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Bomb kills anti-Syria journalist in Beirut
Today's Headlines
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Arabia
2 Soddy cops wounded by gunmen
Two Saudi policemen were lightly wounded Wednesday as they came under fire from gunmen in a car north of the capital, interior ministry said.

A highway patrol came under fire as it chased a car that was speeding on the Riyadh-Qassim road, 210 kilometres (130 miles) north of the capital, interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki said.

"The windshield was smashed and the two policemen who were in the car were injured," he said.

The gunmen escaped, and security forces are combing the area in search of them, he added.

According to official figures, 90 civilians, 41 security personnel and 110 militants have been killed since the violence began in May 2003.
Interesting statistics, if true, given that the Soddies have claimed in their official news accounts to have killed a great deal more than that.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2005 16:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Saudis,under pressure from GWB, started their anti-terror campaign with a list of a whopping 26 wanted millitants. A list that has never been added too. They act like when they get the 26 guys, most of whom are dead or in custody now, that their terror war is over and we can get off their backs.

Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2005 16:24 Comments || Top||

#2  What are the odds that the two gunmen in this case were simply men who didn't feel like being hassled for speeding, rather than terrorists or anti-Saudi agents of whatever flavour? This article did not have the feel, to me at least, of Al Qaeda v. Loyalists. Nobody was surrounded, for one thing. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2005 17:33 Comments || Top||


Gunmen Fire at Police in Qassim
Two Saudi policemen were slightly wounded yesterday as they came under fire from gunmen in a car north of the capital, the Interior Ministry said. A highway patrol came under fire as it chased a speeding car on the Riyadh-Qassim Expressway, Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, the ministry's spokesman said. "The windshield was smashed and the two policemen who were in the car were injured," he told the Saudi Press Agency. The gunmen escaped, and security forces are combing the area in search of them, he added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
9/11 supporter extradicted to Spain
A man accused of being part of a terror group that helped the 11 September attackers can be extradited to Spain, a court in London has ruled.
Hedi Ben Youseff Boudhiba, a 45-year-old Tunisian, is alleged to have been part of a group that gave money and fake documents to al-Qaeda.

His lawyers said he should not be sent to Spain because he was mentally ill and had previously attempted suicide. He was held in the UK last August as he was about to board a flight to Spain. His extradition was sought by top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon.

District Judge Daphne Wickham, sitting at Bow Street Magistrates, ruled Mr Boudhiba, who allegedly uses the alias Fathi, could be extradited to face charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Lawyers for the Tunisian - held at Liverpool John Lennon Airport as he was about to get on a flight to Barcelona - argued that the Spanish authorities could eventually send him on to Tunisia where he would be at risk of being tortured. They also said he had suffered from depression and psychosis and had once tried to slash his throat.

Mr Boudhiba has a week to appeal against the decision. Investigators in Spain had originally wanted to interview him as a witness rather than as a suspect, Bow Street Magistrates heard. They say he travelled from Hamburg to Istanbul on 3 September 2001 with Ahmed Taleb, allegedly a member of the Hamburg cell, which is also believed to have counted 11 September leader Mohammed Atta and two other hijackers as members. The Spanish authorities also believe Mr Boudhiba provided fake documents for Ramzi Binalshibh, who Judge Garzon says met Atta to plan the attacks in 2001.
This article starring:
AHMED TALEBal-Qaeda
Baltasar Garzon
District Judge Daphne Wickham
HEDI BEN YUSEF BUDHIBAal-Qaeda
RAMZI BINALSHIBHal-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2005 16:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sometimes attempting suicide is a sign of sanity, rather than otherwise.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2005 17:34 Comments || Top||

#2  His lawyers said he should not be sent to Spain because he was mentally ill

but we knew that already
Posted by: PlanetDan || 06/02/2005 17:53 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
More violence in Dagestan
Security forces in Dagestan on May 29 discovered 23 152- and 125-milimeters artillery shells near the entrance of the Gimri tunnel, which links the valley and mountainous part of the republic's Buinaksk region. Earlier in the day, the head of the Buinaksk Regional Criminal Investigations Department, Asker Askerov, was killed in a shootout with militants after he and other police officers went to the Gimri tunnel to investigate a report that militants planned to blow it up. The police came upon three men who opened fire when they were asked to show their passports. One of the men, an inhabitant of the village of Gyumri, was captured but the other two escaped. The captured gunman was identified as Derbishgadzhi Gazimagomedov, the Regnum news agency reported on May 29.

Meanwhile, police in the town of Buinaksk arrested a suspect in the murder of Major Magomedkhan Gitinov, head of the Buinaksk branch of the Interior Ministry, Itar-Tass reported on May 26. A source in the press service of the republic's Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass the name of the detainee was not being made public "in the interests of the investigation" and that police had established the names of two other people involved in the attack on Gitinov and were searching for them. Gitinov was shot at point black range on March 24 when he went to a garage to collect his car.

A meeting of Dagestan's ruling State Council on May 27 reported that 29 "terrorist crimes" have been committed in the republic since the beginning of 2004 and that more than 20 of the attacks have not been solved, Itar-Tass reported. "Unfortunately, the best and most worthy sons of Dagestan and Russia are dying in the war declared against society by terrorists and bandits," State Council Chairman Magomedali Magomedov told the meeting. The heads of the republic's law-enforcement agencies told the meeting that the May 20 murder of Zagir Arukhov, who was Dagestan's minister of nationalities, information and external affairs, had not yet been solved (see Chechnya Weekly, May 25).
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Asker Askerov
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov
DERBISHGADZHI GAZIMAGOMEDOVChechnya
First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov
Major Magomedkhan Gitinov
State Council Chairman Magomedali Magomedov
Zagir Arukhov, who was Dagestan's minister of nationalities
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2005 16:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Beslan gunman gives account of explosions
The explosions that sparked the bloody end to last September's school hostage seizure in Beslan were touched off when sharpshooters killed two militants holding triggers to homemade bombs, a suspect being tried for the massacre has testified. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Nur-Pashi Kulayev as saying the leader of the 32 heavily armed militants - whom he called "Colonel" - entered the packed gymnasium where more than 1100 hostages were held after the bombs detonated and smashed his cellphone. "He said: 'They won't take pity on anyone; we fight to the last cartridge'," Kulayev was quoted as saying as he recounted the last words of the Colonel, who was killed at the school.

Kulayev's testimony provides new insights into the September 1 to 3 raid on Beslan's School No 1. Of the schoolchildren, relatives and teachers held hostage, more than 330 died during the fierce gunbattle and explosions that Russian security agencies said were caused by the terrorists. More than half of the dead were children. Kulayev was the only militant known to have survived. Kulayev, whose trial at the North Ossetian Supreme Court in May, has pleaded innocent to charges including terrorism, murder and attacking law enforcement officers. If convicted, he could get up to life in prison, though survivors and others have called for the death penalty.

Video footage shot by the militants has corroborated witnesses' accounts of how the militants strung homemade explosives from the ceiling and the basketball hoops in the school's gymnasium. Some witnesses said the terrorists had rigged up triggers that would set off the bombs if a person's foot was lifted from them. Kulayev told the court of some of the arguments that broke out among the hostage-takers. Some apparently objected to taking children hostage, and several wanted to seize the nearby police station. "The children and women were captured and forced into the school building. Then the militants started shouting: 'The police station is nearby, let's seize it, why seize the school?'," Kulayev was quoted as saying. Two of the militants were female suicide bombers who openly disagreed with the Colonel about the child hostages and were killed when he detonated their bombs by remote control, Kulayev testified.

Kulayev was quoted as saying that he spent the entire time in the school's cafeteria, armed with an assault rifle, which he said he never fired. He also said a police officer rode in the cabin of the truck that carried the militants to the school, and that was how they were able to enter Beslan so easily. He said the officer disappeared after the raid began.
This article starring:
NUR PASHI KULAIEVChechnya
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the leader of the 32 heavily armed militants - whom he called "Colonel" - entered the packed gymnasium where more than 1100 hostages were held after the bombs detonated and smashed his cellphone. "He said: 'They won't take pity on anyone; we fight to the last cartridge'


No quarter whatsoever for these insane f*cks/Never!
Posted by: Red Dog || 06/02/2005 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Agreed, RD! That picture alone proves the old saying "a picture is worth 1,000 words." Attacking civilians is barbaric enough, but intentionally targetting children is below the belt. Reason #1 that I was convinced (after 9/11 and even more so after Beslan) that there is NO reasoning/dealing with this b@st@rds! Law of the jungle w/ them! If only our (and Europe's) lefties would wake up and realize that we CAN'T "understand" or "reason" with these scumbags! Of course, I've seen it argued (and I'm beginning to agree) that the lefties may be even more brutal in retaliation when they finally are threatened themselves (see how the "progressive" Dutch reacted to Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh's murders by the jihadis). It's all tolerance and diversity UNTIL their own survival/"culture" is threatened...then it's torching/graffiti-ing the mosques! I just hope they take care of business before it gets to the Hitler stage of kill the moose-limbs.
Posted by: BA || 06/02/2005 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I have two little girls and every time I see that photo it makes me cringe. Those who would intentionally target a child defy my ability to forgive.
Posted by: remoteman || 06/02/2005 14:32 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Jakarta condemns terror threat
Who are these guys kidding?
NEWSFLASH...INDONESIA TERRIFIED BY CRAZY AUSTRALIAN CRACKERS.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2005 13:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Embassy attack bacteria 'not dangerous'
The bacteria sent in a suspicious package to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra is not believed to be dangerous, police said today. "It looks very unlikely that the substance contains any bacteria of any significant pathological significance," ACT chief police officer John Davies told reporters. Mr Davies said the findings were revealed in an interim report and an investigation into the incident is ongoing. "The sending of that particular letter was designed to cause major disruption and instil fear," he told reporters.

Earlier today, Prime Minister John Howard refused to detail the contents of the letter but said he had no reason not to believe the attack was linked to Corby's conviction for drug smuggling in Bali. "I've been briefed on the substance of the letter but because that is part of the investigation I am not going to talk about what I've been told, and I hope your listeners will understand that," he told John Laws on Southern Cross Broadcasting. "You asked me; 'Has it been translated?' and the answer to that question is yes. I have been briefed on the broad substance of the letter but because the substance of the letter and what is in it is material to the police investigation, I do not at this stage want to say anything further." Asked if the attack was related to the Corby case, Mr Howard replied: "It's hard to escape the belief that there was a connection, let's put it that way.

Mr Howard said the embassy incident would not hurt relations between the Australian and Indonesian governments but would undoubtedly have an impact on how some Indonesians viewed Australia. He stressed people should not overdramatise the impact of what had happened. "I think it's important that we don't throw up our arms in horror and say the relationship is destroyed," he said. "Things like this happen. When something infinitely worse, namely the murder of 88 Australians in Bali occurred in Bali in 2002, it wasn't an expression of the attitude of the Balinese people. The Balinese people in fact retained the affection of visiting Australians."
Posted by: Omoluger Ebbatle8086 || 06/02/2005 00:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "You asked me; 'Has it been translated?'

The letter was not in English? How curious!
Posted by: SteveS || 06/02/2005 9:12 Comments || Top||


Europe
'9/11 ringleader was in Spain before US attacks'
MADRID — Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the pilots who flew hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, was spotted in Spain weeks beforehand, a Spanish court heard. Two car hire staff and a Madrid hotel worker told the high court investigating the alleged links of 24 suspects to al-Qaeda that they remembered Atta being in Madrid in July 2001. They later recognised his face from television coverage following the attacks.
According to public prosecutor Pedro Rubira two of those on trial in the Spanish capital, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh and Mohamed Belfatmi, met Atta in the northern Spanish city of Tarragona on 16 July to plan the attacks on the US. Rubira said that following a trip on 9 July to Madrid, Atta again visited the capital on 5 September, just six days before the attacks.

Jose Luis Garrote, a car hire worker, told the court Atta phoned from Madrid's Barajas airport in July 2001 saying he had made a reservation from the United States for a vehicle. Garrote, who with a colleague Jaime Fernandez handed the car over to their client, told the court he then recognised Atta's face after seeing it in television coverage of 9/11. A hotel receptionist also said she remembered Atta staying in the establishment in early July. The statements in court came as a Moroccan accused of being a lead bomber in last year's Madrid train blasts testified he was not an extremist and barely knew a top Spanish bases suspect in the 9/11 attacks. Zougam is in custody pending possible charges on the train blasts in Madrid last year, but is not on trial in the al-Qaeda trial. A trial on the train bombings case is not expected until early next year.
This article starring:
Jaime Fernandez
Jose Luis Garrote, a car hire worker
MOHAMED ATTAal-Qaeda
MOHAMED BELFATMIal-Qaeda
public prosecutor Pedro Rubira
RAMZI BIN AL SHIBHal-Qaeda
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2005 12:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Rumsfeld warns against sheltering al-Zarqawi
Admonition was sternest yet by U.S.; appeared to be aimed at Syria and Iran.
Ya think?
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned Iraq's neighbors Wednesday against providing medical treatment or safe haven to Iraq's most-wanted insurgent, Jordanian fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Rumsfeld did not specify consequences or name a country, but the warning appeared intended for Syria and also may have been aimed at Iran.
U.S. intelligence analysts now say they believe al-Zarqawi was injured near the Syrian border in mid-May, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the same Pentagon news conference.
Iranian officials recently denied a news report that he had gone there for treatment, and Rumsfeld said the guerrilla chief is assumed to be in Iraq.
"Were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaida network, and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands," Rumsfeld said. "And that's something that people would want to take note of."
Was he sharpening a knife when he said this?
The warning, among the sternest yet from the administration, seemed intended to intensify pressure on Iran and Syria, which the White House has accused of turning a blind eye to fighters and funds crossing into Iraq. The Jordanian extremist, who has taunted American and Iraqi forces with Internet and video messages, is believed to be the most senior coordinator of bombing attacks throughout Iraq.
Officials with the Syrian Embassy in Washington did not return calls seeking comment.
We're...ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...busy. Checking flights out of Damascus for...ummmmmmmmmm...somebody.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2005 14:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think Syria is more likely than Iran at this point.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2005 15:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Check Khaled Meshaal's guest house.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/02/2005 16:37 Comments || Top||

#3  For some reason, whenever the SecDef makes a pronouncement like this, I picture Darth Rumsfeld saying "Your lack of helpfulness is ....disturbing."
Posted by: SteveS || 06/02/2005 22:02 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Jakarta Under Alert-One Status
JAKARTA, June 1 (Bernama) -- Police have declared a level-one alert status in Jakarta and will maintain it until the threat of terrorist attacks has passed, Jakarta police chief Inspector General Firman Gani said Wednesday.

He said the police would prioritise security at embassies, diplomatic activity centres, offices, major factories, markets, supermarkets and recreational parks.

"Obviously, high priority is being given to the embassies of such countries as Britain, France, Japan, Australia and the United States," Firman said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta police spokesman Senior Commissioner Tjiptono said police had actually started stepping up security in Jakarta since Australia issued a travel warning on Indonesia two months ago.

At least 21 people were killed and about 70 others were injured in two bomb explosions in a crowded market in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena last Saturday, a few days after Indonesian intelligence said there were signs of increased activity among terrorist elements that appeared to be planning bomb attacks.

The US closed its embassy in Jakarta and consulates-general in other cities in the country last week following the intelligence reports last week but reopened them yesterday. The Australian Embassy also ceased operating temporarily last Thursday.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/02/2005 00:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a level-one alert
But what colour is it??
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2005 21:39 Comments || Top||

#2  paisley
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2005 23:12 Comments || Top||

#3  gotta go see ifn imao got sumthin on tihs
Posted by: muck4doo || 06/02/2005 23:20 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bomb kills anti-Syria journalist in Beirut
A prominent anti-Syrian journalist was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Beirut on Thursday in an attack the opposition blamed on Syria and its Lebanese security allies. The killing of columnist Samir Qaseer four days after the start of Lebanon's staggered parliamentary elections shocked the country that is only just coming to terms with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February.

Security sources said Qaseer, from An-Nahar newspaper, died instantly when a bomb under the driver's seat of his white Alfa Romeo blew up as he switched on the ignition outside his home in the Christian Ashrafiyeh neighborhood. The lower part of his body was torn apart. A passerby was wounded, several cars were damaged and windows in nearby buildings were shattered by the explosion. Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa said the bomb weighed between 500-700 grams and was most likely detonated by remote control.

Qaseer, 45, was a columnist for Lebanon's leading daily who had for years called for an end to Syria's role in Lebanon. His fiery writings against Syria and the Lebanese "police state" landed him in trouble in 2001 when the Syrian-backed security services seized his passport and threatened him with arrest. He was said to have received several death threats.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2005 11:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
33 killed in northern Iraq violence
At least 33 people were killed in a wave of violence that swept northern Iraq, while the government said more than 700 insurgents had been arrested in its Operation Lightning dragnet in the capital.

"More than 700 terrorists have been killed and 28 others killed," an Interior Ministry official said, adding "enormous quantities" weapons had also been seized since the offensive was launched on Sunday.

Operation Lightning is aimed at barring rebel access to the capital and rooting out insurgents hiding there after a wave of attacks that killed some 700 people nationwide in May alone.

But while progress was being trumpeted in Baghdad, dozens died in northern Iraq.

The worst blast, in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, ripped through a restaurant as bodyguards of Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Roj Shaways were having breakfast.

"Seven cars were destroyed and 12 charred bodies were pulled from the wreckage," a Defence Ministry statement said.

A local medic said he had treated 38 people for their wounds.

The guards had stopped in the town, 70 kilometres south of the oil hub of Kirkuk, on their way to meet up with Mr Shaways.

"I was having my breakfast at the Baghdad Restaurant when a powerful explosion rocked the place," taxi driver Nozad Abdullah said, who survived because he was in the bathroom.

"I went outside to see what happened and I saw two of my passengers wounded inside the taxi and three shattered bodies lying on the ground."

Ansar al-Sunna, a group linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on an Islamist website that said Mr Shaways belonged to an "apostate Kurdish party".

The statement could not be verified.

An hour later, a second suicide car bombing targeted a US diplomatic convoy entering the compound of the Northern Oil Company in Kirkuk, killing a four-year-old child and wounding 11 civilians, police said.

Four more people were killed, including a local politician, and five wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

Another five people were killed in an attack that targeted Iraq's fledgling security forces in the main northern city of Mosul.

"Five people, including a policeman, were killed and 13 wounded in a double motorcycle bombing in front of a cafe near a police station in the city," Commander Mootaz Abdel Wahed Mohammed said.

Two firefights between US and Iraqi forces and insurgents later killed three Iraqi troops, two gunmen, and a Turkish truck driver.

In Siniyah, an Iraqi soldier died and another was injured during a mortar attack on their base, while further north in the Shorgat region, four civilians were killed by a roadside bomb.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2005 15:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Trying to start a civil war?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 06/02/2005 16:15 Comments || Top||

#2  "More than 700 terrorists have been killed and 28 others killed," an Interior Ministry official said, adding "enormous quantities" weapons had also been seized since the offensive was launched on Sunday.

I assume the 700 referes to detained?
Posted by: Shipman || 06/02/2005 18:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Re-read it again, yep. Never mind.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/02/2005 18:56 Comments || Top||


Fallujah Sheikh Says Al-Zarqawi Died On Friday
This looks like some Italian news site, but wherever they are from I like what they are saying.
I'll believe it when I see the body.
Or at least the severed head ...
Baghdad, 2 June (AKI) - The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq - died on Friday and his body is in Fallujah's cemetary, an Iraqi Sunni sheikh, Ammar Abdel Rahim Nasir, has told the Saudi on-line newspaper Al-Medina. He claims that gunfights which broke out in Fallujah in the last few days involved militants trying to protect the insurgency leader's tomb from a group of American soldiers patrolling the area.

During a telephone conversation from the city of Fallujah with the Saudi newspaper, Nasir said al-Zarqawi was taken there after being injured in the city of Ramadi around three weeks ago, and may have been treated by two doctors who had worked with his aides in Baghdad. He said the two doctors had stopped a serious haemorrhage in al-Zarqawi's intestines, but that after his condition worsened last week, the militant died on Friday. Nasir adds that in his will the insurgent leader left the order that no funeral should be held for him and the right to announce his death should be left to the al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden. The Al-Medina newspaper reports that it also called the headmaster of a school in Fallujah, who preferred to remain anonymous, but confirmed that many people in the city were aware of the fact that al-Zarqawi had recently been taken to the city.

Sheikh Nasir's claims appear to correspond with reports several weeks ago that al-Zarqawi had been injured and taken to Ramadi hospital for emergency treatment, and with messages on the Internet talking of two Arab doctors accompanying him. Al-Zarqawi was reported to have been seen at the hospital on April 27. The hospital's director told an Iraq-based newspaper that US troops later surrounded and raided the entire building, searching for the Jordanian militant.
Only two days ago, an audio message attributed to al-Zarqawi was posted on the Internet, in which he assured his followers that he had only been lightly injured. Following the message, the US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned countries neighbouring Iraq not to give any medical assistance to al-Zarqawi. "Our current theory is that he is in Iraq," he said. "Were a neighbouring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaeda network, and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands," Rumsfeld continued. "And that's something that people would want to take note of." (Ham/Slb/Aki) Jun-02-05 13:36
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2005 12:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Taken with a grain of salt as big as my head.
Posted by: mmurray821 || 06/02/2005 13:15 Comments || Top||

#2  his body is in Fallujah's cemetary

Whats the hold up?? Lets dig him up and get that melon of his on a pike!

When I see that picture I'll believe it.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 06/02/2005 13:31 Comments || Top||

#3  hemmorage of the intestines?

So he croaked with blood in his stool.... perfect.
Posted by: JackAssFestival || 06/02/2005 13:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Weekend at Abu Musab's?
Posted by: Raj || 06/02/2005 13:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Dig him up, ID the body...
Posted by: RG || 06/02/2005 13:50 Comments || Top||

#6  inshallah
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2005 14:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Dig it up, ID it and I'll supply the pig carcass it gets reburied in.
Posted by: Cleretch Omins3692 || 06/02/2005 14:41 Comments || Top||

#8  i.d. it an give it him viktims familees to deside howta dispose of it.
Posted by: muck4doo || 06/02/2005 14:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Aren't gut shots the most painful way to go? I hope so.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 06/02/2005 15:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Died on a Friday, eh?

Guess all those moslems are right - Friday (at least this one) is a holy day. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/02/2005 16:27 Comments || Top||

#11  trying to protect the insurgency leader's tomb from a group of American soldiers patrolling the area.

Huh? Soooo..??? What the heck does that mean. Were the soldiers just patrolling and they started shooting, or did they know he was there?
Posted by: 2b || 06/02/2005 16:49 Comments || Top||

#12  This story needs a couple of salt lick blocks until it is sorted out.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/02/2005 17:40 Comments || Top||

#13  Hell, I heard zarqawi is playing defensive end, for the Detroit Lions.....hmm.
Posted by: Tom Dooley || 06/02/2005 20:27 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Clash between Palestinian security forces
GAZA, June 2 (UPI) -- Palestinian forces from separate security agencies clashed in Gaza Thursday over recently introduces security arrangements. Witnesses and Palestinian sources said dozens of gunmen from the military intelligence agency encircled a headquarters of Palestinian security in Gaza and opened fire at the guards sparking a gun battle.
They were protesting a decision to dismiss them from the job in line with security reforms introduced by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is seeking to unify enforcement agencies. High-level contacts were conducted between the commanders of the various security agencies to stop the clashes. No casualties were reported.
Darn...
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2005 11:31 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet this was staged to give GWB that Abbas was actually doing soemthing. These people are full of shit. Just like they stage "discovering arms smuggling tunnels." If there is an engagement where there are several casualtities ... I might believe it was for real.
Posted by: Legolas || 06/02/2005 11:59 Comments || Top||

#2  ooops ... to give GWB the idea that Abbas is actually doing something ...
Posted by: Legolas || 06/02/2005 12:00 Comments || Top||

#3  importance depends on whose involved. Just old incompetents being fired (good, but no biggie) or old Arafat hands being purged by Dahlan (much more significant)
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2005 14:30 Comments || Top||

#4  What'll you think will happen if he pulls their pensions like United or Polaroid?
My bet is they won't get lawyers and sue...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2005 14:44 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought one of the complaints of the current PA forces is that they aren't getting paid. Given their risky life under historic circumstances (when the Mid-East was "stable") and how much riskier it is now (I'll take some of that popcorn!), I can't imagine that pensions have ever been their foremost concern. Besides, doesn't dear Suha hold those monies in trust?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2005 21:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
Two dacoits killed in "encounter"
CHITTAGONG, June 1: Two suspected road pirates were killed in an encounter between their associates and RAB members at Rajendrapur in Chowddagram upazila of Comilla district early Wednesday, reports UNB.
"Yar! We be dreaded road pirates! Yar!"
RAB sources said they arrested Munna Miah, 35, and Mehdi, 32, from Mirsarai on Dhaka-Chittagong highway on Monday under a drive to control highway robberies. The arrested, who hailed from Chowddagram upazila of Comilla district, were wanted in a dacoity case.
"Hands up, you scurvy dogs! Youse coming with us!"
After interrogation,
"Ouch!"
...a group of RAB members along with Munna Miah and Mehdi went out of their office for Rajendrapur to recover illegal firearms.
Let's see, arrest, interogation, confession, OK, Step Four - "Recovery"
As they reached there at about 2am,
Step Five - Check
.. their associates opened fire on the law enforcers,
Step Six
triggering a firefight.
Step Seven, it's like they're following a script

Munna and Mehdi were struck by bullets in the crossfire encounter and died on the spot.
"Aaaah....rosebud"
Police recovered a pistol, two LGs and ammunition from the spot.
In response to a demand of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, RAB have set up their camps in Feni, Mirsarai and Chowddagram areas and launched the drive to check robberies on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

RAB detects 503 narcotics spots across country
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has detected 503 narcotic spots across the country, 333 spots were in Dhaka while 130 spots were totally demolished by the law enforcing agencies, State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar at informed the meeting of National Narcotics Control Board held at the conference room of Home Ministry.
State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar, presided over the meeting. Among others, the meeting who attended were Information Minister M Shamsul Islam, Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Muzahid, State Minister for Finance and Planning Major General (Retd) Anwarul Kabir Talukder.
The meeting expressed deep concern that inspite a good number of drives taken against the narcotic trader and dealers from last January to April the situation in this respect has not improved. In the meeting Police, RAB Coast Guard and Narcotic Department were asked to conduct special drives.
"Cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of crossfire!"
State Minister for Home Affairs informed the newsmen to the effect that "Narcotic is not manufactured in Bangladesh. There are 21 Phensidyl manufacturing factories in India, from where Phensidyl smuggled in Bangladesh.
Phensidyl is a legal cough syrup in India which has 10% of Codeine. It's a big problem in all the countries surrounding India, mostly used by young people.

It is learnt from the meeting sources that joint team of BDR, Police and Narcotic Control Department demolished opium plantations at Thanchi in Bandarban district and in remote area of Chapainawabganj.

Who tortured the trader?
A traders' association leader, arrested by Rab (rapid Action battalion) on May 27 and allegedly tortured by police, have been admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in a critical condition.
Rajshahai jail authorities shifted Selim Sarder to RMCH on Tuesday as his condition deteriorated, sources said. Selim, general secretary of Jhalmalia Bazar Businessmen's Association, was handed over to Putia police after arrest.
Doctors at RMCH found Selim's toes, knees, fingers of right hand critically fractured and mussels in the back and lower part of his body mangled in several areas, sources at the hospital claimed.
That'll leave a mark

"His condition is serious and we are thinking to send him to the Orthopaedic Hospital in Dhaka", a doctor told this correspondent yesterday seeking anonymity. Rab arrested Selim after several hundred traders clashed with local BNP activists protesting toll collection. At least 100 people were injured in the clash.
Selim told his fellow traders that he was beaten severely by five policemen including Puthia Circle ASP Alamgir Kabir. "They (police) hit him on bone-joints with hockey sticks and batons on the night of May 27 and did not provide any treatment till noon on the following day", Selim's brother Abu Bakkar Siddik said quoting him. Siddiq, also Puthia Municipal Awami League president, alleged that his brother was tortured to avenge chasing the BNP toll collectors. He also claimed that the two police officials are loyal to a local BNP lawmaker.
More than likely true, they have a lot of dirty cops
Talking to The Daily Star, Rajshahi Police Superintendent Abdullah Al Mahmud said the allegations will be investigated if any complaint is lodged and action would be taken against the persons responsible.
When contacted, ASP Alamgir Kabir refuted the allegation of torture in custody. He might have been tortured during arrest, he said.
"Yeah, he was like that when he came in. You can't prove nuthing!"
The allegation of torture in custody is politically motivated, he said. He, however, admitted that he and the OC were chased and injured during the May 27 clash.
Sub-inspector Mukul of Puthia thana filed a case against 30 businessmen for assaulting police during the violence. Meanwhile, traders at Jhalmalia Bazar observed a three-day strike protesting the violence.
A Rab official when contacted yesterday denied the allegation that Selim was tortured during arrest.
"Wasn't us, he's alive, ain't he?"

20 madrasa students injured in clash in Chittagong
Not that that's a bad thing..
7June 1: At least 20 students were injured Wednesday in a clash between two rival factions belonging to two teachers of Hathazari Moinul Islam Qaumi Madrasa in the district. Locals said there was a feud between the principal of the madrasa Moulana Ahmad Shafi and member of Majlishe Shura Moulana Hafez Quasem for long over exerting supremacy on its administrative activities.
Madrasa Turf War

The clash erupted in the morning when a teacher of Hafez Quasem group sat beside a teacher of rival group. Within few moments, the clash spread all over the madrasa campus.
"Hey, he sat with our teacher! We can't have that, let's get ready to rumble!"
Traffic movements on the Chittagong-Rangamati and Chittagong-Khagrachhari routes were snapped for nearly four hours from 10am to 2pm due to the intermittent clashes. Superintendent of Police of Chittagong told BDNEWS that two platoons additional police were deployed on the madrasa campus to keep the situation under control. Madrasa sources said the madrasa is now under the control of the principal group.
Retaliation will surely follow

Sarbahara cadre arrested in Barisal
June 1: Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) rounded up the 'second-in-command' of the outlawed Sarbahara party in the city on Tuesday.
Police sources said the arrested was identified as Mosharraf Chowkider, 35, of Rakudia village under Babuganj upazila. He is also a Union Parishad member. The RAB also seized one foreign made pistol from his residence.
"Nice pistol, Mosharraf. You got any more hidden we should know about?"

According to the sources Mosharraf was rounded up while returning from a court. He appeared before the court in connection with a murder case.
Mosharraf has been wanted for seven murder cases and other criminal cases such as extortion, robbery, rape, and abduction, the sources added.
So, of course he's still walking the streets. For now...
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2005 08:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where did the hockey sticks come from? Unless KOHO or Christian has globalized to that hockey Mecca (ha ha) of Bangladesh. I hear the Chittagong Checkers have a bad reputation for additional stick work in the corners.
Posted by: Rightwing || 06/02/2005 9:58 Comments || Top||

#2  mussels in the back and lower part of his body

Eeeeeew. Better than remoras, I guess.
Posted by: Jackal || 06/02/2005 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Where did the hockey sticks come from?
Field hockey, not NHL hockey. It's a big sport in those regions.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2005 11:18 Comments || Top||

#4  ... and field hockey sticks make great clubs. The balls used are really hard too.
Posted by: DO || 06/02/2005 13:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Right Steve, missed the boat on that one. US men don't compete because of the whole skirt wearing thing. Sorry my New England Brains yearns for the good ole days of Cam Neely and Bruins playoff Hockey.
Posted by: Rightwing || 06/02/2005 13:52 Comments || Top||

#6 
Munna and Mehdi were struck by bullets in the crossfire encounter and died on the spot.


Huh? They didn't try to escape?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/02/2005 14:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Where is Amnesty?
Posted by: SwissTex || 06/02/2005 16:44 Comments || Top||

#8  503 narcotics spots. Who knew there were so many universities in Bangladesh.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 06/02/2005 17:07 Comments || Top||


Police, RAB kill 49 in May
Law enforcers killed 49 persons across the country in May, according to a report of Odhikar, a human rights coalition. Forty-three of them were killed in 'crossfire' during 'shootouts' between suspected criminals and the police or the Rapid Action Battalion.
If you had a "court system" that didn't have a "revolving door", there wouldn't be a need for the RAB.
The remaining six were either killed in custody as a result of torture by the police or shot dead by the police. Twelve others were killed in either police custody or jail.
The report says political violence accounted for 25 deaths and injury to 549 people. One hundred and thirty-three people were also arrested.
Ninety-four women and children were raped, with 21 of them murdered.
The report also says 19 cases of acid violence were reported in May. Fourteen of the victims were women. One journalist was killed, 14 injured, 1 abducted, 2 assaulted and 14 given death threats. The law enforcers arrested two journalists while cases were filed against five.
The Bureau of Human Rights, Bangladesh has, meanwhile, claimed 274 people were killed in May, up from 201 in April.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2005 08:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Mortar Blast Kills 3 Kids, Uncle in Iraq
File under "Slaughter of the Innocents."
A mortar barrage killed three Iraqi children and their uncle as they played together outside their Baghdad home. Twelve-year-old Sabaa Haitham, her brother Sajjad, 10, and their 8-year-old cousin Mina Mohammed Abid died when one of two mortar rounds slammed into their home in the southern Doura neighborhood, Yarmouk hospital morgue official Razzak Hassan said. The children's uncle, Lu'ay Salih, in his mid-20s, also was killed in the 6 p.m. explosions that peppered their victims with razor sharp pieces of shrapnel. "What have those kids done to deserve this? They were just playing in the front yard," said grieving Haitham Salih, father of Sabaa and Sajjad, outside his demolished house. "It's a disaster. I lost two of my children, my brother and my niece."
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: Horn
Sudan expected to free aid workers
Sudan's foreign minister has said that Khartoum has reached an agreement with the United Nations over the fate of two arrested aid workers. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail did not elaborate, but his statement on Wednesday raised expectations that charges will be dropped against the employees of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), who were arrested after their agency spoke of alleged rape cases in the troubled western region of Darfur. Ismail said an agreement had been reached that would "allow the voluntary agencies to operate and work professionally within the humanitarian framework and would at the same time preserve the respect and national will of the country", the official Sudan News Agency reported.
So I guess, based on that, that they'll let 'em out of jug, let 'em minister to the lame and the halt and the raped, but they'll be expected to keep their mouths shut. The civilized world, less those parts of it that're willfully blind to the depredations of Sudan's regime of Islamist bandits, was remain well aware of the mistreatment of Sudan's citizens, but will politely not mention them. I think I'll go take a shower now.
But remember, Gitmo is a gulag ...
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The present Sudan government has a long history of hatred for MSF. Army troops shot down an MSF plane flying into Aweil in 1989. Five were killed. The French Government did not consider the action worth investigating, fearing it might foul the good relations that it was building with the Islamist government -- a close relationship it maintains to this day.
SS
Posted by: Tancred || 06/02/2005 21:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe he'll slip up and make a racial slur, then we can sick Jesse Jackson on his arse.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2005 21:34 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
US forces release 53 Afghan prisoners
KABUL - US forces in Afghanistan released 53 prisoners no longer considered a threat on Wednesday, saying their freedom was a sign of peace and progress, but at least one of those set free said he had been abused.
Didn't wait long to quote the playbook, did he.
The release came days after President Hamid Karzai called for custody of all Afghan prisoners in US detention following an outcry over a report of prisoner abuse.

"This is a gesture of friendship with the government of Afghanistan and a sign of peace that symbolises continued progress towards a united Afghanistan," US military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts told a news conference.

The "low-level combatants" had been detained for attacks on civilians, US-led or Afghan government forces, he said. The men, all Afghans, were being set free from US bases at Bagram, near Kabul. US forces are believed to be holding several hundred Afghans in Afghanistan.

The 53 men were later brought to a government building in Kabul and presented with clothes and some cash before being released. Reporters were able to speak to some of them briefly and one said he had faced abuse. Two said they had been treated well. "They used to torture us, they beat us," said former detainee Haji Abdul Basir, 41. "For 23 months we didn't see the sun" he said.

"I was in prison for six months," said Nawab, who said he was only 15. "They behaved well with me."
Amazing: they balanced the quotes!
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Thu 2005-06-02
  Bomb kills anti-Syria journalist in Beirut
Wed 2005-06-01
  At least 27 dead in Afghanistan mosque suicide blast
Tue 2005-05-31
  At least six killed in Karachi mosque attack
Mon 2005-05-30
  Doc faces terror charges in Palm Beach
Sun 2005-05-29
  "Non."
Sat 2005-05-28
  King Fahd is dead?
Fri 2005-05-27
  Zark is dead?
Thu 2005-05-26
  Iraqi Officials Confirm Zarqawi Is Wounded
Wed 2005-05-25
  Huge US raid on al-Qaim
Tue 2005-05-24
  Syria ending cooperation with the US
Mon 2005-05-23
  Mulla Omar aide escapes Multan raid
Sun 2005-05-22
  Cairo Blast Suspect Dies in Custody
Sat 2005-05-21
  DHS Arrests 60 Illegals in Sensitive Jobs
Fri 2005-05-20
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