KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver in southern Afghanistan's largest city early Saturday, snatching the woman from a residential neighborhood as she was on her way to work.
The American worked in Kandahar for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, said Jeff Palmer, its international director. Palmer said the group had not been contacted by the kidnappers and that he did not know their identity or demands.
Asadullah Khalid, the provincial governor, blamed the kidnappings on the "enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan." Khalid said the 49- year-old American was wearing a burqa when she was taken.
Iran was accused of supplying weapons to the Taliban on Saturday after security forces found dozens of Iranian-made mines in a rebel cache in western Afghanistan. Afghan police and intelligence agents raided a Taliban compound in Farah province on Thursday and discovered 130 mines, 60 of which were made in Iran, Farah governor Mohyiddin Balouch told AFP.
When asked who could be behind the supply of weapons he replied: "It is the Iran government." He added: "We have intelligence reports that these mines had recently entered Farah from Iran."
He said: "We know that there is a government in Iran which has controls over the borders. Without the knowledge of the Iranian government it is difficult to send weapons out."
United States and NATO officials have also in the past said that Iranian weapons were being supplied to the extremist Taliban, which is waging a bloody insurgency against Afghanistan's US-backed President Hamid Karzai. However, senior Afghan government officials including Karzai have repeatedly dismissed the claims, saying there was no proof.
#2
The Mad Mullahs do seem to be confident that they're not going to get a taste of their own medicine, aren't they ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2008 12:45 Comments ||
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#3
Some of this is just plain old souk economics... now if a Brazillian mine was found...
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/26/2008 12:47 Comments ||
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#4
The West is under NATO, not US control. Most of the electrical power comes from Iran and trade is very active.
Other than a couple of big battles early last year???, there has been no activity in the West. I have "heard" that a number of Iranians were killed in those events but nothing anywhere near official.
#5
Sincere question, will a mine detonate if dropped from a plane?
If so I suggest the next predator load be "Returned" ordanance. (Return to sender, address unknown, IRAN will do.)
Better yet drop on Meccah, let's see them explain that.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/26/2008 22:11 Comments ||
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A soldier with the US-led coalition was killed and three others wounded in a battle in northeastern Afghanistan on Friday that destroyed an insurgent cell and killed about a dozen rebels, AFP quoted the force as saying. An Afghan security force member and an interpreter were also wounded in the fight in a remote area of Kunar province near the border with Pakistan, a coalition statement said.
Taliban insurgents fired on troops who were searching for fighters, it said. The security forces returned fire, calling in aircraft that delivered precision-guided bombs to eliminate the enemy threat. About a dozen rebels were killed, a coalition spokesman said. The coalition did not release the nationality of its casualties in accordance with its policy.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed four Afghan fighters from the US-led coalition force on Friday in southeastern Afghanistan, Reuters quoted a provincial official as saying. The fighters were killed when the device hit their vehicle on a road in Khost province on the border with Pakistan, he said. He said the blast was the work of terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
(SomaliNet) Shiekh Muqtar Robow (Abu-mansoor), the spokesman of Al-shabaab, the Young Islamic Movement, has claimed on Friday their terrorist forces attacked Ethiopian troops in Hiiraan province, central Somalia 350KM north of the capital. "Our goal was to make the Ethiopian troops in Hiraan province and other parts of central Somalia feel the pain of the death and we forced them to touch it and we left them huge loss" he said.
The spokesman said his terrorist forces returned to their positions in the region after the assault and vowed they will continue the fight against the allied Ethiopian-Somali forces in the country. Talking about the casualties of his men, he mentioned one of his terrorists militia dead and another injured in the fighting.
The Ethiopian military has not yet commented yesterday's fighting with Islamist fighters in the far region. Ethiopian forces set up few more temporary bases in Kalabeyr north of Baladwein town and Salah-jeroow along the road connecting Hiiran province to Gal-gadud and Mudug regions in central Somalia in a strategy to fight against militants that made impossible public service vehicle's stream to cross.
Speaking one year after he sent up to 10,000 troops into Somalia to end Islamist rule in Mogadishu and southern areas of the country, Meles Ethiopian premier told the Guardian Newspaper progress was being made towards establishing "democratic, responsive and inclusive" governance there. But while serious security challenges throughout the remained, it was impossible to give a timetable for withdrawal. "The TFG is reaching out to moderate members of the ICU for a commitment to resolve problems by peaceful means. They are already in contact with some of these groups. So there is a lot of progress going on."
Down sizing the real number of his troops on the ground, Meles warned that Ethiopia could not disengage militarily until the African Union's peacekeeping mission to Somalia, Amisom, was up to strength or had at least achieved a "substantial deployment".
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
(SomaliNet) Three Somali soldiers were killed Friday when Islamist terrorists insurgents attacked a military air base south of Mogadishu and made away with weapons, an army official and an insurgent leader told AFP.
A group of insurgents attacked and briefly seized control of the base at Baledogle, around 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the capital. The fighting left three soldiers dead and five wounded, a local Somali military officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Insurgents attacked our base, there was fighting that killed three of our soldiers. I don't know how many casualties the other side suffered," he said.
An elder from a nearby area confirmed the death toll. The elder said the terrorists insurgents looted ammunition and weapons from the base.
A spokesman for the terrorists insurgents confirmed the attack and claimed that no Islamist terrorists fighters were hurt in the fighting. "Our Islamic terrorists warriors briefly took control of the base in Baledogle after fighting the stooges of colonial Ethiopia," Sheikh Muktar Ali Robow told AFP. "None of our terrorists fighters were harmed in the fighting. We did not encounter much resistance on the base," he added.
The spokesman -- also known by his nom de guerre "Abu Mansur" -- is a leader of the Shabab organisation, the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, which briefly controlled large parts of Somalia in 2006.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
#1
What's needed for these sorts of incursions is a UAV with AC-130 Spectre / Spooky capabilities. Let the terrorists seize whatever they want, then send 'em virgin shopping as they try to retreat...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/26/2008 10:41 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- The Algerian military said Friday they shot dead four militants east of the capital city Algiers. The four men belong to Al-Qaeda Organization in in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), according to a police source. One of the four terrorist was killed in a crackdown in Shu'batul-Amer, Boumerdes, some 62 km east of Algiers, the source said. Another one was gunned down in Breika town, Batna state, some 420 southeast here. Two other militants were killed in a combing operation in Djelfa, 220 south Algiers. Four Algerian servicemen were injured in the operations, the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Security and civil authorities in Tebessa (east of Algiers) have identified the four terrorists bodies which were kept in morgue at a hospital in the same province, according to reliable sources.
This came after two Libyan terrorists and six other Algerians had been arrested and admitted that the Libyans entered Algeria in 2007 and joined terrorists in Tebessa upon request of Abu Leith al-Libi, a leader in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Algerian authorities have been waiting for fixed deadlines while the terrorists parents did not show up to bury the bodies within established procedures, said the same sources. On the other hand, the Libyan side did not follow those procedures. Because of that, the four Libyan were buried by the Algerian authorities in Tebessas cemetery last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Protesters angry with the leadership of the troubled Russian region of Ingushetia clashed with riot police Saturday, throwing rocks and firebombs the day after the government started a major security operation.
Police responded by firing live rounds over the heads of some of the 300 protesters who tried to gather in the central square of Ingushetia's main city, Nazran; heavily armed riot police blocked side streets. No injuries were reported, but dozens of people were believed to have been detained, and with the North Caucasus region already tense, the situation threatened to spiral out of control.
Protesters many of whom appeared to be young men set fire to a nearby hotel and the building of a local newspaper that the opposition has criticized for praising authorities. Some of the protesters threw rocks and incendiary devices at police, who fired shots into the air before moving into the crowd, beating people severely and hauling them into waiting police vans.
An Associated Press reporter saw at least half a dozen people forcibly detained, including four journalists, and dozens more people were believed arrested. Police did not give the exact number held. "Everyone even indirectly involved in organizing this protest will be severely punished," regional Interior Minister Musa Medov told The Associated Press.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/26/2008 07:36 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
#1
The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslim and speak the Ingush language, which has a very high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen.
#3
I dunno, tw - ever been to the latest hellhole Ingushetia?
Maybe they have firebombs lying around the streets along with the rocks. (It's a cultural thing, don'tcha know.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/26/2008 10:25 Comments ||
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#4
When the liberal members of your local coffee clatch insist that continued muslim immigration into western society poses no threat to established society, you might want to point out to them this most recent example of the abject inability of muslims to resist their separtist inclination and to peacefully co-exist with the "other". Not that it will do any good or convence them, but point it out just the same.
#5
Mark: my local "koffee klatch" come armed to the teeth, and are currently more worried about unlimited Latin American immigrtion than muzzies. The threat's a lot closer. As for those muzzies, fire-bombs around here would probably result in a lot of small-caliber pistol fire and a bunch of dead and burning muzzies.
Defense begins at home, and reaches as far as it's necessary.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/26/2008 13:45 Comments ||
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#6
"As for those muzzies, fire-bombs around here would probably result in a lot of small-caliber pistol fire and a bunch of dead and burning muzzies".
Russian government forces launched a large-scale security operation in a North Caucasus region Friday in response to a surge in violence and abductions there, police said. The "preventive" operation in several districts of Ingushetia by regional law-enforcement bodies together with federal interior and security forces involved stepped-up identity checks and searches for militants and their arms caches in abandoned buildings and other places, the regional Interior Ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The US military in Afghanistan said that a Taliban-linked militant leader wanted by Washington had been killed in neighbouring Pakistan. Darim Sedgai was ambushed by unknown gunmen on January 16 and died of his wounds, the military said in a statement.
The military described him as a "powerful commander" linked to a top Taliban leader, Siraj Haqqani, but did not provide any further details of the incident.
The US military here reportedly announced a 50,000-dollar bounty for Sedgai in October last year, saying he was wanted for his ties to Taliban and Al-Qaeda militant groups.
Sedgai was the third rebel commander in Haqqani's network to die in recent months, the statement said. Haqqani, the son of famous anti-Russian commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, joined the Taliban during their advance towards Kabul in 1996 and is their top commander in eastern Afghanistan. He has a 200,000 dollar bounty on his head.
Around 34 militants and two soldiers were killed during a military operation in Darra Adam Khel, as fighting erupted in the formerly stable region, sources said on Friday, adding that gunship helicopters were used to target militant bunkers.
However, ISPR Director General Major General Athar Abbas said around 25-30 militants and two security forces personnel were killed, adding that 10 personnel were injured. He said he was not aware of any truth behind the militants claims of having killed seven soldiers and taken another 15 hostage. Online reported that the security forces had imposed a curfew in the region. At present, the aim is the recovery of trucks [of food and ammunition] and if the resistance grows, then the operation may continue till the army takes control of the area, Abbas said.
The military launched the operation after the collapse of talks between the government and local Taliban for the release of five soldiers and four truckloads of ammunition and food that were hijacked on Thursday. A jirga failed to convince the local Taliban to cooperate. Later, tribal elders quoted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Omer as saying that the trucks had been shifted to a safe place.
Omer also claimed that the ammunition was enough to fight against the security forces for two years. A tribal elder said the trucks had been recovered, but the ammunition and kidnapped officials were still missing. He said the local Taliban and security forces had blocked the Indus Highway at separate points.
Checkpost captured: Meanwhile, the militants claimed to have captured Zarghun Khel checkpost. Locals said three soldiers had been killed and five others captured. Senator Abdul Razzaq said dialogue collapsed after the Taliban refused to hand over the vehicles and soldiers.
Local population: Around 70 percent of the local population has left, he said. Arms dealers have shifted their stocks to safer places, he added. NNI quoted TV channels as saying that rocket shells hit mobile phone towers on the main road, disrupting phone service in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
As the legend of the Talibans very poor aim i doubt there was enough ammo for the too shoot for a week much less years. Hell if they have a wedding there goes an entire US soldiers lifetime worth
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Troops on Friday combed the mountains in the tribal stronghold of Baitullah Mehsud, blamed by Islamabad and Washington for the killing of Benazir Bhutto. The army said it had fired artillery and mortar rounds targeting militant hideouts from which troops had come under fire overnight in South Waziristan. A house-to-house search operation is underway in the areas where the security forces have consolidated their positions, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. No loss of life was reported. The fighting has forced hundreds of families to leave the area and there is a severe shortage of essential supplies, residents said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
KHAR: Two people were killed and a woman injured in separate incidents in Bajaur Agency, Daily Times learnt on Friday. Sources said militants fired rockets at the Nawagai scouts camp late on Thursday night. Security forces retaliated using heavy artillery, leaving a woman injured. In the same area, suspected militants exploded a remote-controlled bomb, killing Maulana Mursalin. Separately, unidentified attackers riding a motorbike opened fire on former subedar Mamoor Khan, who was on his way home from the Khar bazaar. He was rushed to hospital where he died. The political administration registered a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
MINGORA: Security forces arrested a militant commander during a search operation, while the police rounded up three schoolteachers in Swat district on Friday, sources said. The security forces arrested Razzaq, who had issued a fatwa (edict) to butcher security forces personnel, from Kot Charbagh, and later shifted him to Khwazakhela police station for interrogation.
In addition to Kot Charbagh, the security forces also conducted search operations in upper parts of Matta tehsil, including Geopal and Venai areas. However, no arrests were made during the search operations that continued for several hours. Meanwhile, Mingora police arrested six teachers of the Government Primary School Mulla Baba. After initial probe, three teachers were released while three others remain in police custody.
Curfew relaxed: Meanwhile, the curfew was relaxed in Swat from 6am to 7pm, while there was complete peace in Parachinar. According to Online, militants also targeted a military convoy near Bannu airport, however no loss of life was reported. Earlier, sources said that authorities had scaled back the military operation in the region due to heavy rains and snowfall in mountainous areas over the past two weeks.
Security forces could not reach upper areas of Matta and Kabal tehsils, while Namal, Payochar, Chiryaal, Shor, Manja, Totanobandi and Sarsinai area are still in control of militants. People have been facing problems due to strict checking at entry and exit points of various areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
Police have started looking for a second suicide bomber in connection with the Lahore High Court (LHC) suicide blast in which 22 people were killed. The footage obtained from two closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed near the blast site shows a man heading towards the site seconds before the blast, but survives the explosion. In the first footage, three cars can be seen heading towards The Mall from Ustad Allah Baksh Road. A 19-year-old boy who was carrying a bag on his one shoulder and a shawl on the other is seen approaching the policemen who were deployed outside the Lahore High Court (LHC) gate. Fifteen seconds after the boy is seen moving towards the policemen, a blast takes place. A wall that comes between the camera and the boy hinders further view. The second footage shows smoke, blood-splattered road, body parts and injured policemen on the site, but the boy is seen nowhere. The investigators are trying to ascertain the boys identity and that how he escaped the explosion or where did he go if he was injured as he is not found in this post-blast video. According to investigators, the boy was there to detonate himself if the first bomber failed to strike or was arrested. The boys disappearance from the blast site has become a mystery for the investigators.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Taliban chief Mullah Omar has sacked Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for fighting against the Pakistan Army instead of with NATO forces, Asia Times Online reported on Friday.
The news website quoted Mullah Omar as telling other Taliban commanders to turn their focus on NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan. The sacking comes at a time when President Pervez Musharraf has launched an intense military operation against Baitullah in South Waziristan. Mullah Omar appointed Baitullah as TTP chief, according to the website.
Baitullah has been sacked at a time when the Talibans spring offensive is just months away. The Afghan front is quiet because the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are heavily engaged in fighting Pakistani security forces in Waziristan. Therefore, Mullah Omar has put his foot down to reset goals for the Taliban: struggle in Afghanistan and not against Pakistan, as was being done by Baitullah Mehsud, the website reported.
Faqir refuses: It also quoted intelligence sources as saying that Omar appointed Maulvi Faqir Muhammad as TTP chief but Faqir refused to accept the designation after which the local Taliban were holding meetings to find Baitullahs replacement. Sources told Asia Times that with Baitullah replaced, Omar would use all Taliban resources in the Tribal Areas to dislodge NATO troops from Afghanistan. However, this leaves Baitullah and his loyalists completely isolated to fight Pakistani forces, according to the report. Baitullah is already named by the government as the main suspect behind Benazir Bhuttos killing.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Fired again...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/26/2008 8:07 Comments ||
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#2
makes sense as omar works for perv/isi!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
01/26/2008 8:25 Comments ||
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Iraqi security forces have begun a "decisive" final offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq to push the Sunni Islamist militants out of their last major stronghold in the north, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday.
He said Iraqi soldiers and police were being sent to Mosul, where a massive blast blamed on al Qaeda killed 40 people and wounded 220 on Wednesday, and an operations room had been set up in the city, 390 km north of Baghdad. From below: U.S. commanders in northern Iraq said Wednesday's massive blast, which left a crater the size of a multi-storey building, was in an unoccupied building they said was used by al Qaeda to store weapons and tons of explosives.
U.S. military commanders say al Qaeda, blamed for most big bombings in Iraq, has regrouped in the northern provinces after being squeezed out from between King Kong's toes of western Anbar province and from around Baghdad during security crackdowns last year.
They describe Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, as al Qaeda's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
"We have set up an operations room in Nineveh to complete the final battle with al Qaeda along with guerrillas and members of the previous regime," Maliki said, referring to other Sunni militants the Shi'ite-led government says remain loyal to former leader Saddam Hussein.
"Today our forces started moving to Mosul. What we are planning in Nineveh will be decisive," he said during a ceremony for victims of violence in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala in southern Iraq, broadcast on state television.
Maliki gave no details of the number of Iraqi troops involved or the scale of the operation. Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari did not have details but said it had been launched at Maliki's request. Crow about it enough and AlQ will run away and leave everything behind. One IA guy will be able to take the whole area and AlQ will have to regroup and restock. Rinse and repeat until they grow lazy or weary of the drill, then crush them in place!
"Security is very weak there and the security forces need to be reinforced," Askari said.
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said the Mosul push would include 3,000 extra police. Iraqi security officials in the city said no reinforcements had arrived yet.
U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a series of offensives in northern provinces this year targeting al Qaeda in Iraq.
The U.S. military calls the group, which commanders say is largely foreign-led, the biggest threat to Iraq's security. The military said this week that al Qaeda militants killed 3,870 civilians and wounded almost 18,000 in 4,500 attacks last year.
"We defeated al Qaeda, now there is just Nineveh province where they escaped to, and Kirkuk," Maliki said, referring to another northern city.
During his trip to Kerbala, Maliki met Sheikh Abdul Mehdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Karbalai was lightly wounded in a bomb attack in the city late on Thursday.
Maliki called the bombing a "criminal act." Seems as though Maliki is confident enough in his position lately that Iran and the other bad guys can't teabag him anymore.
U.S. military commanders say al Qaeda's influence in its former strongholds has been greatly diminished but that it remains a dangerous enemy in Mosul and other northern areas.
Despite frequent attacks in northern Iraq, overall violence has fallen sharply across the country, with the number of attacks down 60 percent since last June.
The fall in attacks has been credited to an extra 30,000 U.S. troops that became fully deployed last June, the growth of neighborhood police units after Sunni Arab tribal sheikhs turned against al Qaeda and better Iraqi security forces. Pay the extra bucks for sufficient troops up front and avoid paying interest for the rest of eternity. What a concept! Of course, this assumes a good understanding of the natives, which I believe was forcibly developed by not having enough troops in the first place. Perhaps the way this worked out was best. We will be able to apply our cultural learnings to Pakistan and Iran when the time comes. >:-}
"Now we have a real army. The days when the militants could do anything in front of our armed forces are gone," Maliki said. Well, you have an army with more 'teeth' than you are used to anyway. Someone will need to tell him about the 'tail' part one day.
U.S. commanders in northern Iraq said Wednesday's massive blast, which left a crater the size of a multi-storey building, was in an unoccupied building they said was used by al Qaeda to store weapons and tons of explosives. Suppose it could have been a work accident?
On Thursday, the Nineveh province police director was killed by a suicide bomber as he toured the site of the original blast. Just had to throw that unrelated bit of negative info in, didn't ya? Sorta like hedging your bet for when time for raises rolls around. How about a piece of unrelated positive information for each unrelated negative information?
Posted by: gorb ||
01/26/2008 06:44 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
yeah yall are ready for the final battle right. You can't hold one major city without US presence. If the US left AL Queda would take over in a matter of days
BAGHDAD Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were given a gift when a sniper walked into their control during a small arms engagement in West Rashid, Jan. 22. Black Lions, of Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, were hunting for three men believed to have been firing at them, when two men attempting to flee the cordon entered a house occupied by MND-B Soldiers.
"Howdy gents! Stick 'em up!"
One of the men was positively identified at the scene as a known sniper, while the other is an alleged extremist. The suspected sniper and extremist were taken to a Coalition Detention Facility for further questions.
This is part of Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers on going offensive operations in support of Operation Phantom Phoenix, to kill or capture al-Qaeda and Shia/Sunni extremists to deny them rest and sanctuary in Baghdad and the surrounding rural areas.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/26/2008 0:22 Comments ||
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#2
This suggests exactly how these folks operate! They pick a house at random, charge in, and stick a gun in the occupant's ear until the heat is off. Too bad for them, the occupants of this house probably stuck SAWs in the snipers' ears!
But I also sort of wonder if they screwed up and missed the safe-house a bit! Better sniff around just in case.
#1
Israel, alarmed at the ongoing breakdown in security on the Egypt-Gaza border, has closed the main road running along the border. Tourism sites and hiking trails have been closed.
...
Security measures have been increased, according to the Israeli military, on fears that Israeli citizens could be vulnerable to attacks by Palestinians now free to travel in the area.
... But the Egyptian foreign ministry told the BBC by text message that reports that Hosni Mubarak had invited Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for discussions were "not accurate".
If you can't trust a text message, who can you trust?
#2
But it had faced accusations of imposing illegal "collective punishment" on residents of Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
oh goodie, a new buzzword to avoid pointing out the failure of the Palestinian "government" to maintain even a shred of order and blame it all on the jooos: "illegal collective punishment".
Correspondents say the incursions by hundreds of thousands of Gazans are forcing Egypt, Israel and the international community to rethink their policy of trying to weaken the Hamas leadership by keeping the territory sealed.
Ah yes, their only purpose of sealing the border is to weaken the hamheads, not to prevent teenyboomers from blowing up in discos or car bombs crossing the border. Because we all know that if the Palestinian people were peaceful and cooperative, like, I don't know, human beings instead of rabid rampaging monkeys, that Israel would still close their borders and imprison them. At least that what the BBC brain-dead editors apparently think.
#4
I thought that for the sort of marxist addled morons that inhabit the ME anything collective automatically has to be good...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/26/2008 8:03 Comments ||
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#5
But the Egyptian foreign ministry told the BBC by text message that reports that Hosni Mubarak had invited Hamas and Fatah to Cairo for discussions were "not accurate".
"nt aqur8!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2008 8:26 Comments ||
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#6
Great. So now Israel has to gaurd the entire Sinai border against splodeydopes and Kassams.
What happens when those rockets start hitting Israel from Egypt?
#10
The Aegyptians will liely fall back to defend the Mitla and Giddup passes where they will be isolated by wait..... nevermind, rong year. The wormhole is crowded for the '67m tour.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/26/2008 22:36 Comments ||
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Egyptian border guards with riot shields formed human chains on Friday in an apparent attempt to gradually reseal Egypt's breached border with Gaza, but thousands of Palestinians still managed to sneak through. The attempt to hinder the flow came after Egyptian officials rejected notions of Israel relinquishing responsibility for the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has been deprived of normal trade and commerce and faced blockades. The Egyptian guards were posted along the main border breach, where a crowd quickly grew into the thousands, frustrated at no longer being let in. Some threw stones at the Egyptians, but quickly stopped after being booed.
At other checkpoints, Palestinians continued to pour into Egyptian territory, carrying canisters to fill with fuel sold in the border town of Rafah. Yousef Mohammed, 17, of Gaza, said that he had waited until Friday to make the trip because he was trying to get together enough money first to shop in Egypt. ''They don't want us to go in,'' he said, pointing at the riot police.
Egyptian Amira Ali, 39, carrying her toddler son and holding a 6-year-old son by the hand, said she wants to visit her mother-in-law in Gaza. ''Of course, I'm afraid (of being trapped in Gaza), but will try to go for a while so my mother-in-law can see the kids,'' she said. Travelers returning from Egypt said they heard loudspeaker announcements there that Gazans had to return home by 7 pm Friday.
The border was breached on Wednesday, when Palestinian militants blew down large sections of the wall. Since then, Egypt has allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to go back and forth from the crowded territory, home to some 1.5 million people. The opening of the border, even if temporary, provided a significant popularity boost to Gaza's Hamas rulers, who can claim they successfully broke through the internationally supported Israeli closure that has deprived the coastal strip of normal trade and commerce for nearly two years. Both Egypt and Israel restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza after Hamas won parliament elections in 2006, and further tightened the closure after Hamas seized control of the area by force last June.
The issue turned into a verbal spat between Egypt and Israel when Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel gradually wants to relinquish responsibility for Gaza, now that its border with Egypt was blown open. It was a position echoed by other Israeli officials, who said the border breach could pave the way for increasingly disconnecting from the territory.
However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking on Thursday to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, said he didn't want to ''go too far in my interpretation of this.''
Egypt angrily rejected the Israeli ideas and said it would not change border arrangements. ''The border will go back as normal,'' said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki. ''The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons.''
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
strange things happen when you take your finger out of the dike.
#2
This is so good, I need more popcorn. If the non-arab world was smart, they'd push hard for an arab "free-trade and security" zone on the Egyptian boarder. Let the Gazans trade with their good friends, and dump the responsibility for security on a multinational arab force.
#4
So now with the Gaza wall down, the Paleos will have more avenues to bring in weapons and ordinance to Gaza. It is going to get ugly pretty soon for Israel. Hamas will step up rocket attacks. Israel will proportionally retaliate and will be more on the defensive. Hamas will push and push, and try to get Israel to do a massive retaliation, which Hamas will use for a massive anti-Israel propaganda barrage in the MSM.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/26/2008 12:48 Comments ||
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A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed and at least 10 were wounded by IDF troops in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar, Palestinian sources said on Friday. Eyewitnesses said that the Palestinian youth was hit after IDF troops opened fire at village residents who were hurling stones at the forces and Israeli vehicles.
The IDF said that clashes occurred during searches in the village, which were being conducted as a follow up to Thursday's terrorist attack in a high school in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion. Palestinian sources said that IDF troops entered the village in order to conduct searches in terrorists' homes.
Earlier, Hamas's military wing, Izzadin al-Kassam, claimed responsibility for Thursday evening's terror attack at a Gush Etzion high-school, Army Radio reported Friday. According to Palestinian sources, the two terrorists, Muhammad and Mahmoud Samarna, were cousins and both Hamas affiliates from the Beit Ummar village north of Hebron. A senior government official said that the two terrorists were released last week from an Israeli prison after they had finished their time in prison for attempting to steal weapons.
On Thursday evening, the two terrorists were killed after infiltrating the Mekor Hayim High School Yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem. The terrorists, armed with knives and a pistol, infiltrated the kibbutz - in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc - and sneaked into a building used by the high school, run by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. They entered a classroom where counselors were holding a meeting, and stabbed two of them. Two of the counselors were armed and managed to overpower and kill the terrorists, without giving them a chance to fire their pistol, a Hatzallah spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Terrorists Extremists in the deep South have shot dead five Muslims including a teen-aged boy in separate attacks, police said on Saturday.
A 34-year-old man was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Yala.
In neighbouring Narathiwat, the terrorists insurgents ambushed two teenagers early Saturday. A 16-year-old boy was killed while his 15-year-old friend was wounded. According to police, the dead boy had slash wounds on his head, indicating the terrorists militants may have tried to decapitate him after the murder, an increasingly frequent occurrence.
Another Muslim, aged 50, was also shot dead outside his house in Yala late Friday.
Also on Friday night, in Pattani province, the terrorists insurgents gunned down a 56-year-old villager in yet another drive-by shooting, officers said. A 48-year-old man was killed as he drove his motorcycle to a mosque.
Singapore authorities said they detained two men who allegedly tried to join Islamic militant networks overseas, hoping to wage armed jihad in places such as Afghanistan and Chechnya. Muhammad Zamri Abdullah and Maksham Mohd Shah, both 26, were detained Dec. 5 under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement late Thursday. The act allows for arrest without charges and indefinite detention without trial.
Maksham is also accused of attempting to make bombs, the ministry said. Their associate, Mohammad Taufik Andjah Asmara, 26, was given a restriction order, the ministry said. He was originally involved in their activities but later distanced himself from the pair, the statement said. Under such orders, suspects are released but placed under restrictions such as limits on traveling outside the country. All three men are Singapore citizens. «Zamri became self-radicalized through radical propaganda in publications, videos and the Internet,» the ministry said. «He became radicalized to the extent that he had gone overseas to try to join a 'mujahideen network,' so that he could wage armed jihad overseas and die a martyr.
In early 2006, Zamri, who falsely claimed to be the Singapore representative of a foreign radical group, collected money from the other two men that he planned to send to another foreign radical group, the ministry said. Zamri and Maksham then traveled to an unnamed country in November 2006, hoping to take an oath of allegiance with leaders of radical and militant groups so they could join foreign mujahideen networks. Zamri believed they would receive training and fight in places such as Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya, the statement said. But the pair failed when they were unable to meet with the leaders.
Maksham experimented with building homemade bombs after being inspired by news footage that showed Molotov cocktails being used in attacks, the statement said. He tried making explosive devices using material from sparklers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Takfir wal-Hijra
In stepped-up fighting, Sri Lankan security forces gunned down at least 43 Tamil Tigers and lost seven soldiers in the island's restive north, where the Air Force jets on Friday raided an LTTE transport base in the rebel-dominated Kilinochchi area.
The aerial raid targeted the LTTE base located at two kms southwest of the depot junction in Selvanagar in Kilinochchi, the Defence Ministry said. The raid was launched based on information received through intelligence sources and air surveillances conducted for a long period, Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Andy Wijesooriya said. The pilots confirmed that the target was accurately hit, he said.
In ground clashes, at least nine Tigers were killed in south of Adampan in northwestern Mannar after troops destroyed seven LTTE bunkers yesterday, the Defence Ministry said.
In another incident, troops gunned down five rebels in Muhamale in Jaffna peninsula yesterday, the army said. One army officer and a solder were killed in Muhamalai on Thursday due to an explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said. It said that two rebels were killed in Navathkulam in northern Vavuniya yesterday while two women Tigers were gunned down in Kallikulam.
At Periyapandisurichchan in Vavuniya, army snipers deployed in the defence line killed an LTTE cadre. On the Mannar front, troops stationed at Vannakulam came under heavy mortar shelling by LTTE cadres on Thursday evening resulting in the killing of two soldiers and injuries to two others, the Defence Ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2008 00:00 ||
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he founder of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), George Habash, has died in Jordan, associates say.
Habash died of a heart attack, one of his former colleagues said. He was around 80 years old.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called three days of national mourning. Under Habash's leadership the PFLP became known as one of the most radical Palestinian militant groups, notorious for plane hijackings.
In September 1970 it captured four airliners, later blowing them up in front of the world's cameras, once the passengers had been removed.
The group also fired at Israeli aircraft and their crew, carried out bombings, and took hostages including, on one occasion, Opec leaders meeting in Vienna.
'Historic leader'
George Habash was born in Lydda, in British-ruled Palestine - which is now Lod in Israel - and was forced to flee when war broke out in 1948.
He was a Christian, and became a medical student, who espoused the cause of secular Arab nationalism.
He was a founding member, in 1951, of the Arab Nationalist Movement, which later merged with other groups to become the PFLP.
The group designated itself a Marxist-Leninist movement and became the second largest partner in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
It carried out more and more audacious attacks in the 1960s, throwing the Palestinian issue into the international spotlight.
It opposed Arab-Israeli peace negotiations and any talk of a two-state solution - Habash often criticised PLO leader Yasser Arafat for negotiating with Israel.
Throughout his life Habash supported the use of violence against Israel.
One of the most deadly PFLP attacks was the gunning down of 27 people at Israel's Lod airport in May 1972.
Forty-seven people were killed when a Swissair jet was bombed in 1970.
Israeli tried for years to capture Habash, even intercepting a commercial airliner in 1973 and forcing it to land, mistakenly believing he was on board.
Habash stepped down as leader of the PFLP in 2000, by which time the group had been marginalised by the growing power of Islamist movements like Hamas.
Mr Abbas called Habash a "historic leader" and ordered Palestinian flags to fly at half-mast.
The current deputy secretary-general of the PFLP, Abdel Raheem Mallouh, called Habash a "distinguished leader... who struggled for more than 60 years without a stop for the rights and the interests of his people".
He was married, with two daughters.
His wife, Hilda, said: "We will all carry the banner of Habash and the Arab nation he dearly cherished. Habash always believed Palestine would be liberated."
"He lived for his people and died for his people," she told Reuters.
#1
Some PFLP terrorism that didn't copy:
1968 Hijacks Israeli plane in first major operation
1970 Hijacks four Western airliners; blows them up after passengers removed
1970 Swissair flight SR330 bombed in mid-flight; 47 dead
1972 Japanese leftists carry out massacre at Lod Airport, Tel Aviv, for PFLP; 26 dead
1975 Carlos the Jackal leads PFLP hijacking of Opec meeting in Vienna; hostages flown round Middle East
1976 Air France flight from Tel Aviv hijacked and diverted to Entebbe, Uganda; Israeli paratroopers mount raid, freeing most hostages
2001 Israeli Minister for Tourism Rehavam Zeevi assassinated
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver in southern Afghanistan's largest city early Saturday, snatching the woman from a residential neighborhood as she was on her way to work. 
(KUNA) -- The Algerian military said Friday they shot dead four militants east of the capital city Algiers. The four men belong to Al-Qaeda Organization in in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), according to a police source. One of the four terrorist was killed in a crackdown in Shu'batul-Amer, Boumerdes, some 62 km east of Algiers, the source said. Another one was gunned down in Breika town, Batna state, some 420 southeast here. Two other militants were killed in a combing operation in Djelfa, 220 south Algiers. Four Algerian servicemen were injured in the operations, the source added.
Security and civil authorities in Tebessa (east of Algiers) have identified the four terrorists bodies which were kept in morgue at a hospital in the same province, according to reliable sources. 
The US military in Afghanistan said that a Taliban-linked militant leader wanted by Washington had been killed in neighbouring Pakistan. 
MINGORA: Security forces arrested a militant commander during a search operation, while the police rounded up three schoolteachers in Swat district on Friday, sources said. The security forces arrested Razzaq, who had issued a fatwa (edict) to butcher security forces personnel, from Kot Charbagh, and later shifted him to Khwazakhela police station for interrogation.
Taliban chief Mullah Omar has sacked Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for fighting against the Pakistan Army instead of with NATO forces, Asia Times Online reported on Friday.
Egyptian border guards with riot shields formed human chains on Friday in an apparent attempt to gradually reseal Egypt's breached border with Gaza, but thousands of Palestinians still managed to sneak through. The attempt to hinder the flow came after Egyptian officials rejected notions of Israel relinquishing responsibility for the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has been deprived of normal trade and commerce and faced blockades. The Egyptian guards were posted along the main border breach, where a crowd quickly grew into the thousands, frustrated at no longer being let in. Some threw stones at the Egyptians, but quickly stopped after being booed.
A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed and at least 10 were wounded by IDF troops in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar, Palestinian sources said on Friday. Eyewitnesses said that the Palestinian youth was hit after IDF troops opened fire at village residents who were hurling stones at the forces and Israeli vehicles. 
In stepped-up fighting, Sri Lankan security forces gunned down at least 43 Tamil Tigers and lost seven soldiers in the island's restive north, where the Air Force jets on Friday raided an LTTE transport base in the rebel-dominated Kilinochchi area.
