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Israel 'proposes West Bank deal'
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I like eggs!
Posted by: Iblis || 08/12/2008 1:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Shoes ... you forgot the shoes. Trust me, she IS wearing shoes.
Posted by: Adriane || 08/12/2008 2:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Before the Hays' office crusades, innocent nudity was allowed.

Posted by: McZoid || 08/12/2008 2:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Italian banjo?

Try mando-cello.
Posted by: no mo uro || 08/12/2008 6:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm not sure, but it might be Ziegfeld Follies week...
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 7:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Follies - fitting, Fred.
Posted by: lotp || 08/12/2008 7:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Strum it baby...
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 08/12/2008 9:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Beautiful young lady and not a tatoo to be seen anywhere! Thank you.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 08/12/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||

#9  Broadhead - no, don't strum it - pluck it!
Posted by: GORT || 08/12/2008 10:04 Comments || Top||

#10  GORT, ouch.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 08/12/2008 15:56 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
ISAF Mirror - Success stories from around Afghanistan
(excerpt)

Kabul, Afghanistan - In mid June Regional Command Capital Troops found the 100th cache, located in the Kabul area since the 1st of January 2008. This important goal was achieved thanks to ISAF troops' deep presence on the area of operations and to the good relationship between the local populace and soldiers. Total items found in the whole Kabul area amounts to: 6598 bullets, 671 mortar rounds, 478 rockets, 693 fuses, 75 kg of explosives, 145 grenades, 117 mines, 3 guns, 2 counter air systems, 2 rifles and 1 mortar.

Task Force Surobi found 84 of the total 100 caches discovered by RC-Capital. The others were found by Italian, French and Turkish Contingents operating in the RC-Capital area of operations. This is a very significant result compared to last year. RC-Capital is also working hard for reconstruction and development. The Task Force operating in eastern Kabul recently inaugurated a library, a clinic, three pedestrian bridges and about thirty wells in the rural district of Surobi.

The Italian Contingent operating in southern Kabul inaugurated a clinic in Musay Valley. The French Civil Military Cooperation Team inaugurated 3 pedestrian bridges in Kalakan and water tank in Chesmeh Ye Karuti. Turkish units installed wells in Khak-e Jabbar and built twelve classroom schools in Police District 12.

In all the rural areas of Kabul region, troops are also distributing food, clothes, scholar equipments, agricultural tools and medical and veterinary support too.

Since December 2007, RCCapital national Contingents have spent 5.5 million dollars on reconstruction.

Onward activities of Italian troops of Regional Command Capital encourage agriculture. On the 30th of June, in the Jegdaleg valley, Italian troops of Task Force Surobi inaugurated four new wells. The opening ceremony was attended by Italian soldiers with the local population and its leaders. In the same day, the Nawabad village celebrated the achievement of another project: the construction of one wall which can contain rain and also help solve the problem of drought in this rural area.

Both projects had been realized with national funds totaling more than 29.000 euro.

These activities belong to the "Agriculture Project" which consists of delivering trees, agricultural equipments, fodders, and grain to Surobi's local population.

Agriculture is the main source of income within this area and the "Agriculture Project" is one of the many activities lead by Italian troops in the Kabul area.

RC-Capital achieves important results in the agriculture field, one of the most important focuses of it's reconstruction and development efforts.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/12/2008 17:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Page 21 has an interesting article on the work being done to wean Afghan farmers from cultivating opium poppies for the Taliban.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/12/2008 20:27 Comments || Top||


Afghans at British base beg for protection - It's Cheney's fault
The company that provides services and logistics for the British army has come under fire for ignoring the increasing security needs of its local staff in Afghanistan as the Taliban steps up its attacks on army support employees.

Up to 400 Afghan staff working for KBR at the Camp Bastion base in Helmand, south Afghanistan, have been barred from joining flights to Kandahar and told they must travel by road - one of the most dangerous journeys in the country.

The Taliban is known to be targeting local staff who work for the British or US army as traitors, but this summer has seen an unprecedented number of attacks against caterers, mechanics and interpreters who all work at the base, with 10 staff being killed in July alone.

Ahmed (not his real name) said he was too scared to leave the base despite the fact that he had not seen his family for more than six months.

"My family does not know whether I am dead or alive. We are not allowed to use phones so I was looking forward to my holiday. But now I am too scared to leave because the Taliban are waiting just outside and I will get killed," he said. He offered money to KBR to join any flight to Kandahar, he said, but was told it was not possible. "My boss said the flights are for priority staff only. It seems some human life is more valuable than others."

One man, who only wanted to be known as Abdullah, said: "When we started here just over a year ago, the situation wasn't as bad. But now the Taliban are increasing their attacks on us, we need the company to give us protection. I am speaking on behalf of all of us here in Bastion." Abdullah said staff had voiced their security concerns to KBR several times. "When I signed up for the job, KBR promised to look after me and provide me security. But none of this has happened. They just threaten to sack us if we complain."

Abdullah said he had been living in a tent with a young worker called Shafiqullah, whose body was found in a nearby canal. "I saw him leaving the night before and the next morning he was dead. It's very sad news for us. He was a friend."

The Helmand region has some of the fiercest weather in the world with winter temperatures of -10C and summer heat of more than 50C (122F) but the staff say they have no proper air conditioning or medical facilities. "We don't get any medical support," Ahmed said. "They said at the interview that we could have access to a doctor, but we are not even allowed to go to the clinic on the base."

KBR, formerly part of Halliburton, is the largest contractor for the US army. The Houston-based firm said in a statement: "The safety and security of all employees remains KBR's top priority. For locally recruited employees at Camp Bastion, KBR has a process in place to monitor local security and safety on a daily basis.

"Employees at Camp Bastion live in tents that differ from those provided to the British military. The employee tents are equipped with air conditioning. KBR also provides a contracted medical doctor on site and all employees have access to British military hospital facilities at Camp Bastion. In an effort to ensure safe travel, KBR offers employees the opportunity to fly via British military from Camp Bastion to Kabul when taking leave."

But when asked about transport to Kandahar, where many KBR staff are from, the firm refused to comment, citing security.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/12/2008 16:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fuckin bureaucrats, get the guy a $50 plane ticket to Kandahar. Geeze, what dont they understand, they guy's gonna get eaten for lunch when he leaves the base.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/12/2008 17:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Solution: their own Green Zone
Posted by: McZoid || 08/12/2008 21:37 Comments || Top||


NATO force denies Afghan civilian casualty report
Reuters - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan has denied reports that it killed more than a dozen civilians in an air strike to the northeast of the capital.

Twelve civilians were killed and 18 were wounded when NATO-led forces carried out an airstrike on suspected Taliban militants in Kapisa province on Saturday, according to provincial officials.

President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation.

The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says it has conducted an investigation and maintains those killed were insurgents.

"Following recent media reports of significant civilian casualties ... ISAF has now concluded a thorough investigation of the claim and has evidence that those killed were insurgents," ISAF said in a statement late on Monday.
You'd think Karzai would have this figured out by now. I guess for some folks repetition means nothing.
Insurgents fired on ISAF soldiers in Tagab district in Kapisa province on Saturday but withdrew after two of their soldiers were wounded, ISAF said.

A surveillance aircraft later observed the men hiding their weapons and changing into civilian clothes, it said.

"Still under observation, they then moved to an open field where they were attacked and killed by shots from an ISAF aircraft," ISAF said. "No innocent civilians were injured or killed."

About 1,000 civilians have been killed during the first six months of this year, aid agencies say. While most are believed to have died during insurgent attacks, many Afghans feel foreign forces don't take enough care in avoiding civilian casualties.
How about if for starters we could get civilians to take even half as much care in vetting hasty terrorist-slanted media reports as Coalition forces take with civilian lives. In the end it would help get rid of the terrorists.
Violence has escalated in Afghanistan since 2006 when the Taliban, ousted from power in 2001, relaunched their insurgency against the government and foreign forces.

The defense ministry on Tuesday said six insurgents were killed in an operation in the southeastern province of Paktika.

Elsewhere, an improvised explosive device killed a Latvian soldier and wounded two more on Monday, ISAF said in a separate statement late on Monday. Thirteen civilians were also wounded in the attack, it said.
Posted by: gorb || 08/12/2008 07:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Afghan, U.S. forces kill 25 Taliban, 8 civilians
Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents and eight civilians after an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday. The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency.
On the other hand, we're not lining up our artillery hub to hub and pounding the crap out of Kandahar and all its inhabitants like the Russers are doing elsewhere. So count your blessings.
The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.
"The militants "fled into a neighboring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant." The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.
The militants "then fled into a neighboring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said. The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.

International forces are permitted to call in airstrikes when they are under attack even if they cannot be 100-percent sure there are no civilians in the area and this is where most mistakes are made, NATO officials say. Foreign forces say they do their very best to avoid killing innocent bystanders, but the perception among many, if not most, Afghans is that the troops do not take enough care and support for the presence of international troops is waning.

Karzai Monday ordered an investigation into reports from local officials that NATO aircraft had killed about a dozen civilians in the northeastern province of Kapisa this week.

SUICIDE BOMB
Afghan and foreign military officials point out that far more civilians are killed by Taliban suicide and roadside bombs, but in aftermath of such attacks many Afghans blame the government and security forces for failing to stop them. About 80 percent of the victims of suicide bombs are civilians, security analysts say.

A suicide car bomber targeting foreign troops killed one Afghan civilian and wounded 17 more on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Kabul, Monday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. A small number of ISAF soldiers were also wounded, it said. British and Italian troops had cordoned off the scene of the blast and the blackened leg of the bomber lay on the road, a Reuters witness said. On the southern edges of the city, a roadside bomb killed a police officer and wounded two others Monday, police said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a blast targeted a convoy of NATO-led forces in the northern province of Faryab Monday, the provincial police chief said.

General Abdul Khalil Andarabi said initial reports showed that 10 civilians and two soldiers from the alliance were wounded in the blast in the heart of provincial capital. NATO soldiers had cordoned off the site, he said.

Meanwhile, the Canadian military said one of its soldiers was killed on Monday in the Panjwayi district and another injured when they were attacked with rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. The army identified the dead soldier as Master Corporal Erin Doyle, with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, Alberta.

It was the second time in three days a Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan. On Saturday, Master Corporal Joshua Brian Roberts of the Princess Patricia's 2nd Battalion, based in Shilo, Manitoba, was killed in the Zharey District.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Let's all hear it for allan's finest: the Lions of IslamTM...islamo-p*ssies hiding behind women and children.

Way to go allan. Your minions emulate you well.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/12/2008 2:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, 3 to 1, that's not the worst I've ever heard of. Faggots shouldn't hide behind their wife and kids.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/12/2008 9:26 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Two Ethiopian troops, six civilians killed in Somalia
Two Ethiopian soldiers were killed Monday in a roadside bomb explosion in southern Somalia, prompting their colleagues to open fire and killing six civilians, witnesses said.

The soldiers were checking for mines on their way to the provincial town of Baidoa from the capital Mogadishu when the bomb went off in Wanlaweyn town north of Mogadishu, they said.

"A roadside bomb killed two Ethiopian soldiers as they were walking and checking for mines inside the town," said Mohamed Wardhere Adan, an elder.

"They opened fire indiscriminately after the explosion, killing six innocent civilians, including a woman," he added.

Another witness Hussein Shibelow said: "We don't know who planted it. The Ethiopians entered a neighbourhood near where the explosion occured, punishing civilians."

"I saw the bodies of four men, a woman and a child shot by the Ethiopians," he told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Arabia
Dawood's brother Anees detained in Saudi Arabia
NEW DELHI: Brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, has reportedly been detained at the Jeddah Airport, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Anees was detained for allegedly carrying a fake passport.

According to Times Now sources, both the Indian Embassy in Jeddah and the city's Interpol have been alerted to the possible detention of Anees.

Anees Ibrahim is the prime suspect in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. He actively participated in the conspiracy and arranged to send consignments of AK-56 small arms and grenades to Mumbai.
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2008 12:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemen troops, al-Qaeda in fatal shootout
Two Yemeni security troops and five suspected al-Qaeda militants have died in a shootout in a southern Yemeni town, a provincial security official says.

Authorities also arrested two suspected al-Qaeda militants in the shootout, which took place in the town of Tarim in Hadramawt province, the official said on Monday.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The provincial governor, Ahmed al-Khanbashi, said the troops had surrounded a house in Tarim and exchanged fire with men inside, believed to be members of an al-Qaeda branch.

The governor, who initially said that only two militants died, gave no further details, but the town's residents said the fighting continued for about two hours and that some of the armed men managed to flee.

Last week, two grenades were thrown at a police convoy in the province's capital of al-Mukalla but caused no casualties. Earlier, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed a policeman in the Interior Ministry's regional headquarters in Hadramawt.

Al-Qaeda has an active presence in Yemen, which is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden.

Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen


China-Japan-Koreas
Renewed violence in Xinjiang
Three security staff have been stabbed to death in China's Xinjiang region, the third attack there in eight days. Assailants killed the men at a checkpoint near the city of Kashgar, Chinese state media said.

Sixteen police officers were killed in an attack in Kashgar earlier this month, but state media said there was no evidence linking the two attacks.

Xinjiang is home to many Muslim Uighurs, some of whom want independence in the region they call East Turkestan. There has been a rise in violent incidents in Xinjiang in recent months, which China has blamed on separatists seeking to disrupt the Olympic Games.

Suspected Muslim separatists also launched a series of bomb attacks in Kuqa, in southern Xinjiang, on Sunday, which left 11 dead.

Tuesday's attack happened at a checkpoint about 30 km (18 miles) from the border city of Kashgar. Attackers - it is not clear how many - jumped out of a passing vehicle and stabbed the men to death. Three men died and a fourth was injured, Xinhua news agency said.

News of the attack emerged hours after Chinese state media announced that the situation in Kuqa, scene of Sunday's attacks, had returned to normal.
Posted by: lotp || 08/12/2008 17:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't know a damned thing about Uighurs, but my first impulse is that China should nip this in the bud.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/12/2008 17:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Let the Muslims mess with the chicoms. They only THINK they hate us (the west).
Posted by: DLR || 08/12/2008 18:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Nine Turkish soldiers killed in landmine blast
Kurdish guerrillas killed nine Turkish soldiers in a landmine ambush in Turkey's eastern Erzincan province on Monday, military sources said.

Special forces troops backed by Cobra helicopters later searched the area for the guerrillas who carried out the attack, the sources told Reuters. Two soldiers were also wounded in the blast near a bridge in Kemah district, where the mine was detonated by remote control as a military vehicle passed along a country road. The sources said previously that eight soldiers were killed and four wounded. An army captain was among the dead, state-run Anatolian news agency reported.

Several F-16 helicopters took off in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir after the ambush but it was not clear where they were heading. Erzincan province rarely witnesses separatist conflict but neighbouring Tunceli is the scene of frequent clashes between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels and Turkish armed forces.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Have to wonder if Putin has them on the payroll - after all they attacke dthe pipleine jsut before he kicked off the big invasion, and stuff like this would keep the turks busy.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/12/2008 4:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Well the PKK is a commie outfit.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Posted by: DanNY || 08/12/2008 10:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, according to the article, Turkey does have those fancy F-16 HELICOPTERS!!!! so I'm sure they can handle the rabble.
Posted by: remoteman || 08/12/2008 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Hee-hee, F-16 helicopters. Finally, there is one air role the Hornet *can't* fill.

Reporters are often clueless about matters military, but you'd kinda hope there was some lower bound.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/12/2008 16:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Man dead in Denver, large amount of ?cyanide? nearby
And his name wasn't Chuck. or Ralph.
It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide.

Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.

Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.

A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man's room on the fourth floor of The Burnsley hotel at 10th and Grant. Tests are now being done by the Denver Police Crime Lab to determine exactly what the substance is. The tests could take days.

It's believed Dirie died from something other than the substance that was in the container.
"Iocaine powder! I knew it all along!"
Denver police are leading the investigation of the man's death. The FBI and other governmental agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force, are assisting in the probe. Hazardous materials assistance has included the Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado National Guard.

"Our Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in this simply because the victim here is from another country and it just kind of makes sense that our terrorism guys would take a look a look at this," FBI Special Agent in Charge James Davis said.

Davis told CBS 4 that nothing so far has been found to link the case to terrorism or the coming convention.
He was probably gearing up to do his Mr. Science tour of the local elementary schools. Or maybe he was in the pest extermination business and specialized in convention halls and hotels. Prbly something like that. Innocent guy just trying to make a living, contribute to society, make Mom & Dad proud.
Authorities said The Burnsley hotel is safe and is open for business.

Cyanide can be made from plants in very small amounts. It can be a gas, liquid or powder. It prevents the body from using oxygen and therefore is more harmful to the heart and brain than other organs.

"It was used in concentration camps in World War II and by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in the 1990s," CBD4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said. "And put it in a little capsule, it is in fact used as a suicide pill just like you see in the movies."

Officials said cyanide can be used as a terrorist weapon if it is dumped in water put in food, sprayed as a gas, or many other methods. The investigation is continuing.
Posted by: lotp || 08/12/2008 19:05 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm... partner got cold feet?
Owed the mob?
Pissed off a lover?
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/12/2008 19:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Sale gone bad?
Posted by: lotp || 08/12/2008 19:32 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember when 'dead guy' + 'a large container of a white powdery substance' = a night of excessive partying in Vegas.

Sigh. Those were simpler times.
Posted by: Scott R || 08/12/2008 19:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Will the Bureau be dragging in the usual suspects, Steve Hatfill, etc?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/12/2008 19:39 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't know this is the same guy but that last comment is interesting:


Please don’t talk shit , that man deserves what happened to him , simply because having the bible in one hand , and a bread in the other hand , is not a correct thing ,! Kill Them , Kill them , Kill them , that is my massage,!

Comment by Abdirahman Dirie — July 11, 2008 @ 10:33 pm


hmmmmm
Posted by: crosspatch || 08/12/2008 19:49 Comments || Top||

#6  And the surname Dirie is apparently a pretty common family name in Somalia. Hmmm, wonder what group in Somalia might want to kill Americans. Who could it be ....

Probably those dastardly Methodists at it again.
Posted by: crosspatch || 08/12/2008 19:53 Comments || Top||

#7  We got Somali Muslims in Maine. But they are some kind of freak turn-the-other-cheek Quaker type Muslims. Weird. I heard that their tribe (of pacifists) were driven out of Somalia.

I can't tell the players without a scorecard anymore.
Posted by: Slats Glans2659 || 08/12/2008 21:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Please don�t talk shit , that man deserves what happened to him , simply because having the bible in one hand , and a bread in the other hand , is not a correct thing ,! Kill Them , Kill them , Kill them , that is my massage,!

Funny - you swap 'koran' for bible and you'd have a typical comment from some of our Rantburg posters...

(okay, so the spelling and the grammar is a bit better here).
Posted by: Pappy || 08/12/2008 21:22 Comments || Top||

#9  LGF has linked to this thread.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/12/2008 22:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Hat tip for crosspatch and R-burg at LGF!

See comment #30
Posted by: Hupoque Oppressor of the Sith6694 || 08/12/2008 22:49 Comments || Top||

#11  Canada is
claiming
him.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 08/12/2008 23:34 Comments || Top||


Official: Senior Al Qaeda Commander Killed in Pakistan
Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Saeed al-Masri has been killed in recent clashes with Pakistani forces in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border, a security official told Reuters on Tuesday. "He was believed to be among the top leadership of Al Qaeda," the senior security official told the news agency on condition of anonymity.

Al-Masri, which means Egyptian, was the senior most Al Qaeda operative to have been killed in Pakistan's tribal belt since the death of his compatriot, Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, last month.

Pakistani television identified the man as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid and said he was also known as Abu Saeed al-Masri. Al-Masri was reportedly the commander of Al Qaeda's Afghanistan operations, and was described by the September 11 Commission as the network's "chief financial manager."

He served time in jail with Al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, Reuters reported.

Since the deaths of other senior Al Qaeda figures beginning in 2001, al-Masri has moved up the chain to become Al Qaeda's third most senior figure.
Another opening for a number three. They never learn ...
A former security chief of Pakistan's northwestern ethnic Pastun tribal areas, told Reuters that the death of al-Masri, aka. Yazid, would have an impact on insurgencies in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. "It's one more important person gone. It will have an impact," Mahmood Shah told Reuters. "Al Qaeda is the main machine behind the insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban, the Chechens and the Uzbeks, are used as foot soldiers as cannon fodder but the actual machine is Al Qaeda."
This article starring:
Abu Khabab al-Masri
Abu Saeed al-Masri
Mustafa Abu al-Yazid
Posted by: Anguth Clineque8300 || 08/12/2008 09:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  48 hour rule in effect on this?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/12/2008 10:12 Comments || Top||

#2  ANOTHER al masri?

look, I know it means "the eqyptian" and I know lots of guys come from egypt, but names are useless if they dont help distinguish people.


"Law firm of Cohen, Cohen, Cohen and Cohen"
"may I speak to Mr Cohen?"
"hes out to lunch"
Well, then, may I speak to Mr Cohen?"
"he left the firm"
Well then, may I speak to Mr Cohen?"
"Im sorry he passed away last month"
well then, may I speak to Mr Cohen?
"Speaking"
Posted by: superstitiousGalitizianer || 08/12/2008 10:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Another "Number Three". They oughta retire that number.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2008 11:37 Comments || Top||

#4  There is an Indian joke

Al Qaeda # 3.141592653589793238462643....
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2008 14:48 Comments || Top||

#5  "There is an Indian joke

Al Qaeda # 3.141592653589793238462643...."

**snort**

Your owe me a keyboard, john frum. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/12/2008 15:55 Comments || Top||

#6  leave it to the Indians to show off their knowledge of pi just for a joke :-)
Posted by: sludge || 08/12/2008 16:35 Comments || Top||

#7  "There is an Indian joke

Al Qaeda # 3.141592653589793238462643...."

That's not an Indian joke. This is an Indian joke:

Al Qaeda # 3.141592653935160282..."
Posted by: KBK || 08/12/2008 19:40 Comments || Top||


Medical care for Pakistani scientist
A US court has ordered medical care for a Pakistani scientist said to be seriously sick since being shot last month in an alleged struggle with US officers in Afghanistan.

Aafia Siddiqui, whose case has drawn protests in Pakistan and the attention of the usual run of human rights activists, entered a Manhattan courtroom on Monday in a wheelchair. She was brought to the United States a week ago and is to be tried on charges of attempted murder and assault against FBI and US army officers in an Afghan town on July 18.

Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, told a packed courtroom that Siddiqui had not received proper medical care since being shot in the alleged incident. "She needs to be taken out of custody and put in a hospital. She's been here ... for one week and hasn't seen a doctor," Fink said.
"When did it start bothering you?"
"Right around the time I was arrested."
Another defence lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, said Siddiqui was a physical wreck following both the shooting and a five-year period in which the once high-flying US university neuroscience graduate disappeared. Campaigners and relatives claim she was being held for much of that time in a secret US prison in Afghanistan, following accusations by US officials that she had ties to al-Qaeda. The United States, which has never pressed al-Qaeda-linked charges against Siddiqui, says it has no idea where she spent that period.

US prosecutors say she was detained on July 17 by Pakistani police after acting suspiciously. The following day she allegedly grabbed a rifle in the police station and shot at visiting US servicemen - who returned fire.

Siddiqui's lawyers reject the charges. She "has gunshot wounds to the abdomen - we are not sure how many - and a long line of stitches from her breast plate to her belly button," Sharp said. "She understands she lost part of her intestines. Digestion is an issue. She's reporting bleeding."
Pray for sepsis.

This article starring:
Aafia Siddiquial-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  MRSA and a long, drawn-out treatment of at least 9 months that eventually fails.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/12/2008 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Elaine Whitfield Sharp. She's local. Defended Louise Woodward, the British nanny that liked to shake babies to death.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2008 11:20 Comments || Top||

#3  If she's got a line of stitches, she received medical care. Unless they think they grew there on their own.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/12/2008 13:08 Comments || Top||


#5  Yes, she does. 1998...

Louise Woodward has fired solicitor Elaine Whitfield Sharp after allegations the lawyer told a police officer she thought the British au pair was guilty of killing nine-month-old Matthew Eappen. News that the 20-year-old former au pair had sacked Ms Whitfield Sharp followed a news conference held by the Massachusetts police officer who arrested Woodward's solicitor for drunk driving last week.

Sgt Randy Cipoletta said the solicitor had told him she had been driven to drink because she knew Woodward was guilty. He told reporters the lawyer was having a hard time handling what she believed to be the truth. Cipoletta arrested Ms Whitfield Sharp on charges of drunk driving on May 22.

Speaking at the press conference, Sgt Cipoletta said: "Elaine Sharp stated to me that she was an attorney for Louise Woodward, and when she took the case, she believed that she was innocent. And she knows that she is guilty and is having a hard time handling it."

Ms Whitfield Sharp has denied making the comments and has accused the trooper of harassing her. State police are investigating a complaint filed by the attorney.

But in a statement released after the conference attorneys Harvey Silverglate, Andrew Good and Barry Scheck said Woodward had accepted their recommendation "to immediately dismiss attorney Sharp as one of her counsel, and a letter of dismissal has been sent." It added: "We do not believe that Trooper Cipoletta is an extortionist and a liar, any more than we believe that Ms Woodward is a murderer and a liar."

The three lawyers praised Ms Whitfield Sharp for her contributions to some of the scientific evidence in the first-degree murder case, and for her generosity in hosting the Woodward family after her release from prison in November. But they described her as displaying "an aberrant pattern of behavior." And they said they hope she will use a court-mandated program to address some of her problems.

Sgt Cipoletta has said he might take legal action if Ms Whitfield Sharp did not apologise to him for saying the statements attributed to her in the report were untrue and that he made sexual advances toward her.

Ms Whitfield Sharp, aged 44, has pleaded guilty to the charges and after paying a fine said she was "appalled" at the state trooper's claims. She complained to the state police that Sgt Cipoletta propositioned her and taunted her for representing Woodward. "The statements attributed to me by the police are not true," she said in a statement.


If you've ever seen Elaine, you'd be puking in your cruiser if you were accused of that.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2008 13:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Get this woman some medical attention then let the justice process begin. This is just a distraction.
Posted by: Jiggs Chiter5628 || 08/12/2008 13:47 Comments || Top||

#7  I'll give her some medical care: how about a 210Po suppository?
Posted by: KBK || 08/12/2008 19:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Indian Security Forces Kill 13 Kashmiri Protesters
SRINAGAR, India — Indian forces shot and killed at least 13 Muslim protesters today as tens of thousands of people defied a blanket curfew in Indian Kashmir, the bloodiest day in nearly two months of unrest that has rocked this long-troubled Himalayan region. Police and protesters battled each other through clouds of bullets, tear gas, and rocks, while at New Delhi, politicians again failed to find a solution to the crisis that threatens to shred the last tenuous threads binding the predominantly Muslim region of Kashmir to Hindu-majority India.

Angry Muslims™ took to the streets of cities and towns across Kashmir in spite of the first total curfew imposed on the region in 18 years to protest yesterday's killing of prominent separatist leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, and four others. At Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, about 100,000 people gathered at Martyrs Graveyard for Aziz's funeral, vowing to fulfill his legacy and achieve independence for Kashmir from India.

Violence has roiled the region since June 23 when Muslims and Hindus began tit-for-tat protests over a government proposal to transfer land to a Hindu shrine at India's only Muslim-majority state. The protests have crystalized anti-Indian feeling at Kashmir just as Indian forces appeared to be gaining an upper hand in their nearly two decade fight against the region's separatist rebels.

Huge crowds thronged Aziz's emotionally charged funeral, setting tires alight and waving green Islamic flags. Chants of "We want freedom," and "Blood for blood," rang through the cemetery. "Our struggle for complete independence from India will continue. No power on earth can deter us from achieving this," another separatist political leader, Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, told the crowds who huddled together in the rain, straining to hear the speeches delivered without microphones. "It's a do or die for us. India can take as many lives of Kashmiris as it can, but it must leave," a protester waiving green flag, Rafiq Ahmed, said.

Six protesters were killed in several incidents today at Srinagar, police said. Two more died at Nagbal village on the city's outskirts and three others were killed in Paribal, a village 40 miles to the north, they said. Two protesters died at Jammu, the only Hindu-majority city in the region, when police opened fire at an angry Muslim mob that attacked Hindu shops and homes, a senior government official, Sudhanshu Pandey, said.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region and both claim it in its entirety. More than a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Aziz was killed yesterday when police fired into a large crowd of Muslims attempting to march to the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir to protest a blockade by Hindus of the highway linking the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. The Hindus had blocked the roads to protest to the government's decision not to allocate land to a Hindu shrine in the region, after initially saying it would. The reversal came after protests by Muslims, who accused the government of trying to change Kashmir's demographics in favor of Hindus. Traders say the region faces shortages of food and medicine because of the blockade, and complain that hundreds of truckloads of Kashmiri fruit are spoiling because they cannot be delivered.

Today the government announced that the road was now clear. However, it said it was open to the idea of traders exporting their products across the border to neighboring Pakistan — a move that would further reduce Kashmir's ties to India. "However, a decision in the matter can be taken only through mutual arrangements between India and Pakistan," the Home Ministry said in a statement, warning against unilateral action.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2008 13:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Hurriyat man, four others killed; curfew in Srinagar
Indian troops have been authorized to use lethal force against anyone crossing the LOC. Ten are confirmed dead in Police firing
Five persons, including senior Hurriyat Conference leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, were killed as police and security forces resorted to firing to disperse thousands of people marching towards Line of Control in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. Hundreds of people, including Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi and Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah have been injured in the firing incidents across the Valley.
Guess Asiya Andrabi won't be throwing acid on anyone for a while
The hospitals, facing acute shortage of life-saving drugs and first-aid supplies, are filled with injured persons. The authorities clamped curfew in Srinagar city to counter backlash but resentment is brewing in every nook and corner of the Valley.

The Governor Administration has not issued any details on the happenings of the day. All the provincial and district heads of police and bureaucracy remained tightlipped on the worsening situation, which emerged in reaction to the "economic blockade" of Kashmir valley by protesters of Jammu.

The fruit growers and dealers of Kashmir had announced that they will take the fruit-laden trucks to Muzaffarabad. The call was endorsed by both factions of Hurriyat Conference and mainstream People's Democratic Party, which was part of coalition Government till June last. The fruit growers alleged that apples and pears worth crores of rupees rotted in the trucks as Jammu protesters demanding return of forest land to Amarnarth Shrine Board refused to allow them pass through Jammu for the past one month.

Sources said that Sheikh Aziz and Shabir Ahmad Shah were leading tens of thousands of marchers towards Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. They started from fruit market Sopore early in the morning. The procession was fired upon at Sangrama, in which two persons died, but continued to march until it reached Chehal village, 10 km short of border town of Uri. Sources said the Army and the police put barricades before the tempestuous protesters but they refused to turn back. Eyewitnesses said that on failing to turn the marchers back, troops opened fire, which resulted in heavy casualty. More than two dozen injured persons, most of them carrying bullet injuries were carried to Baramulla and Srinagar hospitals where Sheikh Aziz and three other succumbed to injuries. Sources said that Shiekh Aziz was hit in his abdomen.

The agitators set ablaze police station at Baramulla and destroyed dozens of police and security bunkers. They also torched the residential house of a SHO who allegedly ordered to fire upon the marchers at Chehal village.

Early morning, thousands of people marched from many city areas towards the Parimpora Fruit Mandi, the venue for the Muzaffarabad march. When the protesters reached near Karan Nagar, police and troops, which were deployed in advance, cane-charged the protesters besides firing in air. Chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Syed Asiya Andrabi also fered injury in the incident. Undeterred by massive use of force, the protesters, however, carried on with the march and they were joined by thousands on their way.

When the procession reached Qamarwari, police again used force to quell the protesters .The police also resorted to firing resulting in the death of Ishfaq Ahmad Mir besides injuries to dozens.

The police had put barricades on Srinagar-Jammu national highway to prevent thousands of marchers from south Kashmir. More than a dozen marchers were injured at Shopian and Samboora villages.

Reports said that Sheikh Aziz's body was taken to Jamia Masjid in old Srinagar where appeals are being made to the people to come out for protests and defy prohibitory orders. The Hurriyat Conference has announced that burial of the slain Hurriyat leader would not take place until house-arrested Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani are freed.
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2008 11:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


CD shop blown up in Mardan
Unidentified militants blew up a compact disk shop located on Parhoti Muhib Road on Sunday. The police defused a second bomb planted in another CD shop. The police have registered a case and probe is underway.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Taliban behead two 'spies'
Taliban beheaded two men for "spying" on them and shot dead a pro-government leader in Bajaur Agency, officials said on Monday. Militants kidnapped two "spies" from Bajaur and dumped their headless bodies on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


'Swat operation to continue until objectives achieved'
The NWFP administration on Monday resolved that the Swat operation "will continue until all the objectives are achieved". This was decided during a high-level meeting chaired by NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and attended by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti and Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Muhammad Masood Aslam. According to an official communiqué, " It was re-affirmed that no effort would be spared to protect the life and property of peaceful citizens." Meanwhile, Taliban in Swat kidnapped six people from the Malam Jabba area and moved them to an undisclosed location, locals said on Monday.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


50 more militants killed in Bajaur
Security forces killed around 50 Taliban militants in fresh clashes in the Bajaur Agency bordering Afghanistan, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of fighting, officials said.

"Helicopter gunships pounded positions of the militants in Bajaur and killed about 50 of them," a security official told Reuters. There were no casualties from the security forces, he said. The airstrikes lasted for three hours.

"Some of the bombs dropped by jets on suspected militants' hideouts in Tauheedabad and Damadola villages also hit many houses killing six civilians and wounding 12 others," the security official told AFP. Civilian casualties were also reported in the Charmang area of Bajaur and the Manja area of Khar.

Residents said the fighting erupted at 1am on Monday and bodies were scattered across farmland 20 kilometres east of Khar, the agency headquarters.

According to security officials, the fresh clashes erupted after militants attacked a security forces convoy in Sikandaro area of Khar, the agency headquarters, and the Tor Ghundi fort.

Thousands flee: A Reuters reporter said thousands of people were fleeing from the area after aircraft bombed four villages.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Eight killed in Kurram clashes
Fresh clashes between Mangal and Tori tribesmen killed eight persons and injured 10 in the Lower Kurram Agency, political administration sources said on Monday.

Armed persons of the two tribes were using heavy, light and automatic weaponry in the Bilyamin, Kuch and Munda areas of the agency, the sources said. Hundreds of families had started to shift to safer places from the restive areas, they added.

Meanwhile, Tori tribesmen set on fire four villages of their rival Bangash tribe, locals said. Hundreds of armed men from the Upper Kurram Agency attacked the Tando, Bazar Kalay, Haji Ismail Jan Kalay and Haidar Jan Kalay villages in the Lower Kurram starting sporadic fires, the locals said. Cattle were killed and valuables were damaged, they added.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Bomb blast kills suspected bomber in Peshawar
A suspected bomber was killed and his companion was injured on Monday when a bomb they were planting exploded in the Gulbahar Police Station precincts, the police said.

The blast occurred at 6:45am outside the Nasir Mohmand Surgical Hospital's main gate.

"A man suspected to be the bomber was killed in the blast and another suspect was injured. He has been admitted to hospital," police official Khurshid Khan told AFP. A police official said that the deceased was about 22-year old. He added that two others were also injured in the blast. They were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital. Assistant Superintendent of Police Zahid Mahmood told Daily Times that the man was carrying a low-intensity timed device, which went off and killed him. "It is not clear how the bomb detonated when it was apparently attached to a timer. There is a possibility that it short circuited because of rain," Bomb Disposal Squad Chief Hukam Khan told AFP. He said that police had found no evidence of the blast being a suicide one.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Joint forces detain kidnapping gang leader in Kut
(VOI) -- Joint U.S.-Iraqi forces arrested the leader of a gang specialized in kidnapping and killing citizens after armed clashes, during which he was injured, a police source said on Monday. "A joint force of U.S. and Iraqi personnel arrested the leader of an armed group accused of kidnapping, looting and killing innocent civilians in the city of Kut after receiving intelligence information," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "Armed clashes erupted while arresting the leader, during which he was injured in his leg and was sent to a hospital for treatment," he added. "He is now under investigation," he also said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


29 wanted men arrested, house bomb defused in Diyala
(VOI) -- Security forces in the restive province of Diala arrested 29 wanted men and defused a house bomb on Monday, according to the Iraqi defense ministry's media advisor. "Security forces carrying out Operation Bashaer al-Salam in Diala conducted search raids in the province's areas of Umm al-Katan, al-Mualimeen and al-Katoun, resulting in the capture of 29 wanted men and the dismantling of a booby-trapped house as well as seizur of a large amount of arms & munitions and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," Maj. General Muhammad al-Aaskari told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).

Aaskari had told VOI in earlier statements on Monday that the general commander of the armed forces gave orders to stop military operations in Diala to give gunmen a chance to lay down their arms and turn themselves in to security forces.

The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has offered the gunmen "whose hands were not drenched in Iraqi blood" a general amnesty during the August 8-14 period provided that they turn themselves in to security authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


5 wounded in central Baghdad blast
(VOI) -- Five persons, including a policeman, were wounded in an explosive charge attack that ripped through downtown Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said on Monday. "An improvised explosive device (IED) went off near the concrete wall surrounding the shrine of Sheikh Abdelqadir al-Kilani in Bab al-Sheikh area, central Baghdad," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The attack targeted an Iraqi police patrol vehicle and caused damage to two civilian vehicles were which close to the scene of the blast," the source noted. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, the same source said, adding that security forces sealed off the area immediately after the blast.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


4 wanted men arrested, two kidnapped people freed in western Mosul
(VOI) -- Iraqi army forces freed two kidnapped persons and arrested four wanted men during security operations in western Mosul, the official spokesman for the Ninewa operations command said on Monday. "A force from the 2nd division of the Iraqi army arrested four wanted men during a crackdown operation in al-Iqtasidyeen neighborhood in western Mosul and freed two kidnapped persons found detained in the same place," Brig. Khaled Abdul Sattar told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). One of the two kidnapped are less than 10," he noted. "The detainees are under investigation," the brigadier added.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


Police arrest 4 suspects in Kut
(VOI) -- Police forces on Monday arrested four suspected gunmen in the city of Kut, a police source said. "Policemen arrested a four-member gang, accused of killing and looting operations in the city of Kut," the source, who preferred to be anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The operation was based on a tip-off on their criminal activities, and the detainees are being subject now to investigation," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


55 wanted men arrested in Thi-Qar
(VOI) - Iraqi security forces on Monday arrested 55 wanted and suspected gunmen in separate areas in Thi-Qar province, the director of the media and relations in the Thi-Qar police said. "A joint force of army and police forces, backed by the Multinational forces, waged a crackdown operation in al-Islah and the Sayied Dakhiel district, east of Nassiriya," Lieutenant Colonel Sadeq al-Meshrefawi told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "Amounts of weapons and ammunitions were seized during the operation," he added. "The detainees are under investigation" he also said. "The police will release those who are proven not guilty of involvement in any criminal act," the officer noted.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


Suicide explosion leaves 18 casualties in Baaquba
(VOI) -- A civilian man was killed and 17 others, including a number of policemen, wounded when a suicide female bomber blew up her explosive vest near the al-Sharqi police station in central Baaquba city on Monday, according to a security source in Diala province.

Earlier in the day a security source said eight people were killed when a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off northeast of Baaquba. "The IED blew up in al-Wajihiya area, al-Muqdadiya district, (45 km) northeast of Baaquba, killing five women and three men while heading for a nearby field," the source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


376 wanted men nabbed in Diala operation
(VOI) -- Iraqi security forces captured 376 wanted men and seized large amounts of arms & munitions within Operation Bashaer al-Kheir (Promise of Good) in Diala province, the Iraqi interior ministry said in a statement on Monday. "Fourteen arms caches and four munitions caches were seized," read the ministry statement received by Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).

"Mortar assaults were two, attacks with improvised explosive devices by terrorists were 10 and only one car bomb attack, while the IEDs defused were 22, the vehicles seized were nine and one hostage was freed," noted the statement. "The number of displaced families that returned to their original homes were 2,183, the wounded policemen were four, the civilian deaths as a result of terrorist explosions were 11 while the civilians wounded in those blasts were 40," the ministry release pointed out.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Southeast Asia
Father, daughter gunned down in one of several attacks in southern Thailand
A nine-year-old girl and her father were shot dead while the mother and her son were critically wounded early Tuesday after gunmen fired on their pick-up truck in a rural area of this violence-impacted southern province, police said. The incident took place in the early morning when the 53-year-old father, a fruit vendor, drove his pick-up truck, accompanied by the three other members of his family, and headed to buy fruit in Rangae district for sale later. According to the police, a number of gunmen followed them in another pick-up, firing an estimated seven shots at them, causing the victims' vehicle to overturn after hitting an electrical power pole at the roadside. The father and daughter died at the scene, while the mother and son were seriously wounded and sent to hospital for treatment.

Plus:

Two soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb ambush, and a police officer was shot, both incidents taking place in the southern border province of Narathiwat. A remote-controlled bomb weighing five kilogrammes was detonated as 12 provincial paramilitary rangers patrolled a road in Ruso district. The two wounded men were rushed to hospital, while one suspect was detained for questioning.

In Tak Bai district, a police sergeant was ambushed on his way to a mosque on Monday morning. Pol.Sen.Sgt-Maj Satsadee Yuso, 50 exchanged gunfire with the gunman, who retreated. Shot in the head, the officer is now in hospital.

In Yala's Krongpinang district, nine out of ten schools reopened Monday after closing August 6 when the Baan Krongpinang school director Sitthichai Chan-apiban was shot and wounded. Baan Krongpinang school, the only school which remain closed, is due to reopen Wednesday with better security.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/12/2008 05:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Refugee Exodus Grows in Southern Philippines
The number of Filipinos displaced from their homes since fighting began late last week between government forces and Islamic separatists in the southern Philippines reached 130,000 on Monday, officials said. The military and the police sent more troops to fight the rebels.

Social welfare officials warned of a potential humanitarian disaster as the fighting between troops and elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which had been confined to two provinces, threatened to spill over to other areas. Local media reported that thousands of residents, the majority of them Muslims, had been fleeing their homes since Friday, many in carts pulled by water buffaloes. Thousands of refugees are housed in more than 40 centers, officials said, but most refugees sought shelter with relatives in other provinces.

As of Monday, officials said two soldiers and at least 15 rebels had been killed in the fighting, which erupted on Thursday after separatist forces refused to vacate nine villages in North Cotabato Province.

The Supreme Court ruled last Tuesday in favor of a petition to prevent the government and the rebel group from signing an agreement that both sides had thought could help end the decades-old separatist war.
The petition was filed by officials of North Cotabato, who feared that the agreement would allow the rebel group to encroach on Christian territories, a charge that the group and the government denied.
The petition was filed by officials of North Cotabato, who feared that the agreement would allow the rebel group to encroach on Christian territories, a charge that the group and the government denied. The court is set to make a final decision this month on whether to allow the agreement to be signed.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the rebels, blamed government-backed militias for the conflict. He said his group had wanted to "reposition its forces" but was attacked by militias opposed to the peace agreement.

The administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been severely criticized for the way it handled the negotiations that led to the agreement. Many officials, including allies of the president as well as Filipino Muslims, have complained that they were not consulted and that details of the agreement were withheld from the public. "The renewed fighting in North Cotabato goes to show that when the government bungles the peace negotiation, it is the citizens who suffer," Risa Hontiveros, a congresswoman, said Monday. "The peace process is turning into a humanitarian mess."

The renewed fighting coincided with elections on Monday in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which comprises seven predominantly Muslim provinces. Officials said the latest voting was largely peaceful, although there were reports of sporadic violence, including the bombing of electric towers in one province.

People escaping the violence fled along a major highway that had been ordered closed to traffic on Sunday after separatists had commandeered a passenger bus. "We are tired, but we have to move on," Farida Dimalangan, a 47-year-old refugee, told MindaNews, a Mindanao news agency.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

#1  MILF is still operating there, as well as some of the more hard-core Islmaic types.

This one looks like it will try to boil over while we are distracted elsewhere.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/12/2008 4:28 Comments || Top||



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

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

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2008-08-12
  Israel 'proposes West Bank deal'
Mon 2008-08-11
  Taliban take control of Khar suburbs as Zardari, Nawaz, Fazl jockey for presidency
Sun 2008-08-10
  Iraq car bomb kills 21
Sat 2008-08-09
  US tourist dies in Beijing attack
Fri 2008-08-08
  Russia invades Georgia
Thu 2008-08-07
  Paleo hard boy Jihad Jaraa survives ''assassination attempt'' in Ireland
Wed 2008-08-06
  Bin Laden's Driver Guilty
Tue 2008-08-05
  Philippine Supremes halt MILF autonomy deal
Mon 2008-08-04
  16 officers killed,16 wounded in an attack in Xinjiang
Sun 2008-08-03
  ''Assad's right hand man'' assassinated in Syria
Sat 2008-08-02
  Taliban deny al-Qaida No. 2 hit by missile
Fri 2008-08-01
  189 arrested, curfew lifted in Diyala
Thu 2008-07-31
  Qaeda big turban in Afghanistan killed in US airstrike
Wed 2008-07-30
  Gilani in Washington; Paks raid Haqqani's empty madrassa in N Wazoo
Tue 2008-07-29
  Military offensive under way in Diyala

Better than the average link...



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