Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Today is May 1st. The day adopted by those who espouse the latest form of human slavery, typically ending in an -ism, communism, socialism, multi-culturism, etc.
Therefore, I hereby re-brand this day, by the power vested in me by the fact I am an actual human being and not an -ism related thug.
[DAWN] Afghan troops backed by Western air power killed at least 60 gunnies near the Pakistain border, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said on Wednesday, in one of the biggest single assaults against the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
US officials say Washington has intensified its drive against the network in an attempt to deal a lasting blow to the gunnies in Afghanistan before foreign combat forces depart this year.
About 300 Haqqani Death Eaters and imported muscle came under intensive fire on Monday when they tried to storm Afghan bases in Ziruk district of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement.
The NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -led international force declined to comment.
The Haqqani network, which professes obedience to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, is believed to have been involved in some of the most deadly attacks of the Afghan war.
The group has been blamed for attacks on hotels popular with foreigners in Kabul, the bombing of the Indian embassy in the capital, a 2011 attack on the US embassy and several big attempted truck bombings.
The United States blacklisted the group as a terrorist organization in 2012. It also accuses Pakistain's powerful spy agency of supporting the network and using it as a proxy in Afghanistan to gain leverage against growing influence of its India. Pakistain denies that.
Monday's battle occurred in the southeast province of Paktika which shares a long and mostly non-existent border with lawless areas in Pakistain where imported muscle and the Haqqani network are believed to be based.
Insurgents pledged to disrupt this month's presidential election with a campaign of violence, but the vote passed off relatively peacefully.
As the country readies for an expected second round run-off in June, there is concern the conditions will be more favourable for Death Eater attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[ABCNEWS.GO] Egyptian court officials say a Salafi preacher and top Moslem Brüderbund ally has been sentenced to a year in prison with labor for insulting judges during a trial at the Cairo police academy.
Safwat Hegazy, who joined ranks with the Brotherhood in supporting the electoral campaign of the now-deposed Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , was sentenced Wednesday for remarks made the same day while on trial with 130 others, including Morsi, for escaping from prison during the country's 2011 uprising.
Hegazy was a key speaker at the main pro-Morsi sit-in dispersed by security forces last August. He had told protesters to hold their ground and promised to reverse the military's overthrow of Morsi.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Following this morning's suicide boom-mobile at Saiqa Special Forces headquarters in Benghazi in which two members of the brigade died, bully boyz tried to kill an another security officer this evening.
Akram Emsallah, an officer in security support, was critically maimed when a bomb laced under his car blew up while he was driving down Shara Ashreen in central Benghazi. He is reported to have lost a leg in the blast.
No one else was injured in the kaboom despite crowds in the busy shopping street.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A court in Egypt sentences 22 Moslem Brüderbund members to one year in jail each.
The court sentenced Moslem Brüderbund leader Mohammed Badie and 21 others to one year in jail each for what it calls insulting the judiciary.
The Brotherhood members are co-defendants of ousted President Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
The judge issued the verdicts against the Brotherhood members on Wednesday, after the defendants inside the caged dock were accused of turning their backs on him.
The ruling was made in a case that concerns an alleged prison escape by the defendants.
Morsi and senior Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagy were spared the one-year jail penalty.
This is one of the three trials that Morsi is facing. The deposed Egyptian leader faces espionage charges and incitement over the killing of protesters in the two other cases.
On Monday, another Egyptian court handed down death sentences to Badie and 682 supporters of the group.
The same court also reversed the death sentences of 492 out of the 529 people it had passed in March.
The military-installed prosecutors changed most of the death penalties to life in prison sentences.
Badie has also said mass death sentences against him and other members of the group will result in the downfall of military-backed authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, whose group occupied northern Mali in 2012, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... in a statement posted Wednesday on Islamist websites.
Belmokhtar was a leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which, along with other armed Islamist groups, took advantage of a military coup in 2012 to occupy northern Mali before being driven out by French and African troops.
The elusive Islamist, who staged the deadly siege of an Algerian gas plant last year, was thought to have been killed in Mali, but security sources told AFP in mid-April he had moved into Libya and remained active.
"We declare our faith in the policies of our emir, Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri... because we are convinced of the fairness of his approach," Belmokhtar said in the statement.
He specifically mentioned Zawahiri's latest comments on in-fighting between Salafist tough guys in Syria that has killed hundreds since January.
Last year Zawahiri ordered the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) to confine its activities to Iraq after it was accused of widespread abuse against Syrian civilians and rival rebels.
Later, Zawahiri declared al-Nusra Front to be the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
In more recent comments, Zawahiri called for unity among Islamists fighting in Syria to topple the government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... .
The one-eyed Belmokhtar split from AQIM in 2013 to form his own group, the Signatories in Blood, and criminal masterminded the deadly raid against Algeria's In Amenas gas plant in which 38 hostages were killed in a four-day siege last year.
The attack was said to have been carried out in retaliation for the French-led military intervention in Mali.
The United States designated Belmokhtar's group as a terrorist organization in December, and the State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
In mid-April Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said that Belmokhtar -- who had also fought the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1990s -- was "a threat" to regional security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
"my heart and soul for Screech"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/01/2014 9:34 Comments ||
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#2
Something about blood as well, Frank. There's always something about blood, for some reason.
[DAILYTIMES.NG] Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic turbans, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , killed no fewer than eight people in a gun attack in Kubla Village of Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, where they set places of worship and residential houses ablaze during their raid.
Some residents of the affected village, who fled the area, said they were attacked by gunnies suspected to be Boko Haram members in the early hours of Tuesday.
"They used explosives during the attack on the churches and many people bit the dust," villagers recounted, as one of the residents, who identified himself as Heldia Apogu said.
"I cannot actually say how many people were kill but I saw about six dead bodies being evacuated."
Another resident claimed that some houses were also attacked by the gunnies who took some men as hostages.
"I saw some people crying, saying their relations had been taken away as hostages by the gunnies," the resident, who craved anonymity, said.
Efforts to get military and police authorities comment on the incident did not yield result at
the time of filling this report but the Chairman of Madagali LG, James Abawu Watharda, said eight people bit the dust during the attack.
Watharda said soldiers have sealed up the area and were hunting for the fleeing attackers, adding that "eight people were killed and two churches, and some houses, were set ablaze by the attackers, while all the villagers have fled."
Madagali Local Government is bordering Gwoza Local Government of Borno State, which has experienced series of turban attacks since the declaration of the state of emergency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Suspected al-Qaeda jihadists have executed three Yemeni soldiers they captured in an ambush of an army convoy backing an offensive against Death Eater strongholds in the south, a security official said Wednesday.
"Residents found the bodies of three soldiers, bearing marks of torture, near a road intersection in Ataq," the official said, referring to the capital of Shabwa province in south Yemen.
Yemen's security forces on Tuesday launched an offensive against bully boy bastions in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... provinces, with 36 people -- 21 soldiers and 15 snuffies -- killed so far, according to an AFP tally Wednesday compiled from several sources.
The three men executed were among 15 soldiers captured by snuffies during Tuesday's ambush near Al-Saeed, one of several towns in Shabwa province targeted in the offensive by Yemeni troops, who are backed by tribal militia, the official said.
The snuffies were armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades when they seized a troop carrier with the soldiers inside and destroyed three other vehicles, army sources said.
The abductors released two soldiers hours later, after "severely beating" them, the security official said, adding that the fate of the other 10 troops remains unknown.
After the three bodies were discovered Wednesday the army made a "tactical withdrawal" from Al-Saeed, the official said.
In Abyan province, meanwhile, three al-Qaeda snuffies were killed and 10 maimed Wednesday when the army shelled the towns of Sannaj and Maajalah, an army officer said.
The launch of the ground offensive followed intense U.S. and Yemeni air strikes on suspected al-Qaeda targets last week that officials described as "unprecedented".
The air strikes killed 55 suspected snuffies in Abyan, three in Shabwa and 10 in Baida province further north, where three civilians also died, according to officials.
Military commanders are seeking to expel the jihadists from a string of small towns and hill districts in Abyan and Shabwa, where they retained a presence after a 2012 offensive in which the army recaptured major towns.
A "Friends of Yemen" meeting in London heard a call by British Foreign Secretary William Hague for donors to back Yemen's efforts to give al-Qaeda "nowhere to hide".
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- a merger of the network's Yemeni and Saudi branches -- is regarded by Washington as its most dangerous franchise and has been subjected to an intensifying drone war this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
After the three bodies were discovered Wednesday the army made a "tactical withdrawal" from Al-Saeed, the official said
"run awaaaaay. Aiieeeee!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/01/2014 9:36 Comments ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] A suspected member of banned myrmidon group Jama'at-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) yesterday blamed a leader of Mymensingh unit Jubo League ... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... for leading the safe passage of one of the three convicted JMB leaders who were hijacked from a prisons van in Trishal on February 23.
The accused, Ataur Rahman Kamal alias Juboraj, is the joint secretary of Bhaluka thana unit Jubo League, youth wing of the Awami League. His father is also a ruling party leader in Bhaluka.
The disclosure came at a press briefing at the RAB headquarters following the arrest of eight suspects in the last few days for their alleged involvement in the incident.
According to the elite force officials, six of them were incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! for their direct links with the hijacking incident and making safe route for one of the Death Eaters while the two others for helping them in their attempts to leave the country.
There were several other groups active on the spot to bring out the two "Jagoron Tutorial Home" at Bhaluka.
Police at different times arrested at least 11 persons in connection with the incident.
JMB Majlish-e-Shura members Rakib, Salauddin alias Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan had been hijacked from a prison van while they had been taken to a Mymensingh court from Gazipur jail. Rakib had been arrested a day after the incident and was killed in a shootout by the police.
The hijackers also killed one of the coppers escorting the van.
Of the three, Salauddin and Rakib were death row convicts while Boma Mizan a lifer.
At the press briefing, Sabuj said: "The hijacking of Hafez Mahmud alias Rakib Hassan was carried out under the directives and leadership of Ataur Rahman Kamal alias Juboraj."
Talking to several journalists in Mymensingh and locals in Bhaluka, it was learnt that Kamal's father Mujibor Rahman is a vice-president of the upazila unit Awami League. Mujibor is a former vice-chairman of Bhaluka Upazila Gay Pareehad.
Sabuj said Kamal had informed them about the plan and each of them were given Tk20,000 for the purpose. He claimed that six persons had taken part in the operation while Kamal was present near the scene of the crime on a black microbus.
"We helped Rakib Hassan to reach Fulbaria from Trishal and then he chose his own way," he added.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman, director of RAB's Legal and Media Wing, ruled out the claims Sabuj had made at the press bringing.
"All the eight detainees are myrmidons. Whenever any criminal is arrested, he or she opts for political shelter as a technique," he said.
He claimed that separate groups had taken part in the hijacking and each was tasked with different duties. They did not know each other. "The hijacking of the JMB leader was a long-term plan. The group led by Sabuj was tasked with the safe escaping of Rakib Hasan only."
Habibur said they were trying to identify members of the other groups.
Asked about action against Kamal for his alleged involvement in the incident, the official said they had started investigating into the allegation.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Three suspects were killed in Reynosa, Tamaulipas on Tuesday and Wednesday, including two armed suspects who were killed in an armed encounter with a Mexican Army unit Tuesday night, according to official Mexican news sources.
The latest report brings the reported death toll in two days of fighting in Reynosa to 17.
According to the news account, a Mexican Army road patrol was fired on Tuesday night by armed suspects who were aboard a Pontiac Torrent SUV near the intersection of Bulevar Del Maestro and Avenida Mozart in Narciso Mendoza colony.
Army return fire killed two of the occupants, one of whom was identified as Fidel Gutierrez Gonzalez, 34. The report hinted that rifles, pistols, one hand grenade, ammunition, tactical gear and the vehicle were seized following the incident.
Meanwhile Mexican Army units conducted four raids in Reynosa stretching out across Tuesday night and into late Wednesday morning, seizing a total of 76 rifles, six each 40mm grenade launchers, 12 each 40mm grenades, drugs and vehicles.
Tuesday night at a residence in Hacienda de las Fuentes colony, Sector 4 near the intersection of calles Quebec and Liverpool, soldiers seized 22 rifles, two each 40mm grenade launchers, four each 40mm grenades, three kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, 415 small packages of cocaine, 714 small packages of marijuana, 3,000 marijuana cigarettes, weapons magazines, ammunition and one vehicle.
Just after midnight Wednesday in Los Caracoles colony, a Mexican Army patrol was fired on by armed suspects who were moving aboard nine vehicles. The suspects immediately fled the scene, apparently abandoning their vehicles.
Following that incident soldiers seized 19 rifles, one pistol, three grenade launchers, three each 40mm grenades, 103 weapons magazines, ammunition, 10 kilograms of marijuana and the nine vehicles.
Eight hours later at 0840 hrs also in Los Caracoles colony, a Mexican Army road patrol found one vehicle abandoned with one suspect dead inside. Soldiers also seized 10 rifles, five grenades and 67 weapons magazines.
At about 1100 hrs in Riberas del Bosque colony, soldiers located an abandoned vehicle which contained 25 rifles, two grenades, two 40mm grenade launchers, 2,100 rounds of ammunition and 12 weapons magazines.
A news story which appeared Wednesday afternoon in the online edition of Milenio news daily said that numerous shootouts had taken place throughout the city, and that local criminal gangs were implementing road blocks in various points in the city.
In one incident, according to the article, armed suspects entered an OXXO convenience store demanding car keys from customers so their vehicles could be used to block roads. The story failed to say where that incident took place or whether it was just one of many.
Another part of the news report said that large convoys were reported moving in Reynosa.
All of these reports were gleaned from Twitter and other social media.
A separate Milenio news report hinted that Reynosa mayor JosĂŠElias Leal had at least discussed asking for either more army reinforcements or a curfew in the municipality, but denied actually making a request for either.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
A woman was killed and nine others wounded in a bomb attack aboard a train at a station in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Explosions were reported in two carriages of the train, which was heading from Bangalore to Guwahati.
The incident happened minutes after the express train arrived at the station. Officials said that the explosions were "low intensity" and took place under passenger seats. Television images showed a hole blown through the floor of one coach, wounded passengers being helped away and dozens of policemen on nearby tracks beginning an investigation.
The blasts come in the middle of India's staggered general election, but officials say they cannot confirm if the two events are linked.
[Dhaka Tribune] Police tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 10 leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , including Jamaat's present and immediate past district unit amirs, last night.
The arrested were incumbent Jamaat amir Prof Abdur Rashid, immediate past amir Maulana Azizur Rahman, Islami Chhatra Shibir activist Abul Kalam Azad, Jessore district unit Jamaat amir's driver, Luvlu, and six other Jamaat-Shibir men.
Reshma Sharmin, assistant superintendent of police, said police arrested six of them earlier in an overnight raid in Rupdia under the district's Sadar upazia where they were holding a clandestine meeting.
Police claimed that they also recovered four bombs, bomb-making materials and a machete from their possession. The party, however, denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not!
Mohammad Shahabddin, publicity affairs secretary, Jessore city unit Jamaat-e-Islami, said the two Jamaat leaders were over 70 years of age and were retired schoolteachers. "They cannot carry bombs," he added.
The remaining four were arrested Tuesday night in Jessore's Ghope area when they were returning from the residence of Tariqul Islam, BNP standing committee member.
An online media reported all this soon after the arrest, and the police disclosed their information yesterday morning.
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05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] GUJRAT: The law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) claim to have made a breakthrough by arresting four members of an outlawed outfit who were involved in assassinations in Gujrat during the last one year.
Those killed included a bigwig of the University of Gujrat and a religious figure.Sources told Dawn on Tuesday that a security agency had nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! four men in connection with the assassinations in the district. The suspects, they said, had been trained by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and belonged to a banned sectarian outfit.
The LEAs were making efforts to capture the snuffies after the liquidation of religious figure Fazeelat Shah (who was better known among his followers as Phul Shah). He, along with six of his devotees, was bumped off at Jassoki village in the Kunjah police precinct in September last year.
In another targeted attack, Prof Shabbir Hussain Shah, a bigwig of the University of Gujrat, and his driver were killed in October last year.
A bigwig confirmed the arrests but declined to reveal the identity of the suspects who were quizzed by a joint team of the police and a security agency. He said more arrests were expected as the LEAs were determined to breaking the back of the network.
Two of the arrested men are learnt to have targeted a trader belonging to Ahmadi community in Sara-e-Alamgir. The victim miraculously survived both attacks. A Gujrat police official was rubbed out by the network near Jail Chowk on Aug 14 last.
Another source said arrests had been made in various parts of the district.
The UoG security officials had nabbed a suspected terrorist from the main gate of the Hafiz Hayat campus around three weeks ago as he was trying to sneak into the varsity campus during the annual sports gala where VC Dr Nizam, the Gujranwala commissioner and officials of the district government were present.
Investigators learnt that the suspect belonged to Rahim Yar Khan and agencies took his custody from the police to further probe him.
An alleged Indian agency agent was arrested by the local police in a shrine at Mohri Sharif village of Kharian around a month ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Not striped shirts with plaid pants again.
Posted by: Steven ||
05/01/2014 1:43 Comments ||
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#2
White before Memorial Day. A definite faux pas...
[DAWN] SWABI: District Police Officer Sajjad Khan on Tuesday claimed that one of the killers of six people of a family had been incarcerated Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! . Six
persons were killed and nine others injured when gunnies opened fire on a van going to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. a few days ago.
The DPO told mediapersons here that the arrested man, Arshad, disclosed during interrogation the names of his three other accomplices, who were still on the lam.
The police officer said that Arshad along with his accomplices, Aman Khan, Ayaz Khan and Malang had opened fire over the van.
Mr Khan said a committee constituted after the incident traced the culprits through an FIR registered into the killing of one Irfan, son of Shah Nazar, in May 2013. He said the case was registered against Sajjad of Yar Hussain village.
However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... he said the family of the dear departed was convinced that another man, Yasir Khan, who was also involved in the incident, was not named in the FIR. The police officer said Yasir later went to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... .
The DPO said that the killers thought that Yasir had come to the village and was going to Peshawar along with his family to catch a flight for Saudi Arabia.
The DPO said that the remaining three accused would be arrested soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraqis defied a rash of attacks that killed 14 people Wednesday and voted in the first general election since U.S. troops withdrew, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... proclaiming "certain" victory.
Queues formed from early morning at tightly guarded polling stations, and turnout by midday was around 40 percent, according to a diplomatic source.
Polls closed at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), and the election commission was expected to give official turnout figures later in the evening. Ballot counting began immediately after the vote, but preliminary results are not expected until mid-May.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Iraqis had "courageously voted," sending "a powerful rebuke to the violent Death Eaters who have tried to thwart the democratic process and sow discord in Iraq and throughout the region."
Iraqis complain of myriad grievances, from poor public services to rampant corruption and high unemployment, but the month-long campaign has hinged on Maliki's bid for a third term and dramatically deteriorating security.
Maliki encouraged a large turnout and voiced confidence he would stay in power after voting at a VIP polling center early on in the Rasheed Hotel in Storied Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
"Today is a big success, and even better than the last elections, even though there is no foreign soldier on Iraqi soil," he said.
Maliki called for a move away from national unity governments towards ones of political majority, confidently telling journalists: "Our victory is certain, but we are waiting to see the size of our victory."
The runup to the election, the first parliamentary poll since U.S. forces withdrew in December 2011, has seen Storied Baghdad and other major cities swamped in posters and bunting.
Parties have held rallies and candidates have angrily debated on television, but their appeals have largely been made on sectarian, ethnic or tribal grounds rather than political and social issues.
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05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Shin Bet statement says that seven members of cell, including Israeli national, were making explosives, planning bombing and shooting attacks on Israeli targets.
The Israeli security forces said Wednesday that the Shin Bet and IDF have broken up a Paleostinian terrorist cell linked to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah. The cell was planning attacks on Israeli targets, the security forces said.
According to a statement from the Shin Bet security services, the seven members of the cell were detained between December 2013 and March 2014. The group was allegedly manufacturing improvised explosives, as well as planning bombings and shooting attacks.
The cell members were all Paleostinians from Qalqilyah, save for one Israeli Arab who lived in the West Bank city, the Shin Bet said.
According to the statement, a Shin Bet investigation revealed that one of the suspects had set up the cell with the intention of carrying out attacks on Israeli targets, in particular shootings and bombings.
The cell focused on developing makeshift explosives using agricultural fertilizer, the Shin Bet said, as well as carrying out trial runs using the explosives they had managed to make and seeking to obtain guns that originated in Israel.
The organization also said that Khaled Daoud, the sole member of the cell with Israeli citizenship, was to make good use of his freedom of movement within Israel to obtain raw materials for explosives and acquire weapons.
The Shin Bet investigation into the cell also apparently revealed that the cell members appealed to prominent Hamas activist in Qalqilyah Salah Daoud for funding to continue their activities. Daoud apparently agreed, and even offered to help recruit more member for the cell.
[Ynet] AMMAN - Jordan is opening a new, sprawling tent city to accommodate tens of thousands more Syrian refugees who are expected to flee fighting as their nation's civil war continues unabated, a UN official said.
Jordanian officials will open the Azraq refugee camp on Wednesday, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Syrian border.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... says the camp will ultimately host 130,000 people, as many as there are now in Zaatari, currently Jordan's largest camp.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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[VOA News] Philippine officials say at least 15 people have been killed during fighting between government troops and Islamist bully boyz in a remote southern region.
The fighting began Tuesday and continued into early Wednesday in the town of Patikul on the island province of Sulu, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
bully boys.
The military says the fighting broke out when Abu Sayyaf fighters attempted to retake a jungle camp captured by government troops Monday.
Officials say the Islamist advance was successfully driven back, although at least one soldier was among those killed in the festivities.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
[Iran Press TV] The corpse count from separate terrorist attacks in the Syrian city of Homs has reached 100, with most of the victims being civilians, reports say.
The new figure updates an earlier corpse count from the boom-mobileings and mortar fire on April 29.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front has grabbed credit for the deaths.
The attacks were carried out in an area under the control of the Syrian army and mostly inhabited by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's Alawite minority community.
More than a dozen others were also killed in separate attacks in the capital, Damascus.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the attacks are a message from the foreign-backed bully boyz that there will not be any "safe zones" in the country for the presidential elections to be held.
The deadly attacks came a day after Assad formally submitted his nomination to seek a third term in office in an election due to be held on June 3.
Syrian official reports initially said 40 people had been killed and 116 others had been maimed in the Abbasiyeh district of Homs.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[VOA News] An air strike by Syrian fighter jets hit a school in the northern city of Aleppo Wednesday, killing 18 people - many of them children. WSJ puts the total at 47. Paywall warning.
Activists, including the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, say the air strike hit the Ain Jalout school in the Al-Ansari district of Aleppo. Videos posted by the activists show blood and debris and the bodies of at least 10 children on the floor.
The Observatory says at least 18 people died in the attack, while the Aleppo Media Center says 25 children were killed.
The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Children's Fund said it is "outraged by the latest wave of indiscriminate attacks perpetrated against schools and other civilian targets across Syria."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Armed festivities broke out on Wednesday between the Lebanese army and gunnies in the eastern Bekaa region of Arsal, announced the military in a statement.
It said that eight soldiers were maimed in an ambush in al-Rahwa region on the outskirts of Arsal.
The army has since responded to the sources of fire while Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said that Syrian jets shelled the Ras Wadi Daher area where the gunnies were deployed.
The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigades grabbed credit for the ambush.
The National News Agency meanwhile had said that the gunnies were Syrian.
LBCI television earlier reported that two of the gunnies were maimed, adding that they have since been incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! .
It revealed that the ambush was set up when the army was raiding a warehouse in al-Rahwa.
Later on Wednesday, NNA said an army patrol arrested four Syrians in al-Rahwa.
Separately, three rockets fired from Arsal's outskirts landed on al-Nabi Othman's plain and al-Labweh in northern Bekaa in the evening, according to LBCI TV.
The army on Monday arrested a Syrian rebel commander in the border town of Arsal, which is witnessing along with other Bekaa towns an unprecedented security plan.
On the same day, three Syrians were arrested at a house in Arsal and one of them was carrying a boom jacket containing 3.5 kilos of explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... announced it had executed seven prisoners in its bastion in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, two of them by crucifixion.
ISIL, which has been disavowed even by Al-Qaeda, said it held the seven responsible for a grenade attack on one of its fighters earlier this month in the Euphrates Valley city of Raqa, which it rules with an iron fist.
"Ten days ago, attackers on a cycle of violence threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Mohammedan civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed," the group said on Twitter.
"Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell."
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified at the roundabout with passer-by walking past apparently unfazed.
One of them, blindfolded and with his head spattered with blood, had a banner wrapped round his body proclaiming: "This man fought against Mohammedans and threw a grenade in this place."
The monitoring group said they were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters executed a man for theft from a Mohammedan in the same way.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/01/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAWN] Afghan troops backed by Western air power killed at least 60 
Zawahiri
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Nouri al-Maliki
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
