Fifteen Somali civilians at least were killed Friday when insurgents fired mortar shells on Mogadishu airport, drawing retaliatory fire from African peacekeepers, witnesses told reporters.
The incident broke out minutes after a plane delivering goods for the African Union (AU) force stationed at the airport landed, in defiance of a three-day-old insurgent "ban" on using the facility. Insurgents fired several mortar shells at the airport but many missed their target, local residents said, adding that the AU forces fired shells back.
An official at the city's main Madena Hospital said about 50 wounded civilians had been admitted. Two of them, including a two-year-old child, later died of their injuries.
Somalia's Al-Shebab movement earlier this week warned that all flights should cease as of September 16, arguing that the airport was an instrument of Ethiopia's military occupation of Somalia. Commercial activity at the airport has since stopped.
The airport is used for both commercial and military flights but is also the main base for the Ugandan contingent of the African Union peacekeepers, who were reinforced by Burundians earlier this year.
With the war-torn Somalia's roads dotted with rogue checkpoints and freelance gunmen and its waters infested with pirates, traders have warned the airport's closure would only further stifle an already agonizing nation.
Earlier on Friday, the government's director of civil aviation said it had cancelled the licenses of all airlines that heeded the "unimportant and baseless" threats from the Islamists and had stopped flying into Mogadishu airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
A large explosion has rocked the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, causing many casualties, reports say.
The blast is reported to have happened in the area of the Marriott Hotel.
Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed police official as saying the explosion was caused by a suspected suicide bomber, but this has not been verified.
#1
AP: A huge explosion ripped through part of the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital on Saturday. Many people, including foreigners, were seen running out, some of them stained with blood.
There was no immediate word on casualties at the site, which is a favorite place for foreigners to stay and is heavily guarded. Ambulances rushed to the scene, where a fire also burned.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2008 10:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
At the risk of sounding like a smug, uncaring bastard I'll go ahead and say; The chikcens have come home to roost.
#3
Bomb rocks Islamabad hotel, at least 17 dead: TV A suspected car bomb caused a huge explosion outside the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital on Saturday and the Dawn television station said at least 17 people had been killed.
A reporter at the scene told CNN that as many as 200 people were feared to be inside the building. Television images showed flames and smoke pouring out of the hotel and bodies being carried away.
"The explosion happened as a car reached the barricade outside the hotel," a senior police official said, adding that it appeared to have been a suicide attack.
A Reuters witness said he could see fires in at least two places in the hotel and at least 20 cars parked on the street outside had been destroyed. Television pictures later showed flames spreading to other parts of the 290-room hotel, located close to the city centre and very popular with tourists.
Witnesses reported that ceilings in the hotel lobby and dining area had collapsed.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2008 11:13 Comments ||
Top||
#4
AP: Police say at least 40 people have died in a massive explosion that destroyed the luxury Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital.
Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said he fears there are dozens more dead inside. He said that the Saturday blast, which reverberated throughout Islamabad, was caused by more than a ton of explosives.
The blast left a crater some 30 feet deep in front of the main building.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2008 11:50 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Not that Mr. Wife has ever travelled to Pakistan, but it is partially for this kind of information that I read Rantburg. May the victims of yet another jihadi atrocity rest in peace, and the jihadi murderers quickly meet their just reward.
#8
now where would someone get a ton of explosives in a sovereign stable state with border integrity? Oh, yeah, this is Pakland. My bad. Seems like the Pakis have more to worry about than the occasional drone attack, hmmmm?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2008 13:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
This was an attack on Westerners IN Pakistan, not really on Pakistan itself. Though am sure that is only a minor difference to those who carried it out.
#12
The spiral is intensifying: The Taliban/NWTA and Pakistani Government are locked in a fight to the death. Not unlike AL Queada in Iraq and the Anbar councils.
Let's watch.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/20/2008 15:37 Comments ||
Top||
#13
New Claim: that senior CIA officials were believed to be at the hotel at the time, and it was an assassination attempt.
#15
I was being sarcastic (how unusual?). I have no doubts the explosives, if found undamaged, would bear ISI fingerprints, even if this were not an ISI-directed mission
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2008 17:37 Comments ||
Top||
#16
I'm certainly glad they didn't find out about our alternate site at Ramna-4.
#18
All you need is ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil mixed in (ANFO). Then you need a detonator charge go give it the shock it needs to go off. Fast, cheap, and easily stows in a delivery truck.
Posted by: Alaska Paul back home ||
09/20/2008 20:25 Comments ||
Top||
#19
this likely wasn't Abu Timothy. This was a TTP/Taliban effort with backing, indirectly from the ISI. Time for the ISI to have several "casualties"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2008 20:50 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Past time, Frank.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2008 20:52 Comments ||
Top||
#21
I stayed at this hotel several times in the early '90s. It is right next to the US Consulate in the tony Clifton section of Karachi.
#23
you're talkin' about the Karachi Marriot, remoteman. This is the Islamabad clone.
The explosive of choice for these guys tends to be RDX. lets see what it turns out to be this time. its not all that difficult to buy PETN and dynamite and blasting caps around here, by the way.
New Delhi: A terror suspect arrested from Delhi's Jamia Nagar on Friday has confessed his involvement in the recent blasts in Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi, sources said.
Saif is the son of an Indian member of parliament
Saif admitted that his associate Bashir alias Atiq masterminded all the blasts. Sources also claim that it was Saif who planted the bomb outside Regal Cinema in Central Delhi. Saif was arrested following a fierce exchange of fire between the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and five suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists, who were holed up inside House No L-18, Batla House in Jamia Nagar.
Police gunned down two suspects while the other two managed to escape. Bashir, whom the police had been searching for in the area, was shot dead during the encounter.
This article starring:
BASHIR ALIAS ATIQ
Indian Mujaheddin
Posted by: john frum ||
09/20/2008 07:55 ||
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Helicopters flew over Mamoond tehsil in Bajaur Agency after 5pm on Friday and shelled the Damadola area, sources said. Fighter aircraft also flew over the area and bombed suspected Taliban hideouts. No casualties were reported.
According to witnesses, smoke was seen rising from the locations bombed by fighter planes. The sources believe a number of Taliban had been killed in the bombing. The security forces have also captured at least four Taliban in a clash in Loyesam, the sources added.
A curfew remained in place in the agency, for the 15th consecutive day, bringing life to a halt, causing a shortage of fuel, potable water and food. Mosques have remained closed for the past many weeks, and it is the first Ramazan in which people are offering Traveeh prayers at home.
Meanwhile, the security forces gained total control of Siddiqabad, Toheedabad, Rehman Baba, Shandai Mor, Faja, Sabu Kalay, Yousufabad, Sharpana, Nawidand, Shomlo Qila and Mamizo areas of Khar tehsil.
Security forces have also established checkposts in the area and are patrolling the roads.
Missing: Residents of Salarzai and Khar tehsils, who had been displaced by the fighting, told Daily Times that they found valuables missing from there on their return, saying criminals operating in the area in the guise of the Taliban were responsible for the theft.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Missing: Residents of Salarzai and Khar tehsils, who had been displaced by the fighting, told Daily Times that they found valuables missing from there on their return, saying criminals operating in the area in the guise of the Taliban were responsible for the theft.
....and anyone mind you, Who merely suggests it waz the Thieving Talibs Themselves, will be "questioned" in the guise of Theives!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/20/2008 6:44 Comments ||
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Security was put on high alert across Punjab on Friday following reports that four would-be suicide bombers had entered the province, Geo News reported. The channel quoted sources in the Interior Ministry as saying the alleged suicide bombers, aged between 14 and 20, could wreak havoc on a large scale before Eid. The bombers are aiming for law-enforcement personnel and sensitive installations in Punjab, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Police said on Friday they had foiled a major terror plot and arrested three terrorists in the Kror Lal Esan area of Multan, according to Samaa TV. A huge quantity of weapons, including rocket-launchers and machine guns, have also been recovered from the alleged terrorists, the channel quoted sources in police as saying. The police have not revealed the identity of the arrested persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
Twenty-four-year-old Bashir alias Atiq, who was gunned down in an encounter with Delhi Police on Friday morning at Batla House, is now described as the mastermind of Indian Mujahideen (IM), which carried out blasts in UP, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi. The other terrorist shot dead in the encounter was identified as Mohammad Sajid.
The emergence of this new module of IM which coordinated the attacks with SIMI has surprised investigators since Abu Bashir and Abdus Subhan, a close ally of SIMI chief Safdar Nagori, were described as the brains behind these attacks. But special cell of Delhi Police, working with central intelligence agencies, zeroed on Bashir alias Atiq after the Ahmedabad blasts. ''We had information that Atiq had gone to Ahmedabad from Delhi by train before the blasts, along with 10 persons, and returned to the capital on the day of the blasts with 12,'' said joint commissioner of police (special cell) Karnal Singh.
This IM module is being described by the investigators as the one which prepared the bombs which were quite similar to the ones in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur, UP and Hyderabad. Right from the explosives used to the wooden case, the clock timer and two detonators, everything carried the same signature.
Intelligence officials say there could be two modules and the work of planting explosives had been divided. Normally, the modules are not aware of each other's existence.
Abdus Subhan alias Tauqeer still remains the key factor and common link to Abu Bashir and Atiq alias Bashir. However, Abu Bashir had never met his namesake, claimed investigators, and had no direct role in the Delhi blasts though he told the investigators that he was aware of the blasts being planned in Delhi.
The operation at Batla House was planned by the cops after central intelligence agencies and special cell tracking the movements of Atiq came to know he was hiding there. The reservations had been done under assumed names. The police had learnt that Atiq used to visit Delhi frequently and meet his sympathisers from SIMI but avoided using mobile phones. He used them only while communicating with Taqueer or Qayamuddin, said an officer.
The cops claim more attacks had been planned in Delhi and with Friday's operation, they have foiled them. Atiq had told his parents in Azamgarh that he was going to Delhi to join a computer class.
However, speaking to various news channels, Atiq's brother Raqib, who also works for a news channel said: "My brother was never involved in terror activities and was framed by the police. And now he is dead."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Indian Mujahideen
At least 20 people were killed and 18 sustained serious injuries in clashes between the Toori and Mangal tribes in Kurram Agency on Friday.
The clashes between the two rival tribes have been continuing for the seventh straight week, with both sides using heavy automatic weaponry. Sources said local residents were facing food shortages due to the closure of several highways for the last year.
They said electricity supplies to the area had been cut off for the last six weeks.
Security forces also bombarded suspected Taliban hideouts in different areas of Swat district, including Tehsil Matta, Tehsil Charbagh, Isharband, Mangol Tan and Allahabad.
The security forces' operation to clear landmines and defuse explosive devices from Koza Bandi also continued for the second consecutive day. Up to 60 percent areas have been cleared so far. According to a statement issued by the Media Information Centre Swat, around 75 Taliban have been killed with a similar number injured in the past 14 days in Koza Bandi.
Bombs also exploded in Matta Bazaar and Adam Khor Bazaar in Miran Shah, but no injuries from either incident have been reported. In another incident, a container coming from Afghanistan to Peshawar was partially destroyed in a blast near Sultan Khel on the Pak-Afghan highway. No causalities were reported.
Militants also fired a rocket on court road near the district session judge's court, but no injuries were reported. The bomb disposal squad said the rocket was a RPG-7.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
The United States drones continued their flights over various areas of North and South Waziristan on Friday, creating panic and fear among the locals. According to Express News, the US spy planes were seen flying over Ghulam Khan, Hamzoni, Ditta Khel and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan and Angoor Adda and Mateen areas of South Waziristan. According to the channel, the continued drone flights have increased fear among locals, already worried about the security situation in their areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
I know Drone has been in usage for ages but I wish we could get something more better.
A bomb exploded at a madrassa (religious school) run by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Quetta on Friday, killing five people and injuring 10 more. Television footage showed a gaping whole in the external wall around the seminary on the outskirts of the city of Quetta and one partly demolished adjacent room.
"The madrassa people say that someone threw explosives into the madrassa, but we are investigating." But police officer Raja Ishtiaq told AP the blast occurred inside the room and that police were investigating how the bomb got there.
"The madrassa people say that someone threw explosives into the madrassa, but we are investigating," police official Wazir Khan Nasir told Reuters. But police officer Raja Ishtiaq told AP the blast occurred inside the room and that police were investigating how the bomb got there.
The walls had fallen outwards, another police official said, suggesting there could be some explosives inside the room. "We are looking into all possibilities including whether they were preparing some explosives."
A witness who identified himself as Shahbaz Ahmad said students had been scuffling with a man who tried to push past them after they asked him why he wanted to enter the compound. "When they barred his way, he blew himself up," Ahmad, a young man with a black beard, told reporters at a city hospital. Ahmad had no visible wounds, but moments later, he collapsed unconscious and doctors rushed to revive him.
The madrassa is situated about 15 kilometres north of Quetta. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far.
Later on Friday, unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle fired at a police patrol vehicle in Quetta, killing one officer and wounding a policeman and a passer-by, Ishtiaq said. It was unclear if the two incidents were related.
Two men were wounded after unidentified attackers lobbed a hand grenade into a house here at Killi Chashma Achozai area of Balochistan in another incident, police said. The motive behind the incident could not be ascertained. Area police have registered a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
#1
Ahmad had no visible wounds, but moments later, he collapsed unconscious and doctors rushed to revive him.
Drama queen
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2008 8:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"including whether they were preparing some explosives." Explosive Device Construction 101, final grades: 5 F-'s
10 F+'s
1 D(for the Drama Queen, probably pissed his pants too)
Iraqi officials say gunmen have killed a cleric loyal to U.S. foe Muqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra. Police say Sheik Oday Ali Abbas al-Ajrish was killed Friday evening near his home. A Basra police officer and a medic from the city's morgue confirmed the killing. They requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
This article starring:
SHEIK ODAI ALI ABAS AL AJRISH
Mahdi Army
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2008 10:54 ||
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#1
wow, that's too bad. HEY! College football's on!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2008 13:54 Comments ||
Top||
U.S. troops hunting for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant raided a house Friday and killed seven people, including three women, drawing an angry protest from Iraqi officials that all the victims were civilians.
The U.S. military said the raid in Adwar _ a Sunni town 70 miles north of Baghdad and just south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit _ targeted an extremist responsible for suicide attacks and roadside bombings.
Neighbors and Iraqi officials claimed all the dead were from a poor family that had been uprooted by sectarian violence and had no links to the insurgency. Iraq's government demanded that those responsible for the raid be punished.
The dispute comes as the United States and Iraq are negotiating a security agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for foreign forces, which expires at year's end. Iraqi negotiators have insisted on oversight of U.S. military operations and the lifting of blanket immunity for American troops and security contractors.
U.S. airstrikes and conflicting claims about civilian deaths have been common throughout the war, prompting public outrage and underscoring the challenges faced by American forces fighting enemies who live among the population and don't wear uniforms.
Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc denounced Friday's raid. "Even if, as they claim, a man attacked them, that does not give them the excuse to target women and children," said Salim Abdullah al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front.
Dozens of people marched to the site chanting "God is great" and "We condemn this inhumane act."
Abdullah Hussein Jibara, deputy governor of Salahuddin province, said he did not accept the initial explanation given by the Americans.
"We think that this tragedy could have been avoided if there were real coordination between U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities," Jibara said. "We condemn this random targeting of civilians, including women and children."
The preacher of Adwar's main mosque, Amir al-Douri, called on the Iraqi government to take legal measures against the U.S. soldiers who carried out the raid and to demand a full explanation from the U.S. Army.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#2
"As the Iraqi waif held up her pet baby duck, trembling in fear at the brutal American killer bearing down on her, little did she know that she was to be stomped to death in the mud, underneath his clog heeled boots, while the evil Zionist murderer laughed and screamed the lyrics of 'Hava Nagila' while spraying the room with machine gun fire."
South Korea, which once had the third-largest foreign military contingent in Iraq, will pull all of its troops out off the country on schedule by the end of this year, a military official said on Friday.
Local media had reported the South may extend its deployment again as a favour to its major ally, the United States, which is re-examining its forces in Iraq after improvements in overall levels of security this year. Defence ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told a news briefing that when the deployment was extended by one year in December 2007, it was on the condition that the pullout would be completed by the end of 2008. "And there is no change whatsoever to the plan that everyone in the (unit) would withdraw by the year end," he said. South Korea sent 3,600 soldiers to Iraq in 2004, which was then the largest foreign military presence after the United States and Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Meanwhile, school burned to the ground during Friday prayers
Two suspected leading terrorists insurgents were shot dead during a firefight with police in the southern insurgency-torn province of Yala on Friday. Pol. Lt-Gen. Adul Saengsingkaew, deputy police chief, said one police officer was wounded in the exchange of fire.
The dead men were identified as Isma-ae Pajoo and Maso Gaji. Both were leading members of an insurgency group, allegedly involved in many deadly bomb attacks in the three restive southern provinces in the past two years and were the subjects of arrest warrants. The deputy police chief added that Isma-ae Pajoo was believed to have planned many terror insurgent attacks. Police had been monitoring the movements of the group, and its two leading members were recently killed during a raid. Yala deputy governor Kritsada Boonraj said the situation had improved as local villagers had become more cooperative with the authorities and gave useful information which led to many arrests of suspected terrorists insurgents.
Meanwhile, terrorists insurgents set fire to a school in Bannang Sata district. The flames quickly spread, completely destroying the six-room school building and all documents. The intruders spilled fuel across the floor and set it on fire. According to preliminary investigation, police said at least three arsonists broke into a classroom while the school's security unit was at Friday prayers in the town. The intruders spread fuel on floor and set it on fire. The school director said the security unit usually guarded the school around the clock but the arsonists took advantage of the Ramadan fasting period when all Muslims needed to maintain their religious practice to enter the premises and burn the school.
ISLAMIC fundamentalists have offered weapons to Burma's opposition groups with which to fight the ruling military junta. And the resistance groups - which feel they have been left high and dry by the international community - are seriously considering the offer.
Former students, who were forced to flee Rangoon after pro-democracy protests in 1988 were violently put down, are said to be discussing the offer in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
They know accepting arms from a group linked to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could polarise the West against them and damage their revolution. But there are no other offers of weapons to fight the military regime, which is officially known as the State Peace Development Council.
Members of the resistance inside Burma want guns and don't care where they come from. They have decided fighting is the only way to freedom and are compiling an arms shopping list.
The prospect of a holy war developing in Burma is likely to be greeted with trepidation by neighbouring states including China, which is one of the military junta's prime supporters.
Thailand already has a grinding Muslim insurgency in its deep south, fed by militant Islamists operating out of northern Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the Karen National Liberation Army, which has waged a war of independence in Burma since 1949, has expressed dismay at the offer of guns from religious zealots. "We are fighting an honourable war to free our people from oppression and want absolutely nothing to do with terrorists," says the KNLA's Colonel Nerdah Mya. "We don't do deals with the devil."
Both INDIA + BANGLIS have complained about the BURMESE GOVT's seeming tolerance for their country being used by Militant Groups as a covert third-party route for attacks + arms transfer.
#3
TOPIX > CHINA TO USE "PREEMPTIVE STRIKES" [hit hard, hit often, hit first] AGZ SEPARATIST, ANARCHIST FACTIONS [public disorder], espec agz UIGHURS AS PER RECENT OLYMPICS.
#5
and what exactly is your source? which "islamist fundamentalists" are you describing? and which section of the "opposition"? we're not one large homogenous mass, you know. also, mae sot is an unlikely venue for this sort of "deal". since the pro-democracy protests of last year, the thai army and intelligence services have been carefully monitoring both mae sot and mae son hong
#6
If you click on the title of the article, thinyen, the link will take you to the original, which is apparently in The Townsville Bulletin, which says about itself
The Townsville Bulletin has been a part of the lives of North Queenslanders since 1881.
According to the article, Former students, who were forced to flee Rangoon after pro-democracy protests in 1988 were violently put down, are said to be discussing the offer in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Beyond that, any information you can share that would refine our understanding will be greatly appreciated. No doubt some of our correspondents in Thailand will be able to add to your comments.
Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors killed 63 Tamil Tiger rebels on a second day of fierce combat in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation, the military said on Friday.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they had repulsed an army advance, killed 25 troops and wounded 40 in Vannirakulam, the site of heavy fighting for weeks, pro-rebel web site www.tamilnet.com quoted unnamed rebel officials as saying. There was no independent confirmation of the casualties from Thursday's battles, which followed one of the single bloodiest days of fighting since the military cranked up an offensive drive three months ago. At least 71 were killed on Wednesday.
Most of Thursday's fighting occurred near Nachikkudah, a northwestern port about 300 km north of that was the site of fierce land and sea clashes that the military said killed 25 "Sea Tigers" and another 17 rebels. Eighteen were wounded. In the same clashes, five soldiers died and 14 were wounded.
Fighting at various points further east killed another 20 rebels, and one was killed in the far northern Jaffna Peninsula, the military said. Three soldiers were killed and two were wounded, the military said.
Defensive: Tamil Tigers risk losing their mini-state as Sri Lankan forces make a determined push after decades of bloodshed. After months of bitter fighting, security forces have reached the outskirts of the Tiger political capital - Kilinochchi - the six-kilometre long township along the main A-9 highway to the Jaffna peninsula.
Aid workers who evacuated Kilinochchi this week - in line with a government order to leave ahead of an expected military show down - said bombs and artillery shells were landing just within the political offices of the Tigers. "The military advance is getting closer to Kilinochchi and the Tigers may simply melt away," an aid official who declined to be named said soon after leaving the north.
Sri Lanka's top brass had said they want to take Kilinochchi before the end of the year, but defence analysts argue that it must be done sooner as monsoon rains could intensify and render heavy armour ineffective from about October. For the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Kilinochchi is the showpiece town where they hosted visiting foreign dignitaries and peace brokers. The Tigers also maintain their 'police headquarters,' their 'high courts' and their 'Bank of Eelam' which functions as the quasi-monetary authority of the de facto separate state within Sri Lanka.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Pleading for info for my no-knowledge mind -- would someone please give a short history of all of this fighting in Sri Lanka?
Such a small country for such fighting and deaths. And I can only grasp, it's got to be the terrorists against the people. How long has this been going on? Who's in charge? Are we there? Who's on who's side? Who are the "big" guys standing silently watching all that is happening?
I do so appreciate the spotlight being focused on them each day -- but I missed the Sri Lanka course at Rantburg U.
#3
So far as I can tell, Sherry, the roots of the fighting in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were laid centuries ago and are ethnic / racial as well as class / economic in origin. The majority Sinhalese are related to northern Indians (IndoAryans) who asserted control there when a powerful prince was exiled and settled there with his troops and court about 500 BC. The minority Tamils are related to the Dravidians of southern India whose subordination in India proper has long been a source of deep resentment and sometimes open armed conflict. Tamils have also been on Sri Lanka for millenia - what is now the island nation of Sri Lanka used to be connected by a narrow natural causeway to southern India, their home.
Those are the roots of the conflict, but of course it has many more modern twists and turns. For instance, some of the Tamils in Sri Lanka were brought there more recently by the British as indentured plantation workers. After independence, part of that Tamil group returned to India proper but the rest remained on Sri Lanka ... I don't have a good read on whether there is much division between them and the Tamils whose roots go back many many centuries but looking at a map about where the plantations were, it seems likely that economic inequities are one reason for the Tamil Tigers to seek an independent and socialist state in the north/east.
Also, although Hinduism today has elements both of the original Dravidian gods/practices and those of the IndoAryans, there are differences of focus among the millions of Hindus and some of the Dravidian foci are strong among the Sri Lankans who identify as Hindu (mostly Tamils). 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, though, especially the Sinhalese who have been Buddhist continually for many many centuries....
Maybe the closest parallel is northern Ireland, although Ireland was never the center of wealth etc. that Ceylon historically had been. Plus, while the ethnic differences between the English and the Celts have been bitter, in Sri Lanka it's not just ethnic and language but also racial differences between the indo-aryan Sinhalese and the dravidian Tamils.
Anyway, that's the impression I've pieced together. I may be missing key elements or getting things wrong, tho. Perhaps John Frum will stop by and comment from his perspective.
Four members of the Iranian security forces, including a general, were killed in an armed clash with rebels in the southeast, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a police official as saying. "Brigadier General Muhammad Sar-Golzaie was killed during clashes with armed rebels on Thursday night in Sistan-Baluchestan province," said Salah Asgari. He said that three other soldiers had been killed in fighting in recent days without specifying where. "Several rebels were also killed," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2008 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.
New Delhi: A terror suspect arrested from Delhi's Jamia Nagar on Friday has confessed his involvement in the recent blasts in Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi, sources said.
At least 20 people were killed and 18 sustained serious injuries in clashes between the Toori and Mangal tribes in Kurram Agency on Friday. 
The United States drones continued their flights over various areas of North and South Waziristan on Friday, creating panic and fear among the locals. According to Express News, the US spy planes were seen flying over Ghulam Khan, Hamzoni, Ditta Khel and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan and Angoor Adda and Mateen areas of South Waziristan. According to the channel, the continued drone flights have increased fear among locals, already worried about the security situation in their areas.
U.S. troops hunting for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant raided a house Friday and killed seven people, including three women, drawing an angry protest from Iraqi officials that all the victims were civilians.
