Police fought running gun battles with Al-Qaeda militants in an eastern Saudi Arabian city in clashes that killed two extremists and a police officer, a Saudi official said.
Two for one kill ratio is not good...
The violence raged across Dammam, a city 400 kms northeast of the capital Riyadh, starting at about 6 pm on Sunday and continuing into the night, sending scared residents running in doors. An Interior Ministry statement said security forces were carrying out a security operation "against a number of elements affiliated to the 'deviant group,"' a term usually used in reference to Al-Qaeda's branch in this kingdom.
That's as opposed to the group's controlling authority, also in the kingdom...
Dammam's Emir Mohammed Street was the scene of the initial clashes, where police exchanged gun fire with several militants, killing one and severely wounding another, who later died in hospital.
"He's dead, Jim!"
State-run Saudi TV aired footage of what it said was the body of slain militant slumped on a street while wearing a traditional white Arab gown stained with blood.
I hope that was from where they drove the stake through his heart...
The official said that an unknown number of militants fled the scene of the initial fighting to the nearby commercial district of Hamra, which houses foreign companies.
"Harrr! The coppers are closing in! Let's go get some furriners!"
Police evacuated residents from several buildings in the area before scores of heavily armed security personnel surrounded a building sheltering the remaining militants.
"Yer surrounded, Muggsy! Throw down yer guns and come out witcher hands up!"
Clashes broke out again with militants firing at police from the building and one officer was killed, the official said.
"Casey! They got Casey!"
"Bring up the artillery!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:24 ||
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Security forces killed a wanted terrorist and wounded another following a gunbattle with the pair in the eastern city of Dammam. Eyewitnesses told Arab News that security forces were also besieging a building in the city where three suspects were trapped. Heavy gunfire was heard after residents of nearby buildings were evacuated.
The shootout erupted around 2 p.m. after security forces chased the two suspects outside Panda Supermarket on Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Street in the city. âSecurity forces were tracking down a number of suspects in the area,â Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, told Arab News. He said the security forces were in control of the situation.
The gunbattle took place when a terrorist opened fire at police while he was leaving the supermarket. The man was later killed by police gunfire. No policemen or civilians were wounded in the shootout. Witnesses told Arab News that security forces were deployed in force at the scene of the shootout which took place in a main commercial thoroughfare where many foreign firms have their premises. The source said security forces were combing the area for any possible accomplices. A Panda employee told Arab News that a security officer had asked him to keep a watch on the two suspects and find out whether they were carrying any weapons. When the two rushed out of the supermarket, security officers were waiting for them.An employee at a pharmacy close to Panda said the two terrorists had come to his shop at 1.35 p.m.
He said that they were clean-shaven, adding that the leaner of the two was aged about 22-25 and the other aged 30-35. According to one source, police inspected the car of the terrorists to check for booby trap devices.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Two men residents called well-known âwell-diggingâ contractors were arrested early yesterday with a cache of explosives during massive security raids in Jeddah that also netted more than 600 overstayers. Arab News was there when two other men were arrested on charges of possession of police clothing and forged passports. The suspects denied ownership of the items when confronted by police.
Hmmm... Sounds like they were Paks...
Investigations are ongoing. However, police confirmed that the explosives seized were meant for digging wells.
As opposed to blowing people up...
Security forces also arrested 611 overstayers, of various Asian nationalities, in a five-hour-long raid that targeted the district of Briman located on the eastern side of Makkah-Madinah Expressway. An illegal international call cabin was also smashed during the raid, led by Brig. Gen. Misfer Al-Zuhami, head of the Jeddah police, and included men from 11 security and government departments. Saudi residents contributed to pinpointing houses of illegal overstayers in the district. âWe are happy and willing to contribute in any way possible,â said resident Khaled Al-Jadani. âIn the end we are the No. 1 beneficiaries.â
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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A leading radical Islamist group which Tony Blair wants to ban is recruiting "vulnerable" young Muslim students at British universities under several cover names, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned from campuses by the National Union of Students, has set up front organisations at more than a dozen universities with innocuous-sounding names such as the Ideological Society, the Millennium Forum and the New World Society.
They have secured access to freshers' fairs across the country and will receive funding from student unions to help them operate. Muslim student leaders warned that Hizb would target "vulnerable" young Muslims when the new university term starts later this month. "Before, we could stop the recruitment; we could save vulnerable people," said Faisal Hanjra, a spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. "Now, we have no idea who is targeting whom." Hizb failed to respond when approached for comment.
News of the plan by the militant Hizb to set up front organisations comes as police and intelligence agencies scrutinise a videotape which associates al-Qa'ida with the London suicide bombings on 7 July, in which 52 commuters died. The warning of "war" from Mohammed Sidique Khan, the presumed leader of the bombers, has emphasised the danger that other British-born Muslims will be recruited for terrorism. Hizb ut-Tahrir and another extreme group, al-Muhajiroun, face being banned under measures the Government has proposed in the wake of the attacks. Although both deny supporting violence, they are accused of radicalising young Muslims to the point where they attract the attention of terrorist recruiters.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:46 ||
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I suspsect that kids will continue to want to join anti-establishment groups. The banned groups will appear all the more wickedly enticing to immature minds. The current anti-Western views held by the majority of professors at many universities facilitates these indoctrinations by militants.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/05/2005 9:36 Comments ||
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Brit yunans become human bomblets while singing "going to pieces over you" -- news at 11
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/05/2005 13:10 Comments ||
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Hizbut Tahrir, an Islamist party in the firing line since the London bombings in July, on Sunday accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair of wanting to strip freedom of speech from Muslims in Britain.
Blairâs August 5 announcement of an intention to ban Hizbut Tahrir and Al Muhajiroun was a âmove to curtail political expression in the Muslim communityâ, said Hizbut Tahrir Britain spokesman Imran Waheed at an 800-strong gathering in central London.
Waheed branded the move a âserious mistakeâ and pledged that the group would âpursue all legal avenuesâ to fight the ban, adding that âweâre very confidentâ of winning the battle.
He denied accusations that the group supported violence or was responsible for radicalising young Muslims.
âOur work is about establishing Islamic governance in the Muslim world, our aim is bringing about responsible, accountable governance rather than that adopted by tyrants,â Waheed said.
âThe West has nothing to fear from the two systems working side by side.â
The spokesman also hit back at claims that Hizbut Tahrir is secretly trying to recruit students.
âThere is absolutely no truth in claims that we are secretly recruiting in universities or have set up front organisations,â he said.
On August 5, Blair warned hardline Islamists in Britain that âthe rules of the game are changingâ, announcing a sweeping range of new powers to combat terrorism following the London bombings, and proscribing Hizbut Tahrir and Al Muhajiroun.
The two groups are linked through Omar Bakri Mohammed, banned last month from re-entering Britain.
Syrian-born Bakri, founder and spiritual leader of Al Muhajiroun, was one of Britainâs best known â many would say notorious â radical Muslim clerics.
He set up a branch of Hizbut Tahrir in Britain, but split from it in 1996 due to differences with the global leadership.
The cleric then declared Al Muhajiroun an independent party, which gained notoriety for its support of attacks such as the September 11, 2001 strikes on New York and Washington attributed to Al Qaeda.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:27 ||
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Hope MI-5 filmed each and every eager face at this beerhall putsch
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/05/2005 14:10 Comments ||
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Four people have been arrested on suspicion of planning to seize a school in Ingushetia if the Sept. 1, 2004, attack in Beslan had failed, Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel said Saturday.
Shepel said the four suspects would be tried for involvement in a plot to seize the school in the Ingush village of Nesterovskaya. He did not give their identities or say when the arrests took place.
"They are giving evidence, including on the organization of the terrorist act in Beslan," Shepel said, Interfax reported.
He said Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev had prepared a reserve plan to seize hostages in Nesterovskaya in case the Beslan raid did not succeed.
On Friday, Shepel said police and security forces had killed an accomplice to the Beslan militants, Interfax reported. The Ingush Interior Ministry said it had no such information. Alikhan Mirzoyev was killed Friday in a private home after resisting arrest, the ministry said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:41 ||
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KFI NEWS has obtained a copy of a flyer that's been circulated in South Los Angeles, calling on members of two violent street gangs to join the Nation of Islam in a jihad, or holy war, against the LAPD.
The telephone number listed for the Nation of Islam's Los Angeles mosque near 87th and Vermont has been disconnected, but a check of a reverse directory reveals the phone number on the flyer is connected to the mosque at the same address.
The NOI's Los Angeles leader Minister Tony Muhammad has claimed he was the victim of an unprovoked attack by LAPD officers at the scene of a vigil for a murdered gang member. The LAPD last week released an audio tape of some garbled radio transmissions in which they say Muhammad can be heard challenging officers.
The photograph on the flyer appears to have been taken at a news conference held just after Muhammad was released from jail. Muhammad and the Nation of Islam have not returned calls for comment.
You think those lumps on your head hurt, Tony, just trying jihad against the LAPD. First you'll hurt a lot more. Then you won't hurt at all.
It's unclear who created the flyer so the LAPD has declined to comment, other than saying officers have been aware of them for several days. "This is deeply disturbing," Los Angeles Police Protective League President Bob Baker told KFI in an e-mail (the LAPPL is the LAPD officers' union). "Quite frankly, this is a case in which I hope our mayor, our Police Commission and our community leaders can step in to remind everyone of our shared priorities," Baker said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 01:02 ||
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Not exactly sure what that noise was, but it may have been Darwin chuckling.
#12
Just reinforces our need to monitor these mosques. Can't there be some arrests having proved intent using the reverse directory going to the mosque?
This mixed with the stupidity of some of these gang types willing to get killed over turf or whatever and throw in drugs is a dangerous combo.
Interesting mix, alot of gang types as I recall can be seen with large gold chains with crucifixes right?
Frank, you congered up a picture in my mind of little blue and red sheet heads lol
Posted by: Jan ||
09/05/2005 14:51 Comments ||
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Jan, have you been around 'those little blue and red sheet heads'?? If you haven't, don't be quite so quick to talk trash.
I lived in LA when the Crips and the Bloods were shooting each other and bystanders in the streets. One such drive by occurred about 20 feet from us in a wealthy part of the city. I watched them expand out nationally, only to bump up against the Jamaican gangs who didn't even need a feud or drug deal as an excuse to kill.
I think we're going to see these gangs join with the Black Muslims and face off against the MS-13 network, which will probably absorb the Latin Kings and other latino gangs.
And all of them will be fighting law enforcement agencies. Given that MS-13 is rumored to be packing AK-47s and body armor in some places that is not a prospect to dismiss lightly IMO.
#14
There were reports last spring that MS13 had joined up with Al-Q and was smuggling hard boyz into the US via Mexico. No if NOI joins the Crips and Bloods, it should be a pretty even match. Is NOI Shia or Sunni?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/05/2005 14:59 Comments ||
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Depends. Certainly there has been Black vs. Latino power struggle building for years, at the gang level all the way up to politicians. No secret there.
The MS-13 are better organized in many ways, in that they are ONLY focussed on their violent control of cities. No ideologies to get in the way.
But the NOI have a lot of tacit support in Black neighborhoods.
#16
rkb, yes while I was finding humor in a bad situation, I guess I will apologize for that. I didn't see it as "talking trash".
I feel I have had alot of involvement with the gangs here in the Denver area. We had the gang units come to the hospitals several times to teach us about how and what to expect and how to handle certain situations. We not only had the crips and bloods, but alot of local gangs. Often high on drugs, which added to the mix. On my unit I remember walking past the visiting room with a crip holding a sawed off something or other (I don't know the names of these weapons like many of the folks here at the 'burg). Dealing with these gang kids was very frightening and we learned how best to handle ourselves during those times. At our hospital we get most of the indigents and all the shootings/ambulances come to our hospital. Then you have the pay back shootings. This was more so in the 80's and 90's, not so much now. Now it's mostly all Mexican patients. My husband had a close call with a drive by shooting down in Denver at a 7-eleven, hitting the ground fearing for his life.
So yes I have been around the gangs, but not the muslims. Although in the past few years we've been seeing alot of muslims from Sudan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, come for care here to the hospital. These muslims aren't the ones promoting violence. I do talk with them about their thoughts on how they see things.
What I was kind of refering to while mentioning the red and blue sheetheads was the obvious combination of the tragic merging here. The comment about the crucifixes, was pointing out the difference of religious background in the mix.
I hope you're wrong about this merger, maybe the religious differences will work to our advantage in keeping them apart.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/05/2005 15:53 Comments ||
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the Crips and Bloods joining AQ I just ask
What is in it for them???
the Crips and Bloods are not stupid they are not going to take on the gov and see the LA cops replaced with US ARMY Airborne with martial law and thier huge loss of the drug revenue that would result. The heat that would come from the Feds after they went from a criminal orginization to a terrorist group would be insane ask MS-13. Also the police have list of names of gang members down to the newest recruits those list would be imediatley rounded up at the least gutting thier leadership and connections overnight, thier is a huge differnce between criminal rights and terrrorist rights. Not to mention that a huge portion of thier soldgiers are christian and would maybe not convert so easy at least a large portion.
I personally dont like the Farakan crew all the kill whity the white man is the devil crap and thier black superiority BS is no different that that Nazi's or Islamic Radicals and put X racisit goups name.
The military has unleashed a whole Army division in Central Mindanao with one mission in mind: wipe out Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and his followers.
Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, just six days away from retirement, has not softened his stance on neutralizing the local terrorists in order to stop bombings in the war-torn region, according to Col. Domingo Tutaan Jr., chief of the Southcomâs unified staff.
"The Southcom has dedicated a whole (Army) division to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf terrorists now hiding in Central Mindanao with suspected JI (Jemaah Islamiyah( cohorts," Tutaan told reporters.
But amid beefed-up efforts against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and their cohorts from the JI in the region, three Army soldiers were killed in an ambush yesterday in Sulu by suspected Abu Sayyaf men.
The attack, which occurred at the Karawan complex in Indanan, Sulu at around 6:30 a.m., was led by Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail, according to anti-terror task force chief Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo.
"The three soldiers were killed on the spot. Pursuit operations are ongoing and we will not stop until we get these terrorists," Aleo said.
Jumdail is one of the key leaders of the group wanted by the US and Philippine governments for a string of bombings and kidnappings in recent years. The Abu Sayyaf is on the US State Departmentâs list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The victims were identified as Lt. Sahiron Gumampang, Pfcs. Hasan Darib and Arnold Baldorado â all members of the Armyâs 53rd Infantry Battalion.
Army spokesman Maj. Bartolome Vincent Bacarro said the soldiers were unarmed and were in civilian clothes as they were about to attend the 7 a.m. Muslim mass in Indanan.
The military had been belittling the Abu Sayyaf, calling it a spent force due to the number of arrests made against its leaders and members recently.
Military forces claimed to have so far eliminated 14 Abu Sayyaf members since the 6th Army Division under Maj. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala launched an offensive against them on July 1 after the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front collaborated in ejecting the terrorists from Mindanao.
According to Braganza, the battalions of Army men based in several towns in Maguindanao province under the 6th Division have been trapping more of the elusive terrorists.
Braganza also appealed to the public to stay alert as the Abu Sayyaf may attempt to carry out diversionary attacks.
"These threats are real and we are calling on the people to keep their vigilance," Braganza said.
Meanwhile, two suspected members of the communist New Peopleâs Army were arrested Saturday night in Barangay Beguin in Bulan, Sorsogon shortly after an encounter with government forces.
Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo showed the arrested suspects were identified as Noli Gegantoca, alias Lino, and Julie Gulimlim, alias Maan. Their five companions managed to escape.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:31 ||
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Just like GMA's boy toy Braganza to announce a big charge and then retire. It will take the Div three weeks to mass to any force capable of hunting KJ. THe new Southcom CDR will be stuck with half staffed plans and a command in disarray. He would do better reitireing early and going back to coddling GMA. Let the new commander fight the fight or do as most of them do and talk with no action.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
09/05/2005 20:12 Comments ||
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49P: Just like GMA's boy toy Braganza to announce a big charge and then retire.
Do you think Estrada did a better job of dealing with Muslim separatists?
Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed three unarmed army soldiers, including a lieutenant, in an ambush yesterday in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, officials said. The soldiers, two of them former Moro rebels who were integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), were on their way to a mosque when the militants, whose group is tied to Al-Qaeda terror network, attacked them near the village of Karawan in Indanan town, said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of a military anti-terror task force. âThe trio were unarmed and on a private jeep on their way to the mosque to pray when suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists ambushed them. They were killed instantly,â Aleo said by phone from a command post in Indanan town where troops mounted a pursuit operation against the attackers.
Among those killed was a lieutenant and a corporal, who were former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that forged a peace deal with the government in September 1996. The trio, Aleo said, were members of the armyâs 53rd Infantry Battalion which is actively involved in humanitarian mission in Jolo Island, about 950 km south of Manila. âIt was a treacherous attack and three good soldiers â two of them Muslims â have been killed. We condemn the attack, but this will not stop us from carrying out of mission of peace,â Aleo said.
Military reports blamed an Abu Sayyaf group led by Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu for the attack. Troops have been tracking down Jumdail the past weeks in Jolo island. Last month, soldiers stormed Jumdailâs hideout in Indananâs Tarang village, but he escaped along with militant leader Albader Parad. The duo were among a dozen known Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by government forces in connection with the killing of kidnapped Californian tourist Guillermo Sobero in 2001 and Kansas missionary Martin Burham in 2002. Government forces captured early this year Parad and Jumdailâs jungle camp in Joloâs Karawan mountain complex after killing and wounding more than three dozen militants in two weeks of fierce fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia's only human rights watchdog expressed concern Monday over the reported disappearance of Saudi nationals visiting Syria.
Saleh Khathalan, deputy president of the Saudi National Organization for Human Rights, was quoted by the daily al-Watan as saying the watchdog is investigating the fate of five Saudi teachers who traveled to Syria as tourists and have vanished there.
Such incidents have been recurring in Syria, which is a dangerous indicator about the security status of the Saudi nationals in that country, Khathalan said.
It is possible that the Saudis are being kidnapped by Syrian gangs who might be selling them out to U.S. forces in Iraq under the pretext that they are fighters, or they might be kept for ransom, he said.
There is a mystery over the fate of the missing Saudis and this needs to be investigated by the Foreign Ministry or the Saudi Embassy in Damascus, he added.
#1
Is it inappropriate to bust out laughing while reading this?
Because I did, and want to know if that's a bad thing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/05/2005 20:41 Comments ||
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It is possible that the Saudis are being kidnapped by Syrian gangs who might be selling them out to U.S. forces in Iraq under the pretext that they are fighters
Cause like, ya know, the Kingdom doesn't SEND terrorists to fight in Iraq. Evvvybuddy knows that.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/05/2005 20:56 Comments ||
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If Saudi Arabia bans travel to Syria, Syria's tourism dollars plummet and the economy goes into the toilet, and perhaps Sunni Islamists overthrow the existing Alawite dictatorship.* I can see why they're not doing a travel ban. Besides, Syria's borders, like Iraq's, are long and porous - there are other ways of getting into Syria apart from flying into Damascus.
* I don't think the Saudi government wants a theocracy (council of mullahs) in charge of Syria, since that might lead to similar demands in Saudi Arabia. That would sure spoil things for the 5,000-odd members of the Saudi royal family whose royal stipends would be at risk.
Five members of the Islamist militant group Jund al-Sham were killed late Friday in clashes with Syrian security forces who raided their village hideout.
"Anti-terrorist forces on Friday evening entered in force a hideout of the terrorist group Jund al-Sham in a village of the Hama governorate," 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Damascus, an interior ministry source told the SANA news agency.
"A clash followed in which the five members of the group were killed," the source added, saying that two members of the security forces were also wounded.
Jund al-Sham, or "Organisation of the Soldiers of the Levant," was first heard of in March when an Internet statement in its name claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a theatre in Qatar that killed a Briton.
It has also claimed the October bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba which killed 34 people most of them Israeli tourists and an oil refinery explosion in Texas that left 15 people dead.
These claims were posted on the Internet and it is not possible to verify their authenticity.
The interior ministry source said that the group was planning new operations against Syria and had built up a cache of weapons at its base in the village of Jibril.
"The terrorist group was on the verge of executing operations to destabilise security and Syrian society," the source said.
"The group was installed in an isolated home in the village of Jibril in the Hama governorate which served as a base for its operations," added the source, saying that arms, bombs and explosives had been found in the hideout.
Syrian police claimed to have broken up the group in June after a Damascus shootout that left its chief and another member dead, as well as a policeman.
However the group then went on to kill four Syrian policemen in August during clashes in the town of Maday, with several of the militants escaping after the shootout.
The secular Baath party has dominated Syrian political life for more than four decades and all Islamist groups are outlawed. The mainstream Muslim Brotherhood has been proscribed on pain of death since 1980.
The United States has accused Syria of not doing enough to prevent militants from slipping over its border to join the insurgency in Iraq, but recent months have seen a number of clashes with security forces.
In July, security forces captured two "terrorists" and a security officer was killed in a dawn clash with gunmen who included former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein.
Iran said Sunday that it won't stop uranium reprocessing work, rejecting a European threat that Tehran had less than two weeks to halt uranium conversion or face referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran resumed uranium reprocessing activities at its uranium conversion facility in Isfahan in central Iran last month. The facility converts uranium concentrate ore, known as yellowcake, into uranium hexafluoride gas, the feedstock for enrichment.
In the next stage, Iran could feed the gas into centrifuges used to enrich uranium at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, also in central Iran. Iran says it won't restart uranium enrichment for now in Natanz, where it was suspended in 2003 under a deal with Europeans, but insists it will never again suspend uranium conversion in Isfahan.
Uranium enriched to low level is used to produce nuclear fuel used to generate electricity, but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.
The U.S. accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to secretly produce nuclear weapons. Iran has rejected the charges saying its nuclear program is geared merely towards generating electricity, not creating a bomb.
Iran restarted work in Isfahan after it rejected a European package of proposals that had called on Iran to permanently stop its uranium enrichment program in return for a supply of nuclear fuel and economic incentives.
Tehran said the proposals were against the spirit of NPT and against previous agreements between Iran and the Europeans, which had recognized Iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Iran says it won't give up uranium enrichment, a right granted to it under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
A report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Friday that Tehran had recently produced about seven tons of the gas it needs to enrich uranium â a possible pathway to a nuclear weapon â after restarting work in Isfahan.
Britain, Germany and France, negotiating on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, have said they may get involved in drafting the language of a resolution demanding that Iran be referred to the Security Council if Tehran fails to stop uranium conversion in Isfahan by the upcoming IAEA board meeting on Sept. 19.
"The issue of Isfahan is a thing of the past," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday.
Mr. Asefi said Mr. ElBaradei's report does not justify Iran's referral to the Security Council and said the Europeans must stop threatening Iran. "The era of threats to force Iran to give up its rights is over. We have said it and say it again, that threat and resorting to two-sided language won't help Europe," he told a press conference.
Meanwhile, an Iranian official noted that Mr. ElBaradei's report gave Iran credit for cooperating with the agency, but also included sections that would give Europeans the excuse to bring political pressures on Iran.
"ElBaradei confirms that traces of highly enriched uranium, which had been used by America as a sign that Iran was moving towards nuclear weapons, were due to contaminated equipment imported into Iran. This is a big victory for Iran," Mohammad Saeedi, Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told state-run television Sunday. "But it has also used a language that gives Europeans the pretext to pressure Iran, which is not acceptable," he said.
Mr. Saeedi said Iran won't answer some questions by Mr. ElBaradei simply because the demands he made are beyond his agency's responsibilities.
"They have asked us to explain where we keep dual-use equipment we have imported and similar demands. These demands are beyond IAEA's responsibility," he said.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/05/2005 02:11 ||
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#1
Time to let our little pit bull off the leash; have him bring back an ear!
#4
Iran said Sunday that it won't stop uranium reprocessing work, rejecting a European threat that Tehran had less than two weeks to halt uranium conversion or face referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
They're gonna consider a strongly worded letter threatening the possibility of debating sanctions!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/05/2005 20:42 Comments ||
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#7
The MSM and Iran already said or denoted it > the EU3 per se are NOT and NEITHER Iran's only partners, nor are they the only nations Iran can negotiate with and use as defense ags the USA - read, Russia-China, and any anti-US mil intervention therefrom. IRAN AND NK CAN ADMIT TO AS MANY NUKES AS THEY WANT - THE ANTI-US AGENDISTS WILL STILL BLAME THE USA AND ONLY THE USA FOR NOT HAVING "PERFECT INTEL", OR DOING AHYTHING "PERFECTLY".
#8
First off I love this new Iranian gov they are just no PR at all they just thought Bush was a no PR cowboy now they got a real enemy that is just short of demanding EU surrender and subjication well maybe that would be a little drastic at the moment extortion payments like the old Muslim pirates used to get would be OK for now. This new Iranian leadership is great.
got a great story on Iran's mullahs a*s backwards logic. by the way the option 3 I would like would be "decapitation and Disarmament" followed quickly by total air cover weapons to the Kurds in the North. The Iranian diplomatic forces will either see oportunity and join the Kurds and get weapons or be killed by the Iranian revolution guard left over. I think this would drive the diplomatic forces out of hiding into full warefare if by nothing but self preservation and survival.
A huge explosion has rocked the centre of Gaza City, killing at least four people and injuring 20 others. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast that destroyed several properties in the eastern Shajaiyeh situated near the border with Israel. One of the houses is understood to belong to a well-known family of Hamas supporters, Palestinian police said.
The Israeli air force has often targeted Hamas members in Gaza, but military sources denied Monday's blast. Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Palestinian interior ministry spokesman, called the blast "mysterious" and said an investigation was under way. Sometimes blasts in Gaza are caused by the accidental detonation of weapons caches kept by militant groups - and that certainly cannot be ruled out in this case, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 17:11 ||
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The owner of the house was one Mohammed Nidal Farhat, a terrorist who murdered 7 Israelis in 2002. His mother was nicknamed the 'mother of the shaheeds' after she was filmed helping him prepare for his suicide-murder spree. She has admitted to hiding senior Hamas terrorists from the IDF.
There are reports that a woman was among those killed. Fingers crossed it was her.
Iraqi security forces on Sunday arrested 73 militants and confiscated large amounts of weapons and booby-trapped cars in raids throughout the country, a statement by the government stated Monday.
The statement said 30 militants were arrested in Tallafar after police forces returned fire that targeted a police station. A sniper was killed and a site for making explosives and containing gas-masks as well as light weapons ammunition was discovered in the same incident.
The statement said security also arrested five terrorists in Diyala and Miqdadiyah and added four of them were members of a cell of former Baathis.
The statement also reported confrontations north of the capital, Baghdad, and operations there resulted in the arrest of four known terrorists, including a leader of a terrorist cell. Another 13 were also arrested in Hilla, south of Baghdad.
Security forces also set up and arrested nine other militants and arrested one who impersonated a police officer in Ramadi, western Iraq, according to the same statement.
Meanwhile, the toll of a car blast in Kazmiyah yesterday is reported as five injuries among police officers in western Iraq as well.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 14:16 ||
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I'd be a lot happier if these headlines that say "Iraqis Arrest 73 Terrorists" were followed up the next day by headlines that say "Iraqis Execute 73 Terrorists". I worry that many of these guys will be released and arrested again and again...
BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 -- Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, witnesses, residents and others in the city and surrounding villages said.
A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."
Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians seen as government-allied or anti-Islamic, witnesses, residents and others said. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a woman lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."
U.S. Marine spokesman Capt. Jeffrey Pool said Marines had no word of any unusual activity in Qaim, but added it was possible that insurgents were acting in areas out of Americans' sight.
Qaim, within a few miles of the Syrian border, has been a major stronghold for insurgents ferrying fighters, weapons and money from Syria into the rest of Iraq along a network of Euphrates River towns.
Many of the towns along the river have appeared to be heavily under the insurgents' domination, despite repeated Marine offenses along the river since May. Residents and Marines have described insurgents escaping ahead of the offensives, and returning when the offensives are over.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/05/2005 11:06 ||
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#1
I screwed up the posting some how. EFL. Also go to the link for the WaPo nifty on-line casualty counter. Not exactly, but close.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/05/2005 11:09 Comments ||
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#2
All is lost. World ends today v128.3
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/05/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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#3
Don't you just LOVE it when they assemble in one place openly? A place that shows up nicely on visual imagery and for which we have the coordinates will mapped?
Idiots. Let them get nice and comfy there, so that the leaders settle in .... first.
Rational reason: Zarqawi's mob has always pursued a strategy that was about winning a battle of wills with the US. Given public opinion polls about Iraq, and the beating that Bush is taking about New Orleans, they see this is a chance deliver a fatal body-blow to US resolve. They'll try to force a bloody, Fallujah-like battle in Qaim that will be a decisive military loss for them, but a political victory as the Dems and MSM does an utter meltdown and declares that we've lost in Iraq.
Irrational reason: Allah has sent a mighty storm to punish the infidels! Now is the time to strike! With His aid, we will destroy the Americans and thier Shia / Kurdish allies!
Posted by: Pat Phillips ||
09/05/2005 15:05 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, that's how they think.
Too bad they don't understand how the Marines think. The question will be whether they have enough civilian population hostage to hold us back.
#6
i think the coalition's tactics against terrorist urban control centers has been getting better ever since Fallujah.
Once the operations are concluded in a neighboring sector, the lessons and intel is used in the next center.
The terrorists long ago won the hearts and minds of the BBC, CNN, NPR, etc. However, these hearts and minds were already inclined in their direction anyway.
#7
Won mhw? They have always been full blown supporters unless they were imbeds.
When the civil war comes the lawyers and Jurnos will be the first against the wall. They are as a whole group on the other side and against everyting and I mean everything most of us hold dear about our country and way of life.
One town near the Syrian boreder does not a country make or a problem create, it's just one more spot to hunt them down and kill them in.
I don't lump all the journos and lawyers together, although I admit I've lumped all of CNN and NPR together.
There are some good reporters even at these orgs.
And many lawyers have done greatwork in the GWOT. After all lawyers are representing antiCAIR for free, suing the Arab Bank and PA, etc.
You are correct of course in the general sense. Frankly I'm not sure how to put this to convey the general sense and also allow for the fact that there are exceptions. I guess I could use standard qualifiers but it seems stupid sounding
#9
The 1% that get it right can't redeem them all mhw. I wish it could. The MSM is trying to remake this country into something they want, not what we need or want. If that is their desire I think they should run for office not subvert our society and cultures.
You can't get anything done in the country without having to screw with Lawyers. For instance why do we import so much of our energy? Ask the lawyers that sue every times someone tries a project. You don't have a person that truly represents you in Congress or the Senate? Oh yea thats right the trial Lawyers and Lobbists (ex lawyers) have their ears. BTW that Senator or Congressmsn might just be a multi-millionare trial lawyer too. Last time a lawyer protected me? Never happened that I know of. The game is rigged. "We are a nation of laws." Laws that profit whom and are written by whom? Oh yea Lawyers. Not me or you.
They should be in fear of us not the other way around. Against the wall or a 22 LR into the base of the skull. Get our Bill of Rights and Constitution back.
We can't attack Sir, the lawyers say we can't. Right, that's going to win us the WOT.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/05/2005 19:46 Comments ||
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11A5S,
The Black Flag with the Kalima in white text is regarded as the flag of Jihad, while the inverse is the flag of the Khilifah. Most hardcore Jihadi groups affiliated with Al Qaeda uses some variation of the black flag.
Basayev's has a sword beneath the text, Zarqawi's Tawhid Wal Jihad used a Sun etc.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/05/2005 20:36 Comments ||
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#13
So when is Cindy and LA, etal. going to declare local independence from Dubya and America's New Orleans-destroying federalist system andor republican form of Gummint, and demand international protection from the Commie Airborne!? Hillary now has to become POTUS in order for the USA to conduct diplomatic negotiations with Cindy!?
#14
Thanks, Paul. Where then, do the green banners come in? I read the history of the conquest of the Indus Valley, and I recall that the Arab armies had green banners.
#15
Well Green is the colour of Islam, probably due to the positive connotations the colour had due to Oases in ancient Arabia.
The Prophet supposedly carried a black flag into battle. I think the use of Green Flags came later, and even later still came the use of the Crescent and Moon as a symbol of Islam. But since Salafis are back to basics kind of people, they usually use the oldest symbolism.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/05/2005 22:56 Comments ||
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At least two Iraqi police officers have been killed and several wounded in a surprise attack by insurgents on the interior ministry building in Baghdad. About 30 gunmen in 10 cars carried out the dawn raid using automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades. Although Baghdad is a frequent scene of violence, attacks on heavily-guarded government buildings are very rare.
The attack lasted about 10 minutes, police said, and about five police officers were reported wounded.
The attackers withdrew after the short clash. It was not clear if there were any casualties on their side.
The bloodshed came as campaigning got under way for a referendum on a contentious new constitution for Iraq... Done for publicity only? 30 men in 10 cars attack a hardened target for five minutes. That makes little sense.
#1
Not strange at all. They have a short window of time before quick reaction teams show up. Bank robbers don't hang around waiting for SWAT teams to show up. Smart terrorists don't either.
#4
Wonder if the circling Predators are simply tracking them back to their safe houses?
We don't have tens of thousands of Predators circling around in the air. Baghdad's a big city with lots of cars. Guerrillas don't put big red X's on their vehicles so surveillance drones can immediately identify them. The reason guerrillas time their attacks is the same reason that bank robbers time their bank jobs - they need to skedaddle before the cavalry rides into town.
#5
Predators don't circle forever. Global Hawks, however, can surveill a location for over 24 hours. And satellites for much longer. It's a question of a) whether that area was under surveillance at the time and b) matching evidence from the ground to the images.
It can be needles in a haystack to find, but for very high value targets is done.
#6
I say this was a PR assignment,Z-Man letting everyone in the west know he's still got capabilities. You must remember,for the enemy to fight back means America cannot win to lots of Americans and all Europeans.
#7
FO: I say this was a PR assignment,Z-Man letting everyone in the west know he's still got capabilities. You must remember,for the enemy to fight back means America cannot win to lots of Americans and all Europeans.
Actually, I would say that this is routine. Their goal isn't to overrun anything - it's to do the most damage they can within a set period of time, before our guys show up, and then get out of dodge. Why so many attackers? Because that's how you minimize friendly casualties - you go in with overwhelming force. This is why we send a few dozen men after one terrorist suspect. It's simple math - if you're an attacker, 60 rifles firing against 12 rifles is better than 12 rifles firing against 12 rifles.
Al Qaeda group in Iraq, which is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Sunday praised in an Internet statement what it said was the "start of the collapse" of the United States after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. "Congratulations to the Islamic nation, to our sheikh Osama abu Abdullah (Osama bin Laden) and to sheikh Ayman Zawahiri (bin Laden's deputy) for the destruction of America, which is at the forefront of evil. It is the start of its collapse."
The statement was referring to the hurricane which left some 10,000 dead. In recent days, Islamists website connected between the storm and the "US war against Islam." According to them, Katrina was sent by God to torment the American empire.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 02:41 ||
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#1
I would expect this 'Little Glove Slap' from Zark, wanting to accept browny points, however easily he forgets that Rome (a coastal power also) ruled the world for nearly a thousand years, and was only subdued from within. At that rate, we have...Ohh 600+ years more to taunt him, by which time he will be as fine a dust as say...talcum powder!!
#2
Heh. He has the belief that these mere men created Katrina. I suppose that, by extension, that Bush is to blame for the Christmas Tsunami that struck all the muslim countries in the Indian ocean basin?
Nah. It ONLY works THEIR way, and ONLY to their advantage. That's because they've got the mentality of children and the self-centeredness that brings with it.
#3
Get in line Zboy: Translations at WatchingAmerica
The most unexpected is an opinion piece from Israel Insider: For me it seems clear that God is resorting to "a strong hand and an outstretched arm" to change the direction of the United States vis-a-vis Israel. (Anti Gaza withdrawal)
Posted by: ed ||
09/05/2005 8:51 Comments ||
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Aside from the fact that anyone who really believes the stuff like this and similar idiots are spewing is a nutcake of the first order, they really don't grasp how big the United States is, do they?
Lawlessness in New Orleans after the hurricane? How is this different from N.O. before the hurricane? (Oh, yeah - after the hurricane the lawlessness was caught on camera and broadcast around the world.) Yet somehow the U.S. wasn't collapsing then, either.
Idiots.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/05/2005 9:54 Comments ||
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Let them watch and see how well we take care of our own in a real country, check the long run for those displaced by the storm, even now they are relocating all around the USA at fellow citizens homes. You didnt see the other Arab counries helping the "displaced" Palastiniens as we now help our displaced unfortunates from LA and MISS.
Posted by: bk ||
09/05/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#6
Arabs helping Palestinians -- what a joke. "Here's a token of appreciation for your dead suicide bomber son, and I hope your house doesn't get bulldozed..."
#7
These guys are simply extending the example of Sodom and Gomorrah to the US. I'm sure church pulpits will involve not a few sermons about the wages of sin - maybe a little further down the road. Here's one reference from a Christian website:
Just days before "Southern Decadence", an annual homosexual celebration attracting tens of thousands of people to the French Quarters section of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina destroys the city.
"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars. Last year, a local pastor sent video footage of sex acts being performed in front of police to the mayor, city council, and the media. City officials simply ignored the footage and continued to welcome and praise the weeklong celebration as being an "exciting event". However, Hurricane Katrina has put an end to the annual celebration of sin.
On the official "Southern Decadence" website (www.SouthernDecadence.com), it states that the annual event brought in "125,000 revelers" to New Orleans last year, increasing by thousands each year, and up from "over 50,000 revelers" in 1997. This yearâs 34th annual "Southern Decadence" was set for Wednesday, August 31, 2005 through Monday, September 5, 2005, but due to massive flooding and the damage left by the hurricane, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has ordered everyone to evacuate the city.
The past three mayors of New Orleans, including Sidney Barthelomew, Marc H. Morial, and C. Ray Nagin, issued official proclamations welcoming visitors to "Southern Decadence". Additionally, New Orleans City Council made other proclamations recognizing the annual homosexual celebration.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge," he continued.
New Orleans was also known for its Mardi Gras parties where thousands of drunken men would revel in the streets to exchange plastic jewelry for drunken women to expose their breasts and to engage in other sex acts. This annual event sparked the creation of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series. Furthermore, Louisiana had a total of ten abortion clinics with half of them operating in New Orleans, where countless numbers of children were murdered at the hands of abortionists. Additionally, New Orleans has always been known as one of the "Murder Capitals of the World" with a rate ten times the national average.
"We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said. "May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
"[God] sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)
This is the kind of thing prevalent in every religious tradition - every time something bad happens, there's always the thought that some deity is sending the world at large a message. In Buddhism and Hinduism, it's karma. When Pat Robertson said his piece about 9/11, people got offended. But that's his role as a priest - it's not to raise everyone's self-esteem, but to ensure that his flock goes to heaven - they need to repent their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Jeremiah wasn't real popular, either.
What differentiates Zarqawi and Robertson is what they do. Robertson speaks out against what he considers sinful behavior because that is his calling as a priest. Zarqawi goes out and tries to bend people to his will by torturing and killing people. In that respect, Zarqawi resembles nothing so much as a roving Inquisitor.
#9
IOW, like the Hillaristas, Fascistas, and Kerrtites of 2004, will someone, anyone, everyone, please assassinate Dubya and the GOP! Dubya ordered or caused the Hurricane, ordered or caused the levees to break or knew that it were weak, is responsible for the State of LA and the City not being able to save NO, and ala AL SHARPTON is now practicing a "POLICY OF [PC] GENOCIDE" against NO's left-behinds the bulk of whom weirdly and mysteriously also happen to be black and poor African-Ameris. The USNG are deliberately shooting poor blacks left and right, indiscriminately at either Dubya's orders or with his and DHS knowledge. SHARPTON > Amers must stop Dubya and never allow these events to happen again - SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, TOTALITARIANISM, REGULATION, OWG AND ABSOLUTISM, NOW, D******* YOU ALL, FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN, THE FUTURE, AND OUR VERY LIVES, BESIDES OF COURSE SHARPTON'S FANCY CLOTHES, HOUSES, JEWELRY AND LIMOUSINES, D**** YOU -BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA................!? Yessssiirreeee, America's Federalist system, Repub form of Government, and Western Capitalist econ, etc. weirdly and myster just isn't strong enuff or good enuff to protect Clintonian Amerika's pro-Communist/Socialist
heartland - besides, NO should prove to everyone that Dubya is the de facto ANTICHRIST, not and never to be compared to Saint Bill Clinton and Clinton's magnificent Reagan = Repub = Dem = Socialist = Commie econ of the 1990's! Yep, the fault for NO's blacks staying poor or poorer is wholly, absolut and undeniably on Antichrist Dubya's head, not the leadership of the local/State Democratic Party.
Under the cover of a moonless night, U.S. soldiers on Sunday strung nearly a mile of razor-sharp concertina wire across the northern edge of a neighborhood dominated by insurgents to prevent them from fleeing without a showdown.
Several small teams of five or six troops quickly uncoiled spools of wire and fastened it along the deserted sidewalk of a broad thoroughfare. The cordon was intended to prevent insurgents from blending in with the hundreds of people who fled the city during heavy clashes Sunday.
"The idea is to trap them in Sarai or force them toward our checkpoints to the south," said Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, referring to the neighborhood that U.S. forces believe has served as a launching point for many attacks in the city. "We don't want them to slip out."
More than 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers entered Tall Afar on Friday in a broad sweep for insurgents who have held sway in the northern city since a previous U.S. invasion, and subsequent withdrawal, last September. In three days of fighting, as many as 200 insurgents have been killed, McMaster said. Two U.S. and four Iraqi soldiers have been wounded, none seriously.
The assault in Tall Afar, considered a transit point and logistics hub for insurgents operating across northern Iraq, is the largest on an Iraqi city since the invasion of Fallujah in November. Commanders say they believe that perhaps a few hundred insurgents remain in the city, but acknowledge that they do not know the exact number. Other than in Fallujah, where entrenched fighters battled advancing U.S. troops, most assaults on Iraqi cities have met little resistance, as insurgents have fled to surrounding areas or blended into the local population.
Soldiers here are hoping to prevent that from happening by converging from all directions on Sarai, the commanders say. Weeks before the invasion, the troops set up checkpoints on the roads to town and built an 80-mile berm around the city to stop vehicles from leaving.
About 500 people attempted to leave the city this weekend through the U.S.-manned checkpoints. At least one man suspected of kidnapping and beheading several residents in recent weeks was apprehended when he tried to leave the city with a group of children, McMaster said. When soldiers interviewed the children, they said they did not know the man but went with him because they had been threatened.
A cacophony of gunfire and explosions filled the air around Tall Afar on Sunday, the heaviest day of fighting since the invasion began. Soldiers continued methodically searching homes and questioning residents, frequently coming under small-arms fire that whistled overhead as they passed from house to house or leapt across gaps between rooftops.
Much of the shooting came from a series of deep, grooved valleys that divide the city. The valleys, dipping as low as 40 feet below street level, allow insurgents to stash weapons and move undetected. Soldiers have found large caches of explosives in the valleys and begun firing warning shots when they spot men of military age descending into them.
"With the geography and the buildings so close together, it's a complex terrain to fight in," said Capt. Noah Hanners, 26, of Chillicothe, Ohio, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's Blue Platoon, Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, which cleared several homes along the edge of a valley northeast of downtown Sunday.
Just after 9 a.m., Hanners's platoon used a sledgehammer to knock down the door of a two-story house made of large stone blocks. A woman wearing a purple abaya , or full-length cloak, and holding a baby ran toward them. "Already my husband is dead and you are breaking my house!" she shouted.
When shots rang out in the streets, she clutched her baby close to her chest. As a series of explosions grew closer, she sat down, rocked her baby and began to cry.
"Um, that's close. Very close," said Pfc. Hector Rodriguez, 20, of Buffalo, after an explosion rattled the windows.
Soldiers scrambled to set up shooting positions on the roof.
"We are receiving sniper fire," a voice over the platoon's radio said.
"Where from?" someone answered. No one knew. The platoon's machine gunner began shooting staccato bursts into the valley from the next roof.
"Who is that shooting?" Hanners asked over the radio.
"Blue saw team, we saw muzzle flashes from the south," came the response.
Another call over the radio said a Tall Afar resident working with the Army had identified an arms dealer in a house across the street. The soldiers gave the woman with the baby a voucher for $300 to repair her gate, redeemable at a nearby military base, and dashed next door.
By the time they reached that house, the suspected arms dealer and two other men had already been handcuffed and blindfolded by other members of the platoon.
"This is my nephew. He does not even live here," a woman in the house said as the men were led away.
"He was identified. That's what you get for selling weapons," a soldier said.
The soldiers continued to the last house on the block. They herded a family of nine into a living room and searched their belongings. A drawer of silverware crashed to the floor, startling the children.
"I am scared. We are all scared, but what are we supposed to do?" said the father, Shimsdain Muhammed, 40, an electrician, according to an account of his remarks provided by a military interpreter traveling with the unit. Muhammed told his children to wave and smile at the soldiers, who responded in kind. "I cannot tell them to leave, so we will do the best we can."
Suddenly, an explosion outside shattered the windows of the house, eliciting screams and confusion. It turned out to be a passing U.S. M1-A1 Abrams tank firing its main gun into the valley.
"This place is too much," another soldier said later, recounting the story to a friend.
Elsewhere Sunday in Tall Afar, an Iraqi army unit freed 35 hostages held in a house south of downtown, according to Maj. Gen. Khorsheed Salim, commander of the army's 3rd Division, which is heavily involved in the operation.
Soldiers in the western part of the city found a laboratory rigged with explosives, McMaster said. The lab also contained a chemical that burned the troops' throats and eyes when they entered. The Army is trying to identify the substance.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:58 ||
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Slightly off topic;
I believe the commander sited - H.R. McMaster was the company commander leading a Cavalry Squadron during the battle of 73 Easting in the first Gulf War.
I was there but not in his squadron - He was CPT McMaster back then, over in Second Squadron, 2ACR. Troop Commander (i.e. company commander), not a Squadron Commander (thats a LTC job).
A friggen dragoon for real. Good guy to have commanding the last heavy Armored Cavalry Regiment left in the active duty mix.
His guys had the hard point of contact at 73 easting agains the Tawaklana division.
"Tojour Pret" COL McMaster - never forget what you learned in the best damn cav regiment in the Army.
Maoists rebels set off a landmine under a security vehicle, blowing it high into the air and killing at least 23 policemen and a civilian in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, officials said on Sunday.
Three policemen were wounded in the blast, one critically.
The explosion occurred late on Saturday near the remote and impoverished Dantewada district, some 500 km (300 miles) south of the state capital, Raipur.
âAt least 23 policemen and a civilian were killed in the massive attack,â Chhattisgarh home minister Ramvichar Netam told Reuters by telephone from Raipur.
âThe explosion was so powerful that it blew the vehicle about 30 ft in the air. The vehicle was torn apart and it came crashing down with its occupants.â
Inspector general of police M.W. Ansari said the landmine had been planted close to a culvert along a forested stretch in the remote district that is known to be a Maoist stronghold.
Thousands have died in three decades of Maoist insurgency across eight Indian states. Rebels have killed politicians and policemen and blasted factories and government offices.
Last month, Maoists killed 10 people, including a lawmaker and a government official, in an ambush in Andhra Pradesh state. Andhra Pradesh neighbours Chhattisgarh.
The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of peasants and landless labourers in the countryâs rural hinterland, often holding their own courts to resolve disputes and killing officials they believe are corrupt.
Maoist rebels in Nepal fighting to overthrow the nationâs monarchy and their Indian counterparts vowed last week to join together to promote communism, reinforcing fears that the bloody insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom could spill over into India.
In August, Indiaâs home ministry said there were about 9,300 armed Maoist rebels in the country, adding that social and economic disparities in states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh were a key reason for the Maoistsâ influence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:48 ||
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huge social disparity isnt a good thing in the long run.
Posted by: bk ||
09/05/2005 12:10 Comments ||
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#2
A fitting tribute to Mao; history's greateast mass murderer is honored by a mass killing in his name
Posted by: an dalusian dog ||
09/05/2005 14:06 Comments ||
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Algerian security forces killed two terrorists in clashs that flared Sunday during a combing operation held in a forest area, 120 kilometers to the east of Algiers, a source said. The forces have seized two Kalashnikovs from the terrorists, who, the source said, belonged to the Salafi Group for Dawa and Combat (GSPC).The combing operation will continue to hunt down more terrorists, the source added.
Chairman of Algeria's National Reform MovementAbdullah JabAllah has called for national conciliation yesterday urging what he called "terrorists" to rejoin society by accepting a project for peace and national conciliation called for recently by President Abdul-Aziz Boutaflika. JabAllah described Boutaflika's recent proposal to be "more comprehensive than all former suggestions," adding that the movement has been seeking such a solid step for 15 years. But he criticized the proposal, though, saying it mainly deals with the social aspects of the situation without giving the proper political attention.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:44 ||
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Dozens of Asian fisherman and their three vessels are being held hostage in Somalia by pirates who have demanded a $1.5 million ransom, officials said. The Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Ministry has said that the Somali gunmen threatened on Friday to start killing one hostage a day if the ransom was not paid within 48 hours. The hostages include three Taiwanese captains as well as 45 crew members from Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Vietnam. Gunmen have been holding the fishermen and their vessels near the southern Somali port of Kismayo since Aug. 15. They have demanded $500,000 for each of the boats and their crews, Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Ministry said. "Human right groups (and) civil society organizations are still engaged in negotiations with the hijackers to ensure the release of the hostages unharmed, by all means," Ali Bahsi, chairman of the Fanole Human Rights Center, a rights group in the Lower Juba region where the fisherman are being held, said Sunday.
Bahsi said that he last talked to the kidnappers on Friday and they assured him then that the fishermen were safe. Taiwan has asked for international help in contacting the gunmen, and talked to the hostage-takers last week in an effort to negotiate a lower ransom. A ship carrying international food aid to Somali tsunami victims has been held by gunmen since late June.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:43 ||
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#1
Somali pirates need some flame with naptha and palm oil or some equivalent to get the message across not to mess with people like that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/05/2005 2:00 Comments ||
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#2
What the hell were they doing anywhere near the coast of Somalia?
#4
My feeling is that these guys were fishing in Somali waters. Well - if you're going to do that - you really want to have some serious firepower on board.
Some UN agencies have urged nonessential staff to flee leave Afghanistan ahead of legislative elections this month, while the government warned that the Taliban are targeting aid workers, after a string of assaults on foreigners.
More than 1,100 people have been killed in the past six months, and US military commanders believe the violence may still worsen as rebels step up attacks to subvert the Sept. 18 elections, the next key step toward democracy after a quarter century of fighting.
UN spokesman Adrian Edwards told The Associated Press that some of the world body's agencies had urged some employees to run away take vacation during the elections because of fears of violence, though he noted that there had been no change so far in the official UN alert level. "The United Nations continues to monitor the security situation from Cyprus ," he said.
Emma Sutcliffe, a UN Development Program communications associate, said: "We have been encouraged to take R&R (rest and recreation), but it's not mandatory."
"For those who remain behind, there'll be cowering in the hotel bar minimal movement," she said.
Some other UN agencies though, including the World Food Program and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said they had not increased their security precautions.
US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said there had also been no change in the security status at the heavily guarded mission, though he said: "We are constantly assessing the threat situation."
News that some UN staff were being encouraged to leave came after Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal warned of more attacks. "They (militants) focus on soft targets attacking candidates, burning schools, aid workers," he told the AP. "But the security workers have also taken necessary measures to provide needed security." He said he was optimistic that the elections would be successful even though "al-Qaeda and the Taliban will try their best to disrupt peace and stability."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/05/2005 00:29 ||
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#1
Good riddance. UN ain't worth a shit anyhow.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/05/2005 1:54 Comments ||
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#2
CA---When are they going to flee New York? I think that all it will take is having them pay their parking tickets.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/05/2005 1:59 Comments ||
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Egyptian police have identified three suicide bombers who had carried out Sharm El-Sheikh attacks. The bombers â Mahmoud Mohamed Hammad, Mohamed Oudeh Saeed and Moussa Ghoneim â were identified through DNA tests. The three had travelled from the northern Sinai town of Al-Arish to carry out the attacks, police sources said. âTwo of the bombers, who rammed vehicles into a hotel and a market, used gas cylinders packed with explosives. The third bomber carried a bag with explosives,â they said.
Police said the group that carried out Sharm attacks was also behind the October bombings on Taba and nearby resorts, as well as an attack in August on a vehicle used by a multinational observer force. The attack injured two Canadian women peacekeepers. âThe group is led by an Egyptian of a Bedouin origin who believes that Muslims have to follow his orders without questioning,â said a security source. âHe managed to form terrorist groups in Sinai that do not know or have contacts with each other to avoid being caught by police,â the source told Arab News. Another source said that the group has no link with any international terrorist organization including Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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âTwo of the bombers, who rammed vehicles into a hotel and a market,
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Nothing succeeds like success. That wall is a nightmare to those who want a status quo of perpetual simmering war. The longer the Jews and Paleos are kept apart, the less Paleo leaders will be *effectively* able to blame Jews for all of their problems.
#2
Israel has no choice now. The die has been cast with the strategic withdrawl. They need a defensible perimeter NOW.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/05/2005 2:03 Comments ||
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#3
Very true,AP.But,with the settlers gone the Isralie army doesn't have to expend resources protecting them.When(not if,when)an attack happens the Isralies can now go in with no holds barred,and both hands free.That's something Hamas and friends haven't considered and will regret.
#4
To expand on Raptor's comment, I believe Abu Mazen put the schedule for statehood in Gaza a year from now.
Now, WHY a year? Why not declare NOW and get a seat at the UN NOW?
Because the moment they become a nation, they fall under the law of nations and get the responsibilites, as well as the privileges, of nationhood. No one knew this better than Arafat, who properly saw disengagement as an unmitigated disaster rather than an opportunity.
Bangladeshâs security minister yesterday said two militant outfits were responsible for Aug. 17 serial blasts in which 2 people were killed and 100 others were injured, sources said. State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar disclosed that militants of outlawed Islamist outfit Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and ultra-left Maoist group Jana Juddha were responsible for the bombings. âTwo evil forces of JMB and Jana Juddha have joined hands and primary investigations suggest that they were behind the Aug. 17 bomb blasts,â he told reporters in Dhaka.
In reply to a question, Babar said since there is still apprehension of threat, law enforcers had been asked to remain on high alert to foil any such incident in future. He said militants at the grass-root and secondary levels were arrested for their links with the blasts. Security forces have arrested about 200 people over the wave of bombings and have tightened security amid concerns of more attacks, the minister said. âWe donât rule out chances of more attacks and so have been taking further measures to avert it,â Babar told reporters after meeting senior police and intelligence officials.
Police said many of those arrested confessed to being members of Jamatul Mujahedeen and of being involved in the bombing attacks. âThey have given information suggesting that not only Islamic militants but other terror groups were also involved in the bombings,â Babar said. âWe are updating security everywhere, including plans to install close-circuit cameras at street corners.â
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Odd, since the Islamists have been killing the Maoists with state sponsorship for years.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/05/2005 3:31 Comments ||
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The ruling coalition government in Bangladesh plans to shut down madrasas, which they claim were being used as militant training camps, a report said yesterday. The Home Ministry was preparing a list of madrasas which reportedly served as camps to train cadres of the Jamatul Mujahedeen militant group how to use weapons. The Bangladesh Observer daily said the government was also seeking detailed information on the alleged training facilities offered by the madrasas, including the arms used and whether special skills on making explosives were also taught.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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Several intelligence reports, considered classified information, published in a Bangla language daily on Saturday, have created sensation in the country. The Daily Manavzamin published the report â titled "An Intelligence Report and%u2026" â giving details of intelligence findings. The heads of intelligence agencies remained tight-lipped. The report highlighted an intelligence report of 2002 that had warned of a possible assassination plot against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The report said 12 people had taken commando training at a secret location on the India-China border to carry out the assassination.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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A bomb killed a candidate in Afghanistanâs upcoming parliamentary elections as eight policemen, two militants and a civilian were killed in a bloody countdown to the polls, officials said yesterday. Parliamentary candidate Habibullah Khan from the Garmser district of Helmand province, 600 kilometers south of Kabul, was severely wounded by a bomb placed at the door of his house early yesterday, district police chief Deljan said. He later died in hospital. âThis was a mine planted for him in front of his gate by the enemies of peace and stability,â he added, without blaming the attack on any group. Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the ousted Taleban regime.
In Dishu district also in Helmand province, police chief Haji Amanullah was killed by the Taleban along with his son and three bodyguards in an ambush which left two militants dead. âIn the exchange of fire all five including the police chief were killed and two Taleban bodies were also left in the area,â Haji Mohammed Wali, the spokesman for the Helmand governor, told AFP.
In the southern province of Zabul four Afghan policemen were killed in two separate attacks. Three officers guarding a convoy transporting goods to US bases were killed Saturday when it came under fire from Taleban insurgents. The convoy was on its way from the provincial capital Qalat to US bases in Shinkay district 350 kilometers south of Kabul, said Shinkayâs District Governor Rozi Khan. After the exchange of fire the convoy turned back to Qalat. Zabul, which shares a long mountainous border with Pakistan, is one of the provinces worst hit by the insurgency. A purported Taleban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, claimed responsibility for the convoy attack in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.
Another policeman was killed in the neighboring Shah Joy district of Zabul in a Taleban attack on the main highway linking the southern city of Kandahar with Kabul. âOne policeman was killed and two were wounded in a one-hour exchange of fire after the Taleban attacked a Kabul-Kandahar highway checkpoint,â Ghulam Nabi Mullah Khail, the highway police commander, told AFP. The Taleban also claimed responsibility for that attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/05/2005 00:00 ||
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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.
Police fought running gun battles with Al-Qaeda militants in an eastern Saudi Arabian city in clashes that killed two extremists and a police officer, a Saudi official said.
Security forces killed a wanted terrorist and wounded another following a gunbattle with the pair in the eastern city of Dammam. Eyewitnesses told Arab News that security forces were also besieging a building in the city where three suspects were trapped. Heavy gunfire was heard after residents of nearby buildings were evacuated.
Two men residents called well-known âwell-diggingâ contractors were arrested early yesterday with a cache of explosives during massive security raids in Jeddah that also netted more than 600 overstayers. Arab News was there when two other men were arrested on charges of possession of police clothing and forged passports. The suspects denied ownership of the items when confronted by police. 
A leading radical Islamist group which 
Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed three unarmed army soldiers, including a lieutenant, in an ambush yesterday in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, officials said. The soldiers, two of them former Moro rebels who were integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), were on their way to a mosque when the militants, whose group is tied to Al-Qaeda terror network, attacked them near the village of Karawan in Indanan town, said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of a military anti-terror task force. âThe trio were unarmed and on a private jeep on their way to the mosque to pray when suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists ambushed them. They were killed instantly,â Aleo said by phone from a command post in Indanan town where troops mounted a pursuit operation against the attackers.
A huge explosion has rocked the centre of Gaza City, killing at least four people and injuring 20 others. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast that destroyed several properties in the eastern Shajaiyeh situated near the border with Israel. One of the houses is understood to belong to a well-known family of Hamas supporters, Palestinian police said. 
Al Qaeda group in Iraq, which is led by 
Algerian security forces killed two terrorists in clashs that flared Sunday during a combing operation held in a forest area, 120 kilometers to the east of Algiers, a source said. The forces have seized two Kalashnikovs from the terrorists, who, the source said, belonged to the 
Dozens of Asian fisherman and their three vessels are being held hostage in Somalia by pirates who have demanded a $1.5 million ransom, officials said. The Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Ministry has said that the Somali gunmen threatened on Friday to start killing one hostage a day if the ransom was not paid within 48 hours. The hostages include three Taiwanese captains as well as 45 crew members from Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Vietnam. Gunmen have been holding the fishermen and their vessels near the southern Somali port of Kismayo since Aug. 15. They have demanded $500,000 for each of the boats and their crews, Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Ministry said. "Human right groups (and) civil society organizations are still engaged in negotiations with the hijackers to ensure the release of the hostages unharmed, by all means," Ali Bahsi, chairman of the Fanole Human Rights Center, a rights group in the Lower Juba region where the fisherman are being held, said Sunday.
Egyptian police have identified three suicide bombers who had carried out Sharm El-Sheikh attacks. The bombers â 
The ruling coalition government in Bangladesh plans to shut down madrasas, which they claim were being used as militant training camps, a report said yesterday. The Home Ministry was preparing a list of madrasas which reportedly served as camps to train cadres of the Jamatul Mujahedeen militant group how to use weapons. The Bangladesh Observer daily said the government was also seeking detailed information on the alleged training facilities offered by the madrasas, including the arms used and whether special skills on making explosives were also taught.
Several intelligence reports, considered classified information, published in a Bangla language daily on Saturday, have created sensation in the country. The Daily Manavzamin published the report â titled "An Intelligence Report and%u2026" â giving details of intelligence findings. The heads of intelligence agencies remained tight-lipped. The report highlighted an intelligence report of 2002 that had warned of a possible assassination plot against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The report said 12 people had taken commando training at a secret location on the India-China border to carry out the assassination.
A bomb killed a candidate in Afghanistanâs upcoming parliamentary elections as eight policemen, two militants and a civilian were killed in a bloody countdown to the polls, officials said yesterday. Parliamentary candidate Habibullah Khan from the Garmser district of Helmand province, 600 kilometers south of Kabul, was severely wounded by a bomb placed at the door of his house early yesterday, district police chief Deljan said. He later died in hospital. âThis was a mine planted for him in front of his gate by the enemies of peace and stability,â he added, without blaming the attack on any group. Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the ousted Taleban regime.
