report covers the period ending March 31 2010
The continuing decline in stability in Afghanistan, described in the last report, has leveled off in many areas over the last three months of this reporting period. While the overall trend of violence throughout the country increased over the same period a year ago, much of this can be ascribed to increased International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) activity. Polls consistently illustrate that Afghans see security as improved from a year ago.
Interesting.
At the same time violence is sharply above the seasonal average for the previous year -- an 87% increase from February 2009
to March 2010.
Of course violence is up.We have more troops there, the Taliban have more troops there, and our troops are more aggressively positioned. And yet Afghans say that security has improved, an apparent contradiction.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/17/2010 06:59 ||
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#1
I'm not going to question their polling methodology, except to point out that the increase probably reflects that increased coalition activity makes reasonably secure areas more secure. I doubt their sample is representative of Taliban controlled areas.
E.G. PRAVDA this fine Guam AM > WOULD-BE ASIAN SUPERPOWERS PREPARE TO CLASH WHEN THE USA WEAKENS.
and
IIRC RENSE > NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC OP-ED > GULF OIL GUSH COULD LAST FOR YEARS.
Read, POLITICIAN-ON-POLITICIAN LACK OF CONSENSUS + PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US DESIRED OWG-NWO, ETC. = YEARS/DECADES-LONG ENVIRO DISASTER = NO GULF OF MAHICO US-GLOBAL OIL REVENUE = NO $$$ = US-GLOBAL RECESSION_DEPRESSION SEEMINGLY GOES ON INDEFINITELY = MORE "JUSTIFIED" US-GLOBAL SOCILAISM-GOVTISM + ANTI-DEMOCRACY.
TRUE TEST OF "GLOBALISM" = OWG-NWO > NOT merely diverting some of the GUlf Oil underwater outflows, BUT DE FACTO STOPPING IT + RESUM NORMAL PRODUCTION.
1960's-70's GUAM TAOTAMONAS > THERE IS MUCH MORE AT STAKE FOR THE US-WORLD WID THE 2010 GoM OIL SPILL THAN AN OIL RIG MAJOR FIRE + UW PIPE BREAK.
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, WE MISSED MADONNA'S "HEY YOU" SONG AT THE PENTAGON THAT DECADE, DIDN'T WE!
We were fortunate enough to sit in on a brief today with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team staff and other government agencies who gave a one over the world' of the battle space we're covering here in this section of RC-East.
They call it P2K which stands for Paktia, Paktika and Khost.
One of the interesting bits of intel is how the command here is able to distinguish the difference between local insurgents, known here as anti-Afghan Forces,' or AAF, based on their equipment.
The harcore fighters, who come primarily from the training camps and madraasas controlled by Jalaluddin Haqqani's son Saraj just over the border in Pakistan, are moving across the border in well organized, platoon-sized groups of 20-40 men and sporting brand new equipment. A high-level BCT source said these guys are wearing new tennis shoes, as opposed to the cheapo rubber sandals of locals, donning full-on chest rigs, packs, newer weapons and sporting high-end, military-style field jackets.
US forces here aren't trying to plug the nearly 300 mile border with Pakistan in their AO. Instead they're raiding where the bad guys lay up in transit to other battlefields throughout the country, hitting them at mosques and compounds where they rest and refit before moving on.
On one raid, US troops killed a bunch of Haqqani fighters and found about 30 high-end sleeping bags at their hide. A source told us these sleeping bags are no-joke mountaineering bags bought for high altitudes and warmth, rather than the chintzy blankets most locals use. I'm sure these guys can't afford Arc'teryx or Patagonia, but they're clearly moving up on the level of supply through their own version of SysCom which speaks to the fact that they're getting the funds to kit up for a fight.
[Iran Press TV Latest] At least three have been wounded after a bomber with explosives strapped into his body blew himself up near an Afghan police post in Kandahar province.
The attack occurred near the gate of an Afghan border police residence in the northern part of Kandahar city, widely deemed as the main battleground of Taliban in Afghanistan, AP reported, quoting Kandahar Police Chief Sher Mohammad Zazai as saying.
Zelmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar, said there were two other terrorist bombers that infiltrated the police compound but were gunned down during an exchange of fire with police forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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Yesterday on Tuesday (27 April) at 1812 Moscow time the large antisubmarine ship Admiral Panteleyev captured a pirate ship off of Somalia according to the Ministry of Defense.
The capture took place at 1812 Moscow time and took place about 15 miles from shore. Inspection of the vessel revealed seven Kalashnikovs, pistols, aluminum boarding ladders, navigation equipment, including satellite navigation, fuel cans and ammunition.
#5
From the blog: Somehow, I just don't think the Russians are sympathetic to the Somali pirates, even if the pirates are just "poor misunderstood fishermen fallen on hard times."
Not with all those AK47s being used against them they wouldn't be. You'd think the pirates would have the sense to show a little appreciation.
Notice all the flashlights those guys had? Maybe good for getting around the ship at night if the mother ship didn't have a source of light, but you'd think they'd be better for rooting around the belly of a cargo ship looking for sailors hiding there.
Lots of those guys looked like Pakistanis or arabs or something. Definitely not type I've seen in other videos involving Somalis. I'd bet dollars against dog turds that Al Qaeda and/or the Taliban are in on this somehow. It may be where they are getting some of the money for the upgraded gear their fighters are sporting.
Because of this, we need to cut it off. Every dollar they get is another dollar they can use against us.
Also, it looks like that fire ought to have been quite visible from shore. They waited until night to sink that ship. Probably on purpose because the sight of the fire on the water would have more impact than the smoke during the day.
#6
Pathetic that we need to depend on the Russians to do what needs to be done to secure freedom of the seas. And somehow I suspect that if the Russians are the ones doing it, freedom of the seas will not be the ultimate result.
Interesting that they shot the Arab and let him writhe on deck pour l'encouragement des autres. I wonder if the Russians involved will face courts martial upon return.
Just a pathetic demonstration of why we're doomed in this fight if we don't start fighting.
#12
Russia has a no-BS attitude toward terrorism and pirates, a huge budget surplus, and a disciplined strategy for extending its power and influence in the world.
WTF happened to make us so clueless and the Russian government so focused and rational?
#13
seems i remember calls here on the burg last year to 'sink the mother-ships' and others of 'kill the pirates'. seems there was someone then telling us that we were simpletons and that such a policy could not work.
Would the commentator that blasted the ideas then then step forward now and explain to us why this Russian policy is so wrongheaded and doomed to failure?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/17/2010 12:57 Comments ||
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#14
This will quickly turn into a conversation about following "The Rules". Sadly, the US civilian leadership doesn't understand anymore about when rules need to be broken.
War is a good example. And piracy falls in the same category in my book.
Probably way too much bureaucracy in the US for so long that people have gotten into pinhead mode. They are so used to some organ in the bureaucracy being able to take care of things that they don't know how to think beyond that any more. No good examples exist in the bureaucrats' living memories.
People who step outside of bounds get fired. So bureaucrats just say "fuc& it" and let their frustration be felt in subversive ways. When people are doing that, it shows bad leadership.
#23
Pappy, that's actually making Russia some money. Sell them weapons a few years later blow them all up, then sell the weapons a a few year alter... lather rinse repeat.
MOGADISHU - Heavy shelling pounded Somalia's capital on Sunday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, as parliament's speaker said lawmakers had passed a vote of no confidence in government.
Speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe said he had called on the country's president to form a new government. A member of the parliament secretariat who did not want to be identified confirmed the vote's outcome.
"280 voted against the government, 30 in favour and eight remained silent. Therefore we will request President Sheikh Sharif to form a government urgently," Madobe told Reuters by telephone.
But events remained unclear, as some parliamentarians contradicted the speaker and said the vote never took place, and they would in fact be voting shortly on Madobe's own position.
"We did not give him the opportunity to hold the vote of no confidence. Every MP was shouting at him, telling him 'you are not the speaker'," lawmaker Sheikh Ahmed Yusuf told Reuters.
Some analysts said the no confidence vote, if real, was unlikely to be taken seriously by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed whose administration is fighting a war against Islamic militants and exerts very little central power.
A powerless parliament demands that the powerless president form a new, powerless government.
Ouch.
Parliamentary business has been paralysed this year, with many legislators living in Kenya, Europe and America because of security fears. The chamber has also been split by a bitter feud over the term of the chamber's speaker and his competence.
Some experts said any vote of no confidence vote could be a ploy by Madobe and his backers to help him cling to his position. The speaker is among the most powerful political figures in a country plagued by violence for nearly two decades.
"I think that figure is cooked," said Rashid Abdi, Somalia Analyst the International Crisis Group. "I think you could expect a statement from Sharif saying he doesn't recognise the validity of that vote and the government continues."
Parliament met for the first time since December as al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab fighters fired mortars at the parliament building, triggering a return of shellfire from African Union peacekeepers. A rights group put the death toll from the fighting at 24 people as heavy exchanges of mortar-fire continued after the legislators meeting ended.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
This is appar a NEW ATTACK by AL-SHABAAB agz the new Parliament Building.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Three Chinese oil company workers were kidnapped in Yemen on Sunday, in an apparent move by separatist militants to press government officials in a dispute, an official in the eastern province of Shabwa said.
The three, who worked at an oil drilling company in Shabwa, were abducted by separatist militants to press security officials in a dispute over a criminal case, the official told Reuters.
"Negotiations are going on to try to have them released," he said.
Disgruntled tribesmen have often abducted foreigners in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country to press for demands from authorities.
Most of those abducted have been released unharmed, but in 2000 a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire and in 1998 four Westerners were killed during a botched army attempt to free them from Islamist militants who had seized 16 tourists.
Yemen has faced increasing unrest by militants seeking the re-establishment of southern Yemen as an independent state.
North and south Yemen united in 1990. But many in the south, where most of the Arab country's oil facilities are, complain northerners take their resources and deny them political rights.
The government, struggling to stabilize a fractious country in which central authority is often weak, faces international pressure to quell domestic conflicts in order to focus on fighting a resurgent al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged criminal was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion members at Char Hogalpatia village in Babuganj upazila of Barisal Saturday night.
The deceased was identified as Jogneshwar Shil alias Joga, of Brahmandia in the upazila. Is that something like Chetwood-upon-the-Thames?
I think the Thames is wetter...
Delwar Hossain, deputy assistant director of Rab in Barisal, said a patrol team of the elite force rushed to Char Hogalpatia at about 11:00pm where a gang of seven to eight criminals was holding a meeting.
It must have been a busy night, if all parties were starting that early.
Soon after being challenged by the Rab personnel, the gang opened fire on them, forcing the law enforcers to fire back. At one stage, the criminals managed to flee the scene.
Whew! It appears the Rab have hired an efficiency expert -- they moved through four steps in only one sentence, without a single artistic modifier. I'm exhausted just reading that.
Later, Rab found the bullet-hit body of Jogneshwar lying on the spot and sent it to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital morgue for autopsy.
"He's dead, Jim. Note how the two randomly fired bullets managed to enter the skull, one behind each ear."
"Statistics is a wonderful thing, Dr. Quincy."
They also recovered one light gun, one revolver, 11 rounds of bullet and two machetes from the spot.
Somehow none of our anti-hero's blood splashed onto any of them, making trainee Belal's job so much easier. He's the one who has to wipe off the fingerprints and return the things to the evidence room in their velvet bags and silk-lined boxes.
Abul Khayer, officer-in-charge of Babuganj Police Station, told The Daily Star Jogneshwar was accused in seven cases, including one for murder.
Piker! Still, he clearly had it coming.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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I want to know what happened to the shutter gun...
A Mexican army unit of the 42nd Military Zone searching for poppy fields in a mountainous region of Chihuahua came under attack, according to Mexican press reports.
No wounded were reported on either side as the Mexican Army unit defeated the ambush and captured five of the attackers.
The army unit's 2nd Battalion was patrolling with two Humvees along a road near Maguarichi. Chihuahua, when they came upon a breach in the road and were forced to stop. That was when the attack began, according to press reports.
#2
Sounds more like they fought through the ambush, since the report claims no casualties & five captures. This is kind of impressive - more than I'd expect of the Mexican Army, which doesn't have a particularly good image these days.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/17/2010 15:33 Comments ||
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#3
"Seized following the ambush were: 1 G-3 assault rifle; 1 AK-47 assault rifle; 2 M-1 carbines; 1 .380 pistol; 2 Fragmenation hand grenades."
Maybe the Mex army guys are allowed to keep whatever arms they confiscate, Mitch. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/17/2010 18:18 Comments ||
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Seventeen people died in violence in northern Mexico including a massacre with eight dead and five decapitations.
Eight people were shot to death and another 19 were wounded in a massacre in a Torreón, Coahuila bar, according to Mexican press reports.
Police were notified by an emergency call that a number of dead were found at the "Juanas" bar at Calzada Saltillo 400.
Reports indicate that a gray colored light truck with six suspects had stopped at the bar and was seen leaving the scene following the shootings.
Hours later a gray light truck was found in Durango with the heads of four people in its bed.
Five people died in Juarez early Sunday morning in three different macabre crime scenes, according to Mexican news reports. Two men were found beheaded and shot to death in Juarez between Plan Guadalupe and Plutarco streets in the Los Nogales district.
According to the translation the severed heads were placed atop the
prone bodies which were also dressed in women's lingerie. Threatening messages had been marked on the corpses as well. The messages were against two municipal police officials.
In a separate crime scene a man was found shot to death in the Valle de Juarez district near Revolucion Sur and Vecente Guerrero streets. Francisco Javier Aldana Archuleta, 21 was found with 43 spent weapon casings nearby. The caliber of the weapon was not determined.
A fourth man was found shot to death in the Eco 2000 district of Juarez near the intersection of Lobo and Cebra streets.
Cãesar Valle Roacho, 26 was found shot with what investigators said was a .223 weapon. They found 27 spent cartridge casings nearby.
A fifth man was found seriously wounded by gunfire in the Waterfill district of Juarez near the intersection of Nardos and Zaragoza streets. Ricardo Acosta Garibay, 35, was transferred to a clinic where he died.
A young man was found shot in the throat in the Parque San QuitÃn in Juarez early Sunday morning. He was identified as Juan Castillo Enrãquez, 20.
An ex-security commander and his wife were found murdered in their home in Hermosillo, Sonora, early Saturday morning. According to Mexican press reports, the couple, Manuel Francisco Gutiérrez Cajiga, 60, and Carmen Duarte Rodréguez, 52, were gunned down with AK-47s in the patio of their home in the Ã"navas municipality.
A man kidnapped a few days ago in Juarez was found dead with his head severed in the Melchor Ocampo district of Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The man whose name has not yet been released, but who has been identified, was found in two different parked cars near the intersection of Montemayor and Chihuahua.
#1
Brownsville Herald:
Tamaulipas investigators on Sunday found four men executed in Matamoros and Mexican marines rescued seven men and one woman in a stash house, Mexican authorities reported. In a separate incident, the Mexican navy announced the successful rescue of seven men and one woman from a stash house.
The divide could not be wider between federal prosecutors and Mohammad Momin Khawaja as the top court in Ontario hears an appeal from the first person charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The Crown is asking the Ontario Court of Appeal to uphold the terrorism-related convictions of the former Ottawa computer software operator and impose a sentence of life in prison, plus 33 years. "Terrorism is different. It is conceptually and morally distinguishable from ordinary crime because it strikes at the very fabric of our free and democratic society," write prosecutors Beverly Wilton and Nicholas Devlin in arguments filed with the court.
For his part, Khawaja is seeking a new trial, arguing that his convictions on five of the seven charges were unreasonable. At a minimum, he is asking to be sentenced to "time served" for the six years already spent in custody.
Both sides will put forward their views of the appropriate penalty for Khawaja at a three-day hearing that begins on Tuesday at the Court of Appeal. It is the first time an appellate level court in Canada has been asked to determine the fit sentence for a terrorism offence.
Khawaja, 31, was convicted of financing and facilitating terrorism as a result of his ties to a British-based group whose terror plot involving a fertilizer bomb was foiled by the authorities. Khawaja was also found guilty of two criminal offences involving a remote control device that could detonate a bomb. Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford sentenced Khawaja to a further 10 years in prison in March 2009, in addition to five years in pre-trial custody.
The judge found that the Crown had not proven Khawaja knew of any specific bomb plot. Instead, he was guilty of supporting "terrorist activity" because of his links to the British group and its support for the armed conflict in Afghanistan.
Khawaja should be sentenced for his actions and not the conduct of terrorists such as the September 11 hijackers, argue his lawyers Lawrence Greenspon and Eric Granger. "Their sins ought not to be visited upon Mr. Khawaja in the form of a crushing sentence," they state.
During the trial, a section of the Criminal Code that required the Crown to show terrorist activity was for a "political, religious or ideological purpose," was found by Judge Rutherford to violate the freedom of religion provisions of the Charter of Rights. The judge excised the "motive clause" and ruled the rest of the section valid, which is criticized by Khawaja's lawyers.
"Perversely, the decision of the trial judge to sever 'motive' from the definition of 'terrorist activity' and to dispense with motive as an element of all terrorist offences uses the Charter not to constrain government action but as an instrument for reducing liberty and freedom and increasing the power of the state," write Khawaja's lawyers. As a result, he was "convicted for offences unknown to law," they say.
The Crown is arguing that the "motive clause" does not violate the Charter and that it has shown Khawaja is an unrepentant extremist. "He lived the archetypal life of a modern Western jihadist. He held an innocuous job by day, built detonators and bantered about the destruction of Israel and the West by night," the Crown states. "He stayed mute at his trial, offering no explanation for his words and deeds. His claim that the verdicts are unreasonable has no merit," it adds.
The wrongdoing of Khawaja and the extent of his links to the British group have been overstated by the prosecution, his lawyers argue. As well, the remote control device found in his home was "rudimentary" and "never perfected, delivered or used," they suggest.
NEW DELHI: Kashmiri terrorists and refugees from Jammu and Kashmir in PoK have both received a pay hike. According to the latest inputs from various agencies, Pakistani authorities are now offering terrorists coming to fight in J&K a monthly salary in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. This is a huge jump from the average pay of Rs 5,000 they were getting earlier.
The reason for this benevolence is not hard to imagine. There has been a drastic drop in violence levels in J&K and militancy needs a desperate revival if the separatist agenda has to continue to grab global attention. The number of terrorists operating in J&K is now hovering around 700, an all-time low since militancy erupted in the state in the late 80s.
The desperation among terror groups is also visible in the return of Furqan, one of the seniormost Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives who had been the group's launch commander based in PoK for some years now. He infiltrated into J&K in April-end with a group but the Army was able to intercept them. Furqan is believed to have successfully evaded the Army and entered the state. His return, after more than four years, is being seen as a sign of LeT's desperation to carry out a few sensational attacks.
It is not just the Kashmiri militants who got pay hikes in recent days. Those staying back in refugee camps of PoK too have been given increased financial benefits. From Rs 1,800 per month, their financial allowance has gone up to Rs 2,400 a month early this year, sources said.
Thousands of Kashmiri youth have moved across the border to PoK in the past two decades for the explicit purpose of becoming trained militants. But many of them have stayed back in refugee maintenance camps run by the Pakistan government, some marrying local girls, and many starting small businesses. There are no clear numbers, but some estimates say as many as 30,000 could be in PoK, holding state subject facility cards which grants them certain rights.
While inflation is an obvious reason for the hike in monthly allowance for the refugees, the desire of many of them to return to India may have also been a reason for increasing the allowance, officials speculate. In 2007, when Indian government opened up a liberal surrender policy for Kashmir, almost 150 of them came back. After a year, the policy was tightened, but sources now say that they are looking at revising it. An exodus of these refugees from PoK to J&K would hit Pakistan's image, say officials.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Suspected militants have released 50 people kidnapped on Saturday in Pakistan's restive northwest, a government official said on Sunday.
Suspected militants dressed as policemen kidnapped at least 60 people in two incidents in the ethnic Pashtun tribal region of Kurram, where government forces have recently stepped up an anti-militant operation.
Negotiations involving tribal elders were underway for the release of the remaining 10 hostages, believed to be employees of the state power company, regional government official Mumtaz Khan told Reuters.
"Militants seem reluctant to free them because they are government employees but we are making all our efforts and we have engaged tribal elders in the process," said Khan.
Pakistani government officials have accused Pakistani Taliban militants of carrying out kidnappings after coming under pressure from security crackdowns in Kurrum and other areas.
Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment.
Some kidnappings in the region were believed to have been carried out by tribes.
Hameedullah Khan, a tribal elder, had a different account of what happened with the hostages, saying militants released 40, while 10 escaped. He was optimistic those still being held would be freed.
"The 10 men do not have identity cards so the Taliban are just holding them to verify their identity. It's not a big deal," Khan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Fighter jets pounded militant hide-outs in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing 15 suspected insurgents as part of the military's campaign to rout Taliban fighters from a mountainous area near the Afghan border, a government official said.
The Pakistani military launched the ongoing offensive in the Orakzai tribal region in mid-March to flush out militants who last year fled an army offensive in nearby South Waziristan. Persistent artillery and aircraft attacks have killed hundreds of suspected militants over the past two months.
The 15 who were killed Sunday were holed up in the villages of Dabori, Gojar and Kamer Mela in Orakzai, said Samiullah Khan, a senior government administrator in Orakzai.
It was impossible to independently confirm the casualties and their identities because the region is remote and dangerous and media access restricted.
Thousands of people have fled the offensive in the area and many have moved in with relatives in nearby districts.
Double-plus good news update from the Khaleej Times: deader count up to 40 now!
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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An Iraqi official says security forces have detained an Al Qaeda militant suspected of planning an attack targeting the World Cup in South Africa next month.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad security services, says the militant was an officer in the Saudi army.
Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani is suspected of planning a "terrorist act" in South Africa during the World Cup beginning June 11, al-Moussawi said in Monday's press conference.
He added that al-Qahtani entered Iraq in 2004 and is suspected in several attacks in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Border Guard forces arrested a Syrian infiltrator in the district of al-Qaem, western al-Anbar province, a military source said on Sunday.
Accurate surveillance of all the outlets and security checkpoints under the Border Guard forces resulted in the capture of an infiltrator without resistance,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
This is progress. If the Border Guard can actually, you know, guard the border, Iraq is just about won.
Investigations with the infiltrator showed that he had no official documents nor weapons,' he said, adding he will be investigated to find out why he entered Iraqi territories illegally. The source did not give further details.
The predominantly Sunni province of al-Anbar lies 110 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
now if somehow the US could guard it's border...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/17/2010 11:59 Comments ||
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces arrested three wanted persons south of Mosul city on Sunday, according to a military source.
A force from the Iraqi army's 2nd Division stationed in Mosul captured on Sunday (May 16) three wanted men on the Mosul-Baghdad highway, south of Mosul,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The wanted men, arrested with weapons in their possession, were referred to investigations,' he added, not giving further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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HT: Ace of Spades
The SAS launched a daring mission to rescue two of its own men held hostage in Iraq against the orders of the Ministry of Defence, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The elite unit was pushed to the brink of mutiny after it was banned from saving the SAS soldiers captured by militants because to do so would embarrass the Government.
The astonishing edict drove SAS officers close to mass resignation, according to a hardhitting report by the Tory MP Adam Holloway, a former Guards officer.
Another take on the SAS action in 2005, with photos and diagrams.
[Ma'an] The Aqsa Brigades, Fatah's military wing, accused the Hamas government of opening fire and injuring a brigade leader in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday.
A statement released Sunday by an Al-Aqsa sub-division, the Nidal Amoudi Brigade, said the Dark Bats -- a moniker given to Hamas gunmen -- opened fire at Hasan Abu Zeid, causing three gunshot injuries to the feets knee and ankle, in the An-Nasr area of Gaza.
The assailants ran away fled the scene, the statement read, vowing dire revenge to "punish the perpetrators sooner or later."
The Hamas-Fatah rivalry has been largely focused in Gaza, following a violent civil war between the waring factions in 2007 which led to the Hamas takeover of the coastal enclave.
Bids to sign a unity deal between the two factions, sponsored by Egypt, have yet to come to fruition. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said Sunday that "Hamas is awaiting a response from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority to a mechanism suggested by Hamas to push forward reconciliation efforts between both sides."
A Palestinian Center for Human Rights report said nknown gunmen fired at him after they failed to kidnap Abu Zeid while Bassel Abu Zeid, Hassan's brother, sustained shrapnel wounds in the same incident while attempting to save his brother.
According to investigations conducted by the PCHR, at approximately 00:10 on Saturday three masked gunmen fired at Abu Zeid, 33, a member of the Preventive Security Service, near his house in Al-Oyoun Street north of Gaza City.
Abu Zeid told PCHR that three masked gunmen in a Land Rover tried to kidnap him when he was near his house. "Abu Zeid resisted and attempted to escape, but they fired at him and at his brother, who came to save him," a statement read.
Police arrived immediately at the scene and opened an investigation into the incident, the PCHR wrote, adding that an ambulance took the two wounded men to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for medical treatment.
"PCHR strongly condemns this attack, which constitutes part of the state of security chaos and misuse of weapons plaguing the occupied Palestinian territories. PCHR calls upon the Prosecutor General to open a serious investigation into this incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Dark Bats -- a moniker given to Hamas gunmen
Moon Bats -- a moniker given to PCHR Pally rights activists...
TEHRAN - Iran has sentenced in absentia award-winning women's rights activist Shadi Sadr and another fellow activist to jail and lashes over a protest in 2007, their lawyer told ILNA news agency on Sunday. Former MP Mohsen Armin, who is a senior member of a reformist party which backs opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was also arrested in Tehran on Sunday, his daughter told a reformist website.
The revolutionary court has sentenced Shadi Sadr, 35, to six years in jail and 74 lashes for acting against national security and harming public order,' lawyer Mohammad Mostafai said.
The other activist, Mahbubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, was also handed a term of two-and-a-half years in jail and 30 lashes for similar charges, he said, adding that he has 20 days to appeal the heavy sentences.'
The court had tried the pair, both currently abroad, on May 8 over a rally in March 2007 outside a revolutionary court where four fellow feminists were on trial. Iranian authorities arrested them along with 30 other protesters.
Sadr, who is also a lawyer and journalist, was awarded the Polish Lech Walesa Prize in September 2009 along with two other Iranian women for promotion of human rights, freedom of expression and democracy in Iran.'
Both women, who also back the anti-government opposition, are well-known for their campaigning to abolish the stoning to death penalty for adulterers and for writings against Iran's Sharia-based law deemed as discriminatory to women.
Iran's hardline authorities have grown increasingly suspicious of human rights activists and scores have been jailed, especially after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last June. The authorities have also rounded up scores of reformist politicians, opposition campaign workers and journalists after the poll, accusing them of inciting mass anti-government protests which engulfed the capital last year.
This morning agents who appeared to have a judiciary warrant searched the house and took my father away,' Armin's daughter, who was not named, told Parlemannews.ir, website of the minority faction of reformist MPs.
Armin is a senior member of the Organisation of Mujahedeen of the Islamic Revolution, which was banned by the hardline authorities. Several of its members were jailed after the June 2009 election which saw Ahmadinejad win a second term amid fraud allegations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] French teacher Clotilde Reiss is being flown back to France on Sunday after the end of her trial in Iran on spying charges, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said. Her lawyer, Mohammad Ali Mahdavi Sabet, said on Saturday that a court had issued a ruling allowing her to leave Iran.
Mahdavi Sabet said Reiss had been sentenced to "pay a fine of $285,000 dollars (230,000)," for her crimes, adding that he had paid the money on Saturday and had not lodged an appeal.
Reiss, who had been out of jail on bail and staying at the French embassy, was accused of taking part in a Western plot to destabilize the Iranian government after the June 12 vote in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected. Her case raised tensions between France and Iran, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear program.
No immediate comment was available from Iranian officials on the end of Reiss's trial.
Reiss was arrested in Tehran in July when preparing to leave the Islamic Republic after working at the University of Isfahan for five months. She was among thousands of people detained over widespread post-election unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
They still holding onto those 3 liberal idiot students? Were Bush in office, they;d have a hostage countdown going, and all kinds of crying about "do somethign to free our children".
But its Obama letting them rot, so in the eyes of the left and prone press, no big deal.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] At least three have been wounded after a bomber with explosives strapped into his body blew himself up near an Afghan police post in Kandahar province. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Three Chinese oil company workers were kidnapped in Yemen on Sunday, in an apparent move by separatist militants to press government officials in a dispute, an official in the eastern province of Shabwa said.
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged criminal was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion members at Char Hogalpatia village in Babuganj upazila of Barisal Saturday night.
[Dawn] Fighter jets pounded militant hide-outs in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing 15 suspected insurgents as part of the military's campaign to rout Taliban fighters from a mountainous area near the Afghan border, a government official said.
