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Algeria sez Qaeda in North Africa emir ''cornered''
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 6: Politix
4 00:00 crosspatch [3]
7 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And may the babes of Joisey cause Ayman al Zawahiri to break into a hot lather that makes him wonder if Allan is gonna strike him dead. Beats the hell out of a goat, don't it, Knothead?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/21/2010 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Robin Meade's got a tat!
Posted by: gorb || 04/21/2010 4:53 Comments || Top||

#3  That explains a lot about the popularity of Jersey Shore.
Posted by: Mike || 04/21/2010 6:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Our small earthquake (3.3) came and went in East Tennessee and it just rattled a few dishes. I have to conclude, it is not GolfBravos scantily clad babes behind the pictures that caused the problem. We are all safe from promiscuous women. It is safe to continue the fine work GB.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/21/2010 10:00 Comments || Top||

#5  I wondered about that JohnQ. My oldest daughter lives in Maryville and I emailed her but havn't gotten a response.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/21/2010 10:10 Comments || Top||

#6  hah! Here in So Cal we schedule 3.3's just to stir our cocktails!
Posted by: Frank G || 04/21/2010 11:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Where did GB's post go?
Posted by: gorb || 04/21/2010 11:13 Comments || Top||

#8  86ed
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/21/2010 12:48 Comments || Top||

#9  I'd like to know what's up with that. Is RB taking a different direction, or is it personal?
Posted by: gorb || 04/21/2010 13:08 Comments || Top||

#10  gorb, check out the threadline on this from yesterday...I looked forward to the good morning segment of rantburg everyday - some thought it was too racy.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 04/21/2010 13:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Yeah, I know. But even though no decision was made and GB toned down his post voluntarily, it still disappeared with no explanation.
Posted by: gorb || 04/21/2010 14:02 Comments || Top||

#12  RANTBURG and GB's post was my first stop every morning. I'll still make this my first stop but the anticipation will have gone from boil to simmer. GB, thanks for the memories.
Posted by: Total War || 04/21/2010 14:02 Comments || Top||

#13  It was my first stop every morning. Thanks for all GB
Posted by: Beavis || 04/21/2010 14:13 Comments || Top||

#14  gorb, you're right. I don't know know why that decision was made or who made it. As a dude still in his 30s I enjoyed the pics of the ladies from the 1930s-1960s - a different type of class for sure. (not that I didn't like the women of today as well :)
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 04/21/2010 16:30 Comments || Top||

#15  Not even in the sinktrap. :)

it will be missed. thanks for the mammaries GB
Posted by: abu do you love || 04/21/2010 17:24 Comments || Top||

#16  *sigh*
I just mentioned that some of the front pics were, perhaps, not quite safe for work. Definitely didn't want them to go away :(.

Now what am I going to use to kick-start the ole heart in the morning?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/21/2010 17:53 Comments || Top||

#17  I thought this was an intelligent site (and still do for the most part). A less than one percent response dictates policy? Rantburg admin, you've gone down a notch. Shame on you for being so very, very, P.C..
Posted by: Flapper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 || 04/21/2010 18:20 Comments || Top||

#18  If it comes to a vote, put me down for bringing back the babes.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/21/2010 18:45 Comments || Top||

#19  I want my GB pics back. :(
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/21/2010 18:47 Comments || Top||

#20  I don't really care one way or the other, so count my vote whichever way you want to.

I've no objections to the pictures of pretty women; they just don't do anything for me. I generally don't look at them, though I might page through looking for funny comments on the RD-S&T-P's headlines.

I do love the older pictures on the front page (1920's?).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/21/2010 19:28 Comments || Top||

#21  Roman Gladiaphers! Why can we not have pics of half-clad er less GLADIAPHERS?
Posted by: B. Franks || 04/21/2010 20:17 Comments || Top||

#22  I think it's delightful when a bunch of anarchists gather for a common purpose.

Thanks GB, for your charity.
Sorry you caught grief.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/21/2010 21:37 Comments || Top||

#23  I miss the pics. I see no issue with the clean ones with the racier stuff linked.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/21/2010 23:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somali pirates seize Thai vessels
The unrelenting Somali pirates have hijacked three Thai fishing vessels with 77 crew members over the weekend, raising fears over the expansion of their territory.

The spokesman for the EU anti-piracy naval force to Somalia, Commander John Harbour, confirmed the hijackings for Press TV on Tuesday.

"This was in the Indian Ocean but far away from the east coast of Africa...This is the farthest hijacking to date. They are now operating near the Maldives and India," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Kenya-base maritime watchdog, East African Seafarers' Assistance Program.

The three ships -- named Prantalay 11, 12 and 14 -- belong to a Thai-based company, PT Interfishery Ltd. The pirate-held vessels were reportedly heading towards the Somali coast.

The Thai crew members are believed to be in good health.

The naval mission patrolling the area since December 2008 has failed to stop the spread of piracy in one of the world's most important trade routes.

The bold sea bandits are now launching more and more attacks south to the Seychelles and farther out towards India as piracy has turned into a lucrative business with cash ransoms worth millions of dollars.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates were responsible for more than half of the reported global piracy attempts in 2009, and nearly all of the hijackings, with 47 successful captures.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  From People's Daily:

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said the pirates hijacked MV Prantalay 11, 12, and 14 with 77 crew members onboard in one of the farthest-off- shore attacks to date.

"The three fishing vessels were hijacked on Sunday and all have 77 Thai crew onboard," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.


Mr. Mwangura, a Kenya-based ex-seaman, has long been the go-to-man for information on Somali-pirated ships.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/21/2010 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's see: merchant mariners were protected by Navy Escorts in WW2, therefore arming cargo ships is only a variation of that same thing. Of course, the big issues are: Somali harborage of pirates, and indulgence of immigration of warload supporting Somalis.

FYI: citizenship can be revoked if it is proven to have been obtained through "fraudulent misrepresentation." Every immigrant has to issue a solemn declaration, affirming that they have never supported terror.
Posted by: Blackbeard Phomoling4117 || 04/21/2010 17:30 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 Let's see: merchant mariners were protected by Navy Escorts in WW2, therefore arming cargo ships is only a variation of that same thing. Blackbeard

Some WWII merchant marine vessels had deck guns and engaged in naval gunfire with the Axix vessels. WWII era Merchant Mariners were finally recognized as US Service Veterans a few years back, which enabled them to receive service recognition and VA care.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2010 17:49 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Algerian army corners al-Qaeda emir
[Maghrebia] Acting on information provided by a repentant terrorist, Algerian army units have reportedly surrounded Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Abu Musab Abdelouadoud in the Bordj Bou Arreridj region of Sidi Brahem, El Khabar reported on Tuesday (April 20th). The al-Qaeda emir survived three previous ambushes by security forces in Kabylie.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Caribbean-Latin America
Iran boosts Qods shock troops in Venezuela
by Bill Gertz

Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military. The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.

The Qods force "maintains operational capabilities around the world," the report says, adding that "it is well established in the Middle East and North Africa and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2010 09:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to invoke the Monroe Doctrine. By this I mean a directive to SOCOM, that the life expectancy of all Qods personnel in Venezuela should be measured in hours.

Wet work, pure and simple, every form of accident and lethal South American disease known. Their food and water should be toxic, their vehicles tending to drive off cliffs, assailed by biting insects carrying nasty diseases like hemorrhagic Dengue fever, yellow fever, malaria, worms, liver flukes, blood poisoning, etc. etc.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/21/2010 10:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I concur Anonymoose

I mean how long has the US had a foothold in Latin America compared to Iranian meagre and tentative first footsteps .. Should be a walk in the park

Ooh and you omitted oil field accidents/hits off the list Anon :P
Posted by: Oscar || 04/21/2010 10:54 Comments || Top||

#3  The current US government is on Iran and Venezuela's side. Nothing will happen until they are out.
Posted by: Shoting Unelet2578 || 04/21/2010 11:09 Comments || Top||

#4  They're gonna keep pushing until somebody pushes back.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/21/2010 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela

I wonder how long we've got until Qods are slipping across our southern borner?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2010 12:25 Comments || Top||

#6  They probably already have.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/21/2010 12:32 Comments || Top||

#7  wonder how long we've got until Qods are slipping across our southern borner?

You mean they haven't been coming in with the Al Qaeda-niks?

Separately, how long have Qods, Hamas, and Lebanese Hizb'allah been down in Central and South America? Qods was involved in the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994, so we have to assume they were well-established there by that point. So definitely two decades, probably heading toward three. It'll be a bit difficult for SOCOM forces to get to the bad guys unnoticed when they are now in their second generation of residence in the neighborhood.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/21/2010 12:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Iran is ... while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq

If we KNOW Iran is aiding the taliban and alqueda maybe we like ought to maybe start a shooting war.
On Iran?
Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous || 04/21/2010 12:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Islamist radicals are well entrenched in America now. Home grown, those that were let in by Visas, the need for "sliipping in" is at an all time low. They are in our armed forces. One of them just shot dozens of our troops. Qods is now working with enemy nations within the Americas to provode logistic support for those already here. To influence, organize and supply those here through the border. And Obama is all for it if it supports HIS and the new Democratic Party's desire for Socialist control of the United States of America.
Posted by: war on terror || 04/21/2010 13:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Obams's "CHANGE" ... in other words, America will NEVER, EVER be the same again.
Posted by: war on terror || 04/21/2010 13:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Maybe they'll reestablish the Islamic Republic of Iran in South America---after Israel is forced to get serious with the one in ME.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/21/2010 14:20 Comments || Top||

#12  I'm sure they'll get along just smashingly with the life-long Catholics there.
Posted by: mojo || 04/21/2010 14:31 Comments || Top||

#13  Maybe they'll reestablish the Islamic Republic of Iran in South America---after Israel is forced to get serious with the one in ME.

WELL, I've heard that after Yugo fired all the malcontents and other people who could actually get anything done from PDVSA, and they went to hither and yon, not being able to work in Venezuela anymore, that he hired a lot of replacements for them from Iran.

Oh, and he's run down Colombia in the past as the "Israel of South America."

My concern about the Qods people is that they could be used to prevent the people of Venezuela from voting him out of office.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/21/2010 14:38 Comments || Top||

#14  The Mambo Chimp is in there for life
just like Hussein Melon Head is...

This will not end well...more
like Cambodia.

The military of Ven has been purged,
now Hussein is working to destabilize
Colombia, Peru and Chile with the
objective of turning them into as many Bolivias.
Posted by: Hotspur666 || 04/21/2010 15:21 Comments || Top||

#15  I know for a fact at least a few of these lumps of shit are in Panama. They run a barbershop in the neighborhood of Caledonia in Panama City. Inside the shop is a huge mural of the ayatollah. Three years ago, a friend of a friend, who is an Iranian of the Ba'hai faith, went in for a haircut, and received an earful of pro-terrorist spittle. They assumed he was muslim or an Iranian agent, and said something to the effect that they are just waiting to be sent their marching orders from Tehran. I reported this to the embassey, but I never heard anything back.
Posted by: Destro_in_Panama || 04/21/2010 16:47 Comments || Top||

#16  Perhaps they are just construction workers working on the launch pad for a Taepodong II on one of the Federal Dependency islands in the Caribbean. Not a problem, as we've got great ABM coverage for the southern hemisphere.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/21/2010 17:03 Comments || Top||

#17  That is what you get when a US President says, "we don't have a veto over other country's nuclear programs."

Hussein O is facilitating a future ICBM threat against the US Homeland, at the same time as he is indulging a Hizbollah (read: Iran) missile buildup in occupied Lebanon.
Posted by: Blackbeard Phomoling4117 || 04/21/2010 17:18 Comments || Top||

#18  ION WEEKLY STANDARD > THE [US] DEFENSE DEPARTMENT RECOGNIZES IRAN'S PROXY WAR [agz US-West + US interests]. Finally + Formally.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/21/2010 20:32 Comments || Top||

#19  Iran has a two-stage missile and they they think they have 5 years before they develop a three-stage ICBM. They can already reach Israel and the US mainland from Venezuela. Tourist boats to the Galapagos have also pulled out of Ecuador the last couple of years because of increased hostilities, with the British and Dutch navies stepping up patrols in the region. They have intercepted missiles, if I remember correctly, going to Chavez, and others in the region say all the cocaine going to AQ in the Sahara is via Venezuela. Maybe counting on our allies (ie Israel, Colombia) would be more productive?
Posted by: Omoluque Hapsburg8162 || 04/21/2010 20:59 Comments || Top||

#20  This is an age old practice that goes back to the Romans and even the Persians. The troops you can rely on to massacre the locals on command, rather than overthrow the goverment, are imported from far away. The imported troops despise the locals and the locals hate the imported troops.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/21/2010 21:57 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
2 Spies Held in Plot to Kill Senior N.Korean Defector
The Norks keep pushing and the ROK keeps allowing it ...
Two North Korean agents have been arrested after sneaking into South Korea disguised as refugees to assassinate an octogenarian former secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party Central Committee who defected to the South in 1997. The agents, from the Reconnaissance Bureau of the North's People's Armed Forces, had orders to kill Hwang Jang-yop (87), prosecutors said Tuesday.
The father of the "Juche Idea" and Numbah One on the Human Scum List.
The National Intelligence Service and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday arrested Maj. Kim Myong-ho (36) and Maj. Tong Myong-kwan (36) on a warrant from the Seoul Central District Court.

According to prosecutors, Kim and Tong arrived in Yanji in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in the Chinese province of Jilin after crossing the North Korea-China border in November last year. They met up with other North Korean agents and received mobile phones and operational funds at a liaison office of the Reconnaissance Bureau there.

Afterwards, they pretended to defect and traveled all the way to Thailand with the help of local brokers. They were arrested by Thai police and handed over to the South Korean embassy. Deported from Thailand, they arrived in South Korea in January and February and were questioned by the NIS.

But their stories did not check out since both gave false names and places of birth. Under interrogation, they confessed to being spies.
I wonder how painful Korean interrogation is compared to, say, RAB interrogation ...
Prosecutors said the two admitted to having orders from Kim Yong-chol, the bureau director, to file a report about Hwang Jang-yop's activities including the location of his home, and to cut off his head. They were ordered to escape to the North Korean embassy in a third country and await further instructions if they failed to accomplish their mission.

The Reconnaissance Bureau was launched last year, when several agencies dealing with operations against the South were merged. Kim and Tong were chosen as special agents in 2004 and received intensive training to infiltrate South Korea and assassinate VIPs, prosecutors said.

The two refused to say what else they had planned, but the NIS is investigating if there are any other North Korean spies already active in the South they were to contact here.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Four killed, seven injured in Hangu blast
[Dawn] A roadside bomb blast struck a military convoy in the northwestern region of Hangu on Tuesday, police said.

Three security forces personnel and a civilian were killed, while seven others sustained injuries.

Official sources said that a remote controlled bomb was planted in the Toor-Garhi area of the district. A security forces convoy, which was heading towards the area, was the target of this attack.

The injured were shifted to the district hospital along with the bodies of the deceased.

Security forces surrounded the area where the blast took place and started an investigation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Southeast Asia
Policeman killed, 61 injured in southern Thai bombings
Terrorists Insurgents launched two bomb attacks in Pattani Wednesday, killing one policeman and injuring 61 police and civilians.

The first bomb attack happed at the Muang police station. An unidentified assailant threw a bomb at the station while policemen were lining up to salute the flag and report to duty in the morning. Initially, MCOT reported that two police officers were fatally injured. But Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit revised down the death toll to one. Jurin said a policewoman, who was severely injured, was saved by doctors. Jurin said 44 other policemen were injured in the bomb attack.

Police said two assailants arrived on a motorcycle which slowed down in front of the police station and the pillion rider threw an M67 into the policemen. The blast damaged a police pick-up and the windows of the police station.

Jurin said the second bomb attack happened at a drug store near the Muang police station. The blast injured 16 civilians, two severely.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/21/2010 07:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Eight years for aiding terrorists
[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN court on Tuesday sentenced a man to eight years' jail for sheltering terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top before the Malaysian fanatic was killed by police in September.

Indonesian extremist Syaifudin Zuhri, 39, hid and abetted Noordin as he planned twin suicide attacks on luxury hotels in Jakarta last year which killed seven people, the court found.

'Syaifudin Zuhri has been proven legally and convincingly guilty in assisting, accommodating and hiding terror convicts. The defendant is sentenced to eight years in prison,' judge Haryanto told the court.

Noordin led a splinter faction of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group until he was killed by Indonesian police during a raid on a house on Java island last year.

He was blamed for a 2003 attack on Jakarta's Marriott hotel, the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy, 2005 attacks on tourist restaurants on Bali as well as the suicide blasts at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton last July.

Zuhri, who was arrested in Central Java province a month before last year's hotel attacks, also stood as a witness at Noordin's third marriage in 2006.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah


Communists kill 4 policemen
[Straits Times] COMMUNIST insurgents killed four policemen and wounded seven other people when they ambushed a police vehicle just outside the Philippine capital on Tuesday, authorities said.

New People's Army guerrillas set off a landmine and threw grenades at the vehicle, which was carrying nine police commandos and two civilians, as it passed along an isolated road at dawn, local police chief Jonathan Miano said.

'The vehicle was completely razed by fire,' said Mr Miano in a dispatch from the area just east of the capital. Mr Miano said four of the policemen were killed immediately and the others in the vehicle were taken to hospital with unspecified injuries.

Local military commander Colonel Aurelio Baladad said the ambush may be related to the May 10 national elections. 'They (the communists) want to show that they are a force to be reckoned with during the elections,' he said.

The NPA have been extorting money from candidates in the May elections, charging them for 'permits' that let them campaign in rebel-infested areas without being attacked. The NPA is the armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969.

The military recently said it had brought down the NPA's manpower, from a peak of more than 26,000 in early 1987 to below 5,000. The communist insurgency has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the past eight years, according to the military.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Another group of Gloria's 'friends'.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/21/2010 0:14 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Terrorist cell disbanded in west Iran
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran has arrested members of a terrorist group that planned to carry out attacks in the west of the country, says the Iranian interior minister.

Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said on Tuesday that members of the group, which had entered the western province of Kurdistan to carry out terrorist attacks across Iran, were arrested by Intelligence Ministry forces "before they could make a single move."

"A large number of arms, maps and confidential documents were confiscated from the terrorist group," Mohammad-Najjar said without identifying the group.

Iranian security forces often clashes with members of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), along its western border with Iraq.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, Iran, Iraq, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations. The group has been responsible for a number of fatal bombings in western Iran and southern Turkey over the past few years.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


US summons Syria diplomat over Scud transfer
[Al Arabiya Latest] The senior Syrian diplomat in Washington was summoned to the State Department on early Tuesday to review "provocative behavior" regarding a potential transfer of Scud missiles to Hezbollah, a State Department spokesman said.

"The most senior Syrian diplomat present in Washington today, Deputy Chief of Mission Zouheir Jabbour, was summoned to the Department of State to review Syria's provocative behavior concerning the potential transfer of arms to Hezbollah," department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.


"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the transfer of any arms, and especially ballistic missile systems such as the Scud, from Syria to Hezbollah," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.

"We call for an immediate cessation of any arms transfers to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region," the statement said.

The United States has not confirmed whether it has actual information on an arms transfer. However, a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We wouldn't have called them in if we didn't think something was going on."

The State Department said this was the fourth time in recent months that Washington has raised the issue with the Syrian Embassy.

The diplomatic quarrel is likely to put a damper on President Barack Obama's administration's year-long campaign to engage Syria, a former U.S. foe, and energize its thwarted push for a broad Arab-Israeli peace, particularly between Israel and the Palestinians.
Posted by: Fred || 04/21/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Wow!! another "peace in our time." Neo-Chamberlainism at best.
Posted by: Blackbeard Phomoling4117 || 04/21/2010 17:19 Comments || Top||

#2  TRIPLE secret probation!!!
Good day, sir!
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/21/2010 18:40 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
German jihadists targeting NATO troops
In a recent Internet video, German jihadists fighting on the side of the Taliban in the Hindukush are seen boasting of attacks on American and Afghan troops. Heavily armed, sometimes disguised or covered in elaborate headgear - this is how the German jihadists present themselves on the Internet.

Online, they post video messages where they pose in front of flags embroidered with verses from the Koran, or demonstrate their shooting skills backed by bombastic music. They call for a holy war against the infidels, boasting of attacks on foreign troops and threatening future assaults.

A few days ago, a new video emerged showing the fighters taking part in target practice at a training camp in Afghanistan. In the 31-minute-long video, the five German-speaking jihadists claimed responsibility for two attacks on American military installations in Afghanistan. They call themselves the German Taliban Mujahideen and are a relatively new group, according to Yassin Musharbash, an editor at German news portal Spiegel Online and an expert on Islamic terrorism.

“There seems to be between six and 10 German-speaking fighters who are in Afghanistan, apparently acting under the command of the Afghan Taliban,' he said. They appear to have made their first online appearance in the fall.

According to Musharbash's assessment, the German Taliban Mujahideen (DTM) formed from the scattered remnants of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a relatively small group that had been active in Afghanistan for years. The four young men of the so-called "Sauerland" group in Germany also belonged to the IJU. They were sentenced to long prison terms in March for preparing planned terrorist attacks in Germany.

“It's my impression that the IJU has been mostly destroyed,' said Musharbash. Only a few sporadic traces remain of the group on the Internet. The marauding foreign fighters of the IJU apparently slipped under the wing of the Afghan Taliban. There, the German jihadists were able to form their own brigade, the DTM.

Musharbash speculated that their involvement in the attacks on the American and Afghan bases, referenced in the video, could have been a sort of internship for the men. “The Afghan Taliban seem to have taken them along on two attacks - that's what it looks like to me,' he said. “And for their part, the German jihadists made a big propaganda video for the German-speaking public, to show that they're not just sitting around but actually taking part."

In the estimation of security experts, about 100 Germans have made their way to Afghanistan and Pakistan to allegedly train in terror camps and fight alongside the Taliban against foreign soldiers. Many of them come from middle-class German families and converted to Islam. Others are the sons or grandsons of Muslim immigrants who have lived in Germany for years. What they all have in common is that they either discovered Islam as new converts or, as Muslims, rediscovered their faith and quickly became radicalized.

“What is new is that many of these converts have taken their families with them to Afghanistan,' said Musharbash. With wives and children in tow, the German-speaking jihadists moved to the Hindukush to take part in the fight against the troops of the International Security Assistance Force.

Some of them have since returned home, with possible plans to carry out attacks in Germany in a worst-case scenario. But a few dozen are likely still in Afghanistan, according to Musharbash.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/21/2010 07:46 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  -probably agent provocateurs of baader meinhof or spk
Posted by: linker || 04/21/2010 23:00 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2010-04-21
  Algeria sez Qaeda in North Africa emir ''cornered''
Tue 2010-04-20
  Iraq announces killing of another senior al-Qaida leader
Mon 2010-04-19
  Abu Ayub al-Masri, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: dead again
Sun 2010-04-18
  Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claim responsibility for Quetta blast
Sat 2010-04-17
  Suspects in Quantico terror plot appear in court
Fri 2010-04-16
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Thu 2010-04-15
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Wed 2010-04-14
  Syria arms Hezbollah with Scud missiles: Israel
Tue 2010-04-13
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