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Rockets hit Hezbollah Beirut heartland
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good Morning
Posted by: badanov || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice 'bloid, Badanov. Great graphic! A Rantburg classic.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/27/2013 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Gracias
Posted by: badanov || 05/27/2013 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Birthday Gam Shot

Monika Schnarre [Canuck][Filmography](age 42)



Stretch Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/27/2013 9:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Many, many thanks to all those servicemen and women who gave their all for the freedom of our country.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/27/2013 15:42 Comments || Top||

#5  There are many good servicemen and women that did not make it home from remote and tough places of duty. They are part of who we as Americans are, and they are part of us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/27/2013 18:00 Comments || Top||

#6  thanks from the heart to all who served, but mostly those who gave all
Posted by: Frank G || 05/27/2013 18:14 Comments || Top||

#7 
Posted by: Winky Sproing5899 || 05/27/2013 20:59 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Dozens rounded up in Mogadishu as forces search for Al Shabaab
MOGADISHU -– AMISOM and Somali authorities rounded suspected Al Shabaab agents in a morning raid in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district on Saturday eventually release most of the suspects, Garowe Online reports. The joint operation conducted by Somali government forces and AMISOM forces carried out Saturday morning occurred in the neighborhood of Bulo Hubey where men all ages were rounded up and taken to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) located on KM4 road.

According to local sources, authorities were searching every home in that neighbourhood thoroughly as they arrested dozens.

“I have never seen a search like this; they came into our homes and arrested all the males including the young and old. They were all taken to the police station,” said Muhubo Abdi who sons, nephew and uncles were taken to the CID headquarters in Mogadishu.
Perhaps they were all Shaboobs...
AMISOM officials said that the searches would enhance security in the city adding that they searches would continue. “The searches will continue until we are sure that there are no Al Shabaab cells in Mogadishu,” said AMISOM spokesman Col. Ali Aden Hamud.

Sources told GO that many men were released within a few hours of being arrested.

AMISOM and Somali authorities have promised to improve security after a bloody courthouse massacre last month in which over 30 people were killed and 50 injured.

Al Shabaab declared that they exited the city of Mogadishu in 2011 but have steadily carrying out attacks in the war-torn city since then. According to security analysts, although security has improved drastically in Mogadishu, the threat of Al Shabaab is still prevalent.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Gunmen kill five in Kenya-Somalia border attack
NAIROBI -- Gunmen killed five people including two police officers along Kenya's volatile border with war-torn Somalia, the latest in a string of attacks, police said Sunday. Unidentified gunmen opened fire late Saturday on a police post in the border town of Liboi, killing two police officers and three civilians.

"We lost five people during an attack in Liboi," regional police chief Charlton Mureithi told AFP. "We have mobilised a major security operation and boosted security at the border."

Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade and gun attacks -- often blamed on sympathisers of Somalia's Shebab Islamist fighters -- since its army invaded Somalia in 2011 to attack the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.

Kenyan troops remain in southern Somalia but have since been integrated into an African Union force. However, they are working closely with a local Somali militia commander, whose control over southern Somalia's Jubaland area is fiercely opposed by rival Somali forces as well as the central government in Mogadishu.
An Nahar adds:
Shabaab Claim Deadly Kenya-Somalia Border Attack

Somalia's Islamist Shabaab snuffies said they carried out the attack, in which gunnies fired on a police post near the border town of Liboi late Saturday, killing two coppers and three civilians.

"A small unit of mujahedeen raided the Kenyan base," the Shabaab said in a message on Twitter, one of the first times they have confirmed that they had launched raids inside Kenya.

They said they had kidnapped two Kenyans and seized guns during the attack, but the claims could not be verified.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Arabia
Police Disperse South Yemen Protesters, Wound 5
Police fired live rounds and tear gas on Sunday to disperse protesters who tried to storm a hotel in southern Yemen to disrupt a meeting on national dialogue, wounding five people, activists and officials said.

The protesters had gathered outside the hotel in Aden waving the flag of the formerly independent People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, calling for southern Yemen to break away from the north, witnesses said.

"We swear to God that Sanaa will not rule us," the separatists chanted.

A security official told Agence France Presse that dozens of supporters of separatist exiled leader Ali Salem al-Baid "tried to break into" the hotel where national dialogue talks were underway.

"We dispersed them and forced them away from the hotel to protect the lives of the officials" meeting inside, he said.

One of the protesters, Ashan al-Shuaibi, said that police "fired live rounds and tear gas, wounding two people with bullets while three suffered breathing difficulties from the gas."

He said "hundreds" took part in the protest in the Tawahi district of Aden "to reject the Sanaa dialogue."

Baid, a member of the Southern Movement which is taking part in the national dialogue, is opposed to the talks and still campaigns for southern independence. Hardliners led by Baid are demanding negotiations between two independent states in the north and south. Supporters of southern independence often stage demonstrations against the national dialogue, especially in Aden.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Yet another mostly peaceful hartal in B-desh
DHAKA, MAY 26: The daylong hartal called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance passed off with stray incidents of violence in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Sunday.

At least 15 persons were injured in sporadic clashes between law enforcers and pro-hartal activists. The police arrested about 40 people for picketing, while several vehicles were vandalised in different parts of the country by hartal supporters.

The 18-party opposition alliance called the hartal in protest against the “ban” on rallies and processions. It also demanded immediate restoration of the caretaker government system and release of its arrested leaders and activists.
Not that the Awani League is any prize, but you begin to wonder if B-desh would suffer less if the RAB dealt with the BNP...
Stray incidents of violence in the city’s Panthapath, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Mahakhali, Rampura and Shahbagh areas marked the shutdown. Some pro-hartal activists vandalised several vehicles in different parts of the city.

According to witnesses, half-a-dozen crude bombs were exploded in Adabar of Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Shahbagh and Uttara areas. Pro-hartal elements hurled brickbats at the police during the hartal.

At least seven crude bombs exploded in the Wireless Gate area in the city. Sources said a group of four to five hartal supporters had exploded the bombs at around 10:20 am. They fled the scene before the police arrived.

Police detained two picketers with four crude bombs in Farmgate area in the morning.

Some pro-hartal activists also exploded two crude bombs at the Tejgaon intersection at about6:10 am. Another group of hartal supporters brought out a procession in Shahjadpur at around6:40 am.

Besides, hartal supporters exploded three crude bombs near Aziz Supermarket in Shahbagh in the morning.

Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal brought out a procession at Mirpur Mazar Road. They vandalised a car and brought out another procession at Segunbagicha around 7 am.

Picketers torched a covered van near a restaurant at Khilgaon Tatola at about 8 am.

A group of hartal supporters vandalised a CNG auto-rickshaw and exploded several crude bombs at Darus Salam Road in the city.

Some picketers brought out a procession in Bangsal area in the morning. They blasted two crude bombs, sensing the presence of law enforcement personnel.

Jubo Dal cadres vandalised an auto rickshaw with the banner of a private TV channel in Wari area.

Members of the Opposition alliance brought out a brisk procession at Rampura area in the morning and torched a covered van. They fled the area when police rushed to the spot.

Hartal supporters exploded two crude bombs near the gate of Mohammadpur College and another in Gabtoli area. Police dispersed some pro-hartal activists after they brought out a procession in Adabar area around 8 am. The activists exploded seven crude bombs in the area.

Several processions were brought out in support of the shutdown in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Moghbazar and Jatrabari areas of the capital.

Additional security personnel, comprising police and Rapid Action Battalion, were deployed at every strategic point and intersection of the capital to avert untoward incidents.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Woolwich: Kenya arrest raises questions for security services in UK
Michael Adebolajo, one of two men arrested over last week's attack in Woolwich, was detained by Kenya for suspected extremist activity in 2010 and later deported back to Britain, the Foreign Office confirmed on Sunday.

Kenyan counter-terrorism police arrested Adebolajo after he allegedly attempted to join up with al-Shabaab Islamist militants in neighbouring Somalia. He appeared in court under a different name, Michael Olemendis Ndemolajo. The FCO said it had provided Adebolajo with "consular assistance" after he was held "as is normal for British nationals detained".
I have a simple question to which I cannot find the answer: where was Mr. Adebolajo born? I understand he's a British national, but did he come to Britain from Kenya (adult or child), or was he born there?
The arrest raises questions as to why the security services did not monitor Adebolajo more closely on his return to the UK, given his apparent unsuccessful attempt to fight alongside jihadist extremists. Kenyan officials indicated on Sunday they had briefed their British intelligence counterparts about his radical activities.

"Kenya's government arrested Michael Olemendis Ndemolajo. We handed him to British security agents in Kenya and he seems to have found his way to London and mutated to Michael Adebolajo," a Kenyan counter-terrorism spokesman, Muthui Kariuki, told the Associated Press. He added: "The Kenyan government cannot be held responsible for what happened to him after we handed him to the British authorities."
True enough, and the Kenyans did their job well.
Adebolajo was arrested in November 2010 together with seven other young Islamists. Kenyan police captured the group after they travelled by speedboat from the Indian Ocean island of Lamu to Kizingitini, on Pate Island, 40 miles from the Somali border. The police acted following a tip-off. Two of those apprehended were teenage schoolboys who had apparently been radicalised during regular visits to a mosque in Mombasa.

The Kenyan authorities later released the group without charge.
Perhaps they should have been tougher...
Adebolajo told local media that the police had severely mistreated him. According to family members he was beaten, and threatened with rape and death.
Straight from the play-book...
There is evidence he subsequently lodged a complaint. Kenyan officials deny wrongdoing.
To be fair, I'm betting life in a Kenyan prison is almost as good as life in a Turkish prison...
His family say that he returned to the UK a changed and embittered man. His brother-in-law, who did not wish to be identified, said: "He was very withdrawn. And he saw everyone in authority as being his torturer."

At this point, two and a half years ago, according to relatives, MI5 began to take an increased interest in Adebolajo.

"They had been interested in him for years," the brother-in-law said. "MI5 asked me about him in 2009. But they began pestering him after he came back from Kenya. They would be banging on his door or approaching him in the street. It was happening constantly; it was every couple of days. At first they wanted information, then they wanted him to spy for them. I assume they wanted him to spy on Muslims."
So what did MI5 see in this 'embittered' jihadi-wannabe that they thought he'd spy for them?
Adebolajo last saw his sister -- a fellow convert to Islam -- and his brother-in-law two weeks ago, when he visited their home in Lancashire. His brother-in-law said: "He seemed fine then. We talked about doing some charity work. Since then his wife has given birth to a son, and that was a cause of great pride for him."
So he was filled with pride as he hacked a human being to death with a machete?
It is unclear why Adebolajo did not face prosecution on his return to the UK, if there was evidence to support allegations that he went to Somalia to seek training with al-Shabaab. Somalia has long been a magnet for British jihadists. More than 100 UK nationals are believed to have trained or fought there up to 2011, according to British intelligence and security sources. Those who are successful at crossing the border often vanish and are never heard from again.
Prol'y just as well...
Al-Shabaab, meaning "the youth" in Arabic, is a terrorist militant group that formed in Somalia in 2006 to fight for a fundamentalist Islamic state. Its insurgency is now considered to be on the wane, but it is still active in Somalia and instigates regular suicide attacks. Swaths of Southern Somalia are still under its control, and the group's networks of facilitators, communication teams and training camps are complex. Western-backed Kenyan anti-terror police have been proactive since Kenyan troops entered Somalia in October 2011 and al-Shabaab promised to wreak revenge. But this has not been without consequences: many human rights groups and analysts say the Kenyans have been heavy handed in their approach.

"Terrorism has become an easy label, especially along the Kenyan coast. The anti-terrorism unit has been especially brutal, even against the families of the suspected terrorists," said Abdullahi Halakhe, former Horn of Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons why the al-Shaboobs are on the wane...
To get to Somalia, Britons, Australians and Canadians either fly to Kenya and cross into Somalia by foot on bush tracks, or go by boat to the port city of Kismayo, a known smuggling route. Locals believe that Adebolajo was planning to travel from Pate Island by sea.

Lamu in the Indian Ocean is an archipelago of islands lined with mangrove swamps and a rich history based on ancient trade routes. Its reputation as a destination for celebrities and European royalty was tarnished in October 2011, when a French woman was kidnapped and taken on a speed boat to Somalia where she later died. The streets of Lamu Town are too narrow to accommodate cars; donkeys are the staple transport. Security on the mainland is now tight but the many shorelines and islands make it difficult to control.
This article starring:
Michael Adebolajo
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Europe
Rain, Vigilance Dampen Unrest In Stockholm
[StraitsTimes] Stockholm police reported only scattered instances of torched cars in immigrant-dominated suburbs early Monday, as rainy weather and strengthened vigilance resulted in what was likely to become the quietest night in a week.

One car was reported ablaze in the district of Flemingsberg, and another in Kista district, Swedish Radio reported.

"But it has not been like previous nights, when people have been torching vehicles and tried to attract police and emergency services so they could throw stones," said police front man Albin Naeverfjord to the radio station.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38...
three cars were reported on fire Sunday evening in the medium-sized town of Oerebro, 160 kilometres west of Stockholm, the newspaper Nerikes Allehanda reported on its website.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What, no more 'soccer hooligans'?
Posted by: Raj || 05/27/2013 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Coming from South Sandistan, I guess they don't have much experience lighting fires in the rain.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/27/2013 7:07 Comments || Top||

#3  What a bunch of bullsh*t: "strengthened vigilance" is their MSM trying to deny the effect-from-cause of vigilante resistance in the face of Police non-action, implicitly trying to shift credit from desperate citizens to the gutless police.

This is the beginning of what I talked about yesterday on this post about control surfaces. Now that the "immigrant" riots are subsiding, there will be a push in the MSM and in the government to condemn vigilante action and arrogate to the police the credit truly belonging to the citizens protecting their property, with an eye to bringing the citizenry, not the immigrants, back under their rule and control.

Posted by: Ptah || 05/27/2013 7:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Call them the state security forces, they do not deserve the term police, that term should be passed onto those the MSM term vigilantes.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/27/2013 12:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Smart limeys or Eurabians place a Koran on their car dash and rear shelf and so avoid a toasting...it is now obvious that the security services cannot even fulfill their basic services, which are protection for the faithfuls against unrest from these awful native infidels...
Posted by: Pliny the Cheap6130 || 05/27/2013 21:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
19 suspected criminals arrested in Karachi
KARACHI: Various targeted operations in the metropolis led to the arrest of 19 criminal suspects including two members of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pinching the TTP is always plus-good...
The two alleged members of TTP were apprehended during a targeted raid on Super Highway, Sohrab Goth.
Sounds like Mahmoud the Weasel brought in a little holiday spending money...
Sources in police said that spy agency conducted the raid on an intercity bus where they nabbed two members of TTP. The suspects were identified as Shazullah and Dar Khan, agencies later took the detainees along with them. Sources further said that the security officials also recovered six hand grenades, four rifles and two detonators from their possession.

Separately, Rangers’ officials apprehended 17 suspects, including members of banned outfits, during targeted operation in Manghopir locality. Officials said the operation was conducted on a tip-off about the presence of suspected terrorists and criminals in Kunwari Colony area of Manghopir. Rangers claim that around one thousand security personnel including commandos and lady wing of the Rangers took part in the operation. The entire locality was also cordoned off during the operation hours. According to officials the members of banned outfits and other detainees were shifted to undisclosed location for further questioning.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two injured in Bannu checkpost attack
PESHAWAR: Militants attacked a security checkpost in Bannu’s Janikhel area on Sunday, injuring two security personnel deputed at the checkpost, whereas security forces defused a bomb in Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A security checkpost came under attack by militants in the Janikhel tehsil of Bannu district near Peshawar in the early hours of Sunday. Police and security backup forces reached the site of the attack and cordoned off the area after the attack.

In another incident, security forces defused a roadside improvised explosive device (IED), weighing 10 kilogrammes, in Karboga Sharif area of Hangu.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Maoist terrorists rebels kill 23 in India ambush
Not all terrorists are Islamicist...
A heavily-armed gang of nearly 300 Maoist rebels killed at least 23 people in an attack on a convoy carrying local Congress party leaders and supporters in central India, police said.

The attack on Saturday was the deadliest in three years and the latest in a long-simmering conflict that pits the left-wing insurgents against authorities in the forests of mainly central and eastern India. State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, and former state home minister Mahendra Karma — who had set up a controversial anti-Maoist group in 2005 — were among those killed in the mine and gun attack in a remote tribal belt of Chhattisgarh state.

“The total number of dead now stands at 23. We can also confirm that 32 people are injured, most of them seriously,” state police director-general Ramniwas, who goes by one name, said.

Former federal minister Vidya Charan Shukla was badly injured and had been airlifted to New Delhi in “serious” condition, said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who flew to the state capital Raipur late on Saturday. The 84-year-old Shukla, a veteran Congress parliamentarian, was being treated by a team of doctors at a private hospital on the outskirts of the capital.

The rebels triggered a land-mine before opening fire at the convoy of Congress party workers and leaders who were leaving the area after a political rally, police said. At least five policemen also lost their lives in the attack in the Jagdalpur area of Bastar district, 375 kilometres (233 miles) south of Raipur.

“When our cars reached a turning point, the Naxals started firing,” an injured Congress worker told NDTV, referring to the rebels also known as Naxalites. “Two cars were blown up and the firing continued for almost one and a half hours. Many people were killed and many sustained bullet injuries. Some of us lay on the road to save ourselves.”

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who has condemned the incident as “shocking”, rushed to Raipur along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take stock of the situation.

Singh, who has described the Maoists as the country’s most serious internal security threat, said the ambush should spur the battle against extremists.

“Those who have lost their lives in this barbaric attack are martyrs of democracy,” he said after visiting the wounded in hospital Sunday.

Maoist rebels have been operating mainly in rural areas of central and eastern India since 1967. They demand land and jobs for the poor, and want to establish a communist society by overthrowing what they call India’s “semi-colonial, semi-feudal” form of rule.

The revolt is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives. In April 2010 a rebel assault killed 76 policemen in the state, where the Congress party is the main opposition.

Three policemen were killed a fortnight ago when Maoists launched an overnight attack on a state-run broadcaster in Chhattisgarh. And last week a policeman and eight villagers were killed in a shootout between rebels and security forces.

Eleven policemen were killed in March last year in a landmine blast in the western state of Maharashtra near the border with Chhattisgarh.

In 2009 government forces launched a huge anti-Maoist offensive known as “Operation Green Hunt”, but the often poorly-trained police have had to contend with a deadly series of attacks.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development.

Narendra Modi, senior leader of the main national opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, slammed the attack and called for unity against “naxalism”.

“The need of the hour is to stand together as a nation and vow to fight this menace that threatens our democracy,” he said on Twitter.

But Congress has called for a general strike in Chhattisgarh on Monday to press for the dismissal of the BJP state government for failing to prevent the attack.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Iraq
Iraq violence: Baghdad car bombs kill more than 57
At least 57 people have been killed in a series of car bombs targeting mainly Shia areas in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police say. Many more were wounded as at least a dozen bombs hit busy shopping areas and markets in the city.

The violence comes amid a recent marked rise in attacks linked to growing political and sectarian tension. It has raised fears of a return to the levels of sectarian violence seen in 2006 and 2007, in which thousands died.

The bombs struck just a few hours after the ministry of interior released a statement saying that the violence in Iraq cannot be seen as sectarian in nature because the bombs do not distinguish between Sunnis and Shia.
Nice sentiment until you examine the location of the large majority of the kabooms...
One bombing struck the busy commercial Sadoun Street in central Baghdad. One bystander who saw that attack, Zein al-Abidin, said a four-year-old child was among the victims.

"What crime have those innocent people committed?" he asked.

Other neighbourhoods which were targeted include al-Maalif, where six died, and Habibiya, where 12 were killed, according to the Associated Press news agency.

No group has said it carried out the attacks, but tension between the Shia Muslim majority, which leads the government, and minority Sunnis has been growing since last year. Sunnis have accused the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of discriminating against them - something the government denies.
Posted by: tipper || 05/27/2013 14:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Car bomb, other attacks kill 5 in Mosul
Officials say a car bomb has hit a patrol in Mosul, one of three attacks in the northern Iraqi city that left five dead.

A police officer says the car bomb went off early Sunday morning at a house as a joint army-police unit was conducting door-to-door searches, killing two policemen and one soldier. He says 21 people, including 4 civilians, were wounded.

Downtown, militants gunned down a policeman in his car. Authorities also found a body floating in the Tigris river, shot at close range with the hands tied behind the back.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Seven Philippine marines die in clash with Abu Sayyaf
At least 11 people, including seven marines, were killed Saturday when government troops fought Muslim terrorists militants in the southern Philippines.

Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said seven marines and four members of Abu Sayyaf were killed in a close-quarters battle outside the town of Patikul on the island of Jolo. At least nine government soldiers were wounded.

Tutaan said the firefight began as marines tracked members of the militant group. Abu Sayyaf is believed responsible for recent kidnappings for ransom in the area, he said.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf

#1  AFAIK, as part of their bilateral peace agreement the MILF were supposed to be helping Manila/Macalanaang keep rein on foreign MilTerr Groups operat on Mindanao - what happened to that???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/27/2013 20:08 Comments || Top||

#2  The Commie NPA in the PHIL are acting up at the same time as Japan's Commies + India's Maoist Naxals ...

Coincidence???

VERSUS

* OTOH TOPIX > [PHIL Sun Star] NPA REBELS SURRENDER FOR LACK OF FOOD.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/27/2013 22:36 Comments || Top||


Civilian killed, two wounded in southern Thailand
A civilian was killed and two more wounded in drive-by shootings in Pattani province over the weekend.

Ardae Mahma was gunned down while driving his pickup truck in Yarang district. He was driving at about 8:15 p.m. on Saturday when two men drove alongside his vehicle on a motorbike and the pillion passenger shot him. He died at the scene.

Another civilian was shot in another attack about 15 minutes earlier in the same district. Mahmoud Juesae was shot by a pillion passenger on a motorcycle while he was sitting in front of a school about 8 p.m. He was injured and taken to a local hospital.

In Yaring district yesterday, 50-year-old Armad Nilor was shot and seriously injured on a local road. He was attacked about 7:50 a.m. by two armed men on a motorcycle while he was riding his own motorbike to work at a coconut farm. The victim, who sustained serious gunshot injuries to his chest, was taken to the hospital.

In Yala, three suspects were questioned yesterday about Saturday's coordinated bomb blasts in Yaha and Kabang districts. The three men live near the blast scenes. They were released after police took their fingerprints and DNA samples.

The bombs, which went off early Saturday morning, damaged several high-voltage power poles, resulting in power blackouts in many areas.

Five bomb squad officers were injured _ one fatally _ in another bomb attack on Saturday shortly after they returned from investigating the bomb blasts in Yaha and Kabang. Wounded Pvt Sorawit Onchanbok was pronounced dead late on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a person who claimed to be a "staff vice-delegate" of the BRN has posted a video on YouTube to restate the group's five demands which were made public on April 29 in a video by peace talks leader Hassan Taib. Adam Muhammad Noor repeated demands that Malaysia serve as a mediator, rather than a facilitator, in the negotiations, and called again for the presence of observers from ASEAN, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and non-government groups.

He said the continuing conflict in the deep South stemmed from "colonial rule" in the area. He said, "Is it wrong that the people of Patani Malay are protecting themselves from the threats of Siam?", referring to the militants' name for the southernmost region of Thailand.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
11 Killed As Syria Rebels, Kurds Clash, Says NGO
[AnNahar] Eleven rebels have been killed in festivities in northern Syria with Kurdish rebels of the main Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

"Fighting last night (Saturday) in the Afrin region between PYD armed wing the People's Protection Committees (YPG) and rebels left 11 dead and 20 maimed" among rebel forces, the Britannia-based watchdog said.

It also reported festivities in the same area of Aleppo province several days previously at a checkpoint installed by rebel forces south of the town of Kubani, without saying whether there were any casualties.

Since the beginning of Syria's uprising more than two years ago, the Kurds, who make up about 15 percent of the population, have tried to stay out of the fighting, stopping both rebel and regime forces from entering their areas.

However in some areas, such as the Sheikh Maqsud district of Aleppo city, rebels and Kurdish groups have joined together to fight forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


22 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Qusayr on Saturday
A good start...
Twenty-two Hizbullah members were killed in fighting alongside Syrian government forces against rebels for control of the town of Qusayr, a source close to the Lebanese group said on Sunday.

"There were 22 killed on Saturday. Nine bodies were repatriated the same day and the rest on Sunday," the source said, declining to be named.

The source also said regime forces backed by fighters of Hizbullah control 80 percent of the strategic town of Qusayr.

"We still have to take another 20 percent of Qusayr, since we took 10 percent on Sunday and the rest was already in our hands," the source said.

In addition, "the main road between (Lebanon's) Baalbek and (Syria's) Homs has been secured," he said, referring to a vital artery through which the Lebanese group sends men and equipment to Syria.

The Syrian army announced that on Saturday its forces had infiltrated Dabaa military airport, a rebel post north of Qusayr, a week into a Hizbullah-backed offensive to recapture the strategic central town near the Lebanese border.

"Fighting is taking place inside the airport after they broke the rebel defense lines," an army source said.

The source close to Hizbullah said the armed group has now lost a total of almost 110 fighters since it joined the battle in Syria several months ago, with most of the deaths in and around Qusayr.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  IIRC STARS-N-STRIPES [paraph] > ALL SYRIAN REBELS CALLED FOR QUSAYR FIGHT.

Strategic = decisive battle.

Mehtinks this means Al-Nusra, Taliban, + espec Hezbollah, etal. will be calling in all of their Boyz for same, agz same???

Similarly ...???

* PRAVDA > IRAN PRAISES SYRIA FOR ITS VICTORIOUS BATTLE AGZ TERRORIST GROUPS, both Domestic + Foreign.

* DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND > [News Press] SYRIAN REBEL: US WILL INTERVENE [only?] IFF WAR WIDENS, from Syria unto entire Region = five Countries.

* Also from STARS-N-STRIPES > OBAMA REDEFINING TERRORISM THREATS, CRTICS SEE DANGER IN PRESIDENT'S PUSH FOR NEW [minimalist]?] STRATEGY TO FIGHT EXTREMISTS.

BAMMER-LED MINIMALISM IN ME = MINIMALISM IN AFPAK = MINIMALISM IN NE,EAST ASIA AGZ CHINA = "DPRK"???

* WAFF > US PULLOUT FROM REGION POSES THREAT TO PAKISTAN, SAYS NYT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/27/2013 22:50 Comments || Top||


Army Deploys in Some Tripoli Flashpoints
Army units on Sunday started implementing a security plan in Tripoli by deploying in Jabal Mohsen and Syria Street, the frontier that separates the neighborhood from the rival Bab al-Tabbaneh district, state-run National News Agency reported. Meanwhile, LBCI television said the army also deployed in the al-Qobbeh and al-Riva areas.

The cautious calm that engulfed the city during the day was interrupted by intermittent gunfire and sniper activity.

According to LBCI, sniper fire killed Mohammed Hourani and wounded Zahia Wannous in Jabal Mohsen while a man was injured in the Barrad al-Bisar area.

MTV reported that the leaders of the fighting frontiers in Bab al-Tabbaneh and al-Qobbeh have failed so far to agree on a proposed ceasefire. LBCI said fighters loyal to prominent gunman Saad al-Masri are obstructing the process.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported that some of the leaders of the fighting frontiers have demanded the arrest of Rifaat Eid, secretary-general of the Arab Democratic Party, the main armed and political force in Jabal Mohsen.

Later on Sunday, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said a meeting was underway at Aisha Mosque in al-Qobbeh in a bid to convince the leaders of the fighting frontiers to allow the army to continue its deployment.

Meanwhile, the Arab Democratic Party held a meeting and issued a statement confirming its "commitment to the decisions of the Lebanese army."

"We are with the deployment of the Lebanese army in all areas and we demand the deployment of the Lebanese army in Bab al-Tabbaneh and we ask it to shoot back at the sources of gunfire, even if these sources were in Jabal Mohsen, in line with all the statements we issued in the past," the party added.

It reassured "our people in Tripoli that Jabal Mohsen cannot attack the city of which it is a main component."

Thirty-one people have been killed and more than 200 wounded in clashes that erupted last Sunday between Jabal Mohsen and the neighboring districts.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Rockets hit Hezbollah Beirut heartland
Four people were wounded on Sunday when two rockets exploded in the Hezbollah heartland of south Beirut, a Lebanese security source said.

“Two Grad rockets hit the southern suburbs of Beirut. One rocket struck a car showroom where four people were wounded and vehicles were damaged,” the source told AFP.

It was the first time the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs have been targeted during the two-year-old conflict in neighbouring Syria, where Hezbollah has thrown its military might into the regime’s fight against rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Al Assad.

Sunday’s blasts came just hours after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed “victory” in Syria.

“I say to all the honourable people, to the mujahedeen, to the heroes: I have always promised you a victory and now I pledge to you a new one” in Syria, he said at a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of Israel’s military withdrawal from Lebanon.

“This battle is ours... and I promise you victory,” he said.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah would always stand by its ally Assad and his regime, stressing that its own interests were at stake.

Both rockets hit the Al-Shayyah area of Beirut. The security source said the four wounded in the showroom were all Syrian workers. An AFP journalist said the second rocket hit an apartment block and caused widespread damage but no casualties.

“This incident is probably related to the conflict in Syria,” the security source said. He said the rockets were fired from Aitat in the Mount Lebanon area some 13 kilometres (8 miles) southeast of where they hit.

“The army is on the way to this area to investigate,” he said.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel broadcast live from Al-Shayyah in the capital, showing security forces and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel arriving at the scene of the blasts.

“Syria is the rear guard of the resistance, its backbone, and the resistance cannot stay with its arms folded when its rear guard is exposed,” Nasrallah said in his speech.

“We are idiots if we do not act,” added the Hezbollah leader who avoids appearing in public for fear of being assassinated by Israel. His Saturday speech was broadcast by video link live on a huge screen.
Nasty himself was safely tucked away somewhere eating a goat...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/27/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  You sure he wasn't doing something else to the goat?
Posted by: Raj || 05/27/2013 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  taking the fight to the Hizbullies' homes? I like it. More please, and faster
Posted by: Frank G || 05/27/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Question is who was doing the shooting?
Posted by: AlanC || 05/27/2013 19:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I really don't know who to root for in Syria. Assad is a ruthless dictator who will kill his own people. The rebels are, at the core, a bunch of Islamists, who will turn Syria into an Islamic hell hole.

I guess I just have to hope they both lose, somehow.

The US has no reason whatsoever to get involved.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/27/2013 19:48 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-05-27
  Rockets hit Hezbollah Beirut heartland
Sun 2013-05-26
  Female Suicide Bomber Injures 12 in Russia's Dagestan
Sat 2013-05-25
  French soldier stabbed with Stanley knife in Paris
Fri 2013-05-24
  Two Stockholm schools attacked as Sweden riots continue
Thu 2013-05-23
  Niger suicide bombers target Areva mine and barracks
Wed 2013-05-22
  'Soldier beheaded' in 'Islamist terror attack' oustide barracks in Woolwich
Tue 2013-05-21
  Nigeria Says It Has Retaken Five Islamist Strongholds
Mon 2013-05-20
  Syria: 20 Hezbollah Fighters Killed In Qusair
Sun 2013-05-19
  Syria army 'storms' rebel town Qusair
Sat 2013-05-18
  Moroccan Jailed For Milan Synagogue Bomb Plot
Fri 2013-05-17
   Syrian troops flush out rebels from prison
Thu 2013-05-16
  Nigeria declares 'massive' military campaign on borders
Wed 2013-05-15
  IMU takes credit for Quetta suicide bombing
Tue 2013-05-14
  Nigeria Court Convicts Iranian of Illegal Arms Shipment
Mon 2013-05-13
  Tunisia Police Disperse Salafists in Two Cities


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