A Kuwaiti judge yesterday freed on bail six men suspected of links to a group of activists charged with recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq, their lawyer said. The suspects were released on bail of 300 dinars ($1,000) each, Abdulrahman Al Rasheedi told AFP. This brings the number of those bailed to 15 with just one suspect remaining in police custody pending further investigations. The authorities are also pursuing four other men who include the spokesman for the Association of Victims of Torture and Arbitrary Arrest, Khaled Al Dossari.
Three of the suspects are teenagers, two of whom are charged with having travelled to Iraq's restive city of Fallujah to fight US forces, while the third was arrested by Syrian security forces along with a fourth man just before trying to cross into Iraq. The four were extradited by Syria to Kuwait in July and that led to a crackdown in which security forces arrested 12 more suspects. The suspects are accused of illegal possession of arms, plotting to carry out attacks against US forces and joining a terrorist organisation, but they denied the charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 8:30:46 PM ||
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Saudi police are seeking two young men in the killing of a Briton in a Riyadh parking lot, the Interior Ministry said Thursday, and the British ambassador called it a terrorist attack. Edward Stuart Muirhead-Smith, 55, was killed at the Max shopping center in eastern Riyadh on Wednesday, British Embassy spokesman Salah Taha told The Associated Press. Muirhead-Smith worked for the British telecommunications corporation Marconi as a training manager, according to a company spokesman. The two assailants were younger than 30 and "wore traditional Saudi robes," said Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki.
That's 'cuz they were engaged in traditional Islamic activities...
One of them shot Muirhead-Smith in his car and they bravely fled in their own car, which police are trying to trace, al-Turki said. Saudi media reported he was shot four times. The ministry has not said the killing was an act of terrorism, and al-Turki said the investigation was continuing.
Are we going back to alk runners already?
But British Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles, condemned the killing as a terrorist attack. He said Muirhead-Smith's family and friends "should know — as the terrorists must know — that his murder will only make the British government more determined to stand with the Saudi government and people in the struggle against senseless terror of this kind."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 9:57:27 AM ||
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A trial into the almost four-year-old bombing of a U.S. warship in Aden Harbor that killed 17 Navy sailors concluded Wednesday with prosecutors seeking the death penalty for six defendants. The six defendants, including a Saudi in U.S. custody who is being tried in absentia, are the first people to be tried in the attack, carried out by two suicide bombers in an explosives laden boat on Oct. 12, 2000. The men are charged with belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, forming an armed gang with the purpose of carrying out crimes against the state, resisting authorities and forging documents.
The judge adjourned the trial until Sept. 29, when he will issue his verdict. If convicted, the men face between 15 years in jail and the death penalty. The death sentence is considered unlikely because the defendants are not accused of being the actual bombers. In closing arguments, the prosecution demanded that the maximum sentence be issued against the defendants, but defense counsel rejected the charges. The five accused in court, all Yemenis, are Jamal al-Badawi, Maamoun Msouh, Fahd al-Qasa, Ali Mohamed Saleh and Murad al-Sirouri. None have ever formally entered pleas.
A sixth defendant, Saudi-born alleged mastermind of the Cole attack Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location. The United States announced al-Nashiri's arrest in 2002. He was detained in the United Arab Emirates and transferred to American custody. U.S. officials believe he is a close associate of Saudi-born bin Laden, who is believed to have masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. In addition to the Cole attack, al-Nashiri is suspected of helping direct the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/16/2004 2:24:40 AM ||
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#1
I wonder what type of economic impact that attack had on the harbor. Can't think that it helped business.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/16/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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They were lovers, y'know...
A man suspected of having been active as a Mujahidin in Bosnia-Herzegonia entered Japan in April 1999 and lived in Gunma Prefecture with a French man suspected of being a senior al-Qaida member who is now in French custody, the National Police Agency said Thursday. The man, who is in his 30s and believed to belong to an Islamic extremist group, entered Japan on a valid Bosnia-Herzegovina passport and was expelled from the country in 2000 for overstaying his visa, the NPA said. During his stay in Japan, he lived with Lionel Dumont, 33, in Isesaki in Gunma Prefecture.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/16/2004 3:10:07 AM ||
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Taqiyya at work?
An Arabic language interpreter employed by the French courts has been placed under investigation for allegedly providing false translations in return for cash, officials said Thursday. The man, who also helped the police in interrogations and telephone taps, made some EUR 300,000 (USD 360,000) in fees over the last two years, and it was the tax authorities who raised the alert, the officials said. He is alleged to have changed evidence in order to favour suspects before the courts. No mention of what types of cases or testimony...
#2
On more reason not to trust Muslims. If you are not a Muslim they can lie to you and it's ok with allen, you are a mere infidel that is unequal to them.
An Iraqi-born man accused of being a "sleeper agent" sent to this country by Saddam Hussein's intelligence service was ordered released Thursday on $250,000 bond and placed on house arrest pending trial. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
09/16/2004 5:49:00 PM ||
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An Indonesian man who handled explosives used in last year's deadly bombing of a Jakarta hotel was jailed for 12 years on Thursday. Ismail, alias Muhammad Ikhwan, was found guilty of terrorism and illegal possession of explosives used in the August 2003 bombing of the Marriott hotel in which 12 people were killed. Judge I Wayan Rena Wardana told the South Jakarta district court on Thursday that the defendant was "legally and convincingly proven to have engaged in a crime of terrorism", and had taken part in a crime causing "widespread terror". Previously the highest sentence handed down in connection with the Marriott attack had been 10 years. The bombing has been blamed on the Jemaah Islamiya group, which is also held reponsible for the October 2002 Bali nightclub blasts in which 202 died. The group denies responsibility.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 8:12:13 PM ||
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Police detained a man and his wife in the port city of Surabaya in last week's deadly bombing at the Australian Embassy, a police spokesman said Thursday. Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities said the top terror suspects wanted in last week's suicide attack remain in Indonesia and have not returned home.
"We checked. They said he wudn't there..."
Police Col. Endo Wardoyo told reporters that the couple were brought in on Wednesday to the main police station in Indonesia's second large city. He said detectives were tipped off by neighbors that the couple had rented their house to three militants who fled when officers closed in on Wednesday.
"Susilo! The coppers are at our new neighbors' front door and the neighbors are beating it out the back door!"
"It told you this'd happen, dammit!"
The fugitives were believed to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the extremist network blamed for a string of bombings in Indonesia over the past three years, including the embassy attack that killed nine people a week ago. Wardoyo said the couple may have had ties with Azahari bin Husin, one of the two Malaysians believed to have masterminded last week's attack. Police have posted a large reward for information leading to the arrest of Azahari and his confederate Noordin Mohamed Top. "We brought the couple in because they are linked with Azahari," Wardoyo said. "We haven't arrested them but are still questioning them about the three men who escaped when we arrived," Wardoyo said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 10:16:05 AM ||
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#1
wasn't Top or Azahari Mr. Property Manager prior to being a terrorist "mastermind"? I wonder how they were linked to Azahari - I bet through property management type dealings. woo-hoo - that should be a gold mine for the investigators.
One's dubbed "the demolition man," a low and high explosives expert. The other's known for his skills in recruiting suicide bombers for the deadliest al-Qaida-linked terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia that have killed westerners and Muslims alike. The two Malaysians at the center of a massive manhunt in the wake of last week's Australian Embassy bombing have eluded capture for several years by renting cheap houses in densely populated areas with back alleys close by for quick getaways, police say. "They're very slippery and highly alert for police movements," Indonesia's chief detective Suyitno Landung told The Associated Press. "They are always on the move."
Azahari bin Husin, a British trained engineer and top bombmaker, and Noordin Mohamed Top, a reported moneyman and recruiting whiz, are both key figures in Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group loosely linked to al-Qaida, officials in Malaysia and Indonesia say. Police claim to have been close to catching the two several times, but the fact that they're still at large — and allegedly organizing fresh attacks, recruiting bombers and perfecting their bombmaking — shows the difficulty authorities face in fighting terror in this sprawling country.
The fugitives are believed to have a network of militant collaborators across the world's most populous Muslim nation, who shelter them and provide logistical support, a senior police official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. The pair trained with other Southeast Asian and Arab militants in Afghanistan and southern Philippines before moving to Indonesia in 2001, according to officials. "They've become more independent, aggressive and highly dangerous," said Andrew Tan, from the Singapore Institute of Defence and Strategy. "They were second-level Jemaah Islamiyah figures but they've come into the spotlight since the arrest of the network's top leaders."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/16/2004 2:57:21 AM ||
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Tribal militants maintained pressure on security forces in different parts of South Waziristan for the seventh day on Wednesday. Reports reaching here from the region quoted informed sources as saying that bodies of six soldiers and 11 wounded troops had been airlifted from Luddah Fort near the Makin bazaar, which has been under a security siege for several days. Official sources here said the soldiers belonged to the 44 Baloch Regiment and were taken to Peshawar in two helicopters. It was not clear when and where the casualties occurred, but there are suggestions that these were linked to the Tuesday evening's ambush of a military convoy near Jandola. An official of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in Peshawar denied the casualty report. Local sources said that four civilian tribesmen died in the Makin bazaar area as a result of shelling by troops.
Heavy exchanges of fire have been reported in the area and security forces and militants backed by volunteers of the Mahsud tribe were attacking each others' positions in Makin, Karwan Minza and Asman Minza. The sources said that paramilitary forces had secured hill-tops around Makin and pounded suspected locations with heavy artillery. They said that several fortress-like mud-houses also came under attack. Helicopter gunships were seen hovering over Wana, the regional headquarters of the agency, throughout the day. Meanwhile, tribal militant Abdullah Mahsud has claimed that his 'supporters' killed 15 troops and destroyed three vehicles during an assault on a military convoy in the Sarwekai area on Tuesday. Talking to this correspondent on phone from an undisclosed place in the region on Wednesday, he said that a Punjab Regiment personnel had been captured during clashes in the Sarwekai area. He identified the captured man as Mohammad Shaban. "The life of Mohammad Shaban is under threat if the government does not stop the military action in Waziristan," he warned. Abdullah Mahsud, who was recently released from the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, earlier claimed that his supporters had captured 43 soldiers. This claim has been refuted by the ISPR. Why did they release him. To look good in front of Amnesty International or what. Now lives are being lost to get a hold of that bastard again. Dont release any one they are all bad.
No source on this.
Good question, though. The more reason to keep the Gitmo thugs in the calaboose, no matter how loudly the "international community" whines. I'd say, if Belgium wants them released, they should be released to the custody of Belgian politicians. If Amnesty International wants them released, the AI staff should take them in.
#1
Fred, there were a s**tload of Taliban and foreign fighters at Konduz, Afghanistan, who eventually ended up at Mazar-e-Sharrif. It seems, that in hindsight, we should have taken them all out at Konduz with aerial bombardment? Do you agree with that assessment? A few examples like that would send a message to the rest, seems to me.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/16/2004 21:45 Comments ||
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#2
I agreed with that statement at the time, and I've seen no reason to change my mind. But at the time it looked like most of the bad guys at Konduz didn't survive -- we didn't quite know what to look for then.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 22:13 Comments ||
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#3
I forgot the source it is
http://www.dawn.com/2004/09/16/top5.htm
#4
I seem to remember that it was the ACLU that was doing most of the complaining about the Gitmo detainees being held without being charged. As far as I'm concerned, this is just another example of what happens when terrorism is treated as some sort of legal matter.
Intelligence agencies and city police jointly raided the residences of Hizbul Tahrir activists and reportedly arrested three on Thursday. Sources told Daily Times that several teams raided houses in Lahore to arrest the activists in anti-sectarianism and terrorism drive. The arrested Hizbul Tahrir activists were reportedly accused of distributing anti-state material. The sources said that on March 25, Lorry Adda police arrested two Hizbul Tahrir activists namely Abdul Waheed, a resident of Tajpura Scheme, and Bilal Saleem, a resident of Sadar Bazaar Cantonment, for publishing pamphlets in two press machines in Badamibagh. According to the police, the accused revealed the names of some prominent personalities involved in the printing and distribution of the material. Later, the accused were handed over to intelligence agencies for investigation.
Okay. That was back in March. So what happened Thursday?
The sources said in another raid, the police arrested Hakeem Yasir Rehman Jigranvi, the younger brother of Hizbul Tahrir activist Hakeem Ihsan Jigranvi, from Gulberg on Wednesday. Another team raided Saad Jigranvi's residence on Wednesday, but the house was empty.
Beat it out the back door, did he?
A team raided Hizbul Tahrir activist Muhammad Asif's residence on Ravi Road and arrested his father Muhammad Iftikhar. Officials took him to the Lower Mall police station, but later released him with a warning to surrender his son.
"Turn yerself in, lad, or Pop gets roughed up some more!"
A team raided religious activist Imran Rasheed's Bridge Lane Gulberg residence but the house was empty.
... and the back door was still swinging slowly on its hinges.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 9:06:30 PM ||
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Unidentified assailants attacked Maulana Ibrahim Khalil, leader of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad, and escaped leaving him in critical condition in Sahiwal.
Critical condition, is it? Gut shot, maybe? Enveloped in waves of unrelenting agony? Pray for sepsis...
"The case is under investigation but we don't know the reason behind the attack," said District Police Officer (DPO) Malik Khuda Bakhsh Awan. He said that Maulana Khalil was on his way home after morning prayers when he was attacked near Montgomery Bridge at 6:30 am by unidentified men.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 9:04:38 PM ||
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#1
Now thats what I am talking about. Is he dead or no? If not let him develop gangrine and die from it. And arrest the people who took him to the hospital for disservice to humanity.
Jordan put on trial yesterday a militant accused of having been recruited by Al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi to bankroll a wave of deadly attacks including suicide bombings in Iraq. Bilal Mansour Hiyari, 34, faces two charges of conspiracy with "intent to engage in terrorist acts" and "financing and collecting donations for an illegal group." The conspiracy charge alone carries the death sentence.
Good. Give it to him.
Hiyari pleaded not guilty to both charges as they were read by the state security court's chief judge Col. Fawaz Baqour. Prosecutor Mahmoud Obeidat said Hiyari met Al-Zarqawi in July 2003 in a secret location in post-war Iraq after he came to Iraq to join in "a holy war against US troops." Hiyari and fellow Jordanian Al-Zarqawi fought together alongside Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan where a deep personal bond grew between them, Obeidat said.
Ahah! Lovers, were they?
After spending a month with Hiyari in Iraq before heading back to Jordan, Al-Zarqawi entrusted him with the task of collecting funds in the kingdom to finance bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 8:14:37 PM ||
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Palestinian fighters have freed a top security official hours after abducting him in the Gaza Strip. General Muhammad Ahmad al-Batrawi, head of the financial control committee of the national security service, was abducted on Thursday by a group of men who intercepted his car and forced him out of the vehicle. The took him to a hideaway in the Nusairat refugee camp, security officials said. Just over three hours after al-Batrawi was seized, he was freed through intervention of Fatah leaders and security commanders and was driven to his home in the nearby town of Dair al-Balah, witnesses said. It was not immediately known what, if anything, the fighters had demanded or exactly who was behind the kidnapping.
Lemme see, here... head of the financial control committee? Maybe wondering where the bucks went... A little warning, perhaps?
The Gaza Strip was hit by an unprecedented spate of kidnappings two months ago, which led Palestinian prime minister Ahmad Quraya to submit his resignation, before later retracting it. Among those kidnapped in July was the then head of the Palestinian police force, General Ghazi Jabali, who quit shortly after the end of his ordeal which lasted several hours.
"These people are crazy! I quit!"
However there has been no sign of an end to the security crisis which has been at the centre of a power struggle between Quraya, veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 8:07:13 PM ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Multi-National Force-Iraq conducted a successful precision strike today on a confirmed Abu Musab Al Zarqawi terrorist site in Fallujah. Sources reported the presence of terrorists, foreign fighters, and weapons systems that were intended for use against Iraqi and Multi-National forces.
The strike occurred at about 12:30 p.m. The weapons were stored at a home in Fallujah. Foreign fighters continue to operate in and around civilian locations with total disregard for the public's safety and well being. Based on detailed intelligence and analysis, Multi-National forces effectively and accurately targeted this location while taking every measure possible to protect surrounding homes and innocent civilians. By destroying these weapons, Multi-National forces support Iraqi government efforts to rid Fallujah and Iraq of foreign fighters and terrorists while protecting Iraqi civilians. JDAM has become a sniper weapon
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/16/2004 18:22 Comments ||
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#2
It is a bad idea to take risks to protect surrounding homes and innocent civilians. They know what is going on in the neighborhood. They should know that if they let bad guys in, bad things happen. Besides, we're talking Fallujah. Are there any not bad guys left?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/16/2004 18:26 Comments ||
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#3
Centcom: Not So Precise strike in Fallujah
11/6/2004
TAMPA, FL--Centcom officials today admitted that a theatre wide GPS failure resulted in the indiscriminate bombing of 640 acres in downtown Fallujah. 9 (nine) B-52s dropped approximately 400 tons of imprecise ordinance on the halpless city. It is unclear why 9 (nine) B-52s were in the area, but early fingers are pointing at the Reagan tax cut.
TALIBAN CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY
The rocket exploded about half-mile from where Karzai's supporters had gathered to hear him speak. "Everyone was waiting, but then when the rocket boomed, everyone got very nervous and frightened," a witness said. Taliban military commander Mullah Abdur Rauf told Reuters the guerrillas learned of Karzai's trip on Wednesday and planned the attack. "Because of shortage of time, we could fire only one rocket. It was launched by remote control," he said.
Translation: "Cheez, they've spotted us! Head for the hills!"
Karzai faces 17 challengers in the election. Campaigning began on Sept. 7, but has been low key, with none of the big rallies and parades seen in other countries. The vote has been delayed twice by growing insecurity. About 1,000 people, including aid workers, militants, civilians and Afghan and foreign troops have been killed in militant-related violence in the past year. Analyst Vikram Parekh of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank said the Gardez incident would be a worry for Karzai and his ability to campaign in the provinces, but added that he already enjoyed a higher profile than his rivals. Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, is keen to garner the Pashtun vote from areas like Gardez where they are the majority. But Taliban guerrillas also draw their support from the majority group.
A deployment order signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went out Wednesday night for 700 members of the 82nd Airborne Division, who will head to Afghanistan as a "very public display of U.S. solidarity" during the historic elections there, FOX News has learned. . . And? Seems like common sense to me. Article continues. ..
"I've acquired a target Sir
. Permission to engage!! It sounds like dialogue taken from a movie or a video game, but with the steady squeeze of the trigger, reality comes crashing down, and a Marine realizes the importance of his daily training.
The day was Sunday, April 4th. Corporal Lonnie Young had been in Iraq since January, three long, hot months in the war-torn country and a far cry from his hometown of Dry Ridge, Kentucky -- small-town America with a population of 2,000. Being called to the frontlines as a Defense Messaging System administrator, he quickly found himself providing convoy security and personal security for visiting general officers, but on this day he was setting up communication throughout the different camps.
Young and his co-workers, approximately seven civilian contractors and coalition fighters, pulled into the gates of Camp Golf in An Najaf to establish a communication link at the coalition base. "While entering the front gate, I noticed a small group of protesters out in the streets," Young recalled. "As we proceeded onto the base there were numerous coalition soldiers in "riot gear" near the front gate. Our rendezvous point was behind the first building in a large parking lot."
Continued on Page 49
A Sydney Shi'ite Muslim leader kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq was released after his captors robbed him of $35,000, family and friends said today. The Australian government was unaware of Sheik Mohammed Naji's plight until yesterday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. Sheik Naji, also known as Mohammad Sumyani, was reportedly driving in an area south of the capital Baghdad when a gang stopped his car, beat him and other passengers and kidnapped them. The gang kept the 60-year-old captive for three days before bundling him into the boot of a car, driving him to the town of Mahmoudeya, giving him $2 and freeing him because he was a cleric, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Sheik Naji's nephew, Firas Naji, said today the captors initially threatened to kill his uncle if a $145,000 ransom demand was not met. "When they first took him, one of them said 'you're going to get killed tonight'," Mr Naji told Sky television. He was freed after the kidnappers took $35,000, Sky reported.
From where? Out of his suitcase? Sounds like there's a story within this story...
Lebanese Muslim Association director Keysar Trad, a friend of the sheik, said he had spoken with Shi'ite leaders and Sheik Naji's brother in Sydney, Salem, who said the money was not a ransom. "He didn't pay a ransom," Mr Trad said. "That was money he had on his person that was taken from him."
"They called it a 'donation.'"
Mr Downer said he was unaware of the details of the incident. "I only found out yesterday that he had been kidnapped and at this stage I understand he has said he was kidnapped because he was an Australian," Mr Downer told ABC radio. "There were others who are suggesting that he was kidnapped in order to get money from him and he had a substantial amount of money on him. But I don't really know more than that."
A spokeswoman for Mr Downer's department told AAP today officials heard earlier this week that a person with dual Australian-Iraq citizenship might be missing in southern Iraq. The department began inquiries to verify this through its embassy in Baghdad, but then received information that the person had been released. Sheik Naji had not been specifically targeted in the kidnapping, Mr Trad said. "They didn't know he was an Australian," he said.
"Ali Baba just heard he had some cash with him..."
"He just identified himself as a Shi'ite scholar. He is a man of high learning."
"... with a hefty wallet."
The state of lawlessness in Iraq had made him a random target, he said. Sheik Naji, a grandfather who was also friends with the Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, left Sydney to live in Iraq late last year. However, four married daughters and at least four of his brothers were still in Sydney, Mr Trad said. Mr Naji said his uncle was now considering returning to Sydney.
"I'm broke. I'm hoping my kids can put me up..."
Meanwhile, Mr Downer said the government had been unable to verify the kidnapping of two other Australians in Iraq despite more than two days passing since a deadline to pull out Australian troops from Iraq expired.
Posted by: tipper ||
09/16/2004 11:01:16 AM ||
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#1
Mr Naji said his uncle was now considering returning to Sydney.
What's the matter? Aren't your countrymen friendly enough for you?
#2
The gang kept the 60-year-old captive for three days before bundling him into the boot of a car, driving him to the town of Mahmoudeya, giving him $2 and freeing him because he was a cleric, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
After a series of bloody clashes in its border regions, Pakistan on Thursday again offered amnesty to foreign militants, but vowed to defeat them by force if they didn't lay down their weapons.
"Youse guyz had enough yet?"
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the militants — hiding in Pakistan's rugged tribal regions, bordering Afghanistan — would not be extradited to other countries if they accepted the long-standing offer.
"We'll toss you in our own stinkin' jails..."
"We will not hand them over to any country if they surrender," he told The Associated Press. If they did not, he said: "We will flush them out." A series of major army operations, including airstrikes and artillery, have scattered hundreds of suspected al-Qaida-linked fighters, and left scores of people dead. But militants, believed to include Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, are still sheltering in mountains of the lawless South Waziristan tribal region and show no signs of giving up.
"You'll never take us alive, coppers!"
"Hokay."
On Wednesday, new Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told his first Cabinet meeting that the government would seek a political solution. The Cabinet formed a special committee, including Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and the governor of North West Frontier Province where Waziristan is located, to negotiate with tribal elders. Such efforts have failed in the past. The government has also maintained amnesty offers for months but no militants have accepted. Hostilities have escalated in the past week. The military has launched attacks by jet fighters and helicopter gunships, killing 50 fighters in a raid on a suspected terrorist training camp on Sept. 9. Since then, militants are believed to have ambushed army convoys and stepped up attacks on military forces in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 10:20:52 AM ||
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An apparent attempt to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai failed Thurdsday when a rocket that was fired at his helicopter missed by 300 yards, the U.S. military said. The American military helicopter was preparing to land in Gardez, 60 miles south of Kabul, when the rocket was fired. The aircraft immediately turned around and returned to Kabul, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said. "The president was not in any imminent danger," McCann said.
"It was Hek's boyz, so we didn't have to worry..."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 10:12:20 AM ||
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Two female Palestinian university students, under investigation for allegedly planning to carry out a twin suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, have surrendered to the Israeli army, military officials said Thursday. The women, Adilah and Lina Jawabre, both 21, turned themselves in to Israeli authorities after relatives informed them the army was looking for them. Family members said both women denied involvement in planning an attack and that they surrendered because they have nothing to hide.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
However, military officials said the women confessed they planned to carry out an attack.
"We dunnit an' we're glad! But we're innocent!"
Adilah and Lina are distant relatives and childhood friends. They grew up in the same village, went to the same school, and now both are seniors studying education at the Al Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus. Ayman Jawabre, Lina's brother, said Israeli troops came to the family home early Wednesday, demanding to see his sister. Soldiers told him his sister is wanted for security reasons and might be involved in planning an attack in Israel. The fathers of Lina and Adilah went to fetch their daughters from university on Wednesday and delivered them to the army, the family said. Military officials said the women were recruited by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant PLO faction, to carry out a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last week.
I thought DFLP was down to about 12 people, nine of them on Social Security?
The military said the mastermind was DFLP operative Hani Akkad who was killed in a gunbattle with Israeli troops in Nablus on Wednesday.
Make that eleven people, then...
The officials said the two women turned themselves in just hours after Akkad was killed and confessed to their plans to carry out a suicide bombing.
"Yez got me, coppers! I confess! They dunnit! Rosebud!"
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2004 10:07:34 AM ||
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#1
The women, Adilah and Lina Jawabre, both 21, turned themselves in to Israeli authorities after relatives informed them the army was looking for them. Family members said both women denied involvement in planning an attack and that they surrendered because they have nothing to hide.
Maybe, just maybe, after noticing how the IDF already had names and addresses, their families made them surrender because after their planned attacks none of them would have anywhere to hide.
One visit from Mister Caterpillar can ruin your whole house day.
#3
Man get yourserlf a fiery palestinian virgin;
Her nipples dripeth forth nitroglycerin;
Her loins are stuffed with RDX;
Her vagina is filled with nails and Shrapnel;
And when you come unto her
She will beget you little monster terrorists.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
09/16/2004 15:05 Comments ||
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The Election Commission has issued reminders to 34 political parties to submit statements of their accounts within 30 days, failing which they will not be allowed to contest future elections. The EC on Wednesday also directed 11 political parties to re-submit their statement within 30 days after they had been audited by chartered accountant. It okayed the statements received from 45 parties.
After a series of bloody clashes in its border regions, Pakistan on Thursday again offered amnesty to foreign militants, but vowed to defeat them by force if they didn't lay down their weapons. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the militants - hiding in Pakistan's rugged tribal regions, bordering Afghanistan - would not be extradited to other countries if they accepted the long-standing offer. "We will not hand them over to any country if they surrender," he told The Associated Press. If they did not, he said: "We will flush them out."
A series of major army operations, including airstrikes and artillery, have scattered hundreds of suspected al-Qaida-linked fighters, and left scores of people dead. But militants, believed to include Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, are still sheltering in mountains of the lawless South Waziristan tribal region and show no signs of giving up. On Wednesday, new Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told his first Cabinet meeting that the government would seek a political solution. The Cabinet formed a special committee, including Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and the governor of North West Frontier Province where Waziristan is located, to negotiate with tribal elders. Such efforts have failed in the past. The government has also maintained amnesty offers for months but no militants have accepted.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/16/2004 3:11:23 AM ||
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Looks like the Pakistani truncheons have been hard at work ...
An Islamic militant has confessed to having masterminded a pair of suicide attacks on Shia Muslims in Quetta, which resulted in the death of more than a hundred people, said a government lawyer on Wednesday. The attackers were suspected of being Lashkar-e-Jhangvi members, a domestic Sunni sectarian group linked with Al Qaeda. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Dawood Badini was captured in Karachi on June 14 and was handed over to the Quetta police for further interrogation. Badini admitted to having planned the 2003 and 2004 Quetta attacks before a judge at a pre-trial hearing, said prosecutor Muzaffar Ahmed. According to law, the case will not be tried in an anti-terrorism court.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/16/2004 3:05:14 AM ||
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#1
Rack. it is the Rack or thumb screws. Whatever it is It is working
Gunmen snatched three British citizens, believed to be civilians, from a house in central Baghdad early on Thursday, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. The men were staying at a house in the al-Mansur district of the capital, a wealthy neighborhood where many foreign businessmen and contractors live, when the armed men stormed the building shortly after dawn. Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdel-Rahman said no shots were fired as the men were taken. He quoted witnesses as saying the men were bundled into a minivan by the hostage takers and driven off. He said he believed they were civilians, but there was no confirmation. British Embassy officials in Baghdad said they were trying to confirm the reports. "We have no information at all on this. We are looking into it urgently," a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London told Reuters.
Several security firms and other small foreign businesses have their headquarters in Mansur. Most are protected by armed guards, but others have a more low-key security presence. Most foreign nationals in Baghdad except journalists live in the Green Zone, a heavily fortified complex on the banks of the Tigris protected by U.S. troops.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/16/2004 2:58:29 AM ||
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#1
Nationalities updated to 2 Americans, 1 Briton.
#3
"Most foreign nationals in Baghdad except journalists live in the Green Zone, a heavily fortified complex on the banks of the Tigris protected by U.S. troops. "
How come journalists aren't being kidnapped right and left? (I know this could bring a string of jokes--which is great--but I'm serious. Seems like it would be easy, and would get a lot of press.)
Pakistan denies shelling religious school
The Pakistani army has denied reports that it shelled a religious school in South Waziristan on Tuesday. Spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said reports of the attack in Makin, 100km (60 miles) north of the main town of Wana, were "baseless".
"These 'reports', they mean nothing."
Local witnesses said walls of the school crumbled and the house of the religious head was also hit by shells. Earlier on Tuesday, officials in the Afghan border region had said they believed foreign militants and local supporters were taking shelter in the mud-built compound of the religious school in Makin. The school is run by his Excellency theMaulana Mohammad Shafiq Mehsud.
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Of course that is not right! A maDRESSa is an innocent institution that promotes the wearing of the finest burkas from the finest galleries and boardwalks of Paris and Los Angeles. Let these bombers of the madressa's eat cake!
#3
The Madrassas will cease to be future jihadi hate factories when the funding of these places is cut off. And that money trail leads to Saudi Arabia and the princes that finance them. A little wetwork on key princes with funding ties to Madrassas will dry up that well. These funders are not brave souls, they are like the Mullahs that preach suicide attacks---they are cowards.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/16/2004 1:05 Comments ||
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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.
