Posted by: ed ||
02/07/2005 11:22 ||
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#1
This is the typical case of chickens coming home to roost. They all knew that those websites were there but it was not until their wellbeing was threatened that they decided it was necessary to block them.
SULAIBIYA, Kuwait: Police and troops in armored personnel carriers raided a house in this run-down town Saturday, capturing five suspected terrorists holed up inside. The men surrendered after police sealed off the neighborhood and used explosives to blast their way into the primitive concrete block home in Sulaibiya, a mainly Bedouin area about 20 kilometers west of Kuwait City. The Interior Ministry said two of the five men captured are citizens of Saudi Arabia. Three are Jordanians. All were wanted by Kuwaiti authorities. No one was injured in the operation. Sporadic small arms gunfire and a large explosion broke the night air as a police helicopter hovered overhead, shining a spotlight onto the scene. Police said the blast came from a charge troops used to demolish a door leading into the house.
Police on the scene said authorities were combing the area to ensure nobody escaped. Crowds of men wearing traditional long robes gathered on street corners watching the operation. Police and Interior Ministry special forces troops in black ski masks and camouflage uniforms could be seen poised outside a row of dilapidated concrete block houses, with Humvees and armored personnel carriers parked nearby. Officials described the operation as a success but warned that they were seeking other extremists still at large. Saturday's raid was the fifth confrontation this year between police and al-Qaeda-influenced Muslim fundamentalists accused of planning to attack Americans and Kuwaiti security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Al-Qaeda-linked militants who over the past month fought four bloody gunbattles with Kuwaiti security forces had plotted to kidnap and execute US soldiers and Westerners, a newspaper reported Saturday. Nasser Khlaif Al-Enezi, a senior member of the group who was killed on Jan 30, "plotted to kidnap US soldiers and Western civilians and execute them and film the process," his brother Amer, the alleged leader of the group, told interrogators, Al-Qabas daily said. Amer said that his brother received training on such operations while he was in Iraq fighting against US-led coalition troops, the paper said, quoting sources close to the investigation. Nasser also received instructions from "armed terrorist groups" in Iraq to attack US military convoys on their way to Iraq from bases in Kuwait in a bid to obstruct supplies headed for Baghdad. The alleged executions were supposed to have taken place at a house in Umm Al-Haiman, south of the capital, which is close to the largest US military base at Arifjan and also near US supply lines. Security forces raided the house on Jan 15, killing a Saudi militant and arresting three other militants while an unspecified number fled. The government told parliament in a closed-door session Tuesday that documents seized from the group show the militants plotted attacks on US military convoys, Western civilian targets and the headquarters of the State Security Agency.
This article starring:
NASER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
Peninsula Lions
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I have thought it might be cost effective to pay Sony or some of the Japanese video camera producers to produce a few milllion cameras that put GPS location info covertly onto tapes made in them. The info could be in a form such that any copy of the tape would reproduce the info. Flood Pakistan and the Mid-East with these cameras at irresistable prices. Any propaganda film would then locate the site of filming. Worst case, they would fear to film and the propaganda flow would be reduced.
Posted by: DO ||
02/07/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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Uh, DO, the terrorists do their murders indoors.
Kuwait, cracking down on militants behind a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, approved on Sunday a draft law for the oil-rich Gulf Arab state to formally join a U.N. treaty on curbing terror financing. "The Council of Ministers discussed a draft law to approve the State of Kuwait joining the international treaty to combat terror financing, and the council has decided to approve it," the cabinet said in a statement after its weekly meeting.
The draft was referred to the ruler of the country, Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah for approval, before it is moved to parliament for final ratification. A government official told Reuters the draft refers to an anti-terror financing resolution by the U.N. Security Council after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The measure require U.N. member states to freeze the assets of any person or group suspected of ties to al Qaeda and orders governments to block suspects' movements and bar them from obtaining arms or funds, among other things. Tiny Kuwait recently tightened security nationwide following a number of clashes between police and militants believed linked to al Qaeda planning to launch anti-Western attacks there. Security forces are hunting down the militants since last month and rounded up Kuwaiti, Saudi and other Arab suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia has been successful in changing the idological thinking of more than 250 Al-Qaeda sympathizers, the Kingdom's Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh Al-Asheikh said yesterday.
I dropped three inches from my waistline by drinking lite beer today...
"We have reached out to them and have succeeded in convincing more than 250 to change their ways," he said, speaking of his ministry's counterterrorism program conducted over the Internet. The program includes direct counseling as well as a hotline for families who are worried that their sons may be drawn toward the Al-Qaeda terror network.
And I've got to get a new brush, 'cuz all my hair's growing back. I'm thinking of doing it in dreds...
"We conducted a dialogue with 800 of them and more than a quarter were convinced. We are continuing our efforts with the rest," he told delegates attending an international counterterrorism conference. "The Internet is a fertile field. We have used many Islamic and cultural sites to increase awareness of the dangers of terrorism."
I knew how to waltz when I got up this morning, and this afternoon I learned the polonnaise. It just came to me...
Since a triple suicide bombing in Riyadh in May 2003, the Kingdom has cracked down on Al-Qaeda militants and the religious scholars who have publicly supported them.
They haven't cut anybody's head off yet, but I'm sure they will...
It has also waged a media campaign to turn Saudis against violence and to persuade parents to be more aware of signs that their sons are being drawn to militants, either in Saudi Arabia or in Iraq. Militants have also made extensive use of the Internet and there are at least two Al-Qaeda-affiliated web magazines which have prompted alarm among some security experts who say militants are turning the web into a virtual classroom.
But they're nothing to worry about, 'cuz Prince Nayef is on the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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It sounds to me as though this actually pretty canny on the part of the princes, since it keeps the hard boyz from wandering off the reservation the way they did in 2003 and redirects their attention away from the House of Saud and up towards the north.
That said, if the Saudis really want to know how to fight terrorism they should be looking to the northeast.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2005 0:05 Comments ||
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Jeepers, guys--I go outta town for a coupla days, and you haven't solved the War on Terror yet?
Grumble.
Fred, keep the cap on my hiliter, I'll be back to posting soon!
#5
What were the stats on the Iraq election day bombers? 6 Saudis, 1 Sudanese, and 1 retarded Iraqi man-child. Even the man-child knew something was wrong and foiled the terrorists plans. Can't say as much for the Saudis.
Posted by: ed ||
02/07/2005 9:00 Comments ||
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#6
Since a triple suicide bombing in Riyadh in May 2003, the Kingdom has cracked down on Al-Qaeda militants and the religious scholars who have publicly supported them.
"Not us, you eedeeyots! The infidels! THE INFIDELS!!!"
#7
I think we should celebrate with a few fireworks - 10Mt on Mecca, Medina, Riyadh, Dahran, Jedda, and whatever other camel-crossings we can find. I'm sure that will go a long way in "helping the Saudis solve the terrorism problem".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/07/2005 17:42 Comments ||
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#8
Fred, OP, etc., I think y'all are being way too cynical.
I personally find it funny that there are Saudis trying, in however deficient a manner, to change the ideology of the terrorists, because too many people, in both Western Europe and the US, have given up on the idea, which kinda sorta gives the impression that we either think it's right or wrong but too powerful to fight.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/07/2005 17:57 Comments ||
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The sad fact that those who perpetrated this atrocity are still walking the streets is a timely reminder of the difficulties of bringing terrorists to justice and perhaps shows that there should be a more hardline manner of dealing with them. ie. the 'Death on the Rock' model would be wholly appropriate here.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/07/2005 5:26 Comments ||
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"Frustrated at the slow pace of the investigation, relatives of some of the victims are suing five men who they blame for the attack in a landmark civil action."
An international terror suspect who has been held under house arrest for more than nine months will today be accused of breaching his bail conditions.
A special tribunal will decide whether the Algerian, known only as G, should be returned to Belmarsh prison.
G is the only man held under the government's controversial anti-terror powers to so far be subjected to house arrest instead of jail.
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) hearing could prove embarrassing for Home Secretary Charles Clarke.
House arrest is a crucial part of his proposed new system of "control orders" to deal with foreign and British terror suspects.
G is not allowed to meet anybody apart from his family, lawyers or doctors and is forbidden from using the telephone or a computer to prevent him associating with terrorists.
A hearing was told last week that two men visited his home without permission despite the property being under 24-hour surveillance.
Last July, Siac concluded that even though on bail G was still a threat to national security and that the bail conditions were "essential".
A Home Office spokesman said: "It is down to the court to consider the case. However, it could lead to the detainee's return to detention. We believe it shows that breaches of bail will be dealt with appropriately."
The 35-year-old, who is partially paralysed due to childhood polio, was let out of jail last April after his lawyers persuaded Siac that his mental health was being damaged by his imprisonment.
Last Monday, Siac approved the release of another detainee, Abu Rideh, because of mental health fears. His bail conditions are yet to be agreed. The following day, the Home Secretary ordered the release of another detainee, known as C, but refused to explain the reasons behind his decision.
G was born in Djelfa in central Algeria in March 1969. In a previous statement to Siac, he said he developed polio at the age of two which left him with a permanently weak and paralysed right leg so that he limps and has to wear a support.
He arrived in the UK in August 1995 and claimed asylum a claim which was rejected in September 1997. An appeal was dismissed in 1999. He married a French national, with whom he had a daughter in 2000. The couple applied for a residence permit in November 2000 because G's wife is an European national, and they were eventually granted a six month permit from June 2001.
G was certified as an international terrorist by former Home Secretary David Blunkett on December 19, 2001, and detained. The certificate said G was a member of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), a banned organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, which has links to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
It also said his activities on behalf of the group and of extremist fighters in Chechnya included sponsoring young Muslims in the United Kingdom to go to Afghanistan to train for jihad. Siac concluded in October 2003: "The closed material confirms our view that there is indeed reasonable suspicion that (G) is an international terrorist ... and reasonable belief that his presence in the United Kingdom is a risk to national security. "We have no doubt that he has been involved in the production of false documentation, has facilitated young Muslims to travel to Afghanistan to train for jihad and has actively assisted terrorists who have links with al Qaida. We are satisfied too that he has actively assisted the GSPC."
Siac allowed G to be released on bail on April 22, 2004, on strict conditions. But the panel said in July last year: "In granting bail, the commission did not revise its view as to the strength of the grounds for believing that he was an international terrorist and a threat to national security. The threat could be managed proportionately in his case in view of his severe mental illness. There might be circumstances in which he breaches the terms of his bail or for other reasons it was necessary to revoke it.
"A number of his contacts remain at large including some who are regarded as actively involved in terrorist planning. There is nothing to suggest that his mental illness has diminished his commitment to the extremist Islamic cause; he has the experience and capacity to involve himself once more in extremist activity. The bail restraints on him are essential."
This article starring:
ABU RIDEH
Salafist Group for Call and Combat
Salafist Group for Call and Combat
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2005 12:31:35 AM ||
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Officials said the man, known only as "G", broke bail conditions by having two unauthorised visitors to his home. But Mr Justice Collins ruled that Charles Clarke had not proved "to the necessary standard" that there had been a breach.
Just the neighbours popping round for a welcoming sherry?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/07/2005 9:22 Comments ||
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Britain has released a leader of Egypt's leading Islamic insurgency group. Officials said British authorities released an Egyptian national said to have been leader of Jihad. The Egyptian, who was not identified, was arrested three years ago and held without trial under Britain's anti-terrorism law. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke identified the Egyptian as "C." Clarke said in a statement on Feb. 1 that authorities did not have sufficient evidence to keep the insurgent in jail. "I concluded that the weight of evidence in relation to 'C' at the current time does not justify the continuance of [his detention]," Clarke said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 10:30:00 PM ||
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Rebels in Chechnya have not attacked federal forces in the three days since the rebels' fugitive leader ordered a cease-fire, a source in the republic's pro-Moscow police said Sunday. An end to near-daily rebel attacks would come as an unwelcome surprise to Russian politicians who rebuff foreign suggestions of peace talks by saying separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov is a spent force without control over the rebel ranks. Maskhadov's order for a monthlong cease-fire, which he said was a sign of his willingness to enter peace talks, was published on rebel web sites late Wednesday.
Russian politicians immediately dismissed the order as meaningless, even though it was the first peace bid for years to be backed by radical warlord Shamil Basayev, but the Chechen police source said it was being obeyed. "In the last three days, there have been no attacks from the fighters," the source said. The military command in the North Caucasus backed up his comments, although without specifics.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2005 12:26:47 AM ||
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The Spanish government is starting a process of granting legal amnesty to up to 800,000 undocumented immigrants. The new rules apply to people living in Spain without legal residency or working papers. The move is an attempt by Spain's Socialist government to manage the country's illegal immigration problem. The move is designed to ease Spain's illegal immigration problem. It will also bring in millions of euros of tax revenue up until now lost in the black market. It is estimated that more than one million people live and work in Spain illegally.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/07/2005 4:54:44 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like Zapatero is looking to lock up electoral majorities for his party by increasing the Muslim vote. This is how Europe is going to become majority Muslim - through politicians who gradually increase Muslim immigration in order to win elections. If the British Labor Party can do it, any party on the continent will do it.
#7
...and the poor tobacco farmer lit his clay pipe and eased his tired bones down into his favorite chair, thinking all the while, how in the blue blazes am I going to compete with my neighbors this season. Then it slowly dawned on him as he drew long pulls of soothing smoke into his lungs, he realized, in order to compete with all the growers in my county I'm going to take the plunge and just do it.
After all is said and done he thought, I just have to look out for my family first and foremost.
The next morning as he drove to market he was nervous, all the money they had saved together for the last 10 years was in his purse. Added to that was some extra money borrowed from his wife's parents. They now had enough. Before noon that day our clay pipe smoker purchased and owned his first slave.
200 hundred years later....My borders,language,culture, security and country will have to sort out the details for itself again !!! After all We need the status-less-illegal-immigrants because we need them in them in the construction, fabric, home keepers / Nanny's, restaurant, auto / mechanic / body / upholster, growers, farms / ranching / grape / wine, etc. industries
BECAUSE we can't get Americans to the work !! WE JUST CAN'T COMPETE !!!
Unidentified hostage-takers have seized the Spanish consulate in the Swiss capital, Berne, police said. The affluent area around the consulate has been sealed off. The kidnappers are believed to have taken at least one person hostage, but it was not immediately clear if they were armed.
More to follow...
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
02/07/2005 4:18:52 AM ||
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from AP at 5:35 EFL
Bern City Police spokeswoman Franziska Frey told The Associated Press that officers sealed off part of the Kirchenfeld neighborhood after they were alerted shortly after 8 a.m.
Federal Police Office spokeswoman Daniele Bersier said federal authorities had mobilized a special unit that deals with hostage situations.
There have been a handful of previous security crises at foreign embassies and consulates in Switzerland, notably in 1999.
#4
Just heard on Fox that the Swiss authorities think it was a robbery attempt. That's right, a robbery. Either we have very dumb criminals or a very lame cover-up.
This being in Europe I don't know which...
Posted by: Charles ||
02/07/2005 9:06 Comments ||
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#5
According to Europa Press they were after Spanish passports and visa seals .
And yes, Swiss chocolate is very good!
According to AP the robbery theory is from the Spanish Foreign Ministry, but the Swiss police being very discreet you may never know never. BTW Switzerland in not part of the EU
It's still in Europe, isn't it? Or did the Helvetian Navy finally get enough towboats to move them?
I'm betting on it being terrorists who wanted a buttload of passports and visa seals. That way the robbery story isn't REALLY a lie, but the terrorist threat can be downplayed.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/07/2005 10:09 Comments ||
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#7
Swiss Special Ops may not garner a great deal of publicity but they are quite... er... efficient. In a dealy sort of way. And, unfortunately for the terrs, the Swiss still adhear to the Napoleonic Code where they throw you in jail until you prove your innocence.
An alleged Abu Sayyaf leader reportedly slipped from the assault of a marine and navy unit but was believed to be wounded during an encounter in an island near Zamboanga City, reports said Sunday.
Ustadz Abdulwahid Ibrahim escaped, but two of his wounded followers were captured during the Saturday dawn operation in Sacol Island, Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said.
Braganza said the two have been given medical treatment while under security.
The marine and navy unit under the Special Warfare Group was approaching the temporary camp of the Abu Sayyaf when they were fired upon. A 15-minute gunfight followed.
This article starring:
USTADZ ABDULWAHID IBRAHIM
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2005 12:29:24 AM ||
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U.S. forces stormed a house to free four Egyptian telecommunications engineers kidnapped in Iraq, the head of their Egyptian parent company told Egyptian television on Monday. Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, said the four Egyptians were safe and the company had contacted their families to inform them that they were free. He was speaking from Algeria to an Egyptian state television program.
A U.S. military spokesman said he was unable immediately to confirm the report, but the military had heard media reports and were making checks. The men were employed by a unit of the Egyptian telecoms firm Orascom, which has several contracts in Iraq, including running the Iraqna mobile phone service in Baghdad. They were working on a contract to install transmission towers around Baghdad, a company official said. Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past year. Some have been released -- often after payment of ransoms -- but several have been killed by militant groups. Many more Iraqis have been kidnapped, usually for ransom.
#6
When you have some good news, why do they have to finish their articles with that type of "litany":
Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past year. Some have been released -- often after payment of ransoms -- but several have been killed by militant groups. Many more Iraqis.have been kidnapped, usually for ransom.
Umm Ali says militants killed her son last month for the most unlikely of reasons: He trims men's beards.
In Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, residents say Sunni Muslim extremists have made barbers the new hunted, accusing them of violating a strict reading of Islamic teachings that say men should keep their beards long.
Some extremists also consider Western-style haircuts an offensive symbol of the hated, secularized culture of Europe and the United States.
To them, sporting a clipped beard or a modern haircut is an infraction worthy of death.
Black banners mourning the dead were strung up in the neighborhood as the unwitting violators fell one after another to the militants' harsh brand of justice. In one month alone, five barbers were shot dead, residents said.
"He was a haircutter. He only cuts hair," Umm Ali said of her son, Sadiq Abdul Hussein. "He was handsome," she said, gazing at a photo of him.
Abdul Hussein was killed after he shrugged off a threat to stop shaving men's beards or lose his life.
A black mourning banner said only that he died due to a "regrettable incident."
Dora's streets are a battleground for rebels fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces. Drive-by shootings targeting government officials are frequent. It's a symbol of the chaos that has followed Saddam Hussein's ouster nearly two years ago.
Masked, gun-totting militants freely roam its streets, issuing orders and threats and meting out punishment to those who challenge them.
Among the many offenses that run afoul of Dora's new extremist gangs are men with long hair, goatees and even sideburns.
Wesam Noori, a 19-year-old art student, is careful to keep his long hair tucked under a hat.
"We are trying to hide our hair under baseball caps or ski hats," he said...
Islamic militants have also publicly flogged and killed women's hairdressers in several places throughout Iraq.
On Jan. 27, Sadiq Abdul Hussein was cutting a customer's hair when a tall man with a scarf wrapped around his face walked through the door. He opened fire with an assault rifle, killing Abdul Hussein and wounding his customer, Imad Hammad, a 26-year-old engineer.
"I saw the flash from the gun's muzzle and after that I passed out," said Imad, who was shot in the belly.
Imad's father, Hamad al-Dulaimi blamed foreigners for the killings and said they sought to create turmoil here.
"Those Arab extremists are butchering our sons simply to create a disturbance," he said. "We will not be stopped by this sedition."
As if to illustrate his promise that life here couldn't be stopped by violence, a tranquil street scene unfolded on a recent afternoon. Barefoot children kicked around a dented Pepsi can. Mothers sat on front stoops, chatting and gesturing with hands decorated with traditional green tattoos.
But Ali Hussein, a 25-year-old barber who owns a salon in Dora, says the threat is real enough to threaten his livelihood.
Like other barbers, he's gotten the flyers from militants bearing their instructions for how to cut hair and promising death for those who violate the rules.
"They are even forbidding us to hang posters showing the most recent haircuts," Hussein said.
He now cuts customers' hair in secret inside his house.
"I don't want to be killed, but I don't want to be broke either," he said. It's time for Iraqis to start using "old West" rules. The instant somebody threatens you, you automatically start beating the hell out of them. The instant anybody sees a man don a mask, start screaming and assemble a mob to attack them.
Insurgents struck Iraq's security forces Monday with suicide bombs and mortar fire, killing more than 30 people as violence escalated after last week's election...
Monday's deadliest attack occurred in Baqouba, where a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside the gates of a provincial police headquarters, killing 15 people and wounding 17, police Col. Mudhahar al-Jubouri said. Many victims were looking for jobs as policemen, al-Jubouri said.
In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, a suicide bomber wandered into a crowd of security personnel at a hospital and blew himself up, killing 12 people and wounding seven, U.S. officials said.
Insurgents shelled a police station in Mosul with more than a dozen mortar rounds Monday, killing three civilians, police said. And one Iraqi was killed and four others wounded when mortar shells exploded near the City Council building in Samarra, hospital officials said.
In Ramadi, an insurgent center west of Baghdad, the body of an Iraqi National Guardsman was found on a city street. Witnesses said he has been shot.
Separate postings on a Web site claimed responsibility for the Baqouba and Mosul attacks in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The claims could not be verified...
3 outlaws killed in gunfight
Three outlaws belonging to two rival extremists' organizations active in the region were killed in armed clashes over maintaining supremacy at Ataikula and Faridpur here Saturday night, police said. The dead were identified as Abdus Salam, 45, of Ataikula thana, Nazrul, 35, of Faridpur upazila and Naser alias Nashu, 30, of Chatmohar upazila of the district.
Police said a gunfight took place between members of the Sharks and the Jets two outlawed organizations at Hadal Kalikapur playground in Faridpur upazila. Being informed, police reached the spot but sensing their presence the extremists opened fire on them and they returned the fire.
Hummm, I do believe exactly the same thing happened last week. Guess this is the alternative to "crossfire".
During the gunfight, Nazrul and Naser sustained bullet injuries and died on way to Pabna General Hospital. Police said the two were accused in 11 cases, including murders. Eight policemen, including officer-in-charge of Faridpur thana Prajit Kumar, were also injured in the hour-long gunfight. Police recovered three local made guns, seven bullets, two empty bullets and four lethal weapons from the scene.
On the other hand, a team of police from Ataikula thana arrested Abdus Salam, a listed terrorist, from Lakshmipur village here last night. Following information extracted from him, police took him to Koijuri graveyard in the locality to retrieve illegal firearms and ammunition......
Dark, deserted graveyard, cops looking to recover hidden arms, cohorts lurking in the shadows, handcuffed suspect franticly looking for a way out..then a shot rang out!
but his accomplices opened fire on them. Police fired shots into Salam's back in self-defense. Salam was caught in the crossfire and died on way to Pabna General Hospital. Police said Salam was accused in nine cases, including six murder cases. Police recovered one shutter gun, 14 live and empty bullets and a sharp weapon from the place of occurrence.
Barisal Rab nabs three 'criminals'
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested alleged criminals Kalu Khan and Sobhan Khan from Nayakandi Loharpole area in the city on Friday and handed over them to police after primary interrogation. Barisal Kotwali police said there are four cases against Kalu and 13 including three murder cases against Sobhan.
Sobhan is a fourth class employee of Begum Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia Mohila College. Police said they were involved with the notorious gang in the city, led earlier by Tera Shahjahan. Later Tera Shahjahan was killed by rivals.
In another haul, police nabbed Kawsar Ahmed from Islam Para area in Sagordi with six kilograms of hemp on Saturday from the house of drug lord Sultan. But Sultan escaped. During preliminary interrogation, Kawsar confessed that he was a resident of Kushtia district and supplied narcotics to Sultan-Shahjahan gang.
Two more JMJB men held
Police yesterday morning arrested two more operatives of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) in Bagmara upazila. Acting on information coughed up by a group of JMJB men arrested earlier, police nabbed Abu Zafar Sardar, 28, and Masud Hasan, 28, at their homes in Ramrama village. They were shown arrested in a case for an assault on police on January 24.
Police said they have squeezed out many important information from the JMJB Bagmara chief Abdus Sattar Master and 24 other JMJB men while they were on a nine-day remand and are now scrutinising and verifying those.
And when they say "squeezed out", they mean it.
But, Sources said, Mustafizur Rahman Mustaque, reportedly the second in command of the Islamist terrorist outfit, though was also remanded in police custody, is yet to disclose any information. They said it is so because police have not been interrogating Mustaque as per an order of a top police official. But Bagmara Police Station Officer in-Charge ABM Golam Kibria denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, Forman Ali, the leader of the 12 Islamist militants arrested in Natore, told police that a middle aged bearded man named Abdul Quaiyum used to be Natore regional leader of Jama'atul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB). But Ali could not give any more details about Quaiyum and said he used to meet them only when he thought it to be necessary.
Ah yes, a mysterious bearded man in the shadows. Tell me, was he wearing a turban and speaking with a saudi accent?
"Our party (JMB) is active in almost all areas in Natore and we do nothing but study the holy Qur'an and Hadith and call people to jihad follow us," a police official quoted Ali as saying. Ali also told police that they hate NGOs, as "they are spoiling our women and plotting to control our country. We should all resist them."
"Them furriners come sniffing after out wimmen folk, plotting to steal our...., er, stuff. We must kill em all!"
Posted by: Steve ||
02/07/2005 12:38:19 PM ||
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#1
You'r late today. Usually we have this treat just after breakfast. ;) (That's supposed to be a wink with a smile, but I'm not sure I got it right)
The car bombs that go off in Baghdad are manufactured in the relative quiet of an arc of Sunni tribal lands around the capital. That is the true heartland of the resistance, where it draws on massive weapons depots secreted in river valleys and deserts. The nationalist fighters who control the area supply Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi's networks with the ammo they use for their deadly operations, according to U.S. military intelligence.
Backed by Bradley fighting vehicles, the American soldiers of Coldsteel Company swarm into a clutch of farmhouses as a platoon of Estonian infantry closes from the rear. The Americans are part of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment's operation to seal off a stretch of villages hugging the Euphrates in the Jafr Sakhr region, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. "Go round 'em up," a U.S. officer hollers, and male villagers of military age--one with his crying 3-year-old clinging to his neck--are sifted out. A humvee approaches and stops in front of the lined-up Iraqis. From within, a passenger, face masked, raises or lowers a thumb as each man is singled out. It isn't clear who the masked man is, perhaps an intelligence source or an informer. Those given the thumbs-up are seated. Others, who get the thumbs-down, are separated and detained. In the meantime, the village mosque is secured. Its imam and congregation are known to be hostile to U.S. forces.
The raid's focus shifts to a building marked as House 69 on the soldiers' maps. The night before, a source, possibly a cell member who turned during questioning, gave up the names and locations of six suspected cell members. Among them are two brothers thought to be central players in nationalist attacks on U.S. soldiers. Also on the list is the leader of their Islamic Army outfit, a man known as Abu Ayesha. The brothers are found in their family compound in a nearby village. Abu Ayesha is a different story. One of the homes near House 69 is said to be his. But although spotters have been positioned to catch anyone running from the battalion's advance, Abu Ayesha is not to be found.
Adjacent to House 69, in a small palm grove, the Estonians uncover a weapons cache: rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and an AK-47, its ammo hastily buried nearby. The weapon's magazines are wrapped in plastic and sealed in a tin ammunition box. "There's gotta be stuff all over the place," says 2-12 battalion commander Lieut. Colonel Tim Ryan. Two days later, one of the detainees would break during interrogation and betray the site of Abu Ayesha's main arsenal, which supplied the al-Zarqawi, Ansar al-Sunnah and nationalist cells blasting away at the U.S.-led coalition and the fledgling Iraqi government's security forces. The 2-12 spent a day digging into berms gouged from the flat desert, retrieving one of the largest weapons caches found in Iraq in the past year, including two suspected Scud-missile warheads. Says Ryan: "The member of the cell who gave up the information said that this is untouched, that it is a place where they've drawn their supplies from ever since the fall of the Saddam regime, and from which they're supplying activities in this part of the country, from southwest Baghdad over toward Fallujah and then down to Musayyab."
The weapons seizure underlines the diverse and fractured nature of the Iraqi insurgency. Al-Zarqawi's cells, mostly directed by non-Iraqi jihadis, often don't know where the arms caches are and so cannot function without the support of the Iraqi nationalists, mostly former military officers, who do. The proliferation of car bombs doesn't indicate a formal alliance between the two groups. But the ideological divide is bridged by tribal commerce. Within a single tribe, there can be a diversity of Islamist and nationalist strains--and genealogy can usually produce a cousin able to provide arms to a distant relative, perhaps via another distant relative. Insurgents from the Karghouli tribe, for instance, are principally led by a figure dubbed the Strawberry Sheik. One of his relatives, Abu Mustafa, heads a self-titled military "company" of the nationalist Islamic Army. Another of the sheik's kinsmen, Amara Adnan Hamza, is a fundamentalist Muslim. Known locally as Little Zarqawi, he commands a network loyal to the more famous al-Zarqawi that has prepared car bombs destined for Baghdad. According to American as well as insurgent sources, both Little Zarqawi and his nationalist relative Abu Mustafa have drawn weapons from their senior relative, the Strawberry Sheik. Ryan's battalion disrupted Little Zarqawi's cell and found two tons of explosives at its disposal.
So far, in an offensive that began in late December, the 2-12 has cracked an al-Zarqawi bombmaking cell and an Ansar al-Sunnah stronghold, and severely disrupted a nest of nationalist cells composed of former Republican Guard officers and Baathists upon whom the other organizations rely. That has led the insurgents to attack the 2-12 directly. At one point during the Jafr Sakhr operation, a report comes in from 2-12's headquarters. Insurgents are lobbing mortars on the bridge over the Euphrates where Ryan has positioned his tanks. He isn't dismayed. "I was waiting to see how long it would take the enemy to get mad enough about us being on the bridge before he started shooting mortars at us. If he's shooting at us here, he isn't attacking toward Baghdad. We have the bridge cut off, so now the bad guys on the east side of the bridge can't connect with the bad guys on the west side of the bridge." He adds, "The more [the enemy] has to turn and divert his attention to us here in his supply lines, in his safe havens, the less time he's devoted to attacking people in Baghdad." As a result, the car bombs made in the Jafr Sakhr area must now pass through Fallujah to the north or Musayyab to the south, running a gauntlet of U.S. checkpoints before they can reach the capital.
Ryan and his men already have recorded a chilling inventory of what has been available to the enemy. In House 71, for example, they find an array of weapons-- a crank-handle detonator, spools of detonation cord, dozens of mortars, thousands of rounds of 12.7-mm ammo, a sackful of yellow grenades and other bombmaking materials--buried in pits all over a yard in which a herd of sheep and goats graze. A pocket notebook inside the ramshackle dwelling proves to be a huge intelligence boon, listing weapons and the cell leaders to whom they were distributed. An Arabic-speaking Army specialist, born to Palestinian and Puerto Rican parents, scans the pages. "He's written everything here--who he gave what to. He's very stupid," the soldier says with a smile. The pages connect a lot of dots to insurgent bosses Ryan has been tracking. At the 2-12's approach, the owner of House 71 had run to a neighbor's home and attempted to mix in with other civilians, disguising himself by adopting someone else's name. Ryan saw through it. "Take Mr. Turban here," he orders, referring to the scarf around the suspect's head. "All that s___ was right behind his house--he knows something," he says. Under interrogation the man identifies himself as the weapons dealer working under Abu Ayesha and supplying arms to a host of divergent guerrilla and terrorist cells.
Ryan decides to send a message, a "show of force," as he calls it. He instructs his engineers to pile the weapons caches in the front yard of House 71. "We got all this stuff in his house, I don't see any reason why we can't blow it up," Ryan says. His Estonian counterpart chuckles. "I don't mind; it's not my house," he says. By day's end, the message has been delivered repeatedly. Coalition troops destroy two vehicles and another house in acts of retaliation. At nightfall the battalion returns to its base, having uprooted a large number of insurgent weapons sites. It has produced a staggering array of antiaircraft guns, TNT, RPG warheads and launchers, machine guns, plastic explosive, grenades and bombs. Surveying the booty, Ryan tells a subordinate, "We're just scratching the surface."
This article starring:
ABU AIESHA
Islamic Army
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU MUSTAFA
Ansar al-Sunnah
AMARA ADNAN HAMZA
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Ansar al-Sunnah
Islamic Army
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2005 2:04:46 AM ||
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#1
A few unrelated points:
* Hard to believe that this sort of operation, but expanded in scope and intensity in select areas and including large-scale preventive detention/screening operations and draconian restrictions on road movement, would not have greatly reduced the death toll to friendlies in the past 1.5 years. Why any road in relevant parts west of Baghdad and in al-Anbar was not intensely controlled since the outset, and why any military-age male in areas of concern wasn't biometrically ID'd/swabbed for explosives/polygraphed/held for interrogation/bribed/cajoled (varying with individual and circumstance) -- long ago -- remains a mystery to me.
* Time's misuse of the word "nationalist" is both ludicrous and offensive. How is it "nationalist" to blow up economic infrastructure and murder large numbers of innocents or government officials in your own country? Why is the term "nationalist" applied to a minority of ruthless criminals whose community is stained with decades of genocide, tyranny, and international lawlessness on a scale not seen since Nazi Germany? Do "nationalists" murder and destroy in a desperate bid to prevent their country from establishing accountable and open government that doesn't squander the national patrimony on the debauchery and megalomaniacal insanity of absolute despots? What exactly is, in any way, "nationalist" about the efforts of a morally leprous and rightly unseated minority to regain their previous position of blood-soaked tyranny and corruption?
Were the SS "nationalists" in any informative sense of the word? As usual, it's hard to know whether Time's failure here stems from intellectual dullness or moral imbecility.
#2
Good comments, Verlaine. You probably have a better feel for the geography, but I can't imagine that the road traffic between Baghdad and parts west is so heavy that you couldn't a) ban all non-essential traffic b) inspect ALL vehicles at checkpoints with bomb-sniffing dogs. Whatever manpower it takes, do it. Maybe a lot of that is already being done, I don't know. In a similar vein, I wonder whether they are exploiting every possible technological approach to detecting/jamming roadside bombs. I know about the RF jammers that they are using. But I wonder whether there are also technologies for wired bombs and UAV aerial surveillance and video surveillance methods that could detect the bombs or the bomb planters.
First of all thank you so very much for your sacrifices my wife and 4 children owe you a debt which we could never possibly repay. My second family is my fire crew. We had one of our boys serving with you in 2004 and he's now home. Being firefighters we feel as though we have a special stake in the greater War on Terror. I've been trying to point out the successes that we are having aka successful elections in Afghanistan and Iraq 45/55 bad guys on the deck of cards. The problem lies herein: The MSM is where these guys get their info. All we here about is 1,450 dead American soldiers and 16,000 dead iraqi civilians and police. I'm constantly telling them don't worry were getting the bad guys. They turn around and say that yes we capture them but eventually like the guys in Gtmo will get released and be back to fight again another day. Do you have any idea how many enemy kia's? I'm trying to feed these guys something anything that says it's ok boys we are winning and yes we've taken alot of bad guys off the map with our sacrifices. We lost 357 brothers on 9/11 and another 1,022 have since retired or left the profession due to stress and anguish. There alot of broken men and women who would love nothing more than revenge. The shitty press makes us feel like we are losing and I hate them for it. Can you provide a link or any stats on enemy killed or foreign fighters killed or both.
Any tidbits would be appreciated.
#5
"Take Mr. Turban here," he orders, referring to the scarf around the suspectâs head. "All that s was right behind his house--he knows something," he says.
Great quote! He must be a closet Rantburger.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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#6
Too bad the ACLU will be all over this guy for saying that alaska paul
#7
Neat article. Hey seems Iran is spiraling out of control. Kinda scary, man they will have to be brutal! Still shaken folks but man what a deal. Sorry I havn't been active.
Two Egyptian men suspected of involvement in bombing three Red Sea resorts last year were killed yesterday after five days of gun battles with police in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security sources said. Police have fought since Tuesday with Bedouin, who were believed to be hiding several bomb suspects, in the Ras Sudr area of central Sinai, 150 km east of Cairo.
The sources said two suspects, Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Fulayfel and Hammad Gumaa, were killed after several hours of shooting yesterday. Investigators found bullet casings, automatic weapons and hand grenades in the area, they said. The Interior Ministry had no immediate comment on the report. The ministry previously said another bomb suspect, Mohamed Abdel Rahman Badawi, also Egyptian, was killed on Tuesday in an earlier gun battle with police in the same region of the Sinai Peninsula.
Security sources said that four policemen were wounded in clashes on Friday. They said one died of his wounds overnight. Two other suspected bombers were killed in the Taba attack when their bomb went off early. Egypt has said they were not part of a wider network or linked to Al-Qaeda. Police said in October they had arrested five Sinai Bedouin as accomplices in the bombings. Most of them were from the north coast town of El Arish, near the Israeli border.
Human rights groups have said the authorities detained up to 2,500 people for questioning after the bombings, subjecting many to torture. Egyptian officials deny the torture. Security sources said the authorities had freed 90 Sinai residents, but they did not say how many remained in custody.
This article starring:
HAMAD GUMAA
Tawhid wal Jihad
MOHAMED ABDEL RAHMAN BADAWI
Tawhid wal Jihad
MOHAMED AHMED SALEH FULAIFEL
Tawhid wal Jihad
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2005 12:10:45 AM ||
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Five days of gun battles?!? How much in the way of weaponry have these people been hiding in the desert?
#2
doubt its a continuing gun battle. I would guess skirmishes and escapes - even aside from the Arab difficulties "surrounding" people, thats some pretty wild terrain.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas' ruling Fatah movement has reissued a call for a mutual ceasefire with Israel. "We are ready for a total ceasefire in the occupied territories and in Israel, in line with the roadmap [peace plan]," the group's 129-member revolutionary council said in a statement on Sunday. But Fatah also stressed "the Palestinians' right to self defence against attacks by the Israeli army", and their "right to resist the occupation, settlement and the construction" by Israel of a West Bank separation barrier.
Violence has dropped in recent weeks in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza amid Abbas' efforts to bring various Palestinian groups into a truce they say must be reciprocated by the Israeli army. Israel and the Palestinians have said they hoped to declare a formal halt to more than four years of violence at the summit in Sharm al-Shaikh. Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abd Allah are expected to convene the summit.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"We are ready for a total ceasefire in the occupied territories and in Israel, in line with the roadmap [peace plan],"
Which is an admission that they weren't adhering to the Road Map in the first place, voiding all bitching at Israel for not doing their part when the Paleos were not doing theirs.
#2
Sorry, but a "ceasefire" (and all that it implies) doen't cut it. As long as Armed Struggle&trade is left on the table, there's not a hell of a lot to discuss with regard to a permanent settlement.
An Islamist militant group in Iraq claimed responsibility for kidnapping an Italian journalist and threatened to kill her by Monday, following a kidnap claim from another group, according to an Internet statement. The statement, which was could not be immediately authenticated, was signed by a group calling itself the Jihad Organisation and threatened to kill Giuliana Sgrena by Monday if Italy did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.
A group with a similar name, the Islamic Jihad Organisation, claimed on Friday to have also taken Sgrena and set a 72-hour deadline for Italy to remove its troops, but did not specifically threaten to kill her. "We in the Jihad Organisation ... announce that we will implement God's law (kill) on the Italian prisoner Giuliana Sgrena after 48 hours if the Italian government, headed by the criminal Berlusconi, does not announce it will withdraw (troops) from Iraq," said the statement dated on Saturday. "To the Italian people, it is time for you to know the truth about your criminal government that is still in Iraq," it said. "Your sons' blood is the responsibility of Berlusconi and his gang of Islam's enemies. Your army's continued presence in Iraq will bring about grave consequences and you will not be blessed with security as long as Muslims in Iraq are not living securely," it added.
This article starring:
Islamic Jihad Organisation
Jihad Organisation
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Three-quarters of police officers in the city of Falluja are to lose their jobs in a purge of resistance sympathisers, an Iraqi commander has said. The commander of Iraqi security forces in the western city, General Madhi Hashim, said not all policemen would be reincorporated "The force had some 2000 policemen but we will rehire only 500," he said. "They will be picked for their integrity and on condition they never took part in terrorist operations."
Hashim said the city's old police force had been disbanded on 4 November, four days before a devastating US-led offensive on the city was launched. He said the new police chief would be General Shaaban al-Janabi. "The Interior Ministry has appointed General Shaaban, but he will not have full control over decision-making. If he proves able after a month, he will take full and official responsibility," Hashim said. Al-Janabi, a former officer in Saddam Hussein's army, had been the first choice of Falluja's tribal leaders, Hashim said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Jeez this guy's the Beast's enforcer?
Revelations not so scary now.
Posted by: 668 Next Door Neighbor of the Beast ||
02/07/2005 9:37 Comments ||
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The Punjab Government has banned several Shia and Sunni clerics from entering the province and declared 140 imambargahs as sensitive. The chief secretary and the inspector general of police have decided to ban the clerics because of their repute of making sect-hate speeches in public gatherings. The Punjab government has also cancelled the vacations of policemen and women to cope with the security arrangements. Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Jhang, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Darya Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan have been declared as sensitive areas and the district nazims were asked to impose Section 144 of the Maintenance of Public Order allowing the government to use the army in case of serious trouble.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Good. That he did it because he was thinking ahead about potential risks of "sect-hate speeches in public gatherings" makes him a rather unique individual in that part of the world, where most leaders' main agenda seems to be determining whether you have the same God as they do.
Iraq's leading Sunni religious authority has made its participation in the upcoming constitution-drafting process conditional on the announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The Association of Muslim Scholars' (AMS) spokesman, Umar Raghib, was speaking on Saturday after the assocation's chairman, Harith al-Dari, met UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi. "Qazi asked the committee to take part in drafting the constitution. We told him that we had conditions and that we would discuss them with the parties that boycotted the polls and would put forward a common stance," he said. "These demands focus on reaching a consensus with all political parties on a withdrawal of foreign forces," Raghib said. The spokesman of the organisation, which is also known as the Ulama Committee and was one of the leading forces that opposed last Sunday's general election, hinted that the influential grouping of clerics could then press fighters to end the bloodshed that has marred Iraq's reconstruction. "Then, the country's elders will tell the resistance: 'No need to spill more blood'," Raghib said.
That's kind of a public admission that the blood's being spilled at the Muslim Scholar's instigation, isn't it?
Qazi desribed his meeting with the AMS as very positive. According to many observers, much of the success of the post-election period, during which parliament will have to draft a permanent constitution for the country, will depend on the level of involvement of the Sunni community. Turnout in the 30 January elections was lowest in Iraq's Sunni areas, either out of fear of reprisals from resistance groups or because of calls by the AMS and other organisations for a boycott.
This article starring:
HARITH AL DARI
Association of Muslim Scholars
OMAR RAGHIB
Association of Muslim Scholars
Association of Muslim Scholars
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Start jailing them for sedition if they don't start getting with the program and helping shut down any Sunni "resistance."
#3
In typical U.N. bureaucratic fashion, Qazi's way out of line here. He's not entitled to invite anyone into the process other than those elected.
Conditions? Where do these AMS Saddam-era-leftover scholar-clowns ever get the notion that they can set conditions. They aren't even rightfully in the process. And as for calling off the resistance, if they are capable of doing that and they have not already done it, then they should go directly to jail.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/07/2005 13:50 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.
SULAIBIYA, Kuwait: Police and troops in armored personnel carriers raided a house in this run-down town Saturday, capturing five suspected terrorists holed up inside. The men surrendered after police sealed off the neighborhood and used explosives to blast their way into the primitive concrete block home in Sulaibiya, a mainly Bedouin area about 20 kilometers west of Kuwait City. The Interior Ministry said two of the five men captured are citizens of Saudi Arabia. Three are Jordanians. All were wanted by Kuwaiti authorities. No one was injured in the operation. Sporadic small arms gunfire and a large explosion broke the night air as a police helicopter hovered overhead, shining a spotlight onto the scene. Police said the blast came from a charge troops used to demolish a door leading into the house.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants who over the past month fought four bloody gunbattles with Kuwaiti security forces had plotted to kidnap and execute US soldiers and Westerners, a newspaper reported Saturday. 
Britain has released a leader of Egypt's leading Islamic insurgency group. Officials said British authorities released an Egyptian national said to have been leader of Jihad. The Egyptian, who was not identified, was arrested three years ago and held without trial under Britain's anti-terrorism law. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke identified the Egyptian as "C." Clarke said in a statement on Feb. 1 that authorities did not have sufficient evidence to keep the insurgent in jail. "I concluded that the weight of evidence in relation to 'C' at the current time does not justify the continuance of [his detention]," Clarke said.
Rebels in Chechnya have not attacked federal forces in the three days since the rebels' fugitive leader ordered a cease-fire, a source in the republic's pro-Moscow police said Sunday. An end to near-daily rebel attacks would come as an unwelcome surprise to Russian politicians who rebuff foreign suggestions of peace talks by saying separatist leader 
Unidentified hostage-takers have seized the Spanish consulate in the Swiss capital, Berne, police said. The affluent area around the consulate has been sealed off. The kidnappers are believed to have taken at least one person hostage, but it was not immediately clear if they were armed.
U.S. forces stormed a house to free four Egyptian telecommunications engineers kidnapped in Iraq, the head of their Egyptian parent company told Egyptian television on Monday. Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, said the four Egyptians were safe and the company had contacted their families to inform them that they were free. He was speaking from Algeria to an Egyptian state television program.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas' ruling Fatah movement has reissued a call for a mutual ceasefire with Israel. "We are ready for a total ceasefire in the occupied territories and in Israel, in line with the roadmap [peace plan]," the group's 129-member revolutionary council said in a statement on Sunday. But Fatah also stressed "the Palestinians' right to self defence against attacks by the Israeli army", and their "right to resist the occupation, settlement and the construction" by Israel of a West Bank separation barrier.
An Islamist militant group in Iraq claimed responsibility for kidnapping an Italian journalist and threatened to kill her by Monday, following a kidnap claim from another group, according to an Internet statement. The statement, which was could not be immediately authenticated, was signed by a group calling itself the 
Three-quarters of police officers in the city of Falluja are to lose their jobs in a purge of resistance sympathisers, an Iraqi commander has said. The commander of Iraqi security forces in the western city, General Madhi Hashim, said not all policemen would be reincorporated "The force had some 2000 policemen but we will rehire only 500," he said. "They will be picked for their integrity and on condition they never took part in terrorist operations."
Iraq's leading Sunni religious authority has made its participation in the upcoming constitution-drafting process conditional on the announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The 
