Armed assailants abducted a German woman from a restaurant in Kabul on Saturday, officials said. Armed men pulled up next to a barbecue and fast food restaurant, and one of the men went inside and asked to order a pizza, said intelligence officials investigating the kidnapping. Two assailants waited outside, while another waited in a parked gray Toyota Corolla. The man in the restaurant then pulled out a pistol, walked up to a table where the woman was sitting with her boyfriend, and took her away. It was not immediately clear what happened to the boyfriend. Police, alerted to the kidnapping, spotted the speeding car and opened fire, but instead hit a nearby taxi and killed its driver.
The latest kidnapping comes amid heightened fears of abductions, after 23 South Koreans and two Germans were taken hostage in separate incidents last month in central Afghanistan. The German woman abducted Saturday worked for a small, nonaffiliated Christian organization called Ora International, a man affiliated with the group told The Associated Press. Based in the central German town of Korbach, north of Frankfurt, the group is active in 30 countries around the world and concentrates its efforts in Afghanistan on health issues and HIV/AIDS awareness, the group said on its Web site.
Julia Gross, spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, said German officials were "pursuing reports of a possible kidnapping of a German citizen." The latest kidnapping comes amid heightened fears of abductions, after 23 South Koreans and two Germans were taken hostage in separate incidents last month in central Afghanistan. One of the German men was shot to death, and the other remains captive. Taliban militants killed two of the South Koreans and released two after face-to-face talks with South Korean officials.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said the group's demands for the release of the remaining 19 South Koreans remains the samea swap for Taliban prisoners, which the Afghan government has ruled out. "That's why from our side, we say the negotiations have failed, but we're still ready for more negotiations if the Korean side is willing to meet our demands ... the exchange of prisoners," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
#1
Police...spotted the speeding car and opened fire, but instead hit a nearby taxi and killed its driver.
Keystone Kops with firearms. OR
"Barney, how many times have I told you to keep that bullet in your pocket?"
Two South Korean hostages freed from Taliban captivity arrived home on Friday. But there was little progress reported in negotiations for the release of 19 others still being held by the insurgent group in Afghanistan. The two women Kim Gina, 32 and Kim Kyung-ja, 37 were released earlier this week and had been undergoing medical care in Afghanistan before heading home. After arriving at Incheon International Airport outside Seoul, the two stood with grim expressions before a throng of journalists.
''I want to thank the Korean government and the Korean people for their concerns and sincerely apologise for causing such worries,'' Kim Kyung-ja said. ''I hope for the safe release of the rest of our team members as well.''
''All I wish for is the release of the rest of our team members,'' said Kim Gina.
They walked on their own to a waiting ambulance. The two were to be admitted to a military hospital south of Seoul because the government wants to keep them away from the media over concerns that what they say could affect negotiations to free the remaining hostages, news reports said.
Kim Kyung-ja works at a software development company and Kim Gina teaches digital animation at a local technical college, according to news reports.
A second round of face-to-face talks in Afghanistan between South Korean officials and Taliban militants on the remaining hostages ended Thursday with no breakthrough, the militants said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
A suicide bomber killed an Afghan district chief and three of his children in southern Afghanistan on Friday, and five civilians were killed in fighting between NATO soldiers and Taliban in the country's east, officials said. The bomber blew himself up as Khariudin Achakzai, the chief of Kandahar's Zhari district, was coming out of his house in the city of Kandahar with five of his children, said Abdul Ghafar, a police official. Achakzai, two of his sons and a daughter were killed instantly, while two of his other sons were wounded, Ghafar said.
In the east, NATO troops were hit by a roadside bomb before coming under small-arms and mortar fire, the statement said. The alliance did not disclose the exact location of the incident. The ensuing gunfight left five Afghan civilians dead and three others wounded, NATO said. Two Taliban fighters were also wounded. There were no reports of alliance casualties. "Such incidents are regrettable, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed and wounded in this very unfortunate incident," the NATO statement said. "Every effort is being made to provide the best medical treatment to the injured Afghans."
Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply during the last two months. More than 3,700 people, mostly militants, have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Moroccan police said on Friday a man who tried unsuccessfully to blow up a bus carrying tourists earlier this week had been a member of the country's main Islamic opposition group.
"Hicham Doukali, who blew himself up last Monday in Meknes some metres (yards) from a bus of tourists, joined al Adl wa al Ihsane as a member in 1998," police said in a statement quoted by the official MAP news agency. Al Adl wa al Ihsane is Morocco's largest opposition group, with around 200,000 members. The government tolerates it but does not recognise it as a legal party because it challenges the king's role and would like to curb his extensive powers.
The police statement did not say whether 30-year-old Doukali, who studied civil engineering before joining the government tax office in Meknes, 130 km (80 miles) from the capital Rabat, was still an Adl member when he detonated the gas cylinder he was carrying on Monday. Adl denied that Doukali was one of its activists. But it said more young Moroccans would follow his path if the authorities failed to tolerate moderate Islamists like those of Adl, who are against violence but seek broad reforms.
The explosion of the cylinder, stuffed with explosives, tore Doukali's left hand and badly wounded him in the chest. He survived, and was still in a Rabat hospital under police surveillance, police sources said. No one else was hurt in the attempted suicide attack in Meknes, one of Morocco's main tourist attractions.
This article starring:
HICHAM DUKALI
al Adl wa al Ihsane
al Adl wa al Ihsane
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Qatari mediators trying to broker a peace deal to end a Shiite uprising in Yemen were called home on Friday because of what a Yemeni official called rebel foot-dragging in implementing the plan. "They were recalled for consultations after foot-dragging by (rebel leader) Abdul Malak al-Huthi in agreeing fully to implement the timetable" of the agreement, the official close to the talks told AFP, requesting anonymity.
Didn't they have one of these 'peace agreements' in Yemen already? Or was that the one that ended the war between North Yemen and South Yemen? Or the one before that?
The rebels from the Zaidi minority in the northwest Saada region had given their preliminary agreement to a timetable brokered by a committee grouping political parties in the Yemeni parliament and Qatari mediators. The timetable stipulated a phased withdrawal of rebels from various locations where fighting has taken place and their replacement by regular soldiers. The process was to have been accompanied by the gradual release of rebels held by the authorities, and was to culminate in the departure of the leaders of the revolt to exile in Qatar.
In an interview published on Wednesday President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused Huthi of "misleading and procrastination." "He has to respect his word and withdraw from positions, otherwise a military solution will be the decisive end," he said.
A member of the committee told AFP that Huthi had demanded "more details about implementation of the timetable." Last month the committee accused the rebels of breaching the deal brokered by Qatar in June, and the Gulf Arab state subsequently recalled its mediators from the committee, reportedly because of wrangling among insurgency leaders. Under the deal the rebels agreed to lay down their arms, ending years of fierce fighting that has killed thousands in one of the world's poorest countries.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the northwest. The rebel aim was to restore the Zaidi imamate which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
Turkish passenger plane heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus was hijacked today and forced to land for refuelling in southern Turkey, local media reported. It was not clear how many hijackers were on board, but they said they wanted to fly to Tehran, media said. Broadcaster NTV quoted the airline as saying there were 136 passengers on board the plane, which had come from Ercan airport in Turkish-backed northern Cyprus. Local media said the plane had been forced to land in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.
TWO men who said they were al-Qaeda members attempted to hijack a Turkish passenger plane to Iran or Syria, forcing the aircraft to land in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, passengers and officials said.
Most of the passengers managed to escape after the plane landed, leaving only the hijackers and a few passengers and crew on board, officials said.
The plane, operated by the private Turkish airline company Atlas Jet, was en route from northern Cyprus to Istanbul, company manager Tuncay Doganer said.
The hijackers wanted to take the plane to Iran, but the pilot said they needed to refuel and the plane made an emergency landing in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, he said.
There were 136 passengers and six crew aboard, he said.
When the plane landed, passengers broke down the back door of the airplane amd most of them managed to get out, one of the passengers who fled, Erhan Erkul, told NTV television. "They (the hijackers) said they were from al-Qaeda. They tried to break the cabin door," he said. "After we landed, we managed to break down the back door and jumped out. The hijackers could not intervene, they were in the front of the plane."
Another passenger who managed to escape said the two men said they had a bomb and wanted to go to Syria. "They spoke in Arabic, sometimes they spoke in English. One of them spoke a little Turkish," said the woman, who was not identified. She explained that the hijackers had agreed to free children and women but while they let them go out the front door, male passengers managed to force open the back door and flee.
Nine passengers and two crew members were still inside the plane, officials told Anatolia news agency.
"A small number of people are still inside," Mr Doganer confirmed, declining to give figures.
One of the pilots on board the aircraft said by radio the hijackers were Iranian, and a passenger who escaped reported they were members of al-Qaeda.
The jet was seized shortly after takeoff from Ercan airport on Northern Cyprus, with one of the hijackers claiming to have a bomb and threatening to blow the airplane up.
However, they were reportedly unable to break down the pilot cabin door, and the pilots refused to comply with their demand to be flown to Iran.
#7
unless you have a VERY strong stomach do NOT look at the A/P article up right now: "Turkish plane hijacking ends peacefully"
Contrary to the eyewitness reports from the passengers themselves, the article states that: "the hijackers released the women and children on board"
more from the soft-soap article:
"The adventure that started early in the morning finally came to an end..."
[ah...it wsa all just one big "adventure")
and lastly:
"the hijackers, identified as Mehmet Resat Ozlu and Abdul Aziz Maliki, told an official they "apologized to the Turkish nation" for seizing the plane."
#8
Not a good idea. Turkey belongs to NATO, which means they can easily get the best anti-hijacking teams on the planet there and quickly. Hopefully, they will be captured alive, for a while, at least.
#2
This is actually two combined situations. The first is that the British are buying up French properties in droves, as holiday homes. France is essentially a poor, agrarian nation supported by enormous agricultural subsidies from the EU.
The second is that Spain is starting to fracture between their divisive ethnic groups. Basques are just the noisiest group, the least "Spanish". In a lot of places in Spain, people do not call themselves Spanish at all, but by their regional names, such as Catalan.
#3
France is essentially a poor, agrarian nation supported by enormous agricultural subsidies from the EU.
Wow. Heard about Concorde, the TGV, Ariane?
Let me edit your comment. France is a rich country with a strong agricultural lobby but manages to have the bill paid by those suckers of the EU. And also manges to milk British suckers by selling them old houses three times their price.
#4
I agree with JFM. Mr. Wife takes as many business trips to France as to Japan, I believe. If only the French weren't so addicted to government bureaucracy...
GDP - per capita (PPP): $31,100 (2006 est.) (USA : GDP - per capita (PPP): $44,000 2006 est.; Japan : GDP - per capita (PPP): $33,100 2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.2% (USA : 0.9%; Japan : 1.6%)
industry: 20.6% (USA : 20.4%; Japan : 25.4%)
services: 77.2% (2006 est.) (USA : 78.6% 2006 est.; Japan : 73.1% 2006 est.)
The bit about the EU is true, too; it has wrecked french agrarian culture (french paysans are in a constant state of upheaval, and a very powerful and aggressive lobby, but in the same time, they're addicted to subsidies and State-sponsirship), which has became productivist and industrial, but in large part, the PAC/CAP (common agrarain policy) is a big scheme to get monies from Germany notably, inot the pockets of the french producers.
WASHINGTON Houston oilman David Chalmers, accused of funneling illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's regime at at time when Iraq was the target of strict economic sanctions, pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy charge. Chalmers' business associate at Houston-based BayOil, Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating a shipment of merchandise into the United States, knowing that shipment to not be authorized by law.
That leaves Houston oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt as the lone defendant still slated to go to trial in September on charges he made millions of dollars in illicit payments to Saddam's government for the privilege of buying Iraqi crude. Wyatt attorney Carl Parker said today that his client is not guilty and intends to proceed to trial. Parker said he does not believe today's guilty pleas will affect Wyatt's prospects. "I don't think it will mean anything to Wyatt," Parker said. "I think the government made a stretch trying to tie them together in the first place. They're not partners. They haven't acted together."
The charges stemmed from oil sales conducted under the United Nations' scandal-plagued oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq. That program was designed to allow Baghdad to export crude to help the Iraqi people while keeping the proceeds out of Saddam's hands.
But the Iraqi government began demanding that purchasers pay a secret surcharge to lift Iraqi crude. All three men were accused of funneling payments to Saddam's government from mid-2000 to March 2003.
Chalmers and Wyatt also were accused of trying to persuade U.N. oil overseers to lower the official selling price of Iraqi crude, so they could pay kickbacks to Baghdad and still turn a profit when reselling the oil, as well as engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Saddam's regime and violating U.S. sanctions rules.
Posted by: ||
08/18/2007 15:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
Posted by: BrerRabbit ||
08/18/2007 07:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
I went to the "article" linked to the headline, and didn't find much. Pretty thin.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/18/2007 8:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Thin? I'm gonna repeat here all the new news. Ready? Here it is:
The FBI is urging people not to jump to conclusions in the case of two men accused of having pipe bombs in their car, saying the allegations may not be true.
One former federal prosecutor said the agency's statement was "highly unusual."
But I don't see how they got the headline out of that 'news'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Heard from the crime scene investigator that examined the car's trunk: Definitely pipe bombs and "interesting" chemicals.
#4
So is anybody keeping track of how many terrorist attacks and/or foiled terrorist attacks occur in this country whether or not the authorities admit that we continue to be attacked by Islamist?
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
08/18/2007 12:59 Comments ||
Top||
#5
FBI doesn't want to get sued by cair. Justice department memo has informed all US gummint employees that dhimmi federal courts will issue summary judgements in muzz complainers' favor in ALL cases...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/18/2007 13:55 Comments ||
Top||
#6
If this gets any more surreal we'll need to page Salvador Dali to the white courtesy phone. Exactly who's side is our government actually on?
Two Indian paramilitary police officers were killed and eight others injured on Friday when their vehicle ran over a bomb planted by suspected separatist militants in Kashmir, police said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place near Sangam town, 40 kilometres south of Srinagar. A police official said damage to the vehicle had been substantial.
An air marshal on a flight out of Kashmir was arrested on Friday for allegedly sexually harassing a female passenger, police said. Angry passengers who witnessed the incident refused to let the plane take off from Srinagar until the man was removed from the plane, said GM Dar, a senior police officer at Srinagar airport. Only after he was arrested did they discover that he was an air marshal. The marshal reportedly handed a women a note saying he loved her and then made suggestive comments like, "Are you feeling the heat of love?" and "Don't be afraid of me, I'm also young." The 28-year-old marshal has been charged with verbally harassing the woman, said Dar.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
Security forces on Friday arrested 60 "terrorists" and seized a huge cache of weapons and explosive from Sui during a search operation. Ten of the arrested were wanted in various terrorism cases, police said. Police said the search operation backed by armoured vehicles was launched after the killing of two security personnel in the Misri area on Wednesday. Ten Klashnikovs, 30 kg explosive material and 70 land mines were seized in the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
MIRANSHAH/WANA: Two foreigners were among three militants killed on Friday after they ignored a signal to stop their vehicle at a checkpost in North Waziristan, as a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a military convoy in Tank district, killing himself and injuring five soldiers, officials said. The foreigners were identified as Uzbeks. Their bodies were flown to Miranshah for a DNA test, official sources told Daily Times.
The militants were signalled to stop at Jalar checkpost, three kilometres south of Mir Ali town, but they did not, prompting an action from security forces. "The two foreign militants were killed instantly and the other injured militant died moments later. Their injured accomplice was taken into custody and is under treatment," the sources said.
Mir Ali town, according to local residents, is a stronghold of foreign militants and Uzbeks flushed out from Wana and surrounding areas of South Waziristan early this year, took shelter in the area. The military convoy came under attack on its way to Manzai from Tank city.
Meanwhile, security forces backed by gunship helicopters continued pounding targets of suspected militants in South Waziristan, after an ambush on a military convoy on Thursday. According to military sources, 15 militants and seven security personnel were killed in the clashes. "We have carried out heavy bombing of areas where militants were reported sheltering and attacking the security forces," the sources said.
Tribal sources in Jandola, main town on the border of South Waziristan, said big explosions were heard in the Chaghmalay and Sarwakai areas on Thursday night and Friday, adding that the security forces were using gunship helicopters and artillery against militants from Jandola base. Residents of Chaghmalay and Sarwakai were reported fleeing the areas, but the movement across Mehsud areas was almost impossible as all routes were either closed or risky to use.
A 21-member Mehsud peace jirga went to South Waziristan to hold talks with Mehsud militants, who kidnapped 15 paramilitary soldiers last week. MMA's MNA Maulana Mirajuddin is leading the jirga. He told Daily Times on Thursday that he was hopeful of the release of 15 Frontier Corps personnel, but Thursday clashes "concerned me".
"The jirga is meeting the kidnapers (appear to be tribal militants demanding release of their comrades from the government custody) at an undisclosed location in South Waziristan," sources in political administration of Wana said.
Agencies add: Militants attacked two security posts in the Tiarza area, about 20 km north of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan region, security officials in the area said. The security forces suffered no casualties and killed four of the militants, they said. The two Waziristan regions are near the Afghan border, where security officials say remnants of Al Qaida and Taliban are hiding. There has been a surge in attacks on the security forces in the tribal region since July, when militants ended a 2006 peace deal, accusing the government of violating the agreement by deploying additional troops at checkpoints in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
#4
Aerial remodeling would be the best response. Of course, AP, Rooters, etc, would scream bloody murder about "civilian" casualties, but a country at war with non-uniformed combatants cannot play 20-questions before an armed response.
#5
This is precisely why we invented those small-scale thermobaric munitions. No more house searches for snipers. Blow the entire damn place down and be done with it, preferrably before the sniper can evacuate his position. Anyone inside had better know farking well that having a sniper around means certain death. If not, they'll learn soon enough.
Coalition Forces killed 13 terrorists and detained 12 suspected terrorists east of Tarmiyah Friday during an operation targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader who provides guidance to senior terrorist leaders.
As Coalition Forces approached the targeted area, they immediately received heavy small arms fire from several buildings in the area. The ground forces returned fire, but when the enemy did not yield, Coalition Forces called for close air support. Enemy fire continued from other areas and ground forces used small arms and rocket launchers to return fire.
Still under fire, Coalition Forces moved to secure individual buildings. Despite the ground forces' repeated calls to come out of the building, hostile occupants of one building refused to comply. The assault force called for them to send out any noncombatants to be taken to a safe area, but again the armed terrorists did not comply. Coalition Forces escalated their level of force, including using airborne firepower against the enemy, until four armed terrorists emerged from the building firing at the ground forces. The four terrorists, including a female wearing a ski mask and wielding a rifle, were killed by aircraft and sniper fire. Secondary explosions erupted from the building after it was engaged by the aircraft, indicating explosives stored inside.
The ground forces, still taking fire from enemy positions, called in an additional force to help repel the terrorists' attack. The assault force continued to secure individual buildings as aircraft and additional units suppressed enemy fighters with small arms fire. Coalition Forces assessed that aircraft and sniper fire killed nine more terrorists in the fighting. Additionally, despite Coalition Forces' appeals for the terrorists to send out women and children to be taken to safety, a boy was killed in a building with an armed terrorist who had engaged the ground forces. "Terrorists continue to put innocent children in harm's way when they make bystanders unwitting participants in their illegal activities," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. "Their disregard for human life is contrary to the values of decent people everywhere."
The ground forces detained 12 suspected terrorists during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Interpol has circulated an arrest warrant for the oldest daughter of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Raghad Saddam Hussein, who fled the 2003 US-led invasion, is accused of terrorism and other offences. She helped organise the legal defence of her father, who was hanged last December for crimes against humanity.
That worked well. She may of more use to us at large than in jug, if y'know whudda mean.
She could lead us to the Kruggerrands ...
Last year Iraq put Raghad and her mother, Sajida, on a list of its most wanted fugitives, alleging they supported the insurgency in Iraq.
Bout damned time.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry told the BBC Interpol had notified member countries on Friday.
Jordan will no doubt cough her up, kinda like an Islamic hair ball...
Damascus is lovely this time of year ...
Before her father was executed last year, Raghad asked for his body to be buried temporarily in Yemen until, she said, such time as coalition forces were expelled from Iraq. The Jordanian authorities said last year that she was living in their country as an asylum seeker, but it is not clear where she is at present.
Coalition Forces detained 14 suspected terrorists Thursday and Friday around central and northern Iraq during continuing operations to remove senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Coalition Forces conducted three precision raids in and around Baghdad. Thursday, ground forces captured an individual suspected of leading an al-Qaeda in Iraq car bombing cell. Friday, Coalition Forces captured a suspected terrorist with ties to senior terrorist leaders in Baghdad. Near Taji, ground forces captured an alleged weapons facilitator working for al-Qaeda in Iraq's emir of the northern belts around Baghdad and detained two additional suspects.
In Salah ad Din province, Coalition Forces also targeted senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq during three operations Thursday and Friday. During a precision raid Thursday west of Balad, Coalition Forces detained one suspected terrorist while targeting an individual associated with the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of northern Iraq who allegedly facilitates the movement of terrorist leaders. Five suspected terrorists were detained during operations Friday near Balad and Samarra targeting the al-Qaeda in Iraq communications network and an al-Qaeda leader known to conduct car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion.
Based on information from suspects detained earlier in the week, Coalition Forces conducted an operation Friday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders and their associates in Mosul. The ground forces detained three individuals with alleged ties to the terrorist leaders. "Al-Qaeda is feeling the pressure of our operations, and we're relentlessly pursuing the top levels of terrorist leaders," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. "We will continue to target and then capture or kill the terrorists who direct and conduct brutal attacks against Iraqis."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Insurgents launched an attack against Coalition Forces from a Sunni mosque in Tarmiyah, Iraq, in Baghdad Province, Aug. 16.
Soldiers from 4th Stryker Brigade Combat, 2nd Infantry Division, were attacked at their outpost with heavy small-arms fire which the unit confirmed came from the Honest Muhammed Mosque. The attack resulted in one Coalition Soldier killed and another wounded as reported previously in MNC-I press release 20070817-04. CF previously reported multiple small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade attacks on nearby outposts originating from the mosque since May. "These insurgents displayed total disregard for the community by using a mosque, a sacred place for Muslims worship, as a sanctuary to commit their acts of terror," said Maj. Mike Garcia, spokesperson for 4th SBCT. "They are fully aware Coalition Forces treat religious centers with the highest regard. This is an obvious sign of cowardice."
After confirming the source of the attack, CF established an outer cordon of the area and attempted to locate the mosque's Imam. After being unable to find the Imam, CF talked to the mosque's groundskeeper in an attempt to resolve the situation.
CF conducted a tactical callout to individuals inside the mosque instructing them to come out. Two armed individuals were identified on the roof. The groundskeeper instructed everyone in the mosque to exit the mosque and surrender to CF. The groundskeeper and 20 people exited the mosque. After detaining the 20 individuals, the groundskeeper stated the mosque was empty. Two armed individuals remained on the roof.
An air weapons team engaged the armed individuals on the northeast corner of the mosque's roof with a Hellfire missile. The roof of the mosque only sustained minor damage.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Screw the Imams, let's turn the Groundskeepers.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/18/2007 1:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Is this some kind of toned-down version of the missile that I have come to know and love?
Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division captured one suspected insurgent and recovered a weapons cache during a raid in eastern Baghdad Aug. 16.
During Operation Chesterfield in the New Baghdad District, Soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment based out of Fort Riley, Kan., and attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, joined with their Iraqi counterparts in capturing the suspected insurgent, recovering two AK-47s, two pistols and 900,000 Iraqi dinar.
The suspect is being held for further questioning. The capture comes as insurgents have stepped up their activity against Iraqi civilians and police officers. U.S. and Iraqi forces have responded by driving into insurgent strongholds and setting up combat outposts and joint security stations as part of the Baghdad Security Plan to secure the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
After returning from a family member's funeral, four women and six small children were kidnapped by armed men wearing ski masks on a Baghdad street on May 1. The women and children were taken after having to witness the execution of their male family members. They were held for more than a month's time, during which the women endured daily rapings and beatings and were constantly threatened with beheading, one of the women later said in a statement given to U.S. Special Forces.
On June 1, their ordeal came to an end as Iraqi Security Forces and a U.S. Special Forces team freed the hostages during an air assault raid that targeted an al Qaeda in Iraq kidnapping cell south of Balad. The operation, called Operation Falkirk, was a combined operation conducted with U.S. Special Forces Soldiers and Iraqi Army Scouts to locate and detain suspected terrorists in Balad with ties to the kidnapping of two U.S. Soldiers taken captive after their combat patrol was ambushed May 12.
The raid resulted in a sustained firefight that left one U.S. Special Forces Soldier wounded, two insurgents dead, and the primary target of the operation captured and seriously wounded.
"We're always prepared for a gunfight," a team sergeant stated. "Operation Falkirk turned out to be much more than we originally planned for, and handed out a challenge."
During the operation, the Special Forces team and their Iraqi counterparts conducted the late-night air assault against three remote houses reportedly sheltering the terrorist group. Shortly after beginning the assault, the team came under heavy, small-arms fire from terrorists inside one of the houses. One Special Forces Soldier was hit and evacuated. Other members of the team immediately assaulted the house and overwhelmed the terrorists.
When the gunfire ended, two insurgents were dead, one of them in the stairwell leading to the roof where the women and children were discovered, the team sergeant said. At that time, the women and children were believed to be the family members of the insurgents, not victims of mental and physical abuse by their captors.
As the women and children were being escorted down from the roof, the sergeant said he noticed something didn't seem right. "(The women and children) had to step over one of the dead insurgents to go down," he said. "There was no reaction by any of the women or the children as they moved passed. Normally, the wife and children will collectively get hysterical over a dead family member, but not one word was uttered."
The other insurgent was also in open view as they proceeded through the house. But again, the sergeant said, "the women and children gave no reaction."
U.S. Special Forces team members began questioning some of the women, but soon received word that the house was wired with explosives. The team immediately evacuated everyone from the house. During the evacuation, the team received word that another terrorist had fled the area on foot during the initial assault. The fleeing insurgent had entered an adjacent canal and was hiding in thick reeds several hundred meters from the original objective.
Members of the Special Forces team, together with Iraqi soldiers, entered the canal in pursuit of the fleeing terrorist. In chest-deep water, a Special Forces sergeant eventually located the hiding terrorist. The terrorist then lunged at the sergeant and was shot in the chest by an Iraqi Scout providing security for the sergeant.
Ah yes, the sucking chest wound. Those hurt.
The assault force immediately pulled the individual from the water and rendered first-aid, saving his life.
Thus illustrating the difference between us and them.
"As it turned out, the male hiding along the river bank was the main person we were after and the leader of the terrorist cell," the team sergeant said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Odd that this happened six weeks ago. Anyone care to speculate for the delay?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 11:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The women and children were taken after having to witness the execution of their male family members. They were held for more than a month's time, during which the women endured daily rapings and beatings and were constantly threatened with beheading, one of the women later said in a statement given to U.S. Special Forces.
Taking female captive for sexual slavery and doing daily chores at their camp, after slaugthering their relatives, was a staple of the algerian jihadis during the 90's civil war. I clearly remember a terrorist communique which read like a dark version of Mel Brooks' line about "stealing the women and raping the cattle", stating that since the algerian population at large was apostate (a paleo scholar living in London cared to made that islamically official), then the jihadis were entitled to "kill them, take their possessions, steal their livestock, and their womanfolk", this was put as clearly as that.
Multi-National Division-Baghdad attack helicopter crews killed four insurgents at approximately 9 p.m., Aug. 15, north of Baghdad after the insurgents attacked a civilian infrastructure security checkpoint. Apache crews from the 1st "Attack" Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, arrived on station at about 8 p.m. and observed about 150 civilian security personnel defending the neighborhood near the checkpoint.
The combination of civilian security personnel, the Apache crews and ground forces from Troop D, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Div., caused some of the insurgents to flee in vehicles. Up to six insurgents were unable to rejoin the vehicles and fled on foot to a nearby house, where they forced women and children to leave the house and provide a barrier between themselves and the Coalition Forces.
Ground forces and civilian security personnel moved to the house, and a local sheik confirmed that the five insurgents in the house were involved in the attack on the checkpoint. About 15 minutes later, the Apache crews observed the five insurgents fleeing the house on foot. The ground forces from Troop D, 1-82 FA, cleared the Apaches to engage the insurgents, and the aircrews fired on them ? killing four. One insurgent was detained by the ground forces and a civilian security hostage was released. "This successful operation by our Apaches in conjunction with Coalition Forces and Iraqi civilian infrastructure security personnel highlights the awesome teamwork and cooperation that has formed between the groups to root out and destroy insurgents for the purpose of bringing about a more stable environment for the Iraqi people," said Harker Heights, Texas, native Maj. Glen Heape, operations officer for 1-227th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Multi-National Division ? Baghdad Soldiers, responding to a tip, were investigating two schools that were rigged to explode in a rural area in northern Baghdad when one exploded Aug. 16. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, were investigating a tip gathered by Iraqi Army forces operating in the Al Awad area of northern Baghdad and conducting a deliberate clearing operation of one school when a second school nearby exploded.
The unit then started receiving small arms fire from insurgents in a tree line across the road from the school. The Soldiers then called in attack aviation to clear the tree line and the small arms fire ceased. The Soldiers then proceeded to clear the school damaged by the explosion. There they found containers filled with high explosives planted in several areas around the school, some of which had not exploded. The school was assessed to be a complete loss.
The second school which the soldiers originally were trying to clear was also rigged with multiple containers of high explosives, but none of them exploded. All of the unexploded containers were removed and destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team.
Al Qaeda extremists operating in the area are responsible for the emplacement of the explosives, according to Lt. Col. Peter Andrysiak, deputy commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. He said extremists are attempting to disrupt Coalition efforts to facilitate the restoration of services and stop insurgent activities in the area.
This incident marks the fourth and fifth time insurgents have targeted schools in the northern Baghdad area this year. "This is a testimony of how little the Al-Qeada cares about the citizens of Iraq. They provide nothing of value to the Iraqi people," Andrysiak said. "Al Qaeda is fearful of the largest reconciliation effort in Baghdad spreading to this area, but they haven't changed their tactics. They kill and destroy. We secure, rebuild and provide hope."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Israeli troops killed two Palestinians and wounded six others during a raid near the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, Palestinian sources said. Palestinian security officials said that a gun battle broke out between Israeli troops and local gunmen in the village of Kafr Dan. One gunman and a 16-year-old boy were killed.
An Israeli army spokesman said that "several gunmen were identified during an activity against terror infrastructure. The troops fired at them and identified hitting them." The Abu Amar Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, said that the gunman killed was one of its leaders.
This article starring:
Abu Amar Brigades
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Fatah
Two Palestinians were shot and killed on Friday during one of two gunfights which had ensued between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen near the West Bank city of Jenin.
The first exchange of fire broke out after soldiers entered the village of Kafr Dan, the residents said. Two Palestinians were killed; an Islamic Jihad gunman and one a civilian, doctors said. Several others were wounded. The army said troops operating in the village against terror infrastructure identified a group of gunmen and shot toward them, hitting them. Later Friday night, Palestinians opened fire at an IDF jeep in Kabatiya.
Meanwhile, at a checkpoint south of Nablus an explosive device was thrown at soldiers. No casualties were reported in either incident.
Earlier Friday evening the IAF fired two missiles at Palestinian rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip shortly after three rockets and 12 mortars were fired towards Israel. The missiles missed the launching squad that was on its way back from firing rockets toward Israel and caused no casualties, Hamas said. Witnesses said they heard two explosions after seeing Israeli helicopters in the area. The army confirmed that aircraft had fired at Palestinian terrorists who launched rockets.
All three rockets landed in the western Negev but the mortar shells failed to reach Israeli territory and instead landed close to the Gaza security fence. One rocket landed south of Ashkelon, the second near a kibbutz close to Sderot and the third in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. No casualties were reported in any of the attacks.
This article starring:
Islamic Jihad
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad
A Palestinian company supplying electricity to the central Gaza Strip announced Friday that it would cut off power later in the day since Israel had closed a crossing through which fuel is brought into the Palestinian area. "For two days we have not received fuel," the chairman of the Gaza Generating Company, Rafik Malikha, told a press conference in Gaza City. "The Israeli side is preventing vehicles from approaching the crossing."
The Israeli army spokesman said the crossing had been closed since Wednesday for security reasons he could not detail. The Gaza Generating Company supplies the Gaza Strip with about 25 percent of its electricity. The rest of the supply comes from Israel's Electric Company and Egypt. Israel has since Wednesday forbidden the company's supply trucks from approaching the Nahal Oz Crossing, Malikha said. The company's fuel reserves, which are only enough to produce power for two days, have run out, he said.
The company will shut off three of its four generators, Malikha said. It was not immediately clear how many of the Gaza Strip's 1.4 million people would be affected. The company supplies power to Gaza City and other central areas of the coastal territory. Almost all supplies for the Gaza Strip, including food, fuel and raw materials, come from Israel and through crossings controlled by Israel. The passages are frequently closed by Israel, which cites attempts by Palestinian terrorists to attack them.
Israel closed all of the crossings after the Islamic Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, partially opening them a few days later. The United Nations has warned of a growth in poverty since Hamas's wrested control of Gaza, with unemployment on the rise and humanitarian aide in high demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
I bet if a good will gesture ...
like say the return of a certain missing soldier were to take place.... there might be a return gesture like letting some fuel in....
#5
Typical Paleo and UN strategy---blame Israel on your troubles and bad decision making. If I was Israel, I would permanently shut down the border crossings. Dump the problem back on the Paleos. If the Egyptians are such strong supporters of the Paleos, let them fork up the money to keep this terrarium of septage going. And let Hamas and their ilk know where their water comes from, and it can be shut off, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/18/2007 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Nah, AP, don't tell 'em the water can be shut off. Show them! A reduction here, a reduction there, turn it off for a few hours, then a few days....
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2007 11:48 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I thought the Jihadis rejected modern things and want to revert back to the seventh century......Welcome!
One terrorist suspected insurgent was killed, while another armed jihadi militant and an official were wounded during raids and attacks overnight and Saturday morning in the southern provinces.
One terrorist presumed insurgent was shot dead during a clash with combined police and army personnel in Yala's Krongpinang district as a 20-man government team raided a village believed to be an insurgent hide-out. Five gunmen opened fire at the government unit. One gunman was killed, while the others fled. Police detained four young men for questioning.
Elsewhere, an army unit raided a village in Songkhla's Sabayoi district and detained an terrorist insurgent leader thought to be involved in the killing and beheading of a police officer and shooting an assistant governor. The 200-man military force arrested Nilo Asae and five accomplices in the raid on Saturday. Mr. Nilo has a bounty on his head for Bt 500,000. The soldiers also seized three weapons, ammunition, explosive devices, documents about plotting attacks, camouflage uniforms, cell phones, and marijuana. The detainees will be sent to a military camp in Pattani for further investigation.
Earlier in Narathiwat, four gunmen attacked a temporary military base at a school in Rueso district. Second Lt. Sarawut Timharn was shot in the leg and sent to hospital. The gunmen retreated after five-minute exchange of gunfire with the military.
An estimated nine gunmen attacked Rueso Hospital in Narathiwat's Rueso district around midnight Friday, shooting into the hospital buildings. Both police and military responded, surrounding the hospital and exchanged gunfire with the gunmen for about ten minutes. Police arrested Isma-ae Jemu, an assailant who was wounded, and two others, who denied being involved in the shooting. They said they were innocent bystanders who were caught in the crossfire between the assailants and the depending police and military personnel. An investigation is continuing.
A soldier was wounded Saturday after terrorists insurgents fired more than 10 rounds of ammunition into a school in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat where a polling station for the public referendum on the draft constitution was set up. The incident took place in Ruso district when two unidentified terrorists travelling in a motorcycle and armed with war weapons fired into the school, wounding the soldier. Soldiers manning the temporary outpost at the school returned the fire but missed the targets.
A Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, was reportedly wounded during an encounter between Army troops and Islamic extremists in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, the military said on Thursday. The information on JI member Dulmatin, which is being validated, was based on reports from soldiers who were involved in the firefight in Maimbung town on Aug. 9 and civilian informants, the military chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told reporters.
Abu Sayyaf leader Doc Abu was also wounded in the same gun battle that left 15 government soldiers killed and several others wounded, Esperon said. Dulmatin carries a 10-million U.S. dollar bounty for his capture. He is believed to be hiding in Sulu with another suspect in the 2002 Bali attacks, Umar Patek.
This article starring:
DOC ABU
Abu Sayyaf
DULMATIN
Jemaah Islamiyah
military chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
OMAR PATEK
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2007 8:45 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I was thinking along the same lines Frank ... If the Rantburg ladies will forgive me: I think Ms. Brosmer decided to forget about the toe and went for the whole camel.
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.
Armed assailants abducted a German woman from a restaurant in Kabul on Saturday, officials said. Armed men pulled up next to a barbecue and fast food restaurant, and one of the men went inside and asked to order a pizza, said intelligence officials investigating the kidnapping. Two assailants waited outside, while another waited in a parked gray Toyota Corolla. The man in the restaurant then pulled out a pistol, walked up to a table where the woman was sitting with her boyfriend, and took her away. It was not immediately clear what happened to the boyfriend. Police, alerted to the kidnapping, spotted the speeding car and opened fire, but instead hit a nearby taxi and killed its driver. 
A suicide bomber killed an Afghan district chief and three of his children in southern Afghanistan on Friday, and five civilians were killed in fighting between NATO soldiers and Taliban in the country's east, officials said. The bomber blew himself up as Khariudin Achakzai, the chief of Kandahar's Zhari district, was coming out of his house in the city of Kandahar with five of his children, said Abdul Ghafar, a police official. Achakzai, two of his sons and a daughter were killed instantly, while two of his other sons were wounded, Ghafar said. 
Qatari mediators trying to broker a peace deal to end a Shiite uprising in Yemen were called home on Friday because of what a Yemeni official called rebel foot-dragging in implementing the plan. "They were recalled for consultations after foot-dragging by (rebel leader) Abdul Malak al-Huthi in agreeing fully to implement the timetable" of the agreement, the official close to the talks told AFP, requesting anonymity. 
Turkish passenger plane heading for Istanbul from northern Cyprus was hijacked today and forced to land for refuelling in southern Turkey, local media reported. It was not clear how many hijackers were on board, but they said they wanted to fly to Tehran, media said. Broadcaster NTV quoted the airline as saying there were 136 passengers on board the plane, which had come from Ercan airport in Turkish-backed northern Cyprus. Local media said the plane had been forced to land in the southern Turkish city of Antalya. 
Political authorities arrested six people at a check post on Peshawar-Bajaur Road near Mohmand Agency headquarters Ghalanai on Friday. 
MIRANSHAH/WANA: Two foreigners were among three militants killed on Friday after they ignored a signal to stop their vehicle at a checkpost in North Waziristan, as a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a military convoy in Tank district, killing himself and injuring five soldiers, officials said. The foreigners were identified as Uzbeks. Their bodies were flown to Miranshah for a DNA test, official sources told Daily Times.
Coalition Forces killed 13 terrorists and detained 12 suspected terrorists east of Tarmiyah Friday during an operation targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader who provides guidance to senior terrorist leaders.
Interpol has circulated an arrest warrant for the oldest daughter of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Raghad Saddam Hussein, who fled the 2003 US-led invasion, is accused of terrorism and other offences. She helped organise the legal defence of her father, who was hanged last December for crimes against humanity. 
Coalition Forces detained 14 suspected terrorists Thursday and Friday around central and northern Iraq during continuing operations to remove senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division captured one suspected insurgent and recovered a weapons cache during a raid in eastern Baghdad Aug. 16.
After returning from a family member's funeral, four women and six small children were kidnapped by armed men wearing ski masks on a Baghdad street on May 1. The women and children were taken after having to witness the execution of their male family members. They were held for more than a month's time, during which the women endured daily rapings and beatings and were constantly threatened with beheading, one of the women later said in a statement given to U.S. Special Forces. 
Israeli troops killed two Palestinians and wounded six others during a raid near the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, Palestinian sources said. Palestinian security officials said that a gun battle broke out between Israeli troops and local gunmen in the village of Kafr Dan. One gunman and a 16-year-old boy were killed.
Two Palestinians were shot and killed on Friday during one of two gunfights which had ensued between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen near the West Bank city of Jenin. 
As Thai military nab terror leader
A 
