[Maghrebia] Moroccan authorities dismantled a terrorist network that allegedly recruited suicide bombers and guerrilla fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. Some 24 suspects in several cities were apprehended as part of a co-ordinated security operation.
Security forces made the arrests in a series of towns. According to the ministry, the network was co-ordinating with terrorist in Sweden, Belgium and the Syria-Iraq area to provide new recruits. The network had already sent twenty volunteers for suicide operations in Iraq, and approached ten more local Islamists for similar purposes.
These advances are part of Morocco's continued fight against terrorism, using a strategy based on vigilance and the dismantling of terrorist cells.
The ministry said that the network was also planning large-scale acts of terrorism in Morocco; to this end, members were preparing to welcome al-Qaeda demolitionists to acquire their knowledge of making explosives.
Mohammed Benhammou, a Moroccan academic who chairs the African Federation for Strategic Studies, told Magharebia that the link with Iraq and other countries mentioned in the press statement is nothing new and that the strategy of recruiting volunteers is well-known. He believes Morocco has nothing to worry about, as long as everyone remains vigilant.
"I believe there is great vigilance in Morocco," he said. "The pre-emptive strike policy is bearing fruit."
Benhammou emphasised that it is essential for all countries to co-ordinate their efforts at the regional and international level to combat the threat. He says co-operation must be clear and serious, and based on real intelligence.
He said the real threat is in the Sahel-Sahara area, which is too easily penetrated. It also provides space for terrorist groups to take refuge and to train their recruits, and has also become one of their departure points for movement.
Saâddine Othmani, MP and chairman of the national council of the Justice and Development Party, said that recruitment networks for Iraq and other countries now exist all over the world. He said the problem not only concerns Morocco, but extends to all countries due to the effects of globalisation and internet communication. He said that until now, Moroccan security services have been able to impede terrorist cells' activities, and that their campaign must continue to counter the ever-present threat of terrorism.
Fouad Madihi, a lecturer in politics, said that al-Qaeda is trying to infiltrate the whole world, and as a result Maghreb states must work together to curtail the danger coming from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. He admitted that it is difficult to stand against the advance of terrorism due to globalisation and information and communication technologies.
"But co-operation between countries in the region and with other states involved in the war against terror will make it possible to thwart the networks' plans," Madihi said.
Sociologist Samira Kassimi said that in addition to the security approach, attention must be paid to social and economic factors to immunise young people against the influence of jihadist recruiters.
"We have to fight unemployment and improve economic conditions for young people so as not to leave terrorist networks any room for manoeuvre around them. We must also organise awareness-raising meetings," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Morocco is one of the most helpful and pro-western governments in the region
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2009 8:22 Comments ||
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#2
With folks like Mounir el Motassadeq.
Posted by: ed ||
09/26/2009 8:52 Comments ||
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#3
They have terror networks, for sure Ed. But the govt is indeed helpful and pro-Western.
West Point has had cadets there on exchanges / summer projects.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Kuwait has blocked a number of Internet blogs and websites with links to "terror" cells and groups, a top official said in comments published on Friday.
"The ministry has blocked blogs ... used by some to communicate with terror cells and extremist groups," communications ministry undersecretary Abdulmohsen al-Mazeedi told Kuwait's An-Nahar newspaper.
He said the ministry had also blocked sites deemed offensive to God and the emir and which undermined what he called national unity, in addition to sites promoting pornography.
Mazeedi said the ministry was applying the law and "aims to preserve Islamic values." Before blocking any site, the ministry had taken permission from the public prosecution.
A number of MPs have described the ministry's monitoring of blogs as a breach of the constitution and threatened to question Communications Minister Ahmad Abdullah al-Ahmad al-Sabah in parliament.
Last year, the public prosecution questioned Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem for writing an article on his website deemed offensive to the country's crown prince.
In 2007, blogger and journalist Bashar al-Sayegh was detained for two days after comments deemed offensive to the Gulf state's ruler were posted on his website.
The man who posted the comments, a Kuwaiti citizen, was jailed for two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Three alleged robbers were injured in a fight with Rab members on Humayun Road in the capital's Mohammadpur yesterday. "It's the Rab! Open fire!"
[KERPLANG!]
"Ow! They shot the gun outta my hand!"
Injured Shakil, 21, Rana, 27, and Faruque, 23, of Mohammadpur were admitted to Pongu Hospital with bullet wounds in hands and legs. "We're out-classed! Run away!"
[KERPLOW!]
"Owwww! My leg!"
Sources said Rab-2 received information that a gang was preparing to commit a crime near block-B in the area. "Hullo? Is dis da Rab?... Dis is Mahmoud da Weasel! Lookee here..."
Acting on it, a Rab-2 patrol team rushed to the spot at about 12:30am. "Into the squad car, men!"
When they challenged a group of 10 to 12, they suddenly swooped on the Rab members with sharp weapons prompting the law enforcers to fire shots at them. "You ten or a dozen! Cease your nefarious activities and deposit yer weapons on the ground!"
"Git 'em, boyz!"
[KERPLOOM!]
"Owww! My knife hand!"
The Rab members arrested the three while their cohorts managed to escape. "Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
"I can't walk! My kneecap is all... Ugh!"
They recovered two machetes and a knife from the scene. "Put 'em in the evidence bag with the others!"
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
An actual shootout with a gang? I say because the perps seem to have survived somehow, it was merely 12:30, and no shutter gun was recovered.
[Bangla Daily Star] The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is set to try around 4,000 soldiers on charge of the February 25-26 mutiny from late November or early December.
A three-member court led by BDR Director General Maj Gen M Mainul Islam will sit in Dhaka and 40 other places across the country to conduct the much talked-about trial.
A highly-placed source says the paramilitary force will constitute the court next month by incorporating two BDR officers each from Lt Col and Major rank.
The BDR highest court is empowered by its laws to try those who are accused only of mutiny and committing some small offences. This implies that some accused mutineers need to be tried at the Speedy Trial Tribunal under the penal code for heinous offences like killing, looting and arson during the carnage at Pilkhana Headquarters.
Speaking anonymously, a BDR top official says this is the first-ever instance in the history of the border guards that the trial of such a magnitude will be held under both the BDR and civil laws.
Insiders say among the BDR barracks elsewhere in the country the authorities have identified 40 places of occurrence where the three-member court will conduct trial one by one.
"There is no timeframe to complete the trial, but definitely we would try to do justice as quickly as possible ensuring every right of the accused," says the BDR top official. It's going to be an "open trial" and to ensure its transparency and accountability the people concerned would be allowed to observe the court proceedings, the official adds.
As the court would deal with a large number of accused, it is almost impossible to forecast how long it will take to dispose the cases, continues the BDR official involved in the trial.
So far 1,700 BDR personnel have been arrested in different stations outside Dhaka and another 2,000 have been arrested in Pilkhana HQ for their alleged involvement in the bloody mutiny.
But the total number of the accused would be finalised after all the 'courts of inquiry', which have been formed to investigate the offences, submit their reports.
The number of accused may even cross four thousand and it may take a few years to complete the trial, sources say.
Referring to the BDR Act, a source says besides the three members' composition of the BDR court there will be a law officer from the government to "assist or advise" the court.
The BDR authorities have already sent a letter to the government to appoint a law officer through the Attorney General's Office in this regard, says the source.
The court is likely to start functioning from mid-October if the government gives an early appointment of the law officer, the source adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeow. there ARE consequences when caught.
Heart-lung surgery done quicklt and painlessly. (You'll only feel a single sharp THUMP)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/26/2009 12:02 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two outlaws were killed in separate "shootouts" with police in Kushtia in the early hours of yesterday.
They are Aroz Ali, 36, and Edu Mondol, 40. Both were members of outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party.
Police said Aroz came in the line of fire as a gunfight ensued between his cohorts and the members of Kushtia sadar police at Mollateghori in Kushtia town.
One shutter gun, four bullets and two improvised bombs were recovered from the spot.
He was accused in seven cases including three for murders and four for extortions filed with Gangni Police Station in Meherpur and Kushtia Sadar Police Station.
In another incident, Edu was shot dead in Mirpur upazila.
Acting on a tip-off, police cordoned off a field at Ursha as a group of operatives were holding a meeting at about 3:00am.
Sensing the presence of law enforcers, the criminals opened fire on them forcing police to fire back that left Edu dead.
His cohorts, however, managed to flee the scene.
Police recovered one Chinese pistol and 16 bullets from the spot after the gunfight.
Edu Mondol was accused in four cases including two for murders with Mirpur Police Station.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] A 41 year-old Algerian man with alleged links to a terror organisation has been arrested in the Italian capital, Rome. The man is wanted by Algerian authorities for forming and participating in the Islamist organisation, the Armed Islamic Group or GIA.
Police said the man had been on the run since 2003, after an extradition order was issued against him.
The man, who at the time of his arrest held an Irish passport, was arrested by anti-terrorism police or DIGOS, at a hotel in Rome. He was detained after he matched aspects of a fugitive profile issued by international authorities.
Well done, O clever and alert Italian police!
Italian police and anti-terrorism authorities, in conjunction with Interpol allege the man had obtained Irish citizenship after he provided slightly different data and this had enabled him to evade capture.
Oh dear. He lied on his citizenship form?
Anti-terrorism police said the man was passing through Rome and was arrested before he was due to return to Ireland.
According to the US think-tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Armed Islamic Group waged a violent war against Algeria's secular military regime in the 1990's. It developed after its members appeared to "trace their radicalization to Afghanistan, where they fought as mujahadeen, or Islamic guerillas, against the Soviet army from 1979 to 1989," the council said on its website. "In its most active period in the 1990s the GIA established a presence in France, Belgium, Britain, and Italy. While the GIA is now largely defunct, (carrying out its latest attack in 2001) it remains designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US state department."
The council also said most of the GIA's members may have defected in recent years and joined Al-Qaeda or its sister organisation, the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The Algerian man was being held at Rome's Regina Coeli jail while he awaited extradition to his native country. Authorities there have been informed of his arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistani investigators were on Friday trying to identify at least 10 militants killed in a US missile attack in the tribal belt, officials said.
The strike Thursday by a suspected US spy plane, which targeted a rebel compound, killed 10 rebels in North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border where Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters are said to be hiding.
'We are collecting information about the identity of all those killed in the attack,' a senior security official in the area told AFP.
'We believe that all the 10 men killed in the strike were Afghans as the compound belonged to the Haqqani network,' he added.
The Haqqani network is a powerful Afghan group based in northwest Pakistan closely linked to Al-Qaeda and known for its sophisticated attacks targeting the Afghan government and foreign troops in Afghanistan.
The compound hit by the US spy plane was said to be the house of Afghan national Ahmad Afghani.
There were unconfirmed reports that one the sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former anti-Soviet fighter in Afghanistan, is called Ahmad.
Another security official said it was not yet clear whether any high-value targets including Ahmad were present at the time of attack in the Dandy Darpa Khel area of North Waziristan.
It was the fourth missile strike this month in North Waziristan. Washington says Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion are holed up in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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A=Pee article translated
A U.S. military drone crashed Saturday in northern Iraq, hitting a regional office of Iraq's largest Sunni political party in an area that remains an insurgent stronghold, an American military official said.
The unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle crashed into the local office of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Mosul, an area the U.S. military has called the last stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Drones have been a mainstay of the U.S. war effort, offering round-the-clock airborne "eyes" watching over road convoys and tracking insurgent movements and occasionally unleashing missiles on a target.
The U.S. military identified the crashed drone as a Shadow model, which is routinely used in areas like Mosul to track turbans planting explosives and does not carry weapons.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2009 14:23 ||
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#1
I had a drone rash once. Man, was it ever itchy. {8^P
[Iran Press TV Latest] A deadly explosion has claimed the lives of at least 15 Iraqi soldiers who were carrying out a bomb disposal operation near Mosul in the north of the country.
The blast took placed on Friday on the outskirts of Baashiqa about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of Mosul, AFP quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying on condition of anonymity.
A military source said the soldiers were carrying out routine controlled explosions of roadside bombs collected in the area over the previous week.
Among the victims was one army officer, the official added. One soldier was also seriously wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Always test for color-blindness before assigning a soldier to bomb disposal...
#2
Seems like they after they get the "gun-s#x" habit kicked they ought to working on eliminating that "ooh let's all huddle around Achmed and watch him work on high-explosives" habit.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The ringleader of a daring prison break and four other al-Qaeda fugitives were recaptured on Friday, two days after they fled jail in what officials believe was an inside job.
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed on the streets of Tikrit, capital of Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, as part of a manhunt for the remaining 10 escapees, while about 100 guards and staff at the prison were being questioned.
" Early this morning, our forces arrested Waleed Ayash, one of the al-Qaeda members who escaped from Tikrit prison Wednesday evening "
Police
"Early this morning, our forces arrested Waleed Ayash, one of the al-Qaeda members who escaped from Tikrit prison Wednesday evening," said a high-ranking police officer in the province, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "Ayash planned the prisoner escape," he said, adding that the 34-year-old had been handed four death sentences for "dozens of crimes against police and military members, as well as civilians."
The officer said two other men were arrested in the same Albo Ajeel area, 15 kilometers (nine miles) east of Tikrit, where Ayash had been caught.
An officer in the provincial security operations centre said later that two others were apprehended in central Tikrit at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT).
The 16 men broke out of the prison, a former presidential palace, in Saddam Hussein's hometown by fleeing through a window and scaling a ladder to climb over the prison wall. One of them was rearrested early on Thursday.
Hundreds of policemen and soldiers were deployed on Tikrit's streets, while checkpoints were reinforced and security along Iraq's border with Syria was stepped up.
Forces in neighboring cities such as Samarra were also on heightened alert.
Prison staff questioned
" We suspect that they had accomplices inside (the prison) because there was such a high number of fugitives "
Governor Mutashar Hussein Elewi
About 100 prison guards and staff were being questioned in connection with the breakout, the area's provincial governor told AFP on Thursday evening, blaming collusion or negligence for the security breach. "We suspect that they had accomplices inside (the prison) because there was such a high number of fugitives," said governor Mutashar Hussein Elewi. "Either that or there was some kind of negligence in the administration of the prison."
Interior Minister Jawad Bolani issued the order to put guards and other prison workers under detention for questioning, Elewi said.
In the aftermath of the escape, the head of the province's police-controlled anti-terror force, Colonel Mohammed Salah al-Juburi, was fired, a police source said. "Pack yer shit and get out, Moe!"
Interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said several local security officers responsible for prisoner surveillance were arrested in connection with the escape, but he declined to specify how many.
The prisoners had only been transferred to the jail, which is run by the interior ministry, earlier on Wednesday evening, a police source said.
The U.S. army said it provided military dogs at the request of Iraqi authorities to search the immediate vicinity of the jail.
"We have also provided aerial surveillance to assist with the search of the city and outer lying areas," said spokesman Major Derrick Cheng.
Posters with the pictures of the fugitives were distributed across Tikrit and the province.
Iraq's prison system divides responsibility between the ministries of justice, interior and defense, with each of them running various detention facilities.
Tikrit, a predominantly Sunni Arab town 180 kilometers (110 miles) from Baghdad, was home to now executed dictator Saddam and many of his henchmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
four death sentences? Carry one out. Now. And You'll never have to worry about escape again. Just saying....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2009 8:27 Comments ||
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Israel keeps its submarines secret and refuses to divulge details regarding their capabilities or operations. Nevertheless, The Jerusalem Post and three other reporters were given the rare opportunity earlier this month to join the Dolphin crew on a routine training exercise.
#5
The 45 degree angle seems bogus because the boats I was on were extremely chancy over 30 degrees angle also considering that the Dolphin is about 60 to 70 meters in length. At 45 degrees the bow will be 30 meters or about 100 foot deeper than where the depth gauge is open to sea. Controllability can be compromised at such high angles.
Ma'an -- Five Palestinians including a journalist suffered tear gas inhalation during a non-violent rally against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in the Nablus area village of Iraq Burin on Friday.
The a group of dozens gathered together for a protest march near the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, and were joined by Reuters photojournalist Abed Ar-Raheem Qusini.
Israeli soldiers launched tear gas at the group as they marched past the settlement.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- A Palestinian youth died and two others were injured in a tunnel collapse on Friday morning beneath the Egypt-Gaza border, medical sources confirmed.
Medics at Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah identified the youth as 21-year-old Bassam Adel Mubarak from the An-Nuseirat area in the central the Gaza Strip. They said his body was brought to the hospital after it was dug out of a collapsed tunnel south of the Al-Brazili neighborhood in Rafah city. Two others were brought to the hospital with injuries, they were not identified.
On 21 September Israeli jets fired four rockets at three smuggling tunnels near Rafah city, severely damaging the sites. Locals say the impact of the explosions has destabilized several nearby tunnels.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Er, what was it that they were doing down there? Paying the piper?
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Israeli army has launched an airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least three Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled coastal sliver.
An Israeli missile struck a car on Friday as it was traveling near the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing at least three people, Reuters quoted medical sources as saying.
A Palestinian source identified two of the victims as Kamel al-Banna and Kamal al-Dahtur, the son of an Islamic Jihad commander who was killed in an Israeli raid two years ago, AFP reported. "Hi, Dad!"
"Hi, Son! Welcome to Paradise! Grab a virgin or two!"
"Thanks. Warm in here, ain't it?"
Israel launched a three-week war on the Gaza Strip last December, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians -- mostly civilians -- and drew charges of war crimes against the Israeli army from Palestinians as well as UN human rights organizations.
Earlier in September, the UN Human Rights Council commission on the Gaza war released a 575-page report, which mainly highlighted evidence of war crimes by the Israeli army during the massive offensive against the populated coastal sliver.
The Goldstone report listed multiple specific instances of alleged war crimes, such as the shelling of a house where Israeli soldiers had reportedly forced Palestinian civilians to assemble, targeting fleeing civilians who waived white flags and sometimes even followed Israeli instructions, as well as the alleged targeting of a mosque at prayer time, which left 15 people dead.
It also documented 'direct and an intentional attack' on al-Qods Hospital, and Palestinians' and the use of civilians as human shields by the Israeli army.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] GOVERNMENT troops killed nine communist guerrillas during clashes Friday in the eastern Philippines after tracking them down based on tips from residents in the area, officials said.
The clashes were the latest eruption of violence in a 40-year Marxist rebellion that is one of the longest in Asia. The government says the rural-based insurgency has claimed about 120,000 lives and stunted economic growth.
Major-General Arturo Ortiz said soldiers encountered seven New People's Army rebels early on Friday in Albay province's Manito township, triggering a heavy firefight that killed one of the gunmen.
Less than two hours later, another clash broke out in Pilar township in the nearby province of Sorsogon, leaving eight guerrillas dead. Eight high-powered guns were recovered.
No one was hurt among soldiers in both clashes, said Maj-Gen Ortiz, head of the military's Special Operations Command.
He said reinforcement troops have been sent to block the fleeing rebels, and to guard vital installations and government projects in the area. He thanked local residents for their cooperation.
The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment.
Negotiations between the rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the rebels blamed the government for their inclusion on US and European lists of terrorist groups. Both sides took steps to resume the talks in recent weeks but the efforts again fell apart.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 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.
[Maghrebia] Moroccan authorities dismantled a terrorist network that allegedly recruited suicide bombers and guerrilla fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. Some 24 suspects in several cities were apprehended as part of a co-ordinated security operation.
[Bangla Daily Star] Three alleged robbers were injured in a fight with Rab members on Humayun Road in the capital's Mohammadpur yesterday.
[Bangla Daily Star] The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is set to try around 4,000 soldiers on charge of the February 25-26 mutiny from late November or early December.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two outlaws were killed in separate "shootouts" with police in Kushtia in the early hours of yesterday. 
[ADN Kronos] A 41 year-old Algerian man with alleged links to a terror organisation has been arrested in the Italian capital, Rome. The man is wanted by Algerian authorities for forming and participating in the Islamist organisation, the Armed Islamic Group or GIA.
[Dawn] Pakistani investigators were on Friday trying to identify at least 10 militants killed in a US missile attack in the tribal belt, officials said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Israeli army has launched an airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least three Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled coastal sliver. 
[Straits Times] GOVERNMENT troops killed nine communist guerrillas during clashes Friday in the eastern Philippines after tracking them down based on tips from residents in the area, officials said.
