NEW DELHI, MAY 12: A book being published next week says Saudi Arabia has wired its oil fields with radioactive explosives to discourage invaders from trying to take control of the kingdom's reserves, but Saudi Arabia denied it had any explosives at all attached to its oil facilities. In "Secrets of the Kingdom" Gerald Posner says 'dirty bombs' would not only destroy the oil-rich country's energy infrastructure in the event of an invasion, but would make the oil fields unsafe to work in for decades, according to an advance copy of the book seen by Reuters.
Not that he would make stuff up to sell a book.
Saudi Arabia has decided that "leveling the major oil production facilities and blasting away the core of the industry's infrastructure was not enough to deter an enemy from seizing its prized commodity," it says. "We have not seen Mr Posner's latest book. However the allegation that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has explosives or any other type of weapon, much less nuclear weapons, attached to its oil facilities, is false and has no basis in fact whatsoever," Nail Al-Jubeir, director of the Saudi Information office in Washington, told Reuters. Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi security consultant and co-author of reports into Saudi oil field security by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: "This is complete made-up fantasy." He added: "If (Posner) had studied the Saudi petroleum security infrastructure he would realize it's impossible to do what he claims the Saudis have done.
I'm sure the ex-pats who do all the heavy lifting in the Magic Kingdom's oil industry would have noticed their workplaces being wired.
Saudi Arabia does not have dirty bombs. It does not have any radioactive substances."
"Plus, as you may have noticed, we have a shortage of people who know the difference between red and blue wires. "
The book, to be published by Random House on May 17, attributes the claims to electronic intercepts of Saudi communications from the U.S. National Security Agency.
Which they leave lying around the office for hack reporters to read. You may ask, who is this guy? This is from his website; .
Best-selling books from the Pulitzer Prize finalist ranging from Nazi war criminals, political assassinations, organized crime, politicians, and now terrorism and 9/11. Investigative articles breaking news from Pete Rose's gambling addiction to questions over the death of Princess Diana. And now a new column, Cultural Chatter, together with his wife, author Trisha Posner, in Ocean Drive magazine.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 12:49:13 PM ||
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Lol - too much, heh. Silly drivel from the fad hack master of pulpy toilet reading material / backup tissue.
Posner's gig, apparently, is to pick some topic in which "public" interest (read: fools and loonies) is rising, then milk it with just enough cherry-picked fact to slip a trainload of innuendo and bullshit past his carefully targeted and willingly complicit audience - the Natl Enquirer / Star / The Nation / NewsWeak / et al folks, methinks. He's a hero to the conspiracists and Moonbats... That Huffenpuff thinks he's a wizard sorta helps bracket his tripe.
Indeed, Steve, the expat engineers who spend a LOT of time out in the field at the plants, the exact people I worked with at Aramco, would've noticed "packages" attached to important bits of the production, refining , or distribution systems. Sheesh. But it'll sell in Blue America, I'm sure. Hmmm. Does he mention Halliburton, anywhere?
Right on. The dirty bomb thing is also a dead giveaway. In order to have enough radioactive material (say Cobalt-60) to make this doable, you'd either have to put up an enormous amount of shielding or risk all your workers dropping dead from radiation sickness. And, since Co-60 has a half-life of 5.2 years, you'd be perpetually scurrying around replacing your dreaded radioactive crud.
#3
.com
Good take. You got Gerald Posner's number. His target audience is the liberal elites of the NorthEast and those who wannabee in other parts of the USA, such as Berkley, San Fran, Ann Arbor, Madison. His target audience is NY Times readers. But I will admit others also buy his books.
#77 Kenneth 5/11/2005 01:13PM PDT
The alleged Saudi plot to booby-trap their oil industry with dirty bombs is an interesting theory, until you start to think about it. Here are a few reasons why it's nonsense.
Firstly, the threat is rather overblown. The isotopes cited all produce low energy beta radiation and are dangerous only if ingested or inhaled. Their presence might be hazardous and likely to cause panic in a city with a large population, but not at remote oil wells and pipeline installations, where the few workers required for service could easily be protected.
Secondly, the logistics don't make sense. Assume a small oil installation of 1 square kilometer. 1 tonne of material dispersed over that area would result in a concentration of only 10 micrograms per square centimeter, barely greater than background radiation levels. The entire Saudi oil infrastructure would require hundreds of thousands of tonnes of these isotopes. Is there any evidence such quantities have been obtained by the Saudis? I don't think so. In any event, the contamination would not stay in place due to wind errosion (it's a sandy desert out there!) I would be more worried about a getting a sun burn, than the effect of 10 micrograms of Sr 90 on my shoes.
Finally, petroleum is not chemically reactive to Sr, Cs or Rb. If the materials were introduced to the oil reservoirs, the isotopes could easily be removed during the normal refining processes. In fact, Sr & Cs both bind readily with sand, which is a rather effective filtering material especially plentiful in Arabia. On the other hand, Rb ignites in air and reacts violently with water, making it easily retrievable.
In short, the risk of such "dirty bombs" is minimal, the amount of material required is unrealistic, & the contamination will just blow away. Which is, I believe, what the author is trying to do: huff & puff and blow away at a junk-science political thriller.
The Saudi's are not going to booby-trap their cash cow, certainly not while there are nutcases running around who might set off the self-destruct on their own, for their own reasons.
#7
mojo - Dead right - the Saudi Royals are beyond paranoid, one of the seeds of truth that conspiracists like Posner start with, and have no other income sources. Would they endanger it intentionally? No, not ever. They'll spend a good fraction of the income it produces to protect it, however, and have. How effective that protection is - well - that's another issue, lol! The human components are questionable, while the physical impediments are substantial.
#11
Great conspiracy stuff, but yeah, it's all pretty silly. On the other hand, since that feckless crapweasel Nail Al-Jubeir flatly denies it, I'm almost ready to believe.
The Qatari Interior Ministry recently revoked the citizenship of 5,266 Qatari men, women, and children, all of them members of the Al-Ghfran tribe, which is a sub-group of the Aal-Marra tribe. The official reason given was that the members of this tribe hold both Qatari and Saudi citizenship. The real reason, however, seems to be that several members of the Aal-Marra tribe were apparently involved in the 1996 coup attempt. Following the move, Qatari authorities cut off electricity and water supplies to the homes of the tribe members. Their salaries were cut off, and they were denied education, health, and other services. Many were pressured to leave Qatar, and about 3,500 of them emigrated to southern Saudi Arabia where they had relatives. Those who were outside Qatar at the time of the decision to revoke their citizenship were prohibited from reentering the country. The arbitrary measure sparked criticism throughout the Gulf, and particularly in Saudi Arabia. Some human rights organizations called on the Qatar government to rescind the measure. Saudi newspapers condemned the Qatari authorities and attacked the complete absence of coverage of the issue by the Al-Jazeera TV channel. The following is an Arab media review of the affair:...
I'm becoming less and less enchanted with the allegedly enlightened policies of many of our alleged allies in the Muddle East.
I suspect I'm in the minority here to say we shouldn't have done it then, but we didn't get nearly as much out of Yalta as we were hoping at the time, and we wound up paying for it with fifty odd years of cold war and a Russia that's now selling bomb factories to countries like Iran.
I suspect we'll wind up with similar problems from our modern-day Yaltas with people like Musharraff and Mubarek
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/12/2005 14:06 Comments ||
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Let me see if I have this straight. Saudi Arabia is lecturing Qatar on human rights? HMMmmmm.
Russian troops killed up to 40 Chechen rebels in counter-terrorist operations in the Caucasus while Moscow hosted world leaders for celebrations marking victory in World War Two, an army spokesman said on Thursday. Fearing a repeat of Chechen attacks aimed at past May 9 Victory Day parades, authorities introduced tough security measures across Russia before the arrival of more than 50 heads of state, including U.S. President George W. Bush. But army spokesman General Ilya Shabalkin denied any link between the Moscow events and the Chechnya security operation, which ran from May 5 to May 10. "The special operation was not linked to Victory Day festivities. It was a number of local special operations, mainly in mountainous regions," he said by telephone. "We are searching for rebels and we kill those who show resistance."
The three days of summitry and ceremony passed smoothly in the Russian capital -- much of which was sealed off to the public -- and the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany was marked across the country without the bloodshed of previous years. A bombing in a Grozny stadium on May 9 last year killed the Moscow-backed leader of Chechnya and six others, while a bombing on the same day in 2002 in the neighbouring region of Dagestan killed 45 people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:32 ||
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No that's a great way to celebrate. Keep it up boys.
An abandoned car that is believed to have been used by guerrilla leaders Abu Mujahid and Alash Daudov has been found in the suburbs of Grozny, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, a spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus said on Wednesday. "Law enforcement agencies are taking steps to search for and detain Mujahid and Daudov and other members of their group," the spokesman said. Daudov, leader of the Amanat Wahhabi group, is suspected of involvement in the terrorist attack on the Dubrovka theater in Moscow in October 2002 and raids on Ingushetia in June 2004 and Grozny in August 2004. He is also accused of playing a role in plotting last year's school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:31 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Won't be long now! The US will soon have to reach for the ankles, and at that point will realize the only viable option would be to introduce counter nukes to South Korea (provided they don't freak out from the prospect of 'Detente' having to quickly take shape)!! The stock market will fall atleast 2 to 3 hundred points in one day, when their Trinity Test occur! Japan will damand a US umbrella coverage within the first week!! You heard it here first!!
#3
smn, what on earth makes you think we would trust the South Koreans with nukes? or that we'd need to place our own there in order for them to be effective?
Japan is adjusting their statutes deliberately and will respond as need be.
Posted by: too true ||
05/12/2005 8:00 Comments ||
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SK doesn't need US nukes. They have the technology and materials to build bombs at anytime. They already generate almost 1/2 of their electricity with nuclear power.
Posted by: ed ||
05/12/2005 8:09 Comments ||
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smn, we have no need to entrust the South Koreans with nukes -- we already have many, many nukes that can reach North Korea at any time. Some are on subs, some are on stealth bombers, and if all else fails, some are on ICBMs. The only thing to hold us back is fallout -- radioactive and political.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 8:13 Comments ||
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We all know that the US will not preimptively launch a nuclear strike against North Korea unless we're targeted first. Lil Kim considers the south as a freebe; just as it's puppet master consider Taiwan a freebe (as did Hong Kong)! North Korea is mired in the Chicom's social, political and economic projections. And if you had to choose between arming South Korea and Japan with simultaneous nuclear capacity or shutting down Walmart, what would you do?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 20:02 Comments ||
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"2 to 3 hundred points in one day"
Well, smn, a 200 point drop would put us where we were last month. A 300 point drop would put us where we were last October. A 2,000 point drop would put us where we were a couple of years ago. You need a new very deep source -- this one's got his hand deep in your pocket (on your wallet).
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 20:17 Comments ||
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#17
I heard it as last September last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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May be, Fred, I just eyeballed it off a Yahoo 2-year chart.
http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=%5EDJI&t=2y&q=b&l=off&z=m&a=v&p=s
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 20:27 Comments ||
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#19
I think things are gonna be okay for awhile, then the whole things gonna go south followed by a recovery of uncertain duration.
THE family of Australian hostage Douglas Wood has set up a website as part of their increasingly desperate bid to bring him safely home. www.thewoodfamily.info, contains photographs of Douglas with family members as well as all media and video statements made by his brothers Vernon and Malcolm since the crisis began. The deadline set by Mr Wood's kidnappers for Australia to pull troops out of Iraq in return for the release of the 63-year-old engineer expired at roughly 5am Tuesday. There was been no news since.
Yesterday Mr Wood's wife, Yvonne Given, left her California home for a morning briefing with Government officials. Ms Given has not spoken publicly since video footage was released showing her husband begging for his life. Australian Islamic religious leader Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly and Sydney businessman Qussay Abdul Aziz arrived in Baghdad yesterday carrying the family's offer of money for the people of Iraq in return for Mr Wood's freedom. A team of Australian negotiators and advisors has been in Baghdad for a week as part of official efforts to free Mr Wood. A tribal leader from Iraq's Sunni triangle has also offered to help try to secure Mr Wood's release. Sheik Majeed al-Gaood, a senior Sunni sheik from Iraq's western al-Anbar province, said he was prepared to appeal directly to the kidnappers through Arabic media. It is understood one of Mr Wood's business partners has offered to help out with the cash "donation".
#1
Poor bastard. No doubt the pigs who are behind this are bravely concealing their identity by wearing hoods.
Take them off pussies, lets see what you malfunctioning Islamowhores look like.
Guess they don't want to take the chance of any midnight visits from Mr.Hellfire.
#2
The Wood Family website is really sad. Good people--they just want their brother back.
It's tragic to realize that the difference between run-of-the-mill "regular" Arabs, and the slimeball gangster idiot jihadists, is a gulf that can't be crossed or reasoned with.
What is amazing, is how far his family has gotten in gathering support from the Arab participants who are trying to secure Douglas' release. And they were very smart not to give money directly to the jihadis.
The trial opened Wednesday of an Iranian accused in the 1993 slaying of an Iranian dissident who died in a hail of automatic gunfire as he was being driven along a Rome street.
Lawyers for the victim's family allege that the defendant, Amir Mansur Assl Bozorgian, who is being tried in absentia, was sent by Iran's leaders to murder dissident Mohammed Hussein Naghdi.
Naghdi, 42, was killed when a gunman opened fire from a motorcycle while the victim was being driven to his office. The two people aboard the motorcycle fled. Naghdi was the representative in Italy for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is part of the Mujahedeen Khalq, or Peoples Mujahedeen, the leading Iranian opposition group. The Mujahedeen Khalq participated in the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but soon fell out with the clerical government and launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings, which landed it on the list of terrorist organizations of the United States and the European Union.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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1993 slaying?? Nothing like the swift application of Italian justice!
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 3:32:49 PM ||
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Ironic isn't it that Voinovich called Bolton "arrogant and bullying". George has finally done it this time. I sent another blistering mail to his office today.
His office doesn't acknowledge email submissions from his constituents. I feel bullied. The arrogant son of a bitch.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 16:01 Comments ||
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I can't wait for the first televised capture of him drawing and quartering the UN. And then the subsequent outrage, pouting and stomping of the "international community" political drama queens.
This is gonna be beautiful to watch. Let's hope he sails through.
#4
I can't wait for the first televised capture of him drawing and quartering the UN. And then the subsequent outrage, pouting and stomping of the "international community"
...on Pay per view with the proceeds going to funding the UN move to Paris
#8
Somebody needs to bitch slap Voinovich! Bolton is EXACTLY the right man for the UN job. The only other person that comes to mind would be Keyes. I hope this is his last term, he doesn't deserve another.
You may have seen or heard about this story the other day: Conservative legal scholar Ken Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who is now dean of Pepperdine University law school, told CBS News that the Republicans' plan (ending filibusters on judges)is a "radical, radical departure from our history and our traditions, and it amounts to an assault on the judicial branch of government."
Well, today I read this copy of an email Ken Starr sent out to NRO, posted in The Corner. Rush just reported the same story, so here is the real story from Mr. Starr himself:
"In the piece that I have now seen, and which I gather is being lavishly quoted, CBS employed two snippets. The 'radical departure' snippet was specifically addressed -- although this is not evidenced whatever from the clip -- to the practice of invoking judicial philosopy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience. I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong. I contrasted the current practice . . . with what occurred during Ruth Ginsburg's nomination process, as numerous Republicans voted (rightly) to confirm a former ACLU staff lawyer. They disagreed with her positions as a lawyer, but they voted (again, rightly) to confirm her. Why? Because elections, like ideas, have consequences. . . . In the interview, I did indeed suggest, and have suggested elsewhere, that caution and prudence be exercised (Burkean that I am) in shifting/modifying rules (that's the second snippet), but I likewise made clear that the 'filibuster' represents an entirely new use (and misuse) of a venerable tradition. . . .
"[O]ur friends are way off base in assuming that the CBS snippets, as used, represent (a) my views, or (b) what I in fact said."
Rush just reported CBS has refused to give Ken Starr copies of the full transcript of the interview. Guess they didn't learn a thing from the last time.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 1:22:45 PM ||
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Why would any sane person subject themselves to being interviewed for any of these TV "news" magazines? Do they actually think the producers and correspondents are interested in the truth?
I had a friend whose mother was interviewed for a story done by 20/20 (IIRC), and they edited and snipped her words until the implications of her words as broadcast were a complete misrepresentation of her intended meaning and she was made to look like a monster. Typical media hatchet job.
#2
I don't know that this won't turn out well, with CBS being the Republican's bitch again. Their transparent efforts are so weak, and so timely, taht it'll flush the higher-ups' cred now that Danny boy is gone. The infection is shown to be deeper...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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Dressed in flowing brown robe and turban, Abu Jibril raised his fist and promised worshippers in a packed suburban mosque that every coin they donate to overthrow Indonesia's secular government will be repaid hundreds of times over in heaven. "The government no longer looks to Allah, but to America," said the soft-spoken preacher, who argues that only jihad, or holy war, can establish an Islamic state in the 210 million-strong country, home to more Muslims than any other. "Prepare your forces and banish the enemy."
Two years after Washington blocked Jibril's assets and declared him a terrorist - the alleged "primary recruiter and second in command" of Southeast Asia's deadliest al-Qaida-linked group, Jemaah Islamiyah - he's back delivering extremist sermons. Indonesian authorities keep Jibril under surveillance, but say they have no evidence he has committed a crime in the country, where he was deported after his release a year ago from prison in Malaysia. Now, he travels, preaches and meets other known extremists and followers.
His case presents a dilemma for Indonesia as it tries to balance U.S. demands to further crack down on Islamic terrorists with the need to preserve democratic freedoms ushered in after the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto. It also illustrates the difficulties authorities in Southeast Asia and elsewhere face in bringing to court terrorist suspects who have operated outside their countries. In cases against alleged militants, getting admissible evidence across borders has proved difficult.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU BAKAR BASHIR
Jemaah Islamiyah
ABU JIBRIL
Jemaah Islamiyah
Ansyaad Mbai
HAMBALI
Jemaah Islamiyah
Ken Conboy, a security analyst in Jakarta
MOHAMED IQBAL BIN ABDUL RAHMAN
Jemaah Islamiyah
Molly Millerwise
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 9:02:40 AM ||
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"Continuation of negotiations in their present format is not possible for us," Rowhani told Iranian state-run television. "The basic point that the Islamic Republic of Iran will resume part of its nuclear activities in the near future is definite."
#2
NOBODY expects the U.N. Security Council! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to Kofi.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 14:46 Comments ||
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But Barnier reiterated that Europe is not ready to be hoodwinked.
Nah. Course not. That could never possibly happen...
A Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon landed in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi late Wednesday, the army said, heavily damaging a factory in an industrial zone and drawing an Israeli threat of retaliation. There were no injuries, and no one immediately claimed responsibility. But in a statement, the Israeli army said it held Lebanon responsible for the attack, which it said was the third such rocket strike in the past year. "The Lebanese government is responsible for all incidents which take place in Lebanese territory, including these attacks, which are conducted by terror organizations," the army said.
The Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah has occasionally shelled Israeli positions, although the border has been relatively quiet since Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah officials in Lebanon declined to comment, and there was no immediate reaction from the government in Beirut.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Toast Hiz, Tell Syria if they get in the way Damacus is first. The useless allenist only understand force and fear. They are devoid of common sense.
A statement published on several Islamist internet forums has announced the creation of a new al-Qaeda cell in Algeria. In the document, signed by previously unknown Abu Suheib Maliani, there are references to forming an organised group called al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Algeria. The name takes its lead from Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who calls his group al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Iraq. The signatories appear to be seeking to become the officially designated al-Qaeda cell in Algeria and are asking the combatents of the Salafite Islamist formations hiding in the mountains to join a "new project" and not to accept the Algerian government's offer of a pardon. In the threatening message, the militants outlined their terrorist objectives: "From day one we say that we are not responsible for attacks on innocent people and Algerian civilians. Our targets are Jews, Christians, important figures, embassies and foreign interests - they are the real objective we ask the nation to unite against and to strike wherever they are".
The chief of Algeria's General Amnesty Commission (CNGAG) , Abdel Razzak Ismail, said last month that at least 400 terrorists are prepared to lay down their arms as part of a general pardon for members of militant groups, state-armed militias and the security forces implicated in human rights abuses.
I find this a delightful situation. It seems to mean that the GSPC is depleted and ready for discard, and the remnants can now be formed into a new bunch: longer, lower, leaner, wider, with more road-hugging weight.
This article starring:
ABU SUHEIB MALIANI
al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Algeria
al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Algeria
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:42 ||
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Why do I always, and I mean always, get a flashback of the Coliseum scene in Life of Brian?
[OT]
I formed the al Qaeda of the Jihad in Satanic City. We gambled away all the money, even before we made ID cards, so now the Wahhabis won't send us any more. Of couse, without the ID cards, no one will ever catch us or be able to prove we were Brave Lions of the Desert and al Qaeda Fighters.
-Abu Crapped Out
[/OT]
Pakistani police have arrested two members of an outlawed Sunni militant group suspected of plotting a series of attacks including one on parliament, a senior police official said on Thursday. Pakistan has netted more than two dozen other suspects, most belonging to local groups linked to al Qaeda, in the days before and after Liby's capture in the rugged North West Frontier Province on May 2. A new plot to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, a leading U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, was also uncovered during the crackdown over the last couple of weeks, according to intelligence sources.
The latest swoop took place in the central city of Multan. The two men arrested belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian militant group whose members were also implicated in assassination attempts said to have been planned by Liby on President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. Sikandar Hayat, Multan's district police officer, told Reuters the pair were part of a network of up to 23 members who had been recruiting "suicide attackers" for assaults on the National Assembly and on the country's Shi'ite Muslim minority. He said police had arrested up to eight members of the network and a hunt was under way for the rest. "They had planned to make their way into the National Assembly and take the lawmakers hostage to press for their demands," Hayat said.
Police paraded the prisoners before journalists, and identified them as Amir Shehzad and Khawaja Ibrahim. Hayat said Shehzad had volunteered for a suicide mission, and five hand grenades were seized during the arrests. Shehzad spoke to Reuters on a mobile telephone given to him during the news conference: "I am arrested on charges of being Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member. My friends carried out attacks."
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AMIR SHEHZAD
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
KHAWAJA IBRAHIM
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Sikandar Hayat, Multan's district police officer
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:24 ||
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AT least 76 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in a bloody wave of explosions in three Iraqi towns.
US troops battled insurgents in the western hinterland to flush out rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's supporters.
Five bomb blasts left trails of carnage in the northern towns of Tikrit and Hawijah and in the capital Baghdad, the deadliest attacks in a mounting wave of violence since Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari formed his government on May 3.
A car bomb struck a busy market square in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing 38, many of them labourers waiting to be hired for the day, and wounding 84.
Mangled metal scraps, sandals and destroyed market stalls littered the blood-stained ground and splattered shopfronts near the site of the explosion.
"This is not jihad [holy war]. There was no US patrol, no Iraqi police at the time of the blast. This car bomb tore civilians to shreds," Zeid Hamad, whose mobile telephone shop was a few metres away from the blast site, said yesterday.
Fearing more suicide attacks, police later banned all solo-passenger vehicles from the city.
In another attack, a suicide bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up outside an army recruitment centre in Hawijah, northeast of Tikrit, killing 35 people and wounding 33.
Ansar al-Sunna, which has links to the al-Qaeda network, claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on its website.
In Baghdad, at least three people were killed and 10 wounded as insurgents detonated three car bombs and an explosive charge, police said.
In another incident, 45 people were hurt in a blast at a fertiliser plant near the southern town of Basra, although it was not clear if this was caused by sabotage or simply an accident.
The past week has also been the most deadly in months for US troops, with 15 killed between Saturday and Monday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:17 ||
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#1
sounds like them:
"Love us or we'll grind you into hamburger!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 18:34 Comments ||
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Embedded reporter from the Chicago Tribune with Marines "out west -- Registration -- so here's the article
AL QAIM, Iraq -- For more than a day and much of the night, the M-1 Abrams tank sat disabled in the desert, hobbled by an anti-tank mine. The main battle had pushed to the north, across the Euphrates River and west toward the Syrian border.
A handful of Marines and another Abrams had stayed behind with the damaged tank to wait for help, and now help was on the way.
But as the column of armored vehicles raced toward the scene early Tuesday, it took a wrong turn in the darkness and unfamiliar terrain and wound up in the cross hairs of an insurgent ambush. The Marines sent to the rescue needed help themselves.
The tanks were rolling through the town of Karabilah on the Euphrates' south bank about 1 a.m. when Lance Cpl. James Sutton, a 20-year-old tank driver from Wyoming, Ill., spotted men lurking atop several buildings. He said he could not pick out the details--his infrared scope, used to give him night vision, showed the men only as silhouettes against the sky.
But then his screen bloomed with black blotches signaling the heat of muzzle flashes. Tiny black dots--bullets--streamed toward his tank and the armored Humvees ahead of him.
"It was a big mess," recalled Sutton as he and other Marines from Alpha Company, 1st Marine Tank Battalion recounted what had happened on the mission upon their return to the main Marine base at Al Qaim.
Elsewhere in the column, Sgt. Jeremy Archila, 27, of Fremont, Calif., watched from the machine-gun turret of his M88-A2 tank-recovery vehicle as the rifles erupted. The buildings along the roadside looked as if sparklers were hanging from almost every window, he said.
"Pretty much everything went to hell," he said.
As the American vehicles screeched to a halt and hurriedly began U-turning in the road, the insurgents began firing rocket-propelled grenades--"big red streams that just shoot down and scream," Archila said.
And then out of nowhere, a suicide bomber in a white pickup truck sped into the column, exploding his vehicle next to a Humvee in front of Archila.
The gunfire intensified and then almost miraculously slowed as Archila's crew ran to the burning Humvee and pulled out the four wounded Marines inside, he said.
Three of them wound up inside Archila's vehicle, along with the five regular crew members. Eight men dressed in full combat gear now were packed into a space the size of a regular mini-van, but with far less head room.
Archila said he gave his seat to one of the wounded men. With no where else to go, he opened his hatch and crouched behind the big .50-caliber machine gun, hoping it would give him some protection as the rifle fire from the rooftops started up again.
The column sped up, threading its way through narrow streets with only feet to spare on either side, the Marines recalled.
But as they turned down a side street, Archila's recovery vehicle ran over another anti-tank mine.
The explosion knocked Archila into the armored cabin, and his mechanic tumbled into him. The man's helmet and goggles had been blown from his head, but he staggered to his feet, stuck his torso out of his hatch and began to fire back with his M-16 rifle.
The inside of the armored vehicle reeked of leaking diesel fuel. Someone asked if they should fire anti-tank rockets at the buildings. Archila said no; any spark could ignite the diesel fumes. Though the vehicle's right track was severely damaged, Archila shouted over the gunfire: "Floor it!"
Even though Lance Cpl. Adolfo Castro's infrared scope was blinded by smoke, he responded, pushing the damaged vehicle as fast as he could.
"When the smoke cleared, I found myself zigzagging in and out of telephone poles," recalled Castro, 20, from Kansas City, Kan.
Somehow, the men recalled, the crippled tank-recovery vehicle cleared the buildings. And then it ground to a halt.
Sutton's tank towed the damaged recovery vehicle to a safe zone--coincidentally near the damaged tank they had gone to recover long hours before.
Within minutes, Black Hawk helicopters evacuated the wounded Marines. Soon after, undamaged tanks towed the broken M88 and Abrams back to the Marine base at Al Qaim, about 5 miles away.
While fellow Marines fought on the north side of the river, part of an ongoing offensive aimed at insurgents based in this rugged corner of Iraq's Jazirah Desert, the rescuers congratulated themselves on what Archila described as a successful mission.
#2
the column of armored vehicles...took a wrong turn in the darkness and unfamiliar terrain...
Dammit--further incidents like this could be avoided with some decent GPS receivers and maps. I would expect having detailed electronic street maps is the real obstacle here, but the sooner they can get these out (and in multiple formats to support the many civilian Magellan and Garmin units many troops buy and use on their own initiative), the sooner they can avoid more of these mishaps.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/12/2005 12:25 Comments ||
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#3
Quite a contrast. My son was in Al Qaim this winter and the most boring day he had in his whole deployment was New Year's Day working to bring back a truck damaged by a mine.
In the truck, however, was a Marine sitting on a box of MRE's when the mine went off under him. Box disappeared; Marine O.K. SOMEBODY has to have the good luck!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2005 12:26 Comments ||
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#4
This guy writes another article today that discusses an entire squad getting KIAed over the past couple of days, part of a platoon that has "lost its ability to fight" due to 60% casualties.
Nowhere in the article does it portray whats going on as a good old ass kicking of jihadi's, just more of the "odometer of dead and wounded" that my daily rag seems to ponder over.
I have to come here for real reporting.
#6
It's a genetic thing, Anon. From the hundreds of thousands of years when asking directions of strangers would most likely get you killed. And possibly eaten.
#8
Depends if its a FLIR sight expensive and heavy it cant be messed by normal smoke but if it's an Image intensifier it can, note that image intensifiers detect IR scopes that M-16 or other weapons have in specific wavelenght -journalists by definition are ignorants creatures so the guy can be making a mess too.
One more killed in crossfire
NARSINGDI, May 11: An alleged terrorist was killed in a shootout between RAB and his cohorts in Kararchar BSCIC area under Shibpur upazila of the district at about 3 pm today (Wednesday). The deceased was identified as Nazmul Hoque (30), son of Nazir Sareng of village Malita of Shibpur upazila. On a secret information RAB arrested Nazmul from BSCIC area and on the basis of his confession they took him to a place to recover arms.
Need to work on a new story, this meme is getting old.
When they reached the spot at about 3 pm
Wait a minute! 3 p.m.? It was light outside?
Lunar eclipse?
the accomplices of Nazmul opened fire forcing the RAB members to return the fire. Nazmul was hit in the crossfire when he tried to flee and died on the spot.
"Achhhh...rosebud..."
RAB also arrested injured Sohel and Dulal. RAB said they recovered one pistol from Nazmul.
Ummm... Nazmul was the guy in custody, right?
The body of Nazmul was kept in the morgue of Narsingdi hospital for autopsy.
"Another one, Dr. Quincy!"
UNB adds: A JCD activist was killed and two others were wounded in 'crossfire' during an encounter with RAB at Kararchar BSCIC industrial estate. Nazmul (32), vice-president Char Sindhur union unit of the student wing of the ruling party, died on the spot getting caught in the crossfire at about 3 pm. His two colleagues in the JCD—Sohel of Balia village in Palash and Dulal of Bagdi area — were wounded and arrested. Injured Sohel and Dulal were sent to Dhaka Medical College for treatment.
"Aaaiiieee! Ow! Ow! Ouch!"
"What do we have here?"
"Coupla wounded colleagues, Doc! Can you have 'em patched up by early morning? They're gonna show us where the arms cache is!"
"Mom! I wanna call my Mom!"
Initial report said the boys were allegedly selling arms.
"Hey, lady! Ya wanna buy a gun?"
"As a RAB patrol team challenged them, they opened fire trying to flee. In the exchange of fire Nazmul died," the sources said in a spot account of the shootout.
OK, that's a better story.
A case was filed with Narsingdi thana.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 9:35:01 AM ||
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#1
I think the 3pm convergence is because nobody has a watch or a clock, so if it happens in the afternoon, "3pm" goes on the report.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/12/2005 10:54 Comments ||
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#2
They've always been very care about the time in previous reports, so I'll take their word that it happened at 3pm. Either the night shift was busy elsewhere or the reporter in the first story just hit his macro ALT -F5 to bring up a crossfire report and plugged in the name and time.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 12:17 Comments ||
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SRINAGAR, India - At least 50 people, including 20 children, were wounded on Thursday in a grenade attack by militants outside a missionary school in Indian Kashmir's summer capital, police said. The blast near the school in Srinagar's commercial heart was the second rebel attack in two days in the city, the urban hub of a 15-year revolt against Indian rule. "At least 50 people, 20 of them school children, have been injured in the grenade attack by militants," said a police spokesman. Doctors said at least four of the victims, two of them schoolgirls, were in critical condition.
Militants threw the grenade at a slow-moving security vehicle near the all-boy Tyndale Biscoe school whose pupils ranged in age from four to 18, police said. It missed its target and exploded among parents, children and other people near the school gates just as classes were ending for the day, police said. Children and adults fled in panic, dropping schoolbags on the ground. Parents shrieking their children's names rushed to the school to look for their children. "I don't know where my son is," said one weeping mother, Zubiada Javed. "He should be home by now. Where can I find him?" she asked frantically.
Shopkeepers, passersby and security personnel carried victims with bloodstained clothes to cars and ambulances to be taken to hospital. "The area has been sealed off and searches launched to arrest the militants involved in the attack," a paramilitary officer told AFP. No militant outfit claimed immediate responsibility for the attack. "At least four of the injured are in critical condition," a doctor on duty said, as he appealed for more doctors and blood donations.
The boys' school adjoins the Mallinson Girls' School, both run by Christian missionaries. The schools, the oldest missionary schools in the region, have a total enrolment of 1,000 students. The blast shook the main shopping area known as Lal Chowk, or Red Square, which is often targeted by rebels due to its commercial importance. The square is guarded and dotted by some half-a-dozen security bunkers. "The attackers are believed to have taken advantage of the confusion to bravely run away flee," a paramilitary officer said.
Rat bastards.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:20:18 AM ||
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#1
It's the new brave face of the mujahids - child killing. You have to admit it takes a fearless and pious person to kill children. Allan is probably really happy with them and already reserving a VIP section with the only the best 72 vigins for these guys next to Basayev's and Mashkadov's lounge.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb exploded near a market in Baghdad on Thursday, killing 12 people. The blast, which police said also wounded 56 people, followed a series of suicide bomb attacks on Wednesday that killed at least 71 people. Flames and black smoke rose skywards over mangled market stalls and cars in the mostly Shi'ite Muslim New Baghdad district after the blast. Frantic young men, some crying, pushed wooden carts carrying charred bodies of women and men. "There are families in the building. Most of them are wounded," an ambulance worker yelled over a mobile telephone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:18:26 AM ||
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#1
once again moslems are victims of Islam
they probably still don't get it but sooner or later a point will come where even leaders are not afraid to make the point
Paratroopers engaged a Taliban force last week in a remote valley of southeastern Afghanistan after an outnumbered scout patrol held out for 2.5 hours against heavy insurgent attack. The May 3 battle in the Arghandab Valley, about 175 miles northeast of Kandahar, was part of the Coalition's spring offensive, dubbed "Operation Determined Resolve," with the aim of denying sanctuary to insurgents in preparation for fall elections, said a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76. Initial reports indicate about 20 insurgents were killed and one wounded in the battle. One Afghan National Police officer was killed and five wounded, and six U.S. service members were wounded.
The battle took shape after scouts in the Zabul Province received intelligence reports that insurgent forces happened to be in the same area. A group of seven scouts from the 2/503rd Infantry and 14 Afghan National Police headed toward the suspected location. "We had been working with local police," said Staff Sgt. Patrick Brannon, scout squad leader from Jacksonville, Ill. "Some of the information we had received led us to 18,000 DshKa heavy machine gun rounds, so we new their information was legitimate." Further intelligence reports placed 80 — 150 Taliban operating in the area. "We were informed that the Taliban were threatening the people for cooperating with Coalition forces," said Brannon.
"We moved east through a valley," said Spc. Joseph Leatham, from El Mirage, Ariz., describing the movement toward the Taliban position. "We were surrounded by walls — steep cliffs. It was a very uncomfortable feeling." Ten minutes into the trip, an Afghan man approached the convoy. The man had been recently released by the Taliban after having been beaten and threatened with execution for cooperation with Coalition forces. "The guy said he was about to be executed and that there were about 30 Taliban in the area," said Sgt. Nick Pak from Tampa, Fla. "He had a note around his neck threatening the people and demanding that there be no schools."
Continued on Page 49
Suicide bombs ripped through a crowded market and a line of security force recruits Wednesday as a wave of explosions and gunfire across Iraq killed at least 69 people _ pushing the death toll from insurgent violence to more than 400 in less than two weeks. The bloody attacks, which also wounded 160 people, came despite a major U.S. offensive targeting followers of Iraq's most-wanted terrorist near the Syrian border, a remote desert region believed to be a staging ground for some of the insurgents' deadliest assaults.
I'm not sure how booms in Baghdad would immediately tie to the operation in Qaim...
Insurgents averaged about 70 attacks a day at the start of May, up from 30-40 in February and March, said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq.
The objective is to cause the country to collapse into anarchy, from which it can then be "saved" by Baathists and/or Islamists. The mistake in that sort of assumption is that you're not going to become Algeria and have the next bunch use the same tactics against you.
In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded in a small market near a police station, killing at least 33 people and injuring 92, police and hospital officials said. The attacker swerved into a crowd of day laborers waiting to be picked up for work at construction sites after heavy security prevented the vehicle from reaching the station, police said. The attack came despite a new regulation barring anyone from driving alone in Tikrit. The rule, announced by local police and officials after a suicide car bombing last week, was designed to make it easier for security forces to spot suicide attackers, who generally act alone. It was not immediately clear why it did not help prevent Wednesday's attack. The rule may not have been firmly enforced, or the 7:15 a.m. attack may have happened so early that police were not prepared for it. The Sunni militant Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for the attack in a posting on its Web site Wednesday. But it differed in the details, denying the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and saying it was aimed at Iraqis who work in the U.S. base in Tikrit. The claim of responsibility could not be verified.
A big boom. Indiscriminate slaughter. Sounds like them.
About 90 minutes later, in Hawija, a town 150 miles north of Baghdad, a man with hidden explosives slipped past security guards at a police and army recruitment center and blew himself up outside the building where applicants were lined up. At least 30 people were killed and 35 injured, police said. Four more car bombs exploded in Baghdad, including one that wounded three U.S. soldiers, the U.S. military said. In the other three, four Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded, including at least three policemen, Iraqi police said. In western Baghdad, gunmen clashed with a police patrol on a highway, killing one officer and wounding another. Another bomb exploded at Iraq's largest fertilizer plant in the southern city of Basra, killing one person and wounding 23, police and employees said. The blast set fire to a gas pipeline and destroyed about 60 percent of the plant. Late Wednesday, several large explosions were heard in the southern city of Samawah, where about 600 Japanese troops are based, the Kyodo News agency reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, the agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Did the Algerians ever have much of an issue with suicide bombers?
#2
Everyone in Iraq is armed. I don't think everyone with Algeria is armed. I've heard that some of the attacks in Algeria were carried out with edged weapons. Wouldn't work in Iraq.
#3
Did the Algerians ever have much of an issue with suicide bombers?
The simple answer is there was a lot less weaponry and explosives around back them. Most of the savagery was by knife and blade as the previous poster stated. Savagery done up front, up close and personal.
#4
Looks like they've regressed to terrorizing Saddam's hometown, which suggests there's not too much support for their "insurgency" even in Tikrit. And this is even though they suggest "a major US offensive" really has no impact. See how you can find good news in between the lines?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2005 11:59 Comments ||
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#6
This suicide offensive is really beginning to remind me of the Japanese Kamikaze onslaught during the final year of World War 2, the last gasp of a dying monster. The big difference of course is that the original Kamikazes targeted military forces rather than their own people.
Given that this is a media war, "terrorism is an extension of advertising by other means," the place to strike would be the boomers' primary media and public-relations support, which is found not in Iraq but in the West.
AN Australian Islamic leader says the deadline set by Douglas Wood's kidnappers for Australia to withdraw its troops from Iraq has been extended to midnight tonight. The original deadline passed at 5am (AEST) on Tuesday, with no word on the fate of the 63-year-old engineer, being held by a group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq. Australia's mufti, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, told SBS radio in Arabic that he had been negotiating with Mr Wood's kidnappers via the Islamic clergy, Iraqi media and other Iraqi people. "There's been an extension of that deadline until 12 o'clock midnight, today," SBS Arabic radio journalist Majida Abboud-Saab, who interviewed the Sheik, said. However, the Sheik said he had not spoken directly to the kidnappers, although he hoped to later.
Ms Abboud-Saab, the executive producer of SBS radio's Arabic language program, said the Sheik believed Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was not helping Mr Wood with his broadcasts on Arabic television network al-Jazeera. "The interesting thing that he said was that it would be helpful if the foreign minister (Mr Downer) did not make comments to the media," Ms Abboud-Saab said. "He said that he does have a message from the Australian Government that has been conveyed (to the kidnappers), but not in quite the way Alexander Downer said yesterday (on al-Jazeera)." It appeared Mr Wood was still alive, she said. "He (the Sheik) said everything pointed to the fact that he's (Mr Wood) safe and well and alive," Ms Abboud-Saab told radio 2UE.
#1
Why does this remind me of the scene in ruthless people where the kidnappers of the wife are dropping their ransom price when the husband refuses to pay?
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters on Wednesday that Pakistani authorities had obtained valuable information about Al Qaeda by interrogating Abu Faraj Al-Libbi. Sherpao said the Al Qaeda leader had masterminded the suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in 2004 and the information garnered during questioning would soon be shared with the media. Libbi, Al Qaeda's No 3, was recently arrested in Mardan by security agencies. The Pakistan government has not yet decided to hand what's left of him over to the United States. The interior minister said Libbi was also involved in the two assassination attempts on President General Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Remember, Sears will replace any Craftsman tool that breaks during interrogation.
Two powerful explosions shook a crowded residential area in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, killing six people and wounding 40 others, said Central Reserve Police Force Hari Lal. Suspected insurgents triggered a small bomb that detonated a bigger bomb in an abandoned car on a busy street in Srinagar, said Lal. The nearly simultaneous blasts killed three soldiers and three civilians, he said adding that 30 civilians and 10 soldiers were injured in the explosions, which also damaged several vehicles. Lal said the explosions also damaged dozens of nearby buildings, adding the destroyed vehicle's twisted metal was scattered over 50 metres. A spokesman for the Pakistan-based militant group Al-Nasireen claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the Current News Service, a local news agency.
Meanwhile, police said that suspected militants attacked an army patrol killing two soldiers in Chunti-Mulla village. Indian soldiers also intercepted and shot dead three guerrillas attempting to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir from AJK near Tangdhar sector, said defence spokesman Lt Col VK Batra. Suspected militants gunned down a schoolteacher and a former militant in two other incidents, said police.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Chanting slogans against America, thousands of mourners gathered in a Pakistani border town on Wednesday to bury an Islamic militant they claimed was killed in a clash between Taliban militants and American forces inside Afghanistan, witnesses said.
He's a Pak, but he was bumped off in a clash between U.S. forces and the (Afghan) Taliban. Of course...
Does his mother miss him?
The US military, however, said it had no reports of fighting in the area of eastern Afghanistan where the Pakistani man, Akhtar Zaman, had purportedly died.
"Wasn't much of a gunfight, if it did happen..."
The funeral was held in Sarobi, a town in the North Waziristan tribal region, opposite the Afghan province of Khost. Mourners also chanted slogans in support Taliban-led militants that have stepped resistance in Afghanistan in recent weeks. "Down with America! God is Great! We are with mujahedeen!" mourners shouted, according to residents of the town, who estimated about 6,000 people attended the funeral. There were no reports of violence.
They're saving that for later...
Afsan Hassan, a resident, said that mourners had heard that Zaman was among 13 people, including five Pakistanis, killed in a militant clash with US forces on Tuesday in Khost province. But in Kabul, US military spokeswoman Lt Cindy Moore said there had been no reports of fighting in Khost. Many Pakistanis travelled to fight with the Taliban before its ouster by US led forces in late 2001, and the rebels are often believed to seek sanctuary on the Pakistan side of border.
Translated into real world terms, that means that the Taliban consisted of Pashtuns, many of whom were actually Pakistani, and the movement is still a Pak phenomenon, with the participation of a few Pashtun country cousins along the Afghan side of the border.
This article starring:
AKHTAR ZAMAN
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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And the moral of the story?
If you want to stay alive, Akhtar, stay out of Afghanistan.
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.
Russian troops killed up to 40 Chechen rebels in counter-terrorist operations in the Caucasus while Moscow hosted world leaders for celebrations marking victory in World War Two, an army spokesman said on Thursday. Fearing a repeat of Chechen attacks aimed at past May 9 Victory Day parades, authorities introduced tough security measures across Russia before the arrival of more than 50 heads of state, including U.S. President George W. Bush. But army spokesman General Ilya Shabalkin denied any link between the Moscow events and the Chechnya security operation, which ran from May 5 to May 10. "The special operation was not linked to Victory Day festivities. It was a number of local special operations, mainly in mountainous regions," he said by telephone. "We are searching for rebels and we kill those who show resistance."
An abandoned car that is believed to have been used by guerrilla leaders 
THE family of Australian hostage 
The trial opened Wednesday of an Iranian accused in the 1993 slaying of an Iranian dissident who died in a hail of automatic gunfire as he was being driven along a Rome street.
A Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon landed in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi late Wednesday, the army said, heavily damaging a factory in an industrial zone and drawing an Israeli threat of retaliation. There were no injuries, and no one immediately claimed responsibility. But in a statement, the Israeli army said it held Lebanon responsible for the attack, which it said was the third such rocket strike in the past year. "The Lebanese government is responsible for all incidents which take place in Lebanese territory, including these attacks, which are conducted by terror organizations," the army said.
A statement published on several Islamist internet forums has announced the creation of a new al-Qaeda cell in Algeria. In the document, signed by previously unknown 
Pakistani police have arrested two members of an outlawed Sunni militant group suspected of plotting a series of attacks including one on parliament, a senior police official said on Thursday. Pakistan has netted more than two dozen other suspects, most belonging to local groups linked to al Qaeda, in the days before and after Liby's capture in the rugged North West Frontier Province on May 2. A new plot to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, a leading U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, was also uncovered during the crackdown over the last couple of weeks, according to intelligence sources.
One more killed in crossfire
SRINAGAR, India - At least 50 people, including 20 children, were wounded on Thursday in a grenade attack by militants outside a missionary school in Indian Kashmir's summer capital, police said. The blast near the school in Srinagar's commercial heart was the second rebel attack in two days in the city, the urban hub of a 15-year revolt against Indian rule. "At least 50 people, 20 of them school children, have been injured in the grenade attack by militants," said a police spokesman. Doctors said at least four of the victims, two of them schoolgirls, were in critical condition.
Paratroopers engaged a Taliban force last week in a remote valley of southeastern Afghanistan after an outnumbered scout patrol held out for 2.5 hours against heavy insurgent attack. The May 3 battle in the Arghandab Valley, about 175 miles northeast of Kandahar, was part of the Coalition's spring offensive, dubbed "Operation Determined Resolve," with the aim of denying sanctuary to insurgents in preparation for fall elections, said a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76. Initial reports indicate about 20 insurgents were killed and one wounded in the battle. One Afghan National Police officer was killed and five wounded, and six U.S. service members were wounded.
Suicide bombs ripped through a crowded market and a line of security force recruits Wednesday as a wave of explosions and gunfire across Iraq killed at least 69 people _ pushing the death toll from insurgent violence to more than 400 in less than two weeks. The bloody attacks, which also wounded 160 people, came despite a major U.S. offensive targeting followers of Iraq's most-wanted terrorist near the Syrian border, a remote desert region believed to be a staging ground for some of the insurgents' deadliest assaults.
AN Australian Islamic leader says the deadline set by Douglas Wood's kidnappers for Australia to withdraw its troops from Iraq has been extended to midnight tonight. The original deadline passed at 5am (AEST) on Tuesday, with no word on the fate of the 63-year-old engineer, being held by a group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq. Australia's mufti, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, told SBS radio in Arabic that he had been negotiating with Mr Wood's kidnappers via the Islamic clergy, Iraqi media and other Iraqi people. "There's been an extension of that deadline until 12 o'clock midnight, today," SBS Arabic radio journalist Majida Abboud-Saab, who interviewed the Sheik, said. However, the Sheik said he had not spoken directly to the kidnappers, although he hoped to later.
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters on Wednesday that Pakistani authorities had obtained valuable information about Al Qaeda by interrogating 
Suspected insurgents triggered a small bomb that detonated a bigger bomb in an abandoned car on a busy street in Srinagar, said Lal. The nearly simultaneous blasts killed three soldiers and three civilians, he said adding that 30 civilians and 10 soldiers were injured in the explosions, which also damaged several vehicles. Lal said the explosions also damaged dozens of nearby buildings, adding the destroyed vehicle's twisted metal was scattered over 50 metres. A spokesman for the Pakistan-based militant group 
Chanting slogans against America, thousands of mourners gathered in a Pakistani border town on Wednesday to bury an Islamic militant they claimed was killed in a clash between Taliban militants and American forces inside Afghanistan, witnesses said. 
