The Canadians have lost a woman in combat in Afghanistan. A Canadian soldier was killed during a firefight with insurgents that occurred approximately 24 kilometres west of Kandahar. The incident occurred at approximately 6:55 p.m. Kandahar time (10: 25 a.m. EDT) on 17 May. Killed was Captain Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard who was serving with Task Force Afghanistan as part of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI) Battle Group. Captain Goddard was stationed with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Manitoba; her next-of-kin have been notified.The repatriation of Captain Goddards remains is now being planned.Capt Goddard was engaged in a significant operation, one in which Canadian soldiers were in support of Afghan authorities, when she was killed. That operation was a clearance operation by Afghan security personnel in Kandahar province north of the Arghandab River and west of Kandahar City.
Canadian Forces, in cooperation with the Government of Afghanistan, assist Afghan security forces in the conduct of these operations to rid the region of those insurgents seeking to destabilize the security situation in which the Afghan people live and raise their families. The Afghan security forces, assisted by Canadians, are succeeding. Preliminary results of this contact indicate that a significant number of Taliban were killed in this action.
...members of Parliament have voted to approve an extension of the military mission to Afghanistan. The vote was close, but the government prevailed 149-145.
NDP and Bloc Quebecois voted against, so this means some Liberals including interim Liberal leader Bill Graham voted for the 2-year extension. Knock me over with a feather.
Posted by: Great White Polar Bear ||
05/17/2006 22:56 Comments ||
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#10
Michael Yon's last piece from Afghanistan mentions how the Canucks are really in the thick of it over there - and not defensively.
#11
This comes as a surprise, because the Liberals could have made this an election issue, and a pain in the butt for Harper. Harper said he would extend the mission for one year, even if Parliament voted against. Now he's got 2 years.
Otoh, the Liberals did send the troops to Afghanistan, so they would look really stupid if they voted this down. Many still voted against it though. Which says a lot.
But good for Bill Graham. He could have chosen to play politics to gain some votes, and for a moment it looked like he would, but didn't. Earned some respect from me.
This was a no-brainer and the vote should have been overwhelmingly in favour of the extension, as this vote was in effect a morale booster for the troops in Afghanistan. So this just reaffirms my hatred of the NDP and their bonehead leader Jack Layton. Whatta bunch of losers. Even worse than the Liberals.
Posted by: Great White Polar Bear ||
05/17/2006 23:14 Comments ||
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Bloc Quebecois is not much better. The La Raza of the Great White North.
Five people, including three policemen and two government officials, have been killed and eight others wounded in fresh violence in the troubled southern parts of of Afghanistan last night. About two dozen Taliban fighters attacked a police post in Yaqubee district of Khost province killing two policemen and injuring seven others. The attackers fired several rockets on the police post in the wee hours on Tuesday which resulted in killing of two cops, said a police officer introducing himself as Wazir Bacha. Bacha said two militants were also killed in exchange of fire. He said a search operation had been launched in the area and so far a dozen suspects had been apprehended.
In Kandahar province, Taliban stormed a police post in Khakrez area and killed one cop and injured two others. Taliban spokesman Yousaf Ahmadi said heavy losses had been inflicted on the police during the two clashes.
Separately, two government officials were beheaded and their bodies dumped in an uninhabited area in the southern Helmand province. Police officials and residents said the bodies were recovered from an area in the Grishk district, which has been scene to clashes between Taliban and government and coalition forces over the past few months. A district official said the two men were government officials, who were kidnapped a few days back while traveling in the district. He did not name any one for the killing. Taliban in the southern and eastern region of Afghanistan are targeting officials, including teachers, doctors, security personnel and pro-government ulema (religious scholars).
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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If Dark Turban is still standing there when they fire those things off, he's gonna end up looking like Tweety Bird...
Sheik Aweys, a prominent Somali cleric and one of key founders of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu now conducts plans to regroup his Islamic militiamen after fierce street battles with militia of warlords in the capital leaving more casualties amongthe civilians. Last week, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has paid instant visit to Beledwein town, capital of Hiran province in central Somalia, where he was buying ten armoured vehicles with no engines from Hawadle clan; each costs of $5,000 to enforce his militiamen in Mogadishu, as one of the dominant clans in the region, as the weekly local journal of National Post published on Monday. The journal reports the armoured vehicles were loaded on N3 Fait lorries and heading to Somali capital Mogadishu, where the rival militias of Islamic courts union and those of warlords are battling for the city control.
I wonder if he expects to put engines in them, or if he's going to use them as bunkers?
For that case, the alliance for restoration of peace and counter terrorism (ARPCT) launched an intensive military step to pursue the activities of the Islamic militiamen and set up checkpoints on the main entries of Mogadishu outskirts to stop the insurgency of islamist groups, while plane thought to be surveillance aircraft known as AC-130 was flying over Mogadishu city during the latest clashes. Our mission is to slow the activities of the masked islamists and we blocked all roads to the capital in attempt to prevent terrorist suspects Colonel Abdi Qeybdid, member of anti terror alliance and chief of countrys police said.
After the clashes in Sisi area in north Mogadishu, which was the bloodiest in the capital for decade, both rival parts regroup for fresh battle but this time the third round of clashes feared that it might erupt in southern suburb of Mogadishu. Islamic courts in Mogadishu who Washington blames it for harbouring international terrorist suspects, vowed earlier to rule the war torn country with Islamic Sharia law after years of warlords rule that divided the country (Somalia) into fiefdoms.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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AC 130's got to be based out of Djibouit right? If thats really what they saw.
#2
Well, if's it's an AC-130 Spectre, it isn't a 'surveillance' aircraft, but a heavily armed gunship with a 40mm cannon, a 105mm cannon and a 25mm gun. Surveillance via large ground explosions must be a new technique.
#3
Last week, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has paid instant visit to Beledwein town, capital of Hiran province in central Somalia, where he was buying ten armoured vehicles with no engines from Hawadle clan; each costs of $5,000 to enforce his militiamen in Mogadishu, as one of the dominant clans in the region, as the weekly local journal of National Post published on Monday.
Fat lot of good engine-less armored vehicles will do for him. Must be desperate.
while plane thought to be surveillance aircraft known as AC-130 was flying over Mogadishu city during the latest clashes.
It's got a targeting system that makes the enemy piss in their pants...
#9
Surveillance via large ground explosions must be a new technique.
It's called "reconaissance by fire," I believe.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/17/2006 15:20 Comments ||
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I'm a mechanic by trade, engineless armord cars are easily "Engined", just find out who made the cars, and either send off for an engine, or buy/steal a truck made by the same folks.
Or you can always turn the local hot rodders loose, you might get a funny sounding armored car, but I'd bet it would run very much faster than "Stock"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/17/2006 19:22 Comments ||
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SANAA, Yemen, May 17 (UPI) -- Yemeni security forces seized 1.5 tons of explosives, including gunpowder and TNT, destined for use in terrorist attacks.
Brig. Abdo Kassimi, security chief in the area of Wissab in the province of Zummar, south of Sanaa, where the arms cache was found, said 1540 kilograms of explosives were discovered, including 20 kilograms of TNT concealed in the car of an area resident.
Kassimi said police were tipped off about the arrival of a shipment of explosives and a suspect was monitored and later arrested with the TNT in his car.
Other suspects managed to flee before the police arrived, but the owner of the warehouse where the explosives were stored was arrested.
Salafi extremist groups have been increasingly active in the past month, and confrontations have resulted in the killing of two people in the province of Ebin, southeast Yemen.
In another development, the Egyptian authorities asked Yemen for information about four Egyptians who worked as teachers in Yemen and who are believed to be among 12 suspects in the bombing of Dahab resort in Sinai last month.
Weekly al-Wasat Wednesday quoted well-informed sources as saying Egypt wants information about the four Egyptian teachers who were dismissed after the Education Ministry adopted a policy of replacing foreigners with local teachers.
The Egyptian request was made by visiting Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, who is leading his country's delegation at the Higher Egyptian-Yemeni Committee currently meeting in Sanaa.
Yemen and Egypt said in a joint statement Tuesday that Nazif and his Yemeni counterpart, Abdel Kader Bajamal, reaffirmed the need to coordinate their efforts in combating terrorism and boosting political and economic reforms in the two Arab countries yadda, yadda, yadda.
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) -- A powerful car-bomb blast apparently set off by a suicide attacker killed a high-level police official, two of his bodyguards and four civilians in southern Russia's Ingushetia region Wednesday, authorities said.
Ingushetia's Deputy Interior Minister Dzhabrail Kostoyev was riding to work in an armored car when a sedan packed with explosives blocked a road on the outskirts of the region's main city of Nazran and blew up, regional police officials and a spokesman for the Interior Ministry branch in southern Russia said.
According to preliminary information, a suicide attacker was in the car that exploded, said the spokesman, Roman Shchekotin. He said Kostoyev had been traveling to work in Nazran in a column of three cars.
Four civilians in at least one passing car were also killed, an official in the Ingush Interior Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Russian news agencies said they were innocent bystanders.
Ingushetia, adjacent to war-ravaged Chechnya in Russia's restive North Caucasus, has been plagued by militant attacks, many targeting law enforcement officials and facilities. A concerted attack targeting police in Ingushetia in June 2004 killed 92 people.
Kostoyev, then Nazran's police chief, was wounded in August when unknown assailants detonated a radio-controlled land mine as his car was passing. The ITAR-Tass news agency reported that a mortar shell hit his office in a February 2005 attack, but that he was not there at the time, and RIA-Novosti said his home in the village of Ekazhevo was hit by gunfire twice late last year.
In another republic of the North Caucasus, Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, unidentified assailants fatally shot the acting chief of a prison in the city of Cherkessk early Wednesday outside his home.
Poverty, corruption and persecution connected with Islam have fueled anger at the authorities in the North Caucasus, an ethnically mixed strip of republics, most of which have large Muslim populations.
The region is troubled by violence in some cases linked to the persistent conflict in neighboring Chechnya, where two wars have been fought in the past 12 years between federal forces and separatist Chechen rebels who increasingly have espoused extremist Islamic ideology.
#2
Article: Poverty, corruption and persecution connected with Islam have fueled anger at the authorities in the North Caucasus, an ethnically mixed strip of republics, most of which have large Muslim populations.
If there's one thing that Russia doesn't need, it's more Muslims. And yet Russia is busily trying to add Muslim-dominated sections of Georgia to Russia territory. I assume Putin has a plan. My feeling is that Putin's plan is stupid beyond words. Hitler and Stalin weren't nice people. But they understood what was in their interest and what wasn't in their interest. Putin is nowhere near as bad as either character. But compared to those two, Putin has the brain power of an amoeba.
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- At least five judges were wounded when an attorney opened fire in Turkey's top administrative court, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency. The judges were holding a daily meeting on Wednesday morning when the gunman burst into court's second chamber and fired his weapon. Police captured him as he tried to escape. The incident took place in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
According to witnesses, the lawyer shouted, "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest). His anger will be upon you!" At least one of the judges received life-threatening wounds and was in surgery, according to Ugur Erdener, the Director of Hacettepe Hospital.
The court had come under widespread criticism for a recent ruling that said public employees and teachers cannot wear headscarves while at work. Tansel Colasan, deputy head of the administrative court, the Council of State, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying the attacker shouted, "I am the soldier of God," and said he was carrying out the attack to protest the court decision on headscarves.
#6
Here, lawyers get to pick the jury, in Turkey, they want to pick the judges too.
Seriously though, this is a good example of how Islam, the religion of pieces, counters social progress. This is why the ME is so backward socially. (unless you consider men doing donkeys progress)
#8
It's reported that the shooter had no strong Islamist views before the shooting, and during his interrogation at an anti-terror unit, he claims to be ideologically sympathetic to the Gray Wolves.
Who's he working for then? Turkish Hezbollah or the Pashas?
Just another day in the ME's greatest "secular democracy."
Posted by: Azad ||
05/17/2006 17:05 Comments ||
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One of the Judges has died of his wounds. No a bad outcome if you don't value lawyers and Judges at all. I don't but I just want them to have to live like I do. I don't want them dead like this waste of skin apperently does.
Yes more of the "religion of peace." in action.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 19:58 Comments ||
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US military authorities have suspended a military trial of a Saudi "war on terror" detainee after a US court ordered a stay until the Supreme Court rules on whether the trials are legal. Hearings into the case of Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi were scheduled to resume at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, but were called off after a US judge granted his lawyers' request for a stay, a Pentagon spokeswoman said. Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled on Friday that the proceedings be halted until the Supreme Court issues a final decision in the case of another detainee, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, challenging the legality of the special military trials.
Justice Sullivan reasoned that Sharbi would suffer "irreparable" harm if the commission proceedings went forward, while the Government failed to show the harm of waiting until the Supreme Court decision in the Hamdan case. "The Government also claims that this brief delay would imperil the war effort," he wrote. "The Government has not explained, however, why the Court must adhere to the laws of war now, rather than wait a few weeks so that it may follow the rule of law, as it will be determined by the Supreme Court."
Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the court ruling pertained only to the Sharbi case and had no impact on the cases of any other detainee facing trial by military commission. Sharbi is one of 10 detainees, including Australian David Hicks, who have been charged under rules that were specially created to try "war on terror" suspects outside the jurisdiction of US courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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The caselaws by my readings is well-settled - but what the heck, lets add the SCOTUS just to give Dubya's critics once more opportunity to display their treason. The ACLU, etal knows already the SCOTUS will have to overturn several of their own key decisions.
#2
Next time this happens haul the "defendant" out of his cell and shoot him. The law of war applies. The Judges will get the point.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 3:11 Comments ||
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I dunno, SPoD. Some of these judges are skirting damned close to being enemy agents themselves.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/17/2006 7:24 Comments ||
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No Mr. Crawford, they're assuming the title of Prince, Baron, Duke. They declare the law. L'etat c'est moi.
You think if 10 or 20 years ago, the representative body of the people had impeached a few of his fellow robed sitting for life friends, that their behavior would be remarkably different today?
Its going to just make it that much easier for the transition when our Sulla, Pompey, or Caesar does show up.
#5
I have a sinking feeling that these assholes are going to end up getting freed, suing us, and eating free cheese for the rest of their miserable lives.
Baloch freedom-fighters successfully launched a mortar attack on a Pakistani nuclear establishment on May 15, according to reports from reliable sources in Dera Ghazi Khan and Quetta.
The establishment, controlled by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), is located in the vicinity of the Dera Ghazi Khan-Quetta highway. This is the second attack on the establishment.
The mortar attack sparked a large fire in the woods surrounding the establishment. Twenty fire engines took nearly 10 hours to bring the fire under control. It has been reported that the fire was extinguished before it could spread to the establishment itself.
Apart from destroying a large number of trees planted around the establishment, a cafeteria and other service buildings, the fire does not appear to have caused any other damage. The sensitive parts of the establishment were reportedly not affected.
The PAEC has not issued any official statement on the fire. In talks with the local media, unnamed PAEC officials said the fire was due to a short circuit. They have not admitted that it was caused by a mortar fire.
The Baloch freedom-fighters have been trying to disrupt road and rail communications between Balochistan and Punjab. Dera Ghazi Khan has been a favourite scene of their operations to disrupt normal economic life in Punjab.
Since President Pervez Musharraf launched his military offensive in Balochistan last December to crush the freedom struggle, paramilitary forces in and around Dera Ghazi Khan have been strengthened. Similarly, there has been a strengthening of security measures around the nuclear establishment.
One of the main grievances of the Baloch freedom-fighters has been the holding of the May 1998 nuclear tests in Chagai, which, according to them, has caused severe public health hazards in Balochistan. They have also been complaining that the nuclear waste from Pakistan's nuclear establishments is being stored in Balochistan.
The recent ban by the government on the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has not had any impact on its activities. It has managed to maintain the momentum of its freedom-struggle with almost daily attacks on gas pipelines, electricity transmission lines, railway lines and on posts of the security forces. It has even carried out a daring attack on a police academy killing six police officer trainees.
The BLA and other Baloch nationalist elements have also stepped up their campaign against the Chinese engineers and security officials posted in Gwadar in connection with the construction of the Gwadar port.
A team of Chinese engineers recently visited Balochistan amidst tight security to carry out a preliminary study on the possibility of the construction of a road linking Gwadar with the Karakoram Highway in the Northern Areas, which is being upgraded, and an oil/gas pipeline connecting Gwadar with Xinjiang.
The idea is that the Chinese tankers bringing oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran would download them at Gwadar and from there the energy supplies would be moved by a pipeline to Xinjiang. This would reduce the Chinese dependence on the Malacca Straits for the transport of their energy supplies.
China has already agreed to help Pakistan in the construction of more nuclear power stations as a counter to the Indo-US nuclear deal, now under consideration by the US Congress. The number of new power stations being mentioned is eight. It is proposed to locate one of these in Balochistan.
General Musharraf is expected to visit Beijing next month for talks on this issue. If it materialises, this will be his second visit to China in less than a year.
Posted by: john ||
05/17/2006 19:05 ||
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"They have also been complaining that the nuclear waste from Pakistan's nuclear establishments is being stored in Balochistan."
#3
Gee whiz, besides anyone with 2 brain cells, who could have seen this coming?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2006 19:42 Comments ||
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The Balochies also aren't happy about the fact that most of the natural resources in Pakistan are found in their area, but most of the money gets spent in the Punjab. Robbing from the poor and giving to the rich doesn't win any friends among the poor.
#6
Baloch freedom-fighters successfully launched a mortar attack on a Pakistani nuclear establishment on May 15, according to reports from reliable sources in Dera Ghazi Khan and Quetta.
#7
"energy supplies would be moved by a pipeline to Xinjiang. This would reduce the Chinese dependence on the Malacca Straits for the transport of their energy supplies."
A tip-off from Indias Intelligence Bureau (IB) has put the US embassy and its environs on alert over a threat to American diplomats from an Islamic group based in Ramallah, according to the Times of India.
(DEBKAfiles counter-terror sources add: Monday night, May 15, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a wing of Mahmoud Abbas Fatah, announced it was expanding its suicide operations to American targets outside the Middle East.)
Tuesday night, the IB asked police to sensitize all staff responsible for the security of all US establishments in the city. The warning added that a very important American citizen based in Delhi is the likely target of an attack that may take place either at the airport or the embassy itself. This is the first time the Indian agency has tipped off the Delhi police about a threat from a group involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The input which suggested suicide bombings talks about some men owing allegiance to a West Bank-based Islamic group planning to target US nationals in the city, said an Indian police officer, If need be, we will deploy more men. DEBKAfile adds: Following the threat, security has also been beefed up around the Indian embassy in Israel and its staff.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2006 08:52 ||
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DERA GHAZI KHAN: A fire broke out late on Monday in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) premises, extinguished by the fire brigades departments of several districts after nine hours, sources said. Authorities are of the view that a short circuit could have spread the fire. However, they have yet to identify the real cause. More than 20 vehicles of the fire brigade departments of Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, and the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited managed to extinguish the fire after a nine-hour struggle. Authorities also closed down the DG Khan-Quetta highway and an emergency was declared in the area. No one was allowed to enter or come near the PAEC premises, except for the fire brigade vehicles. The authorities barred even the Punjab Police from taking part in the rescue operation with the area around the PAEC office and plant on fire. Sources said that losses from the fire were rumoured to be in millions but officials were yet to give a figure. A little more from KUNA:
PAEC officials told KUNA that the blaze erupted on Monday night in Dera Ghazi Khan district. They said it was not known what set off the fire. Official said fire brigades had been called to vanquish the fire, adding, "Once the fire is put off, thorough investigations would be launched." According to the eyewitnesses blaze clouds could be seen from far away. They said the fire has spread to more than two kilometers of area. A senior PAEC official, on the condition of anonymity, said that though the fire has engulfed large area and is spreading with speed but PAEC installations are unharmed. He said the army is responsible for the security of PAEC and its installations. He added that the fire has been controlled and hoped to vanquish it completely soon.
On March 28, 2006, the government of Pakistan announced the appointment of Anwar Ali as the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Ali is the most senior scientist at the organization, where he has served for 39 years. During that time, he played a central role in the creation of Pakistans nuclear weapons and solid-fueled missile programs - and allegedly participated in at least one smuggling operation to obtain specialized equipment for Pakistans uranium enrichment program. A physicist by training, Ali has had career assignments which include working at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), where he served as one of the directors and carried out work, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan, having "fundamental significance" - a euphemism for working on nuclear weapons at the facility. [1]
Posted by: john ||
05/17/2006 7:06 Comments ||
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That's what they get for selling that stuff to Syria!!
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials believe the huge quantity of arms and explosives that were seized in Aurangabad and Nasik, were smuggled into the country in from Afghanistan via Pakistan. This was revealed to ATS officials by the arrested terrorists alleged to be belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) during interrogation. The police are now investigating the exact source of the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles and RDX seized from the accused.
The 100-odd hand grenades recovered from Nasik on Saturday were manufactured in China and stuffed with RDX-variety explosives, said ATS officers, speaking on condition of anonymity The explosive stuffing of the grenades was of superior quality with a fairly large effective casualty radius the officers said. According to the police, some of the AK-47 rifles are new, and some appear to be used. The make of the rifles are of Chinese origin and are similar to those used by militants in Afghanistan.
ATS officials also claim that the arms were meant for creating disturbances in Maharashtra and Gujarat and the police were on the look out for Zamiruddin Ansari, the mastermind who is believed to be an active member of LeT. State Director General of Polife P.S. Pasricha said the terror racket was busted because of the top quality work by the ATS and the police and added that it was a big jolt to the terrorist group. The terrorists were using smart methods as they had hidden grenades in mango boxes while RDX and rifles were concealed in computer CPUs. Some of the terrorists are computer proficient and know how to use e-mails. Pasricha, however, stopped short of naming the terror outfit and said it was the handiwork of foreign elements. The seizure of hand grenades is enough evidence that the terrorists wanted to generate terror and disturbances in communally sensitive areas, Pasricha said.
Even though the arrested terrorists are suspected to be associated with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) all indications point to the fact that the terrorists were guided by the leadership of LeT and Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officers, said an ATS official.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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...all indications point to the fact that the terrorists were guided by the leadership of LeT and Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officers.... Who just also happen to be friends and protectors of OBL.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/17/2006 2:59 Comments ||
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smuggled into the country in from Afghanistan via Pakistan.
Pakistan to Afghanistan to Pakistan to India?
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2006 8:12 Comments ||
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Weapons recycling. It keeps them out of the land-fills.
#5
Concealing grenades in mango boxes and rifles within computer CPU's sounds like they were packaged for shipping, rather than packed over the overland mountainous routes suggested through Pakistan. I'd look closer at Karachi and the traditional sea smuggling routes.
#6
If all the shit was made in China, Why don't they go talk to the Chinese? Ask them if there is anybody they won't sell arms to.
The first experience the Indian army had with the AK-47 was on the receiving end.
It was at the hand of Naga rebels, all armed with Chinese supplied Kalashnikovs. The Indian soldiers were armed with bolt action WW2 issue rifles.
The Chinese will claim they sold the arms to the Pakistan government and tell the Indians to take it up with Perv.
Posted by: john ||
05/17/2006 15:03 Comments ||
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RAIPUR: Twelve civilians, including four women, returning from a wedding were killed in central India on Tuesday when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted by Maoist rebels, police said. The blast took place in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra state, a few miles from its border with Chhattisgarh, a region infested with left-wing extremists.
The jeep carrying the victims was part of a convoy of four vehicles returning to Pakhanjoor town in Chhattisgarh from a wedding in Gadhchiroli, police said. They said police teams from the two states had launched a hunt for the rebels in the jungles in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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Unidentified tribesmen shot dead two khasadar (tribal police) personnel in Miranshahs main bazaar late on Monday night. The attackers fled the scene after stealing the khasadars weapons.
Also, MNA Maulana Nek Zaman told Daily Times on Tuesday that for the jirga (tribal council) that the government plans to form to be successful, all tribesmen arrested by security agencies would have to be released. He said about 50 tribesmen were being held at detention centres being run by intelligence agencies in Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar.
As usual, making their demands before the talks start. Next having their demands met will be a condition of the talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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Release the right halves before the pow wow. The left halves later.
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2006 7:28 Comments ||
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Four top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists suspected to be involved in recent incidents of violence in Doda district in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir were shot dead by the Indian security forces Tuesday morning. The terrorists were killed near Banihal, about 200 km north of Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar, after a three-hour shootout, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of the encounter. This is the first major killing of terrorists after the May 1 massacre of 22 people in Doda district, the agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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Eight foreign militants were killed and one was captured alive in an operation of Pakistan army Tuesday in North Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said an official. Federal Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, talking to newsmen at a press conference here said a security forces personnel was also killed in the fight.
According to media reports at least three soldiers were killed in the fight. He said about 600 terrorists are still operating in the tribal area of North and South Waziristan. However, the interior minister strongly refuted any knowledge about whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and denied his presence in Pakistan, offering anyone having such knowledge, to inform us.
Latest upsurge of violence on the turbulent Iraqi arena has claimed some 25 lives. The American Army said in a statement, released on Tuesday, that two US soldiers died in a blast that ripped through a military patrol in Salah Eddine governorate north of Baghdad on Monday. Earlier, it was reported that a US soldier died in an identical incident in southern Baghdad. Iraqi police said 19 people died and 30 were wounded in an explosion of a booby-trapped car east of Baghdad. The explosives-laden vehicle blew up near a crowded bazar.
Meanwhile, the American Army said in a statement that US troops on patrol aboard a helicopter gunship shot dead a gunman who was trying, along with two other armed men, to plant explosives southwest of the Iraqi capital. The aerial scouting American force shot dead the gunman but the two others fled the scene, but one of them was later arrested by US ground troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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A Kurdish insurgent was killed on Tuesday in clashes between the Turkish security forces and Kurdish insurgents in northeastern Turkey. A government press release said clashes erupted when the Turkish forces opened fire on a group of Kurdistan Workers Party members who refused to obey orders, noting that the Turkish Army is still executing operations in the area.
The Turkish government blames the Kurdish party for the death of 30,000 people since the beginning of Kurdish armed campaigns in 1984 to establish an independent region in southwestern Turkey. During the past few months, a score of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish insurgents were killed in clashes, while Kurdish gunmen planted bombs in Istanbul that claimed a score of lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomatic representative here Tuesday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told KUNA. The source added that the UAE diplomat Naji al-Nuaimi was kidnapped while he was visiting the residence of the UAE cultural attache' in the neighborhood of Al-Mansur west of the Iraqi capital. The source added that the gunmen shot dead the attache's bodyguard, a Sudanese, before kidnapping the diplomat. The kidnapping happened close to the congested Clock restaurant area. The source concluded that the Iraqi police cordoned off the accident spot and the Mansour suburb for further investigations.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Kidnapping other Arabs? Wouldn't that make one an
"Apostate"?
At least 14 people were killed and 33 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a packed market in Baghdad's Al-Shaab district on Tuesday, an Iraqi interior ministry source said. Several women and children were among the dead in the attack, which targeted a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of the capital. Gunmen fired on the crowd just before the bombing and fled, leaving behind a car which then exploded, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 00:00 ||
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Popcorn! Scorecards! Ice cold beer!
GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the deployment of thousands of Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the new Hamas government, in a challenge to his authority, posted its own armed contingent on the streets.
A senior Palestinian security official said the deployment, to be fully implemented by Thursday, would be the largest since police fanned out ahead of last year's Israeli pullout from the impoverished coastal territory after 38 years of occupation.
Both Abbas and the Hamas interior minister said they sought to stem bloodshed by rival Gaza gunmen. But with the security forces' loyalties often divided between Hamas and Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction, further violence remained possible.
"Police forces have already begun deployment and in the coming hours national security forces will follow. We expect the deployment to be completed by morning," the Palestinian security official told Reuters.
Hours earlier, Interior Minister Saeed Seyam declared a Hamas-led, 3,000-member police force operational. About 30 of its men, armed and wearing military fatigues with Islamist insignia, patrolled central Gaza and the strip's main highway.
Seyam told reporters the new contingent would tackle the "chaos and anarchy and increasing assaults on our people," an apparent reference to violence that included the killing of two Hamas militants by Gaza gunmen in the past two days.
Abbas had opposed the deployment of the Hamas-led force.
Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman, called on Seyam to "retract a hasty decision that may lead our people to catastrophe." Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh later met leaders of his Hamas faction and Fatah to try to calm tensions.
ABBAS STRUGGLING FOR PEACE, POWER
Abbas has been struggling to revive peacemaking with Israel since the hard-line Hamas crushed Fatah in January elections.
The ascent to power of an Islamist group sworn to the Jewish state's destruction drew swift economic sanctions from abroad.
Western donor nations, demanding Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing interim peace agreements, have cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority, leaving 165,000 government employees unpaid since March.
The deepening poverty in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood, has spread fresh rancor against Hamas.
Hundreds of government workers blocked the main road in the West Bank city of Ramallah, demanding their wages. "Haniyeh, we have no bread at home," members of crowd shouted.
Three gunmen were killed and a dozen people hurt in violence between Fatah and Hamas last week fueled by a power struggle between his loyalists and Haniyeh supporters.
Seyam said attacks by "armed gangs" were part of "a plot to destabilize the Palestinian territories and match the pressure being applied on the government." He said security services he oversees had been unwilling or unable to implement his orders.
Just hours after Seyam's announcement, members of the force ejected students from Education Ministry offices in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, where they were protesting against exam fees, witnesses said.
In fresh violence in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot dead two Islamic Jihad militants.
#1
3,000 more babies expecting to suck at the infidel welfare tit. The one that's drying out because it funds only violence. Adding these "employees" will surely get that milk flowing again, won't it?
#2
Listen, it's in our best interest at RB to diversify into more wholesome snacks. This Popcorn bubble could ruin us. Chicken wings and tiny carrots have their place.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2006 19:25 Comments ||
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#4
I'm having trouble figuring out who to root for here. The home team? The brazen upstarts? The well-armed psychotic loonies? And how to tell who is who?
#7
Well, this Gaza intermural action is like watching bears and dogs tear each other apart for amusement in Olde England (a number of centuries ago). It's not the team, it's the process.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/17/2006 22:46 Comments ||
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GAZA, May 17 - Gunmen shot dead a Hamas militant in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday in a Gaza refugee camp, medics and Hamas sources said.
I love the smell of popcorn in the morning
It was the second such killing since Tuesday amid growing internal violence in the Gaza Strip fuelled by a power struggle between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
Medics said that gunmen shot the Hamas man on Wednesday as they passed him in a car in Jabalya refugee camp, and that he died later in hospital. Hamas sources confirmed the death.
"He's dead, Jim"
In a similar incident on Tuesday, unidentified Palestinian gunmen shot dead a senior member of Hamass military wing, as he drove his car in Gaza city, medics and a security source said. There were no claims of responsibility for either shooting.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/17/2006 09:21 ||
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#1
Tried to put the hit on old Abu Mazen and got skunked by Mossad(weird when you think about it). Now its time to pay the bill.
The Hamas government on Wednesday afternoon began deploying dozens of members of a new security unit made up of militants, despite a veto by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas....
Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas announced earlier Wednesday that the unit would begin operations [actually the unit has been operating for weeks without being formally commissioned]. "In line with my authority, I announce the beginning of the work of the executive unit that was formed recently to protect the security of the citizens and their property," Siyam told a news conference....
Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman, called on Siyam to "retract a hasty decision that may lead our people to catastrophe....
In a separate incident Tuesday night, masked gunmen in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza shot and critically wounded another senior member of Hamas's military wing and wounded a second Hamas member, witnesses said. Vowing to punish the killers of the two Hamas gunmen, Hamas's Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades [actually it was Marwan Abu Ras] ,said Wednesday: "The identities of the traitors are known to us and we will chase them down ... and sever the hand that harms us."
#1
I see nothing at all here to indicate that palestine will EVER be a viable state. I'm glad they elected HAMAS, now we arent going to pay any more. There are people in this world who could build themselves a decent life if they had just a little help. The paleos arent them. They havent accomplished shit in 50 years, they are still living in refugee camps and eating govt. cheese.
Actually, the hardworking Palestinian offspring have been out-migrating for half a century. They're to be found throughout the Middle East and in the U.S. (and presumably elsewhere), working quietly and sending back a portion of their wages to support the folks back home. Like the Mexicans, this buys big houses and small business. Unlike the Mexicans, also things that go boom. One likely young lad gave Mr. Wife Arabic lessons between visits to the factories of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
#4
In a certain sense, the Paleo terrorists have succeeded in basically making their entire population human shields. But while doing this they have made their entire population poor, desparate and demented.
The Hamas vs. Fatah action today is merely the continuation of a long running crips vs blood kind of thing. It is indicative of what could happen in east LA someday if current trends are not reversed.
The black flags of Islamic Jihad flutter from rooftop TV antennas in the warrens of the refugee camp in Tulkarem, and graffiti scrawled on cinderblock walls proclaim eternal struggle against Israel. "Islamic Jihad is a volcano on which no grass grows," reads one. "Greetings to all Palestinian prisoners from the Islamic Jihad movement," declares another. Up a steep alley covered in mule droppings, two teenage bodyguards with matching black T-shirts and pistols in their belts lead me to the hideout of the local cell commander. "Welcome," said Ghaleb Ismail Shaafi, a slight 20-year-old with a baby face and an overbite. He ushers me into a small living room and gestures for me to sit on a battered sofa. Posters of martyred leaders of the movement, all of them killed during Israeli military incursions, cover the walls. "We are not part of the tehdiya," he tells me, referring to the state of calm that has existed for the past year between Israel and Hamas, the ruling authority of the West Bank and Gaza. "As long as Israel keeps attacking us, we will attack them back."
Hamas may have suspended its operations against Israel and refocused its efforts on governance. But for the bloodied remnants of Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa intifada never ended. Despite the near-completion of the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank, and the jailing and killing of thousands of militants in the last four years, the group has refused to join the Hamas ceasefire, and teenage martyrs continue to sneak across the Green Line. The group has carried out seven suicide bombings in the past year, including an April 17 attack on a Tel Aviv schwarma stand that killed nine Israelis.
Islamic Jihad's terror campaign has deepened the sense of crisis inside the Palestinian territories, which have lost billions of dollars in Western aid since Hamas came to power. Nominally responsible for policing their former partners in terror, Hamas officials have instead applauded the bombings. Their statements have fueled suspicions that Hamas is using Islamic Jihad as a surrogate for killing Israelis, and made it even more unlikely that the international community will rescue the bankrupt government. Security forces and other civil servants have gone unpaid for two months; internal checkpoints, blockades, and Israeli raids in the West Bank continue. And that may explain why, despite Hamas's continued rhetorical support, the general public has begun to swing against Islamic Jihad and its suicide bombers.
Ibrahim Ajami says that he tried to give his son, Suheib, a normal life. In the waning days of the intifada, with Hamas in power and the tehdiya in place, Ajami believed that the lure of militancy had faded for the young people of Attil, the Palestinian village where he lives. Ajami, a blacksmith, encouraged his son to finish his studies at the local high school and the teenager seemed headed for a career as a nurse. But Luay Al Sadi, a veteran militant from Attil, was quietly recruiting village teenagers into an Islamic Jihad cell.
On July 14, 2005, an 18-year-old classmate of Suheib's named Ahmed Sameh strapped on a suicide belt, penetrated the security barrier, and blew himself in Netanya, killing five Israelis. "Suheib could not believe that Ahmed would do such a thing," his father told me. "He said, 'Is he crazy? What is the reason? What happened to him?'" But shortly afterward, Suheib began spending evenings and Friday afternoons with the 18- and 19-year-old recruits of Islamic Jihad. "I warned him, this track you are following is a bad track, it will lead to bad things," Ajami said.
In October, Luay Al Sadi was killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp by Israeli commandos dressed as Arab women. "Suheib's reaction was severe," his father said. Two months later, he approached a checkpoint leading from Tulkarem to Israel. His behavior aroused the troops' suspicion. When they asked him to remove his shirt, he blew himself up, killing two Palestinian bystanders and an Israeli soldier.
Four years ago, at the height of the intifada, 75 percent of the Palestinian population supported suicide bombings, according to polls, and the perpetrators were celebrated in songs and videos that played constantly on Palestinian television. But the mood is different now. Suheib Ajami received the obligatory martyr's funeral in Attil, and local dignitaries paid homage at the gravesite, but there was little glamour attached to his death.
But Ajami says that many parents have pointed to the fates of Suheib and his classmate as cautionary tales. "They are telling their kids that belonging to an armed group guarantees a bad end," he told me. "There are two options, prison or death." What's more, many Palestinians have begun to blame Islamic Jihad for their sorry living conditions. "For normal people, Islamic Jihad is not popular," Ajami told me. "My neighbors tell me, 'Look at our lives now, because of your son.'"
The Israeli Defense Forces are pursuing the remnants of Islamic Jihad relentlessly, and sometimes killing civilians in the process. Earlier this month, troops shot dead a 41-year-old woman and injured her two daughters during a gun battle with a top militant in a house in Tulkarem. But the onslaught continues. Eighty-two bombers, most of them from Islamic Jihad, have tried to pass through breaches in the Jerusalem barrer since January, according to Israel's State Attorney's Office, including the 16-year-old who blew himself up at the schwarma stand in Tel Aviv last month. The group's continuing infiltrations have made completion of the wall surrounding Jerusalem one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's priorities.
Ghaled Ismail Shaafi, the Tulkarem refugee camp commander, says, "We will always find ways of getting through." But Shaafi's own mobility seems to have diminished recently. After years of running from Israeli troops, the 20-year-old has wound up hiding out at the home of his parents. They are unenthusiastic about providing him with a sanctuary. "I tried twice to give him up to the Israeli soldiers, but he ran away each time," Shaafi's mother told me, as her son looked on with a stony expression. "I say, 'All of your friends have been killed or arrested. Your turn is next.' He says, 'I cannot change my ways.'"
The few Islamic Jihad militants left seem to know that they're fighting a hopeless war. A high-school dropout who joined Islamic Jihad when he was 15, at the start of the Al Aqsa intifada, Shaafi has attended "hundreds of funerals" in the past few years, he told me. Of his four immediate predecessors, two were shot dead by Israeli commandos; two languish in Israeli prisons. The entire generation of Islamic Jihad members over the age of 25 in the camp has been wiped out.
Shaafi and his cell of teenage fighters spend their days searching for guns and ammunition, their nights taking potshots at Israeli troops and running from hideout to hideout. "We have to stay as thorns in the Israelis' throats," he said, sipping tea and chain smoking cigarettes as his bodyguards looked on. Besides, he said, "After five years of this, we don't know how to lead a normal life."
#2
Better these bozos spend their days digging for roots to eat or walking 2 hours to their nonexistant jobs instead of looking for ammo or taking pot shots.
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2006 6:59 Comments ||
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#3
"For normal people, Islamic Jihad is not popular," Ajami told me. "My neighbors tell me, 'Look at our lives now, because of your son.'"
Good. Some are starting to figure it out.
"I tried twice to give him up to the Israeli soldiers, but he ran away each time," Shaafi's mother told me, as her son looked on with a stony expression.
Ouch. He worked to earn it, but still ouch.
Oh, and I made a big batch of popcorn, with lots of butter and salt. Enjoy!
#4
thanks ryuge for getting behind the tnr barrier
I doubt the woman really said that she tried to give her son to the Israelis (especially in front of her son). If she actually said this she would probably be killed.
Posted by: ed ||
05/17/2006 8:54 Comments ||
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#6
Hatred is not inborn, but learned. Virtually from the day they are born, palestinian children are taught that Jews are devils, conniving, liars, murderers, infidels, and accursed by 'Allah'. A popular urban legend there says Jews come out at night and kidnap palestinian children and either eat them or use them in blood sacrifices. The children's TV shows praise suicide bombers and degrade Jews with cartoon characters. The school teachers and their textbooks are a never-ending diatribe of anti-semitism.
Now this father acts 'surprised' that his son went into the 'jihad'. The NERVE of these people.
#7
lets not overlook the benefits of the Israeli strategy of specifically targeting Islamic Jihad, while trying to minimize civilian casualties, and taking it easy on "militants" from groups not as actively taking part (at least for now) in terror against Israel. This has driven IJ into the ground, but at the same time made it clear that you can AVOID death IF you avoid IJ.
Good for the IDF, and a policy that is tough, but nuanced.
#10
"We have to stay as thorns in the Israelis' throats," ...
The entire generation of Islamic Jihad members over the age of 25 in the camp has been wiped out.
If only the Israelites would have obeyed in the time of Joshua, but better late than never when it comes to eliminating thorns and their seed:)
#11
"I tried twice to give him up to the Israeli soldiers, but he ran away each time," Shaafi's mother told me, as her son looked on with a stony expression. "I say, 'All of your friends have been killed or arrested. Your turn is next.' He says, 'I cannot change my ways.'"
#13
"If they are having so much trouble with paleos slipping throught the portals and blowing up, why dont they just seal off the portals, all of them."
The Israeli Supreme Court is currently holding things up, but once the route is approved all the gaps should be filled. More info is on the Haaretz site.
"After five years of this, we don't know how to lead a normal life."
Indeed, son. That's why you're gonna start killing each other once the Israelis are out of reach.
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian terrorists militants during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian security sources and medics said. They said the two terrorists gunmen were killed during an exchange of gunfire with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Nablus.
An Israeli military source said soldiers had identified hitting three terrorists gunmen inside a building in the city which a force had encircled trying to arrest a wanted terrorist militant inside. It was not clear at this stage which group the terrorists gunmen belonged to.
Nor, to be honest, does it really matter.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2006 00:07 ||
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#1
How stupid does a person need to be to become a militantgunmanactivist terrorist?
I mean, what good does it do to shoot it out with an army -- literally an ARMY, not police -- surrounding you? With bulldozers.
Two vehicles belonging to Fatah activists were destroyed in a remote-controlled bomb explosion in Al-Zaytoun province in Gaza early this morning. Palestinian security officials said "unknown men planted bombs in the cars of two Fatah activists early this morning ... but no casualties were reported." Palestinian security forces swarmed rushed to the scene and searched in vain for body parts opened an investigation, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2006 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.
A Canadian soldier was killed during a firefight with insurgents that occurred approximately 24 kilometres west of Kandahar. The incident occurred at approximately 6:55 p.m. Kandahar time (10: 25 a.m. EDT) on 17 May. Killed was Captain Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard who was serving with Task Force Afghanistan as part of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI) Battle Group. Captain Goddard was stationed with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Manitoba; her next-of-kin have been notified.
The repatriation of Captain Goddards remains is now being planned.Capt Goddard was engaged in a significant operation, one in which Canadian soldiers were in support of Afghan authorities, when she was killed. That operation was a clearance operation by Afghan security personnel in Kandahar province north of the Arghandab River and west of Kandahar City.
Five people, including three policemen and two government officials, have been killed and eight others wounded in fresh violence in the troubled southern parts of of Afghanistan last night. About two dozen Taliban fighters attacked a police post in Yaqubee district of Khost province killing two policemen and injuring seven others. The attackers fired several rockets on the police post in the wee hours on Tuesday which resulted in killing of two cops, said a police officer introducing himself as Wazir Bacha. Bacha said two militants were also killed in exchange of fire. He said a search operation had been launched in the area and so far a dozen suspects had been apprehended. 
Sheik Aweys, a prominent Somali cleric and one of key founders of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu now conducts plans to regroup his Islamic militiamen after fierce street battles with militia of warlords in the capital leaving more casualties amongthe civilians. Last week, 
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- At least five judges were wounded when an attorney opened fire in Turkey's top administrative court, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency. The judges were holding a daily meeting on Wednesday morning when the gunman burst into court's second chamber and fired his weapon. Police captured him as he tried to escape. The incident took place in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
US military authorities have suspended a military trial of a Saudi "war on terror" detainee after a US court ordered a stay until the Supreme Court rules on whether the trials are legal. Hearings into the case of 
DERA GHAZI KHAN: A fire broke out late on Monday in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) premises, extinguished by the fire brigades departments of several districts after nine hours, sources said. Authorities are of the view that a short circuit could have spread the fire. However, they have yet to identify the real cause. More than 20 vehicles of the fire brigade departments of Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, and the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited managed to extinguish the fire after a nine-hour struggle. Authorities also closed down the DG Khan-Quetta highway and an emergency was declared in the area. No one was allowed to enter or come near the PAEC premises, except for the fire brigade vehicles. The authorities barred even the Punjab Police from taking part in the rescue operation with the area around the PAEC office and plant on fire. Sources said that losses from the fire were rumoured to be in millions but officials were yet to give a figure.
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials believe the huge quantity of arms and explosives that were seized in Aurangabad and Nasik, were smuggled into the country in from Afghanistan via Pakistan. This was revealed to ATS officials by the arrested terrorists alleged to be belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) during interrogation. The police are now investigating the exact source of the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles and RDX seized from the accused.
RAIPUR: Twelve civilians, including four women, returning from a wedding were killed in central India on Tuesday when their vehicle ran over a landmine planted by Maoist rebels, police said. The blast took place in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra state, a few miles from its border with Chhattisgarh, a region infested with left-wing extremists. 
Unidentified tribesmen shot dead two khasadar (tribal police) personnel in Miranshahs main bazaar late on Monday night. The attackers fled the scene after stealing the khasadars weapons. 
Four top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists suspected to be involved in recent incidents of violence in Doda district in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir were shot dead by the Indian security forces Tuesday morning. The terrorists were killed near Banihal, about 200 km north of Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar, after a three-hour shootout, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the site of the encounter. This is the first major killing of terrorists after the May 1 massacre of 22 people in Doda district, the agency reported.
Eight foreign militants were killed and one was captured alive in an operation of Pakistan army Tuesday in North Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said an official. Federal Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, talking to newsmen at a press conference here said a security forces personnel was also killed in the fight. 
Latest upsurge of violence on the turbulent Iraqi arena has claimed some 25 lives. The American Army said in a statement, released on Tuesday, that two US soldiers died in a blast that ripped through a military patrol in Salah Eddine governorate north of Baghdad on Monday. Earlier, it was reported that a US soldier died in an identical incident in southern Baghdad. Iraqi police said 19 people died and 30 were wounded in an explosion of a booby-trapped car east of Baghdad. The explosives-laden vehicle blew up near a crowded bazar. 
A Kurdish insurgent was killed on Tuesday in clashes between the Turkish security forces and Kurdish insurgents in northeastern Turkey. A government press release said clashes erupted when the Turkish forces opened fire on a group of Kurdistan Workers Party members who refused to obey orders, noting that the Turkish Army is still executing operations in the area.
Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomatic representative here Tuesday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told KUNA. The source added that the UAE diplomat Naji al-Nuaimi was kidnapped while he was visiting the residence of the UAE cultural attache' in the neighborhood of Al-Mansur west of the Iraqi capital. The source added that the gunmen shot dead the attache's bodyguard, a Sudanese, before kidnapping the diplomat. The kidnapping happened close to the congested Clock restaurant area. The source concluded that the Iraqi police cordoned off the accident spot and the Mansour suburb for further investigations.
At least 14 people were killed and 33 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a packed market in Baghdad's Al-Shaab district on Tuesday, an Iraqi interior ministry source said. Several women and children were among the dead in the attack, which targeted a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of the capital. Gunmen fired on the crowd just before the bombing and fled, leaving behind a car which then exploded, the source said.
GAZA, May 17 - Gunmen shot dead a Hamas militant in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday in a Gaza refugee camp, medics and Hamas sources said. 
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian 
wo vehicles belonging to Fatah activists were destroyed in a remote-controlled bomb explosion in Al-Zaytoun province in Gaza early this morning. Palestinian security officials said "unknown men planted bombs in the cars of two Fatah activists early this morning ... but no casualties were reported." Palestinian security forces 
