A British Muslim convert detained at the Channel Tunnel in October 2003 has been found guilty of two charges of having articles for use in terrorism. Andrew Rowe, 34, was convicted for having instructions on using a mortar, and secret code on a piece of paper. The jury could not reach a verdict on a third charge of having articles for use in terrorism relating to socks with traces of explosives on them. Rowe, from Maida Vale, west London, had denied the charges. Prosecutors will decide this afternoon whether there should be a retrial on the third charge.
The jury had earlier been told they could return a majority verdict.
Jurors had been deliberating for a day and were told verdicts on which at least 10 agreed would now be accepted. Following the convictions, director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald QC said: "Although there was no direct link between Andrew Rowe and a particular terrorist act, possession of those items together with other supporting evidence was sufficient for a jury to conclude that he had them for the purpose of terrorism."
Rowe was arrested at the Channel Tunnel after a trip to Germany in 2003. A pair of socks were found in his luggage that were rolled into a ball with a cord attached and could have been used to clean a mortar, prosecutors said. Rowe said he used it for martial arts kicks and that traces of explosives were from when he used the socks as gloves to unload ammunition while carrying out humanitarian work in Bosnia in 1995.
Hand-written instructions on how to fire a mortar and the secret code were found at addresses in London and Birmingham linked to Rowe. The code substituted names of mobile phones for words including money, trouble-police, weapon, airport and army base, prosecutor Mark Ellison said. There were also codes for explosive materials, making it a "shopping list for terrorism", Mr Ellison said. He also said Rowe had travelled extensively after converting to Islam, including to places of conflict, and had had four passports in seven years. Rowe told the court he had converted to Islam at the age of 19 in a bid to alter his lifestyle after taking and selling drugs.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 09:04 ||
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Police have used a Taser gun to arrest a man under the Terrorism Act and carried out a controlled explosion on a suspect package at Manchester Airport. Officers were called at about 0830 BST and arrested the man after a struggle on the apron, where planes are parked. The BBC understands a man had been seen with a package underneath a plane. Parts of terminals one and two were evacuated and closed, but the airport later reopened and advised passengers to report as normal.
The arrested man, who is of Asian appearance and is understood to speak little English, was taken to a police station in Greater Manchester.
"Asian" being Brit speak for anyone from South Asian continent. Could be Pakistani, Indian, etc.
Officers also recovered a car - believed to belong to the man - for further investigation.
Army bomb disposal units carried out a controlled explosion on the package, reportedly a briefcase or suitcase, with a 600 metre police cordon set up around the area. BBC correspondent Kevin Bocquet watched the controlled explosion from the 11th floor of the airport's car park.
He said: "I could see the suspect suitcase - it was on the middle of a taxi-way surrounded by red cones, on a very, very large area of tarmac. The nearest plane was probably a good 60 or 70 yards away. "They moved one of those remote-controlled devices on top of this suspect suitcase, and then there was a very minor explosion - it was bit like a damp firework going off. "Then the remote-controlled device was moved to one side.
"I saw a man in army uniform - he went out to the suspect suitcase, he bent down, he examined it and then he came back into the terminal building. He didn't appear to be in any particular hurry," he said.
Bomb squad guys never do.
"It looked to me as though it was not something they were particularly concerned about at that stage." Police removed the cordon after about three hours, saying the operation was being scaled down and passengers and staff were allowed back in.
"Nothing to see here, move along"
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 08:54 ||
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#1
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- A man who breached security today at Manchester Airport in northwestern England has been detained under the U.K.'s Mental Health Act, police said. The man abandoned a car near a security checkpoint and ran 200 meters (656 feet) onto the airport's ``apron,'' Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas of the Greater Manchester Police said at a televised news conference in the city.
Officers chased the man to within 60 meters of a plane and a ``violent struggle'' ensued, Thomas said. They used a Taser stun gun, which delivers 50,000-volt charges, to detain the man and a British Army bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion on a briefcase he was carrying, Thomas said. The briefcase contained clothing, papers and a passport, Thomas said. Police later said the man is 31, without providing further identification. The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that he is of Asian appearance and doesn't speak much English.
Initially held under the Terrorism Act, the man was taken to a station in Greater Manchester for questioning, and was also examined by doctors ``to ascertain if he is suffering from an illness,'' Thomas said.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 12:57 Comments ||
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A small explosion outside a cafe in the Belarussian city of Vitebsk has wounded at least 40 people â the second such attack in two weeks. Some sources put the number of injured at 50, the NTV television channel reported. The device, packed into a beer can and containing metal fragments, was buried in a flower bed in the city centre, police told a Russian news agency. Some of the injured in Thursday nightâs blast were rushed to local hospitals. Four of them are in a grave condition, doctors told NTV. An investigation has been launched. A similar device buried in a flower bed near a bus stop went off last Thursday, injuring two people.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 09:30 ||
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PARIS - Six men detained on Monday in northern Paris suburbs on suspicion of recruiting fighters for the anti-US insurgency in Iraq have been released without charge, French officials said on Friday. The men, aged between 20 and 25, were set free overnight after four days of questioning at the headquarters of Franceâs domestic intelligence agency, the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DST). Ninety-six hours is the maximum that terrorism suspects can be held in France before being taken before a judge.
Arrest, question, release, rinse, repeat
French officials believe there is a steady but so far limited movement of French nationals to join insurgents in Iraq, where they estimate six have died in suicide-bombings and clashes with US forces. In Iraq, the US military said on Friday it had captured a Tunisian national who was recruited from a mosque in France to fight with the insurgents.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 11:06 ||
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#1
France releases six held over alleged Iraqi ring
The frog in chief wants another stamp series.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/23/2005 11:18 Comments ||
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Spain's High Court is due to deliver its verdicts on Monday on 24 people accused of al Qaeda membership, including three who face more than 70,000 years in jail each if convicted of helping the September 11 hijackers.
The verdicts will be a crucial test of the credibility of the multiple investigations of Islamist militants launched by Spanish magistrates and around Europe.
The three-judge panel heard from more than 100 witnesses during a two-and-a-half month trial that ended in early July -- Europe's biggest trial of suspected Islamist militants.
September 11-related prosecutions around the world have had little success.
The central figure in the Madrid trial is Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, who is accused of being the leader of an al Qaeda cell in Spain.
If convicted of helping the hijackers plan the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, he could face jail terms of 74,337 years -- 25 years for each of 2,973 people killed plus 12 years for leading a terrorist group.
Yarkas and two others could be asked to pay a total of more than $1 billion (555 million pounds) in compensation to families of September 11 victims.
Yarkas and the other defendants have protested their innocence, saying there is no basis for the charges.
"It's a myth. No cell exists," Yarkas told the court. "All of us here are friends and neighbours ... and they have tried to invent a cell."
Yarkas and Driss Chebli, another defendant, are accused of helping prepare a July 2001 meeting in Spain at which prosecutors say the September 11 attacks may have been planned.
Investigators believe hijacker Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, suspected coordinator of the US attacks, attended the meeting.
Chebli also faces prison sentences totalling more than 74,000 years if convicted on all counts.
The third defendant accused of a role in the September 11 attacks is Syrian-born real estate developer Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun, who prosecutors say travelled to the United States in 1997 and filmed New York City landmarks such as the World Trade Centre, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
He is alleged to have passed on the videotape to al Qaeda.
However, the video, played at the trial, bore all the hallmarks of standard holiday picture-taking, with pictures of friends that included the cue "Say cheese".
The High Court freed Ghalyoun on bail in May, indicating the judges may be leaning towards acquitting him, legal sources said. Five other defendants were conditionally freed in June.
However, two other defendants freed for health reasons, including Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni, were re-arrested last Friday. The court considered them a flight risk.
Alouni and Jamal Hussein each face nine years in prison if convicted of belonging to a terrorist group.
Alouni interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors accuse him of carrying money intended for al Qaeda members during visits to Afghanistan for his journalistic work. He denies the allegations.
The case, which pre-dates the al Qaeda-linked Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004 that killed 191 people, is one of several probes of Islamist militants launched by crusading Judge Baltasar Garzon. Another judge has accused more than 100 people of a role in the March 11 attacks.
#4
And they'll sit there infecting more violent, hatefilled psychopathic idiots who may eventually leave jail and pick up the scimitar of the Andalusian Jihad to "take back" their muslim lands as per the good old days. Prosecution and jail as per the normal criminal model is not an answer to the problem. Why do they insist upon learning the hard way?
Spain's High Court is due to deliver its verdicts on Monday on 24 people accused of al Qaeda membership, including three who face more than 70,000 years in jail each if convicted of helping the September 11 hijackers.
The verdicts will be a crucial test of the credibility of the multiple investigations of Islamist militants launched by Spanish magistrates and around Europe.
The three-judge panel heard from more than 100 witnesses during a two-and-a-half month trial that ended in early July -- Europe's biggest trial of suspected Islamist militants.
September 11-related prosecutions around the world have had little success.
A Hamburg court sentenced Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan, to seven years in prison last month, ruling he was a member of the group of radical Hamburg-based Arab students that provided help to three of the September 11 suicide pilots and was aware of their plans to use planes in an attack on the United States.
But it found he knew too little of the details to be convicted of abetting mass murder.
Abdelghani Mzoudi was tried in Hamburg on the same charges as Motassadeq but acquitted in February 2004.
The central figure in the Madrid trial is Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, who is accused of being the leader of an al Qaeda cell in Spain.
If convicted of helping the hijackers plan the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, he could face jail terms of 74,337 years -- 25 years for each of 2,973 people killed plus 12 years for leading a terrorist group.
Yarkas and two others could be asked to pay a total of more than $1 billion (555 million pounds) in compensation to families of September 11 victims.
Yarkas and the other defendants have protested their innocence, saying there is no basis for the charges.
"It's a myth. No cell exists," Yarkas told the court. "All of us here are friends and neighbours ... and they have tried to invent a cell."
Yarkas and Driss Chebli, another defendant, are accused of helping prepare a July 2001 meeting in Spain at which prosecutors say the September 11 attacks may have been planned.
Investigators believe hijacker Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, suspected coordinator of the U.S. attacks, attended the meeting.
Chebli also faces prison sentences totalling more than 74,000 years if convicted on all counts.
The third defendant accused of a role in the September 11 attacks is Syrian-born real estate developer Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun, who prosecutors say travelled to the United States in 1997 and filmed New York City landmarks such as the World Trade Centre, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
He is alleged to have passed on the videotape to al Qaeda.
However, the video, played at the trial, bore all the hallmarks of standard holiday picture-taking, with pictures of friends that included the cue "Say cheese".
The High Court freed Ghalyoun on bail in May, indicating the judges may be leaning towards acquitting him, legal sources said. Five other defendants were conditionally freed in June.
However, two other defendants freed for health reasons, including Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni, were re-arrested last Friday. The court considered them a flight risk.
Alouni and Jamal Hussein each face nine years in prison if convicted of belonging to a terrorist group.
Alouni interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors accuse him of carrying money intended for al Qaeda members during visits to Afghanistan for his journalistic work. He denies the allegations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:21 ||
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FROM NRO's The Corner: In from Specter's committee office:
Washington, D.C.--Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, will hold a second hearing on Operation Able Danger on October 5, 2005.
In the initial hearing held on September 21, 2005, the Department of Defense refused to produce five key witnesses relating to the identification of 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. The Department of Defense has now changed their position and will make the witnesses available in a public hearing. The Committee will focus on obtaining corroborating evidence as to what occurred with the pre-9/11 charts and information which were allegedly destroyed by order of DoD personnel.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 12:57 ||
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#1
We don't give a wad about the methodologies or techniques, label the frigging 'process' as a damn black box. We do want to know the output relative to the operations of those terrorist organizations that were out to kill us. When did we know and why the friggin hell it was not passed through channels to people to act upon it with speed? The goddamn 'we'll use western union to notify Pearl Harbor of impending threat' doesn't buy it after 7 Dec.
A Jewish extremist who plotted to blow up a Los Angeles mosque and the office of a US congressman of Lebanese descent has been sentenced to 20 years in jail. Earl Krugel was arrested in 2001 with another leader of a group called the Jewish Defence League, Irv Rubin, who died in jail in an apparent suicide. Krugel, 62, admitted the charges. The sentence was the heaviest he could receive under his plea bargain. He apologised to the court for causing "sadness, pain and sorrow". The plot was discovered before any blasts took place. US District judge Ronald Lew said Krugel's crimes were "promoting hatred in the most vile way".
FBI agents arrested Krugel and Rubin at their homes in November 2001.
Investigators seized bomb-making equipment they believed was destined to be used in an attack on the King Fahd mosque in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles. The pair were charged in December 2001 with conspiring to bomb the mosque and send explosives to the offices of Congressman Darrell Issa, who is of Lebanese Christian descent.
Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of worshippers at the mosque and to a weapons charge linked to the plot against the congressman. In return, he was to escape trial on more serious charges related to the bomb conspiracy. Rubin died in November 2002 awaiting trial. Prison authorities said he slashed his throat with a knife and then either fell or threw himself from a prison walkway.
Prosecutors argued that Rubin and Krugel had wanted to send a "wake-up call" to Arabs and to show that their group was "alive in a militant way". The group was founded in 1968 by a far-right US rabbi, Meir Kahane, who advocated the expulsion of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990.
#2
For the record, it should be obvious to all that Rubin was murdered. I believe the pair were framed in an FBI sting designed to create an image of Political Correctness to balance arrests of Islamic militants in the wake of 9/11.
Krugel probably plead guilty to avoid ending up the victim of a similar "accident" as Rubin.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - One of five men from the same suburban mosque arrested earlier this year was indicted Thursday on federal charges alleging he intended ``to wage jihad in the United States.''
Hamid Hayat, 23, was already charged with lying to the FBI about attending a terrorist training camp. The new indictment accuses him of also providing material support to terrorists, the most serious charge that could be filed absent an actual terrorist act, prosecutors said. ``Whatever was taking shape in Lodi isn't going to happen now,'' U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said.
Scott said doesn't know exactly what was planned in Lodi, an agricultural town of 62,000 about 35 miles south of Sacramento, but he believes that indicting Hayat and deporting two Islamic leaders connected to the mosque put a stop to it. The government never charged the two religious leaders, but it has alleged the two intended to set up a terror training camp as part of a planned religious school in Lodi. During an immigration hearing last month, an FBI agent testified that at the camp, ``individuals would be taught ... to commit acts of violence against the U.S.''
The indictment handed up in Sacramento on Thursday alleges Hayat provided support and resources for carrying out acts of terror between March 2003 and June 2005, when he was arrested shortly after returning to the United State from Pakistan. Hayat ``intended, upon receipt of orders from his controller other individuals, to wage jihad (holy war) in the United States,'' it says.
If convicted of all charges, he could face up to 31 years in prison.
The indictment Thursday repeats the charges against Hayat and his father of lying to the FBI, but it does not add the more serious charges for Hayat's father. Both Hayats are being held without bond pending a hearing Friday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/23/2005 00:05 ||
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U.S.-Iraqi military operations over the past two months have made it harder for foreign insurgents to enter Iraq or establish safe havens in the Sunni Triangle north and west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch also said that while cities such as Baghdad and Ramadi average more than 25 attacks by insurgents a day, such violence is declining in the rest of Iraq - where 60 percent of the population lives.
"There are indeed areas of Iraq that are relatively safe and secure, and the people in those provinces are working their way toward to a peaceful and democratic society," Lynch told reporters in the Green Zone, the highly fortified home of the U.S. Embassy and Iraq's parliament in Baghdad.
He also said the U.S.-led coalition was making progress in killing or capturing insurgent leaders and is getting tips from Iraqi civilians about insurgent hideouts and weapons stockpiles.
Lynch said information is even coming from the troubled Sunni Triangle, which includes the large provinces of Baghdad, Nineveh, Anbar and Salahuddin in central and northwestern Iraq. He said that based on a tip, U.S. and Iraqi officials destroyed buildings in Haditha, a city in Anbar where insurgents were making and hiding weapons.
Coalition offensives like the one in the northern city of Tal Afar this month have made significant progress in restoring Iraq's control over its borders, and are "denying the terrorists any safe havens in Iraq," Lynch said.
However, after insurgents were routed from Tal Afar, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Sunni Arab leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, declared all-out war on Iraq's majority Shiites.
Lynch said Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Sudan are the main sources of foreign fighters for the insurgency, with most coming from Syria.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:40 ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb damaged an oil pipeline near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, sending plumes of black smoke and fire up into the air, officials said on Thursday. The bomb, which exploded late Wednesday, was placed beneath the aboveground pipeline, which connects the Bay Hassan oil fields with Kirkuk in northern Iraq, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir.
Officials in Iraqâs Northern Oil Company said the heavily damaged pipeline would be repaired within five days.
The International Monetary Fund reported last month that oil production in Iraq was likely to reach only 2 million barrels a day over the year, down from its earlier estimate of 2.4 million barrels because of the continuing sabotage of oil installations and the resulting halting of oil exports from the north.
Iraqâs current oil exports of about 1.6 million barrels a day mostly go through its southern ports, which have suffered far fewer insurgent attacks than the main pipeline to Turkey in the north. Currently, Iraqâs government doesnât have the money it needs to rehabilitate and upgrade an oil industry infrastructure that has fallen apart during two decades of wars, misuse by Saddam Husseinâs government and international trade sanctions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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A roadside bomb hit a US convoy in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding six, and suspected insurgents gunned down at least eight Iraqis in four separate attacks yesterday, officials said. In New York, Iraqâs foreign minister said insurgents were likely to step up attempts to disrupt next monthâs referendum on the countryâs new constitution, and that the next three months are critical for the countryâs future. âNowhere are the goals of freedom, democracy and progress more at stake,â Hoshyar Zebari told UN Security Council members at an open meeting Wednesday. âWe know our clear way forward, but we need your help. We need the help of every member nation and this organization to win this fight. We stick together, or we lose together.â
In Basra, for the second day in a row no British forces were seen accompanying Iraqi police on patrols of the southern city, as they routinely had in the past, an apparent result of a disagreement between Baghdad and London over recent violence involving British soldiers. On Wednesday, hundreds of Iraqi civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied in Basra to denounce âBritish aggressionâ in the rescue of two British soldiers. Basra Gov. Mohammed Al-Waili threatened to end all cooperation with British forces unless Prime Minister Tony Blairâs government apologized for the deadly clash with Iraqi police. Britain defended the raid. There has been disagreement about just what happened late Monday, when British armor crashed into a jail to free two British soldiers who had been arrested by Iraqi police and militiamen.
Simple enough. Shut down the Basra civil administration. Throw the cops out and have the Brits pick up police duties until the Iraqis can come up with somebody else.
Elsewhere, the US military said that an American soldier died Wednesday night of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident near Kirkuk.
Unidentified men in a speeding car used machine guns to kill Col. Fadil Mahmoud Mohammed, a local police commander, and his driver yesterday morning as they drove on a highway in a town near Baquba, a city north of Baghdad, police said. Six people also were killed in the capital, including a man and two of his sons whose home in the New Baghdad area was raided by about 25 gunmen dressed in police uniforms and black masks, said police Col. Ahmed Abod. A second son was kidnapped. Abod said the father, Muhsin Akmosh Al-Timimi, had been working with foreign companies operating in Iraq.
A civilian working for a private company, Ali Salim, also was shot and killed while waiting outside his home in western Baghdad for a taxi to take him to work, said Dr. Muhanned Jawad in Yarmuk hospital, where the victim was rushed after the drive-by shooting.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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An explosion at a militant Hamas rally killed at least 10 Palestinians, including children and gunmen,
... and other living things...
in the Gaza Strip on Friday in the first deadly incident in the territory since Israel completed its withdrawal.
"What about Mahmoud gettin' bumped off? Wudn't that deadly?"
"It wudn't that deadly."
"How dead does he gotta be to be deadly?"
Hamas accused Israel of attacking the procession of military vehicles and thousands of marchers chanted for revenge.
"Revenge! Revenge! We must have Dire Revenge™!"
"Revenge! Revenge! We must have Dire Revenge™!"
"Revenge! Revenge! We must have Dire Revenge™!"
"Revenge! Revenge! We must have Dire Revenge™!"
"Revenge! Revenge! We must have Dire Revenge™!"
But the Israeli army denied any involvement in the explosion, hours after Islamic Jihad militants fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for a deadly West Bank raid. Typical Ham-Ass - Blow up their own people and blame Israel. The've done that before..
"It wuz them! I seen it!"
At least two children were among the dead in the explosion at the rally in the densely packed Jabalya refugee camp, a show of armed force
... and Arab competence...
by Hamas following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza on September 12 after 38 years of occupation. "Israel has targeted a Hamas rally in Jabalya with an airstrike," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. In truth one of your suicide-murderers probably got a itchy finger. Whether by accident or on orders (to fulfill Hamas'es leadership's sick addiction to murder of and killing) is unknown.
About 60 people were wounded and medics feared the death toll could rise. The blast turned one of the Hamas vehicles into a makeshift wreck.
What the hell is a "makeshift" wreck? Does that differ from a polished, professionally produced wreck?
Some of the convoy had been carrying makeshift rockets.
Honest to Gawd, we didn't write this. Somebody left it here. I think it was ABC News...
"I was thrown several meters, then I looked behind and I saw people dismembered and lying on the ground dead," said one witness.
"Boy! Was that exciting!"
The incident could stoke militant anger that was already boiling after Israeli troops killed three Islamic Jihad militants in a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Seething and Rolling of eyes soon to follow....
Must.breathe. Must.remain.dignified. Deep breath now....
It's a start. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/23/2005 14:39 Comments ||
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#8
Ok, let me get this straight:
1. Hamas boasts of organizing attacks on Israel.
2. Israel responds to Hamas' attacks.
3. In response to this, Hamas stages one of its usual, "we want Dire Revenge (TM)" parades, one of whose distinguishing features is the presence of a target-rich environment of attackers on Israel.
4. Until now, NO attack has ever been launched on these parades by israel.
5. An attack FINALLY HAPPENS.
6. And they whine, bitch, and moan about it.
The Palestinians can dish it out, but definitely can't take it.
I believe the Israelis when they said they didn't do it.
But I'd have cheered none-the-less if they said they DID do it.
#9
I have a feeling this explosion was caused buy a Hamas "makeshift explosive" that was unstable and did what the chemical composition was intended to do just a bit early.
#10
If Israel had done it I would expect a much better score here... this was some nitwit showing off their boombelt. "Hold my beer tea and watch this."
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
09/23/2005 14:53 Comments ||
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#11
From comments at LGF:
In your Hamas bonnet
With all the Semtex on it
You'll be the 'splodeyist fellow
In the Weapons... Parade!
#15
Ever since I was little I have always wondered why if it is supposedly hard to find a insurgency/terrorist we dont just carpet bomb then when they openly parade in the street. This was more than likly a bad mix of a homemade bomb. Although I would realy like to believe that Isreal and the US were going to begin killing our enemies enmass when they gather but that is to un-PC.
#16
"Accidents will happen. Don't worry all you who now be next of kin 'cause they all martyrs and such, know what I mean? We'll be sure to exact white hot fury revenge on the usual suspects. You know the drill folks. Friendly fire claims adjusters will hand out the Saudi martyr monies after registration at the table to your right. Our god is pretty great ain't he?!? Life is good! God is great! Life is good! God is great!"
#21
too bad about the kids, good thing the gunnies bought it though.
I doubt the israelis did this, theyve never done anything like this before, and had plenty of opportunities. Probabaly Hamas incompetence.
But are those the ONLY two possibilities? Hamas has other enemies. Could one of Dahlans guys have been involved? "here. weve just got some new explosives infrom Egypt, take it, PLEASE"
#24
Hamas will publically blame Israel but when we see which PA biggie has his offices raided next, then we'll know who Hamas really thought was to blame.
#25
There is absolutely no excuse to parade weapons in the streets," Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub said Friday. "The (militant groups) are merely trying to express their power and their capabilities. I would hope Palestinian society will soon be rid of all of these images
#31
Hamas will self-implode by attacking Israel and getting swatted for their effort. They're also kinda "stuck on stupid" by these parades. I hope and pray that one day Israel decides to napalm the entire parade route, finishing off by carpet-bombing the area with cluster-bombs, and then sitting back and watching the barbecue. I have zero-minus sympathy for the "palestinian" people, Hamas, the PA, Hezbollah, and all the other "murder is my sole reason for existence" people. There is no reason to continue to humor their existence. Kill them all (except for the baby ducks, of course).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/23/2005 19:55 Comments ||
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#32
"except for the baby ducks, of course"
Damn straight, OP. They're far too small to make a tasty meal. Bone-to-meat ratio and all that.
Mama and Daddy, on the other hand.... ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/23/2005 20:02 Comments ||
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#33
I saw a picture the other day of a "Victory Parade" that Hamas had in Gaza. There were a bunch of masked terrorists in formation, each carrying an RPG. Talk about drooling saliva over targets of opportunity!!! The secondaries would have been unbelievable. So now these clowns are self-detonating units. Hey, no problem. I feel bad for the children. I hate to see children raised in such a psychotic environment. THAT is the crime that should be punished.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/23/2005 22:14 Comments ||
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A series of large explosions went off at a Hamas rally in Gaza City on Friday, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding 80. Hospital sources said that the dead included two children and several gunmen. The explosions were believed to happen when a pickup truck carrying masked militants and laden with weapons blew up. Palestinian security officials said the blast was apparently caused by the mishandling of explosives.
[Snicker!] Don'tcha just hate it when that happens?
But sources in Hamas claimed that an Israeli drone flying over the area fired several missiles at the rally.
"Yes! Yes! I saw them with my own eyes! They were nuclear missiles!"
Israel Defense Forces officials denied involvement in the incident, which took place only hours after Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza Strip fired several Qassam rockets at Israel, causing no injuries or damage.
"Wudn't us."
Palestinian sources reported that among the injured was senior Hamas military wing leader Ahmed Randur. Other senior Hamas leaders were reported to have taken part in the rally.
"Ow! Ow! Owwwww!"
"Hold still, effendi! I'll get it out!"
Witnesses pulled body parts out of a vehicle that appeared to have been destroyed by the blast.
"CAR SWARM!"
A large plume of white smoke rose over the large crowd.
"We have a Pope!"
During the rally, Hamas paraded with homemade weapons and explosives.
Then they stopped...
Thousands of Palestinians at the rally, sponsored by the Hamas militant group and attended by some of its top commanders, stormed into the streets of the camp, shouting and carrying the wounded.
"Remain calm! All is well!"
The incident took place a day after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with leaders of Palestinian factions in the Strip who agreed to cease holding military parades in Gaza. The decision was due to be implemented as of Saturday.
Good idea.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 13:44 ||
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#1
Reminds me at the end of the Afghan war that photo of a mudjahideen his chest covered with RPGs fell in the arms of another mudjahideen whose chest was equally covered with RPGs.
#7
The Z Man, Hezbollah is on Iranian payrol, Hamas gets moolah (dough that is, not turbaned Allan-mongers) from Soddies mostly. Anyway, Hamasstaffel members speak Arabic.
GAZA - Palestinian militants fired a rocket from Gaza into Israel on Friday, a military source said, in the first such attack since Israeli forces completed a pullout from the territory 10 days ago. No casualties or damage were reported from the rocket which crashed into a field in southwest Israel near the border with the northern Gaza Strip.
The Islamic Jihad militant faction said it launched five rockets at Israel from north Gaza to avenge the killing of three of its gunmen by Israeli troops in a raid in the West Bank earlier in the day. Military sources could confirm only one rocket impact. âOther explosions were heard in the region but no (other impact in Israel) has been confirmed,â a source said.
The deadly raid near Tulkarm was the first since Israel wound up its withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza on Sept. 12 after 38 years of occupation. It also pulled soldiers out of four vacated northern West Bank settlements this week.
Military sources said two militants were shot after they opened fire on troops while trying to flee arrest before dawn in the village of Illar outside Tulkarm. A third gunman who escaped was killed nearby in an exchange of fire, they told Reuters. Israeli security sources said the raid was aimed at capturing members of Islamic Jihad wanted for attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers in the region. After the raid, senior Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh in Gaza threatened reprisals. âIsrael bears full responsibility for our reactions that will follow,â he told Reuters.
After the rocket fire, Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Abdallah said there would be more retaliatory attacks on Israelis.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 10:54 ||
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#1
Now is good time to open up with artillery into Gaza.
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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Where are the anti-mortar/rocket lasers? The tech is in Israel, so they should deploy it immediately.
JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip - A large explosion went off Friday at a Hamas rally where group members paraded with homemade weapons and explosives, killing four Palestinians and wounding 25, hospital officials said. Seven of the wounded were in serious condition, they said. Witnesses pulled body parts out of a vehicle that appeared to have been destroyed by the blast. An unmanned Israeli aircraft flew over the militant group's rally, but the Israeli military denied involvement in the blast.
#5
THEL uses Deuterium Flouride gas as the lasing medium at $3000 a shot. The damage done by these rockets is not worth the cost of the laser chemicals. $350 155mm artillery shells or $700 1000 lb. bombs are a much better response.
Running score:
Israelis 3, Hamas -4
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2005 12:33 Comments ||
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A large explosion went off Friday at a Hamas rally where group members paraded with homemade weapons and explosives,
People parading around with homemade explosives, and the press wonders if Israel was behind the explosion?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/23/2005 12:49 Comments ||
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#7
Sep 23, 2005 â GAZA (Reuters) - The death toll from an explosion on Friday at a militant rally in the Gaza Strip has risen to 10, medics said, including two children. It was the first deadly incident in Gaza since Israel's pullout.
The Israeli army denied involvement in the explosion in Jabalya refugee camp, which occured during a demonstration in support of the Islamic group Hamas attended by thousands. The blast also wounded at least 60 people, medics said.
Perhaps one of those guys who likes to parade around wearing a boom belt got carried away?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 12:52 Comments ||
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#8
ahhhh the first post-gaza-pullout car swarm!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/23/2005 13:04 Comments ||
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Work Accidents on Parade. Sponsored by Mutual of Gaza...
#10
ed: the concept is to shoot down the occasional rocket that you can ballistically tell may do some serious harm. 90% just make a hole in dirt, but it's worth it to blow up that 10% that might hit a school or other civilian target.
Counter-battery fire is just an opportunity for them to surround their missile tubes with women and children.
After a time, the technology will improve and the price-per-shot should drop, I would hope. At some point, it would be worth it to shoot down everything.
MTHEL represents a transformational weapon system - the first mobile directed energy weapon that will be able to destroy tactical airborne threats in midair. In order to achieve a high rate of fire, designers are looking into the use of high energy capsules, which can be loaded prior to each shot. The cost per shot, primarily cost of the chemicals used to fuel the laser, is expected to be in the thousands of dollars - far less expensive than the cost of kinetic energy defense systems.
There are a number of issues involved in use of the THELs. Among them the angle of attack and distance of launch for the incoming ....
Israeli forces yesterday evacuated an old army base in the northern West Bank used last as a staging area for removing settlers and protesters from two settlements last month, but soldiers shot dead a young Palestinian who entered the base too quickly. Yesterday morning, Allah Khamtouni, 19, and nine other Palestinians went into the Dotan base near the Palestinian town of Jenin, mistakenly thinking it had been abandoned, Palestinian officials said. Israeli Col. Shmulik Kalmi said Khamtouni ran into the base with a group of people. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but the infiltrators did not halt, he said. Fearing the Palestinians might be planning a suicide bombing, the soldiers fired at Khamtouniâs legs, but he bent down as they fired, was hit in the shoulder and died, Kalmi said.
Late yesterday afternoon, the last troops left Dotan and Palestinians flooded in, grabbing what debris and construction materials they could, before Palestinian police opened fire on the scavengers, wounding three in the legs, witnesses said. About 60 uniformed police restored order.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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mistakenly thinking it had been abandoned
Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but the infiltrators did not halt,
spin doesn't cover all lies, MSM
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/23/2005 0:24 Comments ||
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Maybe the Paleos were deaf?
Those awful Israeli hearists, ruthlessly imposing their tympanic membrane-centric paradigm...
...Don't put an innocuous swirl on top of an ice cream container or we'll scream jihad - but name your KID after God, and it's all good? Man, these folks are hard to figure out.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/23/2005 7:07 Comments ||
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Yesterday an Israeli court convicted Abbas Sayad, the commander of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, of masterminding a March 2002 suicide bombing that killed 29 people at a Passover holiday meal at the Park Hotel in the Israeli resort city of Netanya.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A veteran leader of Thailand's insurgency has issued a warning: militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the fight for a separate homeland if the Thai government continues a crackdown that's provoking a new generation of Muslim fighters. In his first interview with a news organization, Lukman B. Lima told The Associated Press that violence could spread from Thailand's southern provinces to the capital unless the government accepts an offer to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Although he suggested peace talks, Lukman lashed out at the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, likening the prime minister to Stalin and Hitler. "If the government opts to kill and kill without reason, perhaps fighters from Indonesia and Arab countries will help us because, according to Islam, real Muslims cannot just stand by when their brother Muslims are being slain," he said.
The 21-month-old insurgency - in which more than 1,000 Muslims and Buddhists have been killed - is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathizers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, according to Lukman.
We never had any doubt
But weapons have been obtained locally and wielded by Thai Muslims, he said. "I assure you that many among the young generation are being trained to use the weapons to defend themselves. We train them in the mountains, jungles and sometimes in villages but only inside Thailand," Lukman said. Malaysia denies Thai suspicions that rebel training camps exist on its soil. However, it has long served as a sanctuary for Thai Muslim dissidents and a source of funds from sympathetic Muslims.
Lukman is vice president and acting head of the Pattani United Liberation Organization, or PULO, one of several groups involved in the century-old struggle to gain independence for the predominantly Muslim far south of Thailand, a Buddhist country. The PULO works "hand-in-hand" with groups involved in the fighting, Lukman said, with his organization focused on the political arena although it also has fighters on the ground. It's unknown, however, to what extent his comments reflect the views of the shadowy insurgent groups or how much influence he and PULO exert over rebel military operations.
Lukman offered negotiations with the Thai government on condition that it removes all the more than 20,000 troops from the south; revokes tough emergency measures aimed at the insurgency - thought to be about 2,000 fighters strong; stops killing innocent people; and frees the PULO's imprisoned president and military chief.
"..and a pony!"
Thai Defense Minister Thammarak Isarangura na Ayutthaya said informal talks with the insurgents were possible - but not formal negotiations. "We don't want to elevate their status," he told the AP in Bangkok this week.
Prime Minister Thaksin recently set up a reconciliation council - comprising military officers, academics, Muslim community leaders, and other concerned parties - to explore peaceful solutions to the conflict. But he's been criticized at home and abroad for trying to resolve the problem with military force. In two separate incidents last year, nearly 200 Muslims died when security forces gunned down militants, protesters and bystanders and put some into army trucks, where they suffocated.
Lukman blamed Thaksin for the surge in violence, saying previous governments were more flexible in dealing with Muslim aspirations. A one-time police officer, Thaksin recently replaced martial law in the south with an emergency act which critics describe as a "license to kill" because of the powers and immunity it affords security officials.
"The wrongful policy of Prime Minister Thaksin instilled fear and forced people to fight back," Lukman said. Asked why some Muslims were also being targeted by insurgents, he called them government spies and collaborators who had to be eliminated. "I would like to send Thaksin this message: don't touch our pondok (religious schools), don't touch our religious teachers or otherwise the bloody days will continue, and I cannot stop this young generation from turning their aggression against other parts of Thailand, like Bangkok," he said.
"Don't blame me, I can't control them. You know how kids are."
Lukman spoke Monday on condition that the interview not be released until he left Indonesia on Friday. An exile in Sweden, Lukman didn't say why he wanted the delay. He's not a wanted man in Indonesia or Thailand, although as an avowed separatist he could become a government target.
Seems like a lot of islamic "exiles" have found a home in the Nordic countries
Wearing a bluish-gray robe, the soft-spoken and professorial-looking 54-year-old was interviewed in English for an hour at a luxury Jakarta hotel.
Only the best for holy men.
"I've never been on the battlefield. Killing people is not my objective. I prefer to fight for my right to return back to my country, which is occupied by Thailand, through the diplomatic way and dialogue," he said, adding that he had been an activist for 34 years.
"Fighting is dangerous. That's a job for cannon fodder, not us holy men"
A native of Pattani province, Lukman said he went abroad to finish high school in Pakistan. He then studied medicine in Cairo, attended military schools in Arab countries and Poland, and continued his studies in Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Lukman said he had approached the Foreign Ministry in Norway to act as a mediator in any peace talks. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Anne Lene Sandsten told the AP, "We are not involved in that." When pressed about whether Norway had even been approached, she refused to comment further, saying, "That is all I have."
"I can say no more"
Lukman also called on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to play a more active role in a peace process. Thailand, he said, should learn from Indonesia's resolution of conflict in East Timor and a separatist rebellion in its province of Aceh, where rebels recently signed a peace agreement with the government.
In offering peace talks, Lukman said he was speaking on behalf of all the insurgent groups, but this was not possible to confirm. Some analysts speculate that radicals among the separatists have no interest in a dialogue with Bangkok. Thaksin, meantime, has said he would not give up one inch of Thai soil.
Lukman estimated negotiations could take five years, saying the provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and parts of Songkhla could become an independent Islamic republic by 2010 - more than a century after Thailand annexed what was once the autonomous sultanate of Pattani.
That kind of fits with Binny's old timeline, doesn't it?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 14:22 ||
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I'd check the Saudi Sex Tour operators. Bring twisted wahabis to Pattaya, get evidence of them with little girls, or even better, little boys.
Tell them we either you join us in jihad as a suicide bomber, or the folks back home get this nasty evicence.
#2
Here is a good article from May 2004 on the Arab radicalization of Thai muslims: Waking Up to the Terror Threat in Southern Thailand
With more than a dozen Arab teachers from across the Middle East and a seemingly endless flow of funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, the college has become the most obvious manifestation of a non-violent Arab threat to the traditionally moderate and tolerant Islamic traditions of southern Thailand (and the wider South-east Asian region).
...
When you enter the college's reception, you feel like you have suddenly been transported to the Gulf. The 1,500 students there dress in Arab-style clothes and are taught a strict interpretation of syariah law in the Arabic language.
The receptionist introduces himself, in perfect classical Arabic, as a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The president, Dr Ismail Lutfi, is himself a graduate of a hardline Wahhabi institution, Riyadh's Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University.
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2005 15:36 Comments ||
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Yep, there's nothing like a crackdown on violent jihadis to make them mad. And you don't want to make them mad, because they might get violent. No. Wait. More violent. Yeah. That's the ticket.
In fact, if you utterly crush their little effort, they'll become so mad that they'll do something that will be really, really violent. Or something.
#4
Why isn't Thailand doing a major kickass. Appeasement never, ever works with islam. That theory has been proven by 1400 years of jihad.
Posted by: John Sobieski ||
09/23/2005 19:45 Comments ||
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#5
start the executions with the foreign holy men and see how eager they are for Jihad
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/23/2005 20:15 Comments ||
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The PULO works "hand-in-hand" with groups involved in the fighting, Lukman said, with his organization focused on the political arena although it also has fighters on the ground.
PULO or PLO? What's the difference?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/23/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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John Sobieski.. ahm, you may want to change the nick, else people may confuse us. Why you and not me? I have a sort of priority here by some 9 months or so. ;-)
The Philippine military will soon end its three-month-old hunt for the country's most wanted Islamic militant in part of the southern island of Mindanao, a senior defence official said on Thursday.
The failure to capture Khaddafy Janjalani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, appears to be a setback for the United States, which has poured millions of dollars into training and equipping Philippine troops to fight Islamic militants.
The defence official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that Philippine troops would give up their search in Maguindanao province by the end of September following complaints from local Muslim communities.
"We're not giving up our efforts to hunt down Janjalani," the defence official told Reuters.
"But there is a more urgent need to avoid the undue and prolonged displacement of local communities in affected areas."
He said the military would rely on a commitment by the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to help isolate and capture radical militants in the areas it controls, which include swathes of Maguindanao.
"It's about time the army operations stopped," said Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, which last week resumed informal peace talks with the government.
"They only asked us for a 72-hour window to run after the Abu Sayyaf but it had gone too long. There must be an end because our people are suffering."
Army commanders have said several times that they were close to capturing Janjalani, who is believed to be leading the group back to its Islamic militant roots after it gained notoriety for a series of kidnappings-for-ransom in recent years.
The group claimed responsibility for the country's worst terror attack in February 2004 when a bomb crippled a ferry near Manila, killing more than 100 people, and for coordinated bombings in Manila and Mindanao in February that killed 10.
Security officials blamed the Abu Sayyaf for bomb attacks last month in and near Zamboanga City in Mindanao, saying the group may have been trying to relieve military pressure.
A U.S. embassy spokesman said he was unaware of any change in Philippine army operations in Mindanao.
"I have not heard any announcement on this action," said press attache Matthew Lussenhop.
"They may be ending one part of any operation, but our role here is to train, advise and assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in order to develop counter-terrorism capability."
Security analysts say the United States is keen to capture Janjalani to show some return on the assistance it has given the cash-strapped Philippine army in Mindanao, where a small number of U.S. troops are based.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:44 ||
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An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced the last of six Muslim militants accused in the 2004 suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy to 10 years in prison for helping the alleged masterminds carry out the attack. The verdict against Syaiful Bahri was met with shouts of "God is great!" by about a dozen of his supporters in the South Jakarta District Court. The 36-year-old unemployed man said he would appeal.
Judge Sucahyo Padmo said Bahri was guilty of "providing assistance" to fugitive Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top by buying the chemicals used to make the bomb and finding the fugitives a rented room before the attack. Police have accused Azahari and Noordin of masterminding the Sept. 9, 2004 attack, which killed 10 people and wounded about 200. Police and prosecutors have said the perpetrators carried out the blast to punish Australia for its involvement in the Iraq war. All of the dead were Indonesians, most of them Muslims, walking past the mission when the bomb exploded.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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Suspected Taliban gunmen killed seven Afghan musicians travelling home from a wedding, among them a well-known singer, police said on Friday. âAll seven have perished,â said Jozjan police official Ibrahim Sharwal. Ethnic Turkmen singer Quarab Nazar was among the dead, he said. The attackers sprayed the musiciansâ vehicle with bullets on Wednesday as they travelled home from a wedding the previous night. Sharwal ruled out robbery as a motive. âItâs the work of the Taliban, none of their equipment or money was taken,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 22:57 ||
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HARGEISA, Somalia - Authorities in Somaliaâs breakaway region of Somaliland said on Friday they had arrested a senior Al Qaeda operative allegedly in the region to organize attacks on local leaders and foreigners. Somaliland Interior Minister Ishmael Aden said police arrested âan internationally knownâ Afghan-trained leader of Osama bin Ladenâs network along with two other Al Qaeda members after an overnight shootout in the capital Hargeisa.
Let the guessing game begin!
âWe have captured two members of Al Qaeda and about four others fled the area,â he told AFP. âTheir leader, who was among those we arrested, is an internationally known fighter for Al Qaeda who has been in Pakistan and Afghanistan.â
Yeah, that narrows it down. Thanks
Aden later said that a massive manhunt by security forces had netted a third man about 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Hargeisa, and that he is suspected in the killing of an Italian aid worker in 2003 in Somaliland.
Officials declined to name any of the suspects for security reasons but Aden said he planned to call a news conference on Saturday to announce details of the operation, including the identities of those arrested.
We'll be waiting
Aden said three police officers were wounded in the firefight that erupted when they raided the groupâs hideout in central Hargeisa and that authorities had recovered a large cache of weapons and communications equipment during the raid.âWe captured heavy anti-tank weapons, rifles, other assorted ammunition and high frequency communication equipment,â he said.
Sounds like a good bust.
A senior Somaliland police officer said the members of the alleged Al Qaeda cell had put up fierce resistance when confronted by authorities in the raid that began around midnight (0300 GMT Friday) and lasted for four hours. âThey are dangerous and well-trained, considering the way they fought back,â the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. âThey were about six against a large number of policemen.â
Aden said authorities believed the cell had traveled to Somaliland from Mogadishu several days ago to mount attacks on local leaders and foreign aid workers to disrupt the regionâs September 29 elections.
âThey came to harm or kill the leaders of Somaliland, international expatriates working here and to disrupt the democratic elections in Somaliland,â he said, adding that the raid was launched after a tip-off from local residents. âWe also recovered a video in which the leader of the group complains that Sonaliland has become a haven for foreigners,â Aden said.
In addition, he said the cell aimed to break into a prison and free 10 inmates now standing trial for alleged involvement in the 2003 murders of an Italian aid worker and a British husband-and-wife team of schoolteachers in Somaliland. âWe suspect they wanted to free the men who are in prison on suspicion of killing the aid workers,â Aden said, adding that the third alleged Al Qaeda detainee would be tried for the murder of the Italian. Police said they had stepped up security around the Hargeisa prison to thwart any breakout attempt.
âThe threat of jihadi terrorism in and from Somalia is real,â the International Crisis Group said in a report that described the group as âa new, ruthless and independent network with links to Al Qaeda.â
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 10:59 ||
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That aid worker Annalena Tonelli, age 60, was an internatinally recognized figure and was running hospitals. Way to go islamists shits. Ever wonder how many hundreds of muslims subsequently died due to lack of care?
Posted by: ed ||
09/23/2005 11:58 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistanâs controversial madrassas agreed on Friday to register with the government by the end of the year after coming under pressure following the July 7 London bombings, an official said. President Pervez Musharraf invited the seminaries for talks earlier this week about his recent order that the countryâs estimated 14,000 Islamic schools register by the end of the year or face closure.
Hardliners had opposed the measures but changed their mind during a meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and a delegation from the Federation of Madrassas Organisation, a senior government official told AFP. Aziz said the decision to register was good for Pakistan and for the seminaries themselves, adding that it would help bring the controversial schools into the educational mainstream. âTheir teachings are not related to violence or any activity prejudicial to the security of the state. They are against suicide attacks and any such activity which brings into bad light our faith,â Aziz said.
Pakistanâs madrassas have been accused of being breeding grounds for extremism and came under the spotlight after it emerged that at least two of the London bombers may have visited a madrassa in Pakistan before the attacks. Musharraf announced a crackdown in which hundreds of people were rounded up, including clerics and suspected militants, while madrassas were told to expel all foreign students and register by December 31 or be shut down.
But cleric Mufti Muneebur Rehman, speaking on behalf of the madrassa federation, said Friday that the matter had now been settled âamicablyâ.
âThis is not a success or defeat of anyone, but is the success of Pakistan, of the religion of Islam and a step forward to settle the issues amicably without any confrontation,â Rehman was quoted as saying by state media.
Musharraf has said that even though most of the religious schools provided shelter and education to children from rural areas, some were fanning âhatred and militancy.â
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 10:51 ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Ten insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed in an operation to arrest a top Taleban commander in southern Afghanistan, a governor and the US military said on Friday. Coalition and Afghan troops came under attack by up to 20 âenemy firing small arms, heavy machine guns, mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades,â the US military said in a statement. âCoalition and US close air support and US attack helicopters arrived at the scene, blasting enemy positions killing 10 enemy combatants,â it said.
Blasting is good. Killing is better
Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed Khan told AFP the operation was launched after a tip-off that the man considered a military chief of the Taleban, Dadullah, was hiding out in the provinceâs Charchino district.
That would be Mullah Dadullah, only question is which one.
âWe had reports that Dadullah was hiding in the area and we launched an operation but we faced Taleban resistance and the fighting broke out,â he said. âThere might have been over 10 Taleban killed but we have at least four bodies with us,â he said.
When they actually fight, as opposed to making faces and then running away, I think that means there's a head cheese in the vicinity to egg them on.
A purported spokesman for the Taleban said six of the groupâs fighters were killed. Abdul Latif Hakimi also claimed that eight US and 10 Afghan soldiers were killed but the US and Afghan armies said only one Afghan had died.
"Yep, yep. Killed 'em all! They're all dead now!"
They would not confirm the nationality of the coalition soldier wounded in the clash. Australiaâs defence department said earlier Friday that an Australian special forces soldier was wounded in an operation in Afghanistan in which an Afghan soldier was killed. In a statement released in Australia, the department did not say when or where the clash took place but said the soldier was already back on duty.
"Nope. Nope. He ain't back on duty! He's dead! Look at him! See those bags under his eyes? That means he's dead!"
"But he's walking around!"
"Sometimes it takes awhile for 'em to stop twitchin'!"
"He's... ummm... doing handstands."
"They always do that just before they stop twitchin'!"
"One handed handstands. And he's thumbing his nose at you."
"Dead. Dead, I tell yez."
A top US general has warned that the Talebanâs failure to derail the election did not mean the fundamentalist Islamist fighters were a spent force. âIâm not ready to sign up to the fact that Taleban are crumbling,â General Jason Kamiya, second in command of the 20,000 strong US-led coalition, told reporters. âThere still will be an enemy insurgency next spring (around March next year),â he said.
Right after the Brutal Afghan Winterâ¢...
Posted by: Steve ||
09/23/2005 10:44 ||
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Keep attriting them. Taliban should have been extinct long before the dodo bird.
Nigeria is a little-recognized front in the GWOT. Aggressive Islamacists have been attacking Christians through laws and physically for several years now. Once again, oil becomes a weapon against the west and Nigeria's own people.
Militant Group Threatens to Destroy Oil Industry
ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 23 -- The disruptions in Nigeria's oil production caused by militant separatists escalated Friday as Chevron announced it had shut down a second flow station and Royal Dutch Shell evacuated personnel from two others.
The developments came as the militant group, the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, issued a statement threatening to destroy the nation's oil industry--the fifth largest oil exporter to the United States--unless Nigerian authorities freed the group's leader, Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, 40. He was arrested Tuesday on allegations of treason, a capital offense, for calling for the dissolution of Nigeria in a newspaper interview.
"We will kill every iota of oil operations in the Niger Delta," said a statement e-mailed to news organizations on Thursday by a group calling itself the Supreme Council of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force. "We will destroy anything and everything. We will challenge our enemies in our territory and we shall feed them to the vultures."
The group's leaders have over the past two days claimed to have taken control of 10 flow stations armed with nothing more than machetes and sticks of dynamite. There are many dozens of flow stations, which direct oil from wells into major pipelines and onward to tankers for export, in the Niger Delta, the impoverished southern region that is home to the nation's oil industry.
Nigerian authorities and oil industry officials have portrayed a far-more limited picture of the ongoing disruptions. Edith Azinge, a spokeswoman for U.S.-based Chevron, reported that youths confronted officials at one flow station on Thursday, prompting the company to shut it down. A second flow station, she said, was shut down late Thursday because of reports that it would be targeted next.
There were no injuries and the youths are not currently occupying either facility, Azinge said. Together, the two flow stations produced 27,000 barrels of oil each day. Overall, Nigerian oil wells produce 2.4 million barrels of oil per day.
"It's not too much of a problem," said Azinge by phone from Lagos. She said there was no schedule for resuming operations at the two stations.
Royal Dutch Shell, which produces nearly half of Nigeria's oil exports, announced Friday it was evacuating non-essential staff from two flow stations, but automated operations were continuing without any immediate interruption in production.
Violence and brinkmanship have long surrounded Nigeria's oil industry, which produces billions of dollars for the national government and foreign investors each year while providing little, say residents of the Niger Delta, for the community itself. Lucrative wells and flow stations dot the sprawling delta, pumping oil from beneath villages that lack even the basics of clean water or a functioning, modern economy.
Dokubo-Asari has long advocated secession of the Niger Delta, and it is not clear why a quote in a newspaper interview prompted his arrest Tuesday. He was quoted in the article as saying, "Nigeria is an evil entity. It has nothing to stand on, and I will continue to fight and try to see that Nigeria dissolves and disintegrates."
#1
True, this is a "little-recognized front." I recall hearing of celebration demonstrations there after 9-11.
But the conflict in the delta isn't Muslims vs X (for a change), but a more ordinary "where's mine?" The corrupt government didn't distribute oil largesse around very far, it seems.
Posted by: James ||
09/23/2005 18:40 Comments ||
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Three masked assailants armed with AK47 assault riffles and a handgun stormed a coffee shop and sprayed hail of bullets last night, killing four men and wounding many. Witnesses said the assailants who were masked and hid their faces left the scene by foot.
Unconfirmed reports say the slaying may be related to earlier killings. This kind of surprise attack is normal throughout southern Somalia, especially the capital. Hundreds of years old unwritten Somali law states if you commit a murder, someone from your tribe not necessarily in the same city will pay the price.
Mogadishu residents are at the mercy of armed thugs who were never taught of the value of human lives, many of whom loyal to about a dozen warlords.
Responsibility for safeguarding the public lies with Mogadishu warlords and Islamic courts who claim to control the city.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:45 ||
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Here we call those old unwritten laws Gangbanging. The results are the same and the perps are about the same demographic.
This is my mission in a collage. Upper left-hand corner you have the terrorists -- the hyena, the jackal waiting to prey on the herd, on the innocent. The only way they can protect themselves is as a herd, regionally. How are we helping them? We're helping them through mil to mil, through our CA CMO projects. And who are we doing it for? We're doing it for the youth. We're doing it for the next generation. The region stands to protect -- basically to form the regional partnership that's going to deter the terroristic spread.
That's my CJOA, the coalition joint op area. It's approximately two-thirds the size of the United States; about 500 percent the size of Afghanistan and Iraq combined. One hundred and twenty-three million people live there. If you can imagine having a business with the headquarters in Buffalo; you have a branch in Cincinnati, Ohio; and you have a branch in Jacksonville, Florida. You have no real infrastructure, no means of communication other than that which is jerry rigged. And I would like to conduct business and increase the profitability of your business. That's basically what we're faced with.
The flags on the left and the right are those that are within the op area. We call it the AOR, area of responsibility, and AOI, area of interest. You have Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Yemen. Those are the countries -- well, let me go back here. We don't work in Somalia. But those are the countries that I'm responsible for.
Those, however, are the way the Africans divide themselves up, so you can see there's a slight bit of a mix here. If you look up in Eritrea and Ethiopia, where you see the Tigre, just so happens that there are some issues up in that area. And it's over a town up along the Ethiopian-Eritrean border, which happens to be in the Tigrean area. Both Prime Minister Meles and President Isaias are Tigrean, so neither are willing to really take too serious of a look at trying to solve that issue at this particular time.
You have the Oromia, down in the lower left-hand corner of Ethiopia. The tribes all have to be addressed. Each one of my young soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that go out have to be aware of the tribal area within which they're working.
Now we get into the religious. So now you're having the tribe and the religious. You have a rather unique area up in Yemen, up in the highlands. Over 200,000 Jews lived there since Christ walked the face of the earth, and they've got along quite well in the Muslim nation.
And then, of course, you have the threat. Those are the challenges. You have your sovereign boundaries, you have your tribal, you have your religious, and then, of course, you have your terrorist threat. Coming from Yemen you have the al Qaeda. Down into Somalia you have the al Qaeda network and associated movements. Then you have AIAI. And I blow this constantly -- it's al-Ittihad al-Islami; and then put an "O" at the end of it for Ogaden, and now you have the AIAI, AIAIO. And within the Ogaden, you also have the ONLF, which is Ogaden National Liberation Front. A little bit to the left there you have Oramean, which is the OLF, the Oramean Liberation Front. Up into Darfur you have the Jinjaweit; you have the Lord's Resistance Army, and of course you have the unrest along the Eritrean-Ethiopian border. You also have the seam that exists, which is the 12-mile limit. If you were to stand at high tide and let the water lap up at your ankles and then face about, I own all of that; what's behind me, I don't own. You're not allowed within 12 nautical miles of land; therefore, there's that gap that exists. That's -- the lower right-hand corner is the embassy, 1998.
I want to make it really clear I'm not a direct action unit. I don't saddle up and go out and hunt down the enemy. That's not to say I don't have the inherent right of self-defense. My people go out, they have force protection. This time around, my force protection is provided by Bravo Company, 1st of the 294th, the National Guard out of Guam. Absolutely spectacular soldiers. They go out, they protect my Civil Affairs teams and Civil Military Operations operations. We don't seek to engage the enemy, but we do seek out those in need. The way we go about seeking out those in need, I send out CA assessment teams, Civil Affairs assessment teams, and they go out throughout the villages, they go out into the towns, they meet with the leadership of the villages, the Imam, the village elders, the mayor, ask them what they believe that that village could use to enhance that stability, to make life easier for the people. People want the same thing there as we want here. If you're a father or a mother, you want to be able to provide for your children. They're no different. If their child is hurting, they want to do something about it. We're trying to provide that.
So they go out, they collect these projects, they take them to the embassy. I'm one of the tools that the embassy can employ. I try to solve the -- I try to address, I should say, the mission performance parameters, the MPPs, that each of the embassies have got. I do that through my civil affairs. Once the embassy has agreed to what my CA assessment teams have come up with, they bring it back to the CJTF headquarters. Each of those projects are vetted, racked and stacked, prioritized, and then they're addressed with resources.
Our primary maneuver elements? Doctors, veterinarians, well drillers, civil engineers. And it's so important that you understand about my -- the folks that go out and what they can accomplish. Where can seven soldiers who work for five months to drill a well affect 1,500 people for the next 10 years? I had -- there's a small town out in -- Yoboki, in Djibouti. The well is 640 feet deep, drilled through volcanic rock. Took us five months to drill it. Those young soldiers pumped water on the Army's 230th birthday. They said it was coincidence; I don't believe it. I think they did that just to prove a point. But they pumped water. It comes out at 105 degrees. The nomads out there, the Bedouins, have never had a well out there. Now, for the next at least 10 years, they're going to have a water source. Quite a significant impact.
I also conduct mil-to-mil training. I have forces that go forward and conduct border security. They conduct counterterrorism training. And they conduct your basic military training: taking a group of individuals, forming a squad, moving them along to fire maneuver, disciplined fire, and mutual support.
Q Let me give a hypothetical. If you get intelligence that some al Qaeda cell is operating in your AOR, and you know about it --
GEN. GHORMLEY: I'd bounce it right straight up to CENTCOM.
Q Uh-huh.
GEN. GHORMLEY: And then I await guidance.
Q Because -- can you talk about al Qaeda presence there and kind of what about -- talk about the terrorist threat that you see in the Horn of Africa?
GEN. GHORMLEY: I see the terrorist threat coming south. At some point those -- we're winning up north. We're winning in Afghanistan, we're winning in Iraq. They're going to have to go someplace. We see the possibility of even coming -- of them coming south. And that's why it's so important for us to get out, get our message across to the people that there is an alternative, and that we are there for them, and that we can, in fact, protect them. Remember, I said I don't go seek them out, but I certainly have the right, the inherent right of self-defense. Does that answer your question?
Q Yeah. Just the last thing. I'm sure you're aware a lot of the suicide bombers that you're seeing in Iraq, some are from Yemen, some are from Sudan. Are you hearing about recruiting in your area for that kind of activity?
GEN. GHORMLEY: I'm seeing -- I've heard nothing of -- I don't know what's going on in Somalia. We're not in Somalia. I have no charter to go in there. So what's happening down there, I don't know. I know that there's a great amount of concern about it, especially with the -- coming from Yemen south into Somalia.
I know of no recruiting. I have heard of the transnationals coming up through Sudan and then on into Saudi Arabia and across.
Q Follow-up on that, sir?
GEN. GHORMLEY: Sir.
Q The prime minister of Ethiopia has said that there's an al Qaeda cell in Mogadishu. Can you confirm that, or at least confirm the suspicion? Are you or CENTCOM doing anything about that?
GEN. GHORMLEY: I -- no. We are -- we are not going into Somalia. We are not in Mogadishu. Yes, I know that the prime minister has said that there is an al Qaeda cell in Mogadishu. I think on my slide I showed you that there is al Qaeda in Mogadishu. I have no direct information, I have no direct intelligence source telling me in CJTF-HOA that that is going on. Okay? That doesn't mean -- that doesn't mean there isn't an intel source out there.
Q Bret's other question about terrorism moving into your area -- are you concerned about increasing fundamentalism in the schools, in the madrassas in any particular areas that -- and is there anything that you can do about increased fundamentalism at that level?
GEN. GHORMLEY: I have no true fundamentalistic madrassas in the area that I know of. I know that, from the reports that I get, that mosques are springing up rather rapidly in Mogadishu. But I don't know about the number of madrassas that that would involve or would include.
Q But not in your -- in the areas where you do operate?
GEN. GHORMLEY: No. I don't know of any severe radicalism in the areas that I operate.
Q General?
GEN. GHORMLEY: Yes, sir?
Q What would it take to get you engaged in Somalia?
GEN. GHORMLEY: Permission from DOS.
Q And -- it sounds like you ought to be there.
GEN. GHORMLEY: Yes, sir.
Q Well, is that in the works? Are you pushing them for it?
GEN. GHORMLEY: I know that there's quite a bit of interest on it, on what's going on in Somalia. But, no, sir, I am not pushing to get into Somalia.
Q Because it's technically a failed state --
GEN. GHORMLEY: Absolutely.
Q Okay.
GEN. GHORMLEY: Absolutely.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:27 ||
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the terrorists ... the jackal waiting to prey on the herd
Security forces arrested 10 suspected militants during a search operation west of North Waziristanâs regional headquarters on Thursday, said a military spokesman.
Hundreds of soldiers, backed by helicopters, surrounded a village in Dattakhel area after intelligence reports pointed out a possible hideout for militants. The operation started late Wednesday evening and ended at 1pm on Thursday with the arrest of 10 suspects whom military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan described as âlocals and some Afghansâ.
Sources told Daily Times that the areas of Madakhel, Khadarkhel and Mayzar, 25 kilometres west of Miranshah, were searched. A tribal elder in Miranshah said the suspects did not resist the operation. The latest search operation came a week after military said it had busted the biggest Al-Qaeda base near Miranshah.
âTroops in around 100 vehicles cordoned off the areas to hunt for militants after a series of rocket attacks,â they said. Gen Sultan said the troops also seized weapons and ammunition during the operation. Quoting an official source, AFP reported that a soldier was injured when the convoy came under fire from unknown gunmen.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/23/2005 00:24 ||
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KATHMANDU - Suspected Maoist rebels have abducted 60 students from a secondary school in northwest Nepal, police said on Thursday.
Villagers need more defense training.
The students were abducted Wednesday from Saraswati Secondary School in Dolpa district, 475 kilometres (270 miles) northwest of Kathmandu, and forcibly marched to an undisclosed location for indoctrination, police said. âThe Maoists selected 60 sturdy looking boys and girls of grades six to 10 and abducted them,â police said after a teacher at the school reached the district headquarters Dunai on Thursday.
The rebels regularly abduct students for indoctrination sessions and normally release them several days later.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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"They are Imperialist Running Puppies! We must train them early!"
Two bicycle bombs exploded minutes apart in Pakistanâs eastern city of Lahore yesterday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 30, police and security officials said. Security was tightened across Lahore and investigators said they were probing various leads, including links to Islamic hard-liners angered by President Pervez Musharrafâs recent crackdown on extremist groups. âThose involved in these terrorist activities are enemies of humanity,â Punjab province Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi told private GEO television. Lahore is the capital of Punjab.
Thank you for that statement of the obvious...
The first bomb went off near the historic Minar-e-Pakistan monument in a crowded area of the city, killing a street vendor and wounding 13, Lahore police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar told AFP. âThe two blasts look quite similar to each other, and we fear that there may be more blasts,â Senior Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmad said. âThese blasts could be a possible outcome of the governmentâs recent steps toward creating good relations with Israel,â Aamir Zulfiqar, another senior superintendent of police, told reporters.
Minutes later a second device detonated near a cigarette kiosk in Icchra, Lahoreâs busiest shopping district, triggering an explosion in a nearby fireworks shop, police said. âFour people were burned to death instantly and up to 20 people were injured,â said Icchraâs local head of police, Waqar Ahmed. Another injured person died on his way to hospital.
Both bombs were locally made and planted on bicycles, provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat told AFP. The first bomb was a low intensity device while the second was packed with iron nails and ball bearings, he added. âIt appears to be an act of terrorism and the two explosions appeared to be interlinked. We have heightened security in Lahore and elsewhere in Punjab,â Basharat said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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Law enforcing agencies have pressed the leadership of the Herkatul Mujahideen cover-named Jamiatul Ansar to disclose the whereabouts of its former commander Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, Daily Times has learnt. Sources said the law enforcers were in touch with Farooq Kashmiri, a prominent figure at the Jamiatul Ansar, seeking the information about Khalil who went underground three months back. They said the agencies might re-arrest Khalil to investigate about his alleged links with the Taliban leadership.
Farooq Kashmiri, who had been working with Khalil since the organisation set forth, had told the law enforcers that he was not aware of where Khalil was.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't seen him."
The sources said Khalil had also contacted Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, seeking his help to make a deal with the agencies. âKhalil approached the opposition leader following his name was echoed during the investigation of Humid Heat and Umber Heat who were arrested in the US. Both of them were allegedly trained as militants at a camp run by Khalil in Rawalpindi,â the sources said.
"Humid Heat," I guess would be Hamid Hayat, and "Umber Heat" would be Umer Hayat. At first I thought they were code names or something...
The US was pressurising Pakistan to enhance the scope of investigation into the terror acts, they said, and Khalil wanted the opposition leader to broker a deal with the government. They said Khalil had sent a message to Maulana Fazlur Rehman that he was in crises and needed his help, urging him to mediate with the government. They said that Maulana had also talked with the agencies on the matter and defended Khalil, saying that he was not involved in any terrorist activities in or outside the country.
Oh, has he retired from al-Qaeda? Can we see his gold watch as proof?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/23/2005 00:00 ||
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Al-Q gives you a choice upon retirement: a boomer vest or your own head in a box with a nice bow...
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.
A small explosion outside a cafe in the Belarussian city of Vitebsk has wounded at least 40 people â the second such attack in two weeks. Some sources put the number of injured at 50, the NTV television channel reported. The device, packed into a beer can and containing metal fragments, was buried in a flower bed in the city centre, police told a Russian news agency. Some of the injured in Thursday nightâs blast were rushed to local hospitals. Four of them are in a grave condition, doctors told NTV. An investigation has been launched. A similar device buried in a flower bed near a bus stop went off last Thursday, injuring two people.
PARIS - Six men detained on Monday in northern Paris suburbs on suspicion of recruiting fighters for the anti-US insurgency in Iraq have been released without charge, French officials said on Friday. The men, aged between 20 and 25, were set free overnight after four days of questioning at the headquarters of Franceâs domestic intelligence agency, the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DST). Ninety-six hours is the maximum that terrorism suspects can be held in France before being taken before a judge. 
A Jewish extremist who plotted to blow up a Los Angeles mosque and the office of a US congressman of Lebanese descent has been sentenced to 20 years in jail. Earl Krugel was arrested in 2001 with another leader of a group called the Jewish Defence League, Irv Rubin, who died in jail in an apparent suicide. Krugel, 62, admitted the charges. The sentence was the heaviest he could receive under his plea bargain. He apologised to the court for causing "sadness, pain and sorrow". The plot was discovered before any blasts took place. US District judge Ronald Lew said Krugel's crimes were "promoting hatred in the most vile way". 
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - One of five men from the same suburban mosque arrested earlier this year was indicted Thursday on federal charges alleging he intended ``to wage jihad in the United States.''
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb damaged an oil pipeline near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, sending plumes of black smoke and fire up into the air, officials said on Thursday. The bomb, which exploded late Wednesday, was placed beneath the aboveground pipeline, which connects the Bay Hassan oil fields with Kirkuk in northern Iraq, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir.
A roadside bomb hit a US convoy in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding six, and suspected insurgents gunned down at least eight Iraqis in four separate attacks yesterday, officials said. In New York, Iraqâs foreign minister said insurgents were likely to step up attempts to disrupt next monthâs referendum on the countryâs new constitution, and that the next three months are critical for the countryâs future. âNowhere are the goals of freedom, democracy and progress more at stake,â Hoshyar Zebari told UN Security Council members at an open meeting Wednesday. âWe know our clear way forward, but we need your help. We need the help of every member nation and this organization to win this fight. We stick together, or we lose together.â
An explosion at a militant Hamas rally killed at least 10 Palestinians, including children and gunmen, 
HARGEISA, Somalia - Authorities in Somaliaâs breakaway region of Somaliland said on Friday they had arrested a senior Al Qaeda operative allegedly in the region to organize attacks on local leaders and foreigners. Somaliland Interior Minister Ishmael Aden said police arrested âan internationally knownâ Afghan-trained leader of Osama bin Ladenâs network along with two other Al Qaeda members after an overnight shootout in the capital Hargeisa. 
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Ten insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed in an operation to arrest a top Taleban commander in southern Afghanistan, a governor and the US military said on Friday. Coalition and Afghan troops came under attack by up to 20 âenemy firing small arms, heavy machine guns, mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades,â the US military said in a statement. âCoalition and US close air support and US attack helicopters arrived at the scene, blasting enemy positions killing 10 enemy combatants,â it said. 
Three masked assailants armed with AK47 assault riffles and a handgun stormed a coffee shop and sprayed hail of bullets last night, killing four men and wounding many. Witnesses said the assailants who were masked and hid their faces left the scene by foot.
KATHMANDU - Suspected Maoist rebels have abducted 60 students from a secondary school in northwest Nepal, police said on Thursday.
Law enforcing agencies have pressed the leadership of the Herkatul Mujahideen cover-named Jamiatul Ansar to disclose the whereabouts of its former commander Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, Daily Times has learnt. Sources said the law enforcers were in touch with Farooq Kashmiri, a prominent figure at the Jamiatul Ansar, seeking the information about Khalil who went underground three months back. They said the agencies might re-arrest Khalil to investigate about his alleged links with the Taliban leadership. 
