India's defense minister said he believes that despite another terrorist attack blamed on militants in Kashmir, the standoff between his country and Pakistan may be "on the way to resolution." Asked about a Kashmir bomb blast that killed one and injured 15, he said: "Against the backdrop of recent developments I have reason to believe sooner or later these issues will now be on the way to resolution." The Bad Guys miscalculated terribly in the Parliament bombing. It was supposed to be a diversion from Tora Bora, maybe involve Pakland and India in a spat and draw troops from the western border. Instead, it brought the two countries to the edge and scared the Paks enough that they ended up cracking down seriously on the religious loons. Following closely on the heels of getting waxed in Afghanistan, the gunnies were shown to be not as tough as they appeared. Truly an historic event.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Pakistan is planning to ban three more militant outfits active in Kashmir: Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Al Badar and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami. The government is holding high level deliberations to ban these outfits and the announcement could come in the next few days. There have been reports of police arresting leaders and militants of these two groups. Police also raided the house of the leader of Harkat ul Mujahideen, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, but he managed to go underground. If it's the same Fazlur Rehman, he's one of the signators of the Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews, along with Binny and al-Zawahri. It's be a lot better for world peace and the health and safety of numerous Pakistanis if he met with some sort of tragic accident.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Police arrested scores of suspected militants in Kashmir and sealed dozens more offices of Islamic extremists as part of President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on terrorism. In the latest raids, police closed offices of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir as well as several other cities and towns of the region. Authorities also closed down offices of the Harakatul Inqalab-e-Islami, a smaller militant group. In most major cities and towns of Pakistani Kashmir, banners, billboards and wall-chalking calling for jihad against India have been removed. More arrests were also reported in Punjab, Sindh and other parts of Pakistan. A country always looks better after a thorough housecleaning, doesn't it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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The Indian army killed three militants in the first major gun battle between security forces and rebels since Islamabad outlawed two frontline pro-Kashmiri separatist groups in Pakistan. Police said the dead men belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Nice shootin', Mukkerjee! Lessee, here. That's 4,995 left to go.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Iraq won't be caught off guard if attacked by U.S. forces, sometime romance novelist and President-for-Life Saddam Hussein said. During an address marking the 11th anniversary of the start of the Persian Gulf War, Saddam accused the United States of resorting to war rather than dialogue. He warned it would lead to the United States' collapse "in the near future" as the world's sole superpower. Yeah, yeah. Just shut up, Sammy. We'll get to you after we've taken care of the important stuff. Sammy's a good illustration of the difference between "terrorism" and "terrible." This guy's ego is bruised because no one's afraid of him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web today posts this link to Arafat's charge, via Islamic Association for Palestine press release, that Israelis kill Palestinian children and sell their body parts. The truth is out there. This isn't it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Khamis Ahmed Ali, 42, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was killed near the Askar camp in a half-hour shoot-out. An Israeli military statement said that "a unit on operations overnight in the village of Askar, in a sector where Israel ensures security, surprised an armed terrorist who was killed in an exchange of fire." The death brought to 1,138 the number of people killed as a direct result of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, including 874 Palestinians and 242 Israelis. His body was handed over to the Palestinians. Snuffy will get a nice funeral, with lotsa people shaking their fists and shooting guns into the air to show their manhood. Then they'll forget about him move on to the next deader. Sad, isn't it? A person never expects his own death to be boring. Enjoy the virgins, Khamis.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Five suspected members of al-Qaida network were arrested in Pakistan after a high-speed car chase as they tried to flee into a tribal area out of the government's reach disguised in women's burqas. The men were taken into custody outside Daoud Khel in Punjab province after they struck a pedestrian and police chased them. Local police said the men included a Saudi, a Yemeni and at least one Pakistani. Hey, guys. You're not in Afghanistan anymore and the Taliban's not there anymore. You'll have to stop when you hit one of the "natives" with your car. By the way, that's a stunning burqa, Adbul. Oooh, and there's matching underwear, too! How stylish!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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A bomb exploded in a busy market in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing one man in the first major suspected guerrilla attack since Pakistan began a crackdown on Islamic militants. The blast coincided with the arrival in New Delhi of Secretary of State Colin Powell on a mission to defuse tension between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. Eight other people were injured in the blast, three critically. The makeshift bomb concealed in a drain exploded in the Kanakmandi market of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir. "This was obviously a militant attack. No sane element would do this," a police official said. That statement pretty much sums it up in a nutshell (so to speak). From the point of view of an unbalanced mind, some "special gift" had to be prepared for Powell's arrival, especially given the crackdown on loons in Pakland. "Whatever you do, don't disagree with him. It'll set him off."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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A gunman opened fire on a packed wedding hall in the Israeli city of Hadera, wounding some 20 people, police sources said. The sources said the attacker was a Palestinian, with a belt of explosives strapped on, who had also hurled a grenade. At least five people were killed. A source said the gunman was shot but it was not clear if he had been killed. Well, we certainly hope he's not dead. There are some people who'd like very much to talk to such a heroic fellow. We've found that people are much less likely to be armed when they're at weddings, too.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine threatened the lives of Palestinian Authority security chiefs if they do not stop arresting their members. "We warn the Palestinian Authority's security leaders, especially Tawfiq al-Tirawi, head of West Bank intelligence, and Ramallah police chief Mohammed Saleh, to stop arresting our members and leaders, otherwise our hand will reach them whatever guards they may have," the group said in a statement. Any time now, they're gonna go to the matresses. These guys get their dialog from bad movies, don't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Nine members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were arrested by Israeli security services in the West Bank. They are accused of having prepared attacks against Jewish settlers with weapons provided by the PFLP in Nablus. Bet those arrests made certain Palestinian Authority biggies happy. Imagine being able to say to yourself, "Maybe I'm gonna get blown up, but at least I know it ain't gonna be by Ali 'Lips' Moussa or Hasni 'Big Tony' al-Mansour." Wotta comforting feeling.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Up to 50 members of the 400-member police "special mobile group", drawn from detained Muslim leader Nur Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) guerrilla group, were to have been shipped out of Misuari's stronghold of Jolo. However, the men have refused to turn in their firearms and decamp, demanding that Army Scout Rangers and Marines also be pulled out of Jolo. "If their demand is not met, they may return to the hills," an official warned. The former rebels have been restricted to camp since Wednesday, when members of the unit allegedly butchered three Scout Rangers in a clash at the Jolo public market. The unit was also involved in a firefight with Marines in Jolo on Tuesday that left 32 people dead including nine Marines. Not to be brutal or Machiavellian or anything, but wouldn't it be a lot more cost-effective if there was an "unfortunate accident"? Maybe something involving explosives?
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01/17/2002 ||
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Two Algerian men allegedly involved in a plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Paris were charged with membership in al-Qaida and police said eight others were arrested under Britain's Terrorism Act in raids north of London. Brahim Benmerzouga, 30, was charged with directing terrorism, inciting terrorism overseas, membership in a proscribed organization and conspiracy to support terrorism by raising funds. Baghdad Meziane, 37, was charged with possession of racist videos and a solar-powered battery which could be used to power explosive devices or make satellite telephone calls. Both men had been detained by immigration authorities since their arrest on Sept. 25 in the city of Leicester, 100 miles north of London, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. The prosecutors said both men were suspected of involvement in the Paris embassy plot. See you later, boys. Much later. Bet they're wondering how many times their names and aliases appear in those Afghan computer files.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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Philippine authorities dug up a cache of explosives and arrested three men with suspected links to al-Qaida network. Authorities were acting on information supplied by Singapore, which is investigating a suspected al-Qaida cell in its midst. Among the stockpile, authorities found cylinders of explosive materials packed in cartons and wrapped in blue plastic. The markings on the cylinders indicated they were manufactured in the Philippines province of Bataan, west of Manila. Police also dug up 17 dismantled M-16 rifles, detonation cords and other bomb-making materials. Officials would not release information on the three men arrested. Workers dug up the arms cache in the yard of a house rented by a man identified as Abu Ali Ramos in the village of Labangal. Nice, the way all those little pieces of intel fit together. The hard drives in Afghanistan lead to the gunnies in Malaysia and Singapore, and the Singapore lead stretches to Indonesia and the Philippines.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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More than 100 foreigners enrolled in Muslim religious schools in Yemen, including British and French nationals, have been detained and are awaiting deportation, an official newspaper reported. Yemen has enough trouble of its own, without importing it from elsewhere.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/17/2002 ||
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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.
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.
