A large blast ripped through the centre of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, and smoke could be seen rising above the city's diplomatic quarter.
The blast comes just five days ahead of presidential elections and against a backdrop of increased violence by the Taliban. More than 100,000 foreign troops are based in the country.
#1
Update
Taliban claim suicide strike on NATO HQ in Kabul
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in front of the heavily fortified headquarters of U.S. and NATO troops in Kabul on Saturday, saying the target was the U.S. embassy nearby.
"The target was the U.S. embassy, but we could not reach it. The suicide car bomber exploded near the ISAF headquarters and killed several foreign troops," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, referring to the International Security Assistance Force.
Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Yousuf Azimy said three people were killed and 14 wounded, all civilians.
#3
what happened to the claim of crazy Bush that war is over.Goal will not be achieved in Afghanistan till all USA forces leave the country.this attack is the beginning ,will follow more i think
#4
wazdan dear, you really must put one of those /end sarcasm thingies at the end of such a statement. Otherwise readers will conclude that you lack any knowledge of recent history, specifically of America, the various fronts of what "crazy Bush" referred to as the War on Terror, Afghanistan's place relative to other fronts such as Iraq, the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, etc, and the nearly two century history of the American armed forces winning small wars against insurgents. Were you not being sarcastic, I'd suggest Wikipedia could get you started, but of course for the final subject America's General Petraeus wrote the definitive textbook, which no doubt can be found on Amazon.com.
You're quite right that the goal of the "Taliban" will not be achieved, although of course this attack is only one of many by them that failed to achieve its goal, not the first. More will indeed follow, as they work ever harder to alienate the very Afghan people (especially the Pashtuns or Pakhtons, depending whether you prefer the northern or southern pronunciation, of course) whose support they need to succeed in retaking the country. But we saw in Iraq what happens when alien terrorists attempt to frighten the locals into accepting them: in the end it was the Sons of Iraq who, using Western support, so thoroughly defeated Al Qaeda that the rag tag survivors ran away to Somalia and the Gaza Strip... where the natives are merrily killing them off, one by one.
I am so glad you only forgot to type that /sarcasm thingy, wazdan dear. I'd hate to think someone from your part of the world was truly that ignorant.
#9
what happened to the claim of crazy Bush that war is over.
You mean the 'Mission Acomplished' thing. That was actually related to the aircraft carrier President Bush was on. You do know what aircraft carriers are, right? They're what India will have.
Goal will not be achieved in Afghanistan till all USA forces leave the country.
What, turning it into a Pakistani colony? You guys can't even run your own country.
#10
Rantburg Snark has really achieved the status of an art form. "Wazdan, dear, I'm going to remove your head ever so gently..."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/15/2009 18:29 Comments ||
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#11
In a way, it's too bad that trailing wife doesn't have a nym that we can turn into a verb. We could say that someone has been "trailingwifed" when they've been eviscerated so gently that they don't even know it. But that doesn't trip off the tongue easily.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/15/2009 20:37 Comments ||
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#12
Perhaps we could say "twifed," Rambler?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/15/2009 21:21 Comments ||
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#13
Y'all are delightful sillies, and I adore you. So there!
[Dawn] A suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army base in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing a soldier and wounding four other people, an official said. The bomber rammed his vehicle into the base's gate in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the provincial governor's spokesman. Three civilians and a soldier were among the wounded, he said.
In the capital, meanwhile, two rockets were fired at Kabul's airport Friday, but neither caused damage or casualties, said US military spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo. It was the second rocket attack on the capital this month. Taliban militants took responsibility for the previous attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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A Somali pirate says the kidnapped crews of two Egyptian fishing vessels have won their freedom after attacking their pirate captors. Hurrah!
One of the pirates on board, who called himself Miraa, says the hostages overpowered them with machetes Thursday. He said the Egyptian crews then seized guns from the pirates, killing two of his colleagues. Guns may be hazardous to your health, but one pi$$ed off hostage with a machete can positively ruin your day.
Mr. Miraa is confessing that his band of fearsome, well-armed pirates was overwhelmed by a bunch of untrained sailors using only their bare hands? How humiliating for him!
Shipping officials say the Egyptians are now in control of their ships and are heading home. We're out of here.
The pirates had held the Egyptian crews hostage since mid-April.
The case marks a rare instance of crewmen fighting back against Somali pirates who usually hold their hostages for months seeking large ransom payments.
In another development, a Turkish cargo ship evaded an attack by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden Friday. Turkey's military says pirates had been following the cargo ship Elgiznur Cebi but gave up trying to capture it when a German helicopter led by NATO forces in the region reached the scene.
A flotilla of foreign naval vessels off Somalia has failed to slow the rampant piracy. A few sinkings and hosing down of pirates with machine gun fire will go a long way. Sailing warships in circles is not much of a deterrent.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A Somali pirate says the kidnapped crews of two Egyptian fishing vessels have won their freedom after attacking their pirate captors.
"We're so impressed that they kicked our butts, we're letting them go."
[Maghrebia] A Moroccan accused of involvement in the deadly 2004 Madrid train bombings arrived in Spain on Wednesday, following his extradition from France, international press reported on Thursday (August 13th). Casablanca-born Said Rehou, 27, allegedly used his Madrid home for terror cell meetings. "Various individuals who participated in those meetings later were implicated directly or indirectly in the Casablanca attacks of 2003 and the March 11, 2004, attacks in Madrid," a Spanish police statement said. According to MAP, Rehou's alleged cell aimed to recruit "Mujahedins" for terrorist attacks in Morocco.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Algerian joint security forces killed three terrorists in an ambush early Thursday (August 13th) between Bordj Bou Arreridj and M'sila, local press reported. The terrorists belonged to an al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb group operating in the same region where at least 24 Algerian gendarmes were killed in an ambush in June, Tout sur l'Algerie quoted a security source as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sixteen Shiite rebels and five soldiers were killed in clashes in northern Yemen on Friday, a day after 15 local aid workers were kidnapped, as a government offensive entered its fourth day intensifying the fighting in the poor Arab country.
Rebels loyal to leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi attacked and damaged a government building in the northern province of Amran, a local government source told Reuters.
The military has deployed warplanes as well as ground troops in a bid to dislodge the rebels, the official added.
Rebels took 15 Red Crescent doctors, nurses, officials and administrators from a refugee camp in the neighboring province of Saada late on Thursday, Hassan al-Manna, the province's governor, said earlier.
The rebels have displaced around 17,000 families from their homes in the mountainous northern province of Saada over the past four days, Manna said, according to the Yemeni Defense Ministry website.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Teacher-turned-militant Monwar Hossain, who has been in jail since February, had no difficulty in getting his salary for the month of June as the acting headmaster of his school and a section of education officials approved his salary bill showing him present at the school.
There are benefits to paying your union dues on time.
It is alleged that acting headmaster of Jaldhaka Pilot Girls' High School Tofaelur Rahman prepared the salary bills of teachers and employees for the month of June, showing jailed Monwar Hossain present on all 24 working days.
District Education Officer (DEO) Enayet Hossain approved the bills without having the upazila education officer certifying the teachers' attendance report.
Monwar, an ehsar (full-time member) of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and a senior teacher of the school, drew his salary for the month of June through a bearer cheque on August 4.
Rapid Action Battalion arrested Monwar at a remote char of the Teesta on February 20 this year. He was initially kept in Nilphamari jail and later shifted to Rangpur jail on June 11.
The JMB operative confessed to having training in firearms including sophisticated AK47 rifle.
Acting headmaster Tofaelur Rahman submitted the salary bills of the teachers and employees of the school to the DEO on August 2. The DEO forwarded it to the bank the same day although the teachers' attendance report was not certified by the upazila education officer.
Documents show that Jaldhaka Upazila Education Officer Azemul Haque certified the attendance report on August 3.
When contacted, Azemul told The Daily Star that he signed the report on verbal orders of the DEO.
While talking to The Daily Star, DEO Enayet Hossain held the acting headmaster responsible for any mistake in preparing the bills.
He, however, could not answer what prompted him to approve the salary bills without having the upazila education officer's certification.
The office of the school's headmaster was found closed during repeated visits on Sunday and Monday.
When contacted over the phone, acting headmaster Tofaelur Rahman denied outright his involvement in the whole process but failed to explain how all this happened.
Jaldhaka Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shahidul Islam Bhuiyan said this kind of activities would be dealt with seriously. "Primarily, we think that both the acting headmaster and the district education officer are responsible for the incident. I have sought explanation from the acting headmaster," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
including sophisticated AK47 rifle
I suppose to an ignorant the AK47 is "Sophisticated.
I'll note the name is AK for Andre Kalishnikof, and the 47 is that it was invented In 1947 some 52 years ago.(And long since surpassed)It's frankly as UNsophisticated as he could make it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 11:45 Comments ||
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#2
The rifle does, however, what it was designed to do -- operate anywhere, any time, under just about any conditions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/15/2009 13:24 Comments ||
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#3
umm 1947 was 62 years ago...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/15/2009 14:38 Comments ||
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#4
DUH, a brain fart forshure, since I was born in 1947.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 18:17 Comments ||
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#5
True, Redneck Jim, but what's your birthdate? Mine's in September, so I get the count wrong for the first nine months and seven days.
[Bangla Daily Star] A case was filed with Sadar Police Station of Satkhira against two militants for their anti-state activities.
Sub-inspector Abdus Sabur filed the case against detained Jama'atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh member Montaz Ali and suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba activist Mohaddes Obaidullah. Montaz is a charge-sheeted accused in the six serial blasts case and Mohaddes is a close aide to detained Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and Indian national Mufti Obaidullah.
Earlier on July 23 the chief judicial magistrate's court placed them on a ten-day remand for interrogation.
JMB activist Montaz, son of Fazar Ali of village Kharibila, went into hiding soon after the serial bomb blasts on August 17 in 2005. He was arrested on July 21.
Police arrested Mohaddes, son of Abdus Sattar Gazi of village Haripur in Shyamnagar upazila, from Itagachha area in the town on July 22. When in 1995 Indian national Mufti Obaidullah came to Bangladesh Mohaddes sheltered him at his house in Haripur.
During interrogation, he said he came in contact with Mufti Obaidullah while he was a student of Sangu Madrasa in India in 1991.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Five Pakistani men arrested in a British anti-terrorism operation but never charged have been refused bail because they had exchanged a series of coded emails, officials said.
The five were among 12 men, mostly students, arrested in high profile counter-terrorism raids across northwest England in April but never formally charged with any criminal offence because of insufficent evidence.
They are being detained while the government tries to deport them and were refused bail at their hearing last month, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which deals with such cases, revealed on Friday.
A series of seven emails exchanged between Shoaib Khan, 27, and an associate alleged to be an al Qaeda operative detailed a 'nikah' or wedding which the British Security Service said "most likely" referred to an intended attack.
The emails also included girls' names such as 'Nadia' which might refer to ingredients used in an explosive device, the ruling said.
Khan's lawyer said the emails referred to girls, though not by their own names, that Khan hoped to marry in April 2009.
"Girls"? Hopeful sort of sod, wasn't he! Most men don't aim higher than one girl at a time, wedding-wise.
Final interpretation of the emails will be addressed at a hearing next year.
The five Pakistanis, who will remain in custody until that hearing, have not been linked to anyone arrested with explosives, and no explosives have been found, SIAC said.
Several hundred officers took part in the raids, which had to be hurriedly brought forward after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying a secret document detailing plans for the arrests.
Britain has demanded Pakistan do more to combat terrorism. Most terrorist plots in Britain since Sept. 11, 2001 have had links to Pakistan, including suicide bombings in July 2005 which killed 52 people on London's underground and bus network.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying a secret document detailing plans for the arrests.
I'd expect a severe dressing down, like Patton got.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 12:11 Comments ||
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#2
But, but, but he had it in his CLASSIFIED pocket!
Gunmen burst into a sauna and killed seven women today as Russian police and separatist militants fought battles across the North Caucasus.
The women, all employees at the sauna, were killed after a gang shot dead four traffic policemen at a nearby checkpoint in the town of Buinaksk in Dagestan. Police said that as many as 15 gunmen began shooting from a minibus as as they approached the checkpoint.
"Four died when they attacked the traffic police. Around the same time they entered the sauna and shot seven women," a police spokesman said. Security services began house-to-house searches for the gunmen and claimed to have identified the gang leader and several other members.
Some reports described the women as prostitutes who had been targeted by militants determined to impose strict Islamist values in the region, but this could not be confirmed. Saunas are a common form of relaxation in Russia.
Posted by: ed ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea, Syria and Iran have test-fired new short-range ballistic Scud missiles they jointly developed but the test in Syria in May resulted in failure, diplomatic and military sources said Friday. A Western diplomatic source familiar with relations between the three countries said two missiles were launched from southwestern Syria in the second half of May. One of them strayed off its projected course and part of the missile landed in a market in Manbij near the border with Turkey in northern Syria, leaving many people dead and injured, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm reminded of a good old cartoon showing a trainee and his sargent at a firing range,
the Trainee is hitting bullseye after bullseye, stnding slightly slouched and firing his rifle from the hip, while the harried sarge is scraming.
I DON'T CARE HOW THEY DO IT IN TEXAS
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 11:59 Comments ||
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#2
When Trident missiles go bad (don't try this at home):
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/15/2009 18:08 Comments ||
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Navy pilot Scott Speicher, the long-missing first casualty of the first Gulf War, was finally laid to rest Friday in his adopted hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to watch a funeral procession pass his school, church and former military base.
Speicher was shot down in 1991 on the first night of the Gulf War. For more than 18 years, no one knew if he was killed or being held prisoner in Iraq until his remains were discovered in the desert, west of Baghdad, earlier this month.
"Eighteen years, six months and 11 days, that needs to be a record that is never broken," said Buddy Harris, a former Navy pilot and friend who accompanied Speicher's body home to Jacksonville from Dover, Del.
Motorcycles, their red and blue lights flashing, led Speicher's hearse and family following in a limousine along a 30-mile route of sites special to Speicher. At a monument for war veterans where Speicher's name was engraved in 1995, military officials, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the Jacksonville mayor talked about his military service. Dozens of roses were placed against the wall, where an eternal flame burns. Later, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office fired a 21-gun salute.
The motorcade traveled to Lake Shore United Methodist Church, where Speicher taught Sunday School. It rolled past Nathan B. Forrest High School, where he excelled at swimming and tennis. Hundreds of people, including veterans and infants, gathered at each of the locations, including the site of the former Cecil Field Naval Air Station where Speicher's squadron, the Sunliners, was based before he left on the USS Saratoga for the Gulf War.
Speicher, a Kansas City-area native who moved to Florida as a teenager, was buried in a private ceremony at Jacksonville Memory Gardens. Four Navy planes flew over the cemetery in the missing man formation.
Defense officials originally declared Speicher killed in action hours after his plane was shot down over west-central Iraq. Ten years after the crash, the Navy changed Speicher's status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that Speicher had died. In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it never explained why.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Rest in Peace noble warrior.
High Flight
by John G. Magee
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward Ive climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,-and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovring there,
Ive chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air .
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
Ive topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew-
And, while with silent lifting mind Ive trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
A private TV channel correspondent was shot dead in Hoti police precincts in Mardan on Friday, police said.
A police official said two brothers, Jahingaz Khan and Babar Khan, fired at former Mardan Press Club (MPC) president Saddique Bacha while he was on his way to his office.
Syed Zada, Bacha's brother, narrowly escaped the attack. The official said the motive was an old enmity. Bacha was rushed to a local hospital, but could not be saved. The police have registered a case and started investigation.
The MPC members protested against the killing and demanded that the government arrest the perpetrators. They also demanded that the government compensate the aggrieved family. Separately, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti condemned the killing. In a message, the CM expressed grief over the murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Helicopter gunships pounded several hideouts of Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud in Orakzai Agency on Thursday, killing 12 Taliban, said the military.
"We targeted hideouts of Hekeemullah Mehsud," army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told Daily Times. Military sources in Orakzai said that six of the bases in Tora Cheena and Chappar Ferozkhel areas had been razed. The sources said bodies of 12 Taliban were seen from helicopters. Hakeemullah -- a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud, who was reportedly killed in a missile strike on August 5 in South Waziristan -- is commanding Taliban in Orakzai and Kurram agencies.
Meanwhile in Swat, security forces killed one Taliban and arrested 14 others, including a commander. "Troops killed a Taliban, identified as Liaqat, in Liluani and arrested local Taliban commander Rahim Gul from Luluani village," said the ISPR.
Security forces conducted a search operation in Ghuzano Sar near Peochar, and arrested two Taliban, while two others surrendered in Bagh Dheri and Shalpalam. Two Taliban were arrested from Shaggai, and as many from Tando Dag and Ahingro Dherai. The ISPR said the forces arrested five Taliban from Tal. Meanwhile, two bullet riddled bodies were recovered from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Thursday. Separately, the AFP news agency said seven people died in gunfights on Wednesday between Taliban and a lashkar in South Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Five mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into Egyptian territory during the overnight clashes between Hamas forces and the al-Qaida linked Islamic group Jund Ansar Allah, Israel Radio cited Palestinian media reports on Saturday.
An Islamic Jihad Internet site reported that a girl in the Egyptian town of Rafah was seriously wounded in the incident.
It will be interesting to see how the Egyptians respond to this provocation.
The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed 22 people and posed one of the biggest challenges to Hamas since the militant group seized power in Gaza two years ago.
The fighting erupted Friday when Hamas security men surrounded a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on the Egypt border where about 100 members of Jund Ansar Allah, or the Soldiers of the Companions of God, were holed up. The head of the radical Islamic group, Abdel-Latif Moussa, was killed when fighting resumed after dawn Saturday, Ihab Ghussein, a Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press. He said Moussa detonated an explosives vest he was wearing during the fighting.
"The so-called Moussa has committed suicide ... killing a mediator who had been sent to him to persuade him and his followers to hand themselves over to the government," Ghussein said. He said the fighting ended later in the morning.
Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said a total of 22 people, including six Hamas police officers and an 11-year-old girl, were killed in the violence that also wounded 150. The group's Web site vowed vengeance, meanwhile, saying "we swear to God to avenge the martyrs' blood and we will hear the wamentations of their women turn their women to widows."
Hamas also confirmed the death in the fighting of one of its high level commanders, Abu-Jibril Shimali, whom Israel said orchestrated the capture three years ago of Sgt. Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier who is still being held by Hamas.
#1
Sounds like the Taos Pueblo revolt of 1847. Stimulated by the Spanish to think that the Americans were going to enslave them, the Taos Pueblo Indians revolted and evilly butchered a group of American civilians, including the territorial governor.
When the cavalry arrived and saw the horror, it put them in a bad mood. Many of the revolting Indians holed up in a large adobe church, so the soldiers punched holes in the wall, and shoved in lit mortar rounds.
A lot of the surviving troublemakers got to meet Mr. Hemp Rope.
Ma'an -- De facto security forces blew up a house late Friday night, witnesses said, belonging to the leader of a radical armed group at the center of clashes that have left at least eight Palestinians dead in the Gaza Strip.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in that latest report, which could not be independently confirmed by Ma'an. But sources said the home belonged to Sheikh Abdel-Latif Abu Moussa, leader of Jund Ansar Allah ("Warriors of God"), a radical armed group thought to be ideologically aligned with Al-Qaeda, although not officially. The Gaza-based de facto Interior Ministry issued a statement late Friday night, calling Jund Ansar Allah "mentally ill," and vowing to deal harshly with any further provocation.
Reports included claims that a senior member of the Al-Qassam Brigades had been killed at some point during the evening, and that a young girl had died. Neither could be independently verified.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They're just trying to kiss up to Israel by doing the IAF's job for them. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/15/2009 21:32 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] At least eight Palestinians were killed and more than 80 others injured in the Gaza Strip on Friday in an exchange of fire between radical Islamists and Hamas
The other radical Islamists...
police, medical sources said. The clash took place when Hamas police confronted the Islamist dissidents,
Dissidents? An interesting term, under the circumstances.
who had gathered at a mosque in the southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt.
Gaza Ambulance and Emergency Chief Dr Muaweya Hasanein told Al Arabiya that those killed in the clashes include two from Hamas and rest from the Islamist radicals. "Eight of the injured people have very critical wounds in their heads as they were exposed to direct shooting inside the mosque," he said.
It's not as though they have brains enough in their skulls that the injuries would have a noticeable impact...
Islamist radicals from a Palestinian group called Jund Ansar Allah defied the Hamas rulers of Gaza earlier by declaring an "Islamic emirate" in the territory and staging a defiant display of arms. Splendid. Simply splendid.
Though the "Warriors of God" rallied only a few hundred men for their event at a Gaza mosque, it was the latest challenge to Hamas's nationalist brand of Palestinian Islam by groups espousing a pan-Arab militia aligned with al-Qaeda.
Theocratic rule
" Such groups do not exist on the soil of the Gaza Strip ... there are no fighters in Gaza except Gazan fighters"
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas
Speaking before weekly prayers, Abdul Latif Moussa -- known to followers by the al-Qaeda-style nom de guerre Abu al-Nour al-Maqdessi -- announced the start of theocratic rule in the Palestinian territories, starting at Rafah. "We declare the birth of the Islamic Emirate," declared Maqdessi, a heavily-bearded, middle-aged cleric in a red robe who was guarded by four black-clad, masked men with assault rifles. One wore what appeared to be an explosive suicide belt. An audience of several hundred men filled the mosque with cheers and shouts. Al-Qaeda uses the historical term "emirate" to mean clerical rule across the Islamic world.
Ismail Haniyeh, who heads Gaza's Hamas government, denied in his Friday sermon that there were any non-Palestinian gunmen in the territory, as alleged by Israel which charges that veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken up residence. "Such groups do not exist on the soil of the Gaza Strip ... there are no fighters in Gaza except Gazan fighters," he said. Such "Zionist propaganda" from Israel was simply an attempt to turn the world against Hamas, he said.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called Maqdessi's speech "wrong thinking" and in a clear reference to al-Qaeda added that his group "has no affiliation with foreign groups."
Hamas's Interior Ministry was blunter, calling Maqdessi "mad."
Hamas .. a moderate movement
Outside the mosque on Friday, nearly 100 masked fighters of the group in Pakistani-style dress, wearing their hair long, carried automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
His group announced its existence in Gaza two months ago, after three of its members were killed in a border raid on an Israeli base in which gunmen rode on horseback. Outside the mosque on Friday, nearly 100 masked fighters of the group in Pakistani-style dress,
Does the journalist perhaps mean the shalwar kameez (or however it's spelt) the preferred costume of the Afghan Arabs of Al Qaeda aping the native Afghanis?
wearing their hair long, carried automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
I'll bet each took a "martyrdom photograph" as well, with a painted landscape background and full make-up including eye liner and lipstick, just like the Taliban and Al Qaeda recruits do. Honestly, those photos make them look like sexually perverse lambs awaiting the slaughterer's knife.
Men of the Hamas armed wing and security forces took positions nearby.
No doubt snickering loudly and making audible comments.
The group accuses Hamas of oppressing them, including making arrests and confiscating weapons.
"Gimme that thing, boy! Keep holding it like that and you'll do yourself a serious injury!"
Hamas is an Islamist group described by its leaders as a moderate movement
Then their noses grew two feet and their lips fell off.
and by independent analysts as giving priority to Palestinian nationalist goals over international religious aims typical of al-Qaeda's network.
I would have said a religious Palestinian terror group bent on establishing a Palestinian caliphate. Sort of the difference between national socialists and international socialists. But then, I'm neither a professional analyst or an Observer.
Observers detect strains within Hamas ranks between pragmatic and more radical factions.
Hamas refuses to renounce violence against Israel but has condemned al-Qaeda bombings in other countries. It has made little public attempt to impose fundamentalist law or strict dress codes, but it is encountering more frequent challenges from groups who want more traditionalist Islam in Gaza.
*blink*
Human rights groups last month criticized an order by a Hamas-appointed judge that women lawyers cover their hair, and a campaign by its religious affairs ministry to encourage the public to follow Islamic instructions.
Bloodshed
" If they approach the mosque they should know their days will be cut short "
Al-Maqdessi
Maqdessi warned Hamas against implementing a decision to take over the mosque where he leads prayers for his followers: "If they approach the mosque they should know their days will be cut short," the grey-whiskered cleric said. Maqdessi said his group would not initiate attacks against Hamas but "whoever sheds our blood, his blood will be shed."
He urged "everyone who has a weapon" to join the group and carry out decisions to be issued by the armed wing in coming weekly sermons. The group believes democracy is prohibited by Islam because it follows earthly law instead of God's word. "Who are you afraid of? America? Britain? France? The European Union? You should fear only God," Maqdessi said in a warning to Hamas leaders seeking dialogue with the West.
This article starring:
Jund Ansar Allah
Sami Abu Zuhri
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
08/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Honestly, those photos make them look like sexually perverse lambs awaiting the slaughterer's knife.
#2
99 percent of your troubles will be ended if the guy in the photo will simply lower his rifle about a foot and empty the magazine into
FAT RED ASSATOLLA with his fake pious look.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/15/2009 12:19 Comments ||
Top||
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.
[Dawn] A suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army base in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing a soldier and wounding four other people, an official said. The bomber rammed his vehicle into the base's gate in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the provincial governor's spokesman. Three civilians and a soldier were among the wounded, he said.
[Maghrebia] Algerian joint security forces killed three terrorists in an ambush early Thursday (August 13th) between Bordj Bou Arreridj and M'sila, local press reported. The terrorists belonged to an al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb group operating in the same region where at least 24 Algerian gendarmes were killed in an ambush in June, Tout sur l'Algerie quoted a security source as saying.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sixteen Shiite rebels and five soldiers were killed in clashes in northern Yemen on Friday, a day after 15 local aid workers were kidnapped, as a government offensive entered its fourth day intensifying the fighting in the poor Arab country.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Navy pilot Scott Speicher, the long-missing first casualty of the first Gulf War, was finally laid to rest Friday in his adopted hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to watch a funeral procession pass his school, church and former military base.
Helicopter gunships pounded several hideouts of Taliban commander Hakeemullah Mehsud in Orakzai Agency on Thursday, killing 12 Taliban, said the military. 
The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group in the Gaza Strip blew himself up during a shootout Saturday with security forces that killed 22 people and posed one of the biggest challenges to Hamas since the militant group seized power in Gaza two years ago.
Ma'an -- De facto security forces blew up a house late Friday night, witnesses said, belonging to the leader of a radical armed group at the center of clashes that have left at least eight Palestinians dead in the Gaza Strip. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] At least eight Palestinians were killed and more than 80 others injured in the Gaza Strip on Friday in an exchange of fire between radical Islamists and Hamas 
