A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded dozens more Sunday, a governor said. It appeared to be the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. More than 300 people had gathered to watch the event on the western edge of the southern city of Kandahar, including several Afghan militia leaders.
Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said 80 people were been killed. Abdullah Fahim, a Health Ministry spokesman, said 67 had been killed and 90 wounded, though he said the toll could rise.
#5
How curious. Dogs are unclean, but dog-fighting is popular. I guess the strictures of Islam only apply if they don't interfere with what you want to do...assuming you're a muslim, of course; otherwise they apply to everyone and everthing.
#6
Faizullah Qari Gar, a Kandahar resident who was at the dog fight, said militant commanders' bodyguards opened fire on the crowd after the bombing.
One sure way to get the bomber's handlers and photo crew. Unfortunately the most newsworthy statistics were not even covered, ie, casualties among the dogs.
(SomaliNet) Three people were killed and eleven others wounded by overnight cross shelling of heavy artilleries in Suqa-holaha, north eastern of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, local sources confirmed. Islamist fighters in the area fired Maslah military camp, currently a base of the Ethiopian forces in the country and in response the military shelled Suqa-holaha environs, witnesses said.
Tensions remain high in the deserted areas of the neighborhood. Yesterday, many parts of the this villages were cut off from the city centre by search operation of Ethiopian troops in former Maslah military camp and their colleagues in former spaghetti factory in Hiliwaa.
The death of these people came after relatives failed to take their loved ones to hospitals since roadblocks and horror night-time movement in the capital made incredibly not easy to go outside for such important services.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped unhurt from a mortar attack by Islamist insurgents on his official residence in Mogadishu, his spokesman said.
The interim government and its Ethiopian allies are battling gunmen loyal to an Islamist movement that ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006 before being ousted by the allied forces. "The president was at the palace when several mortars landed near the house. The president is safe," said spokesman Hussein Mohamud Hubsired. "Al-Shabab, which is linked to al Qaeda, was responsible for this attack targeting the president," he told Reuters.
Al-Shabab, which opposes the presence of foreign troops on Somali soil, has been waging an Iraq-style insurgency. The attack took place hours after Yusuf arrived in the coastal capital from a trip abroad for medical treatment. The 73-year-old, who had a liver transplant nearly 14 years ago, left Somalia on January 4, a month after a chest illness sparked a health scare.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
A bomb attack on an Algerian military convoy killed one soldier on Saturday while the head of the main secular opposition party escaped unhurt from a separate attack nearby, a security source and the political party said. The blasts in the Tizi Ouzou area, 60 km (40 miles) east of Algiers, were the first major attacks since February 7, when suspected Islamist rebels killed eight paramilitary gendarmes in an ambush on their convoy in southeastern Algeria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions on Saturday. The soldier died of his wounds after being taken to hospital, the security source said. Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack on the convoy.
Karim Tabou, leader of the Socialist Forces Front party, was attacked as he drove his car on a highway, the party said, adding that gunmen also shot at Tabou and that his car was slightly damaged.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
(KUNA) -- Joint Algerian security forces on Saturday killed two terrorists and confiscated two kalashnikovs in Oulad Essa district east Boumerdas state, some 54 kilometers wast of here. An Algerian security source said in a statement that the two terrorists were killed in an ambush that was set up at a roadside according to security reports that such road was often used by the terrorists. Identity of the terrorists has not yet been revealed, the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
The 41 grenades seized in Satkhira on Friday night are identical to those used in the August 21 blasts at an Awami League (AL) rally in 2004.
Like the ones detonated to cause August 21 carnage, these too are of Arges brand and were supplied by Moulana Tajuddin, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) officials said yesterday.
Tajuddin is brother of former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, who is now detained in a case filed for the blasts that left 24 AL leaders and workers killed and scores injured. "The grenades recovered from Satkhira are similar in every detail with those used in the August 21 attack," Director General (DG) of Rab Hassan Mahmood Khandkar told a press briefing at Rab headquarters in Uttara.
The elite crime busters made the seizure at Simulia village of Debhata upazila following up leads obtained from Huji leader Mufti Moin Uddin alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah.
During the raid, they also picked up Nazrul Islam Ghorami, a suspected operative of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji). The arrests will provide important leads in investigation of August 21 grenade attacks, the Rab DG said.
Huji operations commander Mufti Hannan earlier told investigators that his close aide Moin Uddin alias Abu Jandal led the August 21 grenade attack, said a top Rab official requesting not to be named.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: HUJI
Radical British jihadist groups are using Facebook and other social networking sites to recruit members and distribute extremist literature.
A private Facebook group called Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah, the name of a successor organisation to the banned extremist group Al Muhajiroun, has been operating since early 2007. The Facebook group has links posted to extremist literature by the jailed radical preachers Abu Hamza al-Misri and Abu Qutada calling for the waging of armed jihad against the British and American governments. There is also literature demanding the expulsion of any Muslim who votes in elections or "provides assistance" to the 'kuffar', or non-believer.
Five young British Muslims were freed last week after their conviction for downloading and sharing literature from extremist websites was quashed by the Appeal Court. The Lord Chief Justice said there was no proof of terrorist intent. The Home Office is still considering the landmark case, which lawyers for the men say has huge implications for counter-terrorism prosecutions.
Although the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain welcomed the ruling, it warned young Muslims to stay away from extremist websites. The parliament's leader, Dr Ghayasudin Siddiqui, said: "It is a dangerous area."
One website article, entitled Jihad: A Ten Part Compilation, describes violent Jihad as an "individual duty" of all Muslims. It includes a religious ruling for young Muslims on the legitimacy of taking up "martyrdom" without informing their parents. It concludes: "No permission (from parents] is required in obligatory jihad."
Al Muhajiroun and its affiliate groups Al Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect were banned in the UK in 2005 under the Terrorism Act and their leader, the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, was prevented from re-entering the UK. Bakri Mohammed, who now lives in Lebanon, has since boasted that his organisation was operating until recently on several major British campuses including Oxford, Imperial College London and Cambridge.
Anjem Choudary, the former second in command of Al-Muhajiroun and current leader of its successor groups, Follower of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah and Captive Support, said that his organisations widely used the internet and social networking sites to recruit support, but claimed no link to the Facebook group. Choudary said Omar Bakri Mohammed continued to advise members over the internet from Lebanon.
A Home Office spokesman said last night: "The Government is committed to tackling those who encourage terrorism, including those who glorify the work of terrorists and those who spread messages of hate on the internet."
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/17/2008 01:57 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain
#1
Five young British Muslims were freed last week after their conviction for downloading and sharing literature from extremist websites was quashed by the Appeal Court. The Lord Chief Justice said there was no proof of terrorist intent.
Heavens no. More likely a case of prejudice against BWM (Bombing While Muslim).
(KUNA) -- British police announced on Saturday they have evacuated a number of houses in a suburb of the city of Sunderland, northeast England, following a report of a locally-made bomb that was found in a nearby house.
Police spokesman said in a press statement that the security elements found by accident yesterday a bomb during a routine search operation of a suspect who was arrested in the same day on another case. The police pointed out that the owner of the house was assisting the security elements in their investigations on this suspecious device, which seemed to be a locally-made bomb from the preliminary investigations. The nearby homes were evacuated to assure there was no more bombs there, the police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess we have to assume it was an Islamic terrorist since if it was anything else they would have provided at least some information about the motive and suspect.
The police in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate have arrested a German citizen of Pakistani origin on suspicion of acting as a courier of money, night-vision equipment and radios to Al Qaeda in the Afghan-Pakistani border area. The authorities said the suspect, Aleem Nasir, had taken four trips to the region from April 2005 to June 2007, carrying at least the equivalent of $5,800 in euros each time, and equipment on three occasions. According to the prosecutors statement, he also received explosives training and successfully recruited another German resident for the terrorist group in 2006. In an interview in September, Mr. Nasir denied any Qaeda ties and said he had confessed while being beaten by Pakistani agents. German officials warned last week that Qaeda commanders had ordered terrorist attacks against the country and were increasingly seeking to recruit German-speaking terrorists over the Internet.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Jammu, Feb 17 (IANS) The Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead two unidentified unarmed intruders at the India-Pakistan border in Ranbir Singh Pura sector early Sunday. A BSF spokesman said a group of people was sighted moving into Indian side near Makwal border post in the sector, 35 km west of Jammu early Sunday.
We allowed them to come in, keeping a close watch, said the spokesman.
The troopers then fired at them when the unarmed intruders were about 100 meters from a patrol party, the spokesman said. Two were shot dead while others managed to escape.
Initially, the spokesman said, the BSF didnt know the intruders were unarmed as it was quite dark when the movement was spotted.
The spokesman said that there appeared about seven to eight people in the group and all were unarmed. We do not know who they were, militants, smugglers or guides, but we can say that they were Pakistani intruders, he said.
The bodies have been handed over to police.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/17/2008 12:00 ||
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Top|| File under: ISI
NEW DELHI: Seven Maoists have been killed and many injured on Sunday in the continuing gun-battle between security forces and the ultras, who killed 15 people on Friday, in the Ganjam-Kandhamal border area of Orissa, official sources said.
"Information about the death of a large number of Maoists in combing operation has been received, but we are not sure about the exact number of Maoists killed in the exchange of fire with the jawans," Orissa Home Secretary T K Mishra said.
Top police sources said that eyewitnesses told them that the seven Maoists who were killed in the encounter were carried away by their cadres. It is a general practice among the Naxals not to leave the body of their members.
Meanwhile, four jawans including an Assistant Commandant of the State Special Operation Group have not returned from an operation to track the Maoists who attacked police posts in Nayagarh district on Friday.
Though their bodies have not been found yet, the police suspect they may have been killed in the firing with the Maoists. A hundred Maoists are positioned on top of Kutuni hill in Orissa's Ganjam district from where they continue to fire at the police.
"The police have formed several groups to comb the forests located on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal district," Director General of Police of Orissa Gopal Chandra Nanda said, after returning from the operation on Saturday night. "Jawans had encircled the area. There is no way for the ultras to escape from the place," Inspector General (Operation) S S Hansda added.
The operation was halted on Saturday night as the policemen were not trained in jungle warfare. "Now the special teams of the Grey Hounds, and four additional companies of CRPF have been called in for assistance...," a senior police officer, who did not want to be named, said. "The ultras are heavily armed...They are using the arms and ammunition looted from the armoury on Friday night," he said. "...but our personnel are guarding all the exit points of the hillock since Saturday night to ensure that no one escapes."
The Maosits had snatched at least 130 SLR rifles, 300 Insas rifles, 30 AK-47, 500 303 rifles, 203 SLR rifles, 80 9mm pistols and a lot of ammunition from two armouries on Friday.
Commenting on Friday's attack, the DGP, however, denied that there was a failure on part of the intelligence department. He said Nayagarh district was not on the Maoists hit list and an attack of such scale could not be anticipated.
Orissa has a State Intelligence Wing, which is led by an Additional Director General rank officer. The state government claims it has the best intelligence network.
Meanwhile, LM Kumawat, Special Secretary Home, is in Nayagarh to take stock of the situation.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/17/2008 09:37 ||
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NAYAGARH (ORISSA): Hundreds of armed Maoists simultaneously raided several police establishments in Nayagarh district late on Friday night, killing 15 persons, including 13 policemen, and looting large quantities of arms and ammunition. A village guard and one civilian were the others killed. Ten persons, including nine policemen, were injured.
The operation started at 10.30 p.m. and ended at 0030 hours on Saturday. Police swung into action and encircled the Kupari forests, where the Maoists had taken shelter.
Till last reports came in, two extremists were gunned down in the combing operation undertaken by 800 security personnel belonging to the Orissa police, the Andhra Pradesh police, and Central para-military forces. Two Maoists were also arrested.
Two Air Force bomber helicopters were pressed into service to locate the Maoists. If needed the naxalites would be bombed, highly placed sources said.
According to Nayagarh Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar, the naxalites first blocked all the four entry points to Nayagarh town and then attacked the arms depot at the local police training school, the district armoury and the local police station, catching the security personnel off guard. The Maoists, numbering around 600, came in several vehicles. There were three trucks, one jeep, and several motorcycles. Around 100 women were part of the attackers.
While a majority of the extremists opened fire at the arms depots and police stations, many stood guard at prominent locations of the town after blocking the road with boulders and their vehicles. The roads to Mr. Kumars residence were also blocked.
Many Maoists killed in Nayagarh operation: Orissa govt
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Orissa government on Sunday claimed that a "large number" of Maoists were gunned down during combing operation in the border areas of Nayagarh, Ganjam and Kandhamal districts. "We have received information about death of a large number of naxals during the combing operation. However, the government is not sure about the exact number of ultras killed in the exchange of fire between jawans and the maoists," state Home Secretary T K Mishra told PTI.
Optimist about achieving success in the combing operation to nab the maoists involved in the Nayagarh attack on Friday night, where 15 people including 14 police personnel were killed, Mishra said a massive operation had been launched which would continue till the end.
Mishra said besides Greyhounds, jawans of CRPF, Special Operation Group (SOG), state armed police and other personnel were engaged in the combing operation simultaneously launched in the three districts. He said very senior officers from the state were directly supervising the operation. "The officers were told to continue the operation till the last man involved in the Nayagarh attack was nabbed or killed," Mishra said.
Meanwhile, the special secretary in the union home ministry, who arrived here in wake of the massacre, held several rounds of talks with the officials and the police to chalk out strategy to combat the naxal menace.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/17/2008 07:32 ||
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(PTI): A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, part of a group of six militants arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police, was on Friday taken around the city for questioning. Faheem Ahmed Ansari, who is believed to belong to the group that orchestrated the attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on January 1, was brought to the city by UP police special task force two weeks ago, police said. "The UP police will take him to locations in the city based on their investigations and a team from the city police could also question him while he is here," they said.
Six persons armed with assault rifles, grenades and ammunition were arrested on February 10 on the charge of plotting to attack the Bombay Stock Exchange. Faheem, a resident of suburban Goregaon in north-west Mumbai, was allegedly providing the group with accomodation in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
Alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Faheem Ansari, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police last week, did recce of over 12 places, including police commissioner's office, state police head quarters, Hilton Tower, and Churchgate station, in Mumbai for two months.
He even enrolled at a computer class near BSE to get information about the stock exchange building, police said. Faheem (35), a resident of Motilal Nagar in Goregaon, told the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) that he rented a room and paid a year's rent Rs 50,000 for it in advance.
LeT sent the money to Faheem, who was on his first assignment, the police said. The ATS officials say LeT has adopted an organised and well-planned strategy to target the country's financial capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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The Director-General and Inspector-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan here on Thursday said the State police was yet to obtain the custody of Mohammed Sabahuddin, an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police, as there were certain formalities to be completed.
Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a workshop on atrocities on Dalits, Mr. Srinivasan said the Uttar Pradesh police had taken Sabahuddin into custody for interrogation.
Till they completed their work, the Karnataka police could not issue body warrant for his custody to question him for his alleged involvement in the Indian Institute of Science incident in Bangalore. On the reported arrest of two others associated with Sabahuddin, Mr. Srinivasan said he could not say anything on that.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- At least two persons were killed and 20 including 10 security personnel were wounded in a suicide explosion in northern Pakistani valley, second since morning as the election campaign ends in the country ahead of Mondays election. A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the media center in Mangora area of Sawat valley, police sources told KUNA. They said the explosion killed two persons and wounded 20 others including 10 security and four media personnel. The explosion badly damaged the media center that has been established for election information.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- As many as four rebels of the banned insurgent group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were killed in a counter insurgency operation by the security forces in Sibsagar district of Indias Northeastern state of Assam Saturday. The four rebels were killed in the encounter jointly carried out by Indian Army and Assam Police personnel early today, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported. All the four rebels belonged to ULFAs "28th Battalion", the news agency said, quoting an official of the Assam Police. An AK-56 rifle with 16 rounds of ammunition, a pistol, four grenades, a mobile phone were recovered from the slain insurgents.
ULFA is waging an insurgency since 1979 to create a "sovereign Assam " carved out of India . It has little public support in Assam and most of its top leadership is reported to be based in Bangladesh and operating from there. ULFA is also alleged to maintain links with Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence. Leading US think tank Stratfor, few months back, in a report -- India: ULFA Abandons Peace Talks -- had said that ULFA was keen to work with groups like Bangladesh-based Harkt ul Jihadi Islami in India's Northeast and has begun to outsource terror operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Police on Saturday confirmed having arrested a man in possession of a suicide vest from a local hotel in Hyderabad.
Muhammad Islam alias Rajput was arrested while in possession of 14 kilogrammes of explosive material and weapons. District Police Officer Imran Shoukat told a press conference that police had earlier learnt of the presence of suicide bombers in the city. He said the bombers planned to target political and religious personalities in Sindh and Punjab. The suspect belongs to the Tando Adam region, he added.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD ISLAM
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
How do you apprehend and handcuff a suicide bomber? VERRY CAREFULLY.
Suspected militants on Saturday blew up a vote station in Bajaur Agencys headquarters, officials said. Eight polling booths were damaged when the bombs planted by suspects went off, administration official Muhammad Jamil said. He said the polling station was being repaired and balloting would be held according to schedule.
The bombing took place as Nawagai Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Jamil survived a remote-controlled blast here. Separately, armed men kidnapped Levies Force official Javed from the Sadiqabad Phatak area.
In Mingora, Swat, at least 90 militants surrendered to police with their weapons. They were later freed on tendering sureties. Suspected militants blew up a telephone exchange in Swats Alaabad area with explosives late on Friday.
A bomb went off near a school in Kalat on Saturday. No causalities were reported in any of the incidents. Police arrested eight suspects in Kabal tehsil.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition forces conducted an assault on a suspected Special Groups finance facilitation network, killing an armed suspect in self-defense early today in the Suwayrah area, south of Baghdad. "In self-defense?" Sounds like somebody we are concerned about might not agree that this guy was an enemy.
Coalition Forces were targeting Special Groups networks reportedly associated with criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces.
Upon approach to the target area, assault forces received enemy fire from a nearby building. Assault forces returned fire, however no casualties were reported. Coalition forces continued movement and, upon arrival to the target area, were engaged by an armed suspect. Coalition forces returned fire, killing the armed suspect. Was this the guy we were after? A guard? Some crook we interrupted trying to steal SG money?
No suspects were captured or detained during the operation. During the assault, Coalition forces discovered large amounts of Iraqi currency.
"We welcome Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire pledge and we are encouraged by those that honor it," said Lt. Michael Street, MNF-I spokesman. "However, some criminal splinter groups are not honoring the cease-fire and they are a threat that must be removed." Obligatory paragraph whenever Shia are targeted.
#1
Something has happened with our intelligence. It was noted that in the past week alone, we policed up something like 200 weapons caches in Iraq, mostly special groups Iranian crap.
#2
'moose, I don't know if it's intel (probably) or something else, but I have been making a point of posting 'Special Groups' news here for a month or so now. In the aggregate it is BIG news - and virtually unreported in the media.
In my opinion it is the single most important campaign currently underway - the Iraqis can handle AQI now without us (though less efficiently). It is challenging to stay on the knife edge of attacking Iranian/Shia enemies in Iraq without causing the general Shia population, government, and religious leaders to move into open alliance with them. But if we DON'T weaken the Iranian influence it won't matter what the rest of the Shia think. Or the Sunni, for that matter.
BAGHDAD, Iraq During operations south of Sharqat, Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, Coalition forces detained 15 suspected terrorists after being fired upon on entering the target location. 12 of the 15 were released after questioning - is a 20% 'keep' rate normal?
Coalition forces were operating in an area known as the "Zaab triangle," located between Sharqat, Baiji and Hawijah, targeting an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq leader for the Salah ad-Din province. The targeted suspect is allegedly responsible for the equipping, financing and planning of AQI operations in northern Iraq, and is associated with senior level al-Qaeda members operating inside and outside of the country. Doesn't sound like we got the target.
As Coalition forces arrived at one of the target locations, they observed multiple armed personnel maneuvering into position against them. Two armed terrorists fired at Coalition forces, who engaged in self-defense, killing them. Additional personnel ran into the courtyard where the two terrorists had been, and were observed attempting to recover weapons. Supporting fixed-wing aircraft were called to engage the remaining threat, killing an additional four terrorists, including two women. During the engagement, one civilian was also wounded, treated on site and transported to a military medical facility for further care. Reported elsewhere in the world as "US kills innocent civilians, including women."
As the ground force cleared the area, they found various weapons and ammunition in and around the target buildings. Coalition forces detained 15 suspected terrorists during the series of operations.
Coalition forces questioned the suspects and subsequently released 12 of the detained individuals because they were not determined to be a threat to Iraqi or Coalition forces. Three suspects remain in custody, however, due to their suspected involvement in terrorist activities.
Posted by: Glenmore ||
02/17/2008 09:28 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Lemme guess: Technically, not enough zeros on the end of the forthcoming cashier's cheque...
"Technical hitches" have delayed the release of a British journalist kidnapped in Iraq's southern city of Basra, a Shiite militia negotiating the release said on Saturday. "The negotiations are continuing with the kidnappers. We hope to resolve the crisis as soon as possible," said Harith al-Adhari, director of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's office in Basra. "Technical problems have delayed the release of the British journalist," Adhari told AFP. "We thought the release would take place on Thursday, but because of these technical problems this did not happen. We will continue to negotiate until we find a solution as quickly as possible."
This article starring:
director of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's office in Basra
HARITH AL ADHARI
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Technical hitch: Some dork misplaced the keys to the attache case with the money in it.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the two suicide bombers that waged the bombing attack in central Talafar, 60 km west of Mosul, were Iraqi Turcomen, Talafar mayor said on Friday. "The bombing attack that jolted the city of Talafar was implemented by two Iraqi Turcomen," says a source told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI).
A source, the Talafar police chief, had said earlier that four civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in two successive suicide blasts that targeted a mosque during the Friday prayers in central Talafar city. "The first bomber talked to the mosque's guards with the Turcoman dialect and the explosive belts used in the attack were local-made," the mayor explained. He did not provide further details.
The Talafar police chief had said "a suicide bomber wearing a suicide belt was about to enter al-Sadiq mosque when suspecting policemen guarding the mosque opened fire at him but he detonated himself."
"Five minutes later, another suicide bomber blew himself up amidst the crowds, killing four civilians and wounding 13 others, including a policeman," Juburi said. U.S. forces arrived at the scene and rushed seriously wounded people to a U.S. base in Talafar, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Terrorists Militants shot dead two men in separate attacks on Saturday in the restive South, police said. A 32-year-old Buddhist was gunned down in a drive-by shooting while riding a motorcycle in Narathiwat. Separately, in next-door Pattani province, a 32-year-old Muslim was shot dead by terrorists militants while he was sitting in front of a tea shop.
Lebanese army troops intervened to restore order as pro-government and opposition supporters engaged in fist fights and beat each other with sticks in Ras el-Nabaa, a Muslim neighborhood of Beirut late Saturday, police and TV stations reported. Gunfire was heard in the melee but it was not clear who fired and there was no immediate word on casualties from the police.
Television footage showed scores of riot police backed by helmeted troops manning armored carriers taking up positions. At least two persons were shown injured in the footage. Aljadeed TV showed a man, his right cheek bloodied, speaking on a mobile phone. Paramedics carried another man on a stretcher into an ambulance. The station read out names of 11 people reportedly injured in the clashes and said several cars were damaged. The total number of wounded was 14 and all have reportedly been taken to nearby hospitals. State-run National News Agency reported trouble in other Beirut neighborhoods.
Such clashes have become common in recent weeks as tensions escalate between rival Lebanese camps and the country's 15-month-old political crisis deepens. The Beirut neighborhood of Ras el-Nabaa where the scuffle erupted late Saturday has in the last four days been the scene of sporadic clashes between supporters of the pro-Western government and the pro-Syrian, Hezbollah-led opposition. Clashes Saturday spread to three nearby neighborhoods, according to TV reports, but ended within a couple of hours.
The neighborhoods involved have a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, whose loyalties are split along the political divide. Shiites support the pro-Syrian opposition as the militant Shiite Hezbollah group does, while Sunnis support the U.S.-backed government. Hezbollah's al-Manar television later said that followers of a pro-government group tried to storm an opposition's office at Ras el-Nabaa but the report could not be independently verified.
A Shiite opposition protest over electricity cuts in south Beirut neighborhoods last month degenerated into a riot, prompting troops to open fire. Seven people were killed in that violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
(SomaliNet) Three people were killed and eleven others wounded by overnight cross shelling of heavy artilleries in Suqa-holaha, north eastern of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, local sources confirmed. Islamist fighters in the area fired Maslah military camp, currently a base of the Ethiopian forces in the country and in response the military shelled Suqa-holaha environs, witnesses said. 
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped unhurt from a mortar attack by Islamist insurgents on his official residence in Mogadishu, his spokesman said.
A bomb attack on an Algerian military convoy killed one soldier on Saturday while the head of the main secular opposition party escaped unhurt from a separate attack nearby, a security source and the political party said. The blasts in the Tizi Ouzou area, 60 km (40 miles) east of Algiers, were the first major attacks since February 7, when suspected Islamist rebels killed eight paramilitary gendarmes in an ambush on their convoy in southeastern Algeria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions on Saturday. The soldier died of his wounds after being taken to hospital, the security source said. Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack on the convoy.
(KUNA) -- Joint Algerian security forces on Saturday killed two terrorists and confiscated two kalashnikovs in Oulad Essa district east Boumerdas state, some 54 kilometers wast of here. An Algerian security source said in a statement that the two terrorists were killed in an ambush that was set up at a roadside according to security reports that such road was often used by the terrorists. Identity of the terrorists has not yet been revealed, the source added.
The 41 grenades seized in Satkhira on Friday night are identical to those used in the August 21 blasts at an Awami League (AL) rally in 2004. 
The police in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate have arrested a German citizen of Pakistani origin on suspicion of acting as a courier of money, night-vision equipment and radios to Al Qaeda in the Afghan-Pakistani border area. The authorities said the suspect, Aleem Nasir, had taken four trips to the region from April 2005 to June 2007, carrying at least the equivalent of $5,800 in euros each time, and equipment on three occasions. According to the prosecutors statement, he also received explosives training and successfully recruited another German resident for the terrorist group in 2006. In an interview in September, Mr. Nasir denied any Qaeda ties and said he had confessed while being beaten by Pakistani agents. German officials warned last week that Qaeda commanders had ordered terrorist attacks against the country and were increasingly seeking to recruit German-speaking terrorists over the Internet.
(PTI): A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, part of a group of six militants arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police, was on Friday taken around the city for questioning. Faheem Ahmed Ansari, who is believed to belong to the group that orchestrated the attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on January 1, was brought to the city by UP police special task force two weeks ago, police said. "The UP police will take him to locations in the city based on their investigations and a team from the city police could also question him while he is here," they said. 
(KUNA) -- At least two persons were killed and 20 including 10 security personnel were wounded in a suicide explosion in northern Pakistani valley, second since morning as the election campaign ends in the country ahead of Mondays election. A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the media center in Mangora area of Sawat valley, police sources told KUNA. They said the explosion killed two persons and wounded 20 others including 10 security and four media personnel. The explosion badly damaged the media center that has been established for election information.
Police on Saturday confirmed having arrested a man in possession of a suicide vest from a local hotel in Hyderabad.
Suspected militants on Saturday blew up a vote station in Bajaur Agencys headquarters, officials said. Eight polling booths were damaged when the bombs planted by suspects went off, administration official Muhammad Jamil said. He said the polling station was being repaired and balloting would be held according to schedule. 
Lebanese army troops intervened to restore order as pro-government and opposition supporters engaged in fist fights and beat each other with sticks in Ras el-Nabaa, a Muslim neighborhood of Beirut late Saturday, police and TV stations reported. Gunfire was heard in the melee but it was not clear who fired and there was no immediate word on casualties from the police.
