[Dawn] Nine people were killed when shooting broke out during a mass demonstration in a provincial Afghan town over the alleged burning of a copy of the Quran by foreign troops, police said Wednesday. We had this same episode posted yesterday. This version's slightly more coherent, I think...
The violence erupted on Tuesday in the Garmsir district of the southern province of Helmand over rumours that Nato-led forces had defiled a copy of the Muslim holy book during a military operation, local residents and police said.
"Eight protesters were killed when the protesters attacked national security officials in Garmsir," deputy provincial police chief Khamal Dinkhan told AFP.
The shooting of the protesters occurred after an Afghan national guardsman was killed by gunfire "from the demonstrators' side," he said.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement on Tuesday that its troops had shot dead an "insurgent sniper" who had shot an Afghan official in the Garmsir area.
But a spokesman for the force said there was no information to back up claims of civilian deaths in the incident, adding that investigations with Afghan security officials were under way.
A doctor at the emergency hospital in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that more than 10 people had been brought in "with gunshot wounds to the stomach, head and legs".
"Two of them are in serious condition," he said.
The incident occurred when more than 1,000 Afghan villagers gathered in Garmsir to protest over the alleged burning of a copy of the Quran during a Nato operation on Monday, local residents and police said.
"During today's (Tuesday's) protest an insurgent sniper shot an Afghan official who was within FOB (Forward Operating Base) Delhi in Garmsir district," Isaf said in a statement.
"Isaf service members identified the insurgent sniper, shot and killed him. There were no other injuries or shots fired," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese forces clashed with rebels on Wednesday in a key area of the troubled western region of Darfur, rebels and peacekeepers said.
"We have taken Gulu" in Jebel Marra, the fertile plateau in the heart of Darfur, Ibrahim al-Hillu, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army faction of Abdel Wahid Nur, told AFP.
Sudanese aircraft had earlier bombed rebel positions in the Jebel Moon and Jebel Marra areas, Hillu said, adding that clashes had caused casualties among civilians as well as rebels and government troops.
"Today, there were clashes between the army and SLA-Abdel Wahid," an official with the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) told AFP but did not confirm if the rebels had taken control of Gulu.
"Some NGOs are on the ground assisting the local population," the official added.
Sudanese warplanes have also bombarded positions of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Jebel Moon over the past few days.
The Darfur conflict that erupted in 2003 initially pitted two rebel groups against the Khartoum government and its Arab militia allies.
But both the rebels and the pro-government militias have since splintered into an array of factions.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Yemen's Shia fighters in a Tuesday statement rejected reports that Saudi forces had taken a small border village, which was controlled by the Houthis since November.
The statement came after the state-owned al-Ekhbariya television network on Tuesday quoted Saudi Arabian Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan as saying that the Houthis have been eliminated from southwestern village of al-Jabiri -- 966 kilometers (600 miles) from the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
In another development, Saudi Jets shelled a refugee camp in al-Khazain area, which is 15 kilometers (10 miles) northwest Sa'ada in two separate aerial attacks.
Saudi forces began fighting with Houthi fighters, and bombing their positions on November 4 after accusing the fighters of killing Saudi border guards.
Houthi fighters say that Riyadh pounds their positions and that Saudi forces strike Yemeni villages and indiscriminately target civilians. According to the fighters, the Saudis are using unconventional weapons such as white phosphorus shells against civilians in northern Yemen.
The overall death toll of Saudi soldiers in the border conflict with Yemen's Houthi fighters now stands at 82.
Meanwhile, Saudi fighter jets on Tuesday launched four airstrikes on the districts of Jabal Qatabir in the mountainous province of Sa'ada in northern Yemen. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising as Saudi troops were shelling the area with some 899 rockets in the area.
Houthi fighters, in addition, managed to repel Yemeni government forces trying to infiltrate into the eastern section of Sama'a region to regain control over it. Yemeni forces had conducted several military operations in the morning with the intent to creep into the region in northern Yemen, however, the incursions ended in failure.
At around 1:30 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) Saudis made a fresh attack which once more was a complete failure. The Shia fighters, meanwhile, set a Yemeni military vehicle ablaze.
The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. The conflict intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the fighters in Sa'ada.
The Houthis accuse the Yemeni government of violating their civil rights and marginalizing them politically, economically, and religiously.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Yemeni security forces arrested four men suspected of belonging to the Al Qaeda organization yesterday evening. A security source revealed that the four men were arrested in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa after Yemeni security forces raided their hideout. It was also reported that Al Qaeda kingpin Abdullah Mehdar was killed by Yemeni security forces.
Hurrah! Our first kingpin! We've only had commanders and emirs and Number Threes up 'til now.
Abdullah Mehdar was the leader of the Al Qaeda cell operating in this area. The source also revealed that the Yemeni security forces seized small and medium arms in their raid on the hideout.
Informed Yemeni sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Al Qaeda organization has established three training camps in the Shabwa province.
During a press conference held yesterday by Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Bakr al-Kurbi at the Foreign Ministry in Sanna, al-Kurbi told reporters that the Yemeni government is conducting negotiations with the kidnappers of western hostages in order to secure their release. He said that these hostages were being held somewhere in the Saada province, but refused to disclose any further details.
Al-Kurbi said that Yemen will reject any London conference resolutions that impinge Yemeni sovereignty. The London conference is scheduled to be held later this month, and it will deal with ways to combat Al Qaeda. Al-Kurbi also said that the Huthi insurgency is an internal issue, indicating that this will not be discussed at the conference.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently called for dialogue with the Huthis and Al Qaeda; al-Kurbi confirmed that this aims to influence the Yemeni youth and their families away from the Al Qaeda organization. Al-Kurbi confirmed that there was an offer to engage with Al Qaeda loyalists provided that they lay down their arms; however he also warned that should they reject this, the government would hunt them down.
The Yemeni Foreign Minister also renewed his countries rejection of the presence of any foreign troops on its soil. Answering journalists' questions, al-Kurbi confirmed that the Americans are convinced of the non-viability of sending US troops to Yemen, and that the solution to this crisis lies in Yemeni forces confronting Al Qaeda elements.
"Let's you and him fight," said General Petraus President Obama.
Al-Kurbi expressed his concern at the presence of any communication between fundamentalist organizations in Somalia and the Al Qaeda organization [in Yemen]. As for the Somali fundamentalist Shabaab movement's declaration that it would send fighters to support "our brothers in Yemen" al-Kurbi said that the Yemeni government is taking these statements seriously, and will take the "appropriate action" to deal with this.
Answering a question put to him by Asharq Al-Awsat regarding his upcoming visit to the US and the issues that he will discuss with the US administration, al-Kurbi confirmed that the issue of terrorism and security and military cooperation will be on the top of the agenda. He also said that he would discuss related issues, such as US aid to Yemen, and the issue of economic cooperation.
Al-Kurbi refused to answer questions on national security however he did confirm that Yemen is currently facing problems in its fight against the terrorists, and on issues related to identifying terrorists. This statement came in response to a question about Yemeni cleric Sheikh Abdel-Majid al-Zindani and his refusal to condemn Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Al-Kurbi added that Sheikh al-Zindani's position does not represent the official position of the state of Yemen. He also said that Yemen has previously called for a conference to be held in order to discuss the definition of terrorism and a terrorist.
In the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa, informed Yemeni sources revealed that the Al Qaeda organization has established 3 camps in the Jabul Kur mountainside. These 3 camps previously belonged to the Aden Abyan Islamic Army.
Who?
The leader of this Islamist organization, Zein al-Abideen al-Mehdar, was arrested and sentenced to death in 1998, after his group kidnapped and executed a number of western tourists.
Sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the previous three months has seen Al Qaeda reopening these training camps in the Jabul Kur mountain range that links Shabwa and al-Jour province with al-Bayda governorate and the Marib governorate.
The source added that Al Qaeda is active in the above regions. The source also spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about air strikes carried out on 24 December 2009, against Al Qaeda cells. The source said that an air strike carried out against the al-Majalah region of the Abyan governorate "was a mistake." The source said that a second strike against the Rafd region of the Shabwa governorate "was a proper hit, because there were members [of Al Qaeda] present at this location...and it was correct."
Yemeni officials claimed that 30 Al Qaeda members were killed in this strike, including mid-level Al Qaeda figure
According to private sources, this strike against the Rafd region resulted in the death of Al Qaeda fugitive Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair, as well as members of Yemeni tribes who had joined the terrorist organization.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that two days prior to these air strikes, aircrafts were observed performing reconnaissance operations in the area. The source said "these airplanes pinpointed the target that they were aiming for where Al Qaeda members were present." The source also said that a day prior to these attacks, a MiG jet was seen bombing targets in the mountainous regions, and "the Al Qaeda organizations must have realized [as a result of this] that there was an impending strike targeting them, for they cannot be ignorant to this degree?"
As for the presence of the Al Qaeda organization in Shabwa, sources said that Al Qaeda has been present in this area for a period of time, and that "the people in the region know the location of these groups" and that the Al Qaeda organization established the training camps in Jabul Kur three months ago. The source clarified the locations of these camps, saying there were camps located in Hatit, al-Said, and Haban. The Yemeni source also told Asharq Al-Awsat that during the recent period Al Qaeda elements have "attracted many young people" and "they pay them in foreign currency" and that "they have new cars." The source also stressed that the Jabul Kur region, which is located between Shabwa and Abyan, "is a mountainous region that is difficult to reach."
So the new cars aren't going to do those young people any good. Oh well, they'll still look pretty until they rust.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"I announce camp 'Exploding Crotch' officially open."
#3
The Yemeni source also told Asharq Al-Awsat that during the recent period Al Qaeda elements have "attracted many young people" and "they pay them in foreign currency" and that "they have new cars." The source also stressed that the Jabul Kur region, which is located between Shabwa and Abyan, "is a mountainous region that is difficult to reach."
Who is funding them?Iran,Saudi or like Pakistan US aid to the govt!
Computer attacks on Google that the search giant said originated in China were part of a concerted political and corporate espionage effort that exploited security flaws in e-mail attachments to sneak into the networks of major financial, defense and technology companies and research institutions in the United States, security experts said.
At least 34 companies -- including Yahoo, Symantec, Adobe, Northrop Grumman and Dow Chemical -- were attacked, according to congressional and industry sources. Google, which disclosed on Tuesday that hackers had penetrated the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates in the United States, Europe and China, threatened to shutter its operations in the country as a result.
At least 34 companies -- including Yahoo, Symantec, Adobe, Northrop Grumman and Dow Chemical -- were attacked, according to congressional and industry sources. Google, which disclosed on Tuesday that hackers had penetrated the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates in the United States, Europe and China, threatened to shutter its operations in the country as a result.
Human rights groups as well as Washington-based think tanks that have helped shape the debate in Congress about China were also hit.
And Rantburg. I'd thought we were an exquisite semi-secret, like a wonderful restaurant or shop one only tells a select few close friends about. I didn't realize we were playing in the big leagues.
Security experts say the attacks showed a new level of sophistication, exploiting multiple flaws in different software programs and underscoring what senior administration officials have said over the past year is an increasingly serious cyber threat to the nation's critical industries.
"Usually it's a group using one type of malicious code per target," said Eli Jellenc, head of international cyber-intelligence for VeriSign's iDefense Labs, a Silicon Valley company helping some firms investigate the attacks. "In this case, they're using multiple types against multiple targets -- but all in the same attack campaign. That's a marked leap in coordination."
Think of it as evolution in action. Rantburg was modified to be much stronger against such attacks in the future, and I'm sure the other attackees were as well. China may come to regret having revealed their hand so early in their war.
While it's difficult to say with certainty where a cyberattack originated because the Internet allows hackers to seemingly crisscross country borders and time zones in seconds, the issue is quickly turning into a source of diplomatic tension.
The standoff between Google and China touches on the most sensitive subjects in U.S.-China relations: human rights and censorship, trade, intellectual property disputes, and access to high-tech military technology.
"The recent cyber-intrusion that Google attributes to China is troubling, and the federal government is looking into it," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. He added that President Obama made Internet freedom "a central human rights issue" on his trip to China last fall.
Since it began operations in China five years ago, Google had agreed in theory to filter sensitive searches but clashed with the Chinese government on what material was covered, and the company regularly found its service blocked when it defied its hosts.
China's state media reported that the government is looking into Google's claims. In China, news about Tuesday's public rebuke by Google was heavily censored except for a stinging opinion piece in the official People's Daily that called the Silicon Valley tech giant a "spoiled child" and predicted that it would not follow through on its ultimatum.
The recent attacks seem to have targeted companies in strategic industries in which China is lagging, industry experts said. The attacks on defense companies were aimed at gaining information on weapons systems, experts said, while those on tech firms sought valuable source code that powers software applications -- the firms' bread and butter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 12:17 ||
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This is the country to which our government has foolishly seen fit to grant most favored nation trading status. Our biggest retailers import billions of dollars worth of plastic crap from these bastards and people at their stores actually buy it, often because the stores offer no alternatives. We've lost our ability to manufacture all kinds of things because we can't compete with the cheap, slave labor and lack of environmental controls in China. They compete with us in the global oil market, driving up the price of that commodity. Their mercury laden coal smoke makes it all the way across the Pacific Ocean into our country getting into the food chain on the way. Wonder why they tell you not to eat too much fish? They proliferate weapons of mass destruction to other hostile dictatorships like Pakistan and they block our efforts to impose sanctions on Iran. They threaten our democratic friends in Asia. There's lots of money to be made doing business with them - if you don't mind dealing with the devil. The danger is that your Chinese overlords may one day stomp all over your human rights just like they have their own people.
[Geo News] Dr Aafia Siddiqui has been produced before a US court, Geo News reported Wednesday. According to Geo correspondent in New York, the Pakistani doctor was wearing a white scarf. During the court's proceedings, Dr. Aafia said there""s too many injustices and she is boycotting the trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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"here she is, the little psycho jihadi lady"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2010 10:22 Comments ||
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What, you mean she didn't try and off the marshals with a hat-pin?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The would-be Christmas Day bomber boarded his flight in Amsterdam to frigid Detroit with no coat -- perhaps the final warning sign that went unnoticed leading up to what could have been a catastrophic terrorist attack.
Congress got its first behind-the-scenes look Wednesday at the botched airline bombing and officials said the security failures were even worse than President Barack Obama outlined last week. It remains unclear, however, how those failures will be fixed.
''He was flying into Detroit without a coat. That's interesting if you've ever been in Detroit in December,'' New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said after a briefing by presidential counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.
Not as interesting if one is from a warmish country and haven't ever been to Detroit in December. For that matter, I once made the mistake of assuming that England and Greece had similar August temperatures, and packed accordingly, back when I was young, ignorant, and untravelled. I blush to admit that a few years later, when I'd become ever so much more experienced and sophisticated, it didn't occur to me that July temperatures at the Belgian coast are significantly lower than in Brussels. The trailing daughters will never make that particular mistake as a result. As for our young pantybomber, there were other signs much more likely to trigger interest at the Amsterdam airport.
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter briefed the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors and Brennan took questions from the House in overlapping sessions Wednesday.
Congress wants to know how Obama plans to improve an intelligence system that failed to recognize the significance of repeated warning signs that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was planning an attack. The Nigerian also showed up at the Amsterdam airport without any luggage -- another sign that officials acknowledge should have prompted more scrutiny.
Agreed. At least empty suitcases, which a lot of people bring on visits to the States. New suitcases filled with new, tagless stuff triggers questions at Customs, whereas old suitcases don't quite as much.
Critical warning signs arrived even earlier, in mid-October, when a National Security Agency wiretap picked up discussion out of Yemen that referred to a Nigerian being trained for a special mission, according to a House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.
''There were more dots crying out to be connected than I realized,'' Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview. ''If any two of the dots were connected, it would have moved the organization to quickly connect the other dots. An improvement or good luck in any number of areas probably could have broken this wide open.''
In November, Abdulmutallab's father in Nigeria reported to the U.S. Embassy that his son had gone to Yemen and had fallen under the influence of radicals there. Another point of failure, acknowledged last week by the White House, was that a misspelling of Abdulmutallab's name at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria initially made the State Department believe he did not have a U.S. visa and therefore was less of an immediate concern.
''A system shouldn't get stymied by a single misspelling,'' Holt said. ''If you mistype something in Google, Google comes back and says maybe you want to look at this other spelling.''
Authorities said Abdulmutallab got through security with a bomb in his pants, and Pascrell said terrorists would continue finding such weaknesses even if officials require full-body scans.
''If we think we're going to stop the terrorists from getting on planes and trains by technology we are dead wrong, and I don't want us to be dead,'' Pascrell said. ''We need to understand that this is a human intervention situation and that we must spend more time at putting boots on the ground and people behind the lines who understand what's going on, who can know what the enemy is all about.''
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., a member of the committee that controls the purse strings for homeland security spending, is calling for Obama to ask the airlines to provide passenger lists to U.S. Customs and Border Protection 24 hours in advance, to deploy more behavior detection officers at airports to spot potential terrorists and expand the purchase of imaging body scanners at U.S. airports, among other measures.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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It's about as cold in Amsterdam as it is in Detroit. At least is was late December. The lack of a coat could have been picked up there. No baggage, no coat in transit to a cold destination.
#5
I still say that his getting on the plane in A'dam was an inside job that hopefully our Dutch buddies are looking at under the radar...
Otherwise, it is the stupidist thing to happen to airline security since they took my P-38 can opener off my keychain because it had a sharp point.
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
01/14/2010 16:23 Comments ||
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The red flags should have been topping the poles back in Nigeria. That's where he got on the first flight, to get to Amsterdam. The ticket agent was probably getting bribed...there were reports that someone helped him to get on board without a passport or anything else. Normally that would be a big warning sign. That's where they should be looking first.
Keep in mind, we don't know everything about this and probably won't for a while. He may have had a connecting ticket to somewhere warm here in the states. The whole "he's got no coat" thing wouldn't be so weird if they thought his final destination was, say, Miami or Houston. (It would have also given him a second chance to set off his undies if for some reason he couldn't on board the Amsterdam-Detroit flight.)
[Dawn] Security forces on Wednesday arrested one of the top commanders of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, identified as Rafiullah, during a search operation in the Tora Warai area of Hangu district.
Officials said that heavily armed troops conducted a search operation in Tora Warai, which is a strong hold of the TTP in Hangu, and held a commander along with nine of his accomplices.
The arrested militant Rafiullah belonged to Ferozkhel area in Lower Orazkzai.
The officials, who refused to disclose their names, said that the militants were later shifted to an army investigation cell for interrogation.
Meanwhile, a headless body of a man was found in the Peepal Kalay area in Hangu district by the police. The terrorists had attached explosives to the dead body which exploded as soon as the police team went near the body. However, it was a low-intensity blast and no injuries were reported.
The dead body had been kept in the hospital for identification for several hours but nobody came to claim. It was later buried by the municipal authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A man has been killed in exchange of fire between two groups in Quetta, on Wednesday. The man has been reported as one of the assailants who opened fire on a vehicle owned by a local Shia leader.
According to police, four armed men riding a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle of Mohammad Rahim Jaffary, the chairman Azadari Council Balochistan, near Killi Geo in Brewary area. No casualty took place.
The fire was returned by Jaffary's gunman, which resulted in the death of one of the assailants while the remaining three managed to escape unhurt. Jaffary was not present in the vehicle at the time of attack.
Police rushed to the site and shifted the body to hospital. Further investigation is underway.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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The roots of that trouble can be sourced in the UN financed phony refugee camps (read: al-Qaeda terror centers)
[Dawn] Police arrested nine accomplices of a group of suicide bombers in a raid at a hideout near the PAF range near Lachi town and seized 15 mortars and a pick up on Tuesday night, DawnNews reported. The district police officer, Dilawar Khan Bangash told Dawn that the police conducted a raid at a hideout of banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in the Mohsin Khan Banda area in the PAF range near Lachi town and arrested nine accomplices of suicide bombers all belonging to the Orakzai Agency.
He informed that on November 3, 2009 two suicide bombers had died in the same area when the explosives laden jacket accidentally exploded. They were coming to Kohat on a motor cycle when the incident occurred.
The investigations teams had found a mobile phone sim and a memory card at the scene which belonged to the would be suicide bombers. The damaged motor cycle was recovered after two days of the incident which had been buried by the accomplices of the suicide bombers. The local people had told the police that they had seen eight to nine suspicious people who were seeing off the motor cyclists in the evening.
After investigations in the light of telephone numbers found in the memory card the police conducted a clandestine operation in Moshin Khan Banda and arrested nine terrorists along with a pickup on Tuesday night.
Later acting on the tip provided by the terrorists during preliminary interrogation the bomb disposal squad recovered 15 mortars buried in the ground three kilometers away from the site of the November blast.
The terrorists were shifted to unknown place for investigation by the police.
Meanwhile the district administration lifted ban on the sale of urea fertilizer keeping in the needs of the farmers. The administration had banned sale of Urea which is used in the making of the improvised explosives devices by the terrorists during Muharram for security reasons.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Almost 70 Pakistani VIPs, including the current and former chief ministers of NWFP, leaders of political parties, sitting inspector generals of police and heads of paramilitary forces, are on the hit list of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), it has emerged.
"We have managed to get a new list of possible targets of TTP from a reliable source working closely with commander of Darra Adam Khel, Tariq Afridi. The militants affiliated with Afridi are mainly based in Feroze Khel, Dara Garhi and Mirbak areas," The Nation quoted sources, as saying.
The TTP hit-list includes: NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, former chief minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, President Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, JUI-F Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MPA, Sikandar Sherpao, Inspector General of NWFP Police, Malik Naveed, Commandant Frontier Constabulary, Sifwat Ghayyur, DG FIA, Zafrullah Khan, Chief Secretary NWFP, Javed Iqbal, Additional Chief Secretary FATA, Habibullah Khan, and CCPO Liaquat Ali Khan.
The names of provincial ministers include: Senior Minister Bashir Bilour, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul kakakhel, and Labour Minister Sher Azam Wazir.
"Majority of those who are on the list belongs to NWFP but the names of important politicians as well as officials from Punjab and Sindh are also included in the list," an official said.
The development came amid heightened fears of more terror attacks on VIPs in the wake of the assassination of seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost province.
The bombing in Afghanistan has not only shocked many officials here but also was an open demonstration of TTP's ability to conduct operation in an area that was considered out of its reach, another official said.
NWFP IGP Malik Naveed said: "I have not received any threat but a lot of our officers have received threatening calls and letters written in Pashto and Urdu languages. We are taking every possible step to save valuable lives of common people and police officers who have frequently been targeted by the terrorists."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A bomb mistaken for a toy killed one child and wounded five others Wednesday at a playground near northwest Pakistan's Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, police said.
The blast took place in the town of Tank, which sits about 30 kilometres east of the lawless tribal belt that runs along the Afghan border and has become a sanctuary for Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
"Some children were playing at a playground and a blast took place in a nearby garbage heap, killing one child and wounding five others," Tank police chief Ejaz Abid told AFP.
"Children found a toy from the garbage heap and when they were playing with it, it exploded," he added.
Sadaqat Paracha told AFP by telephone that he was playing cricket with his friends and went to fetch the ball from the corner of the playground when he found a "ball of steel" on the pile of rubbish.
"I threw the ball towards the other children and as soon as it hit the ground, an explosion occurred and I received wounds on my foot, forehead and shoulder," Paracha said from hospital.
Sheeraz Ahmed, another child, said that the bomb looked like a steel football: "As soon as the ball touched the ground it exploded."Local police official Mohammad Ali Khan confirmed the toll, and said bomb disposal experts were at the scene.
"The child who died in the blast is nine years old, and the wounded are between five and twelve years old," Ali said.
Pakistan has in recent months seen a wave of deadly bombings blamed on Taliban insurgents avenging multiple military offensives against them across the northwest, including an ambitious assault into South Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Somehow I find it hard to believe the live grenade was simply tossed on a garbage pile to be found by the kids. One would think it would have gone off in the moving of the garbage heap rather than having been placed gently in wait for the kids.
One would think a 9 year-old would recognize a grenade/bomb when he saw it. He's grown up in a Taliban stronghold and should be no stanger to local explosives.
Makes more sense to suppose the kid found the bomb in his house or a neighbours and took it to show off to his friends. Threw it at 'em as a joke.
[Dawn] A suicide bomber blew up a truck near a police station in Iraq's western Anbar province on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding six, police said.
The bomber struck in the centre of the town of Saqlawiya, just north of Falluja, 50 km west of Baghdad. A water tanker truck exploded near the gates of the police station, near a municipal government building, police spokesman Mohammed Jassim said.
Two of those killed and four of the wounded were police officers and the rest were civilians, police said.
Authorities immediately imposed a curfew on the town.
Anbar, Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, has been struck by a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks.
A string of bombs exploded in the town of Hit six days ago, killing seven people. The explosives were planted at night at the home of an Iraqi army anti-terrorist commander and others.
Suicide bombers killed more than two dozen people in Ramadi on December 30, in attacks that targeted Anbar's governor, Qassim Mohammed, who was seriously wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Raed Salah, an outspoken cleric from Israel's 20-percent Arab minority, was convicted of disorderly conduct and assault after scuffles with police who confronted protesters during engineering work near Islam's third holiest site.
Palestinians complained excavations at the site threatened the foundations of al-Aqsa. Israel said the work was intended to shore up the structures against natural erosion.
Israel captured Jerusalem's Old City and the rest of Arab East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in 1967. Since then, many Muslims have voiced fears, despite Israeli denials, that Jews may seek to take over the al-Aqsa compound, an area Jews revere as the site of their destroyed Biblical temples.
Clashes around al-Aqsa three months ago, during which Saleh was also detained, were the latest of many over the site, which remains at the heart of particularly thorny disputes between Israel and the Palestinians over control of Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court sentenced Salah to nine months in jail for the 2007 incident, to begin next month. He received an additional suspended sentence of six months.
Salah's lawyer said he would consider an appeal.
"The Israeli state, which is occupying al-Aqsa, is trying to distract from its real crime and to satisfy the mood in Israel by convicting the honorable Sheikh Salah," attorney Khaled Zabarqa told Reuters.
Salah previously served a two-year jail sentence after being convicted of sending money to needy Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Zabarqa said. Israeli prosecutors said some of the money was to be used by anti-Israel armed groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel captured Jerusalem's Old City and the rest of Arab East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in 1967.
Uh, after a suprise attack by Arab Islamic Nations against Israel.
20 years earlier Jordan stole it from Israel during a Multi-Arab Islamic Nation Sneak Attack.
#2
Egypt, I think, was actually Soviet-backed socialist-nationalist at that time.
Also rather 'Islamist' is inaccurate considering the political conditions in 1967:
The King of Jordan and President Abdel Nasser of Egypt have signed a joint defence agreement. The news came as a surprise to Egyptians and foreigners alike since King Hussein has often been criticised for cosying up to the West.
Just two days ago, the president had called the king an "imperialist lackey".
But it seems they have found a common enemy in Israel.
#4
Pappy,
Egypt has been 90 % Islamic since the arab muslim invasion of 641 Islam in Egypt
A national socialist muslim is still a muslim with the same hatreds then as now. No Free thinking is allowed. Allen has spoken.
Unknown assailants detonated an explosive device in the car of Salameh Al-Ghasseen on Wednesday, leader of the Popular Resistance's military wing, the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades near Jabalia, northern Gaza.
An explosion was heard in the Ad-Durj neighborhood, near a Jabalia parking lot, according to sources within the de facto police, who added that no injuries were reported.
The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades said they condemned the attack against its leader "by a group of outlaws and troublemakers," in a statement.
The paramilitary group added that such actions would not be tolerated, nor would they remain silent about this crime that threatens to initiate a series of "crimes committed by unruly boys," the statement said.
So, did the perps get their man or not?
This article starring:
Salameh Al-Ghasseen
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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#1
More unwanted jobs:
Car-starter in the PA parking lot
A series of drive-by shootings and bombings killed three people and wounded 17 in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said on Thursday.
Unknown assailants shot dead and burned the bodies of a Buddhist couple who were riding to work on a motorcycle on Thursday morning in Pattani province, police said. A Buddhist family of three, including a 12-year-old girl, were wounded in another drive-by attack in the same province.
On Wednesday, a group of government electricians were ambushed as they worked on electrical wiring along a road, also in Pattani. One was killed and four others wounded.
A bomb was later detonated outside a tea shop in the same province, wounding four civilians, and in neighbouring Yala a bomb exploded outside an open-air market, wounding three soldiers and three civilians.
Three people, including two children waiting for their school bus, have been injured in a bomb blast that struck Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon. Naharnet news website cited unnamed security officials in reporting that that blast took place at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday at the entrance to a three-storey building.
The security sources identified one of the tenants in the building as Mohammed Zreik, believed to be a Hezbollah official. Two of Zreik's children -- Hasan, 7 and Diala, 11 -- were among the wounded. The third casualty was identified as Zainab Hazimeh, 15, Naharnet added. The elder of the two youngsters injured lost a leg in the blast while the other suffered slight wounds to his face, AFP later reported, quoting hospital officials in the nearby town of Nabatiyeh.
It was not immediately clear whether the owner of the building, identified as Hussein Saeed Hamdan, was the target of the bombing or if he was in the building when the bomb went off.
Kfar Fila is a village located 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the port city of Sidon, and is viewed as one of the bases for the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 00:00 ||
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The Pakistani Taliban have denied their leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US missile attack in the north-west. We'll need to see the severed head ...
At least 10 suspected militants died when missiles were fired at a target in the North Waziristan region near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials say. A Taliban spokesman said Mehsud had been in the area but left before the alleged training camp was attacked. He is on a list of key militant targets. The Pakistan Taliban spokesman confirmed that Hakimullah Mehsud had, until recently, been in the Pasalkot area where the compound was struck.
Hundreds of people have been killed in drone attacks since mid-2008. Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, killed last August, was among them.
North and South Waziristan - where the Mehsud faction comes from - are major sanctuaries for militants. Pakistan's army launched an offensive in South Waziristan in October and is under US pressure to do the same in North Waziristan.
This article starring:
Hakimullah Mehsud
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/14/2010 03:35 ||
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Taliban spokesman said Mehsud had been in the area but left before the alleged training camp was attacked.
#2
When I posted the news link , the article was different to what it is now , obviously the BBC have updated the page
It does appear from various sources that he had left the area , but hey we all know how reliable Taliban spokespersons are .
But , if he had just left the area then one would hope that due to the nature of the terrain , he could only have gone in a couple of directions , making it easier to track .
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/14/2010 8:10 Comments ||
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#3
They always say they weren't killed until it becomes obvious they were.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2010 9:30 Comments ||
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#4
So the head of the Taliban was "in the area" but the camp is only alleged to be Taliban...
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.
Computer attacks on Google that the search giant said originated in China were part of a concerted political and corporate espionage effort that exploited security flaws in e-mail attachments to sneak into the networks of major financial, defense and technology companies and research institutions in the United States, security experts said.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The would-be Christmas Day bomber boarded his flight in Amsterdam to frigid Detroit with no coat -- perhaps the final warning sign that went unnoticed leading up to what could have been a catastrophic terrorist attack.
[Dawn] A bomb mistaken for a toy killed one child and wounded five others Wednesday at a playground near northwest Pakistan's Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, police said.
[Dawn] A suicide bomber blew up a truck near a police station in Iraq's western Anbar province on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding six, police said.
Unknown assailants detonated an explosive device in the car of 
Three people, including two children waiting for their school bus, have been injured in a bomb blast that struck Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon. Naharnet news website cited unnamed security officials in reporting that that blast took place at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday at the entrance to a three-storey building. 
The Pakistani Taliban have denied their leader 
