On this day in history: May 3rd.
1494 Christopher Columbus first sights land that will be called Jamaica.
1802 Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
1915 The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
1921 West Virginia imposes the first state sales tax.
1928 Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
1937 Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
1947 New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
1951 The Kentucky Derby is televised for the first time.
1957 Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
1960 The Off-Broadway musical comedy, The Fantasticks, opens in New York City's Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
1978 The first "spam" is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
1979 Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher becomes the United Kingdom's first female prime minister as the Labour government is ousted in parliamentary elections.
#9
I cautht a small lion just like that one day. walking down the middle of the service aisle between cars, he was freindly enough, but stunk like hell. Long story short he escaped from a Veteranarian's car and was sick. I picked him up and retirned him to the vet (Who was getting franic his lion was loose)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/03/2009 22:27 Comments ||
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Afghan and international authorities said on Saturday that more than a dozen insurgents had been killed in new clashes in Taliban and Al Qaeda hotspots, as a district police chief and his guard died in a bombing.
Authorities were, meanwhile, following up on a major attack on a remote outpost in the east of the country on Friday that killed three US, two Latvian and three Afghan troops in one of the deadliest incidents for the security forces in months. The US military announced that its forces working with Afghan troops had killed five militants on Friday in the southern province of Helmand, a stronghold of the Taliban. The troops had come under attack while on a routine security patrol and "returned fire with small-arms and heavy weapons, killing five militants," it said in a statement.
Six to seven more militants were killed overnight in the adjoining province of Kandahar, provincial police intelligence chief Abdullah Khan said. They had been travelling in a pick-up vehicle and were targeted by an air strike, he said.
Separately, the Defence Ministry said that its men had killed one 'terrorist' on Friday in the eastern province of Paktika. None of the incidents or tolls could be independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry reported that the police chief of Farsi district in the western province of Herat was killed, along with a bodyguard, early on Saturday when a bomb blew up their vehicle. It blamed the attack, in which six policemen were also wounded, on insurgents.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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A French naval vessel intercepted 11 suspected pirates traveling off the Somali coast on Sunday in two assault vessels and a so-called "mothership" loaded with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, the French Defense Ministry said.
It was the French ship's third pirate intervention in a month. France has been the most aggressive in pursuing pirates out of more than a dozen nations patrolling shipping routes in the Gulf of Aden.
Another three suspected pirates were detained Saturday by the Seychelles coast guard, which had been alerted by the French warship Nivose after European officials decided there was not enough evidence to hold them.
Posted by: ed ||
05/03/2009 12:47 ||
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#1
Its a might impressive, no? Go Gaul, I mean, er, France.
Somali pirates hijacked a Greek and a Ukrainian ship, while a NATO warship briefly detained 19 pirates armed with high explosives after foiling an attack on a Norwegian tanker in the Gulf of Aden, on Saturday.
Pirates said they were taking the Ukrainian ship, hijacked in the Indian Ocean with a cargo including United Nations' (UN) vehicles, to the Somali coastal town of Haradheere. "We have hijacked a ship carrying industrial equipment including white cars with the UN logo, our friends are on board it," a pirate who said his name was Hussein said by telephone from Haradheere. Maritime and UN officials were not immediately available to confirm the hijack.
Gunmen also seized a Greek-owned bulk carrier, the MT Ariana, with a 24-strong Ukrainian crew, said East African Seafarers Assistance Programme's Andrew Mwangura."MT Ariana was seized at 0200 GMT north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil. The Ukrainian crew are said to be unhurt," he said.
High explosives: NATO said a Portuguese warship went to the rescue of the MV Kition after the Norwegian crude oil tanker radioed for help on Friday as it was approached by a skiff full of pirates brandishing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. "We were the nearest warship, so we immediately scrambled our helicopter," said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Fernandes from the Corte-Real, which was about 20 nautical miles north of the tanker when the distress call went out. The helicopter spotted the skiff and began tracking the pirates who fled to their ship, a dhow carrying 19 heavily armed pirates, which was later intercepted after a high-speed chase by a Portuguese escort frigate.
Eight marines then managed to board the vessel. "They surrendered immediately," said Fernandes, who added no injuries were reported and the pirates did not shoot at the Bahamas-flagged merchant vessel, the helicopter or the marines. NATO's Fernandes said the pirates captured by the Corte-Real, were released after consultations with Portuguese authorities. Fernandes said the Special Forces had found the pirates were armed with four sticks of the chemical high-explosive P4A, four AK-47s and a rocket propelled grenade launcher with nine grenades.
"It was almost a kilogramme of high explosives. If used correctly it can open a hole in the hull of a ship and sink her," Fernandes said. "It is the first time we have spotted high explosives on board a pirate ship, normally they just stick to AK-47s and RPGs," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] An Easyjet flight from Paris to Marrakech diverted and landed safely in Nantes on Thursday (April 30th) after French air traffic control notified the pilot of a bomb threat. The 149 passengers were evacuated and the airport was closed temporarily to allow French police to search the plane. No explosives were found. The passengers continued on to Marrakech.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Khaleej Times] Bahraini authorities have arrested a 'terror cell' of two suspected of plotting attacks in the kingdom and the region, the interior ministry said.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said the suspects were arrested on April 26 in a police raid which recovered two AK-47 assault rifles and a pistol, with ammunition. "The terror cell was plotting and preparing for terror attacks in the kingdom of Bahrain and some neighbouring countries," he said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency late on Thursday.
He said the two suspects have been kept in custody for further questioning.
He warned Bahrainis against 'the danger of terrorist Internet web sites that aim to mislead the youth and indoctrinate them with extremist ideas, to attract them into terrorist organisations."
Lawyer Abdullah Hashem, who is representing one of the two suspects, said the two men were not linked to any organisation and had not plotted any attacks. "We confirm that this was not a (terror) organisation. It was just a friendship between two men who shared the same beliefs," he said, adding that they "do not belong to any organisation or any local group".
"There were no plots or any specific targets," he said, adding that the two men, each 22, had kept the weapons only because they considered them to be 'manly and heroic' in accordance with local custom.
In February, a Bahraini court sentenced three men to up to five years in prison for belonging to and funding a 'terrorist' group abroad -- a term that is usually used to refer to Al-Qaeda-linked groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Indian Border Security Force (BSF) killed two Bangladeshis on the borders of Satkhira and Lalmonirhat on Friday.
Our Satkhira correspondent reports: The BSF shot dead a Bangladeshi cattle trader early Friday on the Khalisha border. The deceased was identified as Khalilur Rahman, 35, son of Ekramul Haque of Boalia in Kalaroa upazila.
BSF men of Khalisha camp under Swarupnagar Police Station of India opened fire on some cattle traders while they were trying to enter India with their cattle near Khalisha leaving Khalilur dead on the spot, locals said. BSF men took away the body, sources said. When contacted Lieutenant Colonel Iqbal Azim, commanding officer of 41 rifles battalion, confirmed the news.
No cattle trader enters India. The ban on cow slaughter in many Indian states, the largest population of cattle in the world, and ready markets in Muslim Bangladesh has made smuggling cattle from India a profitable racket. Border guards need to be bribed and with the so many BDR men in the clink, things are dangerous now for smugglers
Our Lalmonirhat correspondent adds: BSF men killed a Bangladeshi fisherman at Daikhowa of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat near the main pillar No 903 Friday morning. BSF took away the body to India. The victim was identified as Rashedul Islam, 30, son of Akhter Hossain of Daikhowa.
As Rashedul went to Maldah Chhora river which is located within Bangladesh territory near the main pillar No 903 in the morning to catch fish, BSF members on patrol of Lal Bazar camp of 46 No BSF Battalion opened fire on him leaving him dead on the spot. The BSF members took away the body to India, BDR and local sources said.
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) of Daikhowa BOP company camp sent a protest letter to Indian Lal Bazar camp BSF the same day. The letter demanded immediate handover of the body to BDR. Referring to the BSF reply BDR said the body would be handed over to BDR after completion of its post-mortem in India.
Commanding Officer of Lalmonirhat 31 Rifles Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Golam Ambiya acknowledged the matter and said the situation on Daikhowa border is under control.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Another Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) jawan died, in Sylhet, yesterday raising the death toll to 19 since March 9. The deceased, nayek Renu Mian, 43, of 20 rifles battalion in Sylhet felt pain in the chest while taking lunch. He was on special duty at the BDR sector headquarters, says a BDR press release.
After Renu fell sick he was taken to the sector medical officer for treatment at 1pm who sent him to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital at 1:25pm. He was later admitted to the hospital where he fell unconscious after ECG test and died at 2:15pm.
His death certificate cited 'irreversible cardio-respiratory failure due to acute MI type-3' as the cause of his death, the press release added. It also said body of Renu will be sent to his village home Rangarchar in Sunamganj upazila of Sylhet.
According to BDR authorities a total of 19 border guards have died so far. Of them four committed suicides, seven died of heart attack and eight died of other diseases in Dhaka and outside the capital.
CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS
Meanwhile, two more BDR jawans confessed to their involvement in the Pilkhana carnage yesterday. Two Magistrates of Dhaka courts recorded the statements of those two BDR jawans under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced them before the magistrates with a petition for recording their statements.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Moroccan imam Mohamed el Idrissi, 72, was expelled from France earlier this week and returned to his native country, AFP reported on Thursday (April 30th). Suspected of fundamentalist preaching, he was subject to a deportation order issued by France's Ministry of the Interior. El Idrissi served as imam at a Toulon mosque for seven years.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Cause and Effect: I wonder if this was the precursor to the EasyJet diversion mentioned above due to bomb threat?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/03/2009 7:46 Comments ||
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#2
hope he fell down the stairs a couple times on the way out
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2009 8:25 Comments ||
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#3
Expel the mosque members too.
Posted by: ed ||
05/03/2009 9:59 Comments ||
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#4
Is France growing a new set of "cojones"?? Just askin', ya' know?
However, there are probably dozens, maybe over a hundred, imans in the US with similar public preachings.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/03/2009 10:39 Comments ||
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#6
Since at least 80% of US mosques are Saudi funded and controlled, I'd say a lot high higher than dozens or a hundred.
The picture of Saudi activities in the United States is not a pretty one. Freedom House's Muslim volunteers went to 15 prominent mosques from New York to San Diego and collected more than 200 books and other publications disseminated by Saudi Arabia (some 90% in Arabic) in mosque libraries, publication racks, and bookstores.
What they found can only be described as horrifying. These writings - each and every one of them sponsored by the kingdom - espouse an anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, misogynist, jihadist, and supremacist outlook. For example, they:
Reject Christianity as a valid faith: Any Muslim who believes "that churches are houses of God and that God is worshiped therein is an infidel."
Insist that Islamic law be applied: On a range of issues, from women (who must be veiled) to apostates from Islam ("should be killed"), the Saudi publications insist on full enforcement of Shariah in America.
See non-Muslims as the enemy: "Be dissociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion, leave them, never rely on them for support, do not admire them, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law."
See America as hostile territory: "It is forbidden for a Muslim to become a citizen of a country governed by infidels because this is a means of acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways."
Prepare for war against America: "To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah's way. It is the duty of the citizen and the government."
The report's authors correctly find that the publications under review "pose a grave threat to non-Muslims and to the Muslim community itself." The materials instill a doctrine of religious hatred inimical to American culture and serve to produce new recruits to the enemy forces in the war on terrorism.
Posted by: ed ||
05/03/2009 11:56 Comments ||
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Pakistani Taliban have beheaded two government officials in the northwestern Swat Valley in revenge for the killing of two insurgent commanders by security forces, a militant spokesman said on Sunday.
The two government officials were kidnapped and beheaded on Saturday evening in Khuwaza Kheil, a village 18 km (10 miles) north of the valley's main town of Mingora, said town police chief Danishwar Khan. Their bodies were dumped beside a road. "They beheaded the officers. We've sent an ambulance to pick up the bodies," Khan said.
Militant spokesman Muslim Khan said the beheadings were revenge for the killing of two low-level Taliban commanders earlier on Saturday.
#1
wonder if they used ISI-issued knives to do that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2009 12:08 Comments ||
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#2
We need to talk to the French about bringing back the guillotine just for these bastards.
Or loaning us one to put at Guantanamo, should scare the shit out of the murderous thugs.
(Excuse me BRAVE LIONS OF ISLAM).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/03/2009 13:09 Comments ||
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#3
Just build a scaffold about 200 yards long, with about 100 swing-arms and trap-doors. Make sure it's in plain view of the detainees. Test the thing now and then, just to make sure it works. Then issue every detainee a three-digit number between 100 and 300. Stand back, watch heads explode.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:06 Comments ||
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#4
If you are going to bring back the guillotine - test it out on a few pigs first - in full view of the inmates - and don't wipe off the blades.
Then, just for bonus points, cart the carcasses off toward the kitchens....
The horrendous predicament of the Sikhs of Orakzai is all before us. They are being persecuted under the garb of 'jiziya', or tax that minorities pay in Islam to a Muslim state in exchange for state protection and security of life and property. From several reports that have appeared of late, first in the Pakistani press, and now in the foreign press, the situation comes across as most startling and worrying. The Sikhs of Orakzai have lived in the agency for decades and by their own admission have never faced any problems or harassment from the tribes. However, for the past few months, and especially after Hakeemullah Mehsud and his men descended on Orakzai and established their own rule, the Sikhs of the agency have lived a terrified existence. They have been veritably held at gunpoint and forced to pay 'jiziya' but given the environment that this has happened in, it is nothing but ransom money. The Sikhs were told that either they all convert or they pay the tax. And this is reinforced by published accounts of some of the Sikh family elders, one of whom was kidnapped and tortured by the Orakzai Taliban. The Sikhs, who number not more than a few dozen households, were fast asked to pay over a hundred million rupees an astronomical amount for any one but this was scaled back after 'negotiations'. Elders of the community are now reportedly in Peshawar and have raised less than half the money that was agreed upon (or rather that has been extorted from them). And as they do so, some in their community continue to be held hostage by the Taliban and will be released only once the money is paid. And if they try and do it any other way, the consequences will be that the men will be killed and the women and children converted.
That the state has chosen to do nothing about this is revolting but not altogether surprising given that it has chosen to do nothing also about the way that the Taliban have gone about slaughtering their fellow-Muslims, especially in targeting the Shias of Kurram and Dera Ismail Khan. Also, it has to be said and rather unfortunately that this kind of Talibanization (perhaps one of its more grotesque forms) has been happening in the rest of the country of late, albeit in a slightly different manner. Hindu communities in Sindh have in recent years complained of several cases where their young women were more or less abducted and forced to convert and marry non-Muslims. No wonder then that the rest of the world sees Pakistan notwithstanding official proclamations to the contrary as a place minorities live with a great degree of trepidation. In fact, it is not just minorities now, but women as well given what has been happening in the Talibanized parts of NWFP and FATA.
Not only are we listed among countries whose governments are unwilling or unable to stop religious violence by their citizens and/or groups against minorities, we are also marked because some of our laws are seen as anti-minorities the most controversial of these being the much-abused blasphemy law. Sectarian violence continues unabated and is directed against Shias, Ahmadis and Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. The government rarely responds in a positive way to the pleas for help from the minority communities who lead increasingly terrorized and fearful lives. Our minority groups and communities are at risk, and like the endangered species of the world require and deserve our care and protection. The only issue is that how and when this protection will be accorded to them. Who will go to Orakzai and take the Sikhs of Orakzai from the clutches of the Taliban?
Posted by: john frum ||
05/03/2009 08:20 ||
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#1
The Taliban need a lesson in humility. The United States needs to do the teaching. Start with a dozen ARCLIGHT strikes, follow up with napalm and white phosphorous (including a couple of rounds into the "International Criminal Court). Keep bombing them until they totally and unconditionally surrender, or there's no one left to fight. If necessary, use small tactical nukes and even some large strategic ones. I guarantee that no one, absolutely NO ONE, will ever play these kind of supremacist games ever again. Just ask the people conquered by Genghis Khan.
War is not a game, played by rules. It is the imposition of the will of one people on another, using as much force and destruction as necessary. It's time for us to quit playing parlor games and go to war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:12 Comments ||
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KATHMANDU: Nepals army chief Gen Rukmanga Katawal, who was sacked by the ruling Maoist Party on Sunday, has refused to accept the decision, according to TV reports.
Times Now says that an emergency meeting is being held by the top brass of Nepals army at the residence of Katawal over the issue.
Earlier, ending days of speculation, Nepal's Maoists-led government on Sunday fired Gen Rukmanga Katawal, replacing him with loyalist Gen Kul Bahadur Khadka.
The announcement was made by prime minister Prachanda's press adviser Om Sharma despite domestic and international calls against such a move, including from India.
The 61-year-old Katawal, who received his marching orders just three months before he is due to retire, is expected to knock at Nepal's Supreme Court to stay the Maoists' hand, IANS reported.
"It is a routine procedure," said a Nepal Army brigadier-general who had served for 33 years.
"The general's challenge to the government over the eight brigadier-generals the government tried to retire last month is a pointer that Gen Katawal will go to court," said a former lieutenant-colonel, who too declined to be named, IANS said.
Recently, when the Maoist-led government sought to retire eight brigadier-generals, the army went to court under Katawal's orders to block the move.
The dispute is still being heard with the Supreme Court scheduled to deliver its verdict next week.
The general's task could be made easier by the four other parties in the Maoist-led coalition government who said the former guerrillas had taken the decision to retire Katawal Sunday unilaterally, ignoring their advice to seek the opinion of the interim parliament.
Soon after Maoist Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara announced that Katawal had been replaced with Lt. Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka, the opposition Nepali Congress called a meeting of the other parliamentary parties to discuss a united reaction.
Meanwhile, rallies began to erupt in Kathmandu over the ouster of the army chief.
While Maoist cadres expressed triumph, saying that the general deserved his dismissal for defying the orders of the government, the opposition rally flayed the Maoists for taking unilateral decisions and jeopardising the peace process.
The Maoists' move came a fortnight after they served an ultimatum to Gen Katawal, seeking his clarification on recruitments by military, its "hastiness" in reinstating eight generals retired by the government and its decision not to participate in the national games.
He had furnished his reply contending that he had not disobeyed the government's directives on removing eight generals and halting recruitment in the military.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/03/2009 08:10 ||
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#1
maoist scum, go back to your Commie homeland and die
Posted by: go Tibet ||
05/03/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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#2
Take a good, long look. You may see something similar tried here, if Barry manages to get his way on a few things. I doubt he'd be able to carry it off, but he'll obviously try.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:46 Comments ||
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#3
Barry and his cadre don't give a damn about the constitution to include the 22nd Amendment. If he gets a second term, I wouldn't put anything past him.
I liken the hatchet men "The Bobs" from Office Space to our Veep and President.
Here is the analogy: all the while they're cuttin 22nd amendment's position with bumbling grins on their faces, many people will be thinkin' it don't apply to them. That is, till the day they come to take away our staplers guns.
The question is, will we be like Milton and mumble and move to the basement before setting fire to the building, or will we be like Peter, who gets right in management's face? Few are too worried for now because they'll let us have our weapons with an lower case w if we behave.
When the Obama's administration asks for our 22nd Amendment back with a big sugar coated rhetorical cluster phuck bomb, will we Americans say "but, but, but, my stapler?"
[Geo News] NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has announced the setting up of Darul Qaza in Malakand region. Addressing a news conference here on Saturday night, the provincial minister said that "Ziauddin and Moinuddin have been appointed as Qazis at the Darul Qaza, adding that a notification has also been issued in this connection."
"It is a good news for the people of Malakand who have been demanding for long for the establishment of Nifaz-e-Adl Regulation," Hussain said. He said that the regulation would be implemented onwards from today.
The minister also called upon Sufi Muhammad to help the government in this regard. "Qazis have been appointed according to the Sharia in line with the demands of Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi," he said. Hussain also quoted a statement of Sufi Muhammad in which he had said that one who would pick up arms after the implementation of the regulation would be considered as insurgent. There was no reason left to pick up arms after the setting up of Darul Qaza, he said, warning that government would take strict action against those who would try to establish parallel state in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Qazis (Islamic judges) have been appointed according to the Sharia in line with the demands of Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi,(the local band of turban heads)" he said.
Hussain also quoted a statement of Sufi Muhammad("Islam does not allow democracy or elections and a big fan of ye old Taliban days)
in which he had said that one who would pick up arms after the implementation of the regulation (Sharia) would be considered as insurgent(infidel).
I am not sure if I should feel happy or sad as Pakistan falls apart
Posted by: Glaiger Prince of the Antelope5359 ||
05/03/2009 4:57 Comments ||
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#2
Happy, Definately, they've been described as the origin and head of almost ALL Terror activity.
Kill them, end this cesspool once and for all.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/03/2009 12:58 Comments ||
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An important Taliban commander surrendered to the political administration in Jamrud on Saturday, a Khasadar force official said. Iftikhar Khan was wanted by the administration, the official said, and surrendered after notices were issued to him. Early on Saturday, two short-range missiles reportedly fired from Abdal Khad missed the security forces pickets, sources in the administration said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Associated Press of Pakistan] The Security Forces have conducted successful operation on Ambela Daggar Axis and were able to establish linkage with troops at Daggar, said an ISPR press release here on Saturday. The Security Forces are removing and destroying Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) astride the road. The road Daggar Mardan has been fully secured and will be soon open for public, it said.
It said that security forces are conducting mopping up operation and area will be clear of militants soon.
In Upper Dir the 10 Levies personnel who were abducted by militants on Friday were later released but ammunition and weapons were taken away.
It said that militants lobbed two hand grenades in a civil house at Doag Darra, Upper Dir in which two civilians were injured.
Regarding Swat situation, the press release said that in gross violation of peace accord militants are involved in various criminal activities threatening the lives of civil population, civil administration as well asn security forces personnel.
It said that militants attacked a security forces checkpost on Khawazakhela Bridge and Sambat Ridge on Friday.
In village Langer, Khawzakhela security forces signaled a suspicious looking red colour Jeep to stop but the armed militants sitting in that jeep opened fire on the security forces. Exchange of fire took place.
Later, during search of Jeep 12 pairs of military uniform were confiscated which reportedly were to be used for some terrorist activity in the garb of security forces personnel.
Five militants (3 Afghan National) were arrested from Kanju while planting IED, it said adding that militants abducted a levies soldier from Chakdara Bazar.
Regarding Mohmand Agency, ISPR said that around 100 militants attacked a security forces checkpost in Spinal Tangi on Friday night. 16 militants were killed in retaliatory fire. Two security forces personnel also embraced Shahadat.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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A man was killed and five women were injured in suspected Taliban rocket and missile attacks in Pusht area in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Saturday. Volunteers of a tribal lashkar retaliated.
Sources in the area said that a grand jirga of tribesmen was scheduled in Pusht when the Taliban attacked the venue with rockets.
Sources in the area said that a grand jirga of tribesmen was scheduled in Pusht when the Taliban attacked the venue with rockets, destroying three houses. Tribesman Abdul Jabbar was killed and five women including three of a family sustained critical injuries.
The volunteers of Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar followed the Taliban in the hills and exchanged fire for several hours. The security forces also targeted the attackers' positions from Khar.
No casualties were reported as the gunfight continued until late on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban attacked a security post in Mohmand Agency on Saturday, triggering a battle that left 16 Taliban and two soldiers dead. About 100 Taliban attacked the Spinal Tangi post before dawn, the army said in a statement. "Sixteen militants were killed in retaliatory fire. Two security forces personnel embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," it said. Three troops were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Swat Taliban have refused to lay down weapons despite the announcement of the establishment of Darul Qaza by the NWFP government, a private TV channel reported on Saturday."Taliban cannot renounce weapons, they are ornaments of Muslims," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said. He demanded the release of Taliban prisoners and said Darul Qaza should not be subordinate to any other court.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Taliban cannot renounce weapons, they are ornaments of Muslims,"
[Iran Press TV Latest] Israeli air strikes on the southern Gazan town of Rafah have left at least two Palestinians dead and four others wounded, medics say.
Local residents say Israeli F16s bombed the border region between Rafah and Egypt on Saturday, Xinhua reported. Two people were found dead and four others wounded.
According to the locals, a series of explosions were heard in the area after F16 warplanes were seen hovering over the town.
Gazan rescue teams continued searching for two missing persons who were buried under the rubble of the destroyed tunnels, security sources said. Gaza emergency chief Moaweya Hassanein has also confirmed the casualties.
Areas surrounding the Rafah border crossing with Egypt were frequently targeted by Israeli warplanes during Israel's three-week war on the Gaza Strip.
After the Israeli military offensive, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,350 people, Palestinians began the reconstruction of cross border tunnels used to import food and other vital supplies into the populated territory, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since Hamas took power in June 2007.
Despite announcing ceasefire, Tel Aviv continues attacks on the beleaguered region under the pretext of stopping the democratically-elected government of Hamas from rearming its fighter in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#3
Time for Israel to wipe Gaza off the map, force open the southern border, and herd 'em all into Egypt. Plow and till the land to where it's unrecognizable from what was there before, and resettle some of the more crowded Israelis on the territory. Do the same thing for the West Bank. Tell "world opinion" to go screw themselves.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:51 Comments ||
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#4
Of course those poor Palestinians would never think to smuggle rockets and weapons through those tunnels.
Those thousands of rockets they shot at Israel's civilian population for years, just kinda grew out of the ground. (rolls eyes)Israel has the right to protect it's citizens.
The article is definitely slanted towards the Palestinians (Iran Press TV) with nary a mention of WHY Israel attacked Gaza, or that over 1000 of the 1350 people killed in the Gaza offensive were Hamas operatives of military age.
No mention of WHY Hamas has been under a tight blockade.
People aren't stupid. You lose your credibility when you try to present one sided news.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 64 civilians were killed and another 87 wounded yesterday in an attack on the last remaining medical facility inside rebel-held territory in northeastern Sri Lanka, a pro-rebel website reported.
Tamilnet.com said two shells fired by government forces hit the make-shift hospital at Mulliavaikal in the Mullaittivu district three days after its location was given to the military through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
There was no immediate comment from the ICRC, which has limited access to the combat zone, but the military denied targeting the area.
"We have not carried out any shelling, but we heard some loud explosions inside the no-fire zone and it could have been a misfire by the Tigers," military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Charges and counter claims by both sides cannot be verified as there are no independent observers in the conflict area and the government has rejected international calls to allow neutral humanitarian access.
The latest reports of civilians casualties came as Japan's special envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi held talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse on the humanitarian crisis.
A presidential spokesman said Akashi was told that the government wanted the Tigers to surrender and allow some 20,000 civilians still trapped in a small sliver of beach to leave to safety.
Sri Lanka's defence ministry on Saturday rejected satellite imagery issued by the United Nations in support of allegations that security forces shelled a civilian area last month.
The defence ministry said the allegations, based on UN aerial images posted on the UNOSAT website and used on several foreign television channels, had "no scientific validity" unless there was verification on the ground.
"Conclusions drawn from the interpretations of these images have no scientific validity," the ministry said, responding to reports the military had shelled an area the government itself had designated a no-fire zone.
The pictures showed craters which were formed inside the zone between February 15 and April 19, the day before the army breached the Tigers' defences and civilians started to pour out.
"The imagery is fairly clear and shows the time, so anybody can study and compare them," the head of the mapping unit at UNOSAT, Einer Bjorge, told the Al Jazeera television network.
He said the pattern of the craters would have required air power.
Sri Lanka has consistently denied it used heavy weapons against civilian populated areas and last week announced it had ordered security forces not to use heavy calibre weapons and aerial strikes.
The ruling party's main Tamil political allay, the Tamil United Liberation Front, asked the government to arrange for the Tigers to lay down arms and surrender to an international agency.
The UN estimates that up to 50,000 civilians are trapped in a narrow strip of coast where the Tamil Tigers are putting up a last stand. Government forces have said only about 20,000 people were still left in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
The death toll from a fierce gunbattle between Iranian police and Kurdish rebels in the western province of Kermanshah last week has risen to 26, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.
Of those killed in the April 24 clash near Ravansar close to the Iraqi border, 18 were policemen and eight were members of the Kurdish rebel Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), provincial justice chief Allahyar Malekshahi said.
"Five people suspected of participating in this terrorist attack have been arrested and are under investigation," he said.
Iranian state television said last week that 10 policemen and 10 rebels were killed.
Western Iran, which has a sizeable Kurdish population, has seen deadly fighting in recent years between Iranian security forces and PJAK rebels operating out of rear-bases in neighbouring Iraq.
The group is closely allied with the Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey all have significant ethnic Kurdish minorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
18 were policemen and eight were members of the Kurdish rebel Party
#2
Seems obvious the police need army combat training.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/03/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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#3
Wrong, RJ. The Kurdish Rebels need more training. Enough so that next time, the results are more 180 police/soldiers killed, five rebels dead.
The Kurds have a distinctive lifestyle they want to maintain. None of the countries where they're currently residing is willing to leave them alone. The result is constand bloodshed and insurrection.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:54 Comments ||
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#4
These are Kurdhish communists. If the Iranians wipe them out, I would not shed any tears.
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.
Afghan and international authorities said on Saturday that more than a dozen insurgents had been killed in new clashes in Taliban and Al Qaeda hotspots, as a district police chief and his guard died in a bombing.
Somali pirates hijacked a Greek and a Ukrainian ship, while a NATO warship briefly detained 19 pirates armed with high explosives after foiling an attack on a Norwegian tanker in the Gulf of Aden, on Saturday. 
[Khaleej Times] Bahraini authorities have arrested a 'terror cell' of two suspected of plotting attacks in the kingdom and the region, the interior ministry said.
[Bangla Daily Star] Another Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) jawan died, in Sylhet, yesterday raising the death toll to 19 since March 9. The deceased, nayek Renu Mian, 43, of 20 rifles battalion in Sylhet felt pain in the chest while taking lunch. He was on special duty at the BDR sector headquarters, says a BDR press release. 
[Maghrebia] Moroccan imam Mohamed el Idrissi, 72, was expelled from France earlier this week and returned to his native country, AFP reported on Thursday (April 30th). Suspected of fundamentalist preaching, he was subject to a deportation order issued by France's Ministry of the Interior. El Idrissi served as imam at a Toulon mosque for seven years.
Taliban attacked a security post in Mohmand Agency on Saturday, triggering a battle that left 16 Taliban and two soldiers dead. About 100 Taliban attacked the Spinal Tangi post before dawn, the army said in a statement. "Sixteen militants were killed in retaliatory fire. Two security forces personnel embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," it said. Three troops were wounded.
Swat Taliban have refused to lay down weapons despite the announcement of the establishment of Darul Qaza by the NWFP government, a private TV channel reported on Saturday."Taliban cannot renounce weapons, they are ornaments of Muslims," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said. He demanded the release of Taliban prisoners and said Darul Qaza should not be subordinate to any other court.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 64 civilians were killed and another 87 wounded yesterday in an attack on the last remaining medical facility inside rebel-held territory in northeastern Sri Lanka, a pro-rebel website reported.
