KABUL (AFP) - A US-led coalition forces helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, causing 'minor injuries' to two soldiers on board, the force said Thursday. The chopper crashed Wednesday in Kunar province which shares a border with neighbouring Pakistan. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
'A coalition forces helicopter crashed Wednesday in Kunar province. No coalition forces Soldiers were seriously injured and all have been returned safely from the incident,' a coalition statement said. A spokesman for the troops said there were only two soldiers on board and they had 'minor injuries'.
On June 5 two coalition soldiers were killed when a helicopter on a routine maintenance mission crashed near the southern city of Kandahar. The cause of the crash was not known.
U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed up to 35 Taliban insurgents after the militants attacked two towns in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border overnight, a police chief said on Wednesday. The Taliban have launched a number of ground assaults and rocket attacks on isolated towns in eastern Afghanistan in the last week, part of a rising wave of violence in the east that Afghan and U.S. officials have said is the result of de-facto ceasefires with militants in neighbouring Pakistan.
About 100 Taliban insurgents attacked the towns of Gomal and Sarobi in Paktika province overnight, but ran away fled when they were engaged by Afghan police supported by coalition troops, said provincial Police Chief Nabi Jan Mullah Khail. Coalition air strikes then killed 35 insurgents who were hiding after the attacks, he said.
But the U.S. military said 'approximately 22' militants were killed by coalition air support after the attacks. 'When coalition air support arrived, the 22 militants who attacked the district centres were positively identified and killed,' the statement added.
The Afghan government and some of its Western allies are growing increasingly frustrated by Pakistan's failure to clamp down on militant activity in its tribally ruled border regions. The new Pakistani government has halted military offensives against pro-Taliban groups on its side of the border and has attempted to seal peace deals with the militants to try to stem violence which has killed hundreds in Pakistan in the last year.
But Afghan and Western officials have said the peace talks free up the militants to mount more attacks in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
But Afghan and Western officials have said the peace talks free up the militants to mount more attacks in Afghanistan.
Cause we all recall how that worked with the Paris Peace talks for so many years.
The move is to come as part of a deal that will allow the lifting of some U.S. sanctions
North Korea was expected to turn over a long-awaited inventory of its nuclear program today as part of a deal that will allow the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.
President Bush could make an announcement this morning that North Korea should be removed from a State Department list of terror-sponsoring nations and from a blacklist of countries under the Trading With the Enemy Act. In turn, North Korea is supposed to blow up the cooling tower of its main nuclear reactor, an event to be broadcast live in the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, all parties to talks on nuclear dismantlement.
Although largely symbolic, the lifting of the sanctions represents a major turning point in the Bush administration's tortuous relationship with the regime of Kim Jong Il. Bush once promised he would have no dealings with North Korea, a member of what he dubbed an "axis of evil," before the regime undertook dismantlement of its nuclear arms program.
In the documents to be submitted today, which will be given first to the Chinese, North Korea is expected to disclose how much weapons-grade plutonium it possesses and other details of its nuclear program. North Korea does not, however, divulge details of a still shadowy uranium enrichment program, aid to Syria's suspected nuclear program, or the number of bombs already produced, according to analysts familiar with the negotiations.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Osaka, Japan, on Wednesday that the lifting of the sanctions would take 45 days, during which North Korea's declaration will be carefully reviewed.
#4
Report is supposedly only sixty (60) pages long. A full inventory of our office equipment and supplies goes on almost that long.
Maybe they're just counting the 'big' stuff.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/26/2008 8:42 Comments ||
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#5
NK has moved on to the much more easily concealed uranium enrichment. Thank our friends the Pakis for this.
North Korea does not, however, divulge details of a still shadowy uranium enrichment program, aid to Syria's suspected nuclear program, or the number of bombs already produced
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2008 9:38 Comments ||
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#9
North Korea was expected to turn over a long-awaited inventory of its nuclear program today as part of a deal that will allow the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.
If I heard clearly this morning, they were supposed to turn it over to China. That strikes me similar to Kerry releasing his service record to his shill MSM buddy.
#10
FOX NEWS + CNN > DUBYA - GENER SUPPORTS NOKOR's DECLARATORY EFFORTS BUT SAYS NOKOR MUST DE FACTO ADMIT TO HAVING 30-plus kilograms of PLUTONIUM NUCMATS. Dubya alos indicated that NOKOR will be trusted by the US only to the extent that its inventory as per its final NUCLEAR DECLARATION VERSION is verifiably complete and consistent vv US-INTERNATIONAL INTEL DATUMS.
Local Taliban seized a government-run girls school and renamed it the Jamia Hafsa, residents and officials said on Wednesday.
Then they burned it down, of course...
The militants hoisted their flag atop the school in Pusht, a town in the Bajaur tribal district, and renamed it after the girls madrassa that was connected to the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, they added. We are trying to convince them through local elders to vacate the building, local administration official Iqbal Khan said.
Residents said armed men led by local Taliban leader Qari Naimatullah forcibly took control of the school on Tuesday and warned that other female schools in the area would also be seized to teach religious education. We want to convert it into a madrassa, because the Western system of education is not good for girls, Naimatullahs spokesman Ghulam Waheed told AFP.
Revenge: We have named it Jamia Hafsa to avenge the attack on the Lal Masjids madrassa, which was razed to the ground during the army operation last year, he said.
He criticised the previous government for not rebuilding the madrassa for female students. We will take over other schools also and name them after Jamia Hafsa, he said.
More than 100 people died in a weeklong siege and subsequent operation to clear Al Qaeda-linked militants from the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in July 2007. The school was badly damaged and later bulldozed.
President Pervez Musharraf ordered the military to storm the mosque after a lengthy siege. The raid provoked anger among Islamic militants, particularly in lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border, and sparked an upsurge in deadly violence, including suicide attacks.
Bajaur is a stronghold of Taliban militants who have been blamed for a wave of bombings in Pakistan over the last year. The rebels began peace talks with the new government after it came to power in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Those boys are scared to death of letting their womenfolk get educated.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/26/2008 11:47 Comments ||
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OK, now run an ARCLIGHT strike down through the middle of that school, and see how the "militants" like it. Explain to them - in Urdu, Pashto, and Arabic, so all of them can understand - that the same thing will happen to every school, district office, or household they "liberate". Napalm or Hellfire-zap 'em as they run away. That's what we did in Laos. An ARCLIGHT strike was the one thing the NVA was terrified of. The problem is, we didn't use them right. I'm sure I can come up with some more useful ideas this time, and so can several thousand other Vietnam vets. Just ask us.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/26/2008 13:38 Comments ||
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#3
ARCLIGHT would scare 'em sure enough but I still think they're even more afraid of letting their womenfolk get educated. A woman gets it into her head that she's not a cow or a goat or a camel and you never know where that might lead.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/26/2008 14:51 Comments ||
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#4
Yeah - you get woman packing as in This awesome photo (follow the link so I won't hotlink) - Safe for Work (unless you work in a Mosque...)
Kashmir Valley turned into a battlefield for a third day on Wednesday as hundreds of youth fought pitched battles with police and paramilitary forces protesting against the transfer of forestland to Hindu cave shrine of Amarnath.
Clashes: The latest clashes left a civilian, Farooq Ahmed dead, and 65 others wounded, including 15 members of Indian police and paramilitary forces and four Hindu pilgrims, police said. Most government offices, businesses and schools in Srinagar were forced shut.
Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad issued an appeal for calm and vowed no accommodation for Hindu pilgrims would be built until further notice. I request all to maintain peace and brotherhood, Azad told a news conference, and promised an all-party meeting to reach a consensus on how to deal with the issue.
Meanwhile, a document issued by the six-member action committee constituted by the Hurriyat Conference against the land transfer has stated that under the garb of providing facilities to the Hindu pilgrims, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is planning to construct dams on Lidder and Indus rivers to generate power for the shrine.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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The rail link between Quetta and the rest of the country was cut off on Wednesday after a main track was blown up near the city, railways officials said. The early morning blast at the track at Speezand, some 20 kilometres from Quetta, blew up a two-foot part of the track, they said. Two scheduled trains, Chiltan Express and Quetta Express, leaving from Quetta were delayed and two other trains, Jaffar and Bolan Express, also had to be stopped. Railway engineers had started repair work on the damaged track and officials said it would take some time to restore the service. The bomb disposal squad is investigating the matter, officials added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Allen didn't ride a train so nobody needs a stinking train.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in a region of northern Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling al Qaeda, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. Tuesday night's attack, which brought the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this week to seven, suggests al Qaeda remains a threat in the northern city of Mosul and the surrounding province of Nineveh.
The U.S. military said the attack happened in Nineveh province but gave no other details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Five Thai Army soldiers en route to a training exercise were wounded Wednesday afternoon in an apparent bomb ambush on a road in rural Yala. Major Thanitpon Hongwilai and members of his command were wounded in a remotely-detonated bombing while they travelled by a pick-up truck to train defence volunteers at a school in Yala's Yaha district. A bomb hidden under the road surface exploded. Five soldiers were wounded and were rushed to hospital.
Sri Lankas defence ministry said Wednesday that its forces have made some territorial progress in fighting with the Tamil Tigers that it said killed at least 10 guerrillas.
Security forces took a three square kilometre area in the district of Mannar on Tuesday, the ministry said, adding that five soldiers were wounded in the fighting. So far 10 terrorists have been killed in these confrontations, the ministry said. Battles continue as army troops advance further in capturing uncleared territory. Five soldiers are also reported wounded in action. There was no immediate word from the Tigers.
In other violence, at least five Tiger rebels were killed and two soldiers were wounded in the adjoining district of Vavuniya on Tuesday, the ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Touchy bunch, aren't they. Funny how they don't like terror groups when they're aimed at the homeland ...
TEHERAN - Iran on Wednesday condemned the British parliament for removing the Iranian rebel People's Mujahedin group, widely known as MKO, from its terrorist list. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said in a press statement that the move as a "disgrace" due to the group's involvement in terrorist acts both in Iran and Iraq.
And who would know more about 'disgrace' than the Iranian foreign minister?
The British Appeal Court had last month ordered the British government to remove the MKO from the terrorist list.
Teheran immediately condemned the decision and accused Britain of adopting a double-standard approach towards terrorism. Iran accuses the MKO of having been involved in several assassinations of high-ranking Iranian officials, including Iran's president and prime minister in 1980.
After the group was expelled from France in the 1980s, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein allocated a military base to the MKO near the border with Iran. Before the collapse of Saddam, the MKO several times infiltrated Iranian territory, leading to clashes with Iranian forces and casualties on both sides.
The MKO remains on the terrorist list of the European Union and Iran's political arch-foe, the United States.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2008 00:00 ||
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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.
The rail link between Quetta and the rest of the country was cut off on Wednesday after a main track was blown up near the city, railways officials said. The early morning blast at the track at Speezand, some 20 kilometres from Quetta, blew up a two-foot part of the track, they said. Two scheduled trains, Chiltan Express and Quetta Express, leaving from Quetta were delayed and two other trains, Jaffar and Bolan Express, also had to be stopped. Railway engineers had started repair work on the damaged track and officials said it would take some time to restore the service. The bomb disposal squad is investigating the matter, officials added.
