[Tolo News] At least 19 gunnies were killed and one was locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! during a series of coordinated operations over the past 24 hours by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Saturday.
The operations were conducted in 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... , Khost, Maidan Wardak, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Sar-e-Pul, Kunduz, Takhar, Faryab and Jowzjan provinces, the statement said.
"During the same 24 hour period, Afghan National Police discovered and defused two rockets and three different types of IEDs placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Kabul and Faryab provinces," the statement noted.
The MoI, however, did not comment on whether any security force members were harmed in the operations.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] At least 11 people, including three local coppers, were maimed in a mine blast in northern Parwan province on Saturday, local officials said.
The incident took place in Ghorband valley of Sayagerd district. According to officials, explosives had been packed in a vending cart. The explosives were detonated when a police vehicle passed by, District Governor, Mohammad Sayed Sediqqi said.
"The police have started investigations," Sediqqi said.
"The victims have been taken to the hospital in the capital of Parwan. No one has been killed in the attack," he said.
As yet no group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the blast.
Sayagerd is one of the insecure districts in the province and Taliban murderous Moslems frequently target the Afghan cops in the area, said Sediqqi.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Ninety one boys were taken to hospital for treatment 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 after allegedly being poisoned by a street seller, local officials said.
The students from Fatha High School in Herat City apparently fell ill after eating chickpeas from a street seller close to the school's gate, the Provincial Acting Head of the Education Department, Azizullah Sarwari, said.
The boys are aged between 8 and 12.
Gen. Abdul Majid Rozi, Provincial Police Chief said the street seller has been incarcerated Please don't kill me! by the police and early investigations "show that this incident was organized by an insurgency group".
"These are murderous Moslems who want to kill our innocent children," Rozi said.
"The suspect has been arrested," he said adding that officials were tracking down the holy warrior group responsible for the incident.
According to the students, the street seller encouraged them to eat the chickpeas.
"The seller told us to eat and said he would talk to our teachers to also pass all of us in our tests. He said if we did not have money we could take it tomorrow," a Grade 3 student, Mohammad Qasim, said.
Malika Paygham, the acting head of Herat Zone Hospital confirmed that 91 students had been taken to the hospital. They were from Grade One to Grade Eight.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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Somalia government has said the Kenya Defence Forces should pull out of the country by 2017 as part of an agreement under the African Union Mission in Somalia treaty.
That's using the Hijri calendar so it's going to be a while...
Somalia Foreign Affairs minister Abdisalaan Omar yesterday said the troops have stabilized the war-torn country since their incursion in 2011 to help the Somali government fight off al Shabaab
Speaking during a morning show on Citizen TV, Omar expressed optimism that the remaining two years are enough for the Somalia National Army to be stronger and able to take control of the entire country. He said withdrawing the troops now is premature.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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Two terror suspects were shot dead in Diani, Kwale county on Saturday by detectives from the Crime Prevention Unit.
The detectives had raided a home in Kwale following a tip off from the public that the two suspects were al Shabaab returnees. One officer was also injured after he was shot in the chest while trying to get access to the house.
Wear the vest next time, officer...
While confirming the incident Kwale county commissioner Evans Achoki said the officer is in a stable condition. He said that detectives recovered 16 rounds of ammunition and a shutter gun at the home of the suspects.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Egyptian jihadists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group have posted a video online appearing to show them shooting dead an Egyptian soldier and beheading another captive.
The video, uploaded overnight on social networks, shows an individual telling the camera that he is an Egyptian soldier who was captured in an ambush on an army outpost in North Sinai on April 2.
Attacks claimed by jihadists that day killed 15 soldiers and two civilians near the regional capital of El-Arish, the deadliest assault for months despite a massive army campaign against murderous Moslems on the Sinai Peninsula.
The video then shows the soldier being shot in the head by a masked bad boy after another unidentified captive is beheaded.
A security official said the soldier's body was retrieved a day after the El-Arish attack.
The Egyptian IS affiliate Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has in the past carried out similar execution-style killings in Sinai of people it accused of spying for Israel.
The group changed its name last year to the Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to IS, which controls territory in Iraq and Syria.
ADEN -- Local militiamen in the Yemeni city of Aden said they captured two Iranian military officers advising Houthi rebels during fighting on Friday evening.
It's a claim; displaying the severed heads on MS-NBC would likely violate a Geneva convention or two but would indeed be proof...
Tehran has lied denied providing military support for Houthi fighters, whose advances have drawn air strikes by a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's main rival for influence in the Gulf.
If confirmed, the presence of two Iranian officers, who the local militiamen said were from an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, would further worsen relations between Tehran and Riyadh, who are vying for dominance in the region.
Three sources in the southern port city's anti-Houthi militias said the Iranians, identified as a colonel and a captain, were seized in two separate districts that have been rocked by heavy gun battles.
"The initial investigation revealed that they are from the Quds Force and are working as advisors to the Houthi militia," one of the sources told Reuters. "They have been put in a safe place and we will turn them over to [the Saudi-led coalition] Decisive Storm to deal with them."
While the Houthis deny getting help from Shi'ite Iran and say their armed campaign is designed to stamp out corruption and Sunni al Qaeda militants, Saudi Arabia and its allies describe them as an Iranian-backed threat to regional security.
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04/12/2015 11:13 ||
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#1
Captured? I thought these guys were like the WW II Japanese & had to die fighting or commit suicide out of shame?
[Arab News] A total of 240 Filipinos out of the 464 have been evacuated from war-torn Yemen since April 5, Philippines Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago has said. Among those evacuated, by land through the Saudi-Yemen border, were nine other foreigners, Tago told Arab News from Jazan.
"The last batch was evacuated on April 9 and included 79 Filipinos and six foreigners," he said, adding that the foreigners included four Singaporeans, a Yemeni couple and an Egyptian nurse.
"They started their trip from Sanaa in the morning and arrived in Saudi Arabia in the evening of the same day," the envoy said. The group was assisted at the border by a team from the Consulate General led by acting Consul General Leo Tito L. Ausan Jr. The embassy in Riyadh arranged their flights from Jazan to Riyadh and Manila.
"I wish to thank the Saudi government for allowing entry of evacuees from Yemen through the Tuwal border and granting them transit visas," Tago said.
The processing at the Saudi-Yemeni border has been generally smooth, he said. "There are composite teams from the embassy and the consulate at the border to assist in the processing of entry of Filipino evacuees."
Tago said that at present, three Filipinos in Sanaa and 42 in Saada, northern Yemen, have registered for repatriation. "The Philippine Embassy's crisis management team in Sanaa, led by Consul Winston Dean Almeda, is arranging for the next group of evacuees, mainly from Saada," he said.
Tago appealed to all Filipinos in Yemen to immediately contact the embassy team to arrange for their evacuation.
"I was in Yemen from March 20 to April 5 to urge all Filipinos there to leave and avail themselves of the mandatory repatriation. Starting in October 2014, the Philippine government raised the alert level to 3 and advised everyone to leave Yemen," he said.
[ARABNEWS] More than 500 Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... Lions of Islam have been killed in armed confrontations along the Najran and Jazan sectors of the Kingdom's southern border since the Saudi-led alliance launched the Decisive Storm military operation against them on March 26, a responsible source at the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
The source also pointed out that three soldiers from the Saudi Royal Land Force died and two others were maimed after the Houthis fired a mortar shell on a border military position in Najran on Friday evening.
"Our forces quickly responded to the source of the fire, causing heavy casualties to the Houthi militias and increasing their corpse count to over 500," the source said, adding that the injured Saudi soldiers are in stable, pH balanced condition.
Yemen, strategically located near key shipping routes, was plunged into chaos last year when the Houthis seized Sanaa, forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden and then Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Local bully boyz in the southern Yemeni city of Aden said they captured two Iranian military officers advising Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... rebels during fighting on Saturday.
Tehran has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! providing any military support for the fighters, whose advances have drawn Saudi-led air strikes.
If confirmed, the presence of the two Iranian officers whom the local bully boyz said were from the Revolutionary Guards would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, who are vying for influence in the Middle East.
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[Arab News] DHAKA: Bangladesh authorities on Saturday hanged a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader for overseeing a massacre during the nation's 1971 independence war against Pakistan, officials said.
"Mohammad Kamaruzzaman has been executed at 10 p.m. (local time)," law and Justice Minister Anisul Huq told AFP.
Four specially trained convicts took him to a makeshift gallows, set up near his prison cell, and hanged him using a rope, in line with Bangladeshi jail procedure. He was declared dead by a magistrate and a government doctor.
Kamaruzzaman was convicted of abduction, torture and mass murder as one of the leaders of a pro-Pakistan militia that killed thousands of people during Bangladesh's bloody independence struggle.
Hundreds of secular supporters burst into cheers and made victory signs as news of the hanging was announced at Shabagh square in central Dhaka where they gathered to celebrate the death of a man they called a "war butcher."
Kamaruzzaman is the second Jamaat to be hanged for atrocities during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan. Abdul Quader Molla, the fourth-highest ranked leader of the party, was hanged in December 2013.
[DAWN] Bangladesh authorities on Saturday hanged a top opposition leader for overseeing a massacre during the nation's 1971 independence war.
"Mohammad Kamaruzzaman has been executed at 10.30pm Bangladesh time (1630 GMT)," law and justice minister Anisul Huq told AFP.
Kamaruzzaman, the third most senior figure in the 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... party, was convicted of abduction, torture and mass murder.
An ambulance carrying Kamaruzzaman's body left the jail for his home village in northern Bangladesh more than an hour after the execution, jailor Farman Ali told news hounds, adding that the vehicle was escorted by a convoy of elite security officers.
The Jamaat party condemned "the government's pre-planned murder of writer, journalist and Islamic scholar" Kamaruzzaman and called a nationwide strike for Monday to protest the hanging.
Hundreds of government's supporters burst into cheers and made victory signs as news of the hanging was announced in central Dhaka.
Kamaruzzaman, 62, became the second politician to be hanged for atrocities during the 1971 war. Abdul Quader Molla, Jamaat's fourth-highest ranked leader, was hanged in December 2013.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Worst massacres and atrocities in the post war world. People deserve to hang.
[AnNahar] Four Turkish troops were maimed Saturday in festivities with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a blow to the grinding of the peace processor seeking to end decades of separatist violence.
The army sent armed helicopters, reconnaissance jets and a commando unit to the Agri region in southeastern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... where festivities were continuing, the Turkish military said in a statement on its website.
Troops had been despatched to the district of Diaydin after receiving intelligence of a planned "festival" to promote the "separatist terror organization", the army said, using the official shorthand for the PKK.
PKK turbans opened fire on the Turkish military and the army responded, it said.
"But in the initial fire four of our soldiers were maimed in different places.
"Reconnaissance aircraft, armed helicopters and a commando unit have been despatched to the area.
"The festivities are continuing," the army added.
The unrest marks a rare spike in violence as the government seeks to make peace with the PKK after a decades-long conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) that acts as an intermediary between the government and PKK, called the festivities "a sad and worrying development."
"A detailed investigation is needed to find out exactly what happened," he said in televised comments.
The government's pointman on the grinding of the peace processor, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, said he strongly condemned the "terrorist attacks".
"The will of the people cannot be put at stake for a mix of political pressure and violence. Opening fire will backfire on itself," he wrote on Twitter.
The PKK's tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! leader Abdullah Ocalan this year called on turbans to take steps to lay down their arms in what many see as a historic breakthrough in the grinding of the peace processor.
The PKK initially fought for independence for Turkey's Kurds but later softened its demands to seek greater rights and autonomy.
However there have been signs the grinding of the peace processor has been stumbling in recent months as Turkey's political forces prepare for legislative elections on June 7.
In a tight battle, the HDP is seeking to win over 10 percent of the vote to qualify for direct representation in parliament.
Should it succeed, this could wreck the plans of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to win a constitutional majority to change the basic law and create a presidential system under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
[DAWN] KARACHI: An eyewitness on Saturday picked out Ubaid alias K2, one of the men incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! during a Rangers' raid at Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... 's headquarter Nine Zero, in a murder case.
The suspect was presented in a local court today where the witness identified him.
During today's hearing of the case, the prosecution team told the court that the suspect was behind the murder of a man named Faheem -- a killing that took place in 2005 and in the remits of the Aziz Bhatti cop shoppe.
Moreover, an eyewitness produced by the prosecution picked out Ubaid K2 for the said murder. The eyewitness said he was present at the scene when K2 had shot Faheem dead.
Ubaid K2 was among the men picked up by Rangers personnel in the early morning raid in and around Nine Zero in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Azizabad neighbourhood on March 11. According to Rangers spokesperson Colonel Tahir, ammunition stolen from NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... containers was also seized during the search operation at the MQM's headquarter -- a claim the party has repeatedly rejected.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Jewish Press] Israel, France and the United States have sharply criticized Pakistan's surprise release of the alleged mastermind terrorist allegedly behind the 2008 attacks on a Mumbai hotel and Chabad Center, where Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife were among six Americans and 160 others killed, including six Americans.
Israel's ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said:
Israel is surprised and disappointed by the release of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack in which, as part of the horrific attack, also Israeli nationals and a Jewish centre -- the Nariman [Chabad] House -- were targeted.
This release is a setback for the international efforts in the war against terror in which India and Israel are close partners.
The United States said it was "gravely concerned:" after Lakhvi walked out of jail on Friday. French President Francois Hollande, was hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the reelease was "deeply shocking." "Gravely concerned"...yes of course, as we await the regime's release of additional murdering miscreants from GITMO.
Modi said: "There is a need for global action to deal with terrorism. All nations should commit that they will not provide shelter to terrorists but punish them." Shelter or funding. Please do not neglect the financials.
State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at the daily news briefing Friday, "Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators, financiers, and sponsors of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice, and we urge Pakistan to follow through on that commitment to ensure justice for the 166 innocent people, including six Americans, who lost their lives."
Lakhvi was released after a Pakistani court suspended his detention. He had been arrested one week after the attacks.
#2
Hey, we're gravely concerned. What more do you want? A strong note of protest, maybe?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/12/2015 12:13 Comments ||
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#3
In Pakistan's defense, he was only the alleged mastermind of the attacks, and we don't know what kind of (admissible) evidence they had.
That said, I still support the 'surprise meter' graphic. And a US/Israeli hit squad (now THAT would be a real surprise.)
Islamabad -- Unidentified assailants gunned down 20 labourers and injured three others in the early hours of Saturday in the Turbat area of Balochistan province. Initial reports revealed that suspected militants attacked the camp of the labourers who were working on Surab Dam in the area. They lined up the workers and sprayed them with bullets, killing 20 of the 23 of them and fled in the darkness.
The province faces a low-key insurgency with more than one Baloch outfits demanding independence. They have often targeted non-Baloch labourers working on projects in the province. Pakistan claims these groups are funded and trained by India inside Afghanistan.
“Armed gunmen stormed the camp in Gokh Don area near Turbat city at about 1.40am and indiscriminately fired at sleeping workers,” Makran Commissioner Pasand Khan Buledi said.
Of the 20 who died, 16 hailed from south Punjab’s Sadiqabad city while the other four were from Hyderabad, Sindh, an injured worker Azhar Ali said. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital and were reported to be out of danger as the police cordoned off the area in search of the attackers.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik later flew to Turbat to ascertain the situation. Talking to reporters, he said the ghastly incident appears to be a security lapse despite presence of security personnel. He announced one million rupees each for families of the victims.
Imran Qureshi, the District Police Officer (DPO) of Turbat, told DawnNews that militants opened fire indiscriminately at the labourers while they were sleeping.
The area of Gokh Don is located about 15km from Turbat Bazar. Panic prevailed in the locality in the aftermath of the killings. Turbat is considered to be one of the sensitive districts in Balochistan. It is also the home town of Chief Minister Abdul Malik.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... ISIL forces of Evil have launched a fierce assault on Iraq's Baiji oil refinery, the country's largest, located near the key northern city of Baiji in Salahuddin province, an Iraqi army officer says.
"Today, Daesh launched an attack against the Baiji oil refinery," the officer stated on Saturday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
The military source added that the raid on the refinery was "the fiercest since we broke the siege (of the facility) a few months ago."
The forces of Evil claimed they broke in but the Iraqi army said the site remained under its control.
The officer also noted that the forces of Evil attacked the refinery from three fronts: Al-Bujwari village to the south, the housing compound for refinery employees to the west and a small plant to the east.
Three ISIL bombers "were able to reach the entrances of the refinery, he said, adding that two were killed but one managed to detonate his boom vest.
The source further stressed that the Iraqi troops protecting the site were able to kill 20 ISIL snuffies and regain control of the entire site, including the entrances.
"Daesh is trying to send the message that they are everywhere but in fact they are defeated and cannot advance," the officer said.
The refinery, which once produced some 300,000 barrels of refined petroleum products per day, was under the siege of the ISIL snuffies for months.
In November last year, Iraqi forces retook the city of Baiji and broke the siege on its oil refinery. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the ISIL recaptured the city later.
Baiji is located on a main road to the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , which is under the ISIL control and its liberation can choke off the Lion of Islams' supply lines.
Saturday, a security source in Salahuddin province said, that 15 elements of the ISIS group have been killed in festivities with the security forces in northern Tikrit.
The source informed IraqiNews, "ISIS gunnies carried out an attack with mortar rounds and medium and light weapons on Biji oil refinery," pointing out that, "The festivities between the two sides resulted in killing 15 ISIS elements and destroying 3 oil tanks inside the refinery."
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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BANGKOK -- A car bomb on the Thai resort island of Samui has wounded seven people, including an Italian girl, police said Saturday, in a further blow to the country’s tarnished reputation as a top tourist destination.
The bomb, packed inside a Mazda pick-up truck with Cousin Mahmoud's false number plates, exploded late Friday in the car park of the Central Festival mall on the popular island while late-night shoppers were inside the building. Police said the car had been stolen on March 31 from Yala, one of Thailand’s three southernmost Muslim-majority provinces that have been scorched by a 10-year insurgency in which more than 6,300 people have been killed.
Can someone explain to me why it's worth it for Thailand to try and keep these three crazy provinces? Either you have to go full-Buddhist on them or let them slither away and slink into Islamicist oblivion...
“It’s a car bomb but we cannot confirm what type of explosive materials they used,” Lieutenant-General Prawut Thavornsiri, spokesman for Thai national police told AFP. “The car used was Mazda pick-up truck stolen from Yala."
Poonsak Sophonsasmorong of the island’s disaster prevention office said “six Thais and a 12-year-old Italian girl were treated for minor injuries”, adding that they had all been released from hospital.
Bomb squad experts scoured the debris early Saturday in the underground car park for clues about who might be behind the attack, which comes as Thailand’s junta tries to reassure tourists about the kingdom’s safety as a holiday destination following a coup last May.
Samui is a wildly popular tourist island in the Gulf of Thailand. Around 20 million visitors flock to Thailand each year and tourism is a mainstay of the economy.
Thailand’s southern provinces bordering Malaysia, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Samui, have long been home to a festering insurgency pitting Muslim rebels against security forces. However, a spokesman for the military’s Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC) said there had been no intelligence to suggest the rebels were planning to expand their sphere of operations.
But “it’s possible insurgents with bomb-making skills were hired to attack for other purposes”, Colonel Banphot Phunphien told reporters, without elaborating.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] US-led forces have targeted Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) Lions of Islam with eight air strikes in Syria and nine in Iraq since early on Friday, the US military said on Saturday.
In Syria, the air strikes hit IS positions near Al Hasakah and Kobani, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.
In Iraq, they hit IS positions near Bayji, djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and 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... among other places, it said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... heavy festivities between fighters and Syrian troops claimed nine lives. Hours after the shelling, helicopter gunships struck a market in Aleppo's fighter-held neighborhood of Maadi in apparent retaliation, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition-run Aleppo Media Center.
The Observatory said the Arclight airstrike killed nine people and maimed dozens, some seriously. The Aleppo Media Center reported casualties but did not provide a precise toll.
The violence came as the head of the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees planned to undertake an "urgent mission" to Damascus later Saturday amid concerns over the situation in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Yarmuk, most of which has been captured by the IS. Government warplanes have dropped explosives-filled barrels on fighter-held neighborhoods in Aleppo and other cities, killing thousands.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its former commercial hub, became a key front in the civil war after fighters launched an offensive there in July 2012. Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees, known as UNRWA, was meanwhile set to meet with Syrian and UN officials in Damascus about the humanitarian situation in Yarmuk camp, agency front man Chris Gunness said.
Gunness said in a statement that there are deepening concerns over the safety of some 18,000 Paleostinian and Syrian civilians, including 3,500 children, who remain in the camp.
Gunness later wrote on his Twitter account that UNRWA treated 31 Yarmuk evacuees, including two pregnant women who fled to the nearby neighborhood of Tadamon. He added that the youngest displaced person from the camp is six weeks old. IS Lions of Islam overran much of Yarmuk last week, establishing a foothold in the Syrian capital for the first time. The incursion is the latest trial for Yarmuk's residents, who have already suffered through a devastating two-year government siege, starvation and disease.
Residents say there is barely enough food and water, and hospitals have long run out of drugs and supplies.
The Syrian government has said it will launch a military operation in Yarmuk to evict myrmidons, which could cause even more devastation.
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04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Pro-government forces repelled an attack on a key Syrian military airport by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group affiliated Lion of Islams, losing 20 fighters but killing almost as many jihadists, a monitor said Saturday.
"Militants who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group attacked the outskirts of the Khalkhalah military airport in Sweida province on Friday," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... had been able to maintain control over the airport and its surrounding areas despite losing 20 fighters. At least 15 IS jihadists were killed.
Khalkhalah airport lies along a major highway that links the southern regime-held city of Sweida to Damascus.
"The area is important because it's Druze and borders Damascus province," Abdel Rahman told AFP, referring to the minority sect that considers Sweida its stronghold.
Sweida province has largely avoided the bloodshed of Syria's war.
"The red lines that had been in place about attacking these areas have been broken," Abdel Rahman said.
The Assad regime claims to protect Syria's minorities against foreign-backed Islamists.
But attacks on minority communities have increased with the rise of IS, which regularly targets such sects in Syria, as well as Sunnis it accuses of violating its interpretation of Islam.
On March 25, Syrian rebels and Islamist fighters seized the town of Bosra al-Sham, which is south of Sweida but located along the same highway as Khalkhalah airport.
Also on Friday, al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate withdrew from a key area along Syria's border with Jordan, the Observatory said.
Rebel groups and the Al-Nusra ...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant... Front took control of the Nasib crossing in the southern province of Daraa from regime forces last month.
Nasib had been under attack by moderate rebel forces, but fell shortly after Al-Nusra joined the ongoing offensive.
The jihadists, along with the other rebels, held the checkpoint, the duty-free zone between the two crossings, and the customs area.
Al-Nusra withdrew from the checkpoint last week and left the other areas Friday.
"The other fighters asked them to leave Nasib because they weren't in the fight to begin with," Abdel Rahman said.
To the north, at least five people were killed and dozens maimed in rocket attacks Saturday on a Christian neighbourhood of Aleppo city.
"The corpse count will likely rise as there are a number of people at death's door," Abdel Rahman said.
State television also reported the attack but said six people were killed in "terrorist shelling".
Government forces regularly pound rebel-held areas from the air, and opposition fighters fire rockets and mortar rounds into regime-controlled neighbourhoods.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/12/2015 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
Two terror suspects were shot dead in Diani, Kwale county on Saturday by detectives from the Crime Prevention Unit.
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Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
