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Iraqi PM sacks senior security officers over failure in fighting insurgents
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thought she might be a Georgia Woodruff, doesn't seem to be so. No Coke, no cash.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/18/2014 16:14 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Finger-Cutting Taliban Leader Killed in Herat
[Tolo News] Three days after severing the fingers of 11 voters in western Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
province, a Taliban capo, Mullah Shir Agha, was killed in an Afghan cops operation, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Monday.

The operation took place in the Robat-Sangi district, where on Saturday news broke that 11 voters had been seized by Talibs on their way home from a polling center and had their fingertips, which were stained by ink from voting, severed.

"Insurgent commander Mullah Shir Agha and one of his officers were killed in a police operation yesterday in Herat," the MoI statement read. "The pair was accused of having cut off the ink-dyed fingers of 11 voters in the western province."

According to the Interior Ministry, another turban thought to have been involved in the mutilations on Saturday was injured and taken into custody during the operation.

No police casualties were reported.

The Taliban had warned people not to participate in Saturday's vote, at pain of violent retribution. However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
as was the case during the first round in April, millions of Afghan voters turned out at polls in defiance of the turbans' threats.

Ultiamtely, Saturday's voting process was described as relatively peaceful despite a series of Taliban attacks that officials said killed more than 50 people.

Both runoff candidates Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai have pledged, if elected, to improve ties with the West and sign the stalled Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would allow nearly 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan post-2014 to help train and advise Afghan forces as well as conduct counterrorism operations.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  which would allow nearly 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan post-2014 to help train and advise Afghan forces as well as conduct counterrorism operations.

Maybe someone there is watching the news from Iraq?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/18/2014 7:51 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
15 dead as murderous Moslems strike again on Kenyan coast
[Pak Daily Times] At least 15 people have been killed in a new attack near Kenya's coast, officials said Tuesday, just 24 hours after Somalia's Shabaab rebels massacred close to 50 people in the same area.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group said its fighters carried out the latest attack on a village, and that its commando unit had managed to return to base unhindered after two nights of carnage. "We carried out another attack last night. We killed 20 people, mainly police and Kenyan wildlife wardens. The commandos have been going to several places looking for military personnel," Shabaab's military front man Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP by telephone. "The commandos have fulfilled their duties and returned peacefully to their base," he added, without saying if the attackers were still inside Kenya or had driven back across the Somali border, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the north.

Police confirmed the gunnies, apparently part of the same group that massacred nearly 50 people in the town of Mpeketoni overnight Sunday, attacked the village of Poromoko, also situated in Lamu county, late on Monday. Kenyan police spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki confirmed the new attack -- which came as brass hats were flying in to the area to coordinate security operations -- and security sources said there were 15 dead. Sunday night's assault on Mpeketoni, near the coastal island and popular tourist resort of Lamu, was the worst attack on Kenyan soil since last September's siege of the Westgate shopping mall in the capital Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed.

Witnesses described how the turbans drove into the predominantly Christian town on Sunday night, attacked a cop shoppe and then hotels and homes. The gunnies also singled out non-Mohammedans for execution, sparing Mohammedan men as well as women and kiddies. "They arrived and asked people to get out. They asked them to lie down, and then they shot them one by one, right in the head, one after another," said David Waweru, who was watching a World Cup match in a cafe but managed to hide behind a house when the Mpeketoni attack started. Shabaab said the attack was further retaliation for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as well as the "Kenyan government's brutal oppression of Mohammedans in Kenya through coercion, intimidation and extrajudicial killings of Mohammedan scholars".
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  Thanks for that headline. Why that one? I dunno. I guess it's a time when little things mean a lot. I about blew a gasket seeing the NYT's take: Coast Town Attacked; Dozens Die (or something like that).
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/18/2014 21:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey, dickheads, best listen to Moses:
"My rod shall smite those He opposes.
It might not be Zipporah
But someone'll clip for ya
More than the tips of yer hoses."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/18/2014 21:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Five dead in Benghazi over past two days
[Libya Herald] The bodies of five men all killed in Benghazi have arrived at the city's medical centre since yesterday.

Spokesman for Benghazi Medical Centre (BMC) Khalil Guider told the Libya Herald that the body of Zaid Amad Shamsa had been brought to the hospital this morning. He said the man had been found dead in Benghazi's Boudzera district.

A resident in the city's Al-Berka area said he had seen Shamsa kidnapped by a group of men who arrived in two cars. He added that Shamsa had been shot in the thigh when he attempted to resist his assailants. It is believed that at the time of his kidnapping he was travelling to offer condolences to friends who were grieving the death of their son.

Guider said the body of an Egyptian national had arrived at BMC yesterday. Identifying the man as Khalifa Sayed Hamed, he said Hamed had died of a gunshot wound and was in his mid-thirties.

Meanwhile,
...back at the game, the Babe headed for second base. He almost made it. Then Sheila slapped him....
Benghazi was this evening preparing for its second night of a traffic curfew, when the only way for people to get around between midnight and 6am is on foot.

Last night's ban appears to have been widely respected, though in the past week night-time traffic has diminished with travellers wary of being caught up in fighting between Operation Dignity forces and Ansar Sharia.

The traffic curfew has been imposed by the Benghazi Joint Security Room. Its men could be seen last night moving around the city centre after midnight. A road block at Al Kish near the Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
Bridge came under attack at around 1am, by unknown assailants. The heavy gunfire that was heard for several minutes resulted in serious injury to a Security Room soldier, who later died in hospital.

Areas of Benghazi endured power cuts in the course of the day but until this evening, when gunfire was heard near the city centre, the level of violence appeared to have diminished. It remains unclear whether Ansar Sharia forces are still resisting the attack on their base at Sidi Faraj, which began on Sunday.

In an unusual development, air force planes yesterday bombed an airstrip at Teka, some 20 kilometres west of Benghazi. Operation Dignity front man Mohammed Hejazi told this paper that the action had been taken to stop Islamist forces from trying to fly in weapons and ammunition.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar al-Sharia


Captured Benghazi suspect did interviews with U.S. media outlets as authorities searched for him
[NYDAILYNEWS] The suspected ringleader of the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks, who was captured by U.S. forces over the weekend, was actually interviewed by multiple media outlets last year -- a stunning revelation that could raise questions over why it took the U.S. so long to arrest the man.

Ahmed Abu Khattala, a leader of the Benghazi branch of the terror group Ansar al-Sharia
...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active...
in Libya, was captured by American special forces in Libya Sunday for his suspected involvement in planning the fatal Sept. 11, 2012, assault that left four people dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

But Abu Khattala, whom the U.S. had charged for the crime last summer but didn't apprehend until now, has conducted multiple media interviews with U.S. outlets in recent months and years, with news hounds claiming he wasn't hard to find.
I'm sure Champ, ValJar, Hildebeast and Jahwn knew exactly where he was. That wasn't the issue...
Last August, CNN's Arwa Dawson interviewed Abu Khattala for two hours "in public at a coffee shop of a well-known hotel" in Benghazi, she explained during the segment.

"For a suspected terrorist, who may have been involved in the murder of four Americans, he's really not that difficult to find," Dawson said during her report, adding that Abu Khattala "seemed to be confident, his demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon."
Champ is trying to change the topic of conversation. Again. What's that phrase they use at the White House?
In the audio interview, Abu Khattala, through a translator, didn't deny he was at the compound the night of the attack, but said the gunfire and chaos had already erupted before he arrived.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  The Khattala capture announcement appears to have been timed to coincide with last evening's Baier and Van Susteren Fox News softball interview with the Beast. Clinton's responses to the questions came rapidly, almost mechanically, without pause or hesitation. Had she answered more speedily, her responses might have been spouted before the actual questions.

A bit to choreographed for my liking. Very disappointing to see Fox News fall into the useful idiot formation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2014 2:59 Comments || Top||


#3  Rush: 'Amazing coincidence.' Suspect captured just when Champ needed a boost.

Rush Limbaugh is skeptical of the sudden capture of a highly-visible suspect in the 2012 Benghazi terror attack, calling it an “amazing, timely coincidence” that he was snatched from Libya just when President Obama desperately needs a foreign policy victory.Limbaugh spoke Monday afternoon about the capture of Ahmed Abu Khattala, a Libyan suspected of orchestrating the September 2012 attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

“The news media going berserk,” he began. “Isn’t it an amazing, timely coincidence here that they have found a militia leader of the Benghazi attack and they’ve arrested him? Isn’t this AMAZING timing?”




Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2014 4:07 Comments || Top||

#4  During interrogation they made him watch the video that the administration says sparked it all more than 100 times. He will be bitching and moaning about that youtube video as he arrives in New York.
Posted by: Airandee || 06/18/2014 6:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Rush wasn't the only one who thought it an amazing coincidence about the timing of the capture. It's just another distraction while the public is being played like a harp from hell.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/18/2014 7:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Is he actually guilty, or is he another filmmaker?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/18/2014 8:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Even more insidious - a film critic.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/18/2014 10:56 Comments || Top||

#8  That dog doesn't look happy.
Posted by: gorb || 06/18/2014 11:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Oh the tangled web Obama weaves.....
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/18/2014 12:08 Comments || Top||

#10  He will be water boarded til confession that Behgahzi was spontaneous reaction to the video
Posted by: alpha2c || 06/18/2014 14:09 Comments || Top||

#11  You're right gorb, Little Eva looks sehr tense. I'd paid serious bucks for that dawg. That's a knowing dawg.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/18/2014 16:16 Comments || Top||

#12  I'd call that dog Was, because the poor critter is past tense.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/18/2014 18:03 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria Vigilantes Kill Eight 'Militants' near where Girls Snatched
[An Nahar] Nigerian vigilantes said on Tuesday they had killed eight suspected 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...
bully boyz who attacked a village near Chibok, where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in April.

Adamsi Tar told AFP the suspected bully boyz had attacked a village about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from Chibok in volatile northeastern Nigeria, burning several homes and looting food.

As the assailants tried to flee, vigilante members opened fire on them, killing eight. One was locked away
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
and the rest fled, said Tar, the local leader of the vigilante group.

"The gunnies fired shots indiscriminately because they had no idea where the shooting was coming from. When they realized their response was futile they retreated," he said.

"Several homes and buildings in the village, including our office, were burnt along with our uniforms."
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Kuwait scrambles to keep out Iraq tumult - Army asked to be on 'level 3' alert
KUWAIT: The Cabinet is preparing to discuss a report from Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah tomorrow about national preparations amid the security developments in Iraq. The CabinetÂ’s weekly meeting is expected to end with instructions for the Interior Ministry to reinforce security at border checkpoints, especially the northern Abdaly checkpoint in order to prevent infiltrators associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant from making their way in or out of Kuwait, said informed sources.

The Cabinet is also expected to make a decision to send humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees from cities controlled by ISIL troops, and coordinate with the Iraqi government and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council states in this regard, said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

This comes amid reports indicating that army intelligence sent a recommendation to the Kuwait Army General Staff Headquarters to raise the armed forces' level of alert to level 3, which requires that one third of forces from all sectors of the army must remain in their camps.

The army has meanwhile taken measures to maintain constant communication with the Directorate General for Border Security and the State Security Department in the Interior Ministry in order to stay updated about possible security breaches at the borders, according to sources quoted by Al-Anbaa daily yesterday. Army officials have already received updates regarding the latest developments following blasts on Friday in Safwan near the border with Kuwait, said the sources who were unnamed in the report.

The daily also reported that officials at the Safwan border checkpoint informed their Kuwaiti counterparts that they have stopped receiving passengers from all nationalities into Iraq starting from Friday until further notice.
Posted by: Squinty || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Our good old 'on again-off again' Kuwaiti friends. I'll bet the air base at ali al Salem is abuzz.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2014 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  They should be on alert. For the next 2 years at least as no Bush is in the White House.
Posted by: Airandee || 06/18/2014 6:51 Comments || Top||

#3  I have been asking (without success) about activity at what used to be called (and perhaps still is) the Al Jaber Air Force Base. Can someone help?
Posted by: Omolump Thud8081 || 06/18/2014 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Very little USAF presence if any. USAF presence in Kuwait is at Al Jaber Air Force Base, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, along with RAF British presence.
Posted by: Bubba Graiting8281 || 06/18/2014 12:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Correction, USAF is at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
Posted by: Bubba Graiting8281 || 06/18/2014 12:57 Comments || Top||

#6  IIRC Saudis + Qatar + KUWAIT per se was blamed for the ISIS offensive in Iraq.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/18/2014 21:00 Comments || Top||


Europe
Ukraine Suspects Terrorism in Pipeline Explosion
[NY Times] A major natural gas pipeline went kaboom! in central Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after the Russian energy behemoth Gazprom said that it was cutting off supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over pricing, and officials immediately labeled it a possible act of sabotage.

Utility officials said that natural gas deliveries were not interrupted and that supplies to Ukrainian customers and other European countries were flowing through alternative pipes.

The blast occurred in a sparsely populated area of the Poltava region, which lies between Kiev, the capital, and the embattled regions of eastern Ukraine where a civil war is effectively underway between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military. Video from the scene showed a huge plume of fire shooting hundreds of feet into the sky.

The kaboom destroyed a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which runs more than 1,800 miles from Russia's Arctic north through Ukraine to the border of Slovakia. Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, issued a statement saying Sherlocks' leading theory was that the attack was deliberate.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
25 terrorists killed as jets bomb hideouts in North Waziristan
[DAWN] At least 25 foreign and local gunnies were killed early Tuesday as military jets bombed suspected terrorist hideouts in North Wazoo, the army said in a statement.

An ISPR front man said security forces destroyed six hideouts which included a murderous Moslem training camp and a bomb-making factory in Dattakhel Tehsil and Hasokhel area. He said operation Zarb-e-Arb, which was launched this Sunday, was progressing as per plan.

More than 187 gunnies have been killed since the operation was launched in the tribal region.

"The cordon around all turbans hideouts including in the town of Mirali and Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
has been further tightened and reinforced," said the ISPR statement.

'Civilian population evacuated'
The military front man claimed all civilian population has been safely evacuated after detailed verification.

"Necessary logistics and administrative arrangements for internally displaced people (IDPs) have been made by the political administration and the disaster management agency," the front man said.

"The security of (the) IDP camp is being ensured by army troops," he said, adding that air surveillance of the operational area was still underway.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Policeman killed in Qayyumabad
[DAWN] An official of the Sindh Reserve Police, Base-II, was rubbed out on Tuesday in the Qayyumabad
...a suburb of Korangi Town, if you know where that is...
area over what police described as personal enmity.

Korangi Industrial Area SHO Mithal Shar said the constable, Adil Hussain, 26, was killed by someone travelling with him in a car in Qayyumabad on a road leading to the Clifton beach. He quoted witnesses as saying that a young man and a girl fled from the car after attacking the policeman.

The constable died before any medical aid could be provided to him. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors said the victim sustained two gunshot wounds in his head and neck. It did not appear to be a case of assassination, the SHO said, adding that the police were investigating the exact motive for the killing.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


All hell breaks loose in Lahore
[Pak Daily Times] At least nine people, including two women, were killed and over 100 injured as police allegedly shot up workers of Dr Tahirul Qadri
...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him...
-led Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) outside Minhajul Koran Secretariat in Model Town on Tuesday.

The festivities began as police went to remove the 'illegal' security structures from the office and residence of Tahirul Qadri in Model Town on Monday night at around 2:30am, arguing that the local people had complained of troubles due to the barricades, reports said. The PAT workers tried to abort the effort, inviting severe shelling by the riot police. They rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud and pelted police with stones as it moved a bulldozer to raze the structures. The police used tear gas to disperse the protesters. As the sun rose, heavy police reinforcements arrived and started captured the workers involved in rioting.

The area virtually turned into a battlefield as initial attempts for a negotiated settlement failed. The PAT workers gathered in huge numbers. They burnt tyres and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against police and the Punjab government. The police, in a desperate bid to disperse the mob, allegedly shot up the protesters and also fired aerial shots. At least nine people were killed, and over hundred injured, mostly with bullet wounds and that too in upper parts of the body. Several bullets hit the house of Tahirul Qadri and the other nearby buildings. Police also fired tear gas which created panic among the locals.

Rescue teams reached the spot and started shifting the injured to a nearby hospital, where many of the injured were still said to be at death's door. The administration confirmed that nine bodies and over 104 injured were brought to the Jinnah Hospital, of whom around 61 had sustained bullet wounds. The hospital administration said at least 24 coppers were also among the injured. Condition of at least 15 PAT workers is said to be precarious. Three of the injured were later shifted to the LGH and five to the Services Hospital.

The hospital administration said that most of the police officials were discharged after medical treatment. They said that all coppers received minor injuries but one or two who received bullet wounds.

Emergency was declared in the city hospitals and special teams were set up to provide best medical treatment to the injured. A number of relatives and friends of the injured persons reached the hospitals to inquire after them.

Police, meanwhile, managed to remove all the barricades despite intense resistance. Anti-encroachment officials were later seen clearing the area and removing the rubble. Heavy police presence could be seen in the locality to keep the situation under control.

Police claimed that local people had complained of troubles caused by the barricaded roads.

Police says the festivities began as they tried to remove the 'illegal' security barricades from the office of Pakistain Awami Tehrik. "When police reached there to remove illegal encroachments, workers started pelting stones and threw petrol bombs from the roof," Capital City Police Officer Chaudhry Shafiq told media. The deaths resulted from 'bullets fired by workers, not police', he claimed.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Guess "Occupy Model" didn't work out.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/18/2014 11:07 Comments || Top||

#2  When things get really bad, all Lahore breaks out in Hell.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/18/2014 14:59 Comments || Top||


Jets hit militant bomb factory: military
[Pak Daily Times] Pak combat aircraft destroyed a bomb making factory in the tribal region of North Wazoo and at least 25 turbans were killed in a wave of air strikes, the military said on Tuesday, as part of a major operation against Taliban krazed killers.

Pak fighter's jets have been bombing Taliban positions in North Waziristan since Sunday when the army announced it was sending troops and helicopter gunships to the region to flush out al Qaeda-linked krazed killers. "(The) operation in North Waziristan Agency is progressing as per plan," the army said in a statement.

"The cordon around all terrorists' hideouts including in the town of Mirali and Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
has been further tightened and reinforced. Last night three bad boyz were potted while fleeing from the cordoned off area in Miranshah." In its first casualties since the start of the offensive, at least six Pak soldiers were killed on Monday when a roadside kaboom hit an army convoy just north of Miranshah, the regional capital.

The operation is seen as a response to a deadly krazed killer attack this month on Pakistain's biggest airport in the port city.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  The Daily Times is seriously in need of a headline editor!
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 06/18/2014 17:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Turbines undo turbans, bombers bombed, Miramshah and Mirali wrapped up!

A buxom young maiden of Chester,
Employed as a bathing suit tester,
On bursting a closure
Was saved from exposure
By the coat of her nice Uncle Fester.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/18/2014 21:00 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Edinburgh International: Weekly Iraq Security Report
A useful map. Good find, Besoeker!
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2014 09:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great Map. Notice the Kurdish-controlled area in Sinjar, to the west of Tal Afar. That is crucial, as Sinjar is the main area of the Yezidis. If ISIS takes control of Sinjar, a real bloodbath could ensue. Tal Afar deserves careful attention as well, as it is home to many Shia Turkmen. Also, the Tal Afar region had been heavily Kurdish before the ethnic cleansing program of Saddam Hussein. I imagine that many members of the Peshmerga would like it back.
Posted by: Geographer || 06/18/2014 18:22 Comments || Top||


Signs of reprisal killings emerge in Iraq
h/t Gates of Vienna
Nearly four dozen Sunni detainees were gunned down at a jail north of Baghdad, a car bomb struck a Shiite neighborhood of the capital and four young Sunnis were found slain, as ominous signs emerged Tuesday that open warfare between the two main Muslim sects has returned to Iraq.

The killings, following the capture by Sunni insurgents of a large swath of the country stretching to Syria, were the first hints of the beginnings of a return to sectarian bloodletting that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.
But, but, but, no such thing as good guys over there?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/18/2014 08:05 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If the (Sunni militants) stay in Tel Afar, the Shiites can't go back home, but the Sunnis can," said another Shiite resident

Without a strong leader to hold the tribes together, they tend to split up - like Yugoslavia, or even Czechoslovakia.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/18/2014 13:09 Comments || Top||

#2  The main purpose behind ISIS massacring Shias is to spark reprisals by p*ssed off Shias on Sunnis. After which ISIS can claim to be the "protectors" of the Sunni people. ISIS cannot conquer a united Iraq.
Posted by: Squinty || 06/18/2014 22:50 Comments || Top||


Iraqi PM sacks senior security officers over failure in fighting insurgents
BAGHDAD, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki
Prime Minister and acting Interior Minister, acting Defense Minister, and acting National Security Minister
on Tuesday sacked some senior security officers for their failing to halt the advance of Sunni insurgent groups, a statement issued by his office said.

"We have decided to punish a number of officers who failed in the performance of their professional and national duties," Maliki said in the statement.

Maliki fired Lieutenant General Mehdi Sabih al-Gharawi, commander of Nineveh Operations Command, his deputy Major General Abdul Rahman Handhal, as well as Chief of Staff and Brigadier General Hassan Abdul Razak, and will take legal actions against them, according to the statement.

The prime minister also fired Brigadier General Hidayat Abdul Rahim, commander of the army's 3rd infantry division. Rahim has been "referred to the military court for his trial in absentia for his escape from the battlefield to an unknown destination."

The statement said that further instructions would be issued later to sack more military leaders and bring them to justice.
Remind again, why do PM's have have portfolio ministers? So that they can take the blame when things go terribly wrong. Didn't the acting defense minister put those corrupt generals in charge in the first place? Seems to me like he needs to be canned.
Posted by: Squinty || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Strange. Over here in the U.S., it seems that Obummer has thinned the ranks of the war-fighters for doing their job too well (and not paying sufficient homage).
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/18/2014 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like Iraq PM Maliki himself isn't "safe" ... ...???

* FREEREPUBLIC > US RULES OUT MILITARY ACTION UNTIL IRAQI PM [Maliki] STANDS DOWN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/18/2014 23:02 Comments || Top||


Iraq Violence Kills 21 as Militants Press Offensive
[An Nahar] A series of bombings in Storied Baghdad and shelling in another Iraqi city killed 21 people on Tuesday, while police found the bodies of 18 security personnel north of the capital.

The violence came during a major offensive, spearheaded by 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...
but involving other groups, which overran all of one province and chunks of three more in a matter of days.

In the deadliest single attack, a boom-mobile went kaboom! in a market in the predominantly-Shiite Moslem area of north Storied Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 20, security and medical officials said.

Five more bombings in the capital killed a further six people and maimed 14, officials said.

In Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
a city west of Storied Baghdad that has been held by anti-government fighters for more than five months, shelling killed four people and maimed three, Dr Ahmed Shami said.

North of the capital, Iraqi police discovered the bodies of 18 security force members who had suffered gunshots to the head and chest.

The bodies were discovered 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of the city of Samarra. It was unclear if they had been executed or died in fighting.

Iraqi security forces performed poorly during the initial days of the murderous Moslem assault, in some cases abandoning uniforms, vehicles and positions to flee.

They seem to have recovered somewhat from the shock of the onslaught, retaking certain areas, but the Death Eaters have continued to gain ground elsewhere.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  Back in 2006-7, the then incarnation of ISIS tried a strategy of provoking Iraq-Shia by massacring them and blowing up their shrines with the aim of radicalizing the Shia into committing similar atrocities against Sunnis. ISIS then uses the Shia payback to set itself up as the protectors of the Sunnis, thus consolidating its hold on Sunni population centers. We are seeing this same strategy playing out now.

The ISIS death eaters so need to die.
Posted by: Squinty || 06/18/2014 15:05 Comments || Top||


Turkey Evacuates Consulate in Basra
[An Nahar] Turkey said it evacuated its consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday for security reasons, a week after Islamist faceless myrmidons attacked its mission in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and kidnapped several dozen Turks.

"In the context of the situation in Iraq, and because of the heightened security risk in the Basra region, our consulate general was evacuated today Tuesday," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Twitter.

He said the diplomatic staff were taken to neighboring Kuwait.

Fighters from the jihadist group 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) kidnapped 49 Turks including diplomats and children from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on Wednesday as they captured swathes of northern Iraq.

ISIL, which Turkey included in its list of terrorist organizations in early June, also seized 31 Turkish truck drivers earlier last week.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet...
said earlier "intense efforts" were being made to secure the release of the kidnapped citizens while accusing the Iraqi government of failing to protect the mission in Mosul.

But a Turkish court on Tuesday imposed a blackout on media coverage of the kidnappings "for the security of Turkish citizens".
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  Basra is a long way from the ISIS fighting. Is something going to come to light that will piss off the shia in Basra?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/18/2014 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  It's close to Iran as well.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/18/2014 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Thus far I've heard that ISIS has been supported by:

* Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc.

* The United States (back in 2012)

* Syria and Iran

and finally

* Turkey.

I suspect rumors that Turkey and/or the US _really_ support ISIS were behind a lot of the collapse of resistance in the Sunni areas of Iraq. That, and probably bribery.

This would also explain why the Turks are looking to make a deal with the Kurds. "Don't interfere with what we're doing to Iraq, and we'll leave you alone in your little mini-state."
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/18/2014 11:23 Comments || Top||


New video unmasks Takfiri crimes in Iraq
[Iran Press TV] A new video has emerged on the Internet showing what appears to be the aftermath of a massacre by Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
Death Eaters in an open market in Iraq.

The video, whose authenticity could not be verified independently by Press TV, is seemingly shot in a local bazaar in the city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
which recently fell to the terrorist Death Eaters of the so-called 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).

In this video, people hysterically scream and run around while women and kiddies are seen among the dead bodies.

Over the past days, gruesome videos have been released showing atrocities of the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq.

The videos posted on a Death Eater website show several Iraqi men in plain clothes and army uniforms who have been captured by the Death Eaters.

On Sunday, pictures surfaced online showing the Death Eaters killing dozens of Iraqi men in Salahuddin Province.

Iraq's military front man General Qassim al-Moussawi has confirmed the authenticity of the photos. He says there are more reports about the mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups such as the ISIL have been behind many of the deadly kabooms targeting both civilians and government institutions across Iraq in recent years.

Recently, a similar gruesome video was released, purportedly showing members of the ISIL Takfiri group brutally killing Shia Mohammedans in drive-by shootings in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  Evidently the issues regarding the 'non-lethal and lethal' aid and assistance to the rebels in Syria has been answered. Susan Rice now appears to be engaged with other issues.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/18/2014 3:40 Comments || Top||


Maliki dismisses several Iraqi commanders
[Iran Press TV] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014...
has fired several senior security forces commanders as battles with Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
faceless myrmidons continue in the country.

The commanders were dismissed because they failed to perform their national duty, said the Iraqi premier on Tuesday.

The dismissed included Staff Lieutenant General Mahdi al-Gharawi, who is the top commander of Nineveh province, whose scenic provincial capital djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
was the first to fall to the murderous Moslems' hands following their lightning advance last week.

Maliki also ordered that one of the commanders face court-martial for desertion.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke...
several people were killed after two kabooms struck the Iraqi capital.

Earlier in the day, a new video emerged online showing what appears to be the aftermath of a massacre by Takfiri faceless myrmidons of 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) in an open market in Mosul.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PHOTOS: IDF Exposes Hundreds of Palestinian Weapons in Nablus
[IDFblog]
Also links to
Palestinians Praise Kidnapping of 3 Israeli Teenagers

Operation Brother's Keeper: 240 Arrested After Hamas Kidnapping

and other reports.
Lots of photos and videos, text from the military perspective. Some Israeli politicians are calling for Hamas to be crushed in the West Bank, civil LEO are praising the PA's [unsurprising] cooperation in the effort. Ynet adds:
Operation Bring Back Our Brothers: IDF shift focus to Nablus
Search for missing boys enters fifth day, with additional wave of arrests; senior IDF source: We're 'cleaning house' in 'terror capital of Nablus.'
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iraq Shiite Volunteers in Syria Head Home to Fight Rebels
[An Nahar] Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who had been fighting in neighboring Syria, have been heading home to battle an offensive that has brought Death Eaters to near Storied Baghdad, a monitoring group said Tuesday.

Thousands of Iraqi Shiites had flocked to Syria to fight alongside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's forces against mainly Sunni rebels.

Many volunteered to defend the Sayyida Zeinab mosque, a revered Shiite shrine in southeast Damascus, from rebels based in the outskirts of the Syrian capital.

But as Sunni Arab Death Eaters swept up a large chunk of northern and north-central Iraq in a lightning offensive over the past week, the volunteers have begun heading home in response to a rallying cry by top Shiite holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Iraqi volunteers headed home from the Mleiha area, southeast of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Their positions were taken over by fighters of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
, which has also intervened heavily alongside Assad's forces in Syria's civil war, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"The Iraqi pro-Assad fighters' pullout from the Mleiha area was accompanied by a relative lull in the fighting around there," he said.

"But that does not mean the regime has been left defenseless, as Hezbollah has deployed new troops to fill the gap."
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  Hizbubs are getting all the war they ever wanted and maybe a little more.
Posted by: Shipman || 06/18/2014 3:47 Comments || Top||


Death Penalty Demanded for Palestinian over Terrorism Charges
[An Nahar] Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein demanded on Tuesday the death penalty for a Paleostinian national for belonging to a "terrorist group," the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, al-Zein demanded the death penalty for the suspect, who was identified by his initials B. H., for belonging to Fatah al-Islam
A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Lebanon pot stirred.
and monitoring the movement of Fatah Movement official Talal al-Balaghi to assassinate him.

Balaghi is also known as Talal al-Ordoni.

The judge also issued an arrest warrant against him and referred him to the permanent military court.

Other investigation and research warrants were issued against seven suspects, who weren't identified.

The Nahr al-Bared Paleostinian refugee camp in northern Leb was almost totally destroyed in 2007 during a months-long conflict between the Lebanese army and the al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam.

The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers.

Later, Government commissioner to the military court Judge Saq Saqr charged a detained Syrian and four other runaways with belonging to Ziad al Jarrah Battalion.

The five men were charged with attempts to carry out terrorist acts, establish a factory to develop arms and explosives.
Posted by: Fred || 06/18/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2014-06-18
   Iraqi PM sacks senior security officers over failure in fighting insurgents
Tue 2014-06-17
  Iraq calls for Iranian help to fight militants
Mon 2014-06-16
  Mighty Pak Army launches operation in North Wazoo
Sun 2014-06-15
  Iraq Rebels Stall North of Baghdad
Sat 2014-06-14
  Iran sends forces to Iraq as ISIS militants press forward
Fri 2014-06-13
  Iraqi security forces withdraw from Syrian border
Thu 2014-06-12
  'They have lined the streets of Mosul with the heads of police and soldiers'
Wed 2014-06-11
  Maliki asks for state of emergency
Tue 2014-06-10
  Mosul Falls to Insurgency
Mon 2014-06-09
  Sisi Sworn in as Egypt President, Vows 'No Leniency' for Violence
Sun 2014-06-08
  Gunmen attack Karachi's Jinnah International Airport
Sat 2014-06-07
  Heavy clashes, suicide bombings kill 36 in north Iraq
Fri 2014-06-06
  Boko Haram kills "hundreds" in Nigeria
Thu 2014-06-05
  Libya: Haftar Escapes Suicide Attack
Wed 2014-06-04
  At Least 120 Dead in Clashes in Yemen

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