On this day in history: June 4th.
1876 An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.
1912 Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1919 The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women.
1940 The Dunkirk evacuation ends British forces complete evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
1940 Nazi forces enter the city of Paris, they finish taking control of the city 10 days later.
1942 The Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy.
1944 Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
1973 A patent for the ATM is granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
1989 Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by People's Liberation Army.
1991 The United Kingdom's Conservative government announces that some British regiments would disappear or be merged into others the largest armed forces cuts in almost twenty years.
The China Daily said the cells were uncovered in Kashgar, China's westernmost city and a key centre of culture for Uighurs, the Muslim ethnic group that has long bridled under Chinese rule.
No further details about the cells were given by the newspaper, which attributed the information to Zhang Jian, the city's Communist Party chief.
But it quoted Zhang as saying the region faced an ongoing threat from terrorists who "remote control" local operatives from abroad via the Internet.
#2
So the DoD gives the Uighurs laptops in Gitmo and allowed to watch al Jazeera on sat TV? Please tell me this was a sting op, cooperating with the Chinese!
#3
Not mentioned is that the Han Chinese are slowly ethnically cleansing the Uighurs, by moving so many Han Chinese into their area that Uighurs are locked out of their own territory.
The Chinese build Chinese only cities right next door to the Uighur cities, but the Chinese cities get all the commerce and local resources, and the Uighurs get nothing.
#4
Anymouse, you are right, and the Chinese are not a good guy (they are culturally cleansing Tibet as well), but the Uighurs chose to associate with Al Queda so I don't care what happens to them now.
[ADN Kronos] Around 40 students and teachers kidnapped from a Pakistani military college early this week are still in Taliban captivity, a day after the military said they had been rescued. The students were among 80 students and teachers captured by militants in North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Monday. We figured that, since we're pretty good at counting...
"More than 40 students and two teachers are still missing. Militants have abducted them," said Sardar Mohammad Abbas, the top administration official in the northwest town of Bannu where the students had been headed.
Tribal elders on Wednesday were mediating with militants to secure their release, the commissioner said.
A convoy of about 30 vehicles carrying staff and students from the college was ambushed in northwest Pakistan on Monday.
Pakistan's military said Tuesday it had recovered 80 students and staff when militants moved them from North Waziristan to South Waziristan -- lawless tribal zones on the Afghan border where Al-Qaeda is known to be active.
But staff of the college at Razmak in North Waziristan confirmed Wednesday that more than 40 students and two teachers were still missing.
According to Pakistan's GeoNews, a tribal jirga, or tribal council had been held with local Janikhel and Bakakhel tribes and commercial centres had been sealed off in the area in a bid to locate the students and staff.
Police have given the tribal jirga a deadline for information about the kidnap victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Whatsa mater, "militants" run out of Madrassa boys to sodomize introduce to the glories of Allan's love?
Security forces said on Wednesday they had taken control of Charbagh, as three Taliban were killed, one soldier was martyred and two soldiers injured in an attack on a checkpost north of Matta. "Security forces have successfully secured Charbagh and are consolidating their positions in the area," the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. The forces recovered a large cache of explosive and improvised explosive devices during the search operation, they added. The press release stated that the army was also continuing its relief activities, adding it had, in coordination with the civil administration, distributed 803 tonnes of relief goods among the stranded people of Swat. It said cartons of food had also been dropped from an army helicopter for the stranded people of Kalam and its surrounding areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
The Pakistan Army says that communication intercepts show that the Swat insurgents are on the run. "Hello? Hello? Is anybody listening?"
Claiming access to a log of the intercepted messages, The New York Times has reported that they point to low morale among the Taliban. "Oh, woe is us!"
The paper said American officials were as frustrated as Pakistani citizens that while the military seemed able to monitor Taliban leaders, including Mullah Fazlullah, it remained unable or unwilling to kill or capture them. Unwilling. If you can monitor them, you can locate them, at least approximately. Depending on the frequency and transmitter strength, you can locate them within a 100-yard square.
That tight a target area? I'm not sure what to say.
In a text message to journalists on Monday night, a group of anti-Taliban activists from Swat said they could not believe that the military was 'serious' unless Fazlullah and his five deputies were killed. They're not serious. They're trying to conserve their "strategic reserve" so they can use it again when they're regained the upper hand.
The Taliban chatter in recent weeks has sounded gloomy, according to the log seen by the Times. Amid some inspirational words and rallying cries there were many lost, hungry and isolated voices. A Khazara villager said Taliban leaders gathered locals in the Minara mosque shortly before he and his family fled, demanding a gun, a son, or 50,000 rupees. He said few obliged. "I got a dollar. How about dat?"
"Gimme."
"Can I have cab fare home?"
"All I got is this dollar you gimme."
The Taliban are careful not to name locations. Instead they use a system of code names. The military believes that top leaders, including Fazlullah, are still hiding in Swat. A military official said the operation had reduced the coverage area for the FM radio run by Fazlullah to 15 percent of the original. But for some reason they still can't pin it down using RDF. I ain't impressed.
According to one transcript, a man calling himself Jawad was heard saying that those who no longer wanted to fight should leave, but not a raise white flag as some people were doing.
This article starring:
Mullah Fazlullah
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] An Iraqi man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Irish aid worker shot dead in 2004. Margaret Hassan, who had lived in Iraq for 30 years, was seized by a group of armed men wearing Iraqi police uniforms in October 2004 and killed a month later.
Fifty-nine year-old Hassan was the director of Care International in Iraq and was kidnapped on her way to work in Baghdad.
The body of Dublin-born Hassan, who had Irish, British and Iraqi citizenship, was never found.
Triple citizenship? Isn't that a bit...exuberant?
Didn't save him, either ...
"Ali Lutfi Jassar is sentenced to life for participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family," said Assaad al-Moussawi, a judge at Baghdad's central criminal court, cited by Arab TV network Al-Jazeera on Tuesday. "His role in the killing was proved."
Jassar, a 25-year-old engineer, had pleaded not guilty at the start of the one-day trial. He said that his confession had been extracted through torture.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#3
#2 How long is a life sentence in Iraq these days? Posted by: Glenmore
It depends. If you're NOT a Sunni or Shiite bigwig, it's for as long as you can continue to live on prison food. If you ARE a Sunni or Shiite bigwig, it depends on what you did. Participating in anti-government activities is a no-no, and you're in for life. That may be extremely short, as "things happen" in an Iraqi prison.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/04/2009 11:55 Comments ||
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Qalqiliya -- Ma'an -- A daylong standoff between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas gunmen has ended with three people dead in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya on Thursday. PA security officials said they moved into the building where the clashes took place to find the dead bodies of two men, and a third injured, believed to be members of Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The two were apparently gunned down. Which would explain the bullet wounds... Bled to death from foot wounds, did they ...
Earlier a Palestinian Authority (PA) security officer was killed by a grenade thrown by the Hamas men, who were holed up in a building in the vicinity of the local Bank of Palestine branch. Two other PA officers were lightly injured after coming under fire. Yer surrounded, Mahmoud! Be a good lad and come out with ya hands up!
Eat steel, ya lousy coppers!
BOOM!
Qalqiliya Governor Rabih Al-Khandaqji said that the armed men had hid in a bunker inside the building, confirming that the PA officer was killed. He added that the PA brought the mother and the brother of one of the Al-Qassam Brigades members to the building to convince him to surrender peacefully. It's ya sainted mother, Mahmoud! Be a good boyo and come out with ya hands up! Jimmy's here too, he wants to see ya!
Go home, Ma!
Okay, boys! Give'em the gas!
Adnan Ad-Demeiri, spokesperson for the PA security forces, identified the slain officer Riyad Zin Ad-Din, 26. He said two others were lightly injured after the were shot by Al-Qassam affiliates at the beginning of the operation. Sounds like the Hamas goons "sensed the presence of law enforcers"... The spokesperson did not confirm reports that the Hamas fighters were killed by waste water pumped inside a tunnel the men were hiding in, nor that poisonous gas was used against them. Geez, the Joooos do that and the UN starts setting up a war crimes trial... It's one way to get rid of all the waste water since the Juice bombed the sewage treatment plant ...
"The PA security forces use non-fatal methods like water and gas, but they do not kill," he said. Well, not usually...
An investigation into the deaths was underway on Thursday. Leave no stone unturned, men! I'll notify Dr. Quincy!
Meanwhile, Hamas announced the deaths of its three affiliates, identifying them as Mohammad A'tieyah, Iyad Al-Abtali and Ala' Thiab. PA security sources denied the killing of Thiab, saying he was lightly injured and surrendered to security forces, who arrested him. See! He's fine! Pssst...pull that rope around Ala's wrist so he can wave...
The clashes come just days after six people were killed in a Hamas-PA shootout in Qalqiliya, the worst episode of internecine violence in the West Bank in two years. On Wednesday an Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson said that fighters would violently resist any PA attempt to arrest them. Grrrr! Woof! To the last drop of blood!
Gaza-based Hamas leader Ahmad Bahar earlier urged the PA to end the standoff and release the Al-Qassam Brigades fighters. The Hamas movement in the West Bank also called on Egypt to intervene and deescalate the crisis. Their appeals were apparently had no effect. What? Can't hear yas! Must be a bad cell. Call back later...
Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa television reported that there were three fighters holed up inside the building, including one named Hussam Atiyeh. The surrounded building is owned by Abdel Fattah Shreim, who was arrested by the PA. That your house, Abdel?
Ummmmmmmm...why?
Al-Khandaqji, the Qalqiliya governor, also accused Hamas of attempting to repeat its 2007 takeover of Gaza in the West Bank. ...and I've got to protect my phony baloney job!
Also on Wednesday Hamas said that PA forces arrested 12 Hamas members during raids in Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarem, and Jenin. Hamas released the names of the arrestees, which they said included the director of Al-Aqsa television in Hebron. Didn't get that "violent resistance" memo I guess...
Brigadier Thyab Al-Ali, the head of PA's National Security force in the West Bank, and police chief Brigadier Hazem Atallah, arrived in Qalqiliya to follow up on events. Damn! What are they doin here? C'mon, men. Look like your doin sumthin...
One person as reportedly been killed during a shootout which was sparked by a Palestinian Authority arrest operation in Kalkilya on Thursday.
According to reports, the death occurred after PA security forces surrounded a house in the hopes of arresting Hamas men who had barricaded themselves inside. There was no word of the identity of the fatality.
The incident came just one day after Hamas's military wing, Izzadin Kassam urged its members in the West Bank to open fire at any PA policeman who tries to arrest them.
Abu Obaidah, a spokesman for Izzadin Kassam, warned Abbas's security forces on Wednesday against repeating another fatal arrest operation in the city days before. "Our men will resist any attempt to arrest them by Abbas's treacherous forces because they are working on behalf of the Zionist enemy," he said. "We don't trust these forces, nor do our people." Yes, yes, yes! Kill the traitors! Kill them all!!!
Hush -- don't distract them from doing what so clearly must be done.
Barbara, please fire up both of the industrial popcorn machines, and lay in extra salt and butter. This looks like it's going to take a while.
Meanwhile, PA security sources said on Wednesday that the two Hamas militiamen killed earlier this week by Palestinian Authority policemen in Kalkilya initially used a local woman as a human shield during the seven-hour gun battle.before she herself threw a grenade at the policemen
#3
Beso, the big problem with that tactic is you can't trust the locals not to use the tags to settle personal scores. Worse, they could be in the employ of the Taliban and use the tags to cause the US to blast innocent civilians, creating big propaganda wins.
#4
Short of FedEx which may not be an option, it may be very close to all we've got. Careful vetting of the source (paid Haji emplacement technician) should maximize accuracy. Bomb damage assessment reveals Hagi played a trick on you.... fire him!
#6
Yes Glen, I suspect that technique is being used as well. Makes perfect sense. A bit Orwellian, but if we could just get everyone there to frigging WEAR the tags.....
#7
The Inkode microfibers could have multiple uses, like embedding the cash dropped to pirates or in sting ops or in tracking the flow of drug shipments. I like.
#9
I have a feeling that this is far more ELINT than homing beacon. Once activated, a homing beacon only has to ping a few times to insure an accurate GPS based Target Reference Point.
So why not use it as a sensitive listening device? Once activated, it would be as "high tech" as a cellphone, but one with an extra sensitive microphone. It could easily pick up conversations inside a building while outside of that building.
If they are inside complaining of flea bites, the high price of cow flops, etc., they don't get nuked. But if they are talking about setting up an ambush, g'night Gracie.
The beacon part is easy. The confirmation that it is bad guys, or even specific bad guys, is hard.
Bomb blasts wounded five people and terrorists insurgents shot dead a man in Thailand's south, police said on Thursday, a day before the prime minister was to hold a security meeting on the region.
Police said two sisters who teach at an elementary school in Narathiwat province were seriously hurt early Thursday when terrorists suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb by mobile phone as the victims passed on a motorbike. Three police officers were wounded in a similar roadside bomb attack in neighbouring Yala province at about the same time, they said.
A Muslim man was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province late Wednesday, police added.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he had called a meeting of top security officials for Friday and defended his government's handling of the situation in the south since he took power in December. He admitted that the government had been warned of possible attacks on teachers after the recent start of the new term. He rejected criticism that the government had been able to make little impact in the south despite the fact that it is a stronghold of Mr Abhisit's Democrat party.
[Straits Times] SEPARATIST militants in Thailand's Muslim-majority south have shot dead four civilians including two female Buddhist teachers, one of whom was pregnant, police said on Wednesday.
The violence erupted a day before the country's education minister was due to visit the troubled region, where more than 3,600 people have been killed during a five-year insurgency.
Gunmen disguised as soldiers ambushed a vehicle carrying teachers in Narathiwat province late on Tuesday, stopping them with a fake warning that a bomb was being defused on the road ahead before opening fire, police said.
The attack killed one teacher instantly while a colleague who was eight months pregnant died on the way to hospital, police said. Two other teachers and the driver were wounded.
Also in Narathiwat, a Muslim man was shot and killed in a late night attack at a local teashop and a Buddhist scrap dealer died in a separate drive-by shooting.
Schools and teachers are frequent targets of attacks in the Muslim-majority south because militants see the education system as an effort by Bangkok to impose Buddhist Thai culture on the mainly ethnic Malay region.
The insurgency in southern Thailand erupted in January 2004 and attacks have become increasingly brutal. Buddhist-majority Thailand annexed the area in 1902, sparking decades of tension.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency
#1
Now that Religion of Peace that we all know and love.
#2
Here's something that the Straits Times didn't include in their report:
Police said four people in uniform on two motorcycles overtook the vehicle carrying the teachers on their way home and flagged it down. Survivors told officers they assumed the militants chose to shoot the two non-Muslim female teachers dead. The other four teachers were spared because they were Muslims.
[Straits Times] AN UNARMED soldier and a civilian woman were killed in a bomb attack by Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, the military said. Four other soldiers were also wounded in the attack near the town of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao province, said regional army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce.
The bomb was planted by separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels near a creek where soldiers were doing their early morning laundry along with some local villagers, Ponce said. 'There were many villagers there. We condemn this attack on our unarmed soldiers,' Ponce said.
He said one soldier and a civilian were killed, while four others were wounded and taken to hospital.
This article starring:
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front
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.
[ADN Kronos] Around 40 students and teachers kidnapped from a Pakistani military college early this week are still in Taliban captivity, a day after the military said they had been rescued. The students were among 80 students and teachers captured by militants in North Waziristan near the Afghan border on Monday.
Security forces said on Wednesday they had taken control of Charbagh, as three Taliban were killed, one soldier was martyred and two soldiers injured in an attack on a checkpost north of Matta. "Security forces have successfully secured Charbagh and are consolidating their positions in the area," the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. The forces recovered a large cache of explosive and improvised explosive devices during the search operation, they added. The press release stated that the army was also continuing its relief activities, adding it had, in coordination with the civil administration, distributed 803 tonnes of relief goods among the stranded people of Swat. It said cartons of food had also been dropped from an army helicopter for the stranded people of Kalam and its surrounding areas.
