On Monday Director of the Federal Frontier Service Konstantin Totsky stated that the Federal Frontier Service was strengthening protection of the Chechen sector of the Russian-Georgian border. Totsky indicated that it was related to the necessity to "prevent infiltration of militants across the border", as already three weeks ago snow started melting in the mountains and passes started to open. Totsky indicated that presently they were agreeing the plan of interaction between frontier posts and units of the Joint grouping of forces and the internal troops of the Ministry of Interior.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 01:21 pm ||
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And this is news? I wonder if they are also getting out the survey crews to figure out exactly where the border is: for a few millenia this border was a line on the map and had little political meaning. Now it's a division of responsiblity in trying to track down some unfriendly bandits.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
05/28/2002 10:24 Comments ||
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I think the news, if any, is that the weather's getting better and they expect the Chechens to use Pankisi and maybe Kodori as safe areas and they want to be in position to catch as many as they can. For a while they thought they'd gotten Basayev, but it turned out they hadn't. They'd really like to bag him and al-Walid.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2002 19:14 Comments ||
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One snuffy was waxed in an encounter with troops in Pulwama district yesterday. The deader has been identified as Gulzar Ahmad Wani, a local boy from Sidwah. He has no further need for his rifle, 2 magazines, 30 rounds of ammunition and 4 hand grenades.
Unidentified gunmen® kidnapped Bashir Ahmad Ganai of Zachaldara, Handwara and later bumped him off. Brother of a deceased National Congress activist, Bashir reportedly had links with NC.
Showket Ahmad Wani of Lehpend, Shopian was abducted by unidentified gunmen from his residence and later iced.
Asghar Shehzada, aka Baghdadi, aka Fat Tony, departed this vale of tears in an encounter with troops at Dachin.
A soldier was injured in an exchange of fire with Bad Guys at Awantipora yesterday.
Three security men and a civilian were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion near Brar, Varmul district. The forcesâ vehicle was also damaged in the explosion.
Two persons were injured in an IED blast today at Mali, Udhampur district.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:24 am ||
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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday announced he would hold parliamentary elections in the second week of October, to restore democracy in the country. "I want to assure (the politicians) today before the nation that the process of democracy will begin in the month of October," Musharraf said in a nationwide broadcast. "Elections will be held between 7 and 11 October, 2002." That's assuming the country's still there, of course.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:29 am ||
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Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf has claimed that terrorist infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir has already stopped, and demanded that India respond by withdrawing its forces from the cities and towns of the state and initiating talks. "There is nothing happening on the Line of Control,â Musharraf was quoted as telling the Post four times in course of the interview. "I repeat: There is nothing happening on the Line of Control. That is what I would like to repeat. And I would like to repeat again: Reciprocation is important." I love it when he lies. It makes his lips move.
The interview baffled South Asia hands, as Musharraf sought to thread the line between showing the world that he was responding to the general condemnation of Pakistanâs use of terrorism, while at the same time flexing his muscles at the audience in South Asia, especially his domestic fundamentalist constituency that would construe as a weakness any backing down on Kashmir. His fine line keeps getting finer and finer...
But evidently worried about being seen as succumbing to pressure, especially from India, Musharraf is also full of military swagger in the interview, telling the paper that his army is capable of âoffensive defenseâ in the event of an Indian attack. âThese words are very important⊠We'll take the offensive into Indian territory,â he said. Interesting idea. Stupid, but interesting.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:43 am ||
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He made a national address later today, keeping up the moral support for the Kashmiri gunnies but denying that they were militarily supporting them, demanding the Indians back down. Pervy-"We are faced with a grave situation and we are standing at the crossroads of history."
Crossroads may translate to point of no return, as we're in the middle of a game of thermonuclear chicken.
Posted by: Mark Byron ||
05/27/2002 19:15 Comments ||
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A leading Muslim militant group on Sunday urged Pakistan not to bow to any "foreign pressure" on Kashmir. "Pakistan is an important party to the Kashmir issue. It should not accept any foreign pressure in the name of its safety and security," said Syed Salahuddin, supreme commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group. They've spent a lot of time and effort setting up this war, and now they want to see it happen...
"Fourteen million Kashmiris will be in the front row to offer sacrifice of their lives for the safety and security of Pakistan," he said in a statement. The statement was issued after The Washington Post on Sunday quoted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as saying that the infiltration of Islamic militants into Kashmir had stopped. "We will ensure that terrorism does not go from Pakistan anywhere outside into the world," the newspaper quoted Musharraf as saying. "That is our stand, and we adhere to it... Let me assure you, there is no backtracking." Salahuddin said "target-oriented actions will continue". Yer honor, we rest our case. Perv might even want it to stop, but Qazi and ISI are the drivers behind Salahuddin, so it won't stop until they say so. And they don't want it to stop.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:52 am ||
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Government is contemplating a move to seek deportation of London-based Kashmiri separatist leader Ayub Thakur in connection with alleged funding of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. Thakur's alleged involvement followed the arrest of a monthly magazine editor - Imtiaz Ahmad Bazaz - along with two of his associates last week for allegedly funding militant activities in the state. Banking transactions in the case were an evidence in itself as nearly Rs 500,000 were transferred from Mercy Universal account in London to Bazaz's account in New Delhi, they said. The London account is owned by Thakur. Another charity that buys arms and ammunition...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:59 am ||
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Nine people, including a policeman, were injured when militants exploded a handgrenade in the busy Anantnag bus stand in south Kashmir on Monday, official sources said. The grenade was hurled to target a CRPF patrol in the area. However, the device missed the intended target and exploded on the road wounding eight civilians and a policeman causing panic in the area. Police, assisted by CRPF, sealed the entire area and shifted the injured to hospital. One of the injured persons was referred to Srinagar as his condition was stated to be serious, they said adding no one was arrested during the search operation. Sweet Lorraine, but they're crummy with grenades!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 10:04 am ||
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Sondar Singh, an alleged agent of RAW who was amongst five arrested on Thursday by police is learnt to have revealed to intelligence agencies that RAW in connivance with anti-Pakistan factions of Northern Alliance had trained some 500 activists to carry out series of terrorist attacks in various cities of Pakistan. Sure hope this isn't just propaganda. Qanouni, the Afghan Interior Minister, set up cooperation with the Indians first thing in the aftermath of the fall of the Talibs, before all the bodies were even cold. If it was more than just training the new police force that would make sense. Two or more can play at this Great Game stuff...
Investigation authorities disclosed to Online here on Friday, that these 500 trained terrorist activists had entered Pakistan via NWFP and Balochistan borders. RAW had assigned them special task to divert the attention of Pak armed forces from eastern border, where tension had been mounting between Pakistan and India by launching terrorist attacks in various part of the country, sources informed. And maybe to do a little Taliban hunting? Or would these be the teams targeted at the nuclear facilities, which would be more important at the moment?
Sources further said that potential agent of RAW during his sensational revelations maintained that in case of war between Pakistan and India these terrorists would launch terrorist assault in Pakistan to disrupt the law and order situation. Or maybe just bump off a few people who should be on the hit list. Bet Qazi and Fazl are hiring more bodyguards right now...
It is learnt that in view of the disclosure of nefarious plans of Indian operatives against Pakistan, federal government had given fresh instruction to law enforcing agencies in order to tighten the noose around terrorist elements in the country. Intelligence official said that interrogation was going on from detained agents of RAW for further investigation. That means they're hitting the guys they caught very many times. That's bad for them, but we can only wonder how many haven't been caught. Wonder how the Paks like being on the receiving end?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 10:53 am ||
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Thanks to reader Brian Hoffman, who tipped me to this:
The missile tests by Pakistan could indicate that the Americans have taken charge of the countryâs nuclear warheads. President Prevez Musharraf, in his speech on September 19, had said if he did not join the US alliance, Pakistan's strategic assets â nuclear warheads and missiles â would be under threat. The tests have been done for domestic reasons. The country is under tremendous world pressure to climb down on its policy on terrorism vis-a-vis India. And the government would want to demonstrate to the people that it is not yielding. It is, therefore, compensating a possible climbdown through more tests.
The tests, themselves, are superfluous. Ghauri and Shaheen are already tested and proven Chinese and North Korean missiles. The fact that they are being tested over land and inhabited areas proves the point further. The Americans, meanwhile, cannot trust Pakistan with both missiles and nuclear warheads. Given the Pakistani hatred for them, they fear the weapons may be turned against them, to attack their bases in Afghanistan and aircraft carriers in the region. The US counter-proliferation policy would be totally meaningless if the US forces deployed there permit Pakistan to use nuclear weapons. That's an interesting story. There were rumors of that very thing back in October before and after the strikes on Afghanistan began. I don't know how true the reports were, and the current article may be nothing more than Indian wishful thinking. I'd be surprised if we hadn't made some move in that direction, just as surprised if the Paks acquiesced. I'd imagine that both sides have the other's nuclear arsenals pinpointed as well as they can, and that they'll try and take them out by conventional means early in hostilities.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 07:49 pm ||
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A woman was hospitalized Monday with severe burns from an explosion that went off while she was trying to tear down a roadside sign outside Moscow reading "Death to Jews," police said. The woman was in critical but stable condition after the incident on the Kiev highway about 18 miles southwest of the capital. The woman had been driving along the highway when she spotted a sign hand-painted with black letters reading "Death to Jews" posted by the roadside. She stopped her car and tried to pull the sign out of the earth, and was hit by the explosion. A traffic police investigator confirmed that the blast was caused by an explosive device. Could be skinheads, but it's probably slightly more likely that it was Chechens or their sympathizers. Just the sign, skinheads; just the bomb, skinheads; both together probably takes a 3-digit IQ.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 08:40 am ||
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In downtown Ramallah, about 2,000 supporters of Arafat's Fatah movement demonstrated for the release of Marwan Barghouti. Protesters wore shirts with Barghouti's picture on it while others waved Palestinian flags and posters. A recent poll indicated that Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian leader after Arafat. The most senior Palestinian to be apprehended during Operation Defensive Shield, Barghouti was arrested in April by IDF troops in Ramallah in connection with the deaths of scores of Israeli civilians. Marwan's in a delicate position: he's popular, which makes him a threat to Yasser, and he's singing in custody, which means his enemies could always bring up the "collaboration" bogeyman if Yasser were to kick it and a successor was needed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 08:34 am ||
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Police sappers disarmed a bomb this morning in a commercial shopping center in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol. The explosive device was found by a gardener who was working in the area. He informed a resident near the building who contacted the police. The medium-sized bomb weighed approximately 5 kilograms and was located in a bag inside a steel canister and placed on the side of a building. If the bomb was detonated it would have caused severe damage, police said today. Police report that a major disaster was averted. Busy little lemmings beavers, aren't they? They're really trying to keep up at least one hit a day.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 08:43 am ||
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IDF troops arrested Ahmed Mughrabi, a leader of the Arafat-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade in the Dehaishe refugee camp outside of Bethlehem, Israel Radio reported. Israel suspects Mughrabi of recruiting the perpetrators of the suicide bombing last week in Rishon Lezion which killed two Israelis and the March suicide bombing in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Yisrael in which 10 people were killed, six of them children ranging in age from several months to 15. IDF forces also arrested the sister of the female suicide bomber at the Supersol supermarket in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:01 am ||
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A Jewish American who joined Yasser Arafat at his besieged West Bank office has wed a Palestinian-American activist in a ceremony blending Christian and Jewish rites. Adam Shapiro, 30, of New York and Huwaida Arraf, 26, of the Detroit suburb of Roseville were married Sunday at St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy, Michigan. "I'm very excited," Shapiro said before the ceremony began. "Now that it is actually happening, I'm very happy." It's taken them this long to get married because they couldn't agree on what kind of fuzing their children would have...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:11 am ||
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Nasser Ismail Zaki Aman, 25, a Gazan living illegally in the country, planned to murder a police intelligence officer as his friend Yussuf Mslam Abu Aliyon, 24, from the Beduin city of Rahat, kept look out. It was revealed yesterday that the Shin Bet and police arrested the pair last Tuesday, a day before they planned to carry out the murder, security sources said. They were arrested in Moshav Eshbol in the Western Negev. Security sources said Aman admitted he and Aliyon were to be paid $1,000 each, by a Fatah member. "Dese guys, see? Dey're just button-men. Y'tip 'em a grand, dey do da job, den dey're done, y'know?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 09:15 am ||
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A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and injured up to 50 people when he blew himself up in a shopping parade in a Tel Aviv suburb, after the army stormed the West Bank town of Bethlehem in search of militants. At least 20 people were wounded, including a baby, when the bomber detonated his explosive device in the open mall, according to initial estimates by medical rescue teams. Either Yasser can't control it or he won't control it...
Israeli media said as many as 50 were hurt in the first such attack on the town, just northwest of Tel Aviv. The radio said police were searching for a second suspected suicide bomber in the area. The attack came just hours after Israeli forces stormed Bethlehem in search of militants and netted one of the most wanted Palestinian suspects. Another two wanted Al-Aqsa men were also seized, including Ali Youssef Ahmed Moghrabi, 16, Ahmed's brother. The men are accused by Israel of organizing the suicide attack by a 16-year-old -- the youngest suicide bomber ever -- that killed two Israelis last Wednesday in a Tel Aviv suburb. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Arafat feared a renewed Israeli occupation of Ramallah, the scene of heavy clashes in last month's invasion which left the Palestinian leader under siege for a month. Has Yasser had a shower yet? Maybe he should bring some deodorant this time.
An Israeli military source said another incursion into Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank was continuing and two suspects had been held. The army still encircled Tulkarem, north of Qalqilya, which it had occupied on Sunday while Palestinians also reported raids in Hebron and four nearby villages, where dozens were taken prisoner. The Israeli army had already moved in to Bethlehem twice over the weekend and trashed the home of Mohammad Shehadeh, local head of the Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad, who narrowly escaped capture. Golly. That's too bad about the house. Too bad there's not another line of work Mohammad could take up...
Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said security forces were "preventing 90 percent of planned attacks, capturing two suicide bombers every day before they can strike. We hope now that 10 percent of cases where we have not succeeded will drop after the operations we have launched" in Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Bethlehem, he said. Yeah, well if they do, it won't be for long. Far be it from me to tell the IDF how to do their jobs, but unless they kill the Bigs, the attacks are going to continue. The lemmings Palestinians simply don't know how to do anything else.
Bob Ballard points to this gem of inspiration:
Abu Sayyaf leader Aldam Tilao alias Abu Sabaya is now being hunted by his own men after he ran away with ransom money, the military said yesterday. A highly placed source in the intelligence community who was involved in the militaryâs search and rescue operations for three remaining Abu Sayyaf hostages said Sabaya fled the island-province of Basilan and went into hiding in the Zamboanga peninsula. The source said Sabaya had only six close-in accomplices bodyguards when he absconded after getting the ransom money. Y'mean he grabbed the dough and ran? But that's... that's... that's dishonest!
"He has lost credibility after he reportedly hoodwinked his peers and ran away with the partial payment of ransom," the source said. Could be he didn't expect them to survive too long...
Lt. Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, civil relations group chief of the militaryâs Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, also confirmed that Sabaya was being tracked down by his former comrades and followers. "For his betrayal, he earned the ire of the remaining Abu Sayyaf group," Covarrubias said. This sounds like the opening scene from a really bad movie starting an up-tight white guy and a wise-cracking black guy, with lots of car chases and explosions. Y'see, Aldam needs this operation, because he's been really sick, and his pal Sonny got captured by the cops...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 07:12 pm ||
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Troops of the Red Horn Division operating in lower Assam on Monday struck a major blow to Bodo militants when they killed nine of them in an encounter in Dhubri district. The militants belong to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and five AK-47 rifles have been recovered from their possession. According to Army sources, the incident took place in Mahamaya forest area in Gauripur police station at around 4:30 am on Monday. Intelligence reports provided by the state police intelligence department had informed the Army that a big group of Bodo militants belonging to the NDFB was operating in that area. Acting on the tip-off, the Army launched combing operations.
A large number of woodcutters have been killed by militants in this reserve forest area during the last few years for either illegally cutting down the forests or for having failed to pay the protection money "tax" imposed by the NDFB. Just a little reminder that India has other problems beside the Kashmiri loons.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/27/2002 10:10 am ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
