Security sources told Reuters that one of the suspects, a wanted Kuwaiti man identified as Fawaz Al-Otaibi, died later in hospital of his wounds. Two state security officers were wounded in the shootout. Shortly before the incident, the US Embassy in Kuwait warned that it had information of imminent drive-by attacks on Westerners in Kuwait. In an advisory, the US Embassy said it was issuing "this urgent message because it has received credible information that an individual or individuals moving about Kuwait in a black-colored small sedan intend to randomly attack Westerners".
Wonder what color car Otaibi was driving?
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that a first lieutenant and a sergeant were killed and two other security personnel wounded in the exchange of fire with Otaibi as they pursued him in the Hawalli suburb of Kuwait City. It said Otaibi had entered a shop in Hawalli and opened fire at security personnel who followed him inside. Otaibi then ran outside and got into a car where accomplices were waiting. One of the passengers opened fire on the security officers, killing two and wounding two, the ministry added. Otaibi was also wounded. Kuwaiti authorities have been cracking down on militants opposed to the presence of US forces in the country.
So did they catch the accomplices?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Kuwait is the arabic word for ungrateful bastards!
For as long as pastel rum drinks and hedonistic pre-Lenten celebrations have been in fashion, fun-seekers have flocked to this tropical duet of lush islands to sunbathe, sway to calypso and savor the exotic flavors of the multicultural cuisine. But an ugly social ill threatens the perpetual party atmosphere: kidnapping, a crime so epidemic that Trinidad ranks second in the world behind Colombia for its rate of abductions.
"We're Number Two, we try harder!"
Victims and police point to a home-grown radical Muslim gang that sought to topple the government in 1990 and has since built a lucrative criminal empire. U.S. intelligence operatives are believed to be watching the militants of Jamaat al Muslimeen for signs that they are linked to global terrorist networks such as al Qaeda.
Abductions targeting the prosperous and politically influential have evoked comparison to the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, whose kidnappings in the Philippines and Malaysia have chilled business at island resorts in those Pacific countries.
They have also instilled fear in this country, which has the Caribbean's most dynamic economy, that visitors and foreign investors could begin to look elsewhere.
The relatively small and obscure Jamaat al Muslimeen sparked the kidnapping wave that flared up about two years ago, but authorities see an even more troubling copycat phenomenon. Amateur crooks and street children are getting into the act, inspired by the ransom paid by relatives who may fear the police as much as the abductors. Kidnapping has been on the rise throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, but it has soared in Trinidad. In 2001, this country of 1.2 million people had fewer than 10 kidnappings. In 2002, the number was 29. In the last couple of years, the figure has been about 150.
Police say most kidnappings are instances of gangland score-settling or drug dealings gone wrong, an explanation that serves to defuse public anger and convince honest citizens that they run little risk of becoming targets.
The victims are primarily East Indians, who make up 40 percent of the population and tend to be more affluent than blacks, who compose a similar proportion. They contend that the kidnappings are being fueled by police corruption, government complicity, racism and an attitude that most victims had it coming.
Chechen rebels claim several elderly relatives of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov have been abducted in recent days by federal forces or pro-Moscow Chechen forces in the republic, media reports said. The accusation came in a letter addressed to the European Parliament, according to Ekho Moskvy radio and the pro-rebel web site Kavkazcenter.org, on Sunday. Ekho Moskvy said the letter was from Chechen separatists; the web site described its authors as Chechen politicians. According to the letter, two brothers and a sister of Maskhadov were among several relatives abducted last week in Grozny and elsewhere in Chechnya, the reports said. The letter said their ages ranged from 69 to 76. A spokesman for the Chechen Interior Ministry, Ruslan Atsayev, said the republic's police force had not detained any relatives of Maskhadov and was unaware of any having been abducted.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us."
Interfax quoted an unnamed source in the Chechen prosecutor's office as saying that neither Chechen law enforcement agencies nor federal troops had detained Maskhadov's brothers or sister.
"It wuz them!"
The letter to the European Parliament claimed that abductions of women, the elderly and children have increased in recent weeks, the reports said. They said its authors tied the increase to a statement by Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, who said in late October that detaining terrorists' relatives could be an effective tool against them. In September, a brother-in-law of Maskhadov, Shirvani Semiyev, said federal forces briefly detained him and up to 50 other relatives of Maskhadov and rebel warlord Shamil Basayev on Sept. 3, the final day of the rebel raid in Beslan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:28:52 AM ||
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AMSTERDAM — An employee of the Dutch intelligence service AIVD is suspected of leaking State secrets to the housemate of the man accused of murdering filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a court has been told. The housemate of murder suspect Mohammed B., identified only as Achmed H., was in possession of a print out of a taped conversation at the time of his arrest. AIVD employee Outman Ben A. is accused of passing the document on, Rotterdam Court was told on Monday. The public prosecutor accuses the 34-year-old Dutchman of leaking state secrets to Islamic extremists over a period of up to a year. It had not been previously disclosed that the alleged terror network, Hofstadgroep, had been supplied with information.
Both Mohammed B. and Achmed H. are allegedly members of the suspected terror network, known in English as Main City Group. B. is accused of murdering Van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November last year. H. was arrested on the same day and is accused of playing a central role in the terror network. Another terror suspect, Samir A., is also accused of membership of the group and will face trial on 24 February on charges he plotted attacks on Schiphol Airport and the Dutch Parliament. Other arrested members of the group were allegedly planning to kill MPs Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders.
It had only been disclosed in the past that a group of Muslims in Utrecht were in possession of state secrets, allegedly leaked by the suspect, newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Tuesday. It is thus a revelation that the Main City Group was possibly passed on sensitive information. Ben A. was arrested on 30 September in the AIVD headquarters in Leidschendam. He was employed as an audio editor and interpreter in the Islamic Terrorism Centre and has since been placed "in restriction", meaning that he almost has no contact with the outside world. Three others were arrested on allegations they received information from Ben A., but have since been released. They have been ordered to hand in their passports and remain at the disposal of justice authorities, news agency ANP reported.
The AIVD has some 100 to 200 suspected Islamic militants living in the Netherlands under surveillance. B. was also under surveillance for some time before the AIVD's attention turned elsewhere. Phone taps are a common form of surveillance. The investigation into Ben A.'s actions is continuing, such as the manner in which he allegedly spread confidential information via the internet. Rotterdam Court rejected a request during a pre-trial hearing on Monday to release Ben A. from remand custody and a prosecution spokesman told Expatica that the trial is expected to begin at the start of April.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/11/2005 12:40:44 PM ||
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Outman Ben A. does not look like a traditional Dutch name to me.
A former literature student and karate instructor aided and financed a deadly al-Qaeda splinter group, say newly released documents from Canada's spy agency. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says jailed Moroccan national Adil Charkaoui is a member of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which has been blamed for deadly attacks in Spain and Morocco.
Mr. Charkaoui, a suspected sleeper agent for al-Qaeda, has been held in detention since May 2003 on a national security certificate. The spy agency's own information on Mr. Charkaoui's alleged links to the terrorist group were kept secret for reasons of national security. But the information in the Jan. 6 CSIS brief is based on media reports from Morocco and France.
The Canadians trust the Euro press?
"Moroccan authorities identified Adil Charkaoui as a member of the [MICG]," says the eight-page Federal Court brief, which cites an article in France's Le Monde newspaper.
The court document also cites a Moroccan newspaper as saying Mr. Charkaoui took military training in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 1998. CSIS, quoting from the same newspaper, said the 31-year-old father of two sent $2,000 to the Moroccan-based group and provided one of its members with a laptop computer. "The fact that Charkaoui offered financial assistance .-.-. introduces a new element as to the dangers posed by Charkaoui," said CSIS. "He made himself available to a terrorist group."
The Moroccan newspaper article appeared in Aujourd'hui Le Maroc on April 16. Mr. Charkaoui was named by Nourdeine N'fia, an old emir with the group. The newspaper report has outraged Mr. Charkaoui's family, which claimed torture was used to elicit information from N'fia.
The terrorist group has been linked to the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. It also has been connected with May 16, 2003, bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, which killed 33 bystanders and 12 suicide bombers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:03:58 AM ||
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Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan whom the Canadian government suspects of belonging to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group, pressed his case on Monday to be released after 20 months in detention. At a Federal Court of Canada hearing in Montreal, Charkaoui's lawyer presented the results of a polygraph test in which the Moroccan denied having ever planned a crime with members of al Qaeda. Polygraph expert John Galianos said he believed Charkaoui was being truthful when taking the test.
Charkaoui, 31, won permanent resident status in Canada in 1995. He has been held since May 2003 under a "security certificate" -- which allows detention without trial under limited circumstances -- on government accusations that he had been seen with Al Qaeda officials and trained in Afghanistan. Charkaoui denies that. "I have never been and I am not a member of any terrorist network and I reject all forms of terrorism, including state terrorism," he said in a statement handed out by a coalition seeking his release.
"Lies! All lies!"
The government won the right last month to detain Charkaoui indefinitely after a federal appeals court ruled that the individual right to liberty lost its meaning when "the society charged with ensuring its protection has lost its own right to liberty and security as the result of terrorist activities." Canadian officials have said senior Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaida had reported having seen Charkaoui in Afghanistan in 1993 and 1997-98, and another al Qaeda operative said he trained with him in Afghanistan in 1998. The coalition said supporters are prepared to put up C$50,000 bail ($41,000) bail to allow Charkaoui to run away be conditionally released from a Montreal prison. Canadian courts have rejected Charkaoui's three previous requests for bail. Charkaoui's sister, Hind, told reporters that her brother still does not know the details of any of the Canadian government's accusations or evidence against him. "He is making a great effort to show that he is innocent, to show that the accusations against him are based only a newspaper articles, which I find preposterous on the part of the court," she said.
That's being a loyal sister. Now shut up and fix him a steak.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:04:45 AM ||
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Polygraph examinations are about as useful as Horoscopes. Useless also is any court that would accept them. It's just plain nutters. If the RCMP thinks he needs to be detained they better listen.
#2
He'll prolly successfully sue them, now, for false arrest, detention without cause, and a raft of other Official Kanadian Shit. Some of the looneytoon shit may come home to roost.
THE trial of a Yemeni imam accused of supplying millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden and Hamas has begun in New York. Jury selection was expected to take about two weeks, with the prosecution to begin presenting its case on January 25. Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad, 56, was detained with another Yemeni in Germany in January 2003 and extradited to the US later that year. US Attorney-General John Ashcroft said in announcing charges against Mr Al-Moayad in March 2003: "The FBI undercover operation developed information that Al-Moayad personally handed Osama bin Laden $US20 million ($26.3m) from his terrorist fundraising network." Mr Al-Moayad is said to be an imam at the al-Ihsan mosque in Sanaa, one of the most important mosques in the Yemeni capital.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:06:36 AM ||
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Mr Al-Moayad is said to be an imam at the al-Ihsan mosque in Sanaa, one of the most important mosques in the Yemeni capital
make that past tense...
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2005 8:33 Comments ||
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Past perfect. To have been. Welcome aboard the paddywagon, al-Moayad.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
01/11/2005 12:27 Comments ||
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Some 320 suspected Muslim militants are being hunted in connection with terrorist plots, including an alleged plan to bomb the Feast of the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo, Manila last Sunday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday.
PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza said the 320 were being hunted following the apprehension of 16 suspected militants in a Manila Islamic library on Friday.
At least three improvised explosive devices and hand guns were seized in the raid which police said foiled the planned bombing of the Black Nazarene procession, in which an ebony image of Jesus was paraded around Quiapo. The procession pushed through without a hitch. Organizers said it was the biggest crowd in recent years.
Five of the 16 suspected militants were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The rest were released.
The 320 suspects are believed to have undergone explosives training in the northern Philippines in 2002, most of them as members of the "Rajah Solaiman Group," said Mendoza.
He also said they were involved with Allan Borlagdatan, a convert to Islam who was arrested in December while allegedly trying to plant a bomb on a bus. He was later shot dead after grabbing the firearm of his police guard and killing him.
A movement to convert more Filipinos to Islam, called "Balik-Islam" (Return to Islam) has also been linked with the alleged conspiracy, though its members denied being involved with the bomb plots.
Meanwhile, some 100 members of various Muslim groups held a rally at the Camp Crame in Quezon City, demanding the release of the five suspects still held after Friday's raid.
The protesters carried placards calling for the release of Afghani Alonto, Muamar Adam, Leonardo Akhmed Ricalde, Josefino Yusof Aor and Alih Nadja Hashim.
The protesters came from the ranks of the Assalam Bangsamoro People's Party, Balik Islam Unity Congress, and the party-list group Anak Mindanao led by Rep. Mujib Hataman.
"Release Ricalde and the Islamic teachers of the Islamic Information Center," one of the placards, written in Filipino, read.
Usof Ledesma, a spokesman for Balik Islam Unity Congress, said the evidence against the five was planted. He added that Mendoza and Superintendent Alen Bantolo of the CIDG's Task Force Maverick lied when they said the arrested Muslims were plotting a suicide bomb attempt at the Quiapo Church procession.
Penny Disimbal, national president of the Assalam Bangsamoro People's Party, branded as "irresponsible" the CIDG's claims that the arrested men were terrorists.
"We strongly condemn the PNP statement tagging the innocent Muslim as out to plot bombings of the Quiapo processions, during the celebration of the Day of the Black Nazarene," Disimbal said. "This irresponsible posturing creates undue animosities and fans unfounded hatred between Muslims and Christians, to the detriment of the Filipino people," he said.
Disimbal added that they have witnesses to prove that the alleged explosives and firearms seized from the suspects were "planted" by law enforcers who barged into the Islamic Information Center, located on the second floor of the Agoncillo Building on Pedro Gil street and Taft Avenue in Manila, without search warrants.
Witnesses said two members of the raiding team brought black bags where the supposed explosives and firearms were kept, later presenting these to reporters as evidence.
"We abhor and detest the unceremonious desecration of the Muslim Mussalla prayer room and learning center and the arrest of 16 innocent Muslim individuals without justifiable reason or basis and the continuing harassment of the Muslims in Metro Manila and elsewhere," Disimbal said.
Both Ledesma and Disimbal cleared the five suspected terrorists of any wrongdoing.
"Definitely, Afghani Alonto and four of his companions are not terrorists... We are not against terrorists being caught, we are against wrongful arrests," Ledesma said.
Ledesma defended the suspects from accusations that they were engaged in the recruitment and training of would-be members of their "terrorist cells." He noted that Alonto, one of the suspects, openly announced they are entertaining individuals who want to learn the Koran. Alonto set one lesson on Jan. 8, but he was arrested the day before by law enforcers from the CIDG, the Western Police District and the Sala'am Police.
"We do not train terrorists... We only want to disseminate the teachings of Islam to those who go to the Islamic Information Center," Ledesma said.
He added that his group has been trying to stay away from controversy since arrests of some of their former leaders and members, which included Borlagdatan and Redendo Cain Dellosa, a suspect in the SuperFerry 14 bombing that killed more than 100 people in the country's worst terrorist attack in February last year.
Ledesma said his colleagues wanted to live "normal lives" and simply study the Koran since the police operations against Dellosa and other members of the Rajah Solaiman Movement some two to three years ago. Mendoza claimed the suspects were part of the Hukbong Khalid Trinidad, an alleged cell of the RSM.
Ranking police intelligence officials distanced themselves from the CIDG operations, saying Friday's raid was conducted without evidence of the group's alleged terrorist activities.
Angered by the arrests, Muslim leaders also accused the PNP-CIDG of using Muslims as "pawns" to receive more funds, possibly from the United States, in the guise of boosting the country's efforts against terrorism.
About 30 minutes before the Muslim groups staged the surprise picket yesterday, PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil presented anew to the media the suspects inside their detention cells in the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response building to disprove claims of torture.
Mendoza said in a statement issued late yesterday that Friday's raid was brought about by "verified information" gathered by the CIDG that the center was being used as a front by radical Islamist groups and individuals.
Manila regional trial court Executive Judge Enrico Lanzanas issued the search warrant on charges that the suspects violated Presidential Decree 1866, which covers the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
"The initial search yielded improvised explosive devices and firearms," Mendoza said.
He added that out of 17 people arrested during the raid, five were presented before a public prosecutor for inquest proceedings while the rest were released after their identities were verified.
"The CIDG assures the public, particularly our Muslim brothers and sisters, that we shall continue to dig deeper into this case if only to go after those who give Islam a bad name and thereby safeguard public safety and national interest," Mendoza said.
Ledesma also denounced the apparent failure of the Sala'am Police — a specialized unit formed by the PNP to address the concerns of Muslims — in defending the rights of those faithful to Islam.
He alleged that the Sala'am Police failed to help Mona Yusoph, 24, who was reportedly raped twice when she was detained at the compound of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) from Oct. 6 to 24 last year.
Yusoph was held incommunicado at the ISAFP compound in Camp Aguinaldo after she was arrested with other suspected terrorists, according to Ledesma. She was later released after police filed charges of illegal possession of firearms against her.
Ledesma said Yusoph's relatives and friends were given the run-around when they tried to find her at the AFP and other offices in Camp Crame. Yusoph, who is engaged in the travel agency business, flew back to Mindanao traumatized by the sexual abuse she underwent while under ISAFP custody, he added.
A medico-legal report on Yusoph revealed her vagina sustained 14 lacerations as a result of the two incidents of rape while she was detained at the ISAFP, Ledesma said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:17:42 AM ||
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Suspected members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group snatched a group of local traders in the southern Philippines at the weekend and killed three of them, police said Monday. The gunmen seized the four traders Saturday near the coastal town of Pandami on Jolo Island, a rebel hotbed in the southern tip of the archipelago. The rebels had introduced themselves as Abu Sayyaf militants and accused the victims of being government spies. Three of the victims were later killed by firing squad, but the fourth managed to escape and is now under protective custody, police said. "We are still investigating. The gunmen told them they were kidnapped because they were military spies," said the police officer leading the investigation, who did not want to be named. A manhunt has been launched for the attackers, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:05:41 AM ||
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Thirteen suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels and eight government troopers were killed in fierce fighting in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao yesterday as helicopter gunships pounded rebel positions after a faction of the MILF attacked Army outposts. Army spokesman Maj. Bartolome Bacarro said troops were surrounded in their base, but were "able to hold the line" and that reinforcements were on the way. Fighting broke out late Sunday when about 100 MILF guerrillas under Abdul Rahman Binago simultaneously attacked Army detachments in Linantangan, Mamasapano and Labo-Labo in Sharif Aguak, both in Maguindanao, in violation of a two-year-old ceasefire. Mamasapano is some 60 kilometers south of Cotabato City.
Col. Franklin del Prado, Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said reports from the field indicated that at least 13 MILF rebels were killed in the counter-offensive. The MILF attack was launched in apparent retaliation for the killing last week of Binago's brother Fides Binago, leader of the Abu Sofia bandit group, in a clash with government troops. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the rebel leadership was trying to contact Binago to get him to pull out. Kabalu said an international team of ceasefire monitors was being rushed to the area to keep the fighting from spreading. "This is an isolated case, and both the MILF and the AFP exerted efforts to stop the incident immediately," Kabalu said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:31:31 AM ||
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The radical Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) says 19 of its 206 members "conducting relief work" in Aceh have been expelled from the province by the Indonesian Air Force.
"Pack your turban and get out!"
MMI executive Fauzan Al-Anshari said many of the group's members had taken a flight from Jakarta to Aceh on December 30. He said they established a command post at the Iskandar Muda Air Force base in Banda Aceh city to help evacuate dead bodies, distribute aid and give "spiritual guidance" to survivors.
"O Brother in Islam! Y'gotta keep a good site picture, and sque-e-e-e-e-eze. If you pull jerk that trigger, Allah might guide that bullet right up yer ass!"
Several Air Force personnel visited the MMI command post on Sunday and ordered 19 volunteers there to pack their bags and be ready to leave in 30 minutes, said Al-Anshari. Eleven of them were then flown to the North Sumatra capital of Medan, while eight from Java were flown on a Hercules military aircraft to Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah airbase, he added. "When we asked why we were being expelled, what our mistake was, they only said that no matter what the reason, our brothers must leave the command post," Al-Anshari was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.
That's the way they say "Shutcher goddam mouth and get out!" in Bahasa Indonesia...
He said the expulsion of the MMI members was probably due to foreign pressure, adding that foreign journalists in Aceh had earlier questioned their presence and asked whether they were linked to al Qaeda. Al-Anshari claimed that after denying any links with al Qaeda, rumors surfaced that MMI was linked to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), because two people claiming to be GAM members visited an MMI command post in Lampenang.
"I mean, we both got turbans, but there's lotsa difference between us. Their turbans are green, see?"
He said three Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) trucks carrying fully armed troops soon visited the command post and TNI commander General Endriartono Sutarto later visited to Aceh. "We don't not know what his agenda was. But afterward, the Air Force came and removed the volunteers."
Sutarto doesn't sound like the kind of man who suffers fools gladly...
MMI was founded in August 2000 with the ostensible aim of promoting the adoption of strict Islamic law in secular Indonesia. The group's founder is radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected leader of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah. He is now on trial, accused of inciting his followers to carry out the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and the August 2003 bombing at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel. GAM's exiled leaders in Sweden on Sunday issued a statement demanding the expulsion of MMI and another radical group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), from Aceh. "The government of Aceh in exile... deplores the arrival in Aceh of members of the thuggish so-called Islamic Defenders Front and the terroristic Indonesia Mujahidin Council. The introduction of these organizations into Aceh at this most critical time squanders scarce resources by the Indonesian government which is better allocated to the victims of the recent tsunami," said the statement. "The FPI and MMI are not welcome in Aceh and have never been supported by the Acehnese people, nor has their presence been requested. The FPI has been involved in sectarian killings in Maluku and Central Sulawesi and illegal attacks against non-Muslims and others in Java and elsewhere."
"We could do our own sectarian killings, thank you, if we had any non-Moose limbs left in Aceh..."
The statement said MMI is the "umbrella organization for groups such as Laskar Jihad, Laskar Jundullah and the FPI" and has "the explicit aim of turning Indonesia into a non-democratic fundamentalist Islamist state. The actions and words of both the FPI and MMI are against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith and contradict the tolerance and faith of Acehnese Muslims. Neither the FPI nor the MMI has any credentials or skills in disaster relief, and their presence is clearly intended as a provocation to the people of Aceh. Their intervention in Aceh is therefore counter-productive and is not wanted."
"So beat it. This is our turf!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:34:07 AM ||
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#1
It's a start. Now the TNI need to get serious and toss the rest out. I don't think the GAM will peacefully tolerate them in Aceh for very long. A shit storm is brewing either way.
The terrorists and those who supported them may not to be from now on as immune as they wish neither they may be safely relaxed in deep sleep.
A new secret organization called (Brigades of Iraqana) issued a statement today threatened to attack and kill the terrorists and their supporters from now on.
They stated that they got the names of many terrorists who where involved in destroying the Iraqi facilities and involved in criminal acts which were collected over the last few weeks based on strong evidence.
They also stated that 3000 dollars is the reward for each head of the small criminals while they put 50,000 dollars for the head of Hareth Al-Thari and the other members of the (Haiyat Olama Al Moslemen) also Abd-Amer Rikabi and Abd Jabar Al Kobaisi.
On the other hand and for the first time Al Arabyia TV showed a group of terrorists captured by the Iraqi forces. They confessed that they were involved in decapitation processes, kidnappings, killings and other attacks. They clam that they have been forced to do so or be killed by the Amer (a title which is usually referred to some one like Zarqawi or his deputies). One of them asked for mercy and pity!!
They confessed about beheading some victims by mentioning their names!
In a press conference Iyad Alawi told that among the arrested terrorists is the leader of (Jaiash Mohamad) who is responsible for many beheadings and attacks and also Saudi terrorist.
In Mosel an iron fist starts to strike the heads of the thugs and we may see imminent strike soon.
In Baghdad the deputy chief of Police has been killed today with his son who is also a police officer.
On the same time Insar Al-Sunnah group released a video of execution of what is look like an Iraqi Shiite. It looks like they accused him of selling opiates
#2
Would it be counterproductive to suggest that someone set up a website accepting donations for the Brigades of Iraqana? Half of me says this is a great idea, to unleash the prosperity of private US citizens to assist in stopping the insurgency. The other half wonders if supporting vigilante groups might undermine the formation of effective institutions under the nascent Iraqi government. Either way...if there were a way for us to finance this group, or provide a pool from which rewards for terrorists could be drawn, then I would feel that my dollars are being used much more effectively. Somewhere therein lies a market based solution...
#5
I am also trying to decide whether the formation of the "Bridages of Iraqana" suggests that Iraqis are starting to take ownership of their Iraqi national identity, and defending their nation against threats to its security, or whether it is simply another manifestation of sectarianism, sort of a Al-Sadr bridade redux? I guess more info is needed...
#9
Seems to me I heard similiar noises in Febraury/March 2004. That turned out to be Sadr, the puppet dancing from one hand of Iran, while Zarqawi danced from the other.
#10
93rd Volunteer Infantry, reporting for duty . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/11/2005 17:53 Comments ||
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The Feds might look askance on any moneys going from US citizens to foreign parts for any non governmental purpose even if the intentions are good.
#13
As I said a few weeks back -- only to be lectured on things I didn't intend or say by one of our vigilant nitpicking small-picture NYT-level commenters who shall remain nameless -- a whole lot more pay-back and revenge-killing by Shi'a and Kurds might be quite beneficial to Iraq in the long run. There's been a remarkable and very disappointing lack of same since April '03. Recall that Japan and Germany were much easier to pacify and transform in part because such huge percentages of their hardcore a**holes were dead by war's end.
Vigilantism directed against genocidal fascist thugs in the current Iraqi context would hardly be a material obstacle to building institutions -- in fact spreading the love to mafia types might help give the fledgling police more time to gain their footing.
The corruption, passivity, and lack of trusted leadership that plague Iraq's attempts to build an effective and decent police force are serious obstacles, but some well-executed vigilantism against Sunni revanchists (and criminal elements of all stripes) will not affect these fundamental factors.
#14
I doubt if the Iraqi Police will waste many tears and much time investigating the deaths of the people who try to kill them and their families. Payback's a bitch guys.
[W]ith our counter fire radar, we can track the location [of a firing mortar] within minutes. That is why sometimes the AIF freeze mortar rounds hanging above the tube and leave. When the ice melts, the round drops into the tube, then launches.
Interesting poor man's fuse--I wonder exactly how they can freeze a round just above a tube to ensure it will slip down correctly.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/11/2005 14:32 Comments ||
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You probably don't know Rafael Peralta's name. If we lived in a country that more fully celebrated the heroics of its men in uniform, you would. He was a sergeant in Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment for Operation Dawn, the November offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which had become a haven for terrorists. What he did on the day of Nov. 15 was an awe-inspiring act of selfless sacrifice and faithfulness to his fellow Marines.
The only way we can honor Sgt. Peralta's heroism is to tell his story and remember his name. What follows is mostly drawn from the reporting of Marine combat correspondent Lance Cpl. T.J. Kaemmerer, who witnessed the events on that day.
Sgt. Peralta, 25, was a Mexican American. He joined the Marines the day after he got his green card and earned his citizenship while in uniform. He was fiercely loyal to the ethos of the Corps. While in Kuwait, waiting to go into Iraq, he had his camouflage uniform sent out to be pressed. He constantly looked for opportunities to help his Marine brothers, which is why he ended up where he was on Nov. 15. A week into the battle for Fallujah, the Marines were still doing the deadly work of clearing the city, house by house. As a platoon scout, Peralta didn't have to go out with the assault team that day. He volunteered to go.
According to Kaemmerer, the Marines entered a house and kicked in the doors of two rooms that proved empty. But there was another closed door to an adjoining room. It was unlocked, and Peralta, in the lead, opened it. He was immediately hit with AK-47 fire in his face and upper torso by three insurgents. He fell out of the way into one of the cleared rooms to give his fellow Marines a clear shot at the enemy. During the firefight, a yellow fragmentation grenade flew out of the room, landing near Peralta and several fellow Marines. The uninjured Marines tried to scatter out of the way, two of them trying to escape the room, but were blocked by a locked door. At that point, barely alive, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it to his body.
His body took most of the blast. One Marine was seriously injured, but the rest sustained only minor shrapnel wounds. Cpl. Brannon Dyer told a reporter from the Army Times, "He saved half my fire team."
Kaemmerer compares Peralta's sacrifice to that of past Marine Medal of Honor winners Pfc. James LaBelle and Lance Cpl. Richard Anderson. LaBelle dove on a Japanese grenade to save two fellow Marines during the battle of Iwo Jima. Although he had just been wounded twice, Anderson rolled over an enemy grenade to save a fellow Marine during a 1969 battle in Vietnam.
Peralta's sacrifice should be a legend in the making. But somehow heroism doesn't get the same traction in our media environment as being a victim or villain, categories that encompass the truly famous Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England respectively. Peralta's story has been covered in military publications, a smattering of papers including the Seattle Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune, ABC News, and some military blogs. But the Washington Post and the New York Times only mentioned Peralta's name in their lists of the dead. Scandalously, the "heroism" of Spc. Thomas Wilson — the national guardsman who asked a tough question of Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld that had been planted with him by a reporter — has been more celebrated in the press than that of Peralta.
Kaemmerer recounts how later on the night of Nov. 15, a friend approached him and said: "You're still here; don't forget that. Tell your kids, your grandkids, what Sgt. Peralta did for you and the other Marines today." Don't forget. Good advice for all of us.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/11/2005 9:33:53 AM ||
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Profile in Courage, right here.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
01/11/2005 9:41 Comments ||
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Where is the press that claim to be "supporting the troops"?
THIS is the story they should tell.
The NYT should be running a whole page on the front of its "people" section about this guy and how he gave his last breath and effort to save his fellow Marines.
But why not? Because the NYT doenst want ANYTHING heroic associated with this war - it would reverse thier efforts to turn this into "another Vietname" to support thier own political biases.
The shame and destruction of the honest and free press continues. Thank God for the web.
#4
I'm probably going to mangle it, since I don't have the Bible verse memorized, but..... Greater love hath no man than this, than to lay his life down for his friends
Rest in peace, Sir.
#7
Sgt. Peralta should be the first Medal of Honor winner in Iraq.
What a man!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/11/2005 19:18 Comments ||
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I've read Peralta's story a few times--helps to tune into the right news sources. I shed a few tears each time I read about him. What a magnificent act...
#9
Where is the press that claim to be "supporting the troops"?
THIS is the story they should tell.
The NYT should be running a whole page on the front of its "people" section about this guy and how he gave his last breath and effort to save his fellow Marines.
But why not? Because the NYT doenst want ANYTHING heroic associated with this war - it would reverse thier efforts to turn this into "another Vietname" to support thier own political biases.
The shame and destruction of the honest and free press continues. Thank God for the web.
#10
Where is the press that claim to be "supporting the troops"?
THIS is the story they should tell.
The NYT should be running a whole page on the front of its "people" section about this guy and how he gave his last breath and effort to save his fellow Marines.
But why not? Because the NYT doenst want ANYTHING heroic associated with this war - it would reverse thier efforts to turn this into "another Vietname" to support thier own political biases.
The shame and destruction of the honest and free press continues. Thank God for the web.
Uneasy calm prevailed in northern Pakistan on Monday after the death of 14 people in riots triggered by a militant attack against a key local Shi'ite leader. Six members of one family were burnt alive in the sectarian violence. A curfew was imposed after 11 persons were killed and dozens other injured over the weekend in the city of Gilt. The injured cleric, Aga Ziauddin, and his bodyguard were taken to a military hospital by helicopter. However, the police failed to arrest the unidentified attackers who sprayed the Shi'ite cleric's car with bullets. His guards and two companions also received bullet injuries. Television footage showed troops still patrolling the street of Gilt city on Monday.
The district deputy commissioner, Sajid Baloch, said that the situation was under control and that both Sunni and Shi'ite religious leaders would soon be issuing a joint appeal for peace. Baloch also reported that one of the attackers had been shot on the spot by Aga Ziauddin's guard. Over 50 shops belonging to Sunni Muslims have been burnt and government offices ransacked in adjoining Hunza Valley, while hundreds of angry protestors burnt tires and blocked roads in Skardu. The Dawn newspaper said the incident had been the worst since June, when six persons were killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators. Military President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz are directly monitoring the security situation in the areas where sectarian difference occasionally result in violence.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
01/11/2005 9:13:12 AM ||
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Damn it! Can't we all just get along. You're all acting like a bunch of savages. What do you think the civilized world will think of us?
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/11/2005 13:09 Comments ||
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An alleged militant accused of trying to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has escaped from custody, the authorities say. Mushtaq Ahmed was being held by air force police in the city of Rawalpindi. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said he was a key suspect in the failed attempt on the president's life on 14 December 2003. The president survived two attacks within days of each other, both on the road between Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He has been a target for Islamic militants since joining the US-led "war on terror" following the attacks of 11 September, 2001. The authorities accuse Mushtaq Ahmed of belonging to the banned militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. "This criminal escaped from custody and we hope that we will arrest him. He was a key figure in the 14 December, 2003 attack on President Musharraf," Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the AFP news agency. It is not clear how or when Mushtaq Ahmed escaped and the government gave no details. Some reports say he has been on the run since November. Old news??
Had it the other day. Beebles prob'ly got it from Daily Times, just like we did, only they don't type as fast...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/11/2005 6:24:17 AM ||
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Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said on Monday that the authorities have captured 147 suspected insurgents throughout the country, including the leader of an insurgent group just days after he took over for the previous chief, who was detained two months ago. Allawi identified the man as Raad al-Doury. He took over the top post of Jaish Muhammad, which is Arabic for Muhammad's Army, from Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, detained in November. Allawi has accused Jaish Muhammad of killing and beheading a number of Iraqis, Arabs and foreigners in Iraq.
"Moayad Ahmed Yasseen is still confessing to his crimes and he will stand trial soon," Allawi said. "Every day the terrorists name a new leader we capture him and they will stand trial." Allawi said Iraqi security forces are getting stronger every day.
In a separate attack on Monday, a suicide car bomb exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad, killing at least four policemen and wounding 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack. The explosion took place in the Zafarniyah district, police commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said the explosion occurred as policemen were changing shifts. An Associated Press photographer saw a number of bodies inside the courtyard that was cordoned off by police. The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the most violent militant groups in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement posted on its website, the group said it struck "apostate forces who are the henchmen of crusader forces in Iraq".
In other violence, the US military said its forces accidentally killed a 13-year-old Iraqi girl and wounded a 14-year-old boy near Baqouba, 57 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, "when a 1st Infantry Division observation post engaged an area producing unidentified smoke outside of a local forward operating base". "This is an absolute tragedy. We do not know at this time what the children were doing in the area," a military spokesman, Maj Neal O'Brien, said. "An investigation into what happened is underway." The US military also said that US troops "discovered a crater with the body parts of two anti-Iraqi force insurgents" when a roadside bomb they wanted to plant near Sadiyah, a southern Baghdad district, exploded prematurely.
On Monday, a militant group posted threats in at least two towns warning it would deploy "highly trained" snipers to target voters around Iraq during January 30 elections. The statement, signed by the previously unknown Secret Republican Army, said 32 snipers will stalk voters outside polling in Wasit, a largely Shiite province south of Baghdad that includes Kut, Numaniya and Suwaiyra. It didn't say how many would be sent elsewhere.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:15:53 AM ||
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Now who is going to train the incoming fearless leader? That learning curve just keeps getting longer, with the newbies being self-taught and all. Maybe someone should put together a weekend training course on "Leadership for Terrorist Commanders". If they hold it in, say Boca Raton, Florida, I'll bet the response would be enormous.
U.S. military commanders say a new assessment of the Iraqi insurgency has led them to focus on a list of 34 former Baath Party leaders who they believe are financing and directing attacks against U.S. troops and their allies.
Army Gen. John P. Abizaid and other senior defense officials interviewed in Iraq said much of the insurgency was being carried out by a network of regional cells that loosely coordinated their operations with former officials of Saddam Hussein's ruling party.
Insurgent leaders operate often out of Syria and Saddam's home town of Tikrit, officials said.
"There is a level of tactical coordination and direction that still comes from the remnants of the Baath Party, and I believe a certain amount of this tactical coordination effort is orchestrated from Syria," Abizaid, who is directing the war in Iraq, said in an interview.
U.S. military officials have conceded that they have limited information on the insurgency, due to a lack of quality intelligence reports. In some cases, unconfirmed tips on the insurgency have come from questionable sources. In other cases, the information is often too dated to allow U.S. officials to track suspected insurgent leaders, officials said.
But U.S. military leaders said they had been receiving more tips on the insurgency and higher quality reports in recent weeks.
"We have focused the intelligence system on these 34 guys in the belief that if there is an emerging leadership structure for the former regime element movement that these 34 guys will be holding the reins," said another senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The new intelligence has allowed military strategists to better discern the face of the insurgency, the officials said, and has painted a portrait of guerrillas who operate in cells led by former regime leaders who are predominantly Sunni Muslims.
U.S. military officials said recent evidence suggested former members of Saddam's most elite military units were involved in attacks on U.S. troops.
"We see that a lot of the attacks that are going on right now show evidence that they were planned and executed by those who had a military background," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Erwin F. "Erv" Lessel III, a senior deputy for Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "There are some former Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard that are involved in these attacks."
U.S. military officials said the insurgency appeared to lack a central leader, although they believed that Gen. Izzat Ibrahim al Duri, one of Saddam's top generals, had directed many attacks against the U.S.-led coalition.
"There are former regime element organizational meetings. But there is no sort of grand poohbah that sits atop of this thing. There's no Saddam-like figure to whom they have allegiance and who is in overall charge of the insurgency," a senior defense official said.
Citing intelligence reports, senior U.S. military officials said Duri and other former Baath Party members met near the Syrian border in November to plan strategy. Also present at that meeting, officials said, were Mahdi Nasr al Ubeidi, who supervises financial dealings; Mohammed Younis, who has acted as Duri's assistant from a base east of Baghdad; Ahmed Hassan Kaka, an insurgent leader in the northern city of Kirkuk; Ramadan Zaidan al Jaburi, Kaka's assistant; Mohammad Rijab al Haddushi al Nasser, the leader of the group's operations in Tikrit and nearby Baiji; and Yassir Sabawi Ibrihim Hassan, a senior courier for the group.
The Baathist leaders are believed to be financing the insurgency with billions of dollars Saddam officials allegedly grabbed from government coffers in the final days of the regime, officials said.
Abizaid and other military strategists say they believe leaders of these groups also determine specific tactics to be used against coalition and Iraqi forces.
U.S. efforts to find insurgent leaders have been hampered by Syria, officials said.
"We have been very clear to the Syrians about our unhappiness about Baathist cells operating from Syria. They have access to money, and they have access to smuggling routes," Abizaid said. The insurgency, he added, "is being supported in a very unhelpful way from cellular structures that are operating in Syria."
The Bush administration has been sending stern warnings to Syria to stop the movement of anti-U.S. fighters and smugglers across its borders and to crack down on militants who are using its territory as a base for operations. Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage visited Damascus to deliver that message, as well as other U.S. demands, to the Syrian government.
Congress has voted to impose sanctions on Syria, but the administration has so far picked the mildest of the possible penalties provided in the law. The president has recently hinted at a tougher stance, but Armitage, in an interview with the U.S.-run Al Hurra television station, said Bush had not yet made a decision.
"He's waiting to see the outcome of Syrian behavior over a length of time and then will make a decision on what to do," Armitage said.
Syrian officials based in Washington could not be reached for comment, but some have said in response to earlier criticism that they had redoubled efforts to police their borders in response to concerns from the interim Iraqi government and the Bush administration.
It remains unclear how loosely the Baathist-led groups coordinate with foreign Islamic extremists such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has proclaimed himself the leader of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization in Iraq. But the two groups are believed to communicate and work together at least loosely in what officials described as a temporary marriage of convenience.
"I think there is a level of coordination between (al-)Zarqawi and some of the Baathist cells," Abizaid said. "There is a certain amount of coordination at a rudimentary level that goes on within Iraq. And there is certainly an organizational network within the (al-)Zarqawi terrorist network that shows an ability to organize terrorist activities across a broad range of targets in Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:26:58 AM ||
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"We have been very clear to the Syrians about our unhappiness about Baathist cells operating from Syria. They have access to money, and they have access to smuggling routes," Abizaid said. The insurgency, he added, "is being supported in a very unhelpful way from cellular structures that are operating in Syria."
So send a message then. I'm not talking about verbal "we need your cooperation" crap. Find a target area where these insurgents are operating within Syrian territory and pulverize it with a carpet bomb run. "Sensitivity" has its limits, and it's time to make it clear that that point has long since been passed.
#3
High time to appy the Bush Doctrine: "if you harbor a terrorist, you are with the terrorists."
Inaction is costing US and Iraqi lives. Get it done now.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/11/2005 7:50 Comments ||
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I couldn't agree more CA! The War on Terror is a global War to be fought on several fronts, including militarily, politically and in some cases economically. Syria is in rapid pusuit of WMD and rumored to be experimenting with these WMD on the hapless residents of Darfur. They support Hezbollah and palestinian terror organizations and now are supporting the insurgency in Iraq. I would say that about rounds out the gambit of being an international sponsor of terrorism. They are obviously not with us so they must be against us.
An Afghan militant group that kidnapped three U.N. workers last year has appointed a new leader after its old chief was arrested by Pakistani security forces, its new head said on Monday. The Jaish-e Muslimeen, a small Taliban splinter faction, abducted U.N. workers Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan in Kabul on Oct. 28. The three were freed unharmed on Nov. 23. After reports that a ransom was paid and of a possible dispute among the kidnappers over sharing it out, Pakistan said it had arrested the group's chief, Syed Akbar Agha, in December. "I have been made leader of Jaish-e Muslimeen," Ishaq Manzoor told Reuters by satellite telephone. "The decision was taken by our Shura (council) and military commanders ... following the arrest of Syed Akbar." The 35-year-old from southern Kandahar province vowed to press on resisting U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. "We will carry out big attacks," he said. Manzoor was chief of police in Badghis province in northwest Afghanistan under the Taliban, who were overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for harbouring al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The Jaish-e Muslimeen has attacked trucks and set off bombs, mainly in southern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/11/2005 12:18:40 AM ||
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The influential Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq has met a senior US embassy official and offered to call off an election boycott in return for a US timetable for troop withdrawal. US embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said on Monday the offer was made at a meeting on Saturday with the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), which has previously called on Iraqis to boycott the 30 January ballot. But chances of Washington setting such a schedule for the withdrawal of roughly 150,000 troops are slim. "That was their offer to us," said Callahan. "We have no intention to establish a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq at present. The Iraqi government agrees." Members of the AMS were not immediately available for comment. The talks suggest that with only three weeks before Iraqis go to the polls, efforts are under way to heal rifts over US attacks on Sunni areas and encourage the community once dominant under ousted leader Saddam Hussein to take part in the political process.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Association of Muslim Scholars , no members , but subscriptions in the 1000's .
The French newspaper whose reporter in Baghdad has been missing since last week said Monday it seemed increasingly likely that she was abducted. Iraqi and French officials say a search is under way for Florence Aubenas of the French daily Liberation and her Iraqi translator, Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi. They were last seen Wednesday morning leaving the reporter's Baghdad hotel. Liberation's managing editor, Antoine de Gaudemar, said the pair did not appear to have been picked up by U.S. or Iraqi forces or been involved in an accident. But other hypotheses "like kidnapping, are little by little taking on plausibility," even though there is still no solid confirmation of that, de Gaudemar wrote in an editorial published Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Time for France to ramp up to pay out more ramson money to the jihadists. Oh wait...France says it doesn't play that game. Rightttttt.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
01/11/2005 7:25 Comments ||
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Liberationâs managing editor, Antoine de Gaudemar, said the pair did not appear to have been picked up by U.S. or Iraqi forces or been involved in an accident. But other hypotheses "like kidnapping, are little by little taking on plausibility,"
ROFL! Great investigative skills, Liberation. Hey, I'm not Sherlock, but I'm guessing that in less than one week's time, I could determine from here, and wearing pajamas, with no Iraqi phone book at my disposal, that she wasn't being held by the US military or in an accident.
These guys are DUMB. No wonder they sent that poor girl off into a situation with a high probability that she would end up getting raped, murdered and killed.
Posted by: ed ||
01/11/2005 12:14 Comments ||
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The Mad Mullahs have this covered, IIRC, sentencing blasphemers to death, imprisonment, and public whipping. That was the order given in the press release.
Insurgents shot dead Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son yesterday while a roadside bomb exploded in southwestern Baghdad, destroying a heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle and killing two American soldiers, the military said. The Bradley is one of the more heavily armored vehicles in the US arsenal, suggesting that the bomb was quite powerful. Four American soldiers were wounded in the blast, which came four days after a powerful roadside bomb hit another Bradley, killing all seven US soldiers inside and destroying the vehicle. The US military had earlier said yesterday's blast destroyed an Abrams battle tank, but later corrected that. Scores of police and regional government officials have been assassinated in recent months, part of the insurgents' campaign to try to instill fear ahead of the vote and to hunt down people who are perceived as collaborators with the US-led coalition.
Baghdad's deputy police chief, Brig. Amer Ali Nayef was assassinated with his son, Lt. Khalid Amer, also a police officer. They were killed in Baghdad's south Dora district while traveling in a car on their way to work, Interior Ministry spokesman Capt. Ahmed Ismail said. Gunmen sprayed machine-gun fire from two cars which were driving parallel with the police chief's vehicle, before fleeing the scene of the attack close to his home, police said. The two were alone in their car. Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, posted a statement on the Internet claiming responsibility for the Baghdad assassinations. It described Nayef and Amer as foreign "agents," and warned Iraqis cooperating with the US-led military that they would meet the same fate.
In a separate attack yesterday, a suicide car bomb exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad yesterday, killing at least four policemen and wounding 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack. The explosion took place at 8 a.m. in the Zafarniyah district, Police Commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said the explosion occurred as policemen were changing shifts. The Army of Ansar Al-Sunnah, one of the most violent militant groups in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement posted on its website, the group said it struck "apostate forces who are the henchmen of crusader forces in Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Shaikh Omar, the convict in the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, was transferred to Hyderabad Central Jail from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Monday, jail sources said. The British national, whose full name is Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, had been taken to Rawalpindi last Jan 18. He was flown first to Karachi from Islamabad and then, by helicopter, to Hyderabad, said Shahab Siddiqui, said the assistant superintendent of the Hyderabad Central Jail, where security has been tightened. Shaikh Omar had been sentenced to death on July 15, 2002, by a special judge of the anti-terrorism court of Hyderabad.
Still waiting for him to swing...
His three convicted partners in the case, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Shaikh Adil, who received life imprisonments, are already lodged in the jail.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Three brothers were killed and their parents injured when a hand grenade exploded at their home in Dringar near Mastung on Monday evening. The district administrative office said that Khan Jan, a farmer, and his three sons were working in their fields when the brothers, - Raza Muhammad, 12, Ehsanullah, 16, and Inayat Khan, 18 - found a box with grenades in it. The bothers took them home in the evening as toys. They were handling the grenades when one of them exploded. The three brothers were killed while their father Khan Jan and mother were wounded seriously. They are being treated in a hospital in Quetta. Iqbal Zehri, the nazim of Mastung tehsil, said that Afghan refugees were previously living in the area where the box was found. He said it was not clear if the refugees had put the box there or if saboteurs had kept it there. Police said they are investigating.
"Honey? Did you remember to pack my hand grenades?"
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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'The bothers took them home in the evening as toys'
that just about sums it up nicely for me ..
At an early age I learnt , dont play with TNT and when not using a gun have it pointing at the ground with safety catch on and cocked if possible .. am sure people in war ravaged countries should know better with over exposure to weapons , but hey , wadda I know :P
#3
Ignorance is bliss. I remember reading here that the new Iraqi enlistees have to be taught to carry their guns with their finger off the trigger unless actually shooting it.
Safety is just a whole 'nother concept. When my father was appointed occupational safety chief for the northern part of a very young Israel, he had the distinct pleasure of mandating and enforcing the wearing of hardhats and steel-toed shoes on the Haifa docks. The workers were not pleased, despite the death rate falling from one per thousand man-hours to less than one per year.
When Mr. Wife was involved in starting up a manufacturing plant in Egypt, the workers refused to wear shoes despite working with sacks of caustic chemicals. He had to tell them that skin contact would make them impotent to get them to comply. He showed us pictures of one of the local chemical supplier's factories, where they covered up a huge hole in a 2nd story floor with a flattened cardboard box.
Two more people died in continued rocket attacks by unidentified people on a gas installation in Sui, officials said on Monday. Security forces traded fire with the attackers from Sunday night until early on Monday at Sui, local administrator Muhammad Akbar said. "A woman was killed when a rocket hit her house, while a shopkeeper was killed at a market when bullets fired by the attackers hit him," Mr Akbar said. He said two others were injured in the gunfight, while dozens of homes and private cars were damaged when several rockets hit the gas facility. Meanwhile, the Balochistan government cabinet on Monday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged gang-rape of a female doctor in Sui and the attacks.
Meanwhile, the fighting prevented workers from assessing damage sustained during a weekend of intensive rocket attacks, Reuters quoted a government official as saying on Monday. Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) was doing its utmost to keep gas flowing from the Sui field, but a spokesman for the firm said frightened workers were fleeing the area or staying at home. "The rockets, bullets hit the gas pipeline, watch towers, offices, residences and a workshop, causing several large fires," the PPL spokesman said. "The second attack also caused tremendous damage to the residence of the acting manager."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/11/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Gunmen killed two Kuwaiti state security personnel pursuing them in Kuwait City yesterday, the Interior Ministry and security sources said.
Chechen rebels claim several elderly relatives of separatist leader 
THE trial of a Yemeni imam accused of supplying millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden and Hamas has begun in New York. Jury selection was expected to take about two weeks, with the prosecution to begin presenting its case on January 25. 
Suspected members of the Al-Qaeda-linked 
Thirteen suspected 
The radical 
Six members of one family were burnt alive in the sectarian violence. A curfew was imposed after 11 persons were killed and dozens other injured over the weekend in the city of Gilt. The injured cleric, 
Iraqi Interim Prime Minister 
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq has met a senior US embassy official and offered to call off an election boycott in return for a US timetable for troop withdrawal. US embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said on Monday the offer was made at a meeting on Saturday with the 
The French newspaper whose reporter in Baghdad has been missing since last week said Monday it seemed increasingly likely that she was abducted. Iraqi and French officials say a search is under way for 
Insurgents shot dead Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son yesterday while a roadside bomb exploded in southwestern Baghdad, destroying a heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle and killing two American soldiers, the military said. The Bradley is one of the more heavily armored vehicles in the US arsenal, suggesting that the bomb was quite powerful. Four American soldiers were wounded in the blast, which came four days after a powerful roadside bomb hit another Bradley, killing all seven US soldiers inside and destroying the vehicle. The US military had earlier said yesterday's blast destroyed an Abrams battle tank, but later corrected that. Scores of police and regional government officials have been assassinated in recent months, part of the insurgents' campaign to try to instill fear ahead of the vote and to hunt down people who are perceived as collaborators with the US-led coalition. 
Three brothers were killed and their parents injured when a hand grenade exploded at their home in Dringar near Mastung on Monday evening. The district administrative office said that Khan Jan, a farmer, and his three sons were working in their fields when the brothers, - Raza Muhammad, 12, Ehsanullah, 16, and Inayat Khan, 18 - found a box with grenades in it. The bothers took them home in the evening as toys. They were handling the grenades when one of them exploded. The three brothers were killed while their father Khan Jan and mother were wounded seriously. They are being treated in a hospital in Quetta. Iqbal Zehri, the nazim of Mastung tehsil, said that Afghan refugees were previously living in the area where the box was found. He said it was not clear if the refugees had put the box there or if saboteurs had kept it there. Police said they are investigating.
Two more people died in continued rocket attacks by unidentified people on a gas installation in Sui, officials said on Monday. Security forces traded fire with the attackers from Sunday night until early on Monday at Sui, local administrator Muhammad Akbar said. "A woman was killed when a rocket hit her house, while a shopkeeper was killed at a market when bullets fired by the attackers hit him," Mr Akbar said. He said two others were injured in the gunfight, while dozens of homes and private cars were damaged when several rockets hit the gas facility. Meanwhile, the Balochistan government cabinet on Monday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged gang-rape of a female doctor in Sui and the attacks.
