Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lenore Ulrich aka Lenore Ulric
"It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
[ADN Kronos] Taliban fighters on Tuesday claimed they had shot down a pilotless NATO drone aircraft in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province, Pajhwok Afghan news agency reported. Khost borders Pakistan's volatile northwestern Kurram tribal area. The news came as US president Barack Obama was reported to be sending an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan to combat the increasingly violent Taliban-led insurgency.
The additional forces being sent to the war-wracked country in Obama's unannounced move are engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, the Washington Post daily said on Tuesday, quoting US defence officials.
The extra support troops come on top of the 21,000 combat troops authorised in March bring the total build-up Obama has approved for Afghanistan to 34,000.
The buildup has raised the number of US troops deployed to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan above the peak during the Iraq "surge" that former US president George W. Bush ordered, officials said.
The deployment does not change the maximum number of US service members expected to soon be in Afghanistan: 68,000, more than double the number there when Bush left office, the daily noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
According to Xinhua, it was a technical malfunction. The ADN Kronos outfit can't be bothered to report the coalition statement, despite the fact that 1) there ARE going to be mechanical malfunctions with the kill-bots because of the number of hours they are in the air, and 2) the Taliban claim responsibility for hurricanes.
#3
Not much to boast about if you are on the receiving end of those drones. They take what they can get.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/14/2009 9:58 Comments ||
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#4
Whoop de fuckin' doo. They killed a 100k piece of equipment. That's what, about two weeks worth of boot camp for an actual soldier? Not to mention: NOT A PERSON. It's equipment write-off. At worst, one of Basquat's broken windows for the procurement process.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/14/2009 11:05 Comments ||
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#5
Next headline of interest will be: "Taliban announce they can turn people into drones."
#6
REDDIT > ASIA TIMES - AL QAEDA CHIEF LAYS OUT GUERILLA STRATEGY [Illyas Kashmiri is still alive]. WIthin a MIL SCOPE, KASHMIRI > IT WAS ALWAYS DESIRED/INTENDED BY HIM THAT THE US STEADILY INTENSIFY OR ESCALATE ITS COMMITMENTS IN AGHANISTAN = AFPAK ["Afghanistan Trap"], as Kashmiri is a dedicated student of the VIETNAM WAR + ANTI-US NVA General NGUYEN GIAP.
KASHMIRI > his "Afghan Trap" has been entirely successful in baiting and entrapping the USA. ALSO, ARTIC > KASHMIRI DOES NOT RULE OUT "MUMBAI-STYLE" TERROR ATTACKS OR GREATER IN FUTURE AGZ ISRAEL ANDOR THE USA, AS PERTINENT.
[Quqnoos] US President dispatches an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced in March, The Washington Post reported
The extra forces are mainly support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police -- the Post added.
The number brings the total of US troops Barack Obama has approved since he took office in January to 34,000.
Obama authorised the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000, The post quoted a defense official familiar with the troop-approval process as saying.
The report comes as President Obama mulls over further reinforcement of troops on the ground. His top commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has reportedly requested more 40,000 forces.
But the newspaper noted that the maximum number of US service members expected in Afghanistan by years end -- 68,000 -- would remain the same.
Some 65,000 US forces are currently in Afghanistan and nearly 40,000 from other NATO allies, including Britain, Germany and Canada.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Just a little more then a quarter of what was requested only proves that the US Military is doing more with less.
#4
Better get things quieted before sending in support personnel. But that would mean more combat troops. Hey Obama they won't take away your Nobel Peace prize--you already got it.
#5
The State Department and the various NGOs were supposed to take care of this, along with the various NATO states that refuse to send actual troops. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened to the Department of Defence had to take up the slack. The sad thing is, they'll probably do a much better job than the professionals who aren't there.
[Maghrebia] Tlemcen security services charged 3 al-Qaeda terror suspects with trafficking explosives into Algeria from Morocco, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Monday (October 12th). Large quantities of TNT and other bomb-making materials were recovered during the week-end security operation, initiated based on information provided by another armed fighter. The Algerian suspects reportedly told investigators that the explosives came from the Moroccan region of Oujda and the old Ain Safra mine fields in Naama. One of the men reportedly benefitted from National Reconciliation.
Clearly his nature was too grumpy to remain reconciled for long. I'd bet cell phones and computers were picked up along with the suspects. :-)
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Yemeni army has reportedly attacked a local clinic in a rural area near the Saudi border, killing more than a dozen civilians.
The raid on the border village of Khaqaqah has killed at least 18 people, including nationals from Egypt and India and six Saudis, an informed source told Press TV on Tuesday.
Tourists or Al Qaeda recruits?
The Saudi army has not yet reacted to the raid since, according to Saudi military officers, they have been barred from responding to such attacks by the Yemeni side.
The northern part of Yemen, which gained independece from the Ottoman Empire in 1918, claimed much of the territory that the Ibn Saud family had acquired in conquering southern Arabia.
This led to a war in the early 1930's, when the then ruler of Yemen invaded Saudi Arabia's southern border area.
The war ended with a Saudi victory, as Yemen was forced to sign the Taif agreement of 1934, which gave Saudi Arabia control of the claimed lands, plus additional territory in the Jizan, Asir and Najran regions.
A lovely bit of historical perspective, with the traditional ending for those who lose wars, but completely not germane to the story as far as I can tell.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Kuwaiti MP was taken by surprise when he arrived at Cairo Airport only to find out that he is on a list of people banned from entering the country for security reasons.
A Salafi member of Majlis al-Umma (The National Assembly), Kuwait's parliament, Waleed al-Tabtabaei did not know he was banned and had already been to Cairo just three months ago.
"Last time, I came in response to an official invitation from al-Azhar University to take part in the graduation ceremony and I entered the country with no problems," he told Al Arabiya.
This time Tabtabaei had received a personal invitation from an Egyptian MP, whose name he declined to mention. However, upon his arrival he was detained at the airport for two hours.
"Then a security officer came to me and told me I am banned from entering Egypt, but he did not explain the reasons."
Tabtabaei contacted several Egyptian officials, but they told him that the ban was imposed for "security reasons" and that there was nothing they could do. "I don't think the ban is related to the political stance of the MP who invited me since his name was not mentioned."
The tunnels
Tabtabaei finds it more likely that denying him entry into Egypt is related to a trip he made to Gaza in the aftermath of the last Israeli aggression. "At that time, I entered the Gaza Strip through the tunnels."
Light dawns in the east ...
The tunnels, which connect the Egyptian city of Rafah and the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, are at times used for smuggling weapons to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They are also used to smuggle several types of ammo goods into the besieged strip, especially medicine, fuel, automobile spare parts, clothes and food items.
Israel has been trying to convince the International Community that all the tunnels are used for terrorist activities and has been demanding the Egyptian government exercise more control on the cross-border pockets.
Tabtabaei said he plans to officially notify the Kuwaiti parliament of the incident. "I want an explanation. I need to know the reasons for preventing me from entering so that this incident does not affect bilateral relations between Egypt and Kuwait," he concluded.
It is estimated that there are currently about 900 tunnels that cross into the Gaza Strip.
This article starring:
Waleed al-Tabtabaei
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Israelis had an interesting idea about building a deep moat between Gaza and Egypt. Unfortunately, moats take a lot of maintenance.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Iranian Hospital in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was sealed off by security forces on Tuesday amid allegations staff have been aiding Shiite rebels fighting the army in the north, an AFP reporter said.
Security forces surrounded the Iran-funded hospital and prevented patients from entering the five-storey building, which employs 120 people including eight Iranians, the reporter said.
Hospital staff are suspected of involvement in intelligence gathering for Shiite Iran and of helping channel funds to the Zaidi rebels
Hospital staff are suspected of involvement in intelligence gathering for Shiite Iran and of helping channel funds to the Zaidi rebels, said a government official who asked not to be named.
The Yemeni authorities accuse "certain parties in Iran" of supporting the rebels, a charge Tehran denies while expressing sympathy for the rebels' cause.
Officials at the Ministry of Waqf (religious endowments), which owns the building, said that the hospital is to be closed down due to a delay in the payment of an accumulated rent of 28 million dollars.
The hospital offered patients services at prices that are usually lower than public and private institutions.
The rebels, also known as Huthis, have been clashing with government forces on and off in the rugged northern mountains of the Saada province and surrounding areas since 2004.
They complain of being marginalized and oppressed by the government, which accuses them of seeking to reinstate a form of clerical rule that ended in a republican coup in 1962.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Two suspected members of al-Qaeda were killed and a third was arrested in a firefight in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that also resulted in the death of a policeman, the interior ministry said.
The official SPA news agency quoted ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki as saying the early morning shootout took place at a police checkpoint in Jizan province on the southern border with Yemen.
Turki told the agency that
Two of the three suspects, who had been on board a vehicle, were wearing women's clothing and wore explosives vests and carried grenades.
two of the three suspects, who had been on board a vehicle, were wearing women's clothing and wore explosives vests and carried grenades. "More grenades, automatic weapons and bomb-making materials" were also found in the vehicle, he added.
The shooting broke out when the vehicle was about to undergo a security check on the basis of "information on the planning of terrorist acts by the deviant minority," official Saudi phraseology for al-Qaeda.
The spokesman said that when a policewoman wanted to check the identities of two people in the vehicle dressed in women's robes the suspects began shooting at security forces, who returned fire.
He said the hail of bullets resulted in "the deaths of two passengers in the vehicle and the arrest of a third."
Turki said one police officer was killed and another wounded in the exchange of fire, and added that no further details would be given for the moment "so an inquiry can get under way."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Is there going to be a fatwa against burqa's and face covering head scarfs now?
[ADN Kronos] The Libyan who detonated a bomb at the 'Santa Barbara' military barracks on Monday, Mohammed Game, prayed at Milan's Viale Jenner Mosque, said the head of the Islamic Institute in Milan. "He is a Libyan who hung out everywhere and who even prayed with us, just like thousands of others do, but we did not know him very well," said the institute's president Abdel Hamid Shaari in an interview with Adnkronos.
"He prayed and then he left. He wouldn't stay around," said Shaari. He added that Game was last seen at the mosque over 20 days ago, towards the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
On Monday, an Italian soldier was injured after 35-year-old Game exploded a bomb hidden inside a toolbox at the entrance of the 'Santa Barbara' barracks (photo). The man is said to have entered the courtyard of the barracks on foot, where he was confronted by a military guard.
He then detonated the rudimentary explosives, which were reportedly made of solid nitrate.
The toolbox where the man hid the explosive device contained two more kilogrammes of explosives, and according to reports, it only partially detonated.
Authorities have said if the entire load had detonated, there would definitely have been deaths.
Early reports said the man shouted: "The army must leave Afghanistan!" which according to authorities is not true.
"After the blast, the man did say something, but according to witnesses his words were unintelligible as they were all in Arabic," said public prosecutor Armando Spataro.
"He had a dark coloured jacket and his face was bloody. He shouted: Help me, Help me!" said a witness, Giovanni L, a sergeant major.
According to the witness, when Game was being taken to the hospital he "pointed a finger towards the sky, like a victory sign."
Game, had been living in Italy for many years and lived with an Italian woman with whom they have three children. A train ticket from the southern city of Naples to Milan was found to be in his possession, although it is still unclear if and when he took the train and for which reason.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] An Italian soldier was injured on Monday after a Libyan man exploded a bomb hidden inside a toolbox at the entrance of the 'Santa Barbara' military barracks in the northern Italian city of Milan.
The 35 year-old Libyan tried to enter to enter the barracks at the same time a military vehicle was entering the gate. However, his car was stopped by a military guard.
The man then detonated a bomb. Some reports said he shouted: "The army must leave Afghanistan!"
The toolbox where the man hid the explosive device contained two more kilogrammes of explosives, and according to reports, it only partially detonated.
The injured Italian soldier was hit by ricochet splinters and received medical treatment on-site. The attack took place at 7:45am local time. Following the attack, the Libyan was taken to the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan where he is in critical condition.
The Libyan man suffered severe injuries to his face and eyesight and his hand has been amputated, according to medical sources at Fatebenefratelli hospital.
The man is said to have arrived in Milan aboard a train from the southern Italian city of Naples, although it is unclear when.
"A few weeks ago, during investigations, we overheard (tapped) conversations that referred to the 'via Peruchetti barracks'," Italian MP and chief of the Italian lower house of parliament's national security committee, Francesco Rutelli, told state radio.
Rutelli, however, said the attack "appears to be an isolated act."
The man has been living in Italy for many years and lives with an Italian woman with whom he has three children, sources said.
The woman is currently being interrogated by Italian police.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
his hand has been amputated
Proof Allan wants Sharia law, at least in Italy when applied to Libyan terrorists.
#2
Hooks are very fashionable. Hopefully, this poor migrant, victim of the Innate European Racism, will soon be able to work at Euro-Disneyland, in the Peter Pan section.
Reminds me... A very similar work accident is how UK's very own Captain Hook became unable to wipe his @ss without scratching himself, incidentally, IIRC, blew himself with a grenade while in a training camp, instead of supposedly being injured fighting against the soviets (AFAIK, Captain Hook's whole fighting resume was to have been a bouncer, apart from being invloved in some terror attacks, he never shot a single bullet in anger).
[ADN Kronos] Two suspects and alleged accomplices were arrested early on Tuesday in connection with the attack against army barracks by a Libyan man, Mohammed Game, in the northern Italian city of Milan on Monday.
Italian media reports say an Egyptian and a Libyan were arrested by police after they interrogated friends and family members. The Egyptian man helped Game reach the barracks, while the Libyan suspect helped Game in finding the explosives.
The Libyan man suffered severe injuries to his face and eyesight. His hand was amputated and doctors say he will permanently lose his eyesight.
More than 100 kilogrammes of explosives containing ammonium nitrate were seized at a house near Game's.
Meanwhile, Game's wife Giovanna said she was "shocked" by the news and would have never suspected he could carry out a terror attack.
On Monday, an Italian soldier was injured after 35-year-old Game exploded a bomb hidden inside a toolbox at the entrance of the 'Santa Barbara' barracks. The man is said to have entered the courtyard of the barracks on foot, where he was confronted by a military guard. He then detonated the rudimentary explosives, which were reportedly made of solid nitrate.
The toolbox where the man hid the explosive device contained two more kilogrammes of explosives, and according to reports, it only partially detonated. Authorities have said if the entire load had detonated, there would definitely have been deaths.
Early reports said the man shouted: "The army must leave Afghanistan!" which according to authorities is not true.
Following the attack, Game was taken to the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan. The Libyan man suffered severe injuries to his face and eyesight. His hand, which suffered severe damage during the blast, was amputated and although he was operated, doctors say he will permanently lose his eyesight.
Let us hope it was his dominant hand, and that he was also rendered partially deaf, especially in the normal human vocal range. Never to see or hear his children again -- I think that's the beginning of a fair punishment for what he tried to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Early reports said the man shouted: "The army must leave Afghanistan!" which according to authorities is not true.
What? That they have to leave, or that he shouted it?
#2
Let us hope it was his dominant hand, and that he was also rendered partially deaf, especially in the normal human vocal range. Never to see or hear his children again -- I think that's the beginning of a fair punishment for what he tried to do.
Reminds me of a documentary I saw on frenhc teevee sometimes around the late 90's, early 2000's, possibly after the 2nd Intifada. It was about a paleo would-be bomber (but not suicide bomber, IIRC), who got blewn up by his own bomb, while tickering with it inan hotel rooms hours before planting it; he was left as a cripple, wheelchair-bound, his two hands neatly amputated, somewhat disfigured with parts of his face AWOL, two eyes gone and rather deaf as is usually the case from a close blast.
He had been treated and rehabilitated by israeli docs, and was to be soon released after doing some time, off to rejoin his wifey. He was totally unrepentant, and I recall thinking about the irony of the situation at the time (before I even bacame a Bigot and a Wingnut), that rather young fellow who made a big useless lump of disabled meat while trying to harm innocents.
Saddest part is that it was not said if his Manhood (AKA lil mamouhd) still was attached/functional. If so, I'm sure he and his woman have now had several litters already, that is the fly in the ointment, spoiling an otherwise very heartwarming Aesop.
A 26-year-old man has been charged with making false statements to federal officials investigating the disappearance of as many as 20 Somali men from Minnesota. Abdow M. Abdow, a U.S. citizen of Somali descent, was arrested Friday and made his first appearance Tuesday in federal court in St. Paul.
Posted by: ed ||
10/14/2009 19:50 ||
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Pakistani aircraft bombed Taliban fighters in their South Waziristan bastion on Wednesday as more soldiers and tanks moved in for an expected offensive against the militant hub.
The government says most attacks in the country -- including four major ones since October 5 that killed more than 100 people -- are plotted in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
"It was intense bombing. Three hideouts were hit," Mohammad Khalid Khan, a senior government official in the region's main town of Wana, told Reuters by telephone. Khan did not have information about casualties but intelligence officials in the region said at least 10 militants were killed.
Residents and security officials said the military was sending more soldiers into mountains overlooking Makeen, a main stronghold of the al Qaeda-linked militants, while other soldiers were approaching from another direction.
"We've seen many tanks coming here since yesterday. Some went to their camp while others were deployed in the mountains," said Sayed Wali, a resident of Shankai village.
The government in June ordered the army to launch an offensive in South Waziristan. Since then the military has been conducting air and artillery strikes to soften up the militants' defenses. The government says the assault is imminent but it will be up to the army to decide when to send in ground troops.
The militant attacks over recent days unnerved investors in Pakistani stocks, but on Wednesday the main index rose 1.2 percent on optimism about the energy sector.
A ground offensive in South Waziristan could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state. The army has not said when it would begin but a senior military officer in the region told Reuters that they were set.
"We're ready for the assault. Preparations have been done. It's just a matter of the go-ahead order," said the officer who declined to be identified. "It'll be done from multiple directions to squeeze them."
About 28,000 troops have been put in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hardcore Taliban, army officials have said.
But some analysts worry that might not be enough, especially if the army has to block militants from other factions based in North Waziristan coming to the help of their comrades. Continued...
[Dawn] Communist rebels blew up communication towers, rail tracks and a village council office in eastern India to protest an expected government crackdown on their activities, officials said Tuesday.
The overnight attacks in Bihar and Jharkhand states stranded trains for hours, and buses stayed off roads in rebel-controlled areas, but no one was reported hurt.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the rebels as India's biggest internal security threat, and his government plans a major offensive against them but has not said when it will begin. The rebels launched their two-day protest Monday, also in the states of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa.
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for more than three decades in several Indian states, demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor. They frequently target police and government officials, whom they accuse of colluding with landlords and rich farmers to exploit the poor.
Thousands of people, including police, militants and civilians, have died in the violence in recent years.
In one of the boldest attacks Monday night, nearly 100 suspected insurgents raided a village in Bihar's Munger district and used a dynamite to blast the village council office, said Neelmani, additional director general of police. He uses one name.
They also blew up two mobile phone towers in Aurangabad and Gaya districts in the state, he said.
More than a dozen trains were stranded for more than eight hours after suspected rebels used explosives to blow up stretches of railroad tracks in Bihar and Jharkhand states, said Dilip Kumar Singh, a railroad official.
They also abducted six rail workers, but freed them hours later unharmed, Singh told The Associated Press.
On Monday, suspected rebels dug up roads and set three trucks on fire in Jharkhand state.
The rebels have stepped up attacks this year, killing about 250 police and paramilitary soldiers between January and August.
On Thursday, hundreds of rebels surrounded a police patrol in the western state of Maharashtra, killing at least 17 troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Moaists, why doesnt someone just call them by their proper name, soldiers of communist china
[Dawn] The Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing carried out by a teenage boy in northwest Shangla district, which killed 45 people at a busy market.
A boy aged about 13 and wearing a suicide vest threw himself at a military convoy passing through a Alpuri town on Monday, the latest in a wave of attacks that have killed 125 people in Pakistan in eight days, officials said.
'We claim responsibility for the Shangla suicide attack. This is revenge for our martyrs,' Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told an AFP reporter by telephone from an undisclosed location.
'This is part of the series of attacks that we are carrying out. Wait and see more,' he added.
The feared Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group have vowed to avenge the death of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike in the lawless northwest tribal region of South Waziristan on August 5.
The Islamist extremist group has already claimed a weekend raid on Pakistan's army headquarters, when gunmen took 42 hostages in a brazen siege ending Sunday with nine militants, 11 soldiers and three hostages killed.
Insurgents said attacks would continue until military operations against their strongholds came to an end.
Security forces marched into Swat valley -- which borders Shangla -- in April this year, after Taliban insurgents extended their grip on the area and advanced to with 100 kilometres (60 miles) of Islamabad.
Government and military officials are now claiming success in the operation, and have vowed to take the anti-Taliban offensive into South Waziristan, the seat of the TTP and a rugged area outside direct government control.
Analysts say a spike in attacks -- which include a suicide car bomb Friday killing 52 people in Peshawar city -- are being carried out by militants keen to deter any advance into their sanctuaries along the Afghan border.
Pakistan fighter jets on Tuesday bombed the region killing six suspected militants, part of a months-long campaign the military says aims to 'soften-up'the area ahead of an offensive by ground troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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ELEVEN people were killed and 60 others wounded in attacks in Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul and the Shiite shrine city of Karbala overnight, police and ministry officials said.
In northwest Baghdad, nearly simultaneous mortar attacks and shootings during jewellery heists in the popular Jawadain market left eight dead, an interior ministry official said. Three mortar rounds struck the market in the predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Shaala at around noon, killing seven people and wounding 14.
At about the same time, gunmen attacked jewellery shops in the area, killing one store owner and robbing three stores.
In Karbala, south of Baghdad, three bomb explosions near shrines in the city killed two people and wounded 46. The attacks occurred near the Abbas and Hussein shrines at 5pm, around the time of evening prayers, police Major Alaa Abbas said.
Provincial governor Amal Addin Majid al-Herr blamed elements from now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein's banned Baath Party for the attack.
And in the restive city of Mosul, a policeman who had changed into civilian clothing was shot by gunmen as he was walking in the east of the city, a police official said.
Though attacks in Iraq as a whole have declined dramatically from last year, violence in Mosul and Baghdad remains common. Violent deaths in Iraq dropped by more than half in September from the previous month, with 203 people killed, the lowest monthly toll since May.
Bomb blasts across Iraq have reportedly killed 10 people, including two Iraqi soldiers and a leader of the government-allied Sunni fighters, wounding 14 others.
A bomb explosion hit a café in the village of Behruz, south of the provincial capital of Baquba, on Tuesday killing eight people and injuring 10 others, AFP reported, quoting security and medical officials. Among the dead was, reportedly, Laith Mishaan, the leader of the government-allied Sunni fighters. He was said to have lost two of his sons in an explosion yesterday.
Two soldiers also died, and four others were injured after a reported blast hit their patrol near the disputed Kirkuk region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- The brother of senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has died in an Egyptian prison as a result of torture, Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa television announced on Tuesday.
It's Egypt, you fool! That's what their prison guards and police do. You really don't want to insult their ancient traditions.
According to Sami Abu Zuhri, his brother Yousef Hamdan Abu Zuhri died of internal bleeding after being tortured during interrogation by Egyptian security forces.
Abu Zuhri said his brother was held in the Egyptian port city of Al-Arish in April on his way to Cairo from Gaza. Sami claims his brother was subjected to intense torture in an attempt by Egyptian authorities to extract information about Hamas in Gaza.
Egyptian sources said that Yousef was originally detained after he entered Egypt through a smuggling tunnel, and was taken by the security forces to Al-Arish.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] AN ELDERLY Irish priest kidnapped in the southern Philippines was seen alive in an area known to be a stronghold of Muslim militants, a military official said on Tuesday.
Michael Sinnott, 79, and his heavily armed captors were seen on Monday in a coastal area of Lanao del Sur province about 70 kilometres southeast from where he was taken, regional military chief Major General Ben Dolorfino said.
'The victim and his kidnappers were sighted in Lanao del Sur,' Major Dolorfino told reporters, but declined to give specific details so as not to jeopardise pursuit operations.
He declined to elaborate when asked why troops were not immediately sent in to rescue Father Sinnott, who was seized by six armed men on Sunday from his home at the Missionary Society of St Columban compound in Pagadian city on Sunday.
Major Dolorfino also gave no details about Father Sinnott's health, after the priest's colleagues said a heart problem meant he may not survive the ordeal, and only expressed hope his abductors would treat him well.
'We cannot say anything about his condition but we know he recently underwent bypass surgery and considering that situation (we hope) his captors may not move him around to different places,' Major Dolorfino said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Philippines? Oh, I thought the Vikings were at it again.
[Straits Times] INDONESIAN police questioned on Tuesday a college student and aid agency volunteer who allegedly arranged shelter for terrorists behind hotel bombings in Jakarta.
Mathematics and science major Sonny Jayadi, 24, was believed to have rented rooms at a Jakarta boarding house for militant brothers slain last week in a raid on the building, police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said.
Jayadi was arrested on Saturday in the West Sumatra coastal town of Padang, where he was helping victims of a powerful Sept 30 quake that killed more than 800 people and devastated vast areas of the country's westernmost island.
Jayadi, who remained in custody on Tuesday for interrogation, allegedly paid rent for Syaiffudin Zuhri and Mohamad Syahrir - key members of a terrorist cell led by the late regional Al-Qaeda commander Noordin Top.
Zuhri allegedly recruited two young suicide bombers, while Syahrir was an explosives expert. A third brother, Ibrohim, worked as a florist at the J W Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels and smuggled in the bombers and explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The Lebanese army said on Tuesday one person was wounded after a shell exploded in a home in the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Filsi on Monday.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Haj Hassan said the explosion happened in the garage of a Hezbollah member, wounding one person. "We are concerned with finding out the reasons for this explosion," Hassan said.
Lebanese security sources said on Monday five people had been killed in a munitions explosion in a house in Tayr Filsi, just inside U.N. peacekeepers' area of operations.
Hezbollah denied anyone had died in a blast in the area.
Israel said the blast at a Hezbollah house showed munitions were being stockpiled in violation of a truce which ended a 2006 war between the Jewish state and the Shiite guerrilla group.
"Immediately (after the incident), security forces cordoned off the area and a specialized committee began an investigation into the circumstances of the incident," a statement from the army said.
A senior Israeli military source said the Israeli military has asked UNIFIL, the peacekeeping force that was reinforced after the 34-day war in 2006, to open an investigation. Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel's Army Radio on Tuesday it was clear this was "a Hezbollah accident".
UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said a U.N. peacekeeping patrol and a Lebanese army patrol visited the explosion site on Monday night. On Tuesday investigation teams from both parties "inspected the site and the surrounding area".
"According to the information from the Lebanese Army one person was injured and UNIFIL has no reports of other casualties," Bouziane said.
"We're still in the process of analyzing the information and the available evidence to ascertain the circumstances and establish the facts concerning the incident," she said.
Israel and the United States have accused Hezbollah of violating a U.N. weapons embargo in southern Lebanon after a weapons cache exploded in a village there in July.
The United Nations said at the time there were signs the stockpile belonged to Hezbollah, and added that the presence of these arms were a violation of Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the war.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Quqnoos] US President dispatches an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced in March, The Washington Post reported
[Maghrebia] Tlemcen security services charged 3 al-Qaeda terror suspects with trafficking explosives into Algeria from Morocco, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Monday (October 12th). Large quantities of TNT and other bomb-making materials were recovered during the week-end security operation, initiated based on information provided by another armed fighter. The Algerian suspects reportedly told investigators that the explosives came from the Moroccan region of Oujda and the old Ain Safra mine fields in Naama. One of the men reportedly benefitted from National Reconciliation.
[ADN Kronos] Two suspects and alleged accomplices were arrested early on Tuesday in connection with the attack against army barracks by a Libyan man, Mohammed Game, in the northern Italian city of Milan on Monday.
[Dawn] The Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing carried out by a teenage boy in northwest Shangla district, which killed 45 people at a busy market.
Bomb blasts across Iraq have reportedly killed 10 people, including two Iraqi soldiers and a leader of the government-allied Sunni fighters, wounding 14 others. 
Khamenei has died. The formal announcement is expected to be made tomorrow morning (Tehran time) .
