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Rantburg
531688 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 61 articles and 160 comments as of 10:56.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
Today's Headlines
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--Tech & Moderator Notes
Bug list and requests
Having reworked the main page, we can now track down and kill the bugs I've let in. I've also reworked the individual article page under the hood, so there might be a few there.

And for the mods, there will be a new crop of bugs associated with the poster and editor.

Hence this: a spotlight to shine on bugs.

Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 10:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  clicking on one of the pages seems to return always to Pg 1 WOT. (FF 11.0)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  actually, it just pushes PG 1 to the top
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Clicking where? I can't make it do that...
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 11:07 Comments || Top||

#4  I meant the index of the day's articles loads with WOT always at top. You used to load with the current page index at top, IIRC. No big deal, just a change.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 15:07 Comments || Top||

#5  You happy now?
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 15:15 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm always happy :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 15:28 Comments || Top||

#7  requests... I'd like a snark of the day added somehow. We've got some really funny folks here and it would be a crime to miss one. The moderators can decide and put a link on the front page or something. I don't know if it would be practical but it would be fun in the upcoming election season to be armed with potential quips.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/21/2012 15:34 Comments || Top||

#8  The numbers in the views/comments field aren't clear as to what they mean. Should probably be separated into two different fields. If the views is 49 and comments is 0, it looks sort of like 490, even though they're different colors.
Posted by: gromky || 04/21/2012 16:46 Comments || Top||

#9  The "Phoebe Clayton" and "Hair through the ages" links are borked and should be removed.`
Posted by: gromky || 04/21/2012 16:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Fred, when you get a chance, take a look at the Name Link. It showed up queerly in today,s article in the Recent Articles list, though it looks fine in today's article under Editor:

reports that Wilders target=_blank>Wilders felt he had
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 17:36 Comments || Top||

#11  Similar to #8 gromky - Sometimes I like to just check the comments later in the day, currently the comment number is difficult to distinguish. Good job anyhow.
Posted by: Kojack || 04/21/2012 18:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Thinking about it; maybe comment # can come before view #?
Posted by: Kojack || 04/21/2012 18:32 Comments || Top||

#13  I concur with #11 and #12 - I can't easily tell how many comments there are - usually the most interesting articles are the ones with lots of comments.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/21/2012 18:35 Comments || Top||

#14  I'm also not a fan of the color of the comment boxes. The drab mustard yellow with blue text is kind of hard to read.
Posted by: gromky || 04/21/2012 19:01 Comments || Top||

#15  I also, really don't care about the number of views. I care about comments. That's where the Rantburg action is.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 04/21/2012 19:10 Comments || Top||

#16  That means the main page's comment boxes, the color on the individual articles is the same as it always was and isn't too bad.
Posted by: gromky || 04/21/2012 19:13 Comments || Top||

#17  See if you like this way better, with the number of comments, last commenter, and [number of views]
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 19:25 Comments || Top||

#18  When the number of views increases, the number of comments correlatingly increases. This is because on Rantburg you have to reload the same article multiple times if you want to see if anyone is replying to your comments.
Posted by: gromky || 04/21/2012 19:34 Comments || Top||

#19  The typeface it a little bit larger, I see. Thanks from this blind-as-a-bat commenter - it certainly makes it easier.

Other than that, do whatever you want - I'm just grateful you do it. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 04/21/2012 20:59 Comments || Top||

#20  Barb, you can increase text size by pressing Ctrl + together. Ctrl - decreases text size.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/21/2012 22:36 Comments || Top||

#21  Fred, my comments are appearing but not my postings. Any ideas?
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2012 23:19 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan militants 'planning huge' attack held in Kabul
Coming across the PAK border in large trucks, has been for years. Taliban pay off Afghan Border Patrol (ABP) and haul it in. Welcome to the Spring Offensive.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 07:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How many times have they had to lick and kiss fingers over there after they were pulled out of their allies butts!?!


Following the 9/11 attacks, al-Thani was named a defendant in lawsuits stemming from the attacks. His attorney said al-Thani did not facilitate “terrorist acts,” but would not deny that al-Thani assisted terrorists. The U.S. government has not taken any action against al-Thani in the years since 9/11, despite his known connections with al-Qaeda. As of late 2007, al-Thani continues to oversee Qatar’s internal security, while his country hosts the U.S. military’s Central Command for the Iraq war.
Posted by: Black Bart Spaimble1603 || 04/21/2012 8:14 Comments || Top||

#2  From the article:

The five suspects had confessed that the planned attack was co-ordinated by two Taliban commanders with links to Pakistan's main intelligence organisation the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), according to the spokesman.

ToloNews adds the names of the Taliban commanders: Noor Afzal and Mohammed Omer.

Ay Pee adds the truck had Pakistani licence plates.

Thus far the mighty spring offensive has been a bit of a dud, though a great deal of thought and effort has gone into planning the first round.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Remain me again---what are you doing in Afghanistan?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 13:40 Comments || Top||

#4  what are you doing in Afghanistan?

Killing them over there, so they don't come here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 14:11 Comments || Top||

#5  #3 Remain me again---what are you doing in Afghanistan?
g(r)omgoru, trying to capture Bin Laden I think, although there might have been a bit of mission creep in the interim.
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2012 14:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Ever looked at stats on Islamic emigration to USA before and after 911, TW?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 14:26 Comments || Top||

#7  He's got a point there.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/21/2012 16:03 Comments || Top||

#8  How many of the Taliban are Pakistani?
Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 || 04/21/2012 17:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Ever looked at stats on Islamic emigration to USA before and after 911, TW?  

No I haven't, g(r)omgoru. But I do remember the Muslims fleeing for the exits after 9/11, when they were required to register to show they were here legally. It seems an awful lot of them had overstayed visas, then brought over all their relations -- NPR did a heart-wrenching story at the time, which I don't seem able to find, of Muslim families lined up at the border crossings to Canada, having left lovely homes and small business ventures behind, because they didn't want to be deported back to Pakistan, etc. The government program, one of the first visible impacts of the passing of the Patriot Act, was called the National Security Exit and Entry Registration System (NSEERS). This story gives a little of the history.

On reflection, I wonder what impact those returnees had on their home countries. However much they might resent America for driving them away, they clearly appreciated the opportunities for success and the rule of law which they became accustomed to here.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 17:24 Comments || Top||

#10  How many of the Taliban are Pakistani?

Almost of the Pakistani Talibs, I should think, and some of the Afghan ones. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||

#11  Sameness : Baghdad : Also : Next Week : Campaign : WATCH Blammo Boom Ratta aratt,,,ttt
Posted by: Lampedusa Slunter3728 || 04/21/2012 21:13 Comments || Top||

#12  "Loose Lips ..." is obligatory.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/21/2012 22:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
[An Nahar] Rebels in Sudan's Blue Nile said on Friday that they had killed 79 government troops and cut-throats in two ambushes in the ethnically divided state near the border with South Sudan.

The attacks came on Tuesday and Wednesday in roughly the same area, mountainous terrain about 35 kilometers south of the state capital Ed Damazin, said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, front man for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

The group, which was a civil war ally of the former rebels who now rule independent South Sudan, has been fighting for several months in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, both of which border the South.

Sudan's army front man could not immediately be reached.

Lodi, whose forces deny being supported by the South, said there has been an upsurge in fighting in Blue Nile since border festivities between Sudan and South Sudan escalated last week with waves of air strikes hitting the South, and Juba seizing the North's Heglig oil hub on April 10.

Heglig is part of South Kordofan.

Lodi alleged Khartoum is using the Heglig standoff as an opportunity to mobilize militias and other fighters against the SPLM-N.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Rebels Kill 11 Central African Border Troops in Sudan
[An Nahar] Eleven Central African troops belonging to a regional border task force were killed in Sudan by rebels using gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, officials said Friday.

"We deplore 11 deaths and nine maimed on the Central African side. The attack targeted the headquarters of the tripartite force based in Sudan in the Am Dafok region," a government source in Bangui said, adding the incident took place on Wednesday.

The attackers "armed with heavy weapons, including rocket-launchers, RPG7s, grenades and vehicles mounted with machine guns, launched their assault on the Sudanese army base at Am Dafok, on the Sudanese side of the border, on Wednesday around 13H00 GMT," a Central African officer told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"The base also housed Central African soldiers belonging to the tripartite force" comprised of troops from Sudan, Chad and Central Africa responsible for monitoring the border, the officer added.

The bodies of the dead and maimed have been taken to Bangui.

The African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) is investigating the incident, spokeswoman Susan Manuel said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Sudan Says Heglig Oil Field 'Liberated' from South Forces
[An Nahar] Sudanese forces have retaken the main town in the Heglig oil region 10 days after South Sudanese troops seized it, the defense minister said on Friday.

"Our troops were able to liberate Heglig town by force, and captured it at 2:20 pm (1120 GMT) today," Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein announced on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
"The troops moved towards Heglig carefully so as not to destroy what remains of the infrastructure," he said, dressed in military fatigues.

"Our enemy suffered heavy losses in people and equipment," he added, after the army had maintained silence for several days about the situation on the ground.

Hussein is wanted by the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
for alleged crimes against civilians in Sudan's Darfur region several years ago.

His announcement came shortly after South Sudanese President Salva Kiir ordered the immediate withdrawal of his troops from Heglig, following intensified global diplomatic efforts to pull the two nations from the brink of wider war.

"The Republic of South Sudan announces that the SPLA (Southern army) troops have been ordered to withdraw from Panthou-Heglig," Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said, reading out a presidential statement.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Kenyan court hands 20-year jail term to 11 Somalis
(Sh.M.Network)- Eleven Somalis were on Thursday sentenced to a 20-year jail term for attacking a French naval ship.

Mombasacourt Principal magistrate Mr S.K. Gacheru declined to have the accused serve their sentence inSomaliaas they had pleaded during mitigation.

Mr Gacheru instead ordered that they be deported toSomaliaupon completion of their sentence.The court noted that the offence was serious and that it had endangered the lives of the crew of the French naval ship, Nivose.

The magistrate said the offence called for a deterrent sentence to act as a warning to others who might have the intention of committing a similar offence.

The accused are Ahmed Abikadir,Abdirahim Mohamed,Abdullahi Salat,Abdullahi Yusuf,Abdullahi Mohamud,Abdi Dahir,Ahmed Maalim,Ahmed Hassan,Ahmed Mohamed,Abshir Ahmed and Omar Ibrahim.

They allegedly committed the offence while armed with two AK 47 rifles, an RPG 7, six RPG launchers and a knife attacked the naval ship on May 3 2009 upon the high seas.

State counsel Catherine Mwaniki urged the court to impose a harsh sentence on the accused citing the seriousness of the offence and economic costs incurred.

"The accused are not of Kenyan origin, their nationalities have not been established, there are no records of their previous convictions in the country and that they may be treated as first offenders" Ms Mwaniki added.

Lawyer Ng'etich Samson representing the accused called upon the court to consider that the accused did not board the naval ship during the incident and that at no point was ransom paid.

The judgement was prepared by Principal magistrate Karimi Mwangi who has since been transferred but was delivered by Mr Gacheru.

The eleven pirates now join list of other Somalis who have been convicted and sentenced by Kenyan courts foir piracy in the high seas.

Kenya prosecuted its first piracy case in the year 2006 and has since been receiving and prosecuting suspected Somali pirates captured by international forces patrolling international theIndian Ocean.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Mogadishu clashes kill 1, injures 10 people
(Sh. M. Network)- At least one person was killed and ten others were maimed in a renewed festivities between Somali government forces in the lawless capital,Mogadishu, locals said on Friday.

A witness told Shabelle Media that the fighting sparked after TFG military army attacked a cop shoppe at Howlwdag junction, just few inches from the main Bakaro market in Mogadishu, killing a passerby, wounding 10 others.

The victimized were rushed immediately to the medical centers inMogadishuby ambulance services for treatment. The reason of the combat is yet unclear.

Some Somali government military officials whom Shabelle Media contacted on the line for comments,declined to talk about the internal fighting between the soldiers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


AU troops in Somalia makes gains
MOGADISHU: African Union troops in Somalia said Friday they took control of Al-Qaeda allied Al-Shabab insurgent bases on the outskirts of Mogadishu, the latest loss for the extremist fighters.

Burundian troops with the AU force seized areas of the capital’s Banadir district late Thursday, including securing the Deynile airstrip, part of long-running efforts to drive the militants from the city. Deynile commands access to the Afgoye corridor, an area some 30 kms northwest of Mogadishu which is controlled by Al-Shabab and is home to the world’s largest concentration of internally displaced people.

No Al-Shabab official was immediately available for comment.
They were fleeing running away.
Some 410,000 people, around one third of all the displaced people in Somalia, were still living in the Afgoye corridor at the start of the year, fleeing war or drought, according to figures from the UN refugee agency.

A regional offensive has forced the Al-Shabab from many of their strongholds, with Ethiopian troops fighting in the west, AU troops in Mogadishu pushing to the outskirts of the city, and Kenyan troops battling in the south. However, the Al-Shabab say they have now begun setting up new bases in Somalia’s northern Puntland region and deny being weakened by the assaults.
"Just a flesh wound!"
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Didn't they do this before? Like multiple times?

When are they just going to say, "Screw it" and raze Mogadishu to the ground?
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/21/2012 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Because Mog acts as a roach motel for Somalis and they just keep going back there, time and time again. That way, at least you know where the largest concentrations of them are.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 04/21/2012 3:02 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mali junta frees 22 top officials
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Relative calm has returned to Mali after the junta that zeized power in a coup last month release 22 high ranking officials.

The junta explained that former Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé and other officials, who had been placed in long-term storage early this week, would remain under the watch of the gendarmerie (a department of the armed forces).

Last Wednesday, the gendarmerie displayed weapons it claimed were recovered after the arrests although it did not give information on where the weapons were found.

Earlier, the National Assembly had asked for the relase of all civilians and military officials being held by the junta.

The parliamentarians adopted a resolution in which they condemned the declaration of Azawad State by MNLA rebels.

Parliament stated that Mali was "a sovereign, indivisible, laic and social republic".

They asked the rebels to surrender their weapons and to stop using foreign media to relay their message.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Obama urges Sudan, S. Sudan to avoid war
Obama the International Community Organizer In Chief.Isn't there anything the miracle worker can't do?
US President Barack Obama urged the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan on Saturday to stop the fighting between their countries and begin negotiations to settle their disputes, saying there was still a chance to avoid war.

In a videotaped message to the two bitter foes, Obama sought to prevent further escalation of border hostilities that have raised tensions to the highest level since South Sudan split away as an independent country in July, taking with it most of the country's known oil reserves.
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2012 14:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Suspected Bokoboyz Kill 8 in Northern Nigeria
[An Nahar] Suspected members of Islamist group Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie...
have killed at least eight people, including a policeman, in separate attacks in restive northern Nigeria, police said Friday.

The attacks, which also maimed a policeman, occurred in three different cities, with most of the violence in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in Nigeria's northeast where Boko Haram has been based.

"Five people were killed yesterday by gunnies suspected to be Boko Haram, in a bakery. All five were laborers in the bakery, located in the Polo area of Maiduguri," Borno state police commissioner Bala Hassan told Agence La Belle France Presse.

He said two gunnies stormed the bakery with guns concealed in a sack and shot the five dead. The attackers decamped before police arrived, he said.

Hassan said a customs officer was rubbed out on Wednesday at Gamboru market in Maiduguri, while a water vendor was also killed in another area of the city on the same day.

In nearby Yobe state, police front man Toyin Gbadegeshin told AFP a policeman was killed outside his house in the state capital on Thursday.

"We lost a policeman to unidentified gunnies who trailed and killed him outside his house at Pawari neighborhood of Damaturu," he said, adding that Boko Haram was suspected.

In yet another attack, a policeman was maimed by gunnies who opened fire on him outside a petrol station in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's north.

Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of shootings and kabooms, mostly in northern Nigeria, in an increasingly deadly insurgency that has killed more than 1,000 people since 2009.

Criminal groups have also carried out violence and robberies under the guise of Boko Haram.

The U.S. embassy in Nigeria warned Wednesday that Boko Haram may be planning attacks against hotels or other targets in the Nigerian capital Abuja, but the government downplayed the alert and said there was no cause for alarm.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
War On Militants Continues As Yemen Prepares For Car Bombs Targeting LNG Plant
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni forces seized a number of al-Qaeda positions as they advanced toward Zinjibar, the capital of southern Abyan province, which was held by beturbanned goons in mid-2011, the Defense Ministry said late on Thursday.

The forces fought the beturbanned goons and forced them out of their positions to take over them completely, it said.

The forces launched surprise attacks on the beturbanned goons from all directions around Zinjibar killing at least 18 of them and injuring tens of others, it added. Two soldiers were killed and seven others injured in the battles, it said.

In Lawder, another front where the army and popular fighters have been fighting beturbanned goons for almost two weeks, at least 14 beturbanned goons were killed. In this city, hundreds of al-Qaeda gunnies have been killed and injured when the forces and popular committees repelled attacks to occupy it.

Separately, the Interior Ministry reported al-Qaeda had planned to attack the Balhaf LNG plant with car booms. In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said al-Qaeda prepared six car booms and six jacket wallahs to attack the plant, which has been shut down for weeks. "In response to the bad boy plan, the security authorities were placed on high alert to thwart attacks," it said.

On March 30, al-Qaeda beturbanned goons bombed the pipeline which carries natural gas from Block 18 in Marib to the Balhaf terminal. The terminal shutdown due to the attack was behind the cancellation of six LNG cargoes, Yemen LNG said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  Is the turban franchise up for bid soon?
Posted by: Steven || 04/21/2012 21:49 Comments || Top||


25 Al-Qaeda fighters killed in Yemen clash
SANAA: Yemeni government troops launched a surprise attack in the south of the country to recapture an Al-Qaeda stronghold, killing 25 militants, an official said yesterday.

The official said the army succeeded in regaining control over one district on the outskirts of Zinjibar, but the rest of the provincial capital was still in Al-Qaeda’s hands.

A Defense Ministry statement yesterday said the offensive that started two weeks ago around another city in the southern Abyan province, Lawder, has so far killed 250 Al-Qaeda militants. Also, 37 Yemeni soldiers have died, it said.

In recent weeks, the Yemeni military has been hitting the militants in ground and air operations, while Al-Qaeda has carried out some bloody surprise attacks of its own against government forces.

Yemen’s government expressed determination.

“The war on terrorism will expand and reach all the terrorist elements; it will continue and will not stop until it curbs it and uproots it,” a statement yesterday from the Ministry of Interior read.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
UK Counterterrorism Police Detain 3 At Heathrow
UK police say three men flying in from Oman have been placed in durance vile at Heathrow Airport by counterterrorism officers.
 
West Midlands police says the men -- all from Birmingham, England -- were jugged Thursday night "on suspicion of possessing articles and documents with intent to use them for terrorist purposes overseas."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
15 die in a bar massacre in Chihuahua city -- UPDATED X4

For a map, click here For a map of Chihuahua state, click here.
This story will be updated as new information becomes available.


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of 15 individuals were shot to death and another two were wounded in a shooting at a bar in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday night, according to Mexican news accounts.

The shooting took place around 2100 hrs at the bar El Colorado near the intersection of calles Cipres and Gonzalez Cossio in Las Granjas colony.

The shooting followed a familiar pattern: at least ten armed suspects exited from five vehicles, entered the bar and began shooting. Some of the shooters appeared to be underaged. Upon exiting the bar, the shooters fired their weapons into the air to scare away onlookers before fleeing aboard their vehicles.

El Diario news daily reported that the seven armed suspects were dressed in black tactical gear with a skull patch on their uniform.
Commenters at BorderlandBeat.com are saying it was an armed group associated with the Nueve Gente alliance called Antrax.
The news daily also said one of the dead was an unidentified female and one of the wounded was also female, both employees of the bar. Tiempo news daily reported that an unknown number of musicians were among the victims.

Also among the dead were two journalists, Dr. Francisco Javier Moya, a news director at a Chihuahua city radio station and Hector Javier Salinas Aguirre, who owned the website futuro.mx.

Nine of the dead were identified also as: Rodolfo Cardona Lagos, 72, Federico Perez Moreno, 41, José Luis Vazquez Garcia, 64, Jorge Alberto Aragon Cerna, 47, Cristian Chavez Jaimes, 35, Jose Luis Herrera Pichardo, 59, Efren Anaya Vazquez , 48, Miriam Vazquez Torres, 25 and Arellanes Enemecio, 52.

Originally reported as 13, two of the victims died while receiving medical attention. The two remaining wounded are reportedly in delicate condition.

La Polaka news daily reports the attack was a response to the detention of La Linea leader Guillermo Castillo Rubio by Policia Federal agents in Queretero state last Wednesday. La Linea is the enforcement wing of the Juarez drug cartel.

La Linea has suffered a number of setbacks to their security structure due to intensified security in northern Mexico, especially in Chihuahua state and in Ciudad Juarez.

Last August Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, AKA "El Diego", was arrested following a brief firefight and pursuit by a special Polica Federal unit. At the time of his arrest, Acosta Hernandez was one of the bloodiest drug capos with a confessed 1,500 murders to his credit, including US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents.

His replacement, Arturo Bautista, 31, AKA El Mil Amores was detained in December in Juarez by Juarez municipal police agents at a safe house with three other associates.

According to press sources, Castillo Rubio has been forced to flee Chihuahua state due to increased pressure from police, and was conducting his enforcement operations from Queretaro state. Like Acosta Hernandez, he was detained by a Polica Federal special operations force.

A subtext in the detention of Castillo Rubio was that the Juarez cartel had not yet designated a replacement for Bautista following his detention four months ago, forcing Castillo Rubio to assume duties as La Linea chief. Castillo Rubio was Acosta Hernandez's boss during at least part of El Diego's reign of terror.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
TSA to search bags and question passengers in Houston buses
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 10:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


British shoe-bomb suspect testifies at NYC trial
[Dawn] In a videotaped deposition made public for the first time Thursday, a British man convicted in an aborted shoe-bombing mission admitted meeting with the late Osama bin Laden
... who has made the transition back to dust...
after deciding to fight jihad against the West.

US prosecutors and defense attorneys interviewed Saajid Badat just outside London late last month in preparation for the New York trial of Adis Medunjanin, accused in the 2009 plot to attack New York's subways with suicide bombs.

Badat said that he refused a request to testify in person because he remains under indictment in Boston on charges alleging he conspired with shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

"If I go to the United States, I'll be tossed in the calaboose," Badat said on the tape played for a jury on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn.

British authorities had revealed earlier this week that Badat would have a role in the Medunjanin prosecution, calling him the first person convicted in the United Kingdom on terrorism charges to agree to give evidence at the trial of alleged terrorists.

Badat, 33, pleaded guilty in Britannia to plotting with Reid to bring down separate American trans-Atlantic flights using bombs hidden in their shoes.

Unlike Reid, he backed out at the last minute.

"I agreed to take an explosive on an aircraft and explode it," he said in the video, looking clean-cut and wearing a suit.

He also testified that he had "direct interaction" with bin Laden "more than once" after traveling to Afghanistan in 1999.

At the time, he knew the terror network as "The Sheik's Group," with "sheik" referring to bin Laden.

Medunjanin is accused of traveling to Pakistain with two friends from his Queens high school in 2008 and receiving terror training from al-Qaeda

Prosecutors allege the men, including acknowledged criminal mastermind Najibullah Zazi, agreed to seek martyrdom by dying as jacket wallahs in an attack on Manhattan subway lines at rush hour.

Medunjanin, 27, a Bosnian-born naturalized US citizen, has pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, providing material support to a terrorist organization and other charges.

He has denied he was ever part of an al-Qaeda operation.

Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay pleaded guilty to the plot in 2010 and were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock without bail after agreeing to become government witnesses in a bid for leniency.

Both testified against Medunjanin earlier this week.

Badat had no involvement with the men.

Prosecutors instead want to use his testimony to corroborate what Zazi and Ahmedzay have said about al-Qaeda's leadership and training methods.

The British-born son of Malawi immigrants, Badat was 21 when he traveled to both Afghanistan and Pakistain.

While in Afghanistan, he was given an bomb designed to evade airport security and destroy an aircraft in flight, authorities said.

Badat returned to Britannia with the device on Dec 10, 2001.

He ended up stashing the bomb under a bed in his family home in Gloucester, England, and resumed his academic studies.

He later told authorities he backed out because he was hoping "to introduce calm into his life."

British intelligence tracked down Badat two years later and tossed in the calaboose after Sherlocks matched cords on Reid's device to those on Badat's bomb.

Badat was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

But British authorities announced this week that in 2009 a judge secretly reduced his sentence to 11 years to reward him for his cooperation in terror investigations.

The Brooklyn jury only heard about the first 10 minutes of the videotape, which lasts more than two hours.

The rest will be played when the trial resumes on Monday.

Reid attempted to bring down a plane in December 2001 and is serving a life sentence in a high-security US prison.
This article starring:
Adis Medunjanin
Najibullah Zazi
Saajid Badat
Zarein Ahmedzay
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


India-Pakistan
Karachi violence: Death toll rises to 14
[Dawn] At least 14 people were killed on Friday in firing incidents in different parts of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, DawnNews reported.

Unidentified gunnies on a cycle of violence shot three people at Qadaffy Chowk in the Orangi Town area. The shooters managed to escape from the scene of the crime.

In another part of Orangi Town, bullet riddled dead bodies of two kidnapped men were found. The bodies bore torture marks, DawnNews learnt. Two other people were rubbed out in Orangi.

Separately, a rickshaw driver was killed in a firing related incident at Teen Hatti.

Moreover, two people were rubbed out in the areas of Malir and New Sabzi-mandi at Super Highway.

Two people were rubbed out in Mominabad and one in Aligarh colony.

Furthermore, a man maimed in a shooting incident in Clifton on Thursday departed this vale of tears.

Home Minister takes notice

Home Minister Sindh Manzoor Wasan took notice of the deteriorating law and order situation and ordered the law enforcement agencies to establish peace in the metropolis.

Wasan ordered Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Bloody Karachi West to produce an investigative report on the killings in Orangi Town.

Speaking to DawnNews, Wasan said he had directed Inspector General (IG) Sindh to issue orders to the city's Station House Officers (SHOs) to patrol their respective areas and search suspected individuals.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rockets fired at Israel came from Libya
JERUSALEM: An Israeli defense official says rockets fired from Egypt toward Israel this month were smuggled from Libya.

Israel says at least two rockets were launched from Egypt’s Sinai desert at the Israeli resort town of Eilat. No one was hurt. Egypt denies the rockets were fired from its territory.

The Israeli official says Israel believes the rockets were stolen from a Libyan weapons storehouse and smuggled into Egypt. The official said Friday that Libyan rockets were also smuggled into the Gaza Strip and were launched into Israel this month.

Israel also believes longer-range Scud missiles were smuggled from Libya to Gaza, the official said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just big rambunctious boys: Davy and Nicki.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 5:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Who could have possibly predicted such an "Arab Spring" outcome?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2012 7:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Who cares look at what has become of the people responsible for all of it they are soul less brain dead ghouls!Looking forward to see what they are doing 10 years from now!
Posted by: Omoluns Borgia4801 || 04/21/2012 8:17 Comments || Top||

#4  speaking of brain dead....
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2012 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  #2 Who could have possibly predicted such an "Arab Spring" outcome?

Just about everyone except Obama and his minions.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/21/2012 10:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Who could have possibly predicted such an "Arab Spring" outcome?

No one was concerned about any of the possible outcomes to begin with.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/21/2012 19:01 Comments || Top||

#7  They are quite old. Many will blow up their own positions - with Civilians around as usual.

My patience wears very thin these days for this stupidity that has been discounted as lawful; it is reverse. Israel is merely a convenient diversion from the hell holes these people create for themselves by the roots and foundations of hate of Isac.

There is no Abraham in these actions.
Posted by: newc || 04/21/2012 23:16 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Wanted terror suspect captured in southern Thailand
A joint ranger and police force on Friday arrested a suspected key member of the separatist Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) in Narathiwat province.
Congratulations, guys!
The security force raided three houses at about 11 a.m., after getting a tip that the RKK member was hiding there. They found and arrested Muhammadyuso Duereh, 25, wanted on two arrest warrants for murdering two teachers at a market on September 2010 and for shooting and seriously wounding a man in Tanyongmas on September 2010. Muhammadyusoh was a teacher at an Islamic school.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
36 Civilians, 13 Troops Dead as Syria Protesters Take to Streets
[An Nahar] Syrian activists protested against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
on Friday, saying the embattled leader will be defeated, as at least 36 civilians and 13 pro-regime security personnel were killed in fresh violence.

The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed 36 civilians across the country, including three children and two women.

Twelve people were killed in Homs, nine in Idlib, three in the Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
neighborhoods of Daff al-Shouk, al-Tadamon and al-Midan, four in Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, two in the Damascus suburb of Douma, one in Deir Ezzor and one in Daraa, the LCC said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control...
state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said a powerful blast killed 10 security force personnel in the southern region of Quneitra, blaming the kaboom on "terrorists."

The latest violence, which left three security forces dead elsewhere, came as international envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
's front man acknowledged the situation was "not good" and as rights monitors reported an opposition activist killed and intense shelling of protest centers.

"It's a very fragile ceasefire," Ahmad Fawzi told news hounds of the tenuous truce which has seen more than 120 civilians killed since it went into effect on April 12.

The deadly blast took place in Quneitra, near the border with Israel in the occupied Golan Heights, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.

"An armed terrorist group went kaboom! a 100-kilogram (220-pound) bomb in Sahm al-Jolan in the region of Quneitra, killing 10 members of the security forces," the television said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment...
an advance team of U.N. military observers resumed work bolstered by the signing on Thursday of a protocol governing their mission to monitor a six-point plan brokered by Annan.

U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
urged the Security Council to take "early action" to bolster the mission, while acknowledging that boosting its numbers to 300 was "not a decision without risk."

Opposition activists had called for a show of defiance against Assad's regime for the main weekly protests on the Mohammedan day of prayer and rest.

"We will win and Assad will be defeated," was the slogan on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook Page, which has been a major engine of the 13-month uprising that monitors say has left more than 11,000 people dead.

Videos posted online showed thousands of demonstrators joining a huge rally in the city of Hassaka in the mainly Kurdish northeast.

Others showed demonstrations in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the uprising, as well as in the Damascus suburbs.

Across the country, activists reported a massive security force presence, particularly outside mosques, the traditional starting point for marches and protests.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the U.N. observer mission needed to be able to guarantee Syrians the freedom to protest.

"We need observers on the ground, but properly equipped observers with helicopters that can ensure the right to protest. It's extremely important. The day this freedom is guaranteed, the regime will fall," he said.

But the head of the small observer advance team, Morocco's Colonel Ahmed Himmiche, said it would not be attending demonstrations on Friday for fear that "our presence is used for an escalation."

"Today, we have other tasks. We are going to meet civilians and representatives of organizations," Himmiche told Agence La Belle France Presse as his team prepared to leave their Damascus hotel.

The U.N. chief said there was "deeply troubling evidence" that the government was pursuing its deadly crackdown despite agreeing to halt violence.

"The past few days, in particular, have brought reports of renewed and escalating violence, including the shelling of civilian areas, grave abuses by government forces and attacks by gangs," Ban said.

The protocol signed with Damascus on Thursday will pave the way for the U.N. observers to fan out across the country.

The advance party has visited the Daraa region but has not so far been able to visit Homs, where rebel neighborhoods have come under repeated deadly bombardment, Ban said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the rebel Khaldiyeh district of Homs -- Syria's third-largest city -- was under heavy bombardment for another day.

"A shell is falling every five minutes on the neighborhood," it said.

Footage posted on the Internet showed what activists said were plumes of smoke rising over Khaldiyeh.

Homs activist Seif al-Arab charged that government forces were "intensifying their operations in a bid to take control of the whole city before the observers enter."

Some 30 percent of Homs remains outside security force control despite a month-long assault on the city's Baba Amr district that saw hundreds killed, including Western journalists, before it was overrun on March 1.

Activists in the town of Qusayr, further north, also reported heavy bombardment. "Mortar and rocket fire did not stop all night and is continuing today," said Hadi Abdullah.

"The regime wants to empty Qusayr of its residents and destroy it as it did with Baba Amr, because it's the only way it can assert its control," he charged.

Damascus ally Moscow insisted Friday that the Syrian ceasefire was generally holding despite violations and should be viewed as an achievement that was saving the country from a broader civil war.

"Despite the existing violations and provocations, the ceasefire is holding overall. This is a great achievement whose loss could lead to a dangerous retreat to a new wave of violence," the foreign ministry said.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  36 Civilians, 13 Troops Dead

Since we know these are peaceful protesters---Kofi told us, I guess the troops committed suicide out of shame.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2012 13:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Weapons accidents.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/21/2012 14:22 Comments || Top||


Syrian activists call protests in new test of UN peace plan
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Syrian opposition activists called protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Trampler of Homs...
regime Friday in a new test of its readiness to honour a peace plan.

UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
has already stated that the Syrian government has so far failed to honour the ceasefire plan.

Government forces renewed bombardment of the flashpoint central city of Homs after security forces killed seven civilians on Thursday, bringing to more than 120 the civilian corpse count since a promised ceasefire took effect more than a week ago, human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
monitors said.

An advance team of UN military observers resumed work bolstered by the signing with the government on Thursday of a protocol governing their mission to monitor the six-point plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
But Annan's front man acknowledged Friday that the situation was "not good".

"It's a very fragile ceasefire," Ahmad Fawzi told news hounds.

Ki-moon urged the UN Security Council to take "early action" to bolster the mission although he acknowledged that boosting its numbers to 300 was "not a decision without risk."

Defiance

Opposition activists called for a show of defiance against Al-Assad's regime for the main weekly protests on the Mohammedan day of prayer and rest.

"We will win and Assad will be defeated," activists adopted as the slogan on their Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook Page that has been a major motor of the 13-month uprising which monitors say has left more than 11,000 people dead.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the UN observer mission needed to be able to guarantee Syrians the freedom to protest.

"We need observers on the ground, but properly equipped observers with helicopters that can ensure the right to protest. It's extremely important. The day this freedom is guaranteed, the regime will fall," he said.

But the head of the small observer advance team, Col Ahmed Himmiche of Morocco, said the mission would not be attending demonstrations on Friday for fear that "our presence is used for an escalation."

"Today, we have other tasks. We are going to meet civilians and representatives of organizations," Himmiche told AFP as his team prepared to leave their Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
hotel.

The UN chief said there was "deeply troubling evidence" that the government was pursuing its deadly crackdown despite agreeing to halt violence.

"The past few days, in particular, have brought reports of renewed and escalating violence, including the shelling of civilian areas, grave abuses by government forces and attacks by gangs," Ban said.

The protocol signed on Thursday will pave the way for the UN observers to fan out across the country.

The advance party has visited the Daraa region, south of Damascus but it has not so far been able to visit Homs where rebel neighbourhoods have come under deadly bombardment, Ban said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-04-21
  Sudan Rebels Kill 79 Troops, Militia in Blue Nile
Fri 2012-04-20
  8 die in Michoacan state as conflict goes hot
Thu 2012-04-19
  Qaeda leader suicide bombs himself and family in Iraq
Wed 2012-04-18
  Hadi Refuses to receive Former Yemen President
Tue 2012-04-17
  UN Camp in South Sudan Targeted by Sudanese Warplanes
Mon 2012-04-16
  US drone strike kills senior al-Qaeda Militant in Yemen
Sun 2012-04-15
  Afghan capital hit by blasts, gun attack
Sat 2012-04-14
  U.S. drone strike kills 7 al-Qaeda members in Yemen
Fri 2012-04-13
  23 Reportedly Dead as Syria Regime, Opposition Trade Charges of Breaking Ceasefire
Thu 2012-04-12
  Nork rocket launched, then 'breaks up'
Wed 2012-04-11
  Syria denounced for not adhereing to agreed peace plan
Tue 2012-04-10
  Syrian Rebel Army Ready to Respect Truce
Mon 2012-04-09
  84 Dead, 200 Arrested as Violence Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-04-08
  Hugo off to Brazil for Emergent Care
Sat 2012-04-07
  Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys

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