I remember some folks here were suspicious about his covenient capture.
The only known American soldier in Taliban captivity is training fighters in bombmaking and ambush, according to information reported Sunday from one of his captors and the Afghan intelligence agents working to free him. Article @ link.
#1
Bowe Bergdahl was a 23 year old PFC (promoted in absentia last June to SP4.) This is rather old for a PFC, who typically get this rank after four months time-in-grade as a Private (E-2) and 12 months time-in-service, with average age of 19.5 years old.
So this means he either enlisted at a later age, or was busted from a higher rank. If he was a late enlistee, it would be very interesting to see what he did for 3-4 years before enlisting.
Made more so by his family not commenting at all about him to the media. Rather atypical.
And how many PFCs know how to "dismantle a Nokia mobile telephone and turn it into a remote control for roadside bombs"?
[Tolo News] The brother of one of the parliamentary elections candidates was killed and three of his body guards were maimed Saturday afternoon in the western Herat province
"When Abdul Hadi Jamshidi, a parliamentary elections candidate from Rabat Sangi district of Herat went to campaign in the district's Qasim Baig thriving village, he came under Taliban attack in which his brother was killed," Abdul Rawoof Ahmadi, Police Spokesman in western Afghanistan told TOLOnews.
After clashes between the Taliban and the candidate's bodyguards, police forces arrived to the area and forced Taliban to pull back, he added.
"I wanted to go a thriving village for my electoral campaigns. I contacted my brother and told him that I was on my way, but when I arrived there, the Taliban had attacked and killed my 30- year-old brother, Abdul Baqi Jamshidi," Abdul Hadi Jamshidi, told TOLOnews reporter.
The three maimed bodyguards are my cousins, of whom one is in a critical condition, he added.
No casualties have been reported on the Taliban and the Afghan National Police side.
Afghan parliamentary elections candidates have previously expressed concern over security problems, and have urged the government to put serious steps in maintaining their security.
Meanwhile, head of Afghanistan Independent Elections Commission (IEC), Fazal Ahmad Manawi, had said on Wednesday last week that around 1,000 polling centres will be closed in 25 provinces due to the increasing insecurity in the country.
IEC has also reported that a number of other polling centres are likely to be closed.
The number of polling centres in upcoming Afghan parliamentary elections will be 5,835 that will have 18,762 polling areas, IEC said.
Afghan and coalition forces have intensified counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan's unstable regions to maintain security during the upcoming Afghan parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] At least 6 police soldiers were killed by unknown gunmen Saturday morning in the southwestern Helmand province
"A group of unknown gunmen entered a police checkpoint on Saturday morning in Gerishk district of Helmand province and killed the police soldiers in a mysterious way." Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, told TOLOnews.
An investigation is underway in connection to the incident, he added.
Helmand is one of the insecure provinces of Afghanistan, in which Taliban have a great influence.
More than 15000 US troops are stationed in the province fighting the increasing Taliban insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] At least, 4 Taliban were killed on Sunday while planting an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in northern Balkh Province, provincial security officials said
Confirming the incident, a statement by the Ministry of Interior Affairs said the forces of Evil were trying to plant a mine in Tapa-e-Ali Zayee area in Chemtal District of Balkh province.
Meanwhile, the statement said that the Afghan National Police Forces have seized a cache of weapons in Paghman, a district of Kabul.
The Taliban are usually killed planting mines to target Afghan and foreign security forces in the Afghan conflict.
Civilians usually die in the IED and road side mine blasts that are planted by the Taliban. Based on reports published the by UN, 80% of foreign forces fatality raises from bomb explosions.
The incident took place at a time that top Afghan provincial officials acknowledged an increasingly growing Taliban influence in different parts of northern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Doesn't say how they were killed. Short fuse? Alert security forces? Hit by teenagers street racing hot rods?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/23/2010 1:34 Comments ||
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[Tolo News] Unknown gunmen kidnapped the sub-governor of Sawki district and his 23- year-old son Saturday morning in the eastern Kunar province
Local officials confirming the report, said investigations are being carried out to find Ghulam Nabi, the governor of Kunar and Musa, his 23- year- old son.
Mr. Nabi has been the sub-governor of the district in the past 4 years.
According to local officials, the 50-year-old governor who was on the way to his office, was stopped by unknown gunmen who kidnapped him.
Investigations are underway to track the abductors, Khalilullah Ziaee, the Police Chief of Kunar told TOLOnews.
No groups, including the Taliban have taken responsibility for the abduction so far.
Afghan authorities have frequently been abducted recently, and in most cases they have been released in exchange for money.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Police in the war-ravaged Somalia capital put on display the body of a man they claimed was a bomber killed by his own deadly cargo.
Police spokesman Col Abdullahi Hassan Barise, said the man was killed at a roadside in Mogadishu.
The bomb exploded, he said, as the suspect tried to plant it in a neighbourhood called Anzilotti in a part of the city controlled by the Transitional Federal Government.
He added that the incident took place at around three in the morning while many people were getting ready to take their late supper before fasting in the day.
No other person injured
The police officer said that apart from the alleged bomber, no other person was injured. He added that security forces arrested two armed men in the vicinity.
"We suspect the men were there to protect the bomb planter," said Col Barise. "They were taken into custody for questioning."
It is not the first time alleged bomb planters in Mogadishu blew themselves up.
Somali security officials often blame al-Shabaab, the Islamist group fighting the TFG, for using inexperienced bomb handlers.
Anzilotti road is normally used by government officials who are believed to have been the targets of the bomb.
Meanwhile, a huge explosion rocked the edge of Bakara market, a stronghold of al Shabab on Sunday night.
Residents in the area believe that a vehicle meant for suicide bombing exploded. But so far no group has given details.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How'd they collect his body - industrial-sized squeege?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/23/2010 0:03 Comments ||
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#2
...nah. Just use a truffle hunter. Remember to be quick enough to pick up the piece before he swallows it or not.
#3
I wonder if the CIA ran a weekend special on short fuses?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/23/2010 2:20 Comments ||
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#4
Somali security officials often blame al-Shabaab, the Islamist group fighting the TFG, for using inexperienced bomb handlers.
Did you mean to expose your sympathies so directly? Or did you mean to say "claim" instead of "blame"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/23/2010 6:12 Comments ||
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#5
Man: What's that pile of...er, stuff?
Cop: Suicide bomber. Or what's left of him.
Man: And that over there?
Cop: Same guy
Man: And that and that and that?
Cop: Yep.
#6
I've been reading very old "Orphan Annie" Comic strips, Warbucks took over a middle eastern kingdom, after a few months a state department official asked him how he was keeping from being overthrown, Warbucks replied "You hear those explosions? That's because I give the people a cut rate on Lots of defective dynamite I manufacture, as long as you hear those explosions, all is well."
Damn good idea there.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/23/2010 19:02 Comments ||
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[Ennahar] A former member of the armed groups, who in 2006 surrendered to the authorities, was killed by two men last Saturday, near Boumerdes, east of Algiers, told Ennahar, Sunday, local sources.
The man named Hisham Chernouha, was sitting outside a cafe, on Saturday, in downtown Baghlia, 90 km from Algiers, when two unknown gunmen opened fire on him before fleeing.
The victim, from the village of Ouled H'mida, had surrendered to security forces in 2006 and joined the civil society, reported the same sources, taking advantage of the legislation adopted in two referendums, including one on the "Civil Concord" in 1999 which resulted in the surrender of thousands of terrorists after a decade of violence.
The second, in 2005, has permitted the adoption of a "Charter for Peace and Reconciliation", offering "forgiveness" to the terrorists still in the bush in exchange for their surrender.
Groups affiliated with al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), however, remain active in several regions of Algeria as the province of Boumerdes which includes the town of Baghlia.
The killing comes as part of a series of assassinations carried out by terrorists against the repentants they regard as traitors for leaving the armed activities and try to convince others to follow their path.
The inhabitants of Baghlia feel concerned because of the upsurge in violence and killings, seeking the intervention of the authorities to ensure security and stability in their region. Many families appealed to authorities to work towards security and stability of this region.
This article starring:
Hisham Chernouha
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] The terrorist organization AQIM has released the two Spanish hostages, Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta. The Spanish authorities announced that a plane was ready to fly from Madrid to the area but « we do not know the exact location of their delivery" to the Spanish authorities, according to the Spanish daily El Pais.
"We do not known with certainty whether the release of the hostages will be held in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) or in Timbuktu (Mali). The mediator Mustafa Shaafa'i, an adviser to President of Burkina Faso is part of the group responsible for the release", the newspaper said.
A possible release of the two hostages would occur a few days after extradition from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Mali of Omar Sid Ahmed Ould Hamma, alias "Omar Sahraoui, convicted of abducting the Spanish humanitarian in Mauritania.
Another hostage, a Spanish woman kidnapped at the same time with Pascual and Vilalta, Alicia Gamez, was released in March.
AQMI had claimed on July 25 the execution of a French hostage Michel Germaneau, 78, after the failure of a Franco-Mauritanian military raid in Mali to try to find him and in which seven terrorists were killed.
This attack had caused concern in Madrid, concerned about the fate of the Spanish hostages in the hands of an AQIM group led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, alias Belawar.
The Catalan NGO Accio Solidaria, which included the hostages, however, had said Aug. 16 that their families had received "proof of life", they were fine and that negotiations were ongoing for their release.
The hostage Alicia Gamez was released after she had announced her conversion to Islam, while the other two hostages were released against the liberation of Omar Saharaoui in addition to a ransom estimated at 10 million Euros.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni troops killed seven gun-hung tough guys on Sunday, a day after seven suspected al Qaeda fighters were banged following a string of attacks in south Yemen, a security official said.
The seven tough guys were killed in the restive town of Lawdar, where seven others pegged out in clashes with government forces on Saturday, the official, who declined to be named, told Rooters.
Officials earlier said the seven hard boyz killed on Saturday included three foreigners, without giving their nationality.
State media has blamed the fighting, including the killing of at least eight soldiers in Lawdar on Friday, on al Qaeda's regional wing and "outlaw elements", a reference to separatists who are behind some of the unrest in southern Yemen.
Most of the assaults since June have been claimed by al-Qaeda, which has stepped up attacks on security forces in recent months, marking a shift in tactics for the global jihadi group's Yemen arm, which previously focused on foreign targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Bangladesh's high court has ordered places of work and education in the Muslim country not to force employees and students to wear skull caps, veils and other religious clothing, a lawyer said Sunday.
The ruling follows a report in mass-circulated Bengali daily Kaler Kantha that a principal at a state-run college in northern Bangladesh has forced students to wear veils.
"The high court judges passed the order directing that wearing religious attire should be the personal choice of the students or the employees. No one can be forced to wear them," barrister Mahbub Shafique said. "Besides, we have noticed that some schools force children as young as five years old to wear veils and skull caps.
Following the court order, no schools can now force this attire on their students," he said. In April the high court ordered educational institutions not to force veils or head scarfs on female employees. The order followed a complaint lodged by a headmistress who said she was verbally assaulted by a government official for not covering her hair during a staff meeting.
In recent years Bangladesh has seen a rise in reported incidents of sexual harassment at educational institutions. The country has recently deployed plain-clothed police at schools in the capital to prevent bullying of female students.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Four decapitated and mutilated corpses were strung from a bridge in a popular getaway outside the Mexican capital Sunday, the latest atrocity as the country battles an escalating drug war.
The bodies of the four young men were discovered early on Sunday, hung upside down by their feet from a bridge near a wealthy area of Cuernavaca, a leafy city about an hour outside Mexico City, where many of the nation's elite own homes.
The victims' genitals, index fingers and heads had been cut off, according to a statement from the attorney general's office in Morelos state, which includes Cuernavaca.
Their heads and genitals were found nearby, along with a handmade sign, the statement said.
"This will happen to everyone that helps the traitor Edgar Valdes," the placard read, referring to a leading drug capo whose real name is Edgar Valdez.
It was signed C.P.S., the initials for the South Pacific Cartel, a relatively new drug gang that has claimed responsibility for other gruesome killings.
Hizbul Mujahideen is one of the largest 'terror groups' in J&K. Per usual- they want not just reunification with Pakistan, but full Islamization of the region. Another one of the ISI's farm teams.
SRINAGAR: The Hizbul Mujahideen has killed three people, including a mother and a daughter, in separate incidents in Kashmir, police said Monday.
According to police, Muhammad Hussain Gorsi in Damal Hanjipora village of Kulgam district lost his wife Shakeela, 40, and daughter Zarina, 19, when gunmen broke into their home.
"The gunmen managed to escape," a police official said.
In a similar incident, armed men barged into the house of Ghulam Nabi Wani in Chakoora (Pulwama) village and shot dead his son-in-law, Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, an employee of the social welfare department.
At least 24 people have been killed and 25 injured in a bombing at a mosque in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan, officials say.
The blast occurred in the bazaar area of the region's main town of Wana.
Among those killed was a former member of Pakistan's National Assembly, Maulvi Noor Mohammad, officials say. Hmmm- what sort of "politician?" Read on...
Officials in Wana told the BBC it was carried out by a suicide bomber who walked up to Mr Mohammad and detonated his explosives as they shook hands.
The former parliamentarian was a strong pro-Taliban voice and had written several books on jihad which are popular with the region's militants, says the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
He also ran several "bookstores" and "hospitals" in the region. Scare-Quotes mine.
It is unclear to BBC elites why Mr Mohammad would have been the target of a suicide bomber, but recently Pakistan's security forces killed three al-Qaeda militants in a raid on one of his hospitals.
Our correspondent says it is possible al-Qaeda sent the bomber to kill Maulvi Mohammad suspecting him of having tipped off the security forces about the presence of the men in his hospital. Geee... ya think?? More action like this, if you please.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided on Sunday to take action against outlawed terrorist organisations involved in collecting donations for the flood affectees by using different names. Sources told Daily Times that the provincial government had issued directives to all district coordination officers (DCO) to strictly monitor the activities of banned outfits involved in collecting donations for the flood victims. The DCOs had also been directed to strict action against the banned outfits if they had been collectiong donations by using different names. The KP government had issued the directives after receiving various reports that outlawed terrorist organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Jamaatud Dawa and others had been collecting donations for the flood victims by using different names and by disguising their actual leadership.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The convicted mastermind of the killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan was sprung from prison, Iraq's deputy justice minister said on Sunday, the first time his escape has been confirmed.
Judicial officials had for more than a month said Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment last year, was "missing" and that his re-trial over Hassan's murder had to be postponed.
"This guy, he beat feet from prison," Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim told AFP. "People facilitated his escape, he is gone."
Ibrahim added that "all the people who facilitated this were jugged and are going to court," but did not specify how many people were detained, or when Rawi beat feet.
Earlier on Sunday, Rawi's re-trial at Storied Baghdad's Central Criminal Court had been adjourned until September 19, with a justice official and a lawyer for Hassan's family saying authorities had not been able to locate the defendant for more than a month.
The lawyer for the victim's family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court had sent a letter to the justice ministry to inquire about Rawi's whereabouts.
"Until now, the justice ministry has not sent a reply, so the case was delayed," the lawyer said.
Rawi, from Baghdad's Jamaa district where Hassan was abducted, was jailed having been sentenced to life in prison on June 2 last year, after being found guilty of "participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family."
Arrested in May 2008, he had pleaded not guilty to her murder, although his defense acknowledged he may have played a part in a blackmail plot.
His lawyers have claimed that an alleged confession put before the court of first instance was extracted under torture, and his retrial had originally been scheduled to begin in April, but has repeatedly been delayed.
Britain voiced concern over Rawi's apparent disappearance in a telephone conversation on July 23 between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Sad that he could not develop one of those sudden liver malfunctions (cirrhosis, perforation?) so common in South Asian jails.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Eight civilians were wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) in southwestern Baghdad on Sunday, according to a security source.
An IED went off near a café in al-Risala neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, leaving eight civilians injured, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The explosion also caused damage to nearby stores, he added.
The source did not give further details about the blast.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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An American soldier was killed by a rocket strike near Basra today, in the first US fatality since the last combat troops left Iraq.
Details of the incident were not released, but Basra airport base, which is still home to about 4,000 US forces, had experienced increased numbers of rocket attacks in recent weeks as the deadline drew near for the withdrawal of combat troops. Two soldiers suffered minor wounds in a rocket strike early last week, and rockets have hit the Green Zone in Baghdad almost daily for the past month.
The Iraqi brigade responsible for Basra security needs to step up ...
Around 50,000 US troops will stay in the country until next year, focusing mainly on training Iraqi security forces, but the top US military commander in Iraq said today they could return to combat operations if needed. General Raymond Odierno told CNN the remaining troops could move back to combat if there was "a complete failure of the security forces", or if political divisions split the Iraqi security forces. "But we don't see that happening," Odierno said.
The troops' departure has left many Iraqis apprehensive, with some predicting a rapid regression towards sectarian fighting.
Iyad Othman, a Fallujah policeman, said: "Now that they are gone for good, the situation will not continue to improve. They are surrendering the country to the Iranians."
In Baghdad the mood remains fearful. "It scares me to think that the Americans are leaving," said Umm Ali, 33, in the streets of Arasat, a well-to-do suburb. "If 144,000 soldiers could not control the situation here, how will things improve when there are only 50,000 here and they all stay in their camps?
So, you like us after all? Did you perchance mention this to your government?
All Ali likes is the firepower and the expertise
"Obama did not think about Iraq's interests when he pressed ahead with this withdrawal," she said. "It is a very bad decision, and so is the timing. He should wait for a new government to be formed, one that is strong and can establish -- then respect -- the rule of law."
More bleating from concerned citizens follows at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The Iraqi brigade responsible for Basra security needs to step up
#1
TOPIX > PENTAGON: WHO SAYS THE IRAQ WAR IS OVER? | US WILL STILL HAVE COMBAT/SECURITY ROLE IN IRAQ. Despite US pullout, US SPECOPS + minor Mil Units-Elements + Private Contractors will still be around to assist + advise the Iraq Govt-Army, including as per COMBAT + SUPPORT AGZ MILITANTS.
#2
Advise and Assist Brigade, not a combat brigade.
A rose by any other name ...
Words matter. The name was changed so that Bambi can tell the left wing of the left wing that all combat forces are out of Iraq? The American people are not that stupid.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/23/2010 2:13 Comments ||
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#3
The American people aren't, Mike, but the hard left are head-deep in willing disbelief. They'll accept this because O'Bumble said "all combat troops" are out.
Sometimes I think the left is schizophrenic - by design.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/23/2010 13:56 Comments ||
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#4
They'll accept this because O'Bumble said "all combat troops" are out
Tomorrow, he can tell them that Gitmo is "closed".
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/23/2010 18:25 Comments ||
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#2
I have noticed that conservatives feel the consequences of an Israeli strike will be very bad. They also seem to accept what may come.
The Left feels the consequences of an Israeli strike will be very bad and are desperately looking for a way to avoid them. Something to do with the eating habits of crocodiles.
Personally I wish the Israelis would strike and get it over with.
Posted by: Kelly ||
08/23/2010 18:42 Comments ||
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#3
Better to have war to your timetable than your enemies.
#4
I have a great idea. We ought to pull out of Iraq sooner - like today. Because right now our presence is like a human shield for the Iranians and not much more. I don't think Obama and his pals would go for it though.
#5
See also EINNEWS > LEBANESE DIASPORA + THE HEZBOLLAHISATION OF LEBANON [Iran-controlled Hezbollah Militia steadily taking over Lebanon in piecemeal.
* SAME > AL-QAEDA IN YEMEN: [worsening]POVERTY, CORRUPTION, + A JIHADI ARMY WILLING TO FIGHT.
Two were killed and four wounded in three separate gun attacks, believed to be by terrorists insurgents, in southern Thailand from late Sunday night to Monday morning.
About 10pm on Sunday an villiage official was ambushed by an unknown number of gunmen hiding on the roadside near Ban Khao Tum in Yarang district while he was leaving his house on a motorcycle to take guard duty at Ban Khok Khilek School. Matohe Tayongmat, 50, was killed on spot. Two villagers were wounded in the cross-fire - Abdulloh Luebaesa and Hasen Jehma.
The second attack was at about 3am on Monday when a pick-up truck driven by Suding Abu, 46, was attacked by gunmen armed with AK47 and HK33 rifles on the Yala-Pattani road. Mr Suding was killed. Abdulwasi Wamae, 47, who was also in the pick-up truck, was wounded.
The other shooting took place about 6.35am in Khok Pho district. Pian Wannapruet, 55, a construction worker, was leaving his home on a motorcycle with his wife riding on the back when two men who followed them on another motorcycle opened fire at them with handguns. Mr Pian was wounded, but his wife was unhurt.
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.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Police in the war-ravaged Somalia capital put on display the body of a man they claimed was a bomber killed by his own deadly cargo.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The convicted mastermind of the killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan was sprung from prison, Iraq's deputy justice minister said on Sunday, the first time his escape has been confirmed.
