At least six Americans were killed Wednesday when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest made his way into an American base in southeastern Afghanistan, according to NATO officials.
The bomber managed to elude security and reach an area near the bases gym, said one official, who did not want to be identified because the official was not authorized to speak about the incident. It was not clear if the bomber entered the gym.
One official confirmed that the attack took place in Khost Province at Forward Operating Base Chapman, which the official described as not a regular base, suggesting that it was used by American intelligence agencies.
The suicide bomber died in the blast and six Americans were also wounded, some of them seriously, and the death toll could climb, the officials said. It was not clear that those killed and wounded were military personnel.
Even by the standards of a war characterized by a rising number of American and NATO casualties, the attack was an especially deadly one for Americans in Afghanistan, which in addition to soldiers include a growing number of civilian contractors employed in reconstruction and intelligence operations. That the bomber managed to breach a secure base tasked with potentially sensitive operations also made it a particularly audacious attack.
#1
"They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow
old.
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the
sun and in the morning
We will remember them".
#2
Hit Submit to soon. The Afghan army isn't anywhere near ready to take over from Coalition troops: literacy, training, approach, addiction, raw numbers... leadership and corruption. Gee whiz, it's like they haven't been reading Rantburg or any of the other warblogs. Which of course they haven't; the New York Times has reporters reading FoxNews and Rush Limbaugh -- they haven't discovered the more esoteric sites.
[Dawn] Ten civilians, mostly school children, have been killed during Western military operations in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday, citing "initial reports".
Karzai condemned the killings which his statement said took place in Kunar province, bordering Pakistan, on Saturday.
"Initial reports indicate that in a series of operations by international forces in Kunar province... 10 civilians, eight of them school students, have been killed," the statement said.
"President Karzai strongly condemns the operation which caused civilian deaths and has appointed a delegation to investigate the incident," it said.
A senior official in the Afghan government, speaking on condition anonymity, said the death toll could change because investigations are ongoing.
When contacted Sunday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had no information on any operations or casualties in Kunar.
A senior Western military official told AFP that US special forces have been conducting operations against militants in the border regions of Kunar. "They have been killing a lot of Taliban and capturing a lot of Taliban," he said.
Politicians representing Kunar walked out of an important parliamentary session debating appointments to Karzai's new cabinet to protest against the civilian casualties, television showed.
The border regions of Kunar have long been volatile as Taliban fighters are said to cross the porous border from Pakistan to fight Western troops and Afghan government forces.
"In 33 out of 34 provinces, the Taliban has a shadow government," a Western military intelligence official told reporters on Sunday. Omar "has a government-in-waiting, with ministers chosen" for the day the government falls, he added.
"Time is running out. Taliban influence is expanding," the military official warned. "Where the (Afghan) government is weak, the enemy is strong," and able to exploit the corruption and unpopularity of Karzai's administration, he said.
ISAF had no immediate comment on the Kunar operations. US military sources said US Special Forces generally operate in Afghanistan outside the ISAF mission, as Operation Enduring Freedom.
Most recently, Karzai condemned the killing of six civilians during a NATO raid in early December as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates vowed US troop reinforcements would keep civilian deaths to a minimum. Karzai's office said six civilians, including a woman, died when troops from ISAF conducted an operation in Laghman province on the night of December 2.
Meanwhile a British soldier was killed on Monday in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence in London said, taking the country's military death toll there this year to 107. The soldier, from the 3rd Battalion, The Rifles, died as a result of the blast while on patrol in the Kajaki area of southern Helmand province where British troops are based, the ministry said.
Earlier Monday, officials said Taliban-linked militants stormed a police post in northwestern Afghanistan, sparking a gunfight that killed two police and left three others missing. The militants attacked the post late Sunday in Badghis province, killing two officers, provincial police chief Sayed Ahmad Sameh told AFP. Three other policemen were missing, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
School children? How old were they? Were they kindergartners or were they older boys in a madrassa?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/30/2009 8:38 Comments ||
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#2
Simply amazing how quickly and accurately they are able to know civilian death tolls.
As soon as a terrorist hits the ground, they take his AK47 away and voila.. pfffft...he becomes a civilian.
This also begs the question... how come every terrorist hideout and training camp is full of women and children??
me thinks ENEMY PROPAGANDA
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
12/30/2009 11:49 Comments ||
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#3
Been like that for a long time, and our "Stuperior In Chief" doesn't get it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/30/2009 12:54 Comments ||
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#4
a factor in the problem is that the US will pay a family/village/tribe some serious (for them) $$$ if we kill a civi, but not a dime for a jihadi. so it is in the locals financial interest for as many dead bodies as possible (and any goats or dogs that can be buried before officials can get eyes on) to be 'civilians'.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/30/2009 23:09 Comments ||
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[Quqnoos] Afghan agents arrested four militants allegedly responsible for killing the country's deputy intelligence chief.
Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, who was visiting his hometown on September 2, was killed along with 23 other people, mostly civilians, when a suicide bomber targeted him in Mihtarlam, the capital city of the eastern province of Laghman.
More than 70 others, most of them civilians, were wounded in the attack. Abdul Rahman, a military commander of Taliban fighters in Laghman, and three of his associates were arrested for planning the attack, the intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Rahman confessed that he received an order for the bombing from Shahid Khel and Maulawi Kabir, two Taliban leaders living in Peshawar, Pakistan, the statement noted.
The attack was carried out by a Pakistani national by the name of Abdul Jabar, it said, citing Rahman's confession.
The statement also said that by arresting the group, the agency foiled an attack on Laghman's governor because the group planned to target the provincial headquarters with a truck loaded with 2,500 kilograms of explosives.
The would-be suicide bombing was also plotted by Taliban leaders in Peshawar and was planned to be carried out by two Pakistani bombers, the statement added.
Afghan officials have repeatedly blamed Pakistan's government for allowing the Afghan Taliban to run training camps inside Pakistan, from where they plot attacks on Afghan soldiers and the more than 110,000 foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The Sudanese parliament adopted a key law paving the way for a promised 2011 referendum on southern independence Tuesday after northern and southern leaders struck a deal on a disputed article.
The new version of the law approved by MPs includes a provision demanded by southern politicians that requires diaspora southerners to cast their ballots in the south.
" This law is not a law of separation for south Sudan but is a law for the referendum. We all need to unite Sudan and work towards unity "
Deputy speaker Atem Garang
A previous version adopted last week had allowed for absentee votes, prompting a walkout from parliament by southern politicians fearful that if southerners voted in the north there could be fraud and pressure by the Khartoum government.
The United States had said it was "deeply concerned" that the earlier text had been stripped of the wording previously agreed with southern politicians.
Analysts believe that the referendum in January 2011 will almost inevitably lead to southern Sudan voting to separate from the north, with which it fought a civil war that cost the lives of two million people.
Delays in implementing the 2005 peace deal that capped more than two decades of conflict pushed the former foes into a political collision over the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Somali pirates on Tuesday seized a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on the same day a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier was also hijacked.
Reports said that the vessel, the St James Park, was captured in the Gulf of Aden en route to Thailand from Spain and is believed to be heading towards pirate lairs on the Somali coast.
St James Park has a crew of 25 with different nationalities and another 19 crew members were onboard the bulk carrier which was hijacked off Somalia's southern coast. The St James Park is the first merchant ship seized in the area in more than six months.
Nigel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center said the tanker issued a distress signal late Monday when it came under attack.
On the same day, the pirates reportedly released three vessels -- a Chinese coal ship, De Xin Hai, an Indian fishing dhow, the Laxim Sagar, and the Singapore-flagged container ship, Kota Wajar. Pirates said Saturday they had received a 3.5 million ransom for the Chinese coal ship.
Two Britons kidnapped by the sea bandits in October on the journey around the world are still in the pirates' captivity despite efforts to secure their release.
A multinational European Union-led naval armada dispatched to the region to battle piracy in the Horn of Africa has so far failed to tackle the growing crisis in one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The vastness of the region makes it impossible to patrol all areas at once, and the anti-piracy presence has pushed the outlaws to expand their operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Why is the world (US) letting this happen.
There are plenty of military assets in the area of Somalia.
We need to take the fight to the pirates and blockade the harbors they work out of , or unzip a can of whoopazz on their bases of operation.
It's quite simple. really.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
12/30/2009 11:53 Comments ||
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#2
No worries! As soon as the CIA Vitilgo project achieves 100% host coverage, the pirates can be declared renegade mercenary colonists and we can slay them all with reckless abandon.
At least 70 people died in violent clashes between security forces and Islamists in the northern Nigeria city of Bauchi, according to a hospital morgue body count Wednesday. The clashes erupted Monday between suspected members of an Islamist sect and police and military forces.
Posted by: ed ||
12/30/2009 06:29 ||
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#1
DAILY TIMES.PK > [Mutallab]NEW TERROR PLOT PUTS PRESSURE ON NIGERIA.
H/T Hotair.com
Yemeni security forces stormed an al-Qaida hide-out Wednesday in a principle militant stronghold in the country's west, setting off clashes, officials said, as a security chief vowed to fight the group's powerful local branch until it was eliminated.
A government statement said at least one suspected al-Qaida member was arrested during the fighting in Hudaydah province. The province, along Yemen's Red Sea coast, was home to most of the assailants in a bombing and shooting attack outside the U.S. Embassy in 2008 that killed 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians.
"The (Interior) Ministry will continue tracking down al-Qaida terrorists and will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated," said Deputy Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Saleh al-Zawari.
He was speaking to senior military officials at a meeting in Mareb, one of three provinces where al-Qaida militants are believed to have taken shelter.
The group's growing presence in Yemen, an impoverished and lawless country on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has drawn attention with the attempted attack on a U.S. airliner on Friday. U.S. investigators say the Nigerian suspect in the attack told them that he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula set up its Yemen base in January when operatives from Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged.
A security official who gave more details on Wednesday's raid said it resulted from a tip and targeted a home five miles (eight kilometers) north of the Bajil district. He said one suspected al-Qaida member was injured and several who fled were being pursued.
The owner of the home, a sympathizer of the group, was arrested, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Yemen will continue to coordinate its military efforts with the United States to track down al-Qaida in several areas of the country, said Tarek al-Shami, spokesman of the ruling National Congress Party.
The U.S. has increasingly provided intelligence, surveillance and training to Yemeni forces during the past year, and has provided some firepower, a senior U.S. defense official said recently, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive security issues. Some of that assistance may be through the expanded use of unmanned drones, and the U.S. is providing funding to Yemen for helicopters and other equipment.
The Pentagon recently said it poured nearly $70 million in military aid into Yemen this year -- compared with none in 2008.
More details surfaced Wednesday on the Nigerian man suspected in Friday's attempted airliner attack. While in Yemen, he led a devout Islamic life, shunning TV and music and avoiding women, said students and staff at an institute where he studied Arabic. Hmmmm, like Major Hasam who wouldn't even have his picture taken with women -- same iman? Reports seem to indicate, "Yes."
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spent two periods in Yemen, from 2004-2005 and from August to December of this year, just before the attempted attack, Yemeni officials have said. Administrators at the institute said Wednesday he was enrolled at the school during both periods to study Arabic.
Abdulmutallab showed little interest in study during his brief time at the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language this year, which coincided with Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting that began in late August.
"When I asked him why he wasn't studying, he would tell me he wanted to devote his time for worship during Ramadan," Ahmed Hassan, a 28-year-old Arabic language student from Singapore, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Hassan said he was stunned when he heard reports that Abdulmutallab, 23, told U.S. officials after his arrest he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. He said he never suspected the Nigerian of belonging to the terrorist network.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for theattempted attack on the airliner, which was bound for Detroit from Amsterdam. It said it was retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen. More than 60 militants were killed in airstrikes this month carried out by Yemeni forces with U.S. intelligence assistance.
Yemen issued Abdulmutallab a visa to study Arabic. Yemeni officials have said authorities in Yemen were reassured that he had visas from a number of countries engaged in the fight against terrorism, including the United States.
Staff and students at the institute said Abdulmutallab spent at most one month at the school. That has raised questions about what he did during the rest of his stay, which continued into December.
While in Yemen, Abdulmutallab led the life of an ultraconservative Muslim. He avoided mixing with female classmates, listening to music or watching television, fellow students and staff at the institute said. Hassan said Abdulmutallab would start his day by going to the mosque for dawn prayers and then would spend hours in his room reading the Quran, Islam's holy book.
Ahmed Mohammed, one of the teachers at the institute, said Abdulmutallab spent the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan sequestered in a mosque. He says Abdulmutallab attended barely four hours of the 20-hour course Ahmed taught.
Youssef al-Khawlani, an administrator at the institute, recalled how upset Abdulmutallab was when he heard the ring tone of his phone, set to a popular song.
"When he heard it, he told me I should stop it because it was haram (forbidden by Islam)," said al-Khawlani. "He also would not watch TV."
The chief if the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has said the elite force has not committed any extra-judicial killings in the name of, what he said, gunfights the crossfire in common parlance in the last year.
The comment of Director General (DG) of the RAB Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, came yesterday at a press conference on a year ending evaluation of the battalion activities at it's headquarters in the city's Uttara. The RAB chief said that a total of 60 criminals were killed in 57 separate incidents of 'gunfight' in 2009.
"We found all the 57 gunfight incidents lawful after thorough investigation into each of the incidents," he said, adding that the magistrate's report regarding the incidents gave credit to the incidents.
Replying to a query he said, "We use firearms in accordance with the law and we would have to prove it."
He said that a total of 2000 RAB personnel would be deployed at different strategic points of the city while 3000 others outside the capital for smooth celebrations of the new year.
The RAB DG expressed his satisfaction over the recent improvement of the law and order in the country saying, 'I must say the law and order situation is satisfactory."
As long as they keep doing crossfires ...
"In 2009, the RAB arrested 16,436 people in connection with different allegations. Besides, the battalion also recovered 1306 different sorts of firearms, 8163 bullets, 27 grenades in the outgoing year," he said. The DG also said that the battalion arrested 78 members of different militant organisations.
"So far, this year, the battalion's anti-drug drives hauled up 5,591 people. We have seized 42,284 contraband yaba tablets, 2,226 V1agra tablets, 34.174 kilogram of heroine etc," the RAB DG said.
It was originally 222,600 v1agra tabs, but, well, you know ...
"None of the RAB personnel from top to bottom will be spare if they are found guilty," the RAB chief said, adding that a total of 164 members of the RAB were punished for their misdeed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
60 criminals in 57 gunfights? What were the stats last year for Detroit?
#5
Actually, that was an attempt at a literal-answer-type of joke, but thanks anyway for linking me to the origin of the saying (which I never bothered to do before, as I knew the meaning and it was enough for non-curious me; note that lyncher/To lynch is also part of the french vocabulary, from that same Charles Lynch source, the joy of cultiral cross-pollenization).
North Korea on Tuesday confirmed it is holding Robert Park, a Korean-American activist who had illegally entered the country. The official Korean Central News Agency said, "An American has been detained since he illegally entered through the [North] Korea-China border on Dec. 24. He is under investigation."
He's figured out by now that life sucks in Nork-land ...
The North did not give his name or other details. It said he entered the North on Dec. 24, not Dec. 25 as a fellow human rights activist had originally claimed.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters, "We are concerned by these reports and we are looking into them." The U.S. is trying to get information through the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang.
The North could use Park as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S., as it did when it detained two American journalists in March.
And if that doesn't work they'll just grab a few more hostages ...
Park apparently carried a letter in which he mentioned the human rights issue and criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Park apparently carried a letter in which he mentioned the human rights issue and criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Wild-eyed optomist, and serious Moonbat meets reality.
Asuming he lives (I give it Not quite 50-50) I'd love to see if he learned about the world, or remains an idiot.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/30/2009 0:55 Comments ||
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#2
i'll take irredeemable idiot for a thousand Alex.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/30/2009 0:59 Comments ||
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#3
These idiots are volunteering to be captured in order to give the North bargaining chips. Talk about useful.
#4
Is Clinton gonna have to get out those knee pads again?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/30/2009 8:41 Comments ||
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#5
No way. This guy said before he went over that he didn't want to be bailed out. He appears to be on the Christian version of a religious suicide mission. Just leave him to his fate. I'm sure he'd be the first to say, "It's in God's hands now."
I think we knew this but I'm posting this to ensure that we connect all the dots.
WASHINGTON: At least one leader of al-Qa'ida's branch in Yemen, where the failed bomber of a US-bound Christmas flight was allegedly trained, was freed from the US prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, a Pentagon list reveals.
The list, released in May, names 27 former prisoners who resumed terrorist activities after being released from Guantanamo, including Said Ali al-Shihri, who was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and later implicated in the bombing of the US embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, last year.
ABC television named Muhammad Attik al-Harbi, a former al-Qa'ida leader in Yemen, as another unrepentant former Guantanamo prisoner.
Yemen's role as an al-Qa'ida haven has come under renewed public scrutiny in the wake of a Nigerian man's alleged attempt to detonate a bomb on a Northwest Airline plane as it approached to land in Detroit on Friday. US law enforcement official have said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, confessed to receiving specific training for the attack from an al-Qa'ida bombmaker in Yemen. An al-Qa'ida affiliate in the Arabian peninsula claimed yesterday that it was behind the failed bombing, and threatened new attacks on the West, US monitoring groups said.
The two-page statement, which was accompanied by a picture of Abdulmutallab, boasted that the "Nigerian brother . . . was able to breach all the modern and sophisticated technologies and checkpoints at the airports around the world".
The US government remains cautious in linking the suspect to al-Qa'ida, which has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. It has strengthened its presence in Yemen by exploiting the loose control of the central government over the heavily tribalised provinces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2009 10:04 ||
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#1
So how's the Gitmo catch and release program working for us Obama?
#2
boasted that the "Nigerian brother . . . was able to breach all the modern and sophisticated technologies and checkpoints at the airports around the world".
Meanwhile, our "Kenyan brother" is engaged in full image control.
#3
But...but...Obama says he was just an "isolated extremist" despite his ties to Yemen.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/30/2009 11:07 Comments ||
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#4
These guys were released under W, not the Dems. We should have tried these guys through the military justice system or else through new WOT courts and sentenced those found guilty to SuperMax prison.
IIUC, The govt didn't have enough on these folk to try them even under military rules. The Saudi had additional info and claimed to have a successful deradicalization (or radical immunization) program. The State Dept (that would be the one that Condi Rice headed), somehow took the word of the Saudis and Condi convinced the Natl Security Cabinet to go along (of course there was pressure from the left to reduce the number of detainees).
and speaking of idiots at the State Dept. How come Janis is getting all the blame and Hillary is getting none of it. It seems to me that State Dept is substantially to blame for this.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/30/2009 11:16 Comments ||
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#6
"W" was constandly under fire from the left over The Global War on Terror (GWOT), the war in Iraq, GITMO, so-called CIA black prisons overseas, Abu Ghraib, etc. He certainly should have tried them all in a military tribunal and executed the lot, I'll give you that. But imagine if you will the outrage from the UN and the left.
#10
We should have shot all non-uniformed combatants on sight.
Only after we wring all the intel we can get out of them and I don't care how. If they wanna sign the Geneva convention and start wearing uniforms that'd be another matter.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/30/2009 12:59 Comments ||
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#11
Gitmo releasee must not have been a particularly good trainer as his student didn't get his virgins, and now won't be able to use them if he ever does get them.
#13
What Barbara said, just kill them. There is surely enough data, biological and digital to justify, get int, kill and justify the int. Even as I approach the age of the hills, we still discuss the names of those who betrayed us, and who opposed us. I would like to remember those who supported us, but I don't remember any who didn't have a financial incentive, eg, clapped-out choppers from Israel, our only friend(?).
I do believe the sell-out occured years ago.
#1
I mean, just because the CIA has been tracking him and then his dad felt compelled to contact the State Department about him doesn't mean we should have done anything rash like not let him get on a US-bound international airplane with a few hundred passengers on board.
That would probably be some type of profiling, and CAIR, the ACLU and Jesse Jackson wouldn't stand for it.
#2
I'm starting to become suspicious of this whole deal. For example, what if the explosive substance in his underwear didn't blow up because it wasn't actually an explosive?
It is a common trick to substitute fake ingredients to defeat bombers in sting operations, so even if they get through the net, they fail. Who but a chemist can easily tell the difference between ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate?
#4
I'm starting to become suspicious of this whole deal.
I have difficulty thinking the CIA would get the American public all "jacked up" with fake explosives in an airplane with nearly 300 passengers. But maybe.
#6
The August date might coincide with Mutt's father's visit to the USEMBASSY. Of course we will never see them, but I'd still like to read the cable traffic from Lagos and know what actions the FBI Legat and Bureau took, if any. A transcript of Mutt's father's statement [names, dates, places] or an interview would be most interesting.
#9
There have been reports by passengers on the flight that a passenger videotaped the entire flight. A blogger from another site suggested the following:
The video was for use in an unsuccessful attack, to find out what went "wrong" and prevent such a "failure" in the future. In the case of a successful attack, well, the attack would have worked, with no need to debug it.
Maybe. I have trouble thinking AQ wouldn't go for taking the plane down rather than merely testing reactions by passengers and crew. However, that said the Mutt said there are 25 or more boomers being trained in Yemen for similar missions.
I wonder when the current administration is going to wake up and realize we are in a world-wide war with islamic terrorists?
#10
"I wonder when the current administration is going to wake up and realize we are in a world-wide war with islamic terrorists?"
You can quit wondering, John. The answer is NEVER.
They don't think any of them are personally at risk, so they don't care.
Hate to say it, but the only thing that will get their panties in the correct wad is one of them falling victim to the islamonuts. (Maybe not even then, since the head fool is not at risk....) >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/30/2009 15:23 Comments ||
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#11
Slot the b'stard, noone(!) will ever know. Chip every moslem at birth, they can fly Moslem Air, and be tracked, every flight in pig-skinned chicken wings. Time to call a halt to this rotten mess and snuff 'em.
#1
It was clear from his late teenage years that he was actually quite devoted to his faith. He never missed his prayers. We understand that he met some people who influenced him when he was in London.
How frikken predictable! These lonely misguided youts influenced by extremist stories make me wanna spit. The guy is a radical Jihadist who wanted to slaughter as many infidels as possible on Christmas day! Its the same angle as the disaffected youts from Minneapolis. Remember, they must have been coerced into blowing themselves up in Somalia. So the obvious question is, who influenced the influencers? And in turn who, or what, influenced that layer and so on. Our intrepid NYT journalists dare not open even the first Russian nesting doll because they are afraid they will have to say what is contained in the last.
A man who allegedly claimed he wanted to start a holy war in Memphis will return to court Jan. 11 on charges of threatening to blow up several businesses on Christmas Day.
Mohamed Ibrahim, 35, is charged with commission of a terrorist act, false reporting and disorderly conduct. He is in the Shelby County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
The case has been referred to the FBI in Memphis for further investigation, according to the charges.
Friday afternoon, Memphis police dispatchers issued an alert that a man driving a black Chrysler PT Cruiser had threatened to "blow up the business" at 300 Poplar, a BP gas station.
A Memphis officer stopped the vehicle at Front Street and Jackson Avenue.
The driver refused to identify himself to police, and appeared to be hiding something, according to the arresting officer.
After Ibrahim was arrested and placed in a police cruiser, he began cursing police and attempting to kick out the windows, according to the charges. Officers subdued him with pepper spray.
Police determined that Ibrahim had earlier that day made threats to blow up seven other businesses around town, according to the charges.
Memphis police bomb squad officers checked the vehicle for explosives, then towed it to the impound lot.
An FBI agent called to the scene recovered three cassette tapes described as "Islamic" in a police affidavit, and took the GPS from the vehicle.
Court records show that Ibrahim had been arrested two days earlier with a 10-inch butcher knife concealed in his jacket sleeve and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. He was released on $100 bond.
That day, Ibrahim had threatened other businesses and "stated he was a Muslim, and wanted to start jihad here in Memphis," according to the weapon charge.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So was this guy a nut case, or the start of bringing it home.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/30/2009 1:19 Comments ||
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#2
maybe both. definitely nutter....
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/30/2009 1:23 Comments ||
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#3
They're not exclusive, 49 Pan.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/30/2009 8:44 Comments ||
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#4
300 poplar is right downtown
interesting that he didn't threaten Graceland
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/30/2009 9:53 Comments ||
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#5
Graceland is in [or will be in] rehab for fixing up. These nut cases/jihadists would wait until the repairs were completed.
#6
Unfortunately, the REAL jihadis wouldn't make any such statements. The first thing you'd know of their presence would be places and people blowing up. THEY are the ones to watch out for. This guy may have been a distraction, to get the police to reduce their vigilance for the real jihadis.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/30/2009 14:35 Comments ||
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#7
"charged with commission of a terrorist act, false reporting and disorderly conduct"
Oh, no! Not the dreaded disorderly conduct!
Why, such a charge will just ruin his chances of a good future....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/30/2009 15:30 Comments ||
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#8
C'mon Babs, it is now on his PERMANENT RECORD!
Posted by: Dean Wormer ||
12/30/2009 16:15 Comments ||
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[Geo News] The security forces in Orakzai Agency have killed nine militants while 14 terrorists have been injured.
According to sources, security forces gunship helicopter attacked terrorists' hideouts in Anjani area of lower Orakzai, killing nine militants and injuring fourteen others.
During the operation, militant commander's house, seven vehicles, oil depot and four hideouts were destroyed.
On the other hand, Police arrested 60 suspects in a crackdown in Jandol area of lower Dir.
Meanwhile, old enmity claimed four lives in Jungle Khail area in Kohat.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The army said Tuesday that its troops had killed an alleged Taliban commander and explosives expert during a search operation in the northwestern Swat valley.
"Security forces conducted a search operation near Charbagh and killed Abu Zar, a wanted terrorist commander," a military statement said, calling him an explosives expert who planned attacks against security forces.
"Two other terrorists were also apprehended with a cache of arms and ammunition," the statement added.
A senior security official in the area said Abu Zar was a "great symbol of terror" in Swat, and had killed a number of policemen and army personnel.
The military says it has quelled a militant uprising in Swat, which slipped out of government control in July 2007 after radical cleric Mullah Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign to enforce sharia law.
The army launched an offensive in April and says more than 2,150 militants have been killed in Swat and the neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts. It said in July that most of the insurgent bastions had been wiped out.
But sporadic clashes and suicide attacks continue to rock the valley.
Although Fazlullah remains at large, a number of his lieutenants have been killed or arrested, including Abu Zar's uncle Sher Mohammad Qasab, who died in September in military custody.
Qasab, dubbed "head of the Taliban beheading squad" by Pakistani media, was one of the most senior commanders on a list of 16 wanted militant leaders in Swat who had a 10 million rupee (120,000 dollar) price on his head.
Pakistan has posted a reward of 50 million rupees (more than 600,000 dollars) for Fazlullah.
The military is now engaged in an offensive in the northwest tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the core Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda-linked militants are holed up in the rugged mountain terrain.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, says the provincial administration has found important clues that may lead to the terrorist who planned the Ashura bomb blast. "What clues?"
"Important clues!"
He said, the recent interception of a van and recovery of weapons underneath its seats and the arrest of those planning to blow the Karachi refinery has given a lead and the government would soon succeed in arresting the culprits.
The Chief Minister said the government had put in place foolproof security measures to avert any terrorist act but terrorists succeeded in penetrating into the procession through a sidewalk.
He said the visual footage has provided important leads to investigating authorities and it may yield some results.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the government had put in place foolproof security measures to avert any terrorist act but terrorists succeeded
#2
Just when you think something is fool-proof somebody makes a better fool.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/30/2009 16:53 Comments ||
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#3
DAILY TIMES.PK/OTHER > PAKISTAN TALIBAN [TTP] CLAIM CREDIT FOR YOUS-E-ASHUR/KARACHI BOMBING, THREATEN MORE ATTACKS [agz "US Ally" within next TEN DAYS].
Twin suicide blasts in the western city of Ramadi on Wednesday killed 23 people and left the Anbar provincial governor wounded in the latest attacks against government targets to hit Iraq.
The co-ordinated bombings, which were blamed on Al-Qaeda and collusion from the security forces, struck the governorate offices in the centre of Anbar's provincial capital and also killed and wounded senior security officials.
The first attack struck near a security checkpoint at a road junction leading to the governorate offices in the centre of the Anbar provincial capital at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT). In addition to the dead and wounded, some 20 vehicle were destroyed in the blast.
About a half hour later, governor Qassim Mohammed Abid and senior provincial security officials, who were in the governorate offices, went outside to check on the situation.
"A suicide bomber wearing an army uniform ran towards the governor," police Captain Ahmed Mohammed al-Dulaimi told AFP. "Some security people held him back, and he detonated himself."
The attack killed governorate compound security chief Colonel Mahmud al-Fehdawi, and wounded Abid and Anbar deputy police chief Colonel Abbas Mohammed al-Dulaimi. Overall, 30 people were wounded in the two attacks.
Posted by: ed ||
12/30/2009 06:47 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] An Iraqi man was awarded $85,000 for informing security forces of a car bomb in Baghdad, the first such reward after funds were dramatically upped for
" The prime minister decided to reward a citizen who provided information regarding the presence of a car bomb in Jamaa, giving him 100 million Iraqi dinars "
Major General Qassim Atta
tip-offs, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
"The prime minister decided to reward a citizen who provided information regarding the presence of a car bomb in Jamaa, giving him 100 million Iraqi dinars," said Major General Qassim Atta, the spokesman for Baghdad operations command.
The identity of the man was not released for security reasons.
On Dec. 16, the Iraqi government approved plans to offer rewards of up to $85,000 for tip-offs about car bombs.
The decision came after Defence Minister Abdel Qader Obeidi asked parliament for funds to recruit informers, saying that the authorities lacked sufficient intelligence about insurgents.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Now, that's smart. If the Iraqi security officials can control their passion for peculation, this is bound to work.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Three men were sentenced to death by hanging on Tuesday after being convicted of helping to plan an al-Qaeda truck bombing in northern Iraq in June that killed 72 people.
A judge at Rusafa criminal court in central Baghdad said the court "sentences to death by hanging Adnan Jassim Ali al-Juburi, Walid Mahmoud Mohammed al-Hamdani and Jawad Falah al-Hamdani."
He cited "sufficient evidence of their involvement in the planning and execution of the bombing in Taza."
The judge's name cannot be published for security reasons.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives as worshippers left a crowded Shiite Muslim mosque on June 20 in Taza, near Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. Victims included women and children, and the blast flattened dozens of homes nearby.
Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, put the death toll at 88.
The men can appeal the sentence. Birqdar said they had carried out the attack, but declined to outline their specific involvement or relationship to the suicide bomber.
A statement from the National Media Centre said the suspects confessed to carrying out the attack.
Most similar attacks are attributed to Sunni Islamist insurgents, who view Shiites as heretics, and to supporters of Sunni Arab Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.
Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in the last two years, but bombings and shootings remain common.
Relatively few convictions for such blasts are handed down, partly due to the high volume of attacks and the lack of experience in modern forensic techniques among Iraqi forces.
The Taza convictions come as Iraq prepares for a March 7 parliamentary election, and as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki struggles to defend his reputation for quelling violence in Iraq after a series of major bombings in Baghdad in recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Egyptian security forces detained four Palestinians in Rafah after they allegedly snuck into the country via smuggling tunnels running from the Salah Ad-Din border area.
Security sources told Ma'an the men had entered Egypt in order to finish smuggling deals with the local merchants. Intelligence reportedly questioned the men on the identity of Egyptian smugglers, but did not indicate if any names had been disclosed.
One of the men detained was identified as 31-year-old "HR," who allegedly disclosed the location of the tunnels he used to enter Egypt. The tunnels were reportedly on private Egyptian land, while two others were located on public lands.
Egyptian investigators said they were continuing to question the detained men for more information on the tunnel industry.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Two defence volunteers were killed and three others seriously wounded by a bomb attack on the Panareh-Saiburi road at Bangtha Ruad village of Pattanis Panareh district on Wednesday morning, said Panareh police chief Pol Col Naruecha Suwanlapha. The five defence volunteers were on a pickup truck escorting teachers to three primary schools in the district when suspected insurgents detonated the 5-kg home-made bomb planted under the road. The explosion turned over the pickup truck and instantly killed Anuwat Temratana, 32, and Aim Yodsri, 54.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanon's army said on Tuesday it fired at four Israeli warplanes which flew at low altitude over south Lebanon.
"The army's anti-aircraft guns fired in the direction of four Phantom-type enemy Israeli planes that had been overflying the (southeastern) Hasbaya region at low altitude since this (Tuesday) morning," an army spokesman told AFP.
U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon say Israeli flights over the country violate Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006.
The army publishes almost daily reports of Israeli violations of Lebanese air space. But it rarely opens fire unless the Israeli planes fly within range of its guns.
An spokesman for the Israeli army said it was checking the report of the incident.
Israel relies heavily on air supremacy and its air raids destroyed large districts of the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut and several towns and villages in south Lebanon during the 2006 war.
Hezbollah has said it has the right to acquire air-defense weapons and to use them against Israeli warplanes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Phantom Type? I think they need to brush up on their recognition drills.
#4
Actually, I recognize that photo - I've seen it many, many times. It's part of an air defense exercise in East Germany. The weapon is a ZU-23/4. The area in the background is Finsterwalde Airfield, a few miles east of Berlin. I can't remember exactly, but I think the photo was taken in the late '60s or early '70s. Although it's not radar-controlled, the ZU-23/4 is a potent air defense weapon, since it pumps out a HUGE rate of fire. The Soviets put the same four-barrel weapon on a tracked chassis, and added fire control radar. It could be used both as an air-defense weapon and an assault weapon (ZPU-4). The Israelis captured a half-dozen from Egypt in the 1973 war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/30/2009 14:48 Comments ||
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#5
Old Pat, don't want to quibble, but the soldier on the left of the pic has an interesting eagle over his left breast pocket to looks a lot like the WWII insignia? Was there a similar insignia in the GDR military?
#7
Those are Soviet troops, NoMoBS. The guy you're referring to is most probably a lieutenant, and the insignia on his RIGHT breast pocket is probably an airborne infantry patch. Also note the red tabs on his collar - this is also an indication these are airborne troops.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/30/2009 17:39 Comments ||
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#9
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > LEBANESE ANALYST: HAMAS IN 2010 WILL BE AS [militarily] STRONG AS PRE-WAR HEZBOLLAH IN 2006. The Hammies will be able to fire anti-aircraft missles at Israeli Helos + low-flying jets, emplace large quantities of IED explosives capable of destroying MERKAVA-sized MBTS = AFVS, ATGMS, + ability to attack Israeli civilian communities widin 100-kms [62 miles] from their Gaza bases. HAMAS will have the ability to seriously damage iff not destroy road-bound Israeli troop convoys.
#10
Mojo, Wild Weasels were retired several years ago.
USAF figured that they were unneeded, so parked them and the Aardvarks. Now they depend on the Prowler for the jamming mission, until the Electric Lawn Darts come on line in any sort of numbers.
But that won't fix your WW requirement in any case.
Iran on Tuesday rejected rumors circulating the media that the body of Mir-Hossein Mousavi's nephew has gone missing, saying the body of the deceased is being held for further investigations.
Media reports claimed that the body of Seyyed Ali Habibi Mousavi Khamene, the defeated presidential candidate's nephew killed on Sunday in Tehran, had been transferred from hospital to an unknown location by unidentified individuals.
According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the body of the 42-year-old was transferred by government officials alongside the bodies of four others killed on Sunday to conduct further inquiries into their deaths.
The Iranian police force has described Mousavi's nephew's death as "suspicious," saying that investigations into his "assassination" are underway.
The deaths came as anti-government protestors took to some central and downtown streets in Tehran on Sunday, chanting slogans against top Iranian government officials.
Iranian police forces used tear gas to disperse protestors.
Seven people were confirmed dead during the Sunday unrest.
Iran's Deputy Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said earlier that the force under his command did not use violence against protesters, denying any involvement in the killings.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Mousavi's supporters are repor claiming that the anti-Mousavi Iranian Govt ordered the death of his nephew???
Iran's parliament speaker condemns US and British officials for their reactions to disturbances in Tehran, saying that they orchestrated the "sacrilegious" events.
Addressing the parliament on Tuesday, Ali Larijani said that Iran was not surprised about the stance that Washington and London had taken towards the anti-government protests, which were held during Sunday's Shia Muslim ceremonies of Ashura.
According to Tehran chief prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, seven people were killed in the clashes that broke out between security forces and demonstrators in Tehran on Sunday.
The Tehran police headquarters said that the police forces neither used violence nor fired a single bullet on Sunday.
"US and British officials' disgraceful comments about the sacrilegious events of Ashura are so disgustingly vivid that they clarify where this movement stands when it comes to destroying religious and Revolutionary values," Ali Larijani said.
"Israel's restlessness and its covert efforts to secure more Western aide for these sacrilegious movements has worsened the political situation. The anxiety of royal Wahhabi media has also caused an especially big scandal," he added.
Larijani also singled out US President Barack Obama's defense of Sunday's anti-government protests and said that his reactions was a "gift from God" that would prevent any "naive interpretations" about a possible shift in US policy.
"Washington's behavior during the past few months was nothing but an opportunist attempt to harm the national interest of Muslim Iranians.
"That goes for its childish interference in our internal affairs and its duplicitous gestures on the nuclear issue," he said.
After the Sunday protests, Obama condemned what he called "Iran's crackdown on protesters" and called for the release of the people who were detained.
"We call for the immediate release of all who have been unjustly detained within Iran," Obama said on Monday in Hawaii, where he is on vacation.
Obama said that the US will support protesters during the "extraordinary events."
On Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also hailed what he called the "great courage" of those who took part in the illegal protests.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has vowed to summon the British Ambassador to Tehran, Simon Lawrence Gass, in reaction to Miliband's remarks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2009 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.
[Dawn] Ten civilians, mostly school children, have been killed during Western military operations in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's office said Monday, citing "initial reports".
[Quqnoos] Afghan agents arrested four militants allegedly responsible for killing the country's deputy intelligence chief.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Somali pirates on Tuesday seized a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on the same day a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier was also hijacked. 
The chief if the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has said the elite force has not committed any extra-judicial killings in the name of, what he said, gunfights the crossfire in common parlance in the last year.
North Korea on Tuesday confirmed it is holding Robert Park, a Korean-American activist who had illegally entered the country. The official Korean Central News Agency said, "An American has been detained since he illegally entered through the [North] Korea-China border on Dec. 24. He is under investigation."
[Dawn] The army said Tuesday that its troops had killed an alleged Taliban commander and explosives expert during a search operation in the northwestern Swat valley.
[Dawn] Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, says the provincial administration has found important clues that may lead to the terrorist who planned the Ashura bomb blast. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Three men were sentenced to death by hanging on Tuesday after being convicted of helping to plan an al-Qaeda truck bombing in northern Iraq in June that killed 72 people.
[Ma'an] Egyptian security forces detained four Palestinians in Rafah after they allegedly snuck into the country via smuggling tunnels running from the Salah Ad-Din border area.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Lebanon's army said on Tuesday it fired at four Israeli warplanes which flew at low altitude over south Lebanon.
Iran on Tuesday rejected rumors circulating the media that the body of Mir-Hossein Mousavi's nephew has gone missing, saying the body of the deceased is being held for further investigations. 
Iran's parliament speaker condemns US and British officials for their reactions to disturbances in Tehran, saying that they orchestrated the "sacrilegious" events. 
