[ADN Kronos] A roadside bomb has killed at least 12 people in western Afghanistan, amid concern about deteriorating security ahead of this month's presidential election. The attack, which has been claimed by the Taliban, targeted a police convoy and may have been aimed at a local police chief.
The device appeared to be detonated in a roadside rubbish bin by remote control during rush hour in Herat, in the country's west near the border with Iran.
Among those killed in Monday's blast were a woman, a 12-year-old girl and two policemen, according to provincial security commander General Esmatullah Alizai.
Twenty people, many of them civilians, were also injured in the attack.
Violence has increased across Afghanistan in the run-up to the presidential poll on August 20, seen as a key test for Washington and Kabul.
However, attacks have been mainly in the south and east, where Taliban rebels have their strongest presence.
Nine foreign soldiers, including six Americans, were killed in Taliban strongholds in the south and east of Afghanistan at the weekend.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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The Federal High Court of Ethiopia on Monday passed life imprisonment against an Ethiopian-Born Canadian man who was found guilty last week on terrorism charges.
Bashir Ahmed Makhtal was convicted of being a senior member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group that Ethiopia regards as a terrorist organization, and says supported by its neighbuoring foe Eritrea. The Ethiopian court has also found him guilty of collaborating with Somalias Islamist movement in their attempt to topple the Ethiopia government up on the jihad war they declared against Ethiopia, following invasion in 2006.
Prosecutors had wanted death penalty but court has rebuffed their demand as they failed to bring credible witness that could possibly lead convict to his execution. After subject was found guilty last week on all counts, Canada, significant aid donor to Ethiopia, sought assurances from Addis Ababa that death penalty is not applied.
Makhtal has denied all allegations against him and argues that he is just prosecuted for the one reason that his grandfather was one among the founders of the ONLF organization.
He was arrested in Kenya in December 2006 with dozens of other foreigners as part of a U.S.-led anti-terror sweep. A month later, Makhtal and the other detainees were flown to Ethiopia. Over subsequent months, the detainees were released without charge and repatriated to their countries all except Makhtal and one Kenyan, who has essentially been declared a non-citizen by Kenya.
[Straits Times] SOMALI pirates have freed a Malaysian tugboat and its 11 Indonesian sailors after a ransom was paid to end the second longest hijacking off the coast of Somalia, a maritime watchdog said on Monday.
The tugboat TB Masindra 7 and its attached Indonesian barge ADM 1 had been operating under a contract from French oil giant Total when it was seized eight months ago on Dec 16, said Kenya-based Ecoterra International. 'The Malaysian tugboat TB Masindra 7 with its attached Indonesian barge ADM1 is free,' the non-governmental organisation said in a statement.
The crew of 11 was 'all right, given the circumstances", said the statement, adding that 'a ransom was paid'.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Somali pirates have released a German-flagged container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, after receiving a USD 2.7 million ransom. The bandits released the German freighter on Monday, while they had earlier demanded a ransom of up to USD 4.5 million. The 20,000-ton Hansa Stavanger with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board had been seized in April about 400 miles (646 km) off the southern Somali port city of Kismayu.
NATO ships began anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia at the end of 2008. More than 30 ships from 16 nations are patrolling waters off the Somali coast in an attempt to ensure safe passage for ships heading to and from the Suez Canal. Despite the efforts, however, the warships have not been successful in stopping pirate attacks off Somalia. According to the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] Algerian security forces have reportedly killed at least 18 suspected militants with links to Al-Qaeda in the past week. According to the Arab TV network, Al-Jazeera, the Algerian military has been conducting an offensive in the region of Batna, 500 kilometres southeast of Algiers.
The offensive reportedly began with a number of bomb attacks over a week ago against a number of terror cells. Last Thursday soldiers discovered several bodies when they patrolled areas in the region, where militants were believed to have been hiding. Security forces decided to conduct the military offensive in Batna after they discovered that a group of foreign fighters had entered the country to back local elements of Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday ordered further investigation into the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, stating that the investigation conducted earlier could not identify the collectors and suppliers of grenades used in the attack.
The court ordered the inspector general of police to conduct the investigation and submit the report to the court within two months.
The order came after a state lawyer, seeking further investigation into the two cases filed in connection with the attack on the rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, submitted two petitions before the court.
Awami League President Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack but 23 of her party leaders and workers were killed and over 300 were maimed.
The lawyer in the petitions, submitted on June 25, said influential people who had supplied the grenades are still untraced.
After hearing the petitions on three days, Judge Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 passed the orders.
During the rule of four-party government, the investigation officers misdirected the probe by detaining one Juj Miah and forcing him to give false confessional statement, the judge said.
It was not possible for them, who were earlier arrested in this connection and had given confessional statements, to have had carried out the attack since they could not give any details on the attack, he said.
A total of 61 prosecution witnesses had earlier given their statements but they did not mention who were the planners and patrons. So the real culprits are still at large, the judge said.
The judge further said that the prosecution only to find out the fact filed the petitions. So the order for further investigation was given to establish justice for both parties, the judge added.
Defence lawyers for detained accused Pintu opposed the petitions saying the prosecution had filed those only to implicate several other BNP leaders and activists.
After the order, a defence lawyer told reporters, "The unprecedented order was issued ignoring our arguments."
Of the 22 accused in the cases, 14 are now behind bars, including Pintu, Hannan and his brother Mohibullah, Moulana Abu Sayeed, Moulana Abu Taher, Mufti Moinuddin Sheikh alias Abu Zandal.
The eight absconding accused are Pintu's brothers Tajuddin and Moulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin and his brother Mahibul Muttakin, Iqbal, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and Khalilur Rahman.
The Criminal Investigation Department, which had misdirected the investigation during the reign of BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government, finally pressed charges in June last year accusing 21 members of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) including its top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu.
In the charge sheet, the CID only mentioned Tajuddin, brother of Pintu, as the supplier of the grenades. The CID investigators could not find out who gave him the grenades and how.
Meanwhile, Indian national Moulana Mansur Ali, an organiser of Kashmir-based militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force, disclosed to investigators that one of its leaders from India had given the grenades to Tajuddin in person, said officials of Detective Branch of police.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare wid TOPIX > VARIOUS - MEXICAN CARTEL BRING/SMUGGLING GRENADES INTO THE US!?
North Korean media say leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release during the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of two Americans, holding "exhaustive" talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said.
Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters.
Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the freedom of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in "hostile acts."
His landmark visit, which was not announced in advance by North Korea or the U.S., comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, foes during the Korean War of the 1950s, over the regime's nuclear program.
North Korea in recent months has conducted a nuclear test and test-fired an array of ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, with Washington leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its defiance.
It's only the second visit to Pyongyang by a former U.S. leader. Jimmy Carter traveled to North Korea for talks with Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 in a groundbreaking meeting during a time of similar tensions.
Clinton's meeting with Kim would be the notoriously reclusive North Korean leader's first with a prominent Western figure since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke a year ago, sparking questions about the future of the nation he controls with absolute authority.
Kim, said to have a taste for fine wines and fancy gourmet food, also is believed to suffer from chronic diabetes and heart disease. The man who once sported a noticeable pot belly has appeared gaunt and gray in recent months.
Though Clinton was in North Korea on a private basis, his visit was treated by North Korea as a high-profile visit, with senior officials including Kim Kye Gwan, the vice foreign minister who serves as the country's chief nuclear negotiator meeting him on the tarmac.
Footage from the APTN television news agency showed the arriving Clinton exchanging warm handshakes with the officials and accepting a bouquet of flowers from a schoolgirl.
Kim later hosted a banquet for Clinton at the state guesthouse, Radio Pyongyang and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported.
Photos in state-run media of the visit showed Kim, with a broad smile, standing next to a solemn-looking Clinton. The two also posed with Clinton's party in front of a mural, and another picture showed the men and others seated around a conference table.
Though Clinton does not hold office, his stature and good relations with Pyongyang could yield positive results, analysts said.
"This is a very potentially rewarding trip. Not only is it likely to resolve the case of the two American journalists detained in North Korea for many months, but it could be a very significant opening and breaking this downward cycle of tension and recrimination between the U.S. and North Korea," Mike Chinoy, author of "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis," said in Beijing.
There was no word in state media on the status of Clinton's negotiations to secure the release of Ling, 32, and Lee, 36. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month urged North Korea to grant the women amnesty, saying they were remorseful and that their families were anguished.
Lee, a South Korean-born U.S. citizen, is married and has a 4-year-old daughter in Los Angeles; a native Californian, Ling is the married younger sister of TV journalist Lisa Ling.
Clinton's administration had rocky but relatively good relations with Pyongyang, and both he and Gore, his vice president, had been named as possible envoys to bring back Lee and Ling. Also mentioned was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who in the 1990s traveled twice to North Korea to secure the freedom of detained Americans.
However, the decision to send the former president was kept quiet. A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling Tuesday with Hillary Rodham Clinton that the White House would not comment on the trip to Pyongyang until the mission was complete.
"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said later in a statement from Washington. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission."
In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was encouraged by reports about Clinton's trip.
"This is welcome news and we are pleased to see movement in this case," said Bob Dietz, the group's Asia program coordinator. "The fate of these two women should not be linked to broader issues on the Korean peninsula, and to see both sides make a move toward the release of these reporters will bring some relief to them, their families and friends."
#1
I'm glad the Norks are releasing them, but now the real test begins. They have to fly back with 'Wild Bill'.
Bet he's glad that Hillary is in Kenya.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/04/2009 16:41 Comments ||
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#2
So what did Bill promise the NorKs in return for this?
You know it wasn't his charm that did it, no matter what the Dems say. Something nasty for America was promised in return before he even left the States.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/04/2009 18:04 Comments ||
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#3
Exactly, Barbara. How do you say "quid pro quo" in Korean?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/04/2009 18:13 Comments ||
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#4
Oh, for Christ's sake. The North Koreans wouldn't be releasing them without concessions - which Obama delivered, I'm sure.
North Koreans are the Vince Lombardi of diplomacy: they just keep winning, and winning, and winning.
#8
Disagree Mizzu. Two dipshits get in a bind of their own doing then undermine US credibility (what little credibilty we have left) dealing with bad actor nations. In the long run this will cost more than two lives. Count on it.
#11
It sickens me to think that our President would have our former President genuflect to some foreign potentate for any reason. I guess what comes around goes around, and he will have that task in the future. But it will still be wrong then, just as it is now.
FOUR men have been arrested and more are still being questioned over an alleged plot to launch a suicide shootout attack at an Australian Army base. About 400 federal and state police executed 19 search warrants in several suburbs across Melbourne at 4.30am AEST. A 26-year-old man, two 25-year-old men and a 22-year-old man are expected to be charged with a range of terrorism-related offences and appear in court later today.
AFP Acting Commissioner Tony Negus said authorities would allege the men were "planning to carry out a suicide terror attack involving an armed assault with automatic weapons ... a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed".
"We've disrupted an alleged terror attack that could have claimed many lives."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said today's raids show "the threat of terrorism is alive and well and this requires continued vigilance".
The Australian newspaper reported the plot centred on the Holsworthy Army base in western Sydney.
The investigation of the group, dubbed Operation Neath, involved about 150 members of the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and ASIO. It was launched in late January after authorities intercepted a phone call from one suspect wanting help to fight in Somalia, according to The Australian. The men arrested are Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese background. Most are labourers employed in Melbourne's construction industry or taxi drivers. It has been reported that the alleged cell had about 18 members, with a hardcore centre.
It was not immediately clear when the alleged attack was planned to have taken place. Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland said more details would emerge when the men faced court. But authorities believe the group was at an advanced stage of planning the alleged attack, which was conceived as punishment for Australia's military involvement in Muslim countries.
Members of the group have been observed reportedly carrying out surveillance of Holsworthy Barracks and other suspicious activity around Defence bases in Victoria. Holsworthy is home to some of Australia's elite counter-terrorism troops. Electronic surveillance on the suspects is believed to have picked up discussions about ways to obtain weapons to carry out what would be the worst terror attack on Australian soil.
The alleged cell was inspired by the Somalia-based terrorist movement al-Shabaab, which is trying to overthrow the Somali government and replace it with an extreme brand of Islam. Two Melbourne men, both Somalis, have travelled to Somalia in recent months to obtain training with the extremist organisation, which is aligned with al-Qaeda, The Australian reported. One of those men had already returned to Melbourne and is believed to have been among those arrested today. The other was still in Somalia.
Acting Commissioner Tony Negus said alleged members of the group had been seeking a fatwa to justify a terrorist attack in Australia.
It is understood that several members of the group wanted to travel to Somalia to fight with al-Shabaab, but when travel became difficult, they turned their attention to home.
Al-Shabaab is currently searching for jihadist recruits around the world, including in Australia. Authorities fear that Australian Muslims who travel to Somalia to fight for al-Shabaab could return to Australia as sleeper agents for future attacks in this country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It has already been suggested but maybe the authorities should have just quietly let the Army know where and when this was going to happen. The boys and girls could have had a convenient anti -terrorist exercise scheduled.
Outcome - dead terrorists and a satisfying live fire exercise for the Army.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
08/04/2009 4:33 Comments ||
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#2
Ah yes, that famous Digger sense of humour. ;-)
The Army has termed as "imagination" a newspaper report that suggested its Pakistani counterpart and militants trained by it had dug out a tunnel linking their side of the Line of Control (LoC) with that of India in Jammu and Kashmir's Pallanwalla sector of Akhnoor tehsil. The tunnel, report said, was meant for pushing in militants but collapsed following overnight heavy rains.
"I don't know who has seen the tunnel. It must have been imagination," said a Jammu-based defence spokesperson. He added, "There is no truth in the report you may have read in one of the newspapers today."
"Lies! All lies!"
Despite the denials issued by Army, a private national television channel chose to broadcast a story corroborating the report appearing in Tuesday's edition of a Jammu daily.
It said that the tunnel linking the PoK territory with the fencing area on Indian side of the LoC at village Chaprayal was detected by the Indian troops when it collapsed on Monday. It added that the talk about the existence of a tunnel from near Pakistan army's Mango post up to Indian side of fencing at Chaprayal had first surfaced during questioning of two Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants captured in Kupwara district of Kashmir Valley in July this year.
These are the same militants who had reportedly also revealed a Pakistan plot to target Baglihar hydroelectric in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district.
According to the newspaper, while one reports said that security forces had detected the tunnel after disclosures by the Lashkar militants but remained silent as they wanted to capture the infiltrators alive when they use the tunnel to sneak into Indian territory, the other said that existence of tunnel was known only on Monday (August 3) when it collapsed following heavy rains overnight.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/04/2009 15:29 ||
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Police arrested four suspects while security forces demolished eight houses of suspected militants in different areas of Swat on Sunday. Sources told The News that the police conducted search operation in Islampur village near Mingora city and arrested four suspects. Later, the arrested persons were shifted to a secret location for interrogation.
Meanwhile, security forces dynamited eight houses of militants during a search operation in Allabad, Balogram and Ahingaro Dherai. Two houses were demolished in Allabad while six were destroyed in Balogram and Ahingaro Dherai. No arrest was made during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Two brothers were injured and about 15 shops damaged when an explosive device ripped through a market in Balakot town early Sunday.
A device planted outside a compact disc (CD) shop at the Paradise Market went off, injuring Mohammad Faisal and Mohammad Taufique, who were present in their barber shop. The injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Balakot.
The explosion was heard throughout the town and people immediately reached the spot. Police also rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. District Police Officer Akhtar Hayat Khan told reporters at the scene that it was an 8 kilogram remote-controlled device.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A sedition case was registered against the banned Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and his nine colleagues at the Saidu Sharif police station in Swat Valley on Sunday.
Sufi Muhammad, who was arrested by the NWFP government on July 27 from Peshawar along with his two young sons Rizwanullah and Ziaullah and another relative, was charged with sedition for issuing statements against the state of Pakistan and its institutions, including parliament and judiciary, during a public gathering at the Grassy Ground in Mingora on April 19.
Others named in the First Information Report (FIR) were two deceased leaders of the TNSM, Maulana Muhammad Alam and Amir Izzat Khan. They had been arrested by security forces from their organisationís office in Amandarra in the Malakand Agency and were killed in mysterious circumstances near Dargai while being shifted by soldiers to Peshawar.
Other TNSM activists named in the FIR include Maulana Abdul Haq, Shah Zeb, Maulana Safiullah, Maulana Bakht, Fayyaz Shah, Salar and Samiullah. It is not known if any of them is in the government custody.
District Police Officer (DPO), Swat, Sajid Khan Mohmand, confirmed the registration of the FIR and said that Sufi Muhammad was charged with sedition for instigating the general public against the state and its institutions during public gatherings after signing a peace agreement with the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A media update of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said four more militants were killed and several others apprehended during the ongoing Operation Rah-e-Rast.
The troops, during a search and cordon operation in Derai and Danda area of the Swat Valley, killed two militants and apprehended seven others. Two more terrorists were killed and two others apprehended during a search operation in Gorai, Kotlai and Dargai areas.
According to the ISPR, security forces found two tunnels of 75 meters and 60 feet length and one training camp with bunkers and an electric generator in Biha Valley. During a search and clearance operation in Kamargai near Gulibagh, the forces apprehended 10 suspects, including a local commander, it said, adding a local terrorist, Khairur Rehman, voluntarily surrendered to the troops in Shangla and also handed over his weapons.
A search operation was also carried out in Shah Dheri area where eight militants were arrested and four rifles and three pistols were recovered from their possession. A cave was discovered in Amlukdara area by security forces, while three improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 80 kilogram explosives and 220-meter-long detonating cord were also discovered.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak)] Security forces and the police in a joint search operation blew up a Madrassa on the Begukhel Road in Machenkhel on Sunday. Official sources said security forces and police raided Siddiqia Madrassa at 5:30 am and blew it up, destroying five rooms of the building. Head of the Madrassa, Maulana Gul Muhammad, was not present at the time. There was no casualty as the seminary was empty. Official sources said there were authentic reports that the seminary was being used as a shelter by the local and non-local militants. Meanwhile, unidentified militants fired at a police checkpost near Shah Hassankhel village on Saturday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The bodies of Gul Khitab, the brother of slain militant commander Khan Khitab, and a militant Ajab Khan were recovered from different areas of Matta Tehsil. Unidentified persons had killed Gul Khitab and dumped his body near the office of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in Saidu Sharif while the body of Ajab Khan was found in Koray area of Matta Tehsil.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Who would do such a thing? Som Red-on-Red action here? Or maybe some disguised assassinations intended to generate some 'Hatfield-McCoy' fighting?
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Afghan government on Sunday claimed that some 600 Pakistani families belonging to North Waziristan had migrated to Khost province to escape fighting in their area.
Wali Rehman Syedzai, chief of Refugee Affairs in Khost in southern Afghanistan, told the Afghan Islamic Press that the government of Afghanistan would spare no effort in providing assistance to the Pakistani refugees. He said the Pakistanis had come from the Dattakhel area in North Waziristan.
Terming the security situation as the main obstacle in providing relief goods to the affected people, Syedzai said: "We wanted to help them as soon as possible. But the security situation is not satisfactory in Khost province. Attacks are being frequently conducted on Khost City. Spera is a far-flung district in the province and the worsening security situation is also hindering efforts to assist the refugees."
Syedzai expressed the hope that the World Food Programme (WFP) would also extend help to the refugees, adding that soldiers of the Afghan National Army had distributed food items among the Pakistani refugees. He alleged that Pakistani border forces were not allowing the people to migrate to Afghanistan but some still managed to cross the border.
It may be added that earlier a large number of Pakistani tribal people crossed over to Afghanistan from the tribal areas of Bajaur, Kurram and South Waziristan to escape the fighting. Some of the displaced Pakistanis are still living in Kunar, Nuristan, Paktika and Khost provinces in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities had denied reports that Pakistanis from Kurram Agency had taken refuge in Afghanistan but no denial was issued regarding the displaced Pakistani tribesmen from South Waziristan and Bajaur.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iraqi police have arrested 36 members of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) after clashes erupted between MKO operatives and security forces in Camp Ashraf. The clashes broke out after Iraqi security forces on Tuesday took over the camp which was run by the terrorist group for almost two decades. The skirmish left seven camp residents dead and many others wounded. Police said the seven were killed after they threw themselves under police vehicles.
The arrests were confirmed by Abdul Nassir al-Mehdawi, governor of Diyala province. "Their cases are being investigated now. They are being charged with inciting trouble," he said. "We will deal with them according to Iraqi law; we won't send them back to Iran."
MKO members were under US protection after the 2003 invasion of Iraq but the country formally took control of Camp Ashraf in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Two people were killed and five others injured in a gunfight between troops and separatist rebels in Thailand's Muslim south, the army said on Monday. The incident took place in Narathiwat, one of three provinces bordering Malaysia where close to 3,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004.
The shootout erupted when jihadis insurgents ambushed an army patrol in the province's Yi-Ngo district, killing a soldier and wounding five others. One of the terrorists militants was shot dead but the others fled, an army spokesman said. A day earlier, a security guard was shot dead by terrorists suspected insurgents while riding a motorcycle in neighbouring Pattani province.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hours after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution formally approved the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clashes erupt between security forces and protestors in Tehran.
According to a Press TV correspondent, riot police were deployed in the capital on Monday after about 2,000 protestors opposed the formal endorsement of President Ahmadinejad following the June 12 election. The police clashed with supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi between the two squares of Valiasr and Vanak and used tear gas to disperse the protestors, the Press TV correspondent added. Leading opposition figure Karroubi reportedly took part in Monday's demonstrations in a central street in Tehran.
According to witnesses, the police presence was strong and the security forces prevented protestors from gathering together. Car drivers stuck in traffic joined the street marchers by honking their horns as they feared arrests for stepping out of their cars, Ayandenews reported.
Monday's protests in Tehran came as part of a series of opposition demonstrations that swept across the country after the disputed poll. In protests on Thursday, thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran's main cemetery, Behesht-e-Zahra, and around the Grand Mosalla to commemorate those killed in the country's post-election unrest. Tehran's police commander later announced that at least 50 protestors were arrested on the mourning day.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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OSAMA bin Laden's right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri has taken aim at US President Barack Obama in a new video.
The al-Qaeda second-in-command accuses Mr Obama of continuing to spill the blood of Muslims and saying Israel was a "crime" that must be wiped out, according to a US monitoring group.
He also dismissed Obama's Middle East peace push as a "deception," and accused Mr Obama of seeking to create a "Palestinian state that works as a branch of the Israeli intelligence," according to a transcript published by the SITE Intelligence Group.
"Israel is a crime that must be eliminated,'' al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE.
Zawahiri also rejected Mr Obama's overtures to the Muslim world as an illusion, pointing to raids in Pakistan's tribal regions and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and speaking of "bloody massacres."
In a newly released video interview, al Qaeda deputy Ayman al Zawahiri extended a truce offer from the terrorist group to President Obama today if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al Zawahiri, in a newly released video interview, extends a truce offer from the terrorist group to President Obama today if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan.
(ABC News)The video references the President's speech in Cairo in early June, making it at least two months old, and suggesting that despite the U.S. manhunt for the terrorist leader, he is still able to follow current events. Zawahiri, like bin Laden, has a $25M reward for his capture.
Zawahiri said the truce was a continuation of Osama bin Laden's 2006 offer to President George W. Bush, which required that U.S. forces leave Afghanistan as well as all Muslim countries in the Middle East. Al Qaeda has often offered truces before launching an attack.
That'll either be one of those truces that is merely postponement of official surrender by the kufr, or a hudna so that the jihadis can regroup and re-arm.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
AYMAN made it more than clear the fight will continue "until Doomsday".
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.
[Straits Times] SOMALI pirates have freed a Malaysian tugboat and its 11 Indonesian sailors after a ransom was paid to end the second longest hijacking off the coast of Somalia, a maritime watchdog said on Monday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Somali pirates have released a German-flagged container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, after receiving a USD 2.7 million ransom. The bandits released the German freighter on Monday, while they had earlier demanded a ransom of up to USD 4.5 million. The 20,000-ton Hansa Stavanger with five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board had been seized in April about 400 miles (646 km) off the southern Somali port city of Kismayu. 
[ADN Kronos] Algerian security forces have reportedly killed at least 18 suspected militants with links to Al-Qaeda in the past week. According to the Arab TV network, Al-Jazeera, the Algerian military has been conducting an offensive in the region of Batna, 500 kilometres southeast of Algiers. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Two brothers were injured and about 15 shops damaged when an explosive device ripped through a market in Balakot town early Sunday.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A sedition case was registered against the banned Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and his nine colleagues at the Saidu Sharif police station in Swat Valley on Sunday.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A media update of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said four more militants were killed and several others apprehended during the ongoing Operation Rah-e-Rast.
[The News (Pak)] Security forces and the police in a joint search operation blew up a Madrassa on the Begukhel Road in Machenkhel on Sunday. Official sources said security forces and police raided Siddiqia Madrassa at 5:30 am and blew it up, destroying five rooms of the building. Head of the Madrassa, Maulana Gul Muhammad, was not present at the time. There was no casualty as the seminary was empty. Official sources said there were authentic reports that the seminary was being used as a shelter by the local and non-local militants. Meanwhile, unidentified militants fired at a police checkpost near Shah Hassankhel village on Saturday night.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The bodies of Gul Khitab, the brother of slain militant commander Khan Khitab, and a militant Ajab Khan were recovered from different areas of Matta Tehsil. Unidentified persons had killed Gul Khitab and dumped his body near the office of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in Saidu Sharif while the body of Ajab Khan was found in Koray area of Matta Tehsil.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iraqi police have arrested 36 members of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) after clashes erupted between MKO operatives and security forces in Camp Ashraf. The clashes broke out after Iraqi security forces on Tuesday took over the camp which was run by the terrorist group for almost two decades. The skirmish left seven camp residents dead and many others wounded. Police said the seven were killed after they threw themselves under police vehicles. 
Two people were killed and five others injured in a gunfight between troops and separatist rebels in Thailand's Muslim south, the army said on Monday. The incident took place in Narathiwat, one of three provinces bordering Malaysia where close to 3,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hours after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution formally approved the second-term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clashes erupt between security forces and protestors in Tehran. 
In a newly released video interview, al Qaeda deputy Ayman al Zawahiri extended a truce offer from the terrorist group to President Obama today if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan. 
