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Shots fired in US-Pakistan clash
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I never would have suspected that Betty was Siamese.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/26/2008 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Mirror mirror on the wall....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/26/2008 1:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Helloooo Betty!
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/26/2008 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  A twofer!
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 09/26/2008 8:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Now that's a pin-up girl!
Posted by: Scott R || 09/26/2008 8:44 Comments || Top||

#6  That looks like foil wrapping paper!!!

I got dibs on the unwrapping!!!!
Posted by: AlanC || 09/26/2008 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Yep golden christmas foil paper, I love unwrapping christmas presents.
Reminds me of the fellow who put a size 26 DD bra out instead of a christmas stocking, hoping santa would fill it for him.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Sometimes, double vision is a good thing!
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 09/26/2008 13:23 Comments || Top||

#9  26? DD?

Talking some wierd stuff there, boss.
Posted by: Slemble the Lesser3639 || 09/26/2008 15:08 Comments || Top||

#10  I think he's hoping for a busty elf!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 09/26/2008 16:28 Comments || Top||

#11  A Barbie fetish thar Slembable.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/26/2008 18:50 Comments || Top||

#12  Maybe the 26 was in hexadecimal, then it would be 38 in people numbers. I could handle that!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 09/26/2008 22:05 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan army slowly pulls itself up by bootstraps
PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan army recruit Mohammad Sediq is sitting out his class at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul because his feet became swollen after he wore ill-fitting military boots without socks. Another former school dropout slumps on a chair at the back of an open-air class on map-reading staring blankly, either unable to comprehend the language or the subject. From such disparate and unlikely troops, the Afghan National Army (ANA), the key to the nation's long term stability, is being built from the ground up, as it were.

It lacks guns, tanks, planes. Its troops speak different languages, and its wages lag behind the salaries paid by a resurgent Taliban to their foot soldiers. But it has fighting spirit. It can move fast in the rugged Afghan terrain and most of all, it is beginning to win respect in a nation with few institutions or contemporary heroes.

"This is our pride. This is our hope for the future," says Major-General Zaher Azimi, a former mujahideen commander and now an adviser and spokesman at the Afghan defense ministry. "The only solution for Afghanistan in the long term is building Afghan institutions, and a strong military is the first of them."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 09:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In the long term the only solution for Afgahanistan is destroying Pakistan since the latter's survival is Afghanistan being a failed state.
Posted by: JFM || 09/26/2008 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2  The Army's website, with pictures! link

Wikipedia about Afghanistan's "East Point link
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/26/2008 11:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Giving the ANA M-16s? Wonderful. Which lobbying group is behind that one?
Posted by: gromky || 09/26/2008 11:49 Comments || Top||

#4  It is a big country. They also need an intel command which can deploy lots of part time agents.
Posted by: mhw || 09/26/2008 16:29 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Russian Warship w/SPETSNAZ Headed To Intercept Ukrainian Ship w/Tanks & Pirates
A Russian warship on Friday rushed to intercept a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 battle tanks and a hoard of ammunition that was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa — a bold hijacking that again heightened fears about surging piracy and high-seas terrorism.

U.S. naval ships were in the area and "monitoring the situation" and a U.S. Defense Department official said Washington was concerned about the attack.

"I think we're looking at the full range of options here," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

It was unclear whether the pirates who seized the 530-foot-long cargo ship Faina on Thursday knew what it carried. Still, analysts said it would be extremely difficult to sell such high-profile weaponry like Russian tanks.

The hijacking, with worldwide pirate attacks surging this year, could help rally stronger international support behind France, which has pushed aggressively for decisive action against Somali pirates.

Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo told The Associated Press that the missile frigate Neustrashimy left the Baltic Sea port of Baltiisk a day before the hijacking to cooperate with other unspecified countries in anti-piracy efforts.

But he said the ship was then ordered directly to the Somalia coast after Thursday's attack.

According to the British-based Jane's Information Group, the Neustrashimy is armed with surface-to-air missiles, 100 mm guns and anti-submarine torpedoes.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov, meanwhile, said the hijacked vessel Faina was carrying 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks and a substantial quantity of ammunition and spare parts. He said the tanks were sold to Kenya in accordance with international law.

Ukrainian officials and an anti-piracy watchdog said 21 crew members were aboard the seized ship, including three Russians. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ordered unspecified measures to free the crew, but it was unclear whether any of the former Soviet republic's naval vessels had been dispatched.

A Kenyan government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, confirmed the East African nation's military had ordered the tanks and spare parts. The tanks are part of a two-year rearmament program.

"The government is in contact with international maritime agencies and other security partners in an endeavor to secure the ship and cargo," Mutua said in a statement. "The government is actively monitoring the situation."

A person who answered the telephone at Ukrainian state-controlled arms dealer Ukrspetsexport, which brokered the sale, refused to comment, and said all requests for information must be submitted in writing.

It was unclear where the shipment originated, though Ukrainian news agencies identified the ship operator as a company called Tomex Team based in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Calls to Tomex offices went unanswered Friday.

Lt. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet, told the AP that U.S. vessels were aware of the seizure and said U.S. ships were "monitoring the situation," but refused to say more: "Obviously, we are deeply concerned."

U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the United States was worried about the ship's cargo.

"A ship carrying cargo of that nature being hijacked off the coast of Somalia is something that should concern us, and it does concern us. And we are monitoring the situation and taking a look at what the options might be," Whitman said.

Paul Cornish, head of the international security program at the London-based think-tank Chatham House said the tanks would be difficult to sell on to a third party — private buyers or warlords, for example — because of the logistics involved with keeping them operational.

"It's not like (stealing) a container full of machine guns, where all you need is a tin of bicycle oil," he said.

Roger Middleton, another Chatham House researcher, said it was unlikely the pirates knew there were tanks aboard the Faina, and also said unloading the cargo would be difficult.

"Most of their attacks are based on opportunity. So if they see something that looks attackable and looks captureable, they'll attack it," he said.

Middleton said it was unclear how the pirates might react if confronted by military action, noting that they have fled from authorities in the past. On the other hand, he said, they are usually well-armed and organized and are based in an unstable country — Somalia.

"It could potentially get pretty messy," he said.

Long a hazard for maritime shippers — particularly in the Indian Ocean and its peripheries — high-seas piracy has triggered greater alarm since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States because of its potential as a funding and supply source for global terrorism.

Pirate attacks worldwide have surged this year and Africa remains the world's top piracy hotspot, with 24 reported attacks in Somalia and 18 in Nigeria this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

The issue burst into international view Sept. 15 when Somali pirates took two French citizens captive aboard a luxury yacht and helicopter-borne French commandos then swooped in to rescue them.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy this month called on other nations to move boldly against pirates, calling the phenomenon "a genuine industry of crime."

In June, the U.N. Security Council — pushed by France and the United States — unanimously adopted a resolution allowing ships of foreign nations that cooperate with the Somali government to enter their territorial waters "for the purpose of repressing acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/26/2008 19:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  DELTA FORCE, Ranger, andor SEAL Units + NATO should be in the region, iff not already watching specific vessels. Iff the RUSS SPETZIES can't recover this and other ships, they'll try to sink 'em.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/26/2008 19:52 Comments || Top||

#2  If the Russians were already paid they would try to sink the ship. Otherwise they'll want it back.
Posted by: Scott R || 09/26/2008 20:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Jack Sparrow is boned.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/26/2008 20:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Are they sending a tug also?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/26/2008 20:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Back of the hall there, sleeping, 7th row wake him up....... how many tanks lieutenant?

Er..huh, Sir! 22 Trucks SIR!
22 Trucks!
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/26/2008 20:23 Comments || Top||

#6  The pirates will hand this ship over to the Russians. They know full well that it means death or worse if they don't.
Posted by: Mike N. || 09/26/2008 20:26 Comments || Top||

#7  #6 The pirates will hand this ship over to the Russians

More likely... pirates will depart the Ukranian ship and the AO very soon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/26/2008 20:28 Comments || Top||

#8  I wonder if this was a setup so they could get the Iranian ship with the incriminating evidence on it.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 09/26/2008 20:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Hmmm... do the Russians have a credible aerial-refueling capability?
Posted by: mrp || 09/26/2008 20:43 Comments || Top||

#10  Holy bullet-in-the-backa-the-head, Batman!
Posted by: mojo || 09/26/2008 21:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Pulp Fiction: The Diner
Posted by: General_Comment || 09/26/2008 21:14 Comments || Top||

#12  My money is on the SPETSNAZ. They don't do finesse work, but their sledgehammer is damn impressive. Just make sure no "civilians" are on board, 'cuz they are as dead as the pirates.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/26/2008 21:26 Comments || Top||

#13  Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/26/2008 21:56 Comments || Top||

#14  Prolly Naval Spetsnaz
Posted by: badanov || 09/26/2008 23:52 Comments || Top||


Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off Somali coast. T-72 battle tanks captured.
The Foreign Ministry says pirates have seized a Ukrainian-operated ship off Somalia. The ministry says the Faina was sailing with 21 people on board under the Belize flag, though it is operated by Ukrainian managing company Tomax Team Inc. The ministry says in a statement that the ship's captain reported being surrounded by three boats of armed men Thursday afternoon.
Better call the Belize Navy then ...
The ship's passengers include 17 Ukrainian citizens including the captain, as well as three Russians and one Latvian citizen. The ministry had no information on the ship's cargo. But the Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the ship was loaded with about 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for them.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...saying the ship was loaded with about 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for them.

Oh, a scow...
Posted by: mojo || 09/26/2008 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Well the tanks might not do them any good. But...

The Ukrainian vessel was heading for the Kenyan port of Mombasa loaded down with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and 30 Russian T-72 tanks.

“They really hit the jackpot this time,” said a regional arms expert. “There is not much they can do with the tanks, but the RPGs and the Zu-23 anti-aircraft guns will soon find their way into Somalia’s arms markets. “These are the sort of weapons that fighters in Somalia really like.
”
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 10:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Couldn't they sell the tanks to the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/26/2008 11:38 Comments || Top||

#4  They gotta unload them first...

A Western diplomat in Kenya, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said the pirates would not have the know-how or the equipment to unload the tanks, which weigh more than 80,000 pounds.“If there are tanks on board,” the diplomat said, “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they can get them unloaded.”

Plus, if they try, it provide the incentive to blow Eyl off the map.

Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  maybe one of the RPGs could 'go off' while at sea and sink the thing.....
Hey it could happen, or at least be the cover story.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/26/2008 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  USN Ret, yep. Specially if it fell overboard and ran into the side of the ship below the water line. Bet that would cause a really big boom.

Gotta watch out for those stray torp.....I mean stray RPG rounds.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/26/2008 12:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably bound for Ethiopia and paid with US tax dollars. Bet the American taxpayer just increased the Islamic Courts' firepower by several fold.
Posted by: ed || 09/26/2008 14:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Looks like they've pissed some people off this time...

MOSCOW - Russia's navy dispatched a warship to Somalia's coast, officials said Friday, a day after pirates there carried out their boldest attack yet — the capture of a Ukrainian vessel manned with Russian and Ukranian crew and loaded with 33 tanks and ammunition bound for Kenya.

A Kenyan government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, confirmed that the East African nation's military had ordered the tanks and spare parts and said Kenya had made such a huge order of tanks as part of a two-year rearmament program for the military. "We will do whatever it takes to secure the ship," Mutua told The Associated Press when asked whether Kenya will send a naval vessel to intercept the hijacked vessel.

Roger Middleton, a researcher at London's Chatham House, said it was unlikely the pirates knew there were tanks aboard the Faina, and he said unloading the cargo would be very difficult. "Most of their attacks are based on opportunity. So if they see something that looks attackable and looks captureable, they'll attack it," he told AP."I'm not sure how helpful such a high-profile cargo will be for them. It makes them much more vulnerable," he said. "I'd imagine they're quite worried."

Dygalo said Russia's navy would periodically send ships to piracy prone areas to protect Russian citizens and Russian ships. He said the frigate set sail on Wednesday "with the aim of providing for a naval presence in a number of oceans and sea regions." According to the British-based Jane's Information Group, the frigate Neustrashimy is armed with surface-to-air missiles, 100 mm guns and anti-submarine torpedoes. Yushchenko, meanwhile, ordered unspecified measures to secure the release of the crew.

Middleton said it was unclear how the pirates might react if confronted by military action, noting that they have fled from authorities in the past. On the other hand, he said, they are usually well-armed and organized and are based in an unstable country — Somalia.

"It could potentially get pretty messy," he said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 14:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Glad I'm not in Vegas today. I wonder which of Kenya's neighbors are making the Kenyans nervous enough to increase their T-72 numbers by 40%?
Posted by: ed || 09/26/2008 14:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Hmmmm. The way the Ruskies are acting you have to wonder if the Kenyans made any payments yet.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/26/2008 16:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Ebbang wins the thread.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/26/2008 16:17 Comments || Top||

#12  This cargo was headed for Kenya not Ethiopia. Contract is between Kenya and Russia. This being a Ukrainian operated ship and assuming owned by a Ukrainian then Russia will have no problem whatsoever just sending in Spetznaz or blowing it up. My bet is that knowing it is now Russian and the cargo Kenya's the pirates will find some way to appease both for a nifty but doable sum of money. Then the Russians will cut their throats after the negotiations.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/26/2008 16:29 Comments || Top||

#13  They don't have the ability to roll a 80 ton crawler crane out on a dock and unload the tanks? That's a small crane and simple rigging. If they have a concrete dock, they're in business. Maybe I should start a consulting firm for clients like this. I'd probably make a fortune and never be so much as questioned for it. Oh! Wait, I'm not French. Nevermind.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 09/26/2008 18:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Naw, Mojo had it right on the first post.
Scrap iron scow.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/26/2008 18:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt: Abductors threaten to kill 19 hostages they are holding
(SomaliNet) An Egyptian official said on Tuesday that kidnappers who had seized 19 hostages including European tourists in a remote desert area of Egypt had threatened to kill them if attempts were made to find them by plane. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the kidnapped tour operator contacted his German wife and told her of the threat, which she reported to Egyptian authorities.

The masked kidnappers took the 19 people - five Italians, five Germans, a Romanian and eight Egyptians - while they were on an adventure safari in south-western Egypt on Friday.

It was the first time foreign tourists had been kidnapped in Egypt. The case posed a new challenge to the security-conscious government in a country which depends on tourism for six percent of the national economy.

The official said Egyptian authorities had traced to the Sudan calls from the kidnappers to the tour operator's German wife. But a Sudanese foreign ministry official said it was unlikely the hostages were in the Sudan because of border security and the lack of hiding places in the remote area.

Security sources said on Monday the kidnappers were demanding $6-million (R70-million) to free the hostages, but said there was no sign militant Islamists were involved.

Meanwhile, attacks on tourists in the Nile Valley and the nearby deserts have been rare in recent years, though a series of bombings targeted tourists in the Sinai Peninsula between 2004 and 2006. Tourism minister Zoheir Garrana told Egyptian television on Monday that the kidnappers were "most likely" Sudanese. But a security source said they could also be citizens of nearby Chad, where Sudanese and Chadian rebels operate, or Egyptian.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bandits transfer Egypt tourist hostages to Libya
The group of 19 hostages including 11 European tourists were transferred to Libya and the Sahara kidnappers holding them may be from one of the many rebel groups in Sudan's war-torn Darfur area, a Sudanese government spokesman said on Thursday. "There are indications that they may have been one of the rebel factions from Darfur," said Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

The bandits have asked for Germany to be responsible for paying a ransom of six million euros, an Egyptian security official said on Thursday. "There are negotiations ongoing with the kidnappers now. The Egyptian negotiating team is working to get the hostages released in coordination with its Sudanese and German counterparts," the source told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "The kidnappers and the tourists have moved to Libya, about 13 to 15 kilometres (eight to nine miles) across the border," Yousuf told AFP. "All hostages are well, according to our information, and we are monitoring the situation."

An Egyptian security official confirmed the group had moved. "They've been moved to Libya. Whether this is a release or a deepening of the crisis we don't know," he told AFP, asking not to be named.

The group of five Germans, five Italians and a Romanian, as well as eight Egyptian drivers and guides, was snatched by masked bandits while on a desert safari from the Egyptian oasis of Dakhla to the Gilf al-Kabir plateau in the desert on Friday. The kidnapping, in a remote and thinly policed area near Egypt's borders with Sudan and Libya, is the first of its kind from Egyptian territory but has features in common with other kidnappings at the western end of the vast north African desert.

The kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages if authorities try to find them by plane, an Egyptian official said earlier the week, although the country's tourism minister was quoted on state media denying there was any such threat.

There has been contradictory information about the identity of the kidnappers. Egyptian officials have said the kidnappers could be Sudanese or Chadian, while Sudanese officials have said they believed the hostage takers were Egyptian. Through phone calls between the owner of the adventure tour company, who is held captive with the tourists, and his German-born wife in Cairo, the kidnappers have asked for the ransom.

Analysts say the kidnappers do not appear to have political or ideological motives, unlike the militant Islamists who attacked tourist targets in the Nile Valley and the Sinai Peninsula in the 1990s. But the incident is an embarrassment to the Egyptian government, which counts preserving law and order in a troubled region as one of its major achievements. Tourism accounts for over 6 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product.
This article starring:
Ali Youssef Ahmed
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now you can send in the Bulgarian Medical Corps.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/26/2008 16:30 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
3 criminals killed in 'shootouts'
This one's a sing-along: add your crossfire comments below.
Three criminals were killed yesterday in shootouts between their cohorts and law enforcers in Faridpur and Magura.

The dead are Babu Kosai and Golakata Jahangir of Faridpur, and Raju alias Rajib, 37, of Magura.

Our Faridpur correspondent reports: Acting on a tip-off, Rab members raided an abandoned building at Domrakandi in the town where Babu and Jahangir were holding a meeting with their cohorts.

Sensing the presence of Rab members, the criminals opened fire on the law enforcers prompting them to retaliate, said a Rab official. Babu and Jahangir were killed on the spot while their accomplices managed to escape, he added.

The Rab official said they also recovered three firearms and six rounds of bullet from the scene.

Our Magura correspondent adds: The police arrested Raju at his residence at Chaklapara in the town at about 3:20am.
"Evening, Raju. Nice night, ain't it. How's about we take a little drive?"

Following his confessions,
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHEEEEEE!"
"Oh, grow up. I'll bet you hardly ever used that finger."

police took him to a place near Char Muraridaha village to recover illegal arms.
When the policemen reached the spot, Raju's accomplices fired shots at them prompting the law enforcers to retaliate, said a police official.
"It's da RAB! And they've got Raju! Quick, open random reckless fire in their direction!"
Raju was killed in crossfire
"Urp.....rosebud..."
while his cohorts managed to flee, he said adding that a police constable was also injured in the incident.

Police said Raju was wanted on twelve systems in a number of cases.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Following his confessions, police took him to a place near Char Muraridaha village to recover illegal arms.

Wait, don't tell me.
Posted by: mojo || 09/26/2008 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Police said Raju was wanted in a number of cases.
Between 11 and 13.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/26/2008 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  apparently the constable spilled his coffee in his lap during the ....shootout
Posted by: Frank G || 09/26/2008 10:30 Comments || Top||


Europe
German commandos storm airliner
GERMAN commandos have stormed a KLM airliner at Cologne-Bonn airport, arresting two men suspected of wanting to carry out attacks, police said. The Amsterdam-bound jet was stormed at 6:55 am (1455 AEST), police spokesman Frank Scheulen said.

A 23-year-old Somali and a 24-year-old German citizen of Somali origin were arrested, said Scheulen, spokesman for North Rhine-Westphalia state police. Media reports said the two men had left notes in their apartments saying they were prepared to die in "holy war" and that they had been under police surveillance for several months.
Posted by: tipper || 09/26/2008 06:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Update
Posted by: tipper || 09/26/2008 6:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Good work.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/26/2008 6:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Looks like the Somalis are making a run at the Palis for the Worldwide Sweetness and Light title.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 9:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Y'know, while I don't think much of the french, I have to wonder if a 747 into THEIR "Holy Tower" wouldn't change things much for the better.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Y'know, while I don't think much of the french, I have to wonder if a 747 into THEIR "Holy Tower" wouldn't change things much for the better.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Y'know, while I don't think much of the french, I have to wonder if a 747 into THEIR "Holy Tower" wouldn't change things much for the better.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Y'now I don't think much of this Opera Browser, it Hiccups too much.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Not to worry. We've imported many more Somalis into this country so that we, too, can keep our hostage rescue people in tip-top form by giving them lots of practice.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/26/2008 11:29 Comments || Top||

#9  The GIA, or Armed Islamic Group, is a violent terrorist organization based in Algeria. The first major international incident involving the GIA was the 1994 hijacking of an Air France jet in Marseilles, in which hijackers reportedly attempted to crash the plane, fully loaded with fuel, into the Eiffel Tower - source

Some analysts believe this is what gave AQ the idea. Ignored by various American intel and law enforcement agencies till 9/11, after the concept was demonstrated in New York.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/26/2008 11:41 Comments || Top||

#10  How's the muslim thingee working out for you Germans?
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/26/2008 13:19 Comments || Top||

#11  This plane couldn't have been more than a 737 at best. Koln is a one hour flight to Amsterdam and I have taken it several times when the high speed train was on strike (even in Germany they go on strikes). Could even be a Fokker 50.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/26/2008 16:34 Comments || Top||

#12  Tip top tip top tip top post Jim.
3x your normal insight.
(0x0)^2
Zilch
Still, effort counts, keep hammering at the keyboard, time will tell.

/10,000 nitwits everywhere
Posted by: .5MT || 09/26/2008 19:02 Comments || Top||

#13  Hmmm. Tipper's link says that the German border police had the aircraft doors re-opened just prior to takeoff. Nothing about stormin' commandos, just regular police work. Wonder which it was.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 09/26/2008 19:43 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Canadian guilty in plot to behead prime minister
A Canadian man accused of participating in military exercises and firearms training as part of a group authorities say plotted to storm Parliament and behead the prime minister was found guilty Thursday.

The man's attorney says the plot was a "jihadi fantasy" and that his client knew nothing about it. A judge ruled Thursday that evidence of a terrorist group was "overwhelming." The man is the first person to be found guilty of a terrorist offense in Canada since the country enacted anti-terrorism laws in 2001.

The arrests of the 18 group members, known as the "Toronto 18," made headlines around the world and heightened fears in Canada, where people believe they are relatively immune from terrorist strikes. Prosecutors said there were plans to truck-bomb nuclear power plants and a building housing Canada's spy service. Seven of those arrested have since had their charges either withdrawn, or stayed. The trials of 10 adults, including the alleged ringleaders, have yet to begin. The young man was the first to go on trial.

Superior Court Justice John Sproat found the man guilty of knowingly participating in a terrorist group. As the 94-page judgment was handed down, the defendant's mother wept quietly in the back of the court. The man has not been identified because he was 17, a legal minor, when he was arrested in 2006. He is now 20.

Prosecutors argued he attended a training camp where he participated in military exercises and firearms training and that he knowingly participated in a potentially deadly conspiracy. He had pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges. Sproat rejected the defense argument that the plot was a "jihadi fantasy" that the defendant knew nothing about. "He clearly understood the camp was for terrorist purposes," he said.

The defense had cast the plot as "musings and fantasies" with no possibility of being carried out. "It might well have been said prior to Sept. 11, 2001 that a plan to kill thousands and destroy landmark buildings in lower Manhattan and Washington had no possibility of implementation," Sproat said.

Sproat rejected defense arguments that two camps organized by the alleged ringleaders were simply a religious retreat or recreational in nature. "Apparently benign activities may be used to identify and indoctrinate recruits," he said.

Sproat called the young man an "acolyte" of the "charismatic" ringleader. Evidence was clear the youth listened carefully to his mentor, the plot's ringleader, and wanted to please him, and therefore understood what the camps were about, the judge said.

Defense lawyer Mitchell Chernovsky said it's hard to know what sentence will be imposed but said his client was involved peripherally and doesn't have a criminal record. He faces a maximum 10-year sentence.

Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto professor and national-security expert, said the guilty verdict is the first test of Canada's anti-terrorism legislation and that it shows its a tough law. "You can be convicted for terrorism even if nothing particular happens as a result of a plot, even if the plot looks amateurish, even if you didn't fully know the details of the conspiracy you were a part of," he said.

The prosecution's star witness, Mubin Shaikh, infiltrated and spied on the alleged terror cell members before their arrests. Shaikh is a former Canadian army cadet. Shaikh said outside court that the youth should not have been found guilty. Shaikh called the man a "naive Muslim kid who fell into the wrong circle of Muslim kids. I don't believe he's a terrorist."

Shaikh, however, was happy the judge found his testimony about the alleged ringleaders credible. Shaikh received about $300,000 for infiltrating the group.

Sproat noted that the defense did not make any suggestion that the payments influenced Shaikh's evidence. Sproat said he found Shaikh to be a truthful and reliable witness, a development that doesn't bode well for the adults in their trials. "I've been telling the truth since day 1," Shaikh said. "I'm very happy that the judge validated that and confirmed that. That will carry through to the remaining adult trials."
This article starring:
Defense lawyer Mitchell Chernovsky
The prosecution's star witness, Mubin Shaikh
Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto professor
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Do they have hard labor camps in the Yukon? Perfect environment to live out your jihadi fantasy.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/26/2008 16:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Muslim mob attacked train: Nanavati Commission
The Nanavati-Mehta judicial inquiry commission has based its conclusion that the Godhra train carnage was a “pre-planned conspiracy” on the recorded evidence of over 100 witnesses, who claimed to having heard a crowd of about a 1,000 Muslims shouting “set the train on fire and kill the Hindus.” The report said “instigating slogans” were also made over loudspeakers from a nearby mosque to attack Hindus.

The evidence recorded by the commission also claimed that a mob of Muslims attacked the train and stoned the coaches so heavily that the passengers could not come out. This was to ensure maximum casualties when the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express was “set afire.”

The commission, in its 168-page report, said the “conspiracy” was hatched by some local Muslims at the Aman guest house in Godhra the previous night. The conspirators immediately made arrangements for collecting about 140 litres of petrol from a nearby pump on the night of February 26, 2002, the next day when the train arrived in Godhra, Hasan Lala, after forcibly opening the vestibule between coaches S-6 and S-7, entered S-6 and threw burning rags setting it on fire.

The report named Moulvi Umerji of the local mosque as the “mastermind” of the conspiracy. It said Rajak Kurkure, Salim Panwala, Saukatlal, Imran Sheri, Rafiq Batuk, Salim Jarda, Jabbir, and Siraj Lala were among those who participated in the conspiracy to “cause harm to the kar sevaks travelling in that coach.”

According to the report, setting fire to the train was part of a “larger conspiracy” to “instil a sense of fear” in the administration and create “anarchy” in the state. It, however, has not named the architects of the “larger conspiracy.”

The commission disagreed with the contentions of the Banerjee committee and the Jan Sangharsha Manch, which represented the riot victims before the commission, that alarm chains could not be operated from outside under the modified system introduced by the Railways in 1995. Quoting a railway officer of the carriage and wagon department, Ahmedabad, it said the alarm chain could still be pulled from outside. Quoting a number of surviving passengers, the commission said they had seen the mob outside the coach throwing stones and also some “burning rags” and some “inflammable liquid materials” through the windows. “The passengers had informed DSP Raju Bhargava at about 8.30 a.m. that the train was attacked by a mob and many passengers were injured and killed. Where was the time or reason for the passengers to concoct a false story,” it asked. “Considering the situation prevailing then, it is highly unlikely that the passengers had any discussion amongst themselves and they had decided to give a false version about the attack on the train,” it said. The report said the passengers immediately after getting down from the coach gave the same version of the mob attack and throwing of inflammable materials inside the coach to the District Collector.

Godhra station superintendent Katija, who was also present with the Collector, gave the same evidence, corroborated by assistant station master Rajendraprasad Meena, who was present at “A” cabin, near which the incident took place, and the railway protection force commandants.

The commission said the passengers of the train were attacked the second time some three hours after the stone throwing and burning incident when the train was being shunted to detach the two affected coaches. Two Muslim mobs of about 700 people started pelting stones on the passengers waiting on the yard for the train to reassemble and resume their onward journey to Ahmedabad. The police had to open fire, killing two persons and injuring one to disperse the violent mobs. This refutes the theory that the fire was accidental, it claimed.

The commission claimed that there was no evidence to justify the contention that the kar sevaks had been fighting with Muslim vendors at stations before Godhra as alleged earlier, though there were some minor scuffles with three Muslim vendors on the Godhra platform. But though there was no “reliable evidence” to show that any attempt was made by the kar sevaks to abduct Sofiabanu, Salim Panwala spread a “false rumour” to that effect to collect a mob that started pelting stones on the passengers.

The commission dismissed as “not worthy of any credence” the Manch theory that there was no crowd, except a small group of curious on-lookers, no stone-throwing and no conspiratorial setting of fire.

Without mentioning the Banerjee report, the Nanavati commission rejected the “accidental fire” theory stating that the reasoning that a fire was caused by the overturning of a burning stove used for cooking by some kar sevaks in the compartment or that it was set off by an electric short circuit was baseless. There was no space for anyone to light the stove in the over-crowded coach carrying more than 200 passengers and any spillover of kerosene from the stove, though out of the question, could not have caused such heavy fire and damage. Dismissing the short circuit theory, the commission said in such an event the passengers would not have climbed up to the upper berths to protect themselves as electric lines were going through the top of the coaches, and rather they would have climbed down on the floor. In such an event, the windows on the platform side of the coach would not have been closed or the windowpanes broken by stone throwing.

“The smoke before fire” did not necessarily mean electric short circuit as propounded by the Manch but because the fire was caused by some inflammable materials thrown on the floor from outside, it concluded.

It said the Centre or the Railways had not appeared before the commission to claim the fire to be accidental and on the contrary the railway officials and the government railway protection force personnel present on the spot had stated that the attack was by the Muslim mob and that the coach was set ablaze by petrol,
Posted by: john frum || 09/26/2008 14:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Run amok .......Much?
Lovely People.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 09/26/2008 22:18 Comments || Top||


Live bombs found near Bangalore highway
At least three live bombs, stored in steel containers and connected to small LPG cylinders and detonators, were found close to the Pune-Bangalore national highway about 18 km from Dharwad city and 400 km north of the state capital on Friday.

These bombs were found on a service road next to a bridge on the national highway. The district police rushed to the spot following a tip off from villagers of Singanahalli in the neighbouring area.

The bombs were stored in cylindrical steel boxes and connected to LPG cylinders, iron pipes and detonators. “The bomb disposal squad (from Bangalore) has reached the spot. It will take some time to defuse them,” DGP Mr R Srikumar said.

The villagers called the Jeevan Raksha police station when they discovered these cylindrical steel boxes. The policemen cordoned off the highway and stopped vehicles from driving over the culvert, where the bombs were found. Soon sniffer dogs were also deployed around the area to spot more explosives in the region.
Posted by: john frum || 09/26/2008 14:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistani, U.S. clash won't escalate: analysts
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Neither the United States nor its ally Pakistan will let a clash between their forces on the Afghan border escalate since both countries depend on each other for different reasons, analysts said on Friday.

U.S. and Pakistani forces exchanged fire on the Afghan border on Thursday after Pakistani forces shot at two U.S. helicopters from a Pakistani border post, the latest in a string of incidents that has ratcheted up diplomatic tension between the allies. The Pakistani military said its soldiers fired warning shots after the helicopters intruded over Pakistani territory, but a Pentagon spokesman insisted the helicopters had not entered Pakistan. No one was hurt.

Alarming as the sight of the nuclear-armed allies shooting at each other might be, Pakistani analysts said hostilities were unlikely to intensify although more such incidents were possible, with both sides driven by different compulsions.

"Don't expect Pakistan and the U.S. to go to war, that is not likely to happen," said political analyst, Hasan Askari Rizvi. "Pakistan needs the United States for economic reasons and the U.S. needs Pakistan for conducting its war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Both recognize the need, but both are also trying to maximize their gain by building pressure on the other."

The United States and its allies are struggling in Afghanistan with an intensifying Taliban insurgency, which has raised doubts about the success of the West's seven-year involvement.

U.S. officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters use the ethnic Pashtun tribal regions along Pakistan's side of the border as an operating base to launch attacks inside Afghanistan, in Pakistan and to plot violence in the West. Targeting those safe havens has become a priority as frustration grows that Pakistan has not been doing enough to clamp down on fighters in the remote region.

As a result, the United States has stepped up strikes on militants on the Pakistani side of the border by missile-firing drones. This month, U.S. commandos mounted a helicopter-borne ground assault on a Pakistani border village. But Pakistan says such attacks violate its sovereignty and the army has vowed to defend Pakistani territory. "Pakistan does not want to engage in a conflict with the U.S.," said Talat Masood, a retired general and analyst."But at the same time it's saying 'please respect our sovereignty' and it's giving some sort of clear signal, while trying to be as conciliatory as possible," he said.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said his country's forces had only fired flares at the U.S. helicopters to tell them they had crossed the border.

Zardari and his government have pledged its commitment to the U.S.-led campaign against militancy and the army has killed up to 1,000 militants in recent offensives in the northwest.

But the alliance with the United States and the attacks on militants are unpopular with many Pakistanis, and cross-border strikes by U.S. forces erode the public support the government is trying to nurture, said Masood. "It's very bad as far as winning the people over, which is essential for the war on terror," he said.

The U.S. attacks into Pakistan also put pressure on the government to stand up to what many see as U.S. aggression. "If they let U.S. activity go unchecked they lose domestic credibility. So they have to do this kind of thing but not with the intention of destroying U.S. helicopters," said Rizvi.

Even during the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces in the 1980s, Pakistan did not try to shoot down intruding Soviet aircraft but only to scare them away, Rizvi said. "I don't think things will get worse but if they do, even then Pakistan will avoid shooting down American helicopters."

The United States is the biggest donor of aid to Pakistan, desperately in need of foreign inflows as it struggles with a sharply deteriorating economy.

Pakistani analysts also see the stepped-up U.S. strikes as an attempt by the U.S. administration to score points in the run-up to a November presidential election. As such, the U.S. attacks into Pakistan, particularly the drone missile strikes, were likely to continue and more minor clashes were possible, they said. "You cannot rule out the possibility of such an incident in future but things will not spin out of control," said Rizvi.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 09:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  could someone please tell me what the US depends on Pakistan for? besides headaches and bullshit
Posted by: sinse || 09/26/2008 13:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Harboring terrorists. It beats having them spread around.
Posted by: Darrell || 09/26/2008 14:01 Comments || Top||

#3  yeah, not until their random reckless fire brings one of our manned aircraft down. then i would suggest they just 'stand the f---by!'
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/26/2008 14:04 Comments || Top||

#4  could someone please tell me what the US depends on Pakistan for? 





Land supply route to our forces in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/26/2008 15:59 Comments || Top||

#5  it would probabaly be cheaper too build an airstrip big enough for c 130's too land than too use pakiland for a supply route. Wonder how much humanitarian, militery and other aid we give them each year for them too redistribute too the ppl we are fighting not too mention the hiding mullah omar bin laden and a host of others that we are still hunting
Posted by: sinse || 09/26/2008 16:28 Comments || Top||

#6  And how are the C130s going to Afghanistan if you are to avoid the Pakistani airspace? Through Iran or through Russia?

Also, how are do you plan for the fuel the C130s will need for their return trip?
Posted by: JFM || 09/26/2008 17:31 Comments || Top||

#7  How about a glass highway trough Pakiwakiland to the sea?

It would be cheap to build with surplus Cold War equipment....

Just saying {^8
Posted by: 3dc || 09/26/2008 17:43 Comments || Top||


Pakistan says 1,000 militants killed near Afghan border

TANG KHATA, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan said Friday that troops have killed 1,000 Islamist militants in a huge offensive, a day after President Asif Ali Zardari lashed out at US forces over a clash on the Afghan border.

Five top Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders were among those killed in a month-long operation in Bajaur, currently the most troubled of Pakistan's unstable tribal areas along the porous frontier, a top official said.

In a further sign of the instability gripping Pakistan since the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad last weekend, three suicide bombers blew themselves up in a shootout with police in Karachi. Separately, six people, including three children, were killed when a bomb derailed a passenger train near the central city of Bahawalpur, a railways official said.

Reporters were flown by helicopter to Khar, the main town in restive Bajaur, for a briefing on the military operation launched in August against Islamist militants who had taken control of most of the region.

"The overall toll is over 1,000 militants," said Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, adding that 27 soldiers had also been killed in the fighting. "This is a centre of gravity for the militants," Khan told journalists. "If they lose here they lose everything."

Of the five militant commanders killed, four appeared to be foreigners: Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri; Abu Suleiman, an Arab; an Uzbek commander named Mullah Mansoor; and an Afghan commander called Manaras. The fifth was a Pakistani commander named only Abdullah, a son of ageing hardline leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad who is based in Bajaur and has close ties to Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Bajaur, which borders the Afghan province of Kunar, has seen some of the fiercest fighting between Pakistani forces and Islamist militants since former military ruler Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led "war on terror" in 2001. The operation came in response to international pressure on Pakistan's new civilian government, which ousted Musharraf last month, to prevent Pakistan-based militants from launching attacks in Afghanistan.

But tensions have escalated with Washington since a September 3 ground attack by US forces inside Pakistan, the first of its kind since 2001, left about 15 people dead.

Following an exchange of gunfire between US and Pakistani forces on the frontier on Thursday, new President Zardari told the United Nations that Pakistan would not tolerate violations of its sovereignty, even by its allies. The incident happened after two US military helicopters came under fire from the Pakistani side, a US military spokesman said, insisting that they had been about a mile and a half inside Afghanistan.

The Pakistani military said its troops had fired warning shots at two helicopters which were "well within Pakistani territory. Just as we will not let Pakistani's territory to be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbours, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," he said, without citing the United States or the border flareup.

In Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, three militants detonated suicide vests when police raided their hideout on a tip-off from a captured rebel, police said. "We have saved Karachi from death and destruction. We know who they were and what was their target in Karachi, but we cannot disclose it immediately," provincial police chief Babar Khattak told AFP.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 09:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Channeling Carl Sagan. The mighty Pak army has killed "Millyuns and Millyuns" of militants.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/26/2008 10:24 Comments || Top||

#2  And not a single woman, child, baby duck or wedding was sacrificed to do it.
Posted by: Darrell || 09/26/2008 12:17 Comments || Top||

#3  1000, huh? Show me the foreskins ears.
Posted by: Gleling Platypus7657 || 09/26/2008 15:07 Comments || Top||


Islamic militants killed in Assam by Indian Army
At least seven Islamic militants have been killed in a clash with the Indian army in the north-eastern state of Assam, the military says. Army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said that a platoon of soldiers encircled a hideout of militants in a village in the western district of Dhubri on Friday. The troops asked the militants to surrender, but they started firing at the soldiers, Mr Kalia said.

Clashes between the military and Islamic militants are unusual in Assam. However, there have been frequent clashes between the army and the insurgent groups fighting for independence or more autonomy over the last two decades.
Mr Kalia said that troops launched a full scale attack on the hideout after they were fired at, killing the militants. He said that the army recovered six revolvers and two kg of explosives from the dead militants after the encounter which lasted for more than two hours.

Mr Kalia said that the militants belonged to the Bangladeshi Islamic terror group, Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI). "We had information about the movement of HUJI militants in the Bansbari area, and the operation was launched on the basis of that intelligence," Mr Kalia said. He said that the army attacked as the militants were trying to meet another HUJI group near the state capital, Guwahati.

Mr Kalia said their location was tracked through a mobile interception system.
The HUJI has been blamed for recent explosions in various Indian cities, including the 2005 Delhi blasts, and Indian intelligence has said that some of them have been using Assam as a gateway into other Indian States. But this is the first time that there has been an encounter with the HUJI militants in the state.
Posted by: john frum || 09/26/2008 06:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Shots fired in US-Pakistan clash
The United States military says US and Afghan forces have exchanged gunfire with Pakistani troops across the border with Afghanistan. A senior US military official says a five-minute skirmish broke out after Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots near two US helicopters. No one was hurt in the incidents and the US maintains its troops did not cross the border from Afghanistan.

Cross-border action by US-led forces has angered Pakistan in recent weeks. The latest incident took place along the Pakistani border with the eastern Afghan region of Khost, an area which is a hotbed of militant groups. Forces from the US-led coalition and the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) patrol the frontier, but Pakistan has been angered by reported US operations across the border in pursuit of insurgents.

A BBC correspondent says the border between the two countries is very unclear and in effect is marked by a 3km-4km (2-2.5 mile) stretch of no-man's land. Nato said the helicopters - which belong to its Isaf mission - came under fire from a Pakistani checkpoint.

A US Central Command spokesman, Rear Admiral Greg Smith, said Pakistani soldiers at the checkpoint were observed firing on two US OH-58 Kiowa helicopters that had been covering a patrol of Afghan and US troops about a mile (1.6km) inside Afghanistan. "The ground forces then fired into the hillside nearby that checkpoint, gained their attention, which worked," he said. "Unfortunately, though, the [Pakistani] unit decided to shoot down a hillside at our ground forces. Our ground forces returned fire."

However, the Pakistani military gave a different account. In a statement, commanders said troops fired warning shots at the helicopters when they strayed over the Pakistan border. "When the helicopters passed over our border post and were well within Pakistani territory, our own security forces fired anticipatory warning shots," a statement said. "On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back."

In New York, Pakistan's new president gave another version of events when he said that Pakistan forces had fired "flares" to warn the helicopters they were near the border. Later, in an address to the UN General Assembly, President Asif Ali Zardari referred to the cross-border tension when he said that his country could not allow its territory to "be violated by our friends".

An Isaf spokesman said he believed the incident was a misunderstanding, but he was certain the helicopters had been operating on the Afghan side of the border. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, in Islamabad, says that the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is very unclear. There is an imaginary border called the Durand line which each side marks differently.

Pakistan says that the area of no-man's land along the border is its territory and Afghanistan makes similar claims. Tension between Washington and Islamabad has risen since 3 September, when the US conducted a ground assault in Pakistani territory, its first, targeting what it said was a militant target in the tribal region of South Waziristan.

Pakistan reacted angrily to the action, saying 20 innocent villagers had been killed by US troops. Local officials have said that on two occasions since then Pakistani troops or tribesmen have opened fire to stop US forces crossing the border. The claims were not officially confirmed.

On Wednesday, a drone believed to be operated by the CIA crashed inside Pakistan. The US and Nato have called on Pakistan to do more to curb militants operating in the border area.
Posted by: john frum || 09/26/2008 06:53 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  One of these exchanges will eventually lead to an escalation as those pakis hate us more than we hate them!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 09/26/2008 9:11 Comments || Top||

#2  ION TOPIX > NORTH KOREA > DPRK MAY ALREADY HAVE NUCLEAR WARHEADS [Mastery of Warhead + Ballistic missle "fit"], + SOUTH KOREA: A NUCLEAR-ARMED FORWARD DEPLOYED NORTH KOREAN ARMY IS A MAJOR THREAT TO SEOUL AND REGION. International Failure to stop the NOKOR NUCLEAR PROGRAMME [e.g. YONGYBON, etc] will result in a more potent and nuclearized DPRK State-Army and will have serious milpol repercusion throughout the region. NOKOR ARMY remnias forward-deployed and fully capable of mountng a SURPRISE ATTACK AGZ SEOUL + SOUTH.

Also from TOPIX > US MAY END OIL/FUEL SHIPMENTS TO NORTH KOREA + SOUTH KOREA: TRANSFER OF TROOP CONTROL MAY LEAD TO CONGRESSIONAL CUTS IN US TROOP NUMBERS. End of joint US-SOKOR COMBINED FORCES COMMAND in 2012 may induce the US Congress to reconsider the US milpol commitment to SOUTH KOREA, = US: INTELLIGENCE HAS CAPTURED 74 INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS [includ AL Qaeda-linked JI Operatives] IN SOUTH KOREA DURING LAST FEW YEARS, + US: NORTH KOREAN LEADER's BROTHER [Brother = Bro-in-Law Kim Jong-Taem?] MAY TAKE OVER FROM KIM JONG-IL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/26/2008 23:01 Comments || Top||


TTP flog butchers in Swat
(PTI) Pakistani Taliban fighters publicly flogged two butchers for allegedly selling the flesh of dead animals in the troubled northwestern Swat valley today. Heavily armed Taliban fighters brought the blindfolded butchers to a crowded market in Kabal sub-district and flogged them before a crowd of about 200 people. The media was also called by the Taliban to cover the event.

The butchers were also fined Rs 10,000 each for their "crime" by the Taliban, who have considerable influence in several parts of Swat district despite a major operation launched against the militants by the Pakistan Army.

TV channels aired footage of the butchers being held down on the ground by four masked Taliban fighters while a fifth militant flogged them with a whip. All the militants were heavily armed and had their faces covered.

The Taliban in the Swat valley of North West Frontier Province are led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, a deputy of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Baitullah Mehsud.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Wouldn't selling the flesh of live animals have been worse?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 09/26/2008 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Yup, the Paks have the situation under control.
Posted by: tipover || 09/26/2008 0:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Dead pigs i'm guessing?
Posted by: Cherelet and Tenille1095 || 09/26/2008 4:16 Comments || Top||

#4  My guess would be road kill, or animals that died of natural causes, or the like.
Apologies for using the word "natural" in a Pakistan context.
Posted by: Grunter || 09/26/2008 10:09 Comments || Top||

#5  It maybe wasn't killed in the correct way to be halal. You know, tortured to death. They are real sticklers those taliwackers.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 09/26/2008 17:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Apologies for using the word "natural" in a Pakistan context.

While accurate, that was cold, very, very cold.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/26/2008 19:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Was it known that the animals had been interfered with before being slaughtered? After all, while I understand it is permitted to sell the meat of interfered with animals to the next community, it is not permitted in the community where the animal should have been able to assume at least that kind of safety. Besides, even if a permitted sale, I wouldn't want to feed that to my family.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/26/2008 19:42 Comments || Top||


Pakistan boosts security at all airports following suicide bomb threat
Pakistan placed all airports on red alert Thursday after a telephone caller warned of a suicide bomb threat, officials said. Passengers were briefly evacuated from the capital's Benazir Bhutto International Airport while security officials searched the area, but all flights were operating as normal, they said.

The security boost comes just days after a massive suicide truck bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the capital Saturday left 60 people dead and more than 260 wounded.

"We have raised the security level to red alert. It was already on high alert but after the bomb threat in Islamabad we stepped it up," senior airport security-force official Mohammad Irfan told AFP.

British Airways cancelled its six weekly flights to Islamabad earlier this week, citing security reasons.

In Islamabad, officials said security had been massively stepped up at the entrance and exit gates after a caller made a specific warning about an attack on the airport on Thursday. "The airport received a telephone threat that a bomb could go off inside the building about midday," Islamabad airport official Mohammad Malik told AFP. "Passengers were evacuated for a short time for debriefing on measures that security forces were taking because of the threat but then they were allowed to return. But there was no delay to flights."

Road traffic to the airport was also suspended for a short time.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Tribal lashkar flushes Taliban from Malagori
A tribal lashkar forced Taliban out of Malagori area near Jamrud in Khyber Agency, officials said. Tension had increased between the Taliban and the residents at Malagori during recent days, the officials said. The residents had formed a 3,000-strong armed group to drive the Taliban out, the officials said.

On Thursday, Taliban vacated the area to avoid clashes with the lashkar. Subsequently, the lashkar torched Taliban bases and centres in Tortopay and Zag Gujjar Dand areas. A source also confirmed that on one occasion there was an exchange of fire between Taliban and the Malagori lashkar. A Taliban was injured, while two others were detained and four vehicles were taken into custody.

The lashkar said any person giving shelter to Taliban would be fined Rs one million.

A spokesman for the lashkar told reporters that around 150 Taliban had fled the area.

Abduction: Meanwhile, suspected Taliban killed one person and abducted another from a mosque in Khyber Agency on Thursday. The armed men attacked Jamia Azizia mosque in the Sheikhwal area. The mosque is built on land owned by MNA Noorul Haq Qadri and Senator Abdul Malik Qadri. Roz Khan, who had dedicated the land for the mosque, was killed and a cleric was abducted in the attack. Witnesses said the Taliban sprayed the sides of the mosque with bullets. They kept firing for a long time but the administration did not take immediate action by blocking roads and erecting checkpoints to intercept the criminals, a resident said.

Threats: Separately, the Government Girls School and College in Jamrud received threatening letters from the Taliban on Thursday. The letters warned girl students not to attend school and asked the parents not to send their daughters to college, threatening them of dire consequences otherwise.

School sources said that the letters were found when the school opened on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Clashes halted in Kurram Agency
Clashes between two warring tribes in Kurram Agency have temporarily halted as negotiations for peace in the area started in Peshawar on Thursday. A tribal jirga from Kurram Agency consisting of 100 members, 50 each from the Toori and Mangal tribes, the political agent, and various lawmakers began negotiations to devise a practical mechanism for restoring peace in the agency. Meanwhile, at least three persons were injured when a hand grenade detonated in Maro Khel area in Lower Kurram Agency. People of the agency are facing a shortage of medicines and edibles in the area due to the closure of the Thall-Parachinar Road for many months. The agency has also been without electricity for several days, causing a severe shortage of drinking water.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Gunship attacks kill 16 in Bajaur
At least 16 Taliban and two civilians were killed when army helicopter gunships attacked Taliban hideouts in Bajaur Agency, officials said on Thursday. "Helicopter gunships pounded positions of militants in the Damadola, Shinkot areas from morning until evening, killing 16 Taliban and wounding 20 others, most of them civilians," a security official told AFP. Two civilians were also killed in the shelling, he said. Meanwhile, an Utmankhel tribe jirga decided to take action against the Taliban and their backers in the area. Thousands of Salarzai tribesmen announced to launch an operation against the Taliban on the fourth day after Eid. The Salarzai tribesmen torched the houses of 18 people accused of helping or sheltering the Taliban. Around 234 families left the agency in the wake of the military operation against the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Pindi police hunting for two 'bombers'
Local police are looking for two 'suicide bombers' who reportedly drove around the city in a rented car and then disappeared near Faizabad on Thursday morning. The car owner told police that the men had booked the car and a driver for Thursday morning. The driver heard the two discussing an attack on important sites in Rawalpindi including the airport, Pir Wadhai Bus Terminal and hotels. The car owner subsequently reported the matter to Civil Lines Police, following which both men -- the car owner and the driver -- were taken into custody. Police raided various sites but have found no evidence of an attack. Regional Police Officer Nasir Khan Durrani and DSP of Civil Lines Raja Taifoor confirmed the arrests. They identified the rented car owner as Riaz but have not disclosed the driver's name. They said the two were being interrogated.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Bajaur residents flee fighting
(AKI) - Source IRIN - As fighting in Pakistan's northern areas intensifies, about 2,800 families from the tribal area of Bajaur are reported to have crossed into neighbouring Afghanistan. Most are believed to be based in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, along Pakistan's western border.

AFP quoted Afghanistan's deputy refugees minister, Abdul Qader Ahadi, as confirming they had entered Afghanistan after "they escaped fighting between Pakistani Taliban and the security forces". He told the news agency most were women and children. Each family comprises about 20 people on average.

Pakistan's autonomous Human Rights Commission (HRCP) this month put the number of people displaced by conflict in Bajaur, Swat, Waziristan and other northern areas at 700,000. HRCP said those people had been forced to flee areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border due to US bombings targeting militants and from other areas due to Pakistan security forces fighting militants.

HRCP has estimated at least 2,000 civilian deaths over the past year due to conflict. "You cannot defeat militants by the indiscriminate killings of civilians. What is needed is an effort to build a consensus and find a political solution to the issue," Iqbal Haider, co-chairman of HRCP, told IRIN.

Haider also called on the Pakistan government to "do more" to help people caught up in conflict.

Meanwhile, angry protests broke out on 23 September in Mingora - a city in the Valley of Swat, some 150km north-east of the North West Frontier capital, Peshawar - as thousands of people protested against the suspension of power, gas and water, mainly due to militant attacks on installations. Severe food shortages have also been reported in the area due to a disruption in transport amid intensified conflict.

Security forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least six people, the BBC reported on 23 September, and this has led to a fresh wave of anger, say observers.

"We have been without power for three days. Due to this, the pumps do not run and there is no water in homes. Now even gas supplies have been suspended. What can we do but protest even if government forces mow us down like animals?" Naeem Ahmed, a resident of Mingora, told IRIN by telephone.

The situation also means displacements from Swat are continuing, with thousands of people moving to Peshawar or other cities. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman, William Spindler, told a media conference in Islamabad on 23 September that "90,000 are believed to be displaced in Swat according to a recent government assessment".

UNHCR is seeking 17 million dollars to assist more than 300,000 people in northern Pakistan, forced out of their homes by floods or fighting.

"Anyone who has the means to go or has relatives based in other cities has now left Swat," Sher Mohammad Khan, a Mingora-based lawyer and human rights activist, told IRIN. He said the attack on a 132 kilowatt power grid station had been "carried out very expertly with the main control room targeted" and there was little hope of the electricity supply being restored to Mingora "for months".

After the burning of power installations, "people had expected gas plants would be protected by security forces but this too has not happened and they have been destroyed as well," Khan said.

While the situation in Swat is worsening, the largest displacements in recent weeks have been those in Bajaur, with 400,000 people leaving their homes. Some have returned, but many are still housed in camps in the adjacent district of Lower Dir or in other parts of the NWFP.

Efforts by the Pakistan government and international agencies to provide food to displaced people and improve housing conditions have been stepped up over the past two weeks.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Centre moves to ban Indian Mujaheddin
The Centre has taken the first step towards banning the Indian Mujahideen - which has claimed responsibility for the serial bombings in Varanasi, Faizabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi - by asking states to share all the details about the outfit emerging during the ongoing probe.

The move is a part of an exercise initiated recently to collect evidence against four of SIMI's national level fronts - Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat(TEU), Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia (TTA), Tehrik Tahaffuz-e-Sha'aire Islam (TTSI) and Wahadat-e-Islami - which have so far not been banned in the absence of "concrete evidence". "Since the IM is believed to be a hardline splinter of SIMI, it is important to get all the details about the outfit before making a complete dossier, an essential prerequisite before banning any outfit," said a senior home ministry official, adding the ongoing investigation has, so far, only thrown up sketchy details.

The recent claims made by both the Delhi and Mumbai Police have pinpointed the IM's command in the hand of the Pakistan-based banned outfit LeT which through one of its commanders, Abu Al Qama, has not only been managing the new outfit but also acting as a vital link between both IM and SIMI for carrying out operations in India. "These are the preliminary findings which need to be corroborated by more concrete evidence in due course. The home ministry has been in touch with states before imposing a ban on the outfit," said the official.

Currently, both LeT and SIMI are two of the 34 terrorist organizations banned under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. Though LeT is banned in Pakistan as well, the outfit is still active there, with all its infrastructure intact, through its front, Jammat-ud-Dawa.

The security agencies here are looking for details whether SIMI too is similarly working in India through its 50 fronts. The mystery, officials believe, will be unravelled only after the home ministry's current move on seeking details of all these fronts.
While four out of SIMI's 50 fronts are currently operating at the national level, the remaining 46 are active in eight different states.
While four out of SIMI's 50 fronts are currently operating at the national level, the remaining 46 are active in eight different states.

Security agencies suspect that all these fronts "are being used for carrying out SIMI's activities, including collection of funds, circulation of literature and regrouping of cadres". Twenty-three out of the 46 outfits are active in Kerala followed by eight in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, three in Bihar, two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi. Though some of them are put under the list of banned outfits by the respective states, most of these organizations have been working without any restrictions.

This article starring:
Bihar
Delhi
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
West Bengal
ABU AL QAMALashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Indian Mujahideen


Iraq
Marines discover munitions stockpile
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq – Multi-National Force –West Marines discovered an explosive-remnants-of-war stockpile near Haditha Sept. 23.

The Marines with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, currently assigned to Camp Pendleton-based Regimental Combat Team 5, discovered the munitions while on patrol approximately 20 miles west of the city.

"This find demonstrates the post PIC (Provincial Iraqi Control) capabilities of an Iraqi Police force in the lead, using its own intelligence to take the fight to the enemy by depriving him of a significant supply of ammunition,” said Lt. Col. Steven J. Grass, the battalion commander of Task Force 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, Regimental Combat Team 5. "It was a big win."

Among the contents of the find were approximately 10,000 82 mm rounds, 106 155 mm rounds, one 100 mm projectile, 19 rockets, and one rocket tube.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/26/2008 07:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Obviously left overs from Saddam's last Easter Egg hunt.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/26/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||


Iraqi security forces hunt Al-Qaeda fighters after deadly Diyala ambush
Iraqi forces launched a major hunt for Al-Qaeda gunmen in the restive province of Diyala on Thursday after 35 people were killed in an ambush of a police convoy. Wednesday's attack, which saw the entire patrol wiped out, was one of the deadliest against police in recent months despite massive military crackdowns in the region, one of the most dangerous in Iraq.

The US military also reported that an American soldier was killed in a suicide bombing in the province on Wednesday, but did not give further details.

Soldiers backed by commandos are sweeping the area following the ambush, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf said. "We have a major operation under way in the area after Al-Qaeda ambushed the policemen. Army, police commandos and rapid-action groups have joined a search for the attackers," Khalaf told AFP.

Khalaf, who is also acting police chief in Diyala, said the people ambushed were on an anti-Al-Qaeda reconnaissance patrol when gunmen struck in the village of Al-Dulaimat near the town of Khan Bani Saad, north of Baghdad. The attackers shot dead 12 policemen and eight pro-government Sunni militiamen, according to an initial toll given by a security official. Town Mayor Naif Abdullah said another 15 wounded policemen were declared dead on arrival at a hospital in Baghdad. Some of them were buried on Thursday, local residents said.

Khalaf said the victims had traveled to an orchard to investigate reports that Al-Qaeda operatives were in the area. "We sent troops to check the report and not fight," he said. "They stepped out of their vehicles and walked about 300 meters when they were struck by gunfire."

Security officials said the area around the village was a longstanding Al-Qaeda stronghold.

Among those killed were allied fighters of the so-called "Awakening Council" group which is battling Al-Qaeda in the region. Diyala remains the most dangerous of Iraq's 18 provinces despite a US-backed offensive which the security forces launched against Al-Qaeda and other insurgents in May.

BAGHDAD: Premier Nuri al-Maliki has promised to improve Iraq's armed forces to the level that they no longer need support from US-led troops, his office said on Thursday.

Following a meeting with Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and other key security officials, Maliki said he was happy with the progress of building the new Iraqi armed forces, but more needed to be done. "We see that our forces have a high level of capability and this makes us feel proud and honored, but we want the performance to be complete so they won't need [external] support," his office quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Isn't Palin's son due to be deployed in Diyala Province? Hope he is not being set up as a target.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/26/2008 16:37 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Authorities arrest six Arabs who stole, sold IDF soldiers' guns
The police and the Shin Bet arrested five Palestinians and an Israeli Arab resident of Taibeh for allegedly stealing assault rifles from two Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Tel Aviv and then selling the guns in the West Bank.

Authorities on Thursday afternoon lifted a media gag order on the details of the affair, according to which a Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Nur el-Shams, Omar Shafai, admitted to investigators that he swiped the guns belonging to two IDF soldiers near the Haganah Bridge in Tel Aviv in two separate incidents.

The first theft occurred in late January of this year, when Shafai assaulted a soldier who was standing near the bridge adjacent to the Ayalon Freeway. Shafai wielded a rock against the soldier's head and fled with his weapon.

Shafai was arrested by authorities while attempting to sell the weapon in the West Bank. Investigators also learned that he assaulted a soldier who was walking along the Haganah Bridge in mid-July of this year. Shafai allegedly beat the soldier with an iron rod he had obtained beforehand. After the soldier regained consciousness, he noticed that his rifle had been stolen.

Shafai subsequently came into contact with a weapons dealer in Qalqilyah, who then referred him to an Israeli Arab resident of Taibeh, Darwish Nasser, who purchased the rifle from Shafai. The two are believed to have met near the Geha junction in between Ramat Gan and Kiryat Ono.

Shin Bet investigators learned that Shafai attempted to steal a number of other weapons from soldiers numerous times, without success. He will be tried in an IDF tribunal in the northern West Bank on charges of aggravated assault and illegal sale of arms. Darwish was indicted in Petah Tikva District Court on arms possession and arms selling. Indictments against the remaining suspects are likely to follow.

Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Four gunned down across southern Thailand
Terrorists Insurgents shot dead four Muslim men across Thailand's restive south, police said on Friday. On Thursday evening at 6pm a 33-year-old man was shot dead while driving his wife home on a motorcycle from a market in Pattani province, they said, adding that his wife was unhurt.

In Yala province a 30-year-old man was shot dead in a drive-by shooting at 7.20 pm, the police said. Three hours later in nearby Narathiwat province, a 30-year-old man was shot dead at his house, they said. The following morning a 27-year-old man was shot and killed at 7am as he drove his motorcycle to work at a rubber plantation.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/26/2008 07:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sri Lanka
Prabhakaran a 'caged animal' now: Lankan army chief
(PTI) The Sri Lankan forces have reached the outskirts of Kilinochchi town, a stronghold of Tamil rebels, and the LTTE supremo is now a "caged animal", the army chief said here today even as fierce clashes left 38 dead. "Our forces are around four to five kilometres from Kilinochchi town. In fact we can see some of the buildings," Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said. He asserted that the leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was "now a caged animal".
He'll get away, is my guess. His faithful minions will die in droves, but he'll be too Important to the Movement® to eat a bullet.
Stating that the operations were reaching a decisive phase, Fonseka told a book release function here that the military campaign won't stop "until we liberate our motherland from the LTTE".

While refusing to give a time period for capture of the LTTE areas including Kilinochchi where the outfit maintains its administrative structure including the police headquarter, Fonseka hinted a fresh offensive would be unleashed in the coming days. "We will fire the first shots towards Kilinochchi town next week," he said.

Meanwhile, defence ministry said at least 37 LTTE cadres and a soldier were killed in fierce clashes in the northern region of the country as security forces stepped up their offensive against the Tamil Tigers. In an air raid, fighter jets carried out an attack on LTTE reinforcement troops gathering point in North of Akkarayankulam Tank in Kilinocchi today, officials said adding Air Force pilots confirmed that a large number of LTTE cadres were wounded during the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 09/26/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They gonna drop a barrel on Mario?
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/26/2008 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I think of Pakistan as a combination open-air insane assylum and feral animal preserve, if they'd STAY there, there'd be no trouble.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/26/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  True, Redneck Jim. Thank goodness this is happening in Sri Lanka. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/26/2008 11:55 Comments || Top||



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

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2008-09-26
  Shots fired in US-Pakistan clash
Thu 2008-09-25
  NKor bans nuke inspectors
Wed 2008-09-24
  Five Indian Mujaheddin nabbed in Mumbai
Tue 2008-09-23
  Livni asked to form a new government
Mon 2008-09-22
  Up to 15 tourists kidnapped in Egypt
Sun 2008-09-21
  2 Delhi blasts suspects banged
Sat 2008-09-20
  Islamabad Marriott kaboomed
Fri 2008-09-19
  300 child hostages freed in NWFP
Thu 2008-09-18
  25 arrested over embassy attack in Yemen
Wed 2008-09-17
  Odierno takes over as US commander in Iraq
Tue 2008-09-16
  Twelve Mauritanian troops dead in attack blamed on Al-Qaeda's North Africa wing
Mon 2008-09-15
  Pak Troops open fire at US military helicopters
Sun 2008-09-14
  Pakistan order to kill US invaders
Sat 2008-09-13
  30 dead, 90 injured as five blasts hit Indian capital
Fri 2008-09-12
  Kimmie recovering from brain surgery

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