Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered an amnesty for all jailed supporters of a slain Shia rebel cleric who waged an insurgency against the state last year. Yemeni forces have killed and arrested hundreds of loyalists of Hussein al-Huthi, who led a group that wants to install Shia clerical rule and preaches violence against the United States and Israel. Some of al-Huthi's supporters are on trial. It was not clear if they would be freed under the amnesty. "We have declared an amnesty for the supporters of Hussein al-Huthi and his father who are in jail for the strife they caused," Saleh said in a speech carried by state television. "We have pardoned them despite the blood that has been spilled."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 21:48 ||
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Saudi citizens detained at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay will soon be released and handed over to the Saudi authorities, as talks between US officials and their counterparts in the Kingdom reach the final stages, Asharq al Awsat has learned. Ahmad Mazhar, head of a team of lawyers hoping to return the detainees to Riyadh told Asharq al Awsat his country had taken large steps towards ensuring its 121 detainees are handed back. He hoped US/Saudi discussions would conclude after the last details are agreed on and indicated that the Saudi government had been in constant contact with Washington since learning Saudi men were being held at the military base in Cuba.
Meanwhile, the US government and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) discussed how to end the hunger strike started by a number of detainees, mostly from countries of the Persian Gulf , on the 8 th August, in protest at their continued incarceration without trial. Dr. Amer al Zamaly, advisor to the ICRC on Muslim affairs, told Asharq al Awsat the international organization was closely following the hunger strike and greatly concerned about their health condition. He called upon Washington to ensure the prisonersâ health did not deteriorate further and insisted the reasons behind the hunger strikes needed to be addressed. Al Zamaly also said the US government needed to understand the harsh psychological and physical conditions the detainees were suffering from which cause depression, hopelessness, a range of illnesses and epidemics.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#2
What a perfect occasion for mass public beheadings! The Saudis could show the civilized world with one (121) stroke(s) (pun intended) that they will not tolerate extremism. I'm holding my breath. How soon will we start dinging these guys in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Posted by: Old Marine ||
09/25/2005 4:53 Comments ||
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#3
They are about to learn what harsh conditions and hopelessness really mean. I love it when this kind of thing happens. If Gitmo is bad, then SA will be much worse. But no one can say this.
#4
No, phil_b. Basing on what happenned after Afghanistan they will be immediately released and they will be realeased at Medina who in Muslim tradition is the place where Muslim warriors lick their wounds before mounting newer attacks on the infidels.
This story makes it look like the entire Gitmo Saudi population will be released. Go on jihad, attempt to commit genocide, get caught, do three years in Camp Cupcake where the infidels dare not touch the Koran they provide. Go home and become the neighborhood hero. Quite the deal.
The only way these shits should be sent back to Saudi is with their heads and torsos in separate packages and a bill for services rendered.
Posted by: ed ||
09/25/2005 13:59 Comments ||
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#10
explain that, for every one of these mooks recaptured or killed by our troops, we will kill 5 princes
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2005 17:57 Comments ||
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#11
I don't recall ever reading about a Soddi execution of an islamonazi. Does anyone?
I mean I know they execute Western people for having beer and bibles and such, as well as the occasional pakiwaki or Indian, but I doubt a "Lion of Islam".
#12
You can find one item posted today by Dan Darling to page 2; some relevant quotes:
The shoot-out earlier this month around a seafront villa in the Saudi Arabian city of Ad Dammam lasted almost 48 hours, and ended only when security forces brought in light artillery. They blasted the opulent home until the roof came down on the people inside. In the immediate aftermath police said they couldn't tell from the charred remains just how many members of "a deviant group" had died in the battle. Finally, with DNA tests, they counted five.
So they basically surrounded the house and then shelled it into oblivion... now I'd like to know the criteria they use to decide when to release or when to use artillery, but at the present I don't know what it is and the situation seems quite opaque to me.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/25/2005 21:13 Comments ||
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Six Russian soldiers were killed and 11 others wounded in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported early on Saturday.
An unnamed pro-Moscow Chechen official told the media outlet that four soldiers were killed and nine wounded when their positions came under fire by Chechen rebels. He said Russian positions had come under attack 17 times since early on Friday.
One soldier died of injuries sustained when a land mine exploded late on Friday in Kharatchoi, near the southeastern town of Vedeno. Another Russian soldier died while trying to defuse a mine near Guekhitchou, southwest of Grozny. In Grozny, the capital, the body of a pro-Russian Chechen policeman was found on Saturday in Minoutka Square.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 00:59 ||
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#1
What, no beheading this time? Damn it, they're shirking their Islamic duty to execute 18-year old forcibly drafted boys!
Her neighbors are beginning to push back at an increasingly aggressive, expansive China.
China has called on Indonesia to rein in its navy after a warship attacked a fishing boat, killing a crew member. Its foreign ministry summoned an Indonesian diplomat in Beijing to express anger at the "inhumane" attack.
The Indonesian warship challenged the Chinese boat on Monday over alleged poaching in the Arafura Sea between Australia and Indonesia. The warship then opened fire, killing one and injuring two crew members, and 10 sailors were taken into custody.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing hoped Indonesia would discipline the relevant units and sort out disputes with a "sober and restrained" attitude in future. According to a Chinese foreign ministry statement, Indonesia's charge d'affaires said the detained crew members were being treated well and the matter would be handled "appropriately".
The Indonesian navy said earlier that the boat was in a group of four Chinese vessels suspected of fishing illegally. They were challenged but failed to respond to radio signals and tried to escape after which the warship fired several rounds from its 20mm gun at the largest of the four, an Indonesian navy spokesman said. "We were upholding the law and we responded in line with procedures," he told el-Shinta radio. "The nets the vessels were using were illegal," he said.
The fishing boat and its crew were taken to a naval base in Merauke, on the south-eastern coast of Indonesia's Papua province.
DEFENCE Minister Robert Hill has discussed with the newly-elected Afghani government sending a further 200 Australian troops to Afghanistan.
Australia will decide later this year whether to send a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) of up to 200 personnel to help rebuild roads, power networks, hospitals and schools destroyed by years of war.
Senator Hill discussed where such a team was most needed with Afghani president Hamid Karzai, Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, deputy Foreign Minister Zalmai Aziz and coalition military commanders during meetings in Kabul today.
"President Karzai expressed his appreciation of Australia's commitment to Afghanistan and welcomed consideration for a further contribution of a PRT," Senator Hill said in a statement.
NATO-led reconstruction efforts have been expanding into the north, west and south of the country, providing a number of options for Australia to consider.
"It was important to discuss with President Karzai and Minister Wardak the various options available to find out where an Australian PRT would be most valuable if a decision is made to deploy a team in the New Year," Senator Hill said.
Senator Hill also passed on Australia's condolences over the death of an Afghani soldier in a shooting incident which also injured an Australian soldier.
"This was one of the first major exchanges of gun fire since the task group has been deployed and resulted in an Australian soldier being injured, but fortunately they were not serious injuries," he said.
Senator Hill said it was important to meet the government following last weekend's democratic elections to talk in detail about the security situation and the direction being taken by the government.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/25/2005 06:17 ||
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Gotta love Howard and his Munchkins.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/25/2005 11:05 Comments ||
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A German businessman has been accused of smuggling material for enriching uranium to Pakistan between 2002 and 2004, according to Mondayâs edition of the weekly Focus. The weekly said the man, identified as Rainer V. had been placed under criminal investigation by prosecutors in Munich for 23 alleged cases of infringement of the law on trade in weapons of war. Based in Pullach, near Munich, he is accused of buying vacuum pumps, special ventilators and spare parts for mass spectrometers from the Pfeiffer Vacuum company of Hesse. He is alleged to have shipped the material by air from Munich or by ship from Hamburg or Bremen to contacts in Islamabad or Rawalpindi. From there the equipment is thought to have been delivered to the Kashmir laboratories of Abdul Qadeer Khan, known as the father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb, Focus said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
German being probed for N-material trade
Probed?
Geez, where do they think he's hiding it?
(Never mind - I don't want to know.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/25/2005 0:08 Comments ||
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HORMIGUEROS, Puerto Rico (AP) - A Puerto Rican nationalist wanted in a 1983 robbery of an armored truck in Connecticut was shot and killed by FBI agents in a shootout, ending the fugitive's 15 years on the run, the bureau said Saturday.
The G-men will eventually get you, and they never forget.
Filiberto Ojeda Rios, 72, fired on the agents Friday from a farmhouse in the western Puerto Rican town of Hormigueros, wounding an agent, said Luis Fraticelli, the special agent in charge of the FBI for the U.S. island territory. ``He opened the front door of his house and whipped out a rod opened fire on the agents,'' Fraticelli said at a news conference amid protests from pro-independence Puerto Ricans who accused the FBI of mishandling the arrest.
``We went to arrest him but when the gunfire started we had to defend ourselves,'' he said.
Shoot at an FBI agent, and you usually end up dead.
The agents waited until midday Saturday to enter the farmhouse because they were unsure if there were explosives inside, Fratecelli said. The agents, who had been staking out the farmhouse for four days, waited for a team trained in detecting explosives to arrive from Virginia.
Fraticelli said the FBI tried to persuade Ojeda Rios to surrender but negotiations fell apart. He said the nationalist had demanded that a reporter be present, but the FBI refused, fearing the journalist could be taken hostage.
"Send for Geraldo!"
The armored car robbery of 22 years ago is considered an act of domestic terrorism because the money was used to fund activities by the Puerto Rican nationalist Macheteros, or Cane Cutters. Only about $80,000 of the $7 million has been recovered. Ojeda Rios had been on the run since 1990 when he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet and went into hiding while awaiting trial for the robbery of $7.2 million of the Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn.
A terrorist hero in the independence movement, Ojeda Rios was convicted in absentia in 1992 on charges of robbery, conspiracy and transportation of stolen money and sentenced to 55 years in prison.
The FBI agents also arrested Ojeda Rios' wife, Elma Rosado Barbosa, who was unharmed. She was released without charge Saturday evening from a federal prison outside the capital of San Juan, said her lawyer, Julio Fontanet.
The United States seized Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for U.S. president, have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress and pay no federal taxes.
Because Puerto Rico is not a state, you idiot. It's a commonwealth.
Most Puerto Ricans are split between those who support making the island a U.S. state and those who favor keeping its status as a U.S. commonwealth. A small but vocal and looney minority supports independence.
Puerto Ricans who have argued for decades about their island's relationship with the United States were unified in criticizing the FBI's handling of the arrest. ``I always said that when they went to arrest him, they would have to kill him,'' said Juan Mari Bras, a veteran independence leader.
Okay, so what's your complaint?
Independence Party President Ruben Berrios, a critic of the violent tactics of the Macheteros, called Ojeda Rios' death ``shameful.''
He pulled a rod, he ends up in the morgue.
Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who supports keeping the island's status as a U.S. Commonweatlh, criticized the FBI for refusing to provide information about Ojeda Rios' fate until Saturday evening. He said Puerto Rican authorities would investigate whether his death could have been prevented.
If only he hadn't pulled a rod ...
The Macheteros have been largely inactive for more than a decade. The group also claimed credit for the 1981 bombing of 11 military planes at a U.S. National Guard base in Puerto Rico. Two marines were killed.
Ojeda Rios was one of four men still wanted for the robbery. In hiding, the grey-bearded Ojeda Rios sometimes granted interviews to Puerto Rican reporters, always wearing a traditional Caribbean guayabera shirt. He died on the anniversary of a brief 1868 rebellion against Spanish colonial rule in the western town of Lares. Ojeda Rios traditionally distributed a recorded speech to mark the anniversary. ``It's not a coincidence,'' said Hector Pesquera, the president of the Hostosiano independence movement. ``They chose the moment, the date and the political circumstances to carry out this assassination.''
And the real question is, Hector, did you get the message?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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damn - if only Bill C had had another year to pardon him, everything would be OK.....assuming the vote surge for the missus actually happened
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2005 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
Oh please, please, please let's cut PR loose and give it to Castro. They're damned little use to us and trying to keep them afloat would sink Castro. The sooner these characters are independent and outside the U.S. citizenship zone, the better. They're more trouble than they're worth.
Posted by: mac ||
09/25/2005 1:19 Comments ||
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#3
Better idea--let's not worry 'bout Rico, just sink CASTRO...
And yeah, if you shoot an FBI agent, you usually end up looking like swiss cheese.
An attacker detonated an explosive belt at a crowded bus stop in central Baghdad on Friday and killed six people, the latest bloodshed in what American officials have predicted will be a period of heightened violence before the national constitutional referendum in three weeks.
Insurgents also killed three American soldiers, including two near the restive provincial capital of Ramadi, where insurgents and American forces have fought intense skirmishes recently.
The suicide attack in central Baghdad happened around noon about a half-mile east of one of the main bridges over the Tigris River, an official with the Interior Ministry said. The attack, which also wounded 12 people, struck a site where workers gather to catch minibuses that shuttle around the city.
The buses mostly run to Sadr City, the huge Shiite neighborhood in northeast Baghdad, and to other largely Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad, which strongly suggested that the blast was specifically intended to kill Shiites. The leader of the terrorist group al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has called for a war against Shiites, who have become the favored targets of the Sunni-led insurgency as well.
Heavy fighting was reported in Ramadi, about 60 miles west of the capital. A police captain there, Nasir al-Alousi, told the Associated Press that American forces had airlifted military equipment into a stadium in Ramadi before dawn Friday and that periodic skirmishes near there and a nearby industrial area had continued until the afternoon. The AP also quoted a doctor at the Ramadi hospital as saying that two people had been killed and eight others wounded in the clashes.
Small-arms fire in Ramadi on Thursday killed one American soldier, the military said. Near Taqaddum, east of Ramadi, another U.S. soldier was killed and one more was wounded when insurgents detonated a large roadside bomb near the soldiers' patrol, the military said. Another roadside bomb southeast of the capital killed a third soldier Friday evening, the military said.
In Baghdad, an official with the Interior Ministry said that a member of the committee charged with ensuring that former senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party are kept from influential roles in the new Iraqi establishment was killed Thursday night in the Shurta neighborhood of western Baghdad. A midlevel Interior Ministry official was also assassinated, the official said.
Suicide bombers struck at least twice in southern Iraq. One killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded three others in an early afternoon attack on a checkpoint near Hilla, the Interior Ministry said. Another suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint north of Karbala on Friday night, killing a child and wounding four people, including two policemen.
In Fallujah, an Iraqi man arrested at an American military checkpoint Sept. 20 was shot and killed by a Marine while in detention. The Marines said that after the man had been arrested for suspected terrorist activities, he had attacked a guard while being brought to a screening room for questioning. The guard shot him once in the chest with a handgun, the Marines said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 00:49 ||
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The officer who commanded the operation to rescue two SAS troopers in Basra refused last night to apologise for his actions and promised to do the same again if British soldiers' lives were in danger. "The message this action has sent to terrorists around the world is that they cannot expect to take British soldiers hostage and get away with it," said Brig John Lorimer (right).
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he added: "It would be inappropriate for the British Army to apologise."
Brig Lorimer will have no trouble in the future when he yells, "follow me!"
His defiance came as it emerged that the Iraqis are now demanding the arrest of the two freed men, in addition to an official apology and compensation for the damage to the jail where the soldiers had been held.
It is understood, however, that the two SAS men, who feared that they would be decapitated, are back at their headquarters in Hereford, being debriefed by senior officers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2005 00:41 ||
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Good man. Let's hope the government stands behind him.
TWO SAS soldiers rescued last week after being arrested by Iraqi police and handed over to a militia were engaged in a âsecret warâ against insurgents bringing sophisticated bombs into the country from Iran.
The men had left their base near the southern Iraqi city of Basra to carry out reconnaissance and supply a second patrol with âmore tools and fire powerâ, said a source with knowledge of their activities.
They had been in Basra for seven weeks on an operation prompted by intelligence that a new type of roadside bomb which has been used against British troops was among weapons being smuggled over the Iranian border.
The bombs, designed to pierce the armour beneath coalition vehicles, are similar to ones supplied by Iran to Hezbollah, the Islamic militant group.
âSince the increase in attacks against UK forces two months ago, a 24-strong SAS team has been working out of Basra to provide a safety net to stop the bombers getting into the city from Iran,â said one source. âThe aim is to identify routes used by insurgents and either capture or kill them.â
The forces have tried to seal the notoriously porous border using high-technology sensors that monitor movement by night. They report to a major based in Baghdad in an unmarked building known as the âstation houseâ.
Special forces commanders believe that a tip-off from a local worker at their base may have led to the menâs capture last Monday after a car chase by police, who later handed them to the Mahdi army of Moqtada al-Sadr, the maverick Shiâite cleric. They were freed from a nearby house.
The disclosure that the SAS has targeted the Iranian border coincides with claims by a former Iraqi defence minister that parts of Iraq have fallen under Tehranâs control.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Secret war?
Shhhhhhhhh. Don't tell anybody.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/25/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#3
SCIRI
Moqtada al-Sadr
Badr Brigades
Basra gov Muhammad al-Waili
Iranian agents
Basra police force completely co-opted
Did the Brits let this critical city, province, node, flank be compromised?
sure looks like it. Catch up will cost though, in coalition lives and political capital.
They must have enough intel by now, it's time for the only language understood in the ME. Sharp and Brutal.
Posted by: mini rant ||
09/25/2005 12:37 Comments ||
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#4
This article further heightens my concerns about the increasingly active Iranian participation in Iraq, and their use of Hizbollah agents. Domestically, it seems likely that these same people in the U.S. will need to be clearly identified and watched. I can only imagine that they will increasingly be a source for 5th column activities when a more overt confrontation between the U.S. and Iran happens next year.
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
09/25/2005 14:43 Comments ||
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An Iraqi judge has issued arrest warrants for two British undercover soldiers who have been freed after a controversial British raid in the city of Basra. Judge Raghib Hasan accused the men of killing an Iraqi policeman and wounding another, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification, said Qasim al-Sabti, the head of the lawyers syndicate in the southern city, on Saturday. Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday the warrants had no legal basis. "All British troops in Iraq come under the jurisdiction of Britain," a defence spokesman said in London.
"So piss off..."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Time to go arrest this mook and probe him for his ties to Iran and the Sadar's Milita.
#3
Lets hope this is the beginning of a trend. With the new government in place things like a SOFA need to be in place. As the rule of law takes hold our place must be clearly defined or they will eventually make a murder case out of a friendly fire event. As much as I hate lawyers it sounds like the time is right.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
09/25/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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#4
I meant to say lets hope this is NOT the beginning of a trend. Sorry
Posted by: 49 pan ||
09/25/2005 8:51 Comments ||
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The US army in Iraq announced Saturday its troops have killed last week Municipal Council member, Jabbar Atiyyeah Saud, and a policeman in the Dheloya area to the north of Baghdad.
"Come out witcher hands up, yer honor!"
"You'll never take me alive, infidels!"
A statement of the Multi-National Forces (MNF) issued today said US soldiers have come under fire while cracking down at a house in that area last Thursday, which triggered them to respond to the fire. The statement added the two people, including Saud, who are responsible for firing the US soldiers were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Three Iraqis were killed Saturday morning and 10 others were wounded after a suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped car into an Iraqi Army convoy in Baghdad. KUNA's correspondent on the scene reported three charred bodies, while ambulances transported 10 Iraqis, most of whom were army personnel, to hospitals for treatment. The explosion damaged eight cars, including a civilian vehicle that was close to the site of the explosion. Iraqi and US forces cordoned off the area and prevented reporters from approaching the scene of the explosion, and students were evacuated from a nearby girls' school after the blast shattered its windows.
In the city of Hillah, an Iraqi Army personnel was killed and two others were wounded Friday evening when a suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped car into an army checkpoint, north of the city. And in southern Baghdad, a policeman was killed on Friday and two others were wounded in a booby-trapped car explosion at a police checkpoint. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the multi-national forces said a US soldier was killed Friday evening when an explosive device blew up near his patrol vehicle in southeast Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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MILITANT group Hamas has announced a halt to its attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip after two days of militant rocket strikes and Israeli air raids.
"Under our commitment to the national agreement, made in Cairo, to a cooling down period until the end of 2005, the movement announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation," senior Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar said.
The decision was taken out of concern for the Palestinian people and the halt had come "in the last hour", Mr Zahar said.
Palestinian militants have been observing a de facto truce since Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was elected in January, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt in Cairo last March.
"Hamas is committed to protect Palestinian people from the Zionist entity and to continue in the climate of celebrations ... The movement is concerned for the Palestinian national interest," he added.
Hamas is also committed to an agreement reached last week with Abbas and the principal Palestinian factions to end armed rallies, Mr Zahar said.
The announcement came after Israel carried out two targeted assassination raids in as many days, killing four Islamist militants, including two Hamas activists.
Scenes of Israeli warplanes pounding Gaza dented widespread hopes of a peace breakthrough after Palestinians fired a volley of rockets into Israel over the weekend.
The violence flared after an explosion on Friday at a Hamas rally in northern Gaza when at least 15 people were killed. Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority say the blast was caused by explosives packed into a Hamas jeep.
Hamas, however, blamed Israel and fired dozens of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel.
#5
Palestinian militants have been observing a de facto truce since Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was elected in January, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt in Cairo last March.
So the rocket attacks were part of the de facto truce?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. - Inigo Montoya.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/25/2005 17:37 Comments ||
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#6
I call cowardice on Hamas. Typical Lions Of Islamâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2005 18:31 Comments ||
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#8
nah. none of the above. Debka (and I believe this. mostly) says that they're only agreeing to it under pressure from Egypt. And only in gaza. This way Egypt isn't embarrassed.
Which leaves attacks from the west bank and inside Israel open.
#9
From what I saw in another news story, the Israelis used some empty desert in North Gaza to zero their artillery pieces. With accurately observed splashed, they should be able to put a round right down the barrel of one of those rocket tubes.
Events posted previously deleted.
Israel launched a "crushing" retaliation Saturday against Hamas in Gaza with deadly airstrikes, troops massed at the border and a planned ground incursion after terrorists militants fired 35 rockets at Israeli towns â their first major attack since the Gaza pullout. Israeli aircraft pounded suspected weapons facilities and other terrorist militant targets throughout the Gaza Strip late Saturday and early Sunday, wounding at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said. Earlier, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at cars carrying terrorists militants in Gaza City, killing two Hamas militants.
The escalation threatened to derail a shaky seven-month-old truce and quashed hopes that Israel's ceding the coastal strip to the Palestinians would invigorate peacemaking. Israel's reprisals drew new Hamas threats of revenge, while Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas came under growing Israeli pressure to confront the terrorists militants. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told security chiefs in a meeting that "the ground of Gaza should shake" ... Fatima, did the earth move for you, too?
... and that he wanted to exact a high price from Palestinians everywhere, not just the terrorists militants, participants said. Sounds almost Jacksonian.
The crisis erupted just before a major challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's leadership in his hardline Likud Party, and could strengthen the hand of Sharon's main rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned the Gaza pullout endangers Israel. A Likud vote Monday could determine whether Sharon quits the party â a move that would likely bring early elections and prompt Sharon to form a new centrist party to capture mainstream voters.
On Saturday evening, Sharon convened his Security Cabinet, a group of senior ministers, to approve a series of military operations proposed by Mofaz, culminating with a ground incursion into Gaza. Security officials said that "Operation First Rain" would include artillery fire, air strikes and other targeted attacks. The operation will grow in intensity, leading up to a ground operation unless the Palestinian security takes action to halt the rocket attacks or Hamas ends the attacks itself. The ground operation would require final approval from the full Cabinet, the officials added. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicize the operation's details. The officials said the army planned to create a buffer zone in northern Gaza by ordering residents to leave their homes, and said a closure barring Palestinian laborers from entering Israel would remain in effect.
Shortly after the Security Cabinet's meeting, Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets throughout Gaza, including three weapons-storage facilities and a Gaza City school that the army said served as a front for Hamas. Other targets included the offices of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small terrorists militant group. The Popular Resistance Committees, another terrorist armed group, said the home of one of its commanders was targeted. The commander, Amer Karmout, survived the attack but two relatives were wounded, the group said. Darn.
Pray for sepsis.
Israeli military officials said the attacks were aimed at any group possessing weapons. But the offensive was focused on Hamas, the largest Palestinian terrorist militant group. The Gaza City air strike caused heavy damage to the Al-Arkam school, which was founded by Yassin. The army said Hamas used the building to raise funds for attacks, recruit terrorists militants and assist families of suicide bombers. The attack occurred in a crowded neighborhood, damaging at least five nearby homes. Fifteen people were lightly wounded, medical officials said. I don't care.
"It was decided to launch a prolonged and constant attack on Hamas," said Maj. Gen. Yisrael Ziv, the army's head of operations, hinting that Israel was preparing to resume targeted attacks against top Hamas leaders. Asked whether the leaders were in danger, he said: "Let them decide for themselves."
Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa called the Israeli retaliation plan a "serious escalation that will lead to a new era of violence."
Unlike Paleo violence which never does.
A statement from Kofi Annan's office said the U.N. Secretary-General was "alarmed" by the escalating violence between Israel and armed Palestinian factions. He's alarmed that Israel is striking back.
A senior Palestinian security official said the Jebaliya deaths were caused by a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded as a result of friction and in turn ignited about 10 other grenades on the back of a truck. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he's afraid of being killed of the sensitivity of the investigation. You rub two sticks together to make a fire, not two RPGs.
Hamas called Abbas' position "a stab in the back of the martyrs" and a blow to efforts to work out differences between the factions. Abbas has been trying to co-opt Hamas and has rejected calls by Israel and the international community to confront and disarm the terrorists militants.
Farhad's mother, known as Um Nidal, said all three of her sons have been killed in fighting with the Israelis. "I am so proud," she said. "I wish I had more sons to offer." Here's a candidate for the Spay & Neuter Clinic.
Hamas vowed to avenge the attack, calling on its terrorists militants in a statement to strike Israel "in every spot of our occupied land." At least four more rockets fell in Israel after the airstrike.
"We shall have Dire Revengeâ¢!"
The Israeli army said it targeted two Hamas vehicles â one carrying weapons and the other carrying terrorists militants. The strikes signaled a resumption of Israeli targeted killings of Palestinian terrorists militants, a practice it suspended during the truce. During more than four years of fighting, Israel killed scores of terrorists militants and bystanders in such attacks.
#10
"Abbas has been trying to co-opt Hamas and has rejected calls by Israel and the international community to confront and disarm the terrorists militants..."
Abbas wants to die alone trying to placate terrorists rather than die as the man who crushed the primary roadblock to the creation of a Palestinian state-Hamas and other terrorist ilk? That's a shame. He'll probably get his wish-with the US and Israel standing by over his remains, bewildered as to why he didn't seize one more in a long line of wasted opportunities presented to Palestinian leaders.
That seems to be the Palestinian way-hoisting their own petards. Suicide is apparently now a matter of their DNA.
#11
"Abbas has been trying to co-opt Hamas and has rejected calls by Israel and the international community to confront and disarm the terrorists militants..."
Abbas wants to die alone trying to placate terrorists rather than die as the man who crushed the primary roadblock to the creation of a Palestinian state-Hamas and other terrorist ilk? That's a shame. He'll probably get his wish-with the US and Israel standing by over his remains, bewildered as to why he didn't seize one more in a long line of wasted opportunities presented to Palestinian leaders.
That seems to be the Palestinian way-hoisting their own petards. Suicide is apparently now a matter of their DNA.
#12
Not sure I like the idea of a ground campain unless it's after a month of systamatically leveling every house in Gaza as Hamas runs into it.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/25/2005 12:04 Comments ||
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#13
I predicted this about a week ago.
I hereby nominate Abbas and the Hamas leadership as prime candidates for the the Darwin Award.
It's tough, but the human gene pool must be purified.
Pass the popcorn, please.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
09/25/2005 12:15 Comments ||
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#14
Israel should say absolutely nothing, or "no comment." Let their actions speak for themselves. The Hamas organization [oxy-moroon] has got to be dumber than a box of rocks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/25/2005 13:42 Comments ||
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ISRAELI troops arrested 207 suspected Islamic militants in the West Bank today, the army said, in the toughest crackdown in months after the Jewish state vowed to stop Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
Among those detained were Hassan Youssef and Mohammed Ghazal, top Hamas officials in the occupied West Bank, relatives and sources in the militant group said.
"Our forces have taken 207 fugitives into custody, most of them from Hamas or Islamic Jihad," an army spokeswoman said.
The arrest sweep was the biggest by Israel since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed a ceasefire in February that paved the way for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza this month.
An Israeli army general said the arrests were among measures authorities had decided on after rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza. The army has also resumed assassinating militants and got an unprecedented green light to use artillery against Gaza.
"This operation is not limited in time," Major-General Israel Ziv, chief of military operations, told Israel Radio."We have taken the liberty to use all weapons in order to remove this threat (of rocket attacks)."
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/25/2005 05:01 ||
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#1
The army has also resumed assassinating militants and got an unprecedented green light to use artillery against Gaza.
#2
ain't it what you wanted, Paleos? A State with all the responsibilities AND CONSEQUENCES
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2005 11:06 Comments ||
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#3
I am troubled with the "arresting" part. If the Joos want to stop Hamas cold, then declare them combatants and shoot them on sight. If they had shot 207 Hamas in the West Bank, it would have strongly changed the balance of power in favor of the PA. As it is, Israel now has to feed and take care of 207 worthless murderers, in return they get nothing.
How many thousands of these assholes have the Israelis arrested again and again to no effect? Let's see how many rockets get thrown if troops go to the homes of the rocketeers immediately afterwards and shoot them.
#5
What this article leaves out is the fact that Isreal dont have a execution punishment. So the Isrealis round up pack in prisoners only to either release them later either for no reason or for the guys with blood on thier hands trade them to the terrorist leaders and the Paleo's for meaninless pieces of paper and hollow words. I would bet that a large portion of this 206 has been arrested in the past and will unfortunatley have to be arrested again after their inevitable release.
To win a insurgency/terrorism were the enemy soldiers live within your nation you cant have a revolving door policy. You kill all who cause problems and at some point in the future your enemies either see the hoplesness and stop or cease to be able to recruit enough fresh cannon fodder, they organize and make piece, or their is none left. Any organization needs elders if the only survivors are young fresh recruits over time they become less and less effective. Allowing catch and release just makes a elder leadership with credibility to recruit new recruits.
The Israeli military has ordered its troops to move towards the north of the Gaza Strip, after launching air strikes on the area following rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. A possible Israeli ground operation in the Palestinian territory, however complex in the wake of the army's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip on 12 September, is being discussed by Israeli defence officials, Israeli radio said.
After convening an emergency meeting of his top officials in Tel Aviv to evaluate the situation, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered a tough response to rocket fire from Gaza, Israel radio reported. Israel said its forces would concentrate on the northern end of Gaza, allegedly from where most rockets were launched at Israeli border towns, Israel radio reported. It would also target Hamas from the air.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
How long after operation "Smackdown" begins do you think it will take for Hamas and Co. to realize that a major strategic shift has been achieved? Hat's off to Sharon for transforming Israel's position from heavy-handed police state to sovereign nation responding to foreign aggression.
#2
Scooter---Israel needs to follow through on massive retaliation if they are to survive. They have done the strategic withdrawl. Now they need to back it up. As soon as the PA falls to anarchy, the Israelis do not have to provide electricity and water to Gaza, as Oslo accords would be dead. Let the Egyptians and the UN or anyone else who wants to throw money away finance this literal sh*thole. The Israelis must be firm and tough on their dealings with the Paleos. If the Paleos clean up their act, then turn on the power and water again. Snowball in hell chance for that one. Insert pigs fly pic here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/25/2005 13:49 Comments ||
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Palestinian factions on Saturday launched nine missiles against Israeli settlements, in response to Israeli aggressions. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced in a statement that it has launched seven local-made missiles against the Israeli passageway of Kisofim. A statement by the Hamas military wing, Ezz El-Dein Al-Qassam Brigades, said the movement will continue to repsond to the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians, including what the statement called the "Jebalia massacre".
In the meantime, the Al-Nasser Salaheldim Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two local-made missiles against the Israeli town of Sderot. The Brigades, the military wing for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said the attack comes in response to the Israeli massacres against the Palestinians. Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli aircraft dropped copies of a statement signed by the "State of Israel" on Gaza today. The statement accused the Hamas Movement of "lying and misguiding (the Palestinians) and working systematically for personal interests." The statement also urged the Palestinian National Authority to shoulder its responsibilities in stopping the launch of what it called terrorist attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip. It threatened to strongly repsond to threats of the security of Israeli population.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Four Palestinians were killed on Saturday after an Israeli occupation army helicopter targeted a car that drove in Zaitoon neighborhood in southern Gaza City, local witnesses and security sources said. The sources said that a car was hit by one missile fired by an Israeli army helicopter in the Zaitoon neighborhood of Gaza City, killing four, wounding nine others and damaging a second car that drove behind it.
The medical sources said several ambulances were called to the place and began to evacuate the remains of the dead bodies and those who were injuredd were all taken to the local Shiffa Hospital for treatment. The witnesses said they heard a huge explosion in the area, where dozens of people rushed to the scene to see what happened, adding that they saw flames of fire are coming out from two cars. Sources told KUNA that three of the victims were identified as members of the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement of Hamas. The identity of the fourth man is yet to be known.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Its interesting to see how even after we have fully withdrawn from Gaza for the kuwaities, the helicopter is still "Israeli occupation army helicopter".
Well, Achmad you will have to rename it! its "a retaliation forces helicopter" and there are many many more of these on the way to the "state of hamastan in Gaza".
Additionally, you may also expect some non-occupying artilery barages and some non-occupying 2 ton dumb bombs coming into the air space of free Hamastan very soon in response to your Kassam attacks.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
09/25/2005 2:36 Comments ||
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#2
That would certainly make me happy, EoZ. Now if only you would reassure me that Sharon isn't stepping down soon, I could look forward to Rosh Hashana with equanimity.
#3
Trailing Wife,
I hope the sane faction in the likud are stronger than the stupid fanatics and that Sharon would not have to step down.
If he does I'll vote for him in his new party.
Anyhow, I dont think that you have to worry about this. I think most Israelis have by now understood correctly the nature of the Hamas, Jihad and other such Rabid organizations. I think whatever the political situation is, they will have a hard time now, as more and more palestinians will begin to find out the price of their false "resistance".
I wish you and All Rantburgers a happy "Rosh Hashana" and a good new year.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
09/25/2005 7:23 Comments ||
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#4
Thank you, Elder of Zion. And may you and yours, and all of Israel, be inscribed in the Book of Life for the year to come.
Three Israelis were injured due to a 30-missile attack late Friday and early Saturday, from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli targets, said an Israeli Army spokesman. In a statement to Israel's radio, the spokesman said the three injured persons were members of the civil guard, adding that their injuries were minor. While saying that Israeli police located nine of the missiles, he said that 26 of the missiles were launched towards Sderot, two at Nahal 'Oz and the other two missiles at two other areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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A GRENADE explosion killed three men and wounded, at least, a dozen more in North Cotabato (not in Zamboanga as earlier reported), southern Philippines, police said on Saturday.
Police said the explosion occurred during a public dance party before midnight in the town of Pigkawayan, North Cotabato province, but local officials were quick to rule out terror attack, saying, initial reports suggested the blast was believed connected to an earlier fight between two groups.
A provincial spokesman, Carlos Bautista, said Gov. Emmanuel Pinol ordered a thorough investigation into the blast and for local officials to help those wounded.
"The police are now looking into this and we will prosecute those responsible in the explosion," Pinol was quoted as saying.
Police were questioning a former army soldier who was told to leave the party after his group had engaged teenagers in a heated argument. It said the blast occurred after the man had left.
Last month, a homemade bomb detonated by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants in North Cotabato's Arakan town. Although no casualties were reported, the blast destroyed a bakeshop.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 01:00 ||
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BEIRUT, Lebanon - A bomb planted in the car of a prominent Lebanese journalist blew up Sunday, critically wounding her, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation and Lebanese security officials said.
The blast apparently targeting LBC anchorwoman May Chidiac took place Sunday afternoon in Jounieh, north of Beirut.
Security officials said someone apparently placed the bomb underneath a seat in her car. The bomb destroyed the car.
LBC said Chidiac has "critical" wounds in her lower body and will undergo surgery at a hospital, the network said.
The blast follows numerous bombings in Lebanon, including previous attacks against journalists.
Many attacks have targeted people viewed as critical of Syria's presence in Lebanon.
Just hours before Sunday's bombing, Chidiac was hosting a program on LBC about the subject of the possible involvement of Syrians in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The death of Hariri, a prominent opponent of Syria's presence in Lebanon, sparked a wave protests in the capital against what many viewed as an occupation. The protests help lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country.
#1
Just hours before Sunday's bombing, Chidiac was hosting a program on LBC about the subject of the possible involvement of Syrians in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri
totally coincidental
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2005 14:08 Comments ||
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#2
Sectarian? Seems the Christians are the ones getting boomed. May have nothign to do with the death of Hariri on the Syrians.
#3
"Security officials said someone apparently placed the bomb underneath a seat in her car.
...
The blast apparently targeting LBC anchorwoman May Chidiac took place Sunday afternoon in Jounieh, north of Beirut."
Apparently CNN thinks the possibility exists that it was meant for someone else. Apparently, lacking an even remotely plausible means of blaming it on Bush, CNN's reporters and editors are lost, rudderless... not to mention gutless and worthless - apparently even when it comes to other "journalists". Barkeep -- a round of Drano for the lot of 'em - on me.
Iran rejected on Sunday a resolution by the U.N. atomic watchdog agency that would refer the country to the U.N. Security Council over its disputed nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the resolution, approved Saturday by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, "political, illegal and illogical."
The minister said the resolution removed any doubt that Britain, France and Germany -- the three key European countries that had been negotiating with Iran to try to avert referral to the council -- have violated previous agreements with Tehran.
"The three European countries implemented a pre-planned scenario already determined by the United States," Mottaki said on state-run television.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 01:27 ||
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What a surprise.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/25/2005 6:36 Comments ||
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HANDWARA (NORTH KASHMIR): Is it a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is up to? Or is it a contrivance schemed by all? Notwithstanding Pakistan president Pervez Musharrafâs claims of his country not being involved in supporting militancy in J&K, evidence suggests his army is busy pushing terrorists into the Valley.
Sources in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) said a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants sneaked into the Valley through Uri sector on the night of September 7-8 with the help of Pakistan Army.
In fact, in the last nine months, about 50 militants belonging to Al-Badr, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen have crossed over to India.
Reports reaching here said a group of 60 LeT militants had assembled at Kherati Bagh in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and about the same number at Changniya from where they would be shifted by Pakistan Army personnel to Sharief camp in Nakote, to facilitate their entry into the Kashmir Valley
The task of sending militants into Kashmir is being looked after by the 2-Baloch group of the Pakistani Army, which under the pretext of surveillance at the border, studies the movement of Indian troops and instructs militants on when and where to move, the sources said.
The Pakistan Armyâs involvement is evident from the fact that it prevented militants from crossing over in July on detecting heavy presence of Indian troops on the border at that time.
"About 10-12 Pakistan Army personnel of 2-Baloch, in the first week of July this year, received militants in Yaduri area on LoC near Handwara in Kupwara district of north Kashmir, but did not allow them to cross over, owing to the presence of Indian Army on the mountains," a source said.
Posted by: john ||
09/25/2005 18:51 ||
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Authorities in Somaliaâs breakaway region of Somaliland on Saturday warned outsiders, particularly Islamic clerics, without legitimate business there to leave immediately following the arrest of several alleged Al Qaeda operatives.
In a crackdown ordered after the arrests of five suspected members of Osama bin Ladenâs network during a shootout with police on Friday, Interior Minister Ishmail Aden said non-Somalilanders illegally in the region would be deported.
âI have instructed the (Islamic) clerics from neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia to leave the country if they do not have legal papers and are not genuine businessmen registered by relevant authorities,â Aden said. âThose who have commercial interest here may stay as long as they respect the laws of the land but others must leave as soon as possible,â he told a news conference. âThis is strictly a security issue.â
âThe activities of outsiders and suspect (Somalilanders) will be scrutinized further for security purposes,â Aden said, adding police in the region had arrested a total of five alleged Al Qaeda members on Friday. On Friday, he said three suspected extremists, including âan internationally knownâ Afghan-trained Al Qaeda leader, had been detained after police raids in the capital Hargeisa that followed tips from local residents.
Three police officers were wounded in the shootout and Aden, while he declined to identify the suspects, told reporters that all five detainees were cooperating with police. Hargeisaâs Ogal daily newspaper, meanwhile, said at least 100 people had been detained for questioning after the raid, but added that many had been released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 00:44 ||
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#1
Yaknow maybe we ought to be conversatin with these folks.
#2
I am starting to take a liking to these Somalilanders. All else being equal, it might serve the US to set up some investment opportunities in that almost-country.
The law-enforcing agencies arrested two alleged members of a banned militant organization in Rawalpindi on Saturday night for links with Al Qaeda, sources told this correspondent.
The sources said that the arrests were made during a raid by the Special Investigation Group of the Federal Investigation Agency in Sadiqabad.
However, government officials, when contacted, neither confirmed nor denied the arrest.
Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao declined to confirm the report.
Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said, âI have heard about the arrest of two persons but could not confirm it because no department concerned has confirmed the arrests.â
The names of those arrested could not be ascertained till the filling of this report by midnight.
âBoth the suspects are said to be active members of a banned militant outfit,â the sources said, adding that one of them carried big head money. They had been shifted to an undisclosed location, the sources said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/25/2005 00:38 ||
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Police in the breakaway republic of Somaliland have detained two suspected al-Qaida militants, raising the number of terror suspects captured in two days to seven, the regional leader said Saturday.
Rounding up bad guys? Cheez, the Somalilanders are acting like a nation.
Dahir Riyale Kahin, the president of the internationally unrecognized republic, said the two suspects were detained Friday in the capital, Hargeisa, adding that two other militants were fleeing on the run. The suspects were part of a group who received terrorist training in camps run by Islamic extremists near Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, Kahin said.
Four other suspects were captured late Thursday after a shootout. A fifth was arrested Friday 20 miles west of the city. Three police officers and one suspect were wounded in the clashes.
"The men pretended to be Islamic clerics and entered Somaliland through different regions four days before they all gathered in Hargeisa," Kahin said. "Islam is supposedly a religion of peace, but terrorists, like chameleons, change colors and try the one they can easily blend with."
Somaliland rulers - like leaders of Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and elsewhere in the region - are keen to be perceived as allies in the U.S.-led war against terror. The United States and United Kingdom should include Somaliland and other small nations in the fight against terrorism, Kahin said.
The former British colony of Somaliland and the Italian colony of Somalia merged in 1960 to form the independent republic of Somalia. Somaliland set up its own administration after breaking away from the rest of Somalia when the Horn of Africa nation descended into anarchy because of clan-based fighting following the 1991 ouster of President Mohammed Siad Barre.
No big surprise that the Brit-ruled region is doing better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2005 00:26 ||
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#1
Can we internationally recognize Somaliland and de-internationally recognize Somalia? It would seem to make sense to go with the one that works, but then, I'm not a diplomat.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 11:08 Comments ||
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#2
It would upset the stability of the region. Duh! Like my brooch?
In a hunt for the terrorists who carried out bicycle-bombings in Lahore on September 22, police have arrested two men and a couple, who according to investigators, may lead the police to the bombers. âTwo men were arrested from Sadiqabad with explosives and other bomb-making material on Friday night, and on their information, a couple was arrested from Lahore,â police sources said.
The couple â Pathanay Khan and Zarina Khan â are originally from Jacobabad (Sindh) and have been living near Data Darbar shrine in a rented house. Police also seized Rs 200,000 in cash and found some âimportantâ telephone numbers from them. Sources said the face of Pathanay Khan resembled the sketch of the suspect involved in the Ichhra blast. âPolice also made a video of Pathanay Khan and showed it to the people injured in the blast, however they didnât recognise him,â sources added. âThe investigators believe that the couple may lead them to the terrorists,â sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Bicycle-bombings?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/25/2005 21:01 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR: Police and intelligence agents arrested a 35-year-old Afghan for suspected Taliban links, an official said on Saturday. The man identified as Hamidullah Khan was blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location after he was picked up late on Friday from his home in Dhirmakhel, a village on the outskirts of Bannu city, an intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity. Khan was wanted for links to the Taliban, the official said, without giving further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: The hope of finding the Minar-e-Pakistan bomber was quashed on Thursday when police found that the man who died during the explosion was not the culprit. Deceased's father Subay Khan told authorities concerned that the Muhammad Imran was a labourer from Farooqabad. Crime Investigation Agency Superintendent of Police Masud Aziz claimed on Friday that Farooq was the bomber and said that he died because the bomb detonated prematurely.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Violence seems to hit most Muslim countries ahead of votes, doesn't it?
Seven Algerian soldiers and four civilians have been killed in attacks in eastern Algeria as voters prepare for a referendum. The latest outbreak of violence is part of a 13-year-long battle in this North African country, where voters are to take part in a referendum on Thursday on a presidential peace plan that would wipe the legal slate clean for many groups.
On the other hand, there's certainly no shortage of violence when there's no vote in the immediate offing...
The Algerian daily Liberte reported that suspected members of the Salafist group, in the town of Selma about 250km east of Algiers, had attacked a military patrol charged with protecting electricity workers who were putting up a power line on Thursday. A homemade roadside bomb was detonated, immobilising a military vehicle. The attackers then opened fire, killing seven soldiers and two workers, the report said. Four other soldiers were injured. The same day, two people were killed near the town of Tamalous, about 450km east of the capital, at a roadblock set up by an armed group of about 30 people, Liberte said.
In fact, I think it's only in the countries ruled by iron-fisted dictators that everything's peaceful and quiet, except when the gummint rounds up a few hundred and bumps them off...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ordered an amnesty for all jailed supporters of a slain Shia rebel cleric who waged an insurgency against the state last year. Yemeni forces have killed and arrested hundreds of loyalists of Hussein al-Huthi, who led a group that wants to install Shia clerical rule and preaches violence against the United States and Israel. Some of al-Huthi's supporters are on trial. It was not clear if they would be freed under the amnesty. "We have declared an amnesty for the supporters of Hussein al-Huthi and his father who are in jail for the strife they caused," Saleh said in a speech carried by state television. "We have pardoned them despite the blood that has been spilled."
Saudi citizens detained at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay will soon be released and handed over to the Saudi authorities, as talks between US officials and their counterparts in the Kingdom reach the final stages, Asharq al Awsat has learned. Ahmad Mazhar, head of a team of lawyers hoping to return the detainees to Riyadh told Asharq al Awsat his country had taken large steps towards ensuring its 121 detainees are handed back. He hoped US/Saudi discussions would conclude after the last details are agreed on and indicated that the Saudi government had been in constant contact with Washington since learning Saudi men were being held at the military base in Cuba. 
A German businessman has been accused of smuggling material for enriching uranium to Pakistan between 2002 and 2004, according to Mondayâs edition of the weekly Focus. The weekly said the man, identified as Rainer V. had been placed under criminal investigation by prosecutors in Munich for 23 alleged cases of infringement of the law on trade in weapons of war. Based in Pullach, near Munich, he is accused of buying vacuum pumps, special ventilators and spare parts for mass spectrometers from the Pfeiffer Vacuum company of Hesse. He is alleged to have shipped the material by air from Munich or by ship from Hamburg or Bremen to contacts in Islamabad or Rawalpindi. From there the equipment is thought to have been delivered to the Kashmir laboratories of Abdul Qadeer Khan, known as the father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb, Focus said.
HORMIGUEROS, Puerto Rico (AP) - A Puerto Rican nationalist wanted in a 1983 robbery of an armored truck in Connecticut was shot and killed by FBI agents in a shootout, ending the fugitive's 15 years on the run, the bureau said Saturday.
An Iraqi judge has issued arrest warrants for two British undercover soldiers who have been freed after a controversial British raid in the city of Basra. Judge Raghib Hasan accused the men of killing an Iraqi policeman and wounding another, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification, said Qasim al-Sabti, the head of the lawyers syndicate in the southern city, on Saturday. Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday the warrants had no legal basis. "All British troops in Iraq come under the jurisdiction of Britain," a defence spokesman said in London.
The US army in Iraq announced Saturday its troops have killed last week Municipal Council member, Jabbar Atiyyeah Saud, and a policeman in the Dheloya area to the north of Baghdad.
Three Iraqis were killed Saturday morning and 10 others were wounded after a suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped car into an Iraqi Army convoy in Baghdad. KUNA's correspondent on the scene reported three charred bodies, while ambulances transported 10 Iraqis, most of whom were army personnel, to hospitals for treatment. The explosion damaged eight cars, including a civilian vehicle that was close to the site of the explosion. Iraqi and US forces cordoned off the area and prevented reporters from approaching the scene of the explosion, and students were evacuated from a nearby girls' school after the blast shattered its windows.
Palestinian factions on Saturday launched nine missiles against Israeli settlements, in response to Israeli aggressions. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced in a statement that it has launched seven local-made missiles against the Israeli passageway of Kisofim. A statement by the Hamas military wing, Ezz El-Dein Al-Qassam Brigades, said the movement will continue to repsond to the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians, including what the statement called the "Jebalia massacre".
Four Palestinians were killed on Saturday after an Israeli occupation army helicopter targeted a car that drove in Zaitoon neighborhood in southern Gaza City, local witnesses and security sources said. The sources said that a car was hit by one missile fired by an Israeli army helicopter in the Zaitoon neighborhood of Gaza City, killing four, wounding nine others and damaging a second car that drove behind it.
In a hunt for the terrorists who carried out bicycle-bombings in Lahore on September 22, police have arrested two men and a couple, who according to investigators, may lead the police to the bombers. âTwo men were arrested from Sadiqabad with explosives and other bomb-making material on Friday night, and on their information, a couple was arrested from Lahore,â police sources said. 
PESHAWAR: Police and intelligence agents arrested a 35-year-old Afghan for suspected Taliban links, an official said on Saturday. The man identified as 
Seven Algerian soldiers and four civilians have been killed in attacks in eastern Algeria as voters prepare for a referendum. The latest outbreak of violence is part of a 13-year-long battle in this North African country, where voters are to take part in a referendum on Thursday on a presidential peace plan that would wipe the legal slate clean for many groups.
