By night, the troops brace for Taliban mortar attacks. By day, they carry heavy gear and weapons over rocky ledges in scorching heat, stopping only to rehydrate, sometimes with the help of intravenous drips.
Life with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment in southern Afghanistan is a battle not only against a stealthy and stubborn enemy but against some of the earth's harshest natural elements.
"I am hungry, thirsty and dirty. Welcome to my world," said Sgt. 1st Class Gonzalo Lassally, 31, of Deltona, Fla.
Lassally is among the scores of U.S. soldiers dug into a sun-bleached peak as part of Operation Mountain Thrust. It is the largest offensive against the Taliban since the government of that radical Islamic group was ousted nearly five years ago.
The soldiers, part of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, N.Y. - along with three embedded Associated Press journalists - were dropped by helicopters to the remote hilltop in southern Helmand province several days ago.
Their mission is to block Taliban supply and transport routes.
During the past few months, Taliban fighters have stepped up suicide bombings and ambushes across the country, particularly in the south, in a bid to derail Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government.
More than 10,000 American, Canadian, British and Afghan soldiers are participating in Mountain Thrust. They are definitely on hostile turf.
Taliban forces have long held sway in this vast, inhospitable, rocky brown desert. Little but some small cacti survive in daytime temperatures nearing 110 degrees.
Sweat pours off troops carrying dozens of pounds of gear and weaponry up, down and along rocky ledges as they patrol Baghran Valley.
Spc. David Valdiva is beet red from exertion, soaked in sweat and looking near collapse as he lugs 90 pounds of gear, including a 30-pound machine gun. "It's an honor to carry the gun," he says, uncomplainingly.
"I'm just not doing too good today because of the minimal food and water," adds Valdiva, of Altaloma, Calif.
Too much sun and little water have led some troops to give each other IVs to prevent dehydration.
"Williams, you got an IV for me? I think I'm delusional," Cpl. Bradley Courson, 22, of Calcium, N.Y., says to a company medic.
An IV is the fastest way to rehydrate, said company doctor Capt. Peter Muench, 29, of Silver Spring, Md., but he warned against soldier-administered IVs. "Their sterile techniques aren't the best," he said.
Out of about 120 soldiers in the unit, a half-dozen hydrated with IV drips. Lassally had a friend administer an IV on Tuesday, leaving bloody trails on his arms. He said he felt "refreshed" afterward.
Resupply means more hard work.
Dozens of soldiers and one donkey, rented for $10, lugged more than 7,000 pounds of food and water from the valley floor to their mountaintop ridge Thursday. It had been air-dropped by coalition aircraft because no helicopters were available to deliver it closer.
The extra supplies mean the troops get 12 bottles of water to drink per day, instead of eking by on five or six as they had been. They also now have two MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) food packs this day, instead of the one they'd been limited to earlier.
"I hate this place. You can drop the devil here and he'd hate it," said Staff Sgt. Brian Rice, 39, of Eugene, Ore. "I'm pissing orange and they want me to shave with my drinking water. Ain't gonna happen."
AP Television News producer Andrew Drake found shade in a nearby cave, where he set up his equipment.
Company commander Capt. Jared Wilson, 28, of Petaluma, Calif., told the solders before they left on their mission to expect hardship.
"Does it suck carrying all that stuff? Roger that," Wilson said Thursday. "They don't show that in Hollywood. They don't show you getting dehydrated."
The senior noncommissioned officer in the company, 1st Sgt. Russell Jacobs of Edgar, Neb., said the Army is a 24/7 job.
"You bust your ass from time to time," said Jacobs, 46, who is a 21-year Army veteran. "When you're deployed for a year at a time, it's a hard year."
But despite the lack of water, the heavy labor, extreme heat and constant jokes about craving a cold beer, many soldiers stuck on this mountaintop say they love it.
"As much as the Army sucks, I still love it," Lassally says. "When you get put into situations like these, you don't sweat the little stuff anymore."
Temperatures at night drop only to the 80s, too hot for tents, so the troops sleep under stars that seem particularly bright because of the lack of electricity in the area.
One night this week, soldiers in the valley came under mortar attack. They responded with tracer fire and mortars, and called in air support that targeted two nearby compounds.
The next day, troops trudged down the hill to assess the damage at the compounds, where they believe Taliban militants had removed the bodies of several of their comrades killed in the U.S. counterattack.
An elderly couple living in one of the compounds also died from the U.S. fire. Residents said Taliban forces had taken over the settlement and were using it to plan attacks against U.S. troops. On an adobe wall, troops discovered rough sketches of American positions on the hilltop. I am deeply worried about the dehydration. In the Sonora desert, in summer, in the shade with no work, the demand for water was 5 gallons, per man, per day. And drinking that much, the soldiers still urinated only infrequently. The Marines learned their lesson, and now mandate over-hydration in high temperatures.
#1
I feel for those gentlemen. Never got to that point where I needed an IV, thank God, but working day after day in that kind of heat takes a massive toll.
They've got to be getting some salts in those IV's, right? Getting overhydrated without some salt can produce other problems that can get ugly quick.
#5
The standard high-volume recipe is 1 tsp each salt, sugar and baking soda in one quart of water, for the best rehydration formula. You carry the powder in a small container, then add it to a canteen. Makes the water taste very bland, but you absorb it like a sponge.
From Celestrial Junk Blog:
Graeme Smith of the Globe and Mail put together an audio/slide show that is a must-see for Canadians. When we talk of Canadian and Coalition troops being our heroes; and the best that our countries have to offer -- watch the slide show for the reason. (Well done)
#1
Good on ya Canucks, Support Isreal- Fight Terrorism!
Psa 37:34 Trust the LORD and follow him. He will give you the land, and you will see the wicked destroyed. JJ
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and coalition forces killed about 82 militants in multiple assaults across southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday. On Friday, troops fought more than 40 extremists during a five-hour gunbattle after receiving enemy fire near the village of Mirabad, northeast of the capital in southern Uruzgan province, the military said in a statement.
Most of the militants, who were firing from hidden positions in an orchard, ridgeline and compound near Mirabad, were believed killed, the coalition said. No coalition or civilian injuries were reported.
In a separate assault, Afghan and coalition forces battled a large group of militants in the Zharie district of Kandahar province, killing about 25 during the three hours of fighting. "Several extremists broke contact by using innocent Afghan civilians as shields to escape into nearby villages," the statement said.
Late Friday, the coalition reported that another 17 insurgents had been killed when an enemy bunker had been destroyed in Uruzgan province on Wednesday.
Posted by: john ||
06/24/2006 08:30 ||
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#1
This so rocks. I hope the talibums decide to have an all out attack so we can clean it up once and for all.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/24/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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#2
"Several extremists broke contact by using innocent Afghan civilians as shields to escape into nearby villages,"
I'm surprised that AP even reported this. Waiting for the outrage..5..4..3..
#4
"Several extremists broke contact by using innocent Afghan civilians as shields to escape into nearby villages," the statement said.
Old Islamic tactic.
This is why the MSM, Murtha, Kerry, and Kennedy makes such an outrage out of haditha and other 'incidents'. To tie our soldier's hands and enable the terrorists to use this type of tactic.
You don't think the MSM and the other traitors would blame the terrorists for the deaths if the civilian sheilds were killed do you? They would bring the soldiers up on charges and hail the terrorists as the good guys.
I can hear Murtha now: "Our soldiers murdered the civilians in cold blood while the militants were trying to take them out of harms way!"
#7
Anybody worked out the total raisin count for Operation Mount and Thrust? Could be time for a totaliser.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/24/2006 12:44 Comments ||
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#8
In 3 weeks to June 11, about 500 Taliban got whacked, or 36,000 virgin equivalents. Probably another 3-400 in the 2 weeks since then. Afghan toll: 500 deaths in 3 weeks
Posted by: ed ||
06/24/2006 13:18 Comments ||
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#9
C'mon. Our guys were successful. CNN/Murtha/Kennedy et al will never mention this, ever.
Now if an innocent bunny, kitten or baby duck was hurt, they might.
US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they have killed at least 65 Taleban terrorists militants in recent offensives in the south. Coalition and Afghan forces attacked a large group of terrorists militants and fought a three-hour battle in Zharie district in Kandahar province on Friday.
Troops fought a five-hour battle on the same day with Taleban terrorists fighters in neighbouring Uruzgan province. A statement released by US-led coalition forces and the Afghan National Army said that in the fighting in Zharie district several terrorists militants ran away fled to nearby villages and took civilians with them as human shields.
Brave, brave, Lions of Islam.
It said that around 40 terrorists insurgents were killed in the fighting in Uruzgan province after troops exchanged fire for more than five hours with terrorists extremists hiding in an orchard north-east of Tirin Kot, the Uruzgan capital.
The Afghan army commander for the south, Gen Rahmatullah Raufi, confirmed to AFP news agency that a battle had taken place in the area. He said about 20 Taleban terrorists members were killed and 18 wounded. The general said three coalition soldiers were hurt in the clash. Rifles, machine guns and five rocket-launchers were seized.
Last week, coalition forces announced a major offensive, codenamed "Operation Mountain Thrust", against Taleban positions in the south. Military officials say the operation has seen significant attacks on Taleban hideouts. "The Afghan National Army and coalition forces continue to demonstrate how well they work together to defeat our common enemies," coalition spokesman Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick said. "Afghan and coalition forces will continue to place heavy pressure on Taleban terrorists insurgents hiding in southern Afghanistan in support of Operation Mountain Thrust."
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/24/2006 08:10 ||
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#2
Is there a bag limit during season? Do they have to measure the size and throw back the young ones? If you only wound one, do you have to track it down?
#3
"violence has soared" - without mentioning their dead allies the Taliban compose the large majority feeling the consequences....knew it was the BBC or NYT without looking....yep, BBC
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2006 9:33 Comments ||
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#4
The violence against the Taliban can continue soaring, until their lackk of numbers makes it drop.
#5
Let them keep coming as fast as possible while we have sufficient firepower in the area. Anything to remove this gene pool from humanity before it spreads further.
#6
I think the proper photo for this article would be a squashed cockroach, not a live one. We seem to be squashing the talibunny cockroaches at a fairly high level.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/24/2006 15:08 Comments ||
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#10
6 I think the proper photo for this article would be a squashed cockroach, not a live one. We seem to be squashing the talibunny cockroaches at a fairly high level.
Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-06-24 15:08
Patroit: Don't recommend using a Georgia roach, too large an image for most laptop monitors.
I'm including Sergeant Mcgough in my Heroes of the War on Terror category, though I normally only select Americans. This man was one of the heroes that created a legend, and he deserves our repect and admiration.
Sergeant Paul "Scruff" Mcgough, who has died aged 41, was a member of the Special Boat Service unit which took part in the siege of Qala-i-Janghi, Afghanistan, one of the most highly decorated missions in the recent history of the British special forces. In November 2001 McGough was with C Company, SBS, when it flew unannounced into the former Soviet airbase at Bagram. A key strategic objective in north-east Afghanistan, it was disputed by thousands of Afghan government fighters, and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, led by the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. Though vastly outnumbered, the SBS held the huge airbase for a day and a night, to the fury of both armies, and to the chagrin of the Americans, who had expected to be first there.
Once relieved by the much larger US 10th Mountain Division and Delta Force (the American equivalent of the SAS) McGough, in local dress, undertook intelligence-gathering patrols in the mountains. On November 25, as his team returned to the Anglo-American special forces base in the newly captured town of Mazar-i-Sharif, McGough heard the sound of battle at Dostum's sprawling headquarters in the mud-built prison-fortress of Qala-i-Jangi, known as the "Fort of War".
Several hundred prisoners had revolted while being interrogated by the CIA, and, overpowering their Northern Alliance guards, armed themselves with AK47s, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades from Dostum's huge armoury. They killed Captain "Mike" Spann, a former member of the US Marine Corps with the CIA, and cornered another agent, Dave Dawson, in a blockhouse. McGough was one of eight SBS men in two armed Land Rovers under a British commander, and nine US special forces, led by Major Mark Mitchell, who raced to prevent the Taliban from breaking out of the jail to retake Mazar-i-Sharif.
Side note: this is the battle where they found young John Walker Lindh, and picked up one of the recent GTMO suiciders (a Soddy, naturellement)....
Using only Leatherman handtools, McGough and a comrade stripped two general purpose machine-guns (known as "jimpies") from their vehicle mountings and carried them with ammunition to the ramparts. McGough stood silhouetted against the sky firing his heavy jimpy from the hip to halt a determined charge by scores of screaming warriors, despite a hail of bullets which tore up the battlements under his feet. Next he and another SBS man set alight three pick-up trucks. As the guns in the fort fell silent for first time since the battle had started, Dawson made his escape.
McGough's action marked a turning point, and for two days he and the other seven SBS men displayed extraordinary heroism in the face of hundreds of fanatical Taliban. A man of few words, he chain-smoked while repelling charges by the tribesmen for several days until the US Special Forces called in air strikes.
Chief Petty Officer Stephen Bass (USN), who was attached to the SBS, received the Navy Cross from the American President and the Military Cross from the Queen. Mitchell received the US Distinguished Service Cross from his government, and two SBS men received the British Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. Despite reports to the contrary no Britons received any foreign awards, and McGough, though rumoured to have been recommended for the award of the Military Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor, received a mention in dispatches.
True to the cloak of secrecy which surrounds all operations of the SBS, whose motto is "By Strength and Guile", little else is known about Paul McGough. He was one of the most respected men to serve with the SBS and fought in Operation Barras during September 2000, when 11 members of the Royal Irish Regiment and a Sierra Leonean soldier were being held hostage by "the West Side Boys", former members of the Sierra Leone Army. Some of McGough's exploits were described in Damien Lewis's Bloody Heroes, published earlier this month. He was killed in a hang gliding accident on Cyprus on June 1, and leaves a widow and children.
#2
Brits are tough f*ckers when raised right. Amen, Sgt
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2006 0:47 Comments ||
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I really cannot let this pass without saying a few words , which definately wont sing the praise of the man high enough.
Firstly , to get into the RM requires strength of character , alot of sweat and a great deal of quick thinking . The CTC (commando training centre) 30 week induction is very tough (the pass rate is extremely low . It used to 40 week when i was younger , it felt like hell .
The RM recruitment site pretty much sums it up nicely:
"You must become an expert in swimming, diving, parachuting, navigation, demolition and, of course, reconnaissance. Great stamina and resourcefulness are needed and only the most resilient succeed."
To get chosen to undertake training to be a part of the SBS requires a very special indivdual with all the right attributes to be a 'free thinking team player' , also one has to be part of the RM for at least 2 years prior . The MoD keep the regiment down to a very small size (250) , which by anyones standards is small . This kinda points out how hard it is to gain the coverted title .
The unit's motto is "Not by strength, by guile" but as the story above reads , both are implemented at all times .
I can only offer my condolances to his family , the Regiment , and spare a few long minutes thinking about the tasks at hand and the insipation this gentleman gives to others .
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/24/2006 12:47 Comments ||
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#8
A great tribute to a tough, smart, battle-savvy man who kept the rest of us safe. We appreciate his dedication and commitment to the rest of us. Many will not acknowledge who he was and his contribution, but there are those that do.
A good man's passing.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/24/2006 14:47 Comments ||
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KANDAHAR: The decapitated bodies of four Afghan men were discovered days after armed men abducted them, an official said on Friday. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the killings. Local residents found two bodies on Thursday near their homes in the southern Zabul provincial district of Shahjoy, and two more near the same area on Friday, said the Zabul governor's spokesman. The men had been kidnapped from the village of Chinoh on Tuesday, Khail said. A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousof Ahmadi, contacted The Associated Press by telephone and said the Taliban killed the men because they had been spying for Afghan and coalition forces. His claim could not be immediately verified.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Kenyan Police in Nairobi are tracking down Somali warlords who are believed to have slipped into the country, East African Standard reported Friday. Teams of Kenyan police detectives was set up to pursue the warlords following the arrest of two Somalia ministers in Wajir Town while they headed to Nairobi on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan placed a ban on the Somali warlords three weeks ago. According to Officials, a directive had been issued to look for the politicians, who were said to be hiding in Nairobi hotels and estates. Kenya's Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali reportedly issued the directive, but no arrest had been made by Thursday evening. The two ministers and their security were detained for flouting immigration rules. Police say plans to repatriate them were under way. The team was urgently set up after it emerged that the arrested officials passed through Wilson Airport before proceeding to a Kenya/Somalia border village.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Two Somali deputy ministers who entered the east African nation unlawfully have been detained by Kenyan authorities. This was confirmed by Kenyas Police spokesman Gideon Kibunjah, Xinhua reported Friday. Gideon confirmed that Abdiqasi Maalim Hassan, who is an assistant minister in the Ministry of Telecommunication, and his Agriculture counterpart Ismail Abdi Mohammed, are being held in Mandera, northern Kenya, for flouting immigration laws. "The two who were arrested while traveling to Nairobi at a police road block in Mandera town on Wednesday are being held by immigration officials," Kibunja said.
The members of the TFG are drawn from the warlords, who were the primary participants in putting the TFG together, as well as the primary impediment to its operation...
However, the two, Somali officials reportedly denied claims that they entered the country illegally, noting that they were on a mission to reconcile the warring clans at the Somalia/Kenya border. "We entered Kenya through Wilson Airport in Nairobi and proceeded to Elwak in Mandera to reconcile the Garre clan of Kenya and the Marihan clan of Somalia," Hassan reportedly said.
"How were we to know that warlords were suddenly persona non grata?"
The arrest comes barely a fortnight after a warlord from Somalia, behind the spate of violence in Mogadishu, was arrested in Nairobi and deported.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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A gunman killed a Swedish cameraman during a pro-Islamic demonstration yesterday in Mogadishu, Somalia. Award-winning journalist Martin Adler was shot in the back at close range. Mr Adler had worked for Channel 4 in the past and spent time in more than two dozen war zones including Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda. More, from AP:
"Martin Adler was one of the most experienced war correspondents in Europe and the world," Anders Gerdin, editor-in-chief of Aftonbladet, said in a statement published in the paper's website. Aftonbladet, which the journalist was on assignment for, also confirms his age as 47.
"He was shot and killed while attending the rally," said Mohamed Amin, a Somali journalist who was at the scene. "He died on the spot." A second witness said a gunman had shot Adler near the heart in deliberate fashion, shortly after the journalist had snapped several still photographs of demonstrators, and that the crowd had scattered in panic. "It was not an accident," the witness told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity citing security fears. "It was an intentional murder by someone who wanted to kill a journalist."
The chairman of the Islamic courts union, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, condemned the killing, saying he was personally very upset. "It is barbaric and we will punish those responsible," he told AFP. "I send my condolences to the family of the deceased, his nation and the agency he was serving. We will take serious action on this matter," Ahmed added. "Those who did this are not responsible people and they don't represent the people of Mogadishu, the Islamic courts or the Somali people."
Fred's right. This man bears watching. RIP, Mr. Adler.
#1
Well it's islam in action you would think the juornalists might get a clue about islam. It's more important to foster hate the US of A than tell the truth about islam for 99.9% of them.
(KUNA) -- A terrorist group on Friday killed five people in Al-Blida east of the capital Algiers including a man of 80 years and a child of 10, an Algerian security source said. The source said the terrorists, a group of six militants, had stopped two cars transporting the victims and set fire to one of the two vehicles with two people inside. The source added two people were able to escape the attackers. All five bodies were taken to the morgue at Blida. Algerian Army forces had just weeks ago combed the area to bolster security and detect any untoward activity.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday the arrest of 42 suspected Islamist militants in raids across the kingdom, a day after police killed six men in a shoot-out in Riyadh. An Interior Ministry statement said 15 of the suspects were arrested after the clash early on Friday in which one policeman was killed and 17 others were wounded. State television said that four men wanted by security forces, including an Iraqi, were arrested in a raid on Saturday at a desert hideout in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten. The raid led to the arrest of nine Saudis "involved in terrorism" who were part of the same group, it said adding that weapons and documents were seized during the operation.
The statement also said that 27 Islamists had been arrested last month in the capital Riyadh, the Muslim holy city of Mecca, the Eastern Province and the northern border region, including 24 Saudis, two Somalis and an Ethiopian. It said the 27 men were involved in "suspicious activities" connected to radical Islamist groups. A security source told Reuters the arrested men and the six killed on Friday were part of a wider militant cell, numbering around 50 people, that had been broken up.
In Friday's incident, police said the three-hour clash began after they surrounded a house to prevent planned attacks. The authorities have given no details of the plans. A wounded suspect arrested during the clash on Friday is being interrogated, the statement said without giving further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 11:24 ||
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#1
arrest of 42 suspected Islamist militants
that 27 Islamists had been arrested last month
And some of these guys are getting REAL tired of getting arrested every month.
#3
It's always easiest to be cynical -- cynics are so often right. But once the terrorists started blowing up Arab civilians in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc. their governments have become much more motivated than when it was infidels being killed. It's not a revolving door like when the PLA has 'custody', or even like the Europeans in the 1970s, because the royal family knows that the terrorists are a threat to their control of the kingdom.
(KUNA) -- At least six alleged Al-Qaeda members and a Saudi policeman were killed in Riyadh Friday in a fire exchange, said Saudi Interior Ministry. The website of Al-Arbiya television cited Saudi security sources as saying that the extremists were about to carry on an attack and that another Al-Qaeda member was injured in the clash that took place in Nakhil neighborhood in Riyadh.
The Interior Ministry's spokesperson said that security forces were following the seven extremists Friday morning and as they arrived to a house in Nakhil neighborhood the extremists opened heavy fire at them. "The situation was swiftly controlled," said the spokesman, noting that some of the security forces got injured during the 30-minute clash.
More detail, from Arab News...
Saudi security forces killed six suspected members of a terrorist cell allegedly plotting suicide attacks from a house in a residential district of the capital early yesterday morning. One suspect, injured by gunfire while trying to escape, has reportedly been captured but was in critical condition at an undisclosed location.
I'd guess he's gonna die in custody...
In the early morning hours, security forces pursued the seven members of the deviant minority
... that'd be al-Qaeda, naturally...
to a house in the Al-Nakhil district and immediately came under sustained automatic weapons fire, said Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki. One member of the Kingdoms security forces, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al-Shehri, was reported killed while others were injured in the shootout, said Al-Turki. By about 2.30 a.m. the police had secured the area and were searching the house, which the ministry described as a hide-out for crime, corruption and a base for plots of aggression.
One of the policemen cordoning off the area told the news agency AFP: The group was preparing a terrorist operation and its members were being tailed on the basis of intelligence service information.
Saudi state television showed police removing several vehicles from the scene, some of them damaged in the clash, as officers carried away what appeared to be bags of evidence. Security sources said the militants were on the verge of launching unspecified attacks. The ministry reported that the search of the property turned up boxes of documents and computers that were being used to communicate with others through the Internet. The two-story house was recently constructed in this residential neighborhood. Policemen at the scene later said they had seized a videotape showing that the group had been plotting to carry out a suicide bombing against a security target in Riyadh within the next two days.
Got the goodbye message and everything, likely...
An eyewitness told Arab News that the men initiated the exchange of fire with the authorities. The whole operation was brought under control within 45 minutes, said the witness to the firefight who did not want to be identified. He said that an SUV and a sedan belonging to the suspects were damaged in the shootout.
The Interior Ministry arranged a private plane to fly in members of slain officer Shehris family to attend his burial, said Turki. Prince Mohammed ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, attended the funeral prayers yesterday.
Security forces yesterday afternoon surrounded a house and made a thorough search on getting information that the house belonged to a member of the deviant group. The house is in the Olaya district. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah pledged in April to annihilate Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Kingdom, vowing to combat the ideology of those who accuse others of infidelity. At least 90 civilians, 55 security personnel and 136 militants have died since a wave of unrest began in May 2003 where compounds were attacked in Riyadh. Hundreds more have been wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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More than 100 people are apparently being held in quarantine at Adelaide Airport after white powder was found on an inbound Singapore Airlines flight.
A Fire Brigade official has confirmed that some passengers have been kept on the aircraft while emergency teams work out what level of decontamination might be required.
An official at Adelaide Airport says most of the departure area has been cordoned off.
More emergency response crews are on their way to the airport.
The official says it is too early to know if the powder is unsafe.
GUWAHATI: Police in Tripura arrested 10 guerrillas after they entered the country from bases inside Bangladesh, police said on Friday. A police spokesman said the rebels were members of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) and were arrested late Thursday near Hirachara village close to the border with Bangladesh.
That's a new one on me...
There were specific reports about a group of HNLC rebels entering our side of the border from Bangladesh and we managed to capture 10 of them, Nepal Das, a senior Tripura police official, said. The arrested rebels said they crossed over to the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh in 2002 and that nearly 200 HNLC cadres were based in camps located there, the police official said.
Not that the Banglas can find them, of course...
The HNLC, a rebel group in the adjoining state of Meghalaya, has been fighting for a homeland for the Khasi tribe. Police seized several mobile phones, Bangladeshi currency, wrist watches, medicines and documents from the arrested militants. The border between Tripura and Bangladesh is being used by northeastern militants as a safe corridor, he said. New Delhi claims that more than 100 camps and shelters of northeastern rebel groups have been established in Bangladesh. Dhaka denies any presence of Indian separatists in the country.
"Nope. Nope. Nobody here."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
NATIONAL LIBERATION ... = POPULAR FRONT ...> usually means Commies or Commies are heavily involved.
QUETTA: Unidentified militants fired rockets on security check posts in Kohlu and Sibi districts on Friday. However, no casualties were reported. "Two rockets were fired at a check post in Tilango area but they failed to hit their targets. Both rockets landed in open ground near the check post," an official source told Daily Times.
In the other incident, militants attacked a check post in Tandoori area in Sibi district with rockets and small weapons but the security forces forced them to retreat with retaliatory fire. Separately, security forces claimed to have found a cache of weapons from Patukh area of Dera Bugti district. "Security forces raided two abandoned rooms during a search operation in Patukh. The raiding team seized a huge quantity of weapons stored in the rooms," an official said. No one could be arrested during the raid, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: Security forces on Friday arrested 11 Afghan nationals, a day after rounding up five foreigners suspected of links with Al Qaeda, an intelligence official said. The 11 were arrested during a raid on information gleaned from four Turkish nationals and one Afghan arrested on Thursday, the official said. "The Turkish nationals are being investigated for possible links to some Al Qaeda sleeper cells here," said the official asking not to be named.
The Turks were arrested from a bus at Sambaza check post in Zhob district. The official said the Afghans were suspected of being involved in a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. In a separate raid also on Friday, security forces said they arrested four people, including an Afghan, and linked them to the Balochistan Liberation Army.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- At least two gunmen have been killed in separate encounters in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. An unidentified gunman was killed in an encounter with the Indian security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Friday morning, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The encounter began Friday morning when terrorists hiding in a house in Khrew area in Pulwama district fired at the security forces, who cordoned off the area and killed him during the gun battle.
Another gunman was killed at Machoo in Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday night, the news agency reported. One AK rifle, two magazines and a few rounds were recovered.
Meanwhile in another incident, seven people including three security personnel were injured Friday when gunmen lobbed a grenade near a bus stand in the main town of Doda in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The explosion injured four civilians and three security personnel, the news agency reported. The injured were rushed to district hospital at Doda. Police officials have rushed to the spot and launched a search operation to nab the culprits.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda insurgents raided the home of a senior Sunni Arab religious leader in Iraq on Saturday, seizing him and four suspected terrorists, the U.S. military said. The arrest of Sheikh Jamal Abdel Karim al-Dabaan sparked outrage among Iraq's Sunnis. The Iraqi Islamic Party, whose leader is one of the country's vice-presidents, condemned it and many government officials in predominantly Sunni Salahaddin province suspended work in protest, the deputy governor said.
The U.S. military said it had been acting on intelligence gathered following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in a U.S. air strike on June 7. Dabaan is a top mufti, or religious authority, for most of Iraq's minority Sunni Muslim community, which was dominant under Saddam Hussein and now forms the backbone of the insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government. His arrest came the day before Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to present a national reconciliation plan to end sectarian tensions and defuse a Sunni insurgency.
An Iraqi security source at the joint Iraqi-U.S. coordination center in Tikrit 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad said Dabaan had been arrested along with two sons. The Iraqi Islamic Party said another religious leader who had been a guest in Dabaan's home, Sheikh Abdalilah al-Hiti, was also arrested. The U.S. military said it had not known beforehand that it was Dabaan's home and they had since released him. They made no mention of his sons or Hiti.
The deputy governor of Salahaddin said earlier that most provincial government offices had suspended work in protest at the arrest of Dabaan and were refusing to return to work until he was freed. The U.S. military said one of the suspects detained was "directly associated with several senior-level al Qaeda members and reportedly plays an important role in the network between Baquba and Tikrit". It said troops had come under pistol fire from two suspects when they arrived at the sheikh's house, who were quickly overpowered and detained. Five AK-47s assault rifles, 13 loaded magazines and two pistols had been recovered and destroyed on site.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 12:40 ||
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(KUNA) -- The US Army in Iraq Friday revealed it arrested nine members of the Tawhid and Jihad terrorist group in southern Baghdad on June 18th. An army statement said the militants were arrested in a raid near the town of Al-Yousefiyah. It added the arrestees were involved in the downing of a US chopper on May 16th and a remote-bomb attack that injured an MNF soldier.(
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I am serious. They need a quick trial and swift execution.
(KUNA) -- Four foreign militants were killed and an Iraqi arrested in a raid on a militants safe-house, the Multi-National Forces (MNF) announced Friday. The operation in northern Falluja took place after information was obtained from an Iraqi detainee, said the statement.
One of the foreign fighters killed had 15 pounds of explosives strapped to his body. Another explosive belt was found in a car near the safe-house. According to the statement, the Iraqi arrested during the operation said the foreign fighters had hired him to support their operations in the area. The identities or nationalities of the four foreigners was not revealed. The soldiers confiscated large amounts of explosives and weapons found in the area after the operation and all were destroyed on the site.(
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
One of the foreign fighters killed had 15 pounds of explosives strapped to his body.
(KUNA) -- Haifa Street and areas within the vicinity of Baratha mosque in Baghdad witnessed gunfire and armed confrontations between Al-Mahdi militias protecting the mosque and local gunmen. Witnesses told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that a Mahdi Army vehicle was burned in the attack, adding that militia were deployed in the streets near the mosque to protect worshipers from possible attacks. They clarified that residents nearby were offended by the presence of the militia which led them to engage in gunfire. The Iraqi army intervened and cordoned off the mosque and the surrounding area in order to control the situation.
A suicide bomber had blown himself up in the center of the Baratha mosque last Friday, killing 11 Iraqis and injuring 25 a short time before the weekly prayers began.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Ten people were killed and 18 wounded on Friday when a booby-trapped car exploded in Basra, southern Iraq, Interior Ministry sources said. The sources told KUNA that the booby-trapped car exploded near a fueling station on Bashar Street, adding that the wounded were taken to hospital for treatment as some had sustained serious injuries. A number of cars in the vicinity had also been destroyed in the bombing, the sources said. Moreover, witnesses told KUNA two suicide bombers had been in the car. Basra is currently on state of alert declared by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malki aimed at avoiding terrorist attacks in the city.
Meanwhile, the Multi-National Forces said one MNF soldier had been killed in a non-combat incident. It added in a statement that the soldier had been killed late Thursday in Baghdad, but did not state the exact location or details of the accident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
No big thing, unless you were killed our wounded. It's just Jabr's Boyz letting the new PM and Interior Minister know who's running the show in the south.
(KUNA) -- A bomb struck a Sunni mosque northeast of Baghdad on Friday, killing 10 people and wounding 25 others in the same town where al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu-Musab Al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this month, a security source said. The source told KUNA the explosion occurred in front of "Habhab" mosque in the security-unstable Diyala province. He added the explosion severely damaged the mosque and the cars and nearby buildings.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi woman was freed by the Iraqi police after security forces stormed her detention place in the northern city of Kirkuk. An Iraqi police source told KUNA that the housewife hostage was hand-tied when found in a car with a suspicious person. The source added that the suspect informed interrogators about four other people, suspected of conducting terrorist acts. In a related story, unidentified gunmen shot dead two traffic police officers in downtown Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Once again, no big thang. Just Jabr's Boyz letting the Sunnis know nothing changed with the new government. The hit squads are out and you're all toast, sooner or later.
(KUNA) -- A mass grave was found in Kirkuk, northern Iraq on Friday, said press sources. The sources said four bodies were found when construction workers were digging up a construction site. Police has surrounded the area located in Khanqin district southeastern Kirkuk while a specialized team arrived to the scene. More than 300 mass graves were found in scattered areas of Iraq after the overthrowing of Saddam's regime in 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This will be front page news in tomorrow's New York Times, I predict.
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced Friday the end of Baghdad's curfew at 5:00 pm today, instead of Saturday morning. Earlier today Al-Maliki ordered total curfew in Baghdad from Friday noon till Saturday morning, Iraqi state television reported. According to Baghdad's security plan, launched on June 14, 2006, a daily curfew is imposed in the capital from 8:30 pm until 6:00 am.
The plan also imposes a curfew on Fridays from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm to prevent attacks on the masses heading to mosques during this period in Baghdad. Chief of joint cooperation in the Iraqi Defense Ministry Major General Abdul-Aziz Mohammed told reporters that the curfew was imposed because Iraqi army was after armed groups in different parts of Baghdad. "The army intruded and solved the matter," he said, noting that the curfew was imposed to protect the masses heading to mosques for Friday's prayer from any attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Maliki has that look lol, this poor guy has his work cut out for him, would you swap your job for his?
what fun it must be to deal with tribal sheiks, religious wac jobs, and the mesopotamian sharks in order to fashion a committee govt. that can keep the islamo homicidal manics at bay! plus the coalition forces.
(KUNA) -- At least three Iraqis were killed on Friday when anonymous gunmen attacked them in Baghdad, said Iraqi police source. The attacked part was heading to Bartha Mosque to perform Friday prayers when the gunmen attacked them, said the source, noting that several others were injured in the attack.
Meanwhile, Multinational Forces (MNF) said today that they revealed two weapons depots in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. An MNF statement said that the depots contained large quantities of mortal shells and other explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Israeli forces detained two Palestinians, who the army said were Hamas militants, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in what marked the first such arrest raid in the territory since Israel pulled out of Gaza a year ago. Ali Muamar, a Palestinian known to local residents as a Hamas loyalist, said he was asleep on a bed outside his home near Rafah refugee camp in south Gaza when he woke up and saw uniformed Israeli soldiers scaling down the walls of his courtyard with ladders. "They attacked me all of a sudden," he said. "They blindfolded and handcuffed me and started beating me up with the butts of their rifles and kicking me with their boots."
Muamar said the soldiers raided his home, took his computer and left after less than an hour with his sons -- Osama, a doctor who had arrived in Gaza last month from Sudan, and Mustafa, a student of Islamic law. A spokesman for Hamas, which won control of the Palestinian government in a Palestinian parliamentary election in January, denied the men detained were connected to the group. An army spokeswoman confirmed troops had entered Gaza and detained the men, saying they were Hamas militants who had planned to carry out an anti-Israeli attack. Muamar said he and his sons were not involved in hostilities against Israel.
Saturday's incursion signaled an apparent change in Israeli military tactics in Gaza. Troops had entered the area several times in recent weeks in a bid to stop militants firing rockets into the Jewish state but had not carried out arrest raids. Israel has, however, increased its air strikes in Gaza in parallel to a surge of rocket attacks and has killed more than two dozen Palestinians, including militants and civilians, in such missile strikes since the beginning of the month.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 11:55 ||
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#1
"we are not militants launching missiles...we're ...um.... rocket scientists! Yeah...that's the ticket"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2006 13:30 Comments ||
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Canada has asked Germany to detain an Iranian prosecutor accused of involvement in the death of an Iranian-Canadian photographer, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday. "My understanding is that (Foreign Minister Peter) MacKay's department has actually asked the Germans to detain this Iranian official before he leaves Germany so that he can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity," Harper told public broadcaster Radio-Canada.
Said Mortazavi, a senior figure in Iran's hardline judiciary, has been accused of being present in July 2003 when photojournalist Zahra Kazemi received a fatal blow to her head while in Iranian custody. Mortazavi has also been accused of masterminding a cover up into the incident. He was in Geneva as part of an Iranian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#6
I fully intend to rub their faces in it. Germany made a decision to support Saddam when it chose to sit out Iraq and actively do things to impeed our efforts. It's press is full of anti-US lies. They can FOAD.
If it helps Iran, Germany will if it can get away with it support Iran.
#7
FOAD gets my vote as well. One would think after Germany's sterling geo-political, world peace, and human rights accomplishments of the last century, they would want to start afresh. Obviously, not so.
#8
This would work well if it was Augusto Pinochet - unfortunately for Canada Said Mortazavi is muslim and therefore untouchable...
Posted by: Matt K. ||
06/24/2006 11:06 Comments ||
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Mortazavi is not in Germany. He attended a UN meeting in Switzerland and enjoys diplomatic immunity there.
The only possibility is that he uses Frankfurt as a transit airport. He would not enjoy immunity in Germany. Transit passengers do not pass immigration though.
By making the request public Canada basically warned Mortazavi who will probably chose another transit airport in a country that Canada has not notified of its request. Just to make sure.
Also Canada has not issued an international warrant or extradition request, so Germany has nothing to act on.
It's one of those typical CYA actions. Showing that you do something without bearing any consequences.
A PREVIOUSLY unknown group has vowed vengeance overnight against the Saudi government for the killing of six Saudi militants in a shoot-out in Riyadh the day before, according to an Internet posting.
"We warn the Saudi government and those who help it in its war against Islam ... that what is coming will be spectacular, so beware, tyrants of the Saudi family," said the statement posted on a Web site usually used by Islamic militant groups.
The authenticity of the statement by the group calling itself Basha'er (Good Tidings) could not be verified.
On Friday, Saudi police killed six militants in a three-hour clash which began after they surrounded a house to prevent what they said were planned attacks by the militants. One militant was wounded and arrested.
"The (Saudi royal government) killed our brothers ... and instead of allowing the light of jihad (holy struggle) to shine, this infidel government tries to put it out," the statement said.
It gave details about some of the six men, whose names were published earlier by the Saudi Interior Ministry.
It said one of the six, Sami al-Mutairi, had been arrested by Saudi security forces after meeting slain al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq but then managed to escape.
Saudi Arabia said overnight that Friday's shoot-out was part of an operation to break a militant cell that has netted 42 suspects since last month, including 13 who were seized yesterday near the border with Iraq.
DUBAI: Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television on Friday aired a video of Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri vowing to avenge the death of the network's Iraq front man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in a US air raid on June 7. "Yes O Bush, none of us is killed without us avenging him, with the help of God," said Zawahri, who addressed US President George W Bush and was speaking to the backdrop of a picture of Zarqawi. He said Zarqawi "died under bombardment" and not in hiding, and never shed his "explosives belt".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Is it Dire Revenge™ or just plain ol' boring normal revenge?
Don't bother me if it's not Dire Revenge.™
*Yawn*
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/24/2006 0:16 Comments ||
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BTW - Ayman, that knot on your forehead? Rather than prayer knots? It looks like your boyfriend Osama rammed you face first into the headboard in a little "Jihadi Love". Might wanna lay off for a week or two... let that heal? Nobody should be able to breakdance or spin basketballs from their forehead...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2006 0:40 Comments ||
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#3
ever notice that ZAW has a terrible case of the wag finger?
#6
Hey, I'm with ya, Zawa my man. to paraphrase Otter:
"What the f*ck happened to the Delta Al Qaeda I used to know? Where's the spirit holiness? Where's the guts jihad?! This could be the best day of our lives, but you're gonna make it the worst. 'Oh, we're afraid to go with you, Zawa, we might get in trouble.' Well then just kiss my ass from now on! Not me, I'm not gonna take this! Howard, he's a dead man! Blair, dead! Bush... Dead! Zarqi's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We've gotta take these bastards infidels. I think this situation absolutely requires a very stupid and futile gesture on somebody's part. And we're just the guys to do it!"
#14
Just keep talking there Zaw. Won't be too long and someone will ID the location and we will send in a couple 500 pounders with your name on it. Happy Dire Revenge!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/24/2006 20:42 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and coalition forces killed about 82 militants in multiple assaults across southern Afghanistan, the military said Saturday. On Friday, troops fought more than 40 extremists during a five-hour gunbattle after receiving enemy fire near the village of Mirabad, northeast of the capital in southern Uruzgan province, the military said in a statement.
US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say they have killed at least 65 Taleban 
KANDAHAR: The decapitated bodies of four Afghan men were discovered days after armed men abducted them, an official said on Friday. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the killings. Local residents found two bodies on Thursday near their homes in the southern Zabul provincial district of Shahjoy, and two more near the same area on Friday, said the Zabul governor's spokesman. The men had been kidnapped from the village of Chinoh on Tuesday, Khail said. A purported Taliban spokesman, 
(SomaliNet) Kenyan Police in Nairobi are tracking down Somali warlords who are believed to have slipped into the country, East African Standard reported Friday. Teams of Kenyan police detectives was set up to pursue the warlords following the arrest of two Somalia ministers in Wajir Town while they headed to Nairobi on Tuesday. 
(SomaliNet) Two Somali deputy ministers who entered the east African nation unlawfully have been detained by Kenyan authorities. This was confirmed by Kenyas Police spokesman Gideon Kibunjah, Xinhua reported Friday. Gideon confirmed that 
A gunman killed a Swedish cameraman during a pro-Islamic demonstration yesterday in Mogadishu, Somalia. Award-winning journalist Martin Adler was shot in the back at close range. Mr Adler had worked for Channel 4 in the past and spent time in more than two dozen war zones including Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda.
Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday the arrest of 42 suspected Islamist militants in raids across the kingdom, a day after police killed six men in a shoot-out in Riyadh. An Interior Ministry statement said 15 of the suspects were arrested after the clash early on Friday in which one policeman was killed and 17 others were wounded. State television said that four men wanted by security forces, including an Iraqi, were arrested in a raid on Saturday at a desert hideout in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten. The raid led to the arrest of nine Saudis "involved in terrorism" who were part of the same group, it said adding that weapons and documents were seized during the operation. 
(KUNA) -- At least six alleged Al-Qaeda members and a Saudi policeman were killed in Riyadh Friday in a fire exchange, said Saudi Interior Ministry. The website of Al-Arbiya television cited Saudi security sources as saying that the extremists were about to carry on an attack and that another Al-Qaeda member was injured in the clash that took place in Nakhil neighborhood in Riyadh.
QUETTA: Unidentified militants fired rockets on security check posts in Kohlu and Sibi districts on Friday. However, no casualties were reported. "Two rockets were fired at a check post in Tilango area but they failed to hit their targets. Both rockets landed in open ground near the check post," an official source told Daily Times. 
QUETTA: Security forces on Friday arrested 11 Afghan nationals, a day after rounding up five foreigners suspected of links with Al Qaeda, an intelligence official said. The 11 were arrested during a raid on information gleaned from four Turkish nationals and one Afghan arrested on Thursday, the official said. "The Turkish nationals are being investigated for possible links to some Al Qaeda sleeper cells here," said the official asking not to be named. 
(KUNA) -- At least two gunmen have been killed in separate encounters in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. An unidentified gunman was killed in an encounter with the Indian security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir Friday morning, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The encounter began Friday morning when terrorists hiding in a house in Khrew area in Pulwama district fired at the security forces, who cordoned off the area and killed him during the gun battle.
U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda insurgents raided the home of a senior Sunni Arab religious leader in Iraq on Saturday, seizing him and four suspected terrorists, the U.S. military said. The arrest of Sheikh 
(KUNA) -- The US Army in Iraq Friday revealed it arrested nine members of the Tawhid and Jihad terrorist group in southern Baghdad on June 18th. An army statement said the militants were arrested in a raid near the town of Al-Yousefiyah. It added the arrestees were involved in the downing of a US chopper on May 16th and a remote-bomb attack that injured an MNF soldier.(
(KUNA) -- Haifa Street and areas within the vicinity of Baratha mosque in Baghdad witnessed gunfire and armed confrontations between Al-Mahdi militias protecting the mosque and local gunmen. Witnesses told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that a Mahdi Army vehicle was burned in the attack, adding that militia were deployed in the streets near the mosque to protect worshipers from possible attacks. They clarified that residents nearby were offended by the presence of the militia which led them to engage in gunfire. The Iraqi army intervened and cordoned off the mosque and the surrounding area in order to control the situation.
(KUNA) -- Ten people were killed and 18 wounded on Friday when a booby-trapped car exploded in Basra, southern Iraq, Interior Ministry sources said. The sources told KUNA that the booby-trapped car exploded near a fueling station on Bashar Street, adding that the wounded were taken to hospital for treatment as some had sustained serious injuries. A number of cars in the vicinity had also been destroyed in the bombing, the sources said. Moreover, witnesses told KUNA two suicide bombers had been in the car. Basra is currently on state of alert declared by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malki aimed at avoiding terrorist attacks in the city.
(KUNA) -- A bomb struck a Sunni mosque northeast of Baghdad on Friday, killing 10 people and wounding 25 others in the same town where al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu-Musab Al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this month, a security source said. The source told KUNA the explosion occurred in front of "Habhab" mosque in the security-unstable Diyala province. He added the explosion severely damaged the mosque and the cars and nearby buildings. 
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced Friday the end of Baghdad's curfew at 5:00 pm today, instead of Saturday morning. Earlier today Al-Maliki ordered total curfew in Baghdad from Friday noon till Saturday morning, Iraqi state television reported. According to Baghdad's security plan, launched on June 14, 2006, a daily curfew is imposed in the capital from 8:30 pm until 6:00 am.
(KUNA) -- At least three Iraqis were killed on Friday when anonymous gunmen attacked them in Baghdad, said Iraqi police source. The attacked part was heading to Bartha Mosque to perform Friday prayers when the gunmen attacked them, said the source, noting that several others were injured in the attack.
Canada has asked Germany to detain an Iranian prosecutor accused of involvement in the death of an Iranian-Canadian photographer, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday. "My understanding is that (Foreign Minister Peter) MacKay's department has actually asked the Germans to detain this Iranian official before he leaves Germany so that he can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity," Harper told public broadcaster Radio-Canada. 
DUBAI: Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television on Friday aired a video of Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri vowing to avenge the death of the network's Iraq front man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in a US air raid on June 7. "Yes O Bush, none of us is killed without us avenging him, with the help of God," said Zawahri, who addressed US President George W Bush and was speaking to the backdrop of a picture of Zarqawi. He said Zarqawi "died under bombardment" and not in hiding, and never shed his "explosives belt".
