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15 Dead as Yemen Truce Fails
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Raveena Tandon (Bollywood) aka Neeta in "Aks" aka Anuradha S. Sehgal / Anuradha V. Chauhan in "Satta" aka Raveena in "Andaz Apna Apna" Roma Singh in "Mohra" aka Durga in "Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence" aka Kaajal in "Laadla" aka Indu in "Akasa Veedhilo" Tejaswini in "Aalavandhan" (age 37)



She might lighten up on the Jewelry and Makeup
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/26/2011 1:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, I think there are some very interesting things happening in India these days.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/26/2011 11:24 Comments || Top||

#3  She might lighten up on the Jewelry and Makeup

Seen fewer reflectors on the mud flap of a 26" Schwinn
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 10/26/2011 22:19 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
U.S., Danish aid workers in Somalia seized by gunmen
[USA Today] Somali gunnies kidnapped an American aid worker, a Danish man and their Somali colleague on Tuesday from northern Somalia, officials said.

The Danish Demining Group confirmed that three of its employees had been kidnapped around 3 p.m. The group provided no other details and asked media outlets "to respect the need for confidentiality as investigations are ongoing."

The three were taken by gunnies while on their way to the airport, said Ahmed Mohamed, a police officer in the Somali town of Galkayo.

Two Nairobi-based officials said the American woman is 32 and the Danish man is 60. The woman was a former school teacher, one official said.

Galkyo is divided in two -- a northern section under the control of the semiautonomous region of Puntland, and a southern section under the control of a a clan called Galmudug. Mohamed said the aid workers crossed into the southern side of the town and were kidnapped there.
Moral of the story: don't go into Galmudug...
A Nairobi-based security official said the demining group was traveling in a three-car convoy, including one vehicle of armed guards, but that the guards did not resist the kidnapping.
Almost as if they were in on it...
The three are believed to be on their way to a former pirate stronghold on the Somali coast, the official said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  Captured on their way to the airport? Sad--they almost made it out in time...
Posted by: American Delight || 10/26/2011 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Knew they were going to the airport - guards didn't resist - guards tipped them off for cash - probably by freelancers on their way to sell the captives to the highest bidder.
Posted by: gromky || 10/26/2011 12:47 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Fuel depot blast in Libya's Sirte kills 100: commander
[Dawn] A fuel tank went kaboom! in Moamer Qadaffy's
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years...
hometown Sirte killing more than 100 people less than a week after the deposed despot was captured and killed there, a military commander said on Tuesday.

"There was an enormous kaboom and a huge fire. More than 100 people were killed and 50 others maimed" in Monday night's blast, National Transitional Council commander Leith Mohammed told AFP.

He said the scene was "a heart wrenching spectacle with dozens of charred bodies."

The kaboom happened as a crowd of people waited near the fuel tank to fill up their cars.

"We are still unable to put out the fire," Mohammed said.

Some of the victims had returned to the town, the last bastion of resistance by Qadaffy loyalists, which fell on Thursday, to inspect the damage to their properties, the NTC commander added.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A beginning?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/26/2011 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Beginning?

Funny way to spell 'continuation'.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/26/2011 13:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Sabotage device on a timer.
Posted by: gromky || 10/26/2011 13:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Some one was probably just dying for a cigarette.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/26/2011 18:58 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Abduction of a Russian Doctor in Yemen
[Yemen Post] Security officials announced today to the press that a Russian doctor had been kidnapped by Mared rustics from the northeastern Oil rich country's province, as he was traveling back to the capital, Sana'a.

The Interior Ministry informed the Yemen Post under cover of anonymity that the doctor had been kidnapped by al-Awamirah tribe in the Mareb province, adding that the rustics were planning to use him as a bargain chip in their attempt to have several of their men freed by the Yemen government.

An official in Mareb said: "They took him [doctor] to an unknown remote place in Mareb, demanding the Yemeni government release one of their clans named Saleh Rashid who was placed in durance vile three months ago over criminal cases, " the official added.

Many security analysts in and outside Yemen have raised the alarm over the past few months as they say the country is sinking further into chaos and lawlessness. In the course of a few months several foreigners have been kidnapped by tribes in different part of the country, traded against money or prisoners. In May, 3 French aid-workers were kidnapped in Sayyun in the eastern province of Hadramaut, with their kidnappers demanding a US$ 20 million ransom and the release of several alleged al-Qaeda bully boys.

And since the government has been unable so far to re-establish orders in the provinces, Yemen's tribes will continue to follow their own rule, serving only their interests and no that of the community as a whole.

Although there was no official statement made to that regard, several sources have confirmed that the doctor was unharmed.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  Oh, goody. Hopefully Putin will give the FSB a field assignment with extreme prejudice.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/26/2011 16:51 Comments || Top||


Yemen's Saleh tells US committed to plan to quit
[Dawn] Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
on Tuesday told the US ambassador in Sanaa that he is committed to a plan to step down amid political violence, the State Department said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland welcomed Saleh's remarks but said that he needed to live up to his promises, after a string of statements by the veteran leader voicing support for the plan without implementing it.

Saleh met with US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein to discuss developments in Yemen after the UN Security Council and the United States both urged him to begin the transfer of power immediately, Nuland said.

"It is a positive step that he called the ambassador in and recommitted to him -- to us, to the international community -- that he intends to sign it," Nuland told news hounds.

"So now we look for him to make good on that commitment," she said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen Ceasefire Ends
[Yemen Post] A government announced ceasefire came to an end after government forces attacked protesters and opposition positions in Sana'a and Taiz.

Government official in announced this afternoon that a truce had been agreed upon by the Opposition and president Saleh. Although the ceasefire was meant to take place at 3pm, residents in Taiz said the shelling was still ongoing well passed 4.30pm.

Eyewitnesses said that no real ceasefire took place but the strategy was a tactic by the government to fool the international community and act as if it calls for peace.

Protesters and human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
activists have denounced the new attacks, accusing Saleh of trying to instigate a war while claiming to want to sign the GCC brokered proposal.

"Enough is enough", said a member of the Opposition. "This game of cat and mouse has lasted long enough. Saleh has clearly no intention of surrendering his power and I believe it is time to move towards sanctions."

Several families in Taiz were seen fleeing the war zone to neighboring villages, too terrified at the idea of spending another night in the city.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


15 Dead as Yemen Truce Fails
[An Nahar] A truce between government and dissident forces collapsed as soon as it was announced, with at least 15 killed on Tuesday, as Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
told the U.S. he is prepared to step down.

The State Department said Saleh told the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa that he is committed to a plan brokered by Gulf states that calls on him to quit 30 days after signing the deal in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

In Sanaa and in Yemen's second largest city Taez at least 15 people were killed, according to medical officials and tribal sources.

A seven-year-old child and a woman were among seven people killed in Taez, after what residents said was random shelling by government forces of neighborhoods. The interior ministry said four coppers also died.

In Sanaa, the truce failed to take hold. Tribal sources said at least one man was killed and nine people were maimed when shelling rocked the northern al-Hasaba neighborhood.

The government and dissident general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar had reached a ceasefire agreement, according to an official statement.

Tribal forces in al-Hasaba led by powerful chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, who backs the general and has thrown his support behind pro-democracy protests across Yemen, also agreed to the ceasefire, sources in his office told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The government statement said the truce went into immediate effect, but Sadiq's brother, Sheikh Hemyar, told AFP that Saleh's troops continued to attack the Ahmar family's homes.

"The truce was not respected for one second by the government," Sheikh Hemyar told AFP by telephone. "As I talk to you, our homes are being shelled" in al-Hasaba.

Residents of al-Hasaba confirmed that the area was being raked by gunfire and kabooms.

Gunfire also rang out near Change Square, the epicenter of anti-regime protests outside Sanaa University, where the dissident general's troops have been deployed since March, local residents said.

Tuesday's announcement came just hours after Saleh's troops opened fire on thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in the capital killing three people and wounding at least 40 others.

A government crackdown on unarmed protesters in Sanaa has left hundreds dead and thousands maimed since January.

Saleh met with U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein after the U.N. Security Council and the United States both urged him to begin the transfer of power immediately, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

She welcomed the talks but said Saleh must live up to his promises.

"It is a positive step that he called the ambassador in and recommitted to him -- to us, to the international community -- that he intends to sign it," Nuland said.

"So now we look for him to make good on that commitment."

Tuesday's truce was the third ceasefire which crumbled since May between the government and tribal chief Sadiq, whose well-armed primitive have been engaged in fierce battles with Saleh's troops in al-Hasaba district.

But it was the first declared truce between Saleh and Mohsen, who defected in March.

Mohsen's First Armored Brigade troops have been battling Saleh loyalists in the capital, stoking fears in the international community that Yemen was headed towards civil war.

Saleh has for months refused to step down after 33 years in power, despite repeated regional and international calls for him to do so.

The escalating violence in the country provoked a U.N. resolution last week that called for Saleh to immediately sign the Gulf-brokered power transition plan.

On Monday, Saleh welcomed the U.N. resolution but did not specify when or if he would sign the initiative of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Officials told AFP on Tuesday that Saleh was in the process of negotiating to modify the initiative to ensure he remains president until early elections are called.

Meanwhile,
...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell...
gas exports from Yemen's Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden are to resume on Wednesday, Yemen LNG said in a statement, nearly 10 days after they were suspended following an attack on the pipeline.

Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
9 die in Sonora state
For a map click here. For a map of Chihuahua state click here For a map of Sonora state click here
Nine unidentified individuals were found shot to death in two separate locations in Sonora state, according to Mexican news accounts.

Three victims were found near the Sonora-Chihuahua state border near Puerto San Luis. The victims were said to be non-white males and were stuffed into black plastic trash bags.

Six others were found on the road between Caborca and Pueto Penasco on the coast. The actual location, according to one news report is close to the Mexico-Arizona border.

Four of the victims have been identified, but their names were not released. The victims were listed as residents of Ensenada, Baja California. All six were shot with assault rifles.

Roads in far northwestern Chihuahua are popular dumping grounds for victims of the Juarez Cartel.
Posted by: badanov || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
US charges 5 for devices sent to Iran, used in IEDs in Iraq
An Iranian and four people from Singapore have been charged by a US grand jury with smuggling thousands of radio transmitters to Iran, some later found in bombs in Iraq, the US Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The five were indicted on charges that they evaded US export control laws by buying 6,000 of the transmitters from a Minnesota company and shipping them via Singapore to Iran, where most US companies are restricted from doing business.

The devices, which can be used for long-range wireless data transmissions, were bought between June 2007 and February 2008 under the pretense that they would be used to set up wireless networks in commercial offices, the Justice Department said.

The indictment, filed in federal court and unsealed on Tuesday, said the transmitters were sent to Iran and that U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq had found at least 16 of them in unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs) between May 2008 and July 2010.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  use one of the IEDs for their punishment
Posted by: Frank G || 10/26/2011 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  They couldn't just buy the stuff from China? You mean there are still things made in this country that the Chinese can't make? Or did the Iranians give some to the Chicoms to reverse engineer?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/26/2011 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Headline is really difficult to parse.
Posted by: gromky || 10/26/2011 13:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Agreed about the headline, gromky, but I couldn't think of a better improvement on the original that didn't get impossibly long. Have you a better suggestion?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/26/2011 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  yeah..stick a little C4 around the device, stick it up their arse and well...send a signal...
Posted by: dacama || 10/26/2011 19:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan 'still running Taliban training camps'
Middle-ranking Taliban commanders have boasted that they have received "practical guidance" and training in bomb-making by officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

One commander, Mullah Azizullah, told a BBC documentary: "They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training.

"First they train us about bombs, then they give us practical guidance.

Their generals are everywhere. They are present during the training."
Posted by: john frum || 10/26/2011 08:24 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  obviously "Rogue™" elements
Posted by: Frank G || 10/26/2011 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Suprise meter needed!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/26/2011 10:05 Comments || Top||

#3  JDAM in downtown Rawalpindi needed
Posted by: john frum || 10/26/2011 12:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Pakis are taught from a young age to hate infidels like US,India and Israel.We are fighting a proxy war for years now between the West and Pakistan.They along with the Saudis and UAE want the return of the Taliban in power(people they fund/trust!)

When the soldiers eventually leave the Paks and their holy warriors will claim victory over not just the Soviets but now USA/West!

They already believe they are causing the collapse of the US/West economy by themselves by keeping us in this never ending war!

Get out and nuke the bastards!
Posted by: Paul D || 10/26/2011 13:37 Comments || Top||

#5  They already believe they are causing the collapse of the US/West economy by themselves by keeping us in this never ending war!

But then, how well would their economy do without all the money we give them?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/26/2011 14:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Ebbang,

By pulling out and cutting aid let them collapse.They deserve no sympathy for extorting the world by using their favorite export terrorism.Why should we be paying our enemy.We will be paying Iran or Saudi next!
Posted by: Paul D || 10/26/2011 15:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Watching the programme now on BBC2 General Gul and General Beg admit Taliban are blood brothers and supported more in Pakistan than in Afghanistan.

Kunduz Airlift in 2001 lifted many AlQ,Taliban and ISI.Who sanctioned this?Cheney from memory!

Every time Bush met Perv a AlQ number 3&4 was handed over to the CIA to keep the Americans happy.The Paks never went after the Taliban Commanders.They operated openly out of Quetta!
Posted by: Squinty Glatch1099 || 10/26/2011 16:37 Comments || Top||

#8  ISI running the training camps with Generals present.They were told by ISI like Kashmir they were fighting for Islam.People from many countries were shipped in liked the Soviet war.
Posted by: Squinty Glatch1099 || 10/26/2011 16:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Bet your last buck that they're running Taliban camps in Birmingham, UK, too.
Posted by: Thor Panda9437 || 10/26/2011 17:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Thor

Funny you say that especially with the amount of British born pakis been found to be trained in Pakistan.They are the enemy within and dont deny it either!
Posted by: Paul D || 10/26/2011 17:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Paul D, get a grip, man, I aint in denial, and you're preaching to the choir here.
Posted by: Thor Panda9437 || 10/26/2011 18:09 Comments || Top||

#12  I'm sure the Russians have a few lovely biologicals we could dust the camps with and see who all keels over dead.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division || 10/26/2011 19:04 Comments || Top||

#13  Leave this toilet now. I mean it. It would be the best thing our idjit in chief would do for his entire one-term presidency.
Posted by: remoteman || 10/26/2011 20:10 Comments || Top||

#14  Sure Pakistan can run taliban training camps but can they do those cool jumps through burning hoops that the Palestinian trainers come up with. Now that's training.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/26/2011 20:47 Comments || Top||


Two passers-by killed in attack on CID man's car
[Dawn] Two passers-by were killed and a policeman was maimed when attackers opened fire on the car of a police sub-inspector posted at the Crime Investigation Department in Korangi on Monday, police said.

They said Sub-Inspector Ashiq Khosa of the CID was reportedly heading towards his Chakra Goth residence along with his 10-year-old son, Rehan, and nephew Mansoor in his car driven by his guard Mutahir Husain when gunnies sprayed the vehicle with bullets.

Two men riding a cycle of violence carried out the attack and managed to flee, the police said, adding that two passers-by -- a boy and a 40-year-old man -- were hit by bullets and they was struck down in his prime.

The car driver, Husain, was also maimed in the attack in which SI Khosa, his son and nephew remained unhurt, the police said.

The bodies were moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The dear departed were iden-tified as 12-year-old Ali Mohammad Chandio, who worked at a nearby tea stall, and Mukhtiar Ali, 40, who was a resident of Chakra Goth but originally hailed from Qambar-Shahdadkot.

SSP East Javed Odho told Dawn that it appeared that SI Khosa was the target of the attack. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
he said, the real motive behind the attack could only be ascertained through further investigations.

The police found four spent bullet casings of a 9mm pistol from the crime-scene.

Following the incident, tension gripped the Chakra Goth locality and shopkeepers closed down their businesses.Some area people protested against the killings of the innocent people and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the police and administration. The protestors also set fire to tyres, but dispersed when police arrived there.

SI Khosa has been posted at the CID police for nearly 10 years.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


At least 18,000 flee Khyber, arrive at Jalozai refugee camp
[Dawn] At least 18,000 people have decamped their homes in Pakistain's tribal district of Khyber, fearing a fresh onslaught of fighting between the army and Islamist thugs, officials said Tuesday.

Families streamed out of the district, a flashpoint for Taliban and other violent groups on the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
supply line into neighbouring Afghanistan, after the army ordered them to leave because of military action going on in the area.

Three Pak soldiers and 34 forces of Evil were killed in Khyber last week shortly before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Kissinger ...
arrived to step up pressure on Islamabad to do more to eliminate thug safe havens.

"Around 3,200 families, up to 18,000 people, have arrived in the Jalozai refugee camp and we are making arrangements to facilitate them," Adnan Khan, front man for the disaster management authority of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, told AFP.

"We will provide them food for 15 days initially and also non-food items, including tents and utensils," he said.

An administration official in Khyber said that many people were sheltering with relatives or in rented houses, rather than at the government camp.

"More than 20,000 people have left the area, many of them have gone to relatives' homes in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and other peaceful cities while many others rented houses there," said Mutahir Zeb, the top administrative official of Khyber.

The United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
said the numbers were being verified, but warned that the figure could be inflated by some people taking advantage of the free food and shelter on offer.

"The provincial disaster management authority has registered 3,200 families and we are verifying this number," Dunya Aslam Khan, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told AFP.

"The estimated numbers of the displaced people are likely to come down by 10 per cent because normally people who are not affected by the disasters also join the displaced families just to enjoy the benefits and compensation," she said.

Pakistain's seven tribal districts on the Afghan border are rife with homegrown insurgency, and are strongholds of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.

Although Pakistain has fought Talibs across much of the region, it has withstood US pressure to wage battle against the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, which has leadership bases in North Wazoo.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World

That is not true. TW is smarter. :-)
Posted by: JFM || 10/26/2011 11:56 Comments || Top||

#2  *blush*. And others are smarter still, JFM, for which I am profoundly grateful.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/26/2011 16:11 Comments || Top||


CJ AJK shot and wounded in Muzaffarabad
[Dawn] The top judge in Pak-administered Kashmire was shot Tuesday while walking in the autonomous region's capital of Muzaffarabad and rushed to hospital with a gunshot injury, police said.

Ghulam Mustafa Mughal was taking an evening walk at a university recreation ground when someone lurking in the bushes shot him once in the abdomen in the city, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northeast of the capital Islamabad.

"He was on his evening walk on the university campus. Someone hiding in the bushes opened fire on him. He received one bullet in his abdomen," police official Riaz Abbasi told AFP by telephone.

Mughal was rushed to a military hospital in Muzaffarabad, where doctors said he was conscious and would be operated upon. Police said the motive for the attack was unclear.

"At the moment, we cannot say whether it's terrorism or some type of enmity. We have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation," said Abbasi.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Ten killed in Karachi violence in past 24 hours
[Dawn] Four bodies have been recovered in various areas of Bloody Karachi as the corpse count of killings in the city in the past 24 hours rises to 10, DawnNews reported on Tuesday.

A body of a victim with gunshot wounds was recovered near Shahrah-e-Faial while another body showing marks of torture was recovered by the Nazimabad police in a graveyard.

Two other bodies were recovered in Surjani Town. According to the MLO at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, one of the victims was killed due to a head wound while the other was strangled to death.

On Monday, six bodies were recovered in various parts of the city including North Nazimabad, Kemari and Sohrab Goth.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Qadri case judge sent abroad
This is what happens in countries controlled by gangsters.
[Dawn] The district and sessions judge, who had handed down two death sentences to Mumtaz Qadri for killing Punjab governor Salman Taseer, has left for Soddy Arabia along with his family after receiving death threats from cut-thoats.

"The death threats have forced Judge Pervez Ali Shah to leave the country along with his family for Soddy Arabia," Advocate Saiful Malook, the special prosecutor in the Qadri case, told Dawn on Monday.

He said sensing the gravity of the situation the government had arranged the lodging of Mr Shah and members of his family abroad. "Although security was provided to the judge and his family members, the government on the reports of law-enforcement agencies opted for sending him abroad," he said.

There were also unconfirmed reports that cut-thoat elements in religious parties had fixed the head money for the judge. "There were such reports but there was a potential threat to the life of Mr Shah and his family members," he said.

Mr Malook said he also had been receiving threats to his life and urged the government to arrange adequate security. "The government has deployed only two coppers for my security which is not adequate," he said.

Judge Pervez Ali Shah had said in his verdict: "No-one can be given the licence to kill anyone in any condition, therefore, the killer cannot be pardoned as he has committed a heinous crime."

Assassin Qadri, a constable in the Punjab Police Elite Force, tried to justify the murder by stating that he had killed Mr Taseer for supporting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who the slain governor had projected as having been wrongly convicted of blasphemy. Qadri, who was on duty to guard Taseer, gunned him down outside a restaurant in Islamabad on Jan 4 this year.

The Islamabad High Court stayed the implementation of death sentence till a decision on his appeal against the verdict.

Advocate Malook said the judge's decision was "absolutely according to law" but the reaction of lawyers of the Rawalpindi Bar to the verdict was unfortunate.

Judge Shah had been on long leave since sentencing Qadri to death. Earlier, the chief justice had placed services of Mr Shah at the disposal of the Punjab government and transferred him from the anti terrorism court-II, Rawalpindi, to the Child Protection Court, Lahore, but later repatriated him.

About three dozen religious parties, including Sunni Tehrik and Jamatud Dawa, have been pressing the government to remove Mr Shah from his post. The holy mans termed the decision "un-Islamic" and demanded action against the judge.

Police are also investigating the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer, son of Salman Taseer, on the lines that Qadri's sympathisers might be involved in it.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men.
said recently that Shahbaz Taseer was alive and his kidnappers were holding him near the border with Afghanistan. Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore's Gulberg area in the last week of August.
Posted by: Fred || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Videos released of Swiss hostages
Taliban in Pakistan have released two videos of two Swiss tourists who have been held hostage for the past four months.
He's a cop, she's an ex-cop.
Both are ethnic Swiss who had not noticed that the Hippy Trail isn't as safe as it was in 60's and early 70's.

The videos in English and Swiss-German dialect show the Bernese couple holding a newspaper dated September 15 and calling for Switzerland, the United States and Pakistan to meet the hostage-takers’ demands.

Their captors want the United States to release Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, jailed for 86 years in 2010 for the attempted murder in Afghanistan of an American who was interrogating her, as well as other Taliban members who are imprisoned in Pakistan.

“Our lives are at risk” if the demands are not met, one of the hostages says in one of the videos.

Taliban sources told the German news agency the couple were still alive, although the videos made public on Tuesday were five weeks old.

The couple were travelling in the Balochistan province of Pakistan when they were captured by armed men. The following week a spokesman for the Taliban said they had been moved to the neighbouring province of South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
Here is a link to the Swiss German video.
Posted by: Omuting Pheash8511 || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of all the places in the world in which to trek, why do so many choose to trek in hellholes like this? Constant wonder to me...
Posted by: Ackoopmed || 10/26/2011 21:42 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
11 bombs kill two, injure 40+ in southern Thailand
More than 10 bombs ripped through the heart of Yala town yesterday evening, killing at least two people and injuring more than 40 others. The bombs started exploding one after another in different locations at 6:50 p.m. The blasts caused officials to cut phone signals to all cell phone systems.

The first bomb went off near an old market, killing two people. Shortly after, a second explosion near the Park View Hotel, injured scores. The third bomb went off near Yala Ram Hotel, followed by a fourth near the Rama Cafe restaurant. A fifth one exploded near the Saeb Isarn food shop, a sixth at a fruit stall, a seventh at a gas station, an eighth in front of an education office, a ninth at stationery shop, the 10th behind a school and the 11th on Tha Sap road. About 10 bombs had been found and defused, police said.

The bomb blasts created a widespread blackout in Yala Muang municipality. A source said several suspicious objects had also been placed in other locations.

Police believe the attack was the work of terrorists insurgents looking to mark the seventh anniversary of the Tak Bai incident on Oct 25, 2004, which resulted in 85 deaths. The infamous event at Tak Bai took place when seven Muslim terrorists men were killed during attempts to disperse a protest in Tak Bai district and 78 more men died of suffocation after they were forced to lie face down on top of one another aboard military trucks while being transported from the protest site to a military unit in Pattani.

Earlier in the day, a soldier was injured when his patrol was ambushed in Pattani's Sai Buri district. An unknown number of terrorists attackers hiding on Narathiwat-Pattani Road fired on the patrol at around 7 a.m.

Suspected terrorists in custody

Police have made major breakthroughs in Sunday's attacks which left several people dead, including a pregnant woman and her three-year-old son. A pickup truck believed to have been used by suspected terrorists militants who killed two defense volunteers was found abandoned in a rubber plantation yesterday. It was riddled with bullet holes and had a barrel of gasoline in the back.

The attack occurred shortly before two bombs damaged two convenience stores in downtown Narathiwat. Five people were killed in the fire that followed, while seven were wounded. Authorities also detained four terrorists people suspected of being involved in the blasts. They were allegedly found with an alleged M16 rifle, an alleged AK rifle, a shotgun and ammunition.

Police said there was little doubt the alleged pickup was used in the alleged attack on alleged defense volunteers.
Posted by: ryuge || 10/26/2011 01:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Dupe URL: Saudi cleric: Kidnap Israeli soldier - get $100,000
Famous Muslim cleric Dr. Awad al-Qarni offers reward in response to similar cash prize offered by Israeli bereaved family. Hamas minister: Gaza pullout enables us to keep Shalit captive

A week after the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, top Saudi cleric Dr. Awad al-Qarni is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who kidnaps Israeli soldiers.
 
He is responding to an ad published by the Libman family offering a similar reward for anyone who catches the person who murdered their relative Shlomo Libman. Libman was killed by terrorists near the settlement of Yitzhar in 1998.

"The press reported that the Zionist settlers will pay huge amounts of money to whoever kills the freed Palestinian prisoners," al-Qarni said. "In response to these criminals I declare to the world that any Palestinian who will jail an Israeli soldier and exchange him for prisoners will be rewarded with a $100,000 prize," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Al-Qarni's post has already received more than 1,000 likes and extensive coverage in Hamas-affiliated newspapers in Gaza.
 
Al-Qarni is a famous Muslim cleric who often guests on TV shows and operates his own website where he discusses various religious law issues. The Palestine-Islam issue is particularly close to his heart.
 
Meanwhile in Gaza, Hamas Minister Fathi Hamad admitted that Israel's withdrawal from the Strip enabled Hamas to hide Gilad Shalit for so long.
 
In an interview with Lebanese daily as-Safir Hamad said that the "military campaign in Gaza abolished any security coordination with Israel and the Strip's liberation allowed us to conceal Shalit for five years." Hamad stressed that Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing managed to keep Shalit captive despite Israeli attempts to extract him and admitted that they paid a heavy price for keeping Shalit captive.
 
"That is why the deal is a triumph for the Palestinian people and residents of Gaza who have sacrificed 600 lives during Israel's first response to the bold abduction."
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/26/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2011-10-26
  15 Dead as Yemen Truce Fails
Tue 2011-10-25
  U.S. pulls out envoy to Syria
Mon 2011-10-24
  Interior Minister escapes suicide kaboom on trip to Panjshir
Sun 2011-10-23
  Libyan Leader Declares Nation Islamic, Sharia Law to be Implemented
Sat 2011-10-22
  Qaddafi on display in shopping center freezer
Fri 2011-10-21
  Libyan fighters hoist govt flag above captured Sirte
Thu 2011-10-20
  Qadaffy titzup
Wed 2011-10-19
  Libyans push into Qaddafi hometown from east
Tue 2011-10-18
  Shalit reunited with family, Paleo prisoners freed
Mon 2011-10-17
  Mexican Army rescues 61 kidnap victims, seizes drugs
Sun 2011-10-16
  US missiles kill six in South Waziristan
Sat 2011-10-15
  Son of the spiritual head of the Egyptian Islamic Group killed in Afghanistan
Fri 2011-10-14
  10 militants killed in drone attacks
Thu 2011-10-13
  Haqqani big shot confirmed killed in Pakistan
Wed 2011-10-12
  Underwear bomber pleads guilty to all counts

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