A roadside bomb killed five Afghan civilians and wounded one while they were travelling in a taxi in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Monday, a provincial official said. Separately, two Afghan policemen were killed and three others were wounded by a roadside bomb blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Twenty people, most of them Ethiopians, were killed and at least 80 wounded in northeastern Somalia when twin explosions rocked a residential area late Tuesday, the information ministry said.
"We are very sorry to announce that 20 civilians, most of them Ethiopian citizens, have been killed and 80 others wounded, some of them seriously when violent people targeted them with heavy explosions near the seaport in Bosasso," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, a spokesman for the information ministry in the breakaway region of Puntland.
He added that the blasts, apparently caused by grenades, occurred within "two minutes" of each other, razing "an entire neighborhood where the Ethiopian citizens lived."
Bosasso in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland has become a magnet for migrant workers and economic refugees, many of whom seek to cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.
Local staff put the number of wounded higher and described it as one of the worst attacks in Puntland.
"We received about 90 wounded people and so far some of them died in the hospital. It seems that the hospital had the busiest night and largest number of wounded people in a single incident," said Mohamed Yusuf from Bosasso main hospital.
A witness told AFP that residents were horrified by the carnage left from the explosions.
"We got tired as we collected the charred bodies and seriously injured peple through the night," said Osman Sheik Weheliye.
Puntland, which declared semi-autonomous status in 1998, has been relatively peaceful compared to Somalia, which has been wracked by violence since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Two police officers were wounded in a bomb explosion in a restive province in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.
A roadside bomb was set off by remote control as a police vehicle was passing late Tuesday in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari province bordering both Iraq and Iran, the report said.
One of the officers in the car sustained serious injuries, it added.
There was no immediate word on who was behind the attack, but the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is active in the region.
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, has threatened retaliation following Turkish air raids on its bases in northern Iraq.
Since December 16, the Turkish army has said it has carried out five air strikes against rebel positions in northern Iraq as well as a ground cross-border operation to stop a group of rebels trying to infiltrate Turkey.
The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast and east since 1984 in a bloody conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
A Pakistani Taliban commander blamed for the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto has declared an indefinite ceasefire with government forces, a militant spokesman said Wednesday.
I think we expected to see this, given the Asia Times article from the other day.
But an army spokesman said they were not aware of any truce and vowed that operations against Islamic militants in the rugged region near the Afghan border would continue.
That's because the Talibs and Qaeda worked out the terms they're gonna offer to the government, which will take them without more than a proforma argument.
Militant leader Baitullah Mehsud had ordered an "indefinite" truce following months of clashes in the tribal region of South Waziristan and neighbouring regions, said spokesman Maulvi Omar.
Maulvi Omar's different from Mullah Omar and Haji Omar, and prob'ly different from Mualana Omar and Father Omar and Monseignor Omar and Pope Omar XV...
"We have announced ceasefire for an indefinite period because the government stopped attacking us," Omar, the spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban (Taliban Movement) Pakistan, told AFP by telephone. "Baitullah Mehsud has ordered his people to stop attacks against Pakistani forces from Waziristan to Swat and other areas of Pakistan," he added. "It is not a formal agreement with the government forces but we have done it voluntarily."
The Pakistani government and the US Central Intelligence Agency have accused Mehsud of masterminding Bhutto's assassination in a gun and suicide bomb attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on December 27. Pakistani officials say he is linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and is also responsible for a string of suicide bombings around the country.
Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the army would keep up operations against the Taliban. "There is no formal information conveyed to us from them about a ceasefire. When they stopped firing we thought it was because of the severe weather conditions in the region," Abbas told AFP. "Our position is very clear -- the operation has not ended, it will continue as long as the objectives the operations are achieved," he added.
"We just don't have anything planned for the immediate future."
"And how long's the 'immediate future'?"
"For however long they don't shoot at us."
"The operation will continue as long as we are clearing their hideouts and their positions from where they are attacking our forces and convoys."
More than 300 people have died in militant related violence this year, much of it in fighting between Islamic militants and troops in South Waziristan, the stronghold of Mehsud. Mehsud's fighters occupied a paramilitary fort in the region during January. Pakistani troops have also been battling to drive out insurgents from the tourist valley of Swat in North West Frontier Province, which borders the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
A Pakistani general in charge of anti-Taliban operations was among eight personnel killed Wednesday when an army helicopter crashed in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the military said.
The chopper came down near the village of Tanai in the mountainous tribal district of South Waziristan but a military spokesman quickly ruled out hostile action and blamed a "technical malfunction".
The accident killed Major General Javed Sultan, the commanding officer of the northwestern Kohat garrison, which oversees the hunt for Taliban militants in the tribal belt, top army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.
Two brigadiers, four officers including two pilots and a junior crewman were also killed when the Bell 412 transport helicopter crashed in the rugged region, Abbas said.
"I strongly rule out any hostile or any sabotage action in the crash," Abbas told AFP.
"It was caused by technical malfunctioning but we have not yet been able to determine the nature of the fault."
South Waziristan has been wracked by fierce fighting between Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants and government forces in recent weeks that has left dozens of people dead.
The rugged region is also the hideout of an Al-Qaeda-linked militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who is accused by Pakistani and US officials of masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
But a militant spokesman said earlier Wednesday that Mehsud had declared an "indefinite" ceasefire with government troops in the area and across Pakistan. The army said however that operations were continuing.
Several Pakistani army choppers have crashed in the country's mountainous northwest in recent years.
A helicopter escorting President Pervez Musharraf to Pakistani Kashmir in October last year crashed and burst into flames, killing four troops. Musharraf's own helicopter was not affected.
Six Pakistani soldiers were killed when another Mi-17 crashed days after the catastrophic October 2005 Pakistan earthquake.
#2
The accident killed Major General Javed Sultan, the commanding officer of the northwestern Kohat garrison, which oversees the hunt for Taliban militants in the tribal belt, top army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.
Maybe a different pair of eyes over the fight will have a different result.
CHANDIGARH: A special CBI court in Patiala on Tuesday awarded life sentences to Abdul Latif, Dalip Kumar and Yusuf Nepali for abetting and conspiring with terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan on December 24, 1999. They were found guilty on various counts, including murder.
Handing down the 69-page judgment in the case, which took nine years and involved 120 witnesses, the judge, Inderjit Singh Walia, sentenced the three to life imprisonment for colluding with those behind the hijacking that was aimed at seeking freedom for top terrorists Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Zargar and Sheikh Ahmed Omar Sayeed.
The court also awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment for attempt to murder, five years term for kidnapping, abduction and wrongful confinement. The three also received another five years term for forgery and a fine of Rs. 2,000 along with a three-year prison sentence for criminal intimidation. The accused were found guilty for possessing illegal weapons, for which they got three years in jail under the provisions of the Arms Act and were also convicted for entering into a criminal conspiracy.
The proceedings were held inside the Central Jail in Patiala, where an anti-hijacking court was set up under the IPC provisions and anti-hijacking law. The trial was not open to journalists and no contact with the accused was allowed. While the accused have been lodged in the Patiala Central Jail since 1999, the main accused in the case are still at large even as the Interpol has issued notices.
The CBI, which had named 10 persons in its chargesheet, identified the hijackers as Ibrahim Athar alias Chief, Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias Burger, Sahid Sayeed Akhtar alias Doctor, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistry alias Bhola, Shakir alias Shankar and Jaish-e-Muhammad Maulana Masood Azhars brother Yusuf Azhar and his brother-in-law Abdul Rauf. While Latif was said to have co-ordinated the conspiracy in India, Yusuf who is a Nepali citizen, was charged with arranging passports and tickets at Kathmandu and Dalip Kumar, of providing the hijackers their arms and ammunition.
Announcing that they would appeal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, defence counsel B.S. Sodhi said his clients had been made scapegoats. He said the prosecution did not place on record the evidence the investigating agencies gathered from Bangladesh and Dubai.
On December 24, 1999, IC-814 with 179 passengers and 11 crew members was hijacked by five armed men, while it was on its return journey from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The plane landed at Amritsars Raja Sansi International Airport after Pakistan refused it permission to land initially.
It was then taken to Lahore and Dubai. Amid high drama, the aircraft landed at Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, from where an eight-day ordeal for the passengers and crew began.
The freedom of the hijacked people was ensured after the release of the three terrorists lodged in Indian jails. To intimidate the Indian authorities, the hijackers killed 25-year-old Rupen Katyal and stabbed Satnam Singh, who survived multiple injuries.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Fourteen militants surrendered to security forces on Tuesday in Kabal tehsil of the troubled Swat region where a military operation continues, sources said on Tuesday. The troops pounded Mattas Puchar area. Curfew in the district was relaxed from 6am to 8pm, during which a large number of people visited bazaars and business centres in Mingora, Khozakhela, Barikot and Kabal.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Police have arrested more than 40 suspects in connection with Mondays suicide bombing outside the National Logistic Cell (NLC) headquarters in Rawalpindi, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday. They said unidentified human remains found from the site had been sent to a forensic laboratory for DNA tests. Investigators were trying to reconstruct the suspected suicide bombers face with help from surgeons, they said, and a sketch of the suspects face would be made in a day or two.
The investigators also interrogated around 20 injured persons admitted in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and Military Hospital (MH), and 15 eyewitnesses. All human remains and peoples belongings had been seized, they said, and chassis and engine numbers of damaged vehicles and a motorcycle used by the suicide bomber were recorded, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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A blast on Tuesday wounded one person in army cantonment area, where the residence of a US envoy is located. Police initially reported that a bomb planted under a tree near a hospital in the cantonment had exploded, less than a kilometre from the residence of the US consul general, but later said the blast was an accident caused by a concentration of gas in a pipe. Tahir Naveed, a senior police officer, said one passer-by was injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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A suspected suicide bomber was killed in Quetta on Tuesday when the explosives he was carrying detonated accidentally. Police said that the suspected bomber was on his way to carry out a terrorist attack. The blast, which occurred at Sabzal Road, also injured two pedestrians, Geo channel reported.
The police found the bombers head and started investigations. The country has been hit by a spike in violence linked to its struggle against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, raising fears for security in the nuclear-armed nation ahead of key elections set for February 18.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
They questioned the bomber for several hours before he asked for his ACLU appointed attorney.
Posted by: Steven ||
02/06/2008 8:55 Comments ||
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#2
The police found the bombers head and started investigations.
Fan out, boys. We're looking for a guy missing a head. Get to work...
Coalition forces acting on a tip from a local Iraqi planned a surprise raid last week on a home in Kirkuk, where an 11-year-old boy, the son of a Kurdish mechanic, was being held for $100,000 ransom by Al Qaeda. The kidnappers had held the boy, Ammar, for four days.
Kidnapping and extortion are how Al Qaeda in Iraq finances its attacks. It is big business. But this time there was a happy ending. As he came out from under that curtain you could tell he looked terrified, Rear Admiral Greg Smith, a spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq, told FOX News in an interview. He gave his name and they said, Youre the one we are looking for, and you could tell he was much relieved at that point.
The raid began before dawn. They approached on foot, Smith said from Baghdad. They knew precisely what door they needed to go to. They came down a small alleyway. The door was locked, they yelled inside for it to be unlocked, it was not unlocked so they broke the door down.
The security forces entered a small room. The Al Qaeda member who had custody of this young boy was also in shock by the entrance and the quick operations by the Iraq security forces, Smith said. One of the kidnappers was caught inside the room where the boy was hiding. All of the shooting and shouting left the boy terrified, according to those who participated in the raid.
They got him into the car, Smith recalled. They handed him a cell phone so he could call his mother, and he was very composed. He just said, Hello, this is Ammar. He said, I am here. I am safe. An officer on the other end of the line could hear the family screaming and shouting. Soon after, the boy was delivered back to cheering neighbors and family members.
This story had a happy ending, but most kidnappings in Iraq do not. Ammar was from a simple family, and his father never could have paid the $100,000 ransom. In an interview after his son was returned to the family, Ammar's father said, "The kidnappers told us that if we fail to pay the ransom, they will behead my son and put his head in the garbage can in front of my house. We told them that we don't have money."
The raid netted five kidnappers and led the coalition forces to another boy being held in a hideout nearby. He was freed on Sunday.
Al Qaedas networks are not difficult to unravel once a successful raid has been completed. Its operatives' obsessive need to keep accurate books, such as an accountant might, has provided Coalition troops with a treasure trove of intelligence. Much like the Nazis in World War II, Al Qaeda operatives document their every action, be it a suicide bombing or kidnapping. It is the way they get paid by the organization.
The kidnapping ring that was broken last week had recorded 26 previous kidnappings. Coalition forces did not know how many had ended in release, and how many in death. But another capture during a December raid in Khan Bani Sad about halfway between Baghdad and Baquba gave even greater insight into the organization.
That raid netted five propaganda videocassettes that would have made Nazi propaganda filmmaker Heinrich Goebbels proud. They were training videos showing Iraqi children between the ages of 6 and 14 being taught how to hold AK-47s, how to stop a car and carry out a kidnapping, how to break into a house, and how to break into a courtyard and terrorize the individuals living there. They are also seen being taught to use rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
These were young boys all masked and hooded, all outfitted with weapons; adults were doing the training, Smith said. Al Qaeda is clearly using children to exploit other children to get the interest of Jihad spread among teenagers far and wide. They use this footage on the Internet to encourage other young boys to join the jihad movement.
The group included about 20 children being trained. At the end of the hourlong video they are sent into their parents arms, suggesting the training has parental approval.
We don't think they were being trained precisely to go out and conduct operations any time soon," Smith said. "But clearly there is a pattern of training and a pattern of indoctrination that is being used by Al Qaeda. Very young individuals who are very obviously innocent and impressionable, these videos convince them early on that the jihadist movement, the Al Qaeda movement, is something they should belong to and look up to.
All of this suggests that Al Qaeda in Iraq is planning to continue its recruiting operations for years to come, Smith said. In this instance we believe it was for a greater purpose than trying to produce footage for film, Smith said. That footage can be used again on the Internet to convince other young boys around the world to join the movement.
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/06/2008 06:57 ||
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#1
so when will the five kidnappers hang?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2008 8:37 Comments ||
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#4
Hold them for ransom, inform Al Quada that they will be tortured to death slowly, ask for the total ransom AQ got for the past 26 kidnapings, plus 25%, them be sure they undestand the kidnappers will NOT be "Martyrs" (not get their rasins, etc) and wait.
Then extract all the info you can and be sure all this is as public as posible.
Fight fire with fire.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 12:27 Comments ||
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#5
Obviously al-Qaeda's winning ways and popularity have brought the disabled and children into the ranks...
#6
This show more proof of the 100% accurateness of the May 15th prophecy which has been the only source that has been 100% right about what is happening in Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and the greater Middle East
Here is a excerpt from the May 15th Prophecy post titled "The Bush Administration in Prophecy"
""A Curse on him that goes on taking that what is not his, IS WEIGHTED DOWN with the property of debtors"
Last Day Watchers it is a well known fact that the Iraq invasion has cost the U.S trillions of dollars and the Iraqi people are plundering the inept government and the "rise" of the insurgency has sustain it with more kidnapping and plundering as the 7th verse describes all to well.
"Will not your creditors suddenly ARISE?, Will they not wake up and make you tremble?, Then you will become their prey."
Now that is the true Iraqi ARISING.
Not the lie of this "awakening" being promoted by this pawn of Satan."
Do a Google od the May 15th Prophecy and you will see for yourself
Or just go to http://lastdaywatchers.blogspot.com/
#7
Put them in small (3x3x3) metal-barred cages, weld the door shut, and feed 'em through a small slot at the bottom. Hang 'em in the city main square, with a big sign in Arabic, "These are the animals we are fighting. These are the animals that steal your children and kill your family. These are the animals that belong to Al-Qaida. Even the Koran scorns such unclean animals." Include a few "holy men" in the cages, as necessary (al-Sadr?). It'll work.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2008 13:47 Comments ||
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#8
I have a prophesy for the "Last Days Watchers" - God will laugh at you. You are fools and charlatains, and will be treated with all the "respect" you deserve. The "last days" aren't coming for another 26,882 years, three months, and eleven days. BTW, muslims will NOT be included in the Rapture, as they are the believers in idolatry and false gods. THEY are the children of Satan, and will suffer Satan's eternal fate. Poor POS muslims... NOT!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2008 13:52 Comments ||
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#10
You mean you can't just look at John Frum's pictures of super happy kashmir day and understand what is going on? Guess this makes it official, but is there a giant rat teaching the kids how to treat dogs?
Wait, just had a vision! -head swoons- the yankee will go to the ocean and be devoured by a giant fish! Pigs will turn into dogs! Spheares hard as rock will fall from the sky! The heat will turn cold to those who witness the masses yelling! Wheels of cheese will burn the mouths of those who suckle the taste!
Now, am I talking about the great whale of the powerful irunian fleet scoring a naval victory, or am I saying that Tampa Bay will beat New York in extra innings?
BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces found the bodies of 55 people allegedly killed and buried by Al Qaeda loyalists in a mass grave near the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, a police officer said Tuesday. A police force backed by tribal units made the discovery while conducting a search operation in Al Jazira west of Samarra, 120 kilometres north of Baghdad, Colonel Mamduh Al Bazi from the city police told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The bodies were of middle-aged men in plain-clothes, who seemed to have been hurriedly buried at different times.
During the operation, the forces freed two hostages from their captors, who fled the area.
The freed men told the police how they and the slain men were captured by gunmen, who then stole their money and other belongings. The men were then killed after being told that the loot was to go to the Sunni extremist Islamic State of Iraq, which has links with the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Rat bastards.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
the "Lucky" Two that got away get to spread the terror by design..
if I were an Iraqi Mayor, Tribal Chieftain, Police Chief, IA General or just plain citizen-Iraqi I would reject having any foreign Arabs in Iraq till this whole War Effort is over.
For that matter the Shiites should reject any Iranians also but that would/will prove more difficult I believe.
#2
The real lesson here is that the discovery was made by Iraqi police and "tribal units" - probably "Awakening Council" members. If these two groups can work together, and if the Iraqi Army can work together with Iraqi police and "Concerned Local Citizens", then Al-Qaida doesn't have a prayer. Neither does any other militia group. You can't hide among a bunch of people who hate your guts, and would like nothing better than to be rid of you. With this working, it won't be long before some political changes also start happening - from the bottom up, as they should (they'll last longer that way). Iraq is on its way to being the most stable nation in the Muddled East. Give them three years, and they'll outshine any other Arab nation, and rival the more stable of the South American Republics. In ten years, if there are no major disasters (nuke war with Iran?), they could be one of the most democratic nations in the world.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2008 13:58 Comments ||
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#3
OP, I hope you're right. Unfortunately, they're Muslims and people of that belief system have a woefully bad record when it comes to being able to make representative democracy work. Even Turkey is beginning to backslide into Islamism. Maybe Iraq will make it work but I'd not bet any money on it.
The Al Hillah Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics unit, with U.S. Special Forces advisors, arrested 28 suspects during air assault operations targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network near Salman Pak Feb. 3. During the operation, Iraqi and U.S. Forces killed seven terrorists and wounded one.
Hillah SWAT launched the mission to capture an al-Qaeda commander who led operations in Al-Suwayrah, south of Baghdad. According to credible intelligence, he conducted financial transactions for the terrorist group and recruited foreign fighters, including women, to attack Iraqi citizens, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces with improvised explosive devices and small-arms attacks. Reports indicate he ordered a female suicide bomber to attack a religious gathering in Diyala Province Jan. 16. Also targeted was an AQI cell that builds vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. The cell is reportedly responsible for six attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Forces, as well as the murder of four Iraqi citizens.
Iraqi and U.S. Forces landed at multiple helicopter landing zones, moved to several objectives and entered multiple residences during the operation. During the operation, as two enemy fighters were observed maneuvering tactically against one of the HLZs, they were engaged by a Coalition Forces aerial weapons team and killed. Ground forces received small-arms fire during entry into one structure. One U.S. Special Forces Soldier disarmed an enemy fighter and rendered first aid to him for a hand wound. Five enemy fighters observed maneuvering from structure to structure to flank ground forces were engaged and killed.
Moving to another structure, ground forces came under heavy small-arms fire. Ground forces returned fire and entered the structure. Upon entry, ground forces secured and detained eight males. A wounded civilian with a minor leg wound was treated on-site. Another Iraqi civilian was treated, but pronounced dead at the scene. During a search of the building, ground forces found hand grenades and a suicide vest IED. Ground forces detained 28 suspects for further questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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A suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Al Qaeda front as he triggered his explosive vest outside a Sunni tribal sheikh's house in central Iraq on Tuesday, police said.
The attack took place outside the home of Sheikh Shathr al-Obeidi, leader of a tribal "Awakening" group ranged against Al Qaeda in Awad village near Taji, about 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, a police officer said. "Eight members of the Awakening were killed at the checkpoint. Several were wounded," the officer said on condition of anonymity. "The target of the attack was Sheikh Shathr al-Obeidi."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel decided on Wednesday to start building a reinforced barrier along parts of its porous border with Egypt in a bid to prevent infiltration attempts by Palestinian militants, an official told AFP.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defence and foreign ministers decided on the move after a three-hour meeting at the premier's office, a senior government official told AFP. "Israel will soon begin constructing two sections of the fence" following a plan presented at the meeting by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The first section will be near the southern Red Sea resort town of Eilat and the second near the area of Nitzana in the centre of the 250 kilometre- (150-mile) desert border, he said.
The encounter, which also included senior security officials, came a day after the Islamist Hamas movement claimed responsibility for Monday's deadly suicide bombing in Israel, the first such attack in a year. A 73-year-old woman was killed in the bombing in Dimona.
The attack came after a near two-week border breach between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, raising fears in Israel that Hamas militants were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who poured into the Sinai when the border was open. Hamas said on Tuesday that two of its members from the occupied West Bank had carried out the bombing, the first time that it claimed responsibility for a suicide blast inside Israel in three and a half years.
At Wednesday's meeting security officials presented intelligence reports indicating that dozens of Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip had scattered across the Sinai desert after militants blew open the border on January 23, the official said.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni recommended during the meeting that Israel support Egypt's request to double its forces along its border with Gaza from the current 750 to 1,500, an official in her ministry told AFP.
The meeting came a day after Israel pounded Hamas positions in its Gaza Strip bastion, killing nine Palestinian militants as the Islamist movement said it was behind the suicide bombing in Dimona in Israel's Negev desert. It was the first time since August 2004 that Hamas, which seized control last June of the territory sandwiched between Israel and Egypt from forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, claimed responsibility for a suicide attack.
Israel has increasingly tightened restrictions on movement around Gaza since the second Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, notably in June 2006 after militants seized an Israeli soldier in a deadly cross-border raid and a year later when Hamas seized power. The measures culminated in a full-scale lockdown imposed on January 17 that was eased five days later amid mounting international concern over a humanitarian crisis in the territory where most residents depend on aid.
The Israeli military kept up its strikes on Hamas on Wednesday, wounding two militants in an air raid on an Islamist position in the north, Palestinian medics said. The army said the raid "targeted a Qassam- (rocket) launching cell immediately after they fired rockets into Israel." Hamas's armed wing said it fired four rockets and mortar rounds into Israel on Tuesday. The army said the projectiles struck without causing casualties.
The latest violence in and around Gaza came after a two-week lull that accompanied the breach of the impoverished territory's border with Egypt. Gaza militants blew open the border barrier on January 23 in a bid to counter the punishing Israeli blockade, but the frontier was resealed by Egyptian and Hamas forces at the weekend. During the two-week breach hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to have entered Egypt from Gaza to stock up on supplies.
The idea of building a reinforced barrier along the Egyptian border was first raised in Israel several years ago, but was eventually abandoned because of the high cost. A defence ministry spokesman told AFP that a reinforced border fence could cost at least 500 million dollars and take up to two years to construct.
#4
Some of the Israeli border walls have posts that extend 20' or more underground. Some of the posts are said to have sensors in them to alert for tunnel activity (who knows if this is true).
However, some of the border fences are little more than 20' wide sections of various types of barrier wire with some short (3' or so) and intermittent concrete anchoring walls.
Bethlehem Gaza Ma'an Around 2,000 men from different Arab countries entered the Gaza Strip, after the toppling of the Rafah border wall, wanting to join the Palestinian resistance against Israel, reliable Palestinian sources told Ma'an on Wednesday. Geez, I thought they blew the wall because they were...hungry and needed cement?
Sources within Hamas told Ma'an that the men, many of whom are Egyptian young men offered to join the Palestinian resistance. He added that Hamas expressed its appreciation for the solidarity shown by the move. However, he added that Palestinian resistance factions are not interested in foreign fighters. I doubt that's true, boys, but one thing they do have plenty of is homegrown crazies. The competition for those coveted jew killin positions could be tough as they favor the locals. Looks like you're all dressed up with no place to go. Heh...heh...heh...I'll bet they didn't mention that in the brochure. Enjoy Gaza. It's lovely this time of year...
#1
Those 2000 warm bodies could come in handy, should Israel decide/be forced to invade hamasland, to stop the ongoing rocketing of its civilians, or if a rocket lands in a kindergarden, and kills 20+ kiddies... kinda like the cement they brought in, and probably all the anti-armor weapons and others possible bad surprizes (like anti-aircraft weapons?), if hamas wants to imitate hizbollah. After all, it's all the rage in the arab world, it seems.
#2
"However, he added that Palestinian resistance factions are not interested in foreign fighters, .......but the Al Blowu Up brigade is looking for a few good suicide bombers, room 27 around the corner and on the left, thank you."
#6
A walking artillery barrage will take care of the problems, no matter how many Hamass "recruits" enter from Egypt. Do a double-walking-barrage exercise - one beginning at the seashore and working inland, one starting at the fenceline and working toward the sea. Walk 'em back and forth two or three times, then go in and see what's left. Sure it'll be hard on baby kitties and fluffy bunnies, but there won't be any Hamass "loyalists" any more. Maybe Israel can even ask the US to do an ARCLIGHT strike down through Gaza, just for effect. I can't think of any more just "reward" for Hamass' efforts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2008 14:07 Comments ||
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#7
The Egyptians might be just nervous enough to encourage their utterly loony ultraviolent nut-jobs to go to Gaza, instead of stay home and try to overthrow the Egyptian government.
They figure, why should we kill them when either the Paleos or Israelis will?
Now that Hamas is in charge and has been in charge for some time, their regional, district and neighborhood offices are easily identified and there are plenty of local intel assets who will provide info on how many people are inside and who they are.
Add to that the fact that many of these Hamas thugs are hated by the locals so when the hit happens the locals aren't ticked off.
#7
Should Hamas not be deterred by the strikes, the IDF will move on to the next phase: Surgical strikes that would target the organizations political and military leadership.
Better than doing nothing. But I would prefer disproportionate reciprocity. You randomly target civilians with the most powerful weapons your have and we shall do the same.
If the Western press does not like it: Shoot them too.
#11
IMO, and as I've posted on the Net, HAMAS IS USING ATTACKS AGZ ISRAEL AS PDENIABLE COVER TO ABSOLUT DESTROY FATAH, once final and forever.
This FATAH-HAMAS brouhaha is about PALEO VERSUS NON-PALEO CONTROL OF THE PA + PAL NATIONALISM-AFFAIRS vv ISRAEL. Iff one believes vari NET articles/sources that IRAN controlling HAMAS, this issue is also about IRANIAN CONTROL OF GAZA-WB > ENCIRCLEMENT OF ISRAEL + INTIMIDATION OF EGYPT, SAUDS, ETC. AS COMPETITORS AGZ IRAN.
The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday sentenced Bassel Assmar, one of the murderers of long-time parliamentarian and former minister Rehavam Ze'evi, to life in prison plus 20 years. Assmar was also convicted of attempted murder - for several other terror attacks - and of belonging to a terror organization, the PFLP. Other members of the cell that killed Ze'evi were also recently sentenced after they were whisked from a Palestinian prison in Jericho by the IDF and taken to Israel to stand trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me guess, when he dies they're going to cement his cell closed for the next 20?
Sounds good to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2008 0:45 Comments ||
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#2
Here is my suggestion 1. cement his cell now 2. let him out in twenty years. Just a thought.
Posted by: Steven ||
02/06/2008 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
This terrorists have all figured out, if they died they will be "served" by beautifull dark eyes and you know the rest and if they survived and the Israelis get them, No problem, they going to live out of they enemies tax payers back and before they know it, they will be exchanged for Jews bodies parts. If I sound too ironic, I am apologize but this is only a observation from the past behaviour of the Israelis and their enemies.
Posted by: ANA ||
02/06/2008 9:43 Comments ||
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#4
not too mention the israeli jails are prob based on US prisons and are better too live in than the GAZA
Jerusalem police have shut down a religious and educational center in east Jerusalem that was run by Hamas activists, police said Tuesday. The Education Club in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Tsur Bahir, which was closed down late Monday at the order of Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, was used as recruitment center for the Islamic group, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
The director of the center Hussein Abu Hamed called the Israeli accusations "baseless." "We are not connected to any Palestinian faction, and we don't represent any Palestinian faction," Abu Hamed told the Associated Press. The center, which was established in early 2000, went to court on Tuesday to try to overturn the closure order, he said.
Hamas. which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence or accept past peace agreements, is consistently looking to gain a foothold in Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. The police move was the latest in a series of closures intended to keep Hamas out of the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Suspected Muslim terrorists insurgents detonated a bomb near a Chinese shrine in southern Thailand on Wednesday, killing one soldier and wounding six other people. The bomb, hidden in the front basket of a motorcycle, exploded near the shrine in Pattani province's Saiburi district as ethnic Chinese in the area prepared to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins Thursday, army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said.
The soldier who died was part of a unit on duty to ensure security during the festive period in the jihad insurgency-wracked area. Four other soldiers and two Muslim civilians who own shops in the area were wounded, Akara said. "They wanted to target the security force, knowing that they would be sent to check the area before the celebration kicks off," Akara said.
He said the attack was part of the terrorist's insurgents' strategy to scare non-Islamic residents from the area. Analysts believe the ultimate goal of the terrorists insurgents is to create a separate Islamic state out of Thailand's three southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Last year, there were 29 bombings and 20 arson and shooting attacks in the three provinces on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
Seven Sri Lankan sailors and their speedboat were missing Tuesday following a sea battle with Tamil Tiger rebels near the maritime border with India, diplomats and officials said.
The clashes erupted on Monday when two navy speedboats moved to push back a fleet of what they believed to be poaching fishermen from India, a military official said. We suspect Tigers had taken the cover of Indian fishermen to attack the naval craft, the official said, adding that Sri Lankan authorities had lodged a complaint with India about hundreds of fishing trawlers in its waters.
Diplomatic sources said Indian authorities had been alerted to the case of the missing sailors, who were operating near Sri Lankas northern Talaimannar naval facility, and the fact that rebels may have been disguised as fishermen. The clash came as Sri Lanka marked its 60th anniversary of independence from Britain amid tight security, but celebrations were overshadowed by a string of bomb attacks that killed 14 people and wounded 20.
Air raid: Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan air force bombed a suspected Tamil Tiger base in the north of the island Tuesday, the defence ministry said. There were no details of casualties or damage. President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday said in an address to the nation that the war against the Tamil Tigers was being won.
Funerals: Sri Lanka staged mass funerals for bomb blast victims on Tuesday after independence day festivities were marred by a string of attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels. Schools in Colombo were shut as a Buddhist service was held for seven students and their baseball coach killed in a suicide bombing at a train terminal here on Sunday on the eve of Freedom Day. After funeral rites, the coffins were taken to the victims homes for burial.
In the northeastern Weli Oya region, a funeral was held for three people killed on Freedom Day in a bomb attack on a civilian bus that left 14 people dead and 15 injured. Five people killed on Saturday in a bus bomb attack were buried in a mass grave in Kandy district on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
I'm sorry Lorryuncori Dave I can't talk to bots
/Hal
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2008 3:22 Comments ||
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#4
I'm all for a bot-seeking worm. I usually don't like viruses, either, but a targeted one that would attack spambots (and their initiators) would be quite welcome.
Lillian Gish doesn't look great in this photo, but I've seen some others that are just NSFW, and show her to be quite a dish!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2008 13:06 Comments ||
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#5
Re, the New Meet the Mods feature. Is .com like the hidden Imam?
The Hidden Imam, however, will eventually leave his Greater Occultation and appear (zuhur ) to the world of humanity. This return is the most significant event in the future for the Shi'ite Rantburg faithful and has thunderous eschatological consequences. This return will occur shortly before the Final Judgement and the end of history. Imam Mahdi .com will return at the head of the forces of righteousness and do battle with the forces of evil in one, final, apocalyptic battle. When evil has been defeated once and for all, the Imam Mahdi .com will rule the world for several years under a perfect government and bring about a perfect spirituality among the peoples of the world. After the Imam Mahdi .com has reigned for several years, Jesus Christ will return (raj'a ), as will Husayn Murat and others. It is the return of the dead that falls under the Doctrine of Return; the Mahdi .com will only appear to The Burg.
#6
Verily, our tastes aren't one on that picture, OP. Perhaps I like it so much because she favors a 14-year-old maiden I had a crush on when I was approximately the same age.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2008 18:39 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Twenty people, most of them Ethiopians, were killed and at least 80 wounded in northeastern Somalia when twin explosions rocked a residential area late Tuesday, the information ministry said. 
Two police officers were wounded in a bomb explosion in a restive province in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, the Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday. 
Militant leader 
Fourteen militants surrendered to security forces on Tuesday in Kabal tehsil of the troubled Swat region where a military operation continues, sources said on Tuesday. The troops pounded Mattas Puchar area. Curfew in the district was relaxed from 6am to 8pm, during which a large number of people visited bazaars and business centres in Mingora, Khozakhela, Barikot and Kabal.
The Al Hillah Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics unit, with U.S. Special Forces advisors, arrested 28 suspects during air assault operations targeting an al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network near Salman Pak Feb. 3. During the operation, Iraqi and U.S. Forces killed seven terrorists and wounded one.
A suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Al Qaeda front as he triggered his explosive vest outside a Sunni tribal sheikh's house in central Iraq on Tuesday, police said.
Jerusalem police have shut down a religious and educational center in east Jerusalem that was run by Hamas activists, police said Tuesday. The Education Club in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Tsur Bahir, which was closed down late Monday at the order of Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, was used as recruitment center for the Islamic group, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said. 
Seven Sri Lankan sailors and their speedboat were missing Tuesday following a sea battle with Tamil Tiger rebels near the maritime border with India, diplomats and officials said.
