government tribal elders.
Indian troops shot dead three suspected Islamic militants along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the army said Friday. "The three were killed on Thursday evening when they refused to surrender and opened fire after infiltrating into our territory," spokesman Colonel Vijay Kumar Batra told AFP.
ABBOTTABAD: Around 24 people were reportedly killed and dozens others injured when Madakhel tribesmen on Friday attacked the Chamgah and Dohgah villages in Hazara. Allegedly, the tribesmen used heavy weapons and set Chamgah and Dogah on fire. Frontier Constabulary personnel were called to reinforce the Levies in calming the area.
Eighteen Iraqis were injured Friday in acts of violence in different areas of the capital, Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said. The sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen attacked 10 passengers abroad a bus in the Abu Ghraib district today, including three security men in civilian clothes and seven citizens. All 10 were severely injured and the militants escaped the scene, the sources said. And in New Baghdad district, south eastern Baghdad, a bomb planted near one of the walls of the home of an Iraqi police officer blew up at 5:00 a.m. (local time) this morning. Five of his family members were wounded, and the identity of the officer was not disclosed.
A diplomat of the United Arab Emirates who was kidnapped several days was set free and was reported en route home, a security source said on Friday. - The source told KUNA that the diplomat, 
Three people were killed in Southwest of Baghdad during a gun fight between Iraqi police and unidentified gunmen, said a security source on Friday. The source told the press that gun fire erupted in the Jihad neighborhood south west of Baghdad between security forces and unidentified gunmen in which the US forces were called to assist the Iraqi forces in the fight. The fight ended with the gunmen escaping the scene while two citizens and a policeman were killed, added the security source.
Four Palestinians were wounded in cashes between Palestinian police and members of the newly-established special force. The Hamas-led interior ministry had deployed its new 3,000-strong force on Wednesday. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the new force is legitimate and will not be disbanded.
At least seven people, including five Tamil rebels, were killed on Friday in fresh fighting in Northern and Northeastern Sri Lanka. Five members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in a conflict with the breakaway LTTE faction led by Colonel Karuna in Trincomalee in Northeastern Sri Lanka, news agency Press Trust of India reported from capital Colombo. In the Vavuniya region in Northern Sri Lanka, two army soldiers were shot dead by suspected LTTE cadres, the agency reported.
