A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online.
The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe (pronounced BOW) R. Bergdahl, 23, who was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The private was last seen walking away from his base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.
Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
On July 2, the U.S. military said an American soldier had disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and was believed to have been taken prisoner.
Details of such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving away any information to captors.
But Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went missing in eastern Paktika province near the border with Pakistan from an American base. The region is known to be Taliban-infested.
Afghans in contact with the Taliban told the AP that the soldier was held by a Taliban group led by a commander called Maulvi Sangin*, who operates in the area where the American went missing. They said the fighters initially planned to smuggle the soldier across the border into Pakistan but ruled that out because of U.S. missile strikes and Pakistani bombing attacks against militant targets in the area. Instead, they decided to move him north into Taliban-controlled areas of Ghazni province.
The Afghans spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest or reprisal. It was impossible to independently confirm their information.
A brigade commander for the Afghan national army in southeastern Afghanistan, Gen. Asrar Ahmad Khan, said Afghan and coalition forces have been working together for 15 days searching for the missing soldier.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the militants holding the soldier haven't yet set any conditions for his release.
*Maulvi Sangin: Tribal Clan: Safi, Age: 34
Maulvi Sangin son of Salim, Sangin is completely illiterate and has spent sometime in Saudi Arab He is remained a smuggler and has a low family background. He joined jihadi type of activities after coming from Saudi Arab..
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 12:04 ||
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#1
Did this kid walk off to buy hashish? I have to wonder...
#2
This comes under SOCOM rules. If we can snatch him back, we will. If they hurt him, they are all dead men. And any informer whose information pans out will be farting through silk. Officially, the reward is $25k.
Afghan commandos backed by international troops and air power killed 35 militants in raids on Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the Defence Ministry said Sunday.
Several other insurgents were wounded in the raids Saturday in Shah Wali Kot district in the restive province, the ministry said in a statement.
"The National Army commandos having the support of the international forces and air force killed 35 enemies who had massed there to interrupt the people's lives," the statement said.
Thousands of newly-deployed U.S. Marines, British forces and Afghan security troops have launched a series of major assaults on Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
The operations were unleashed at the beginning of this month in a bid to drive out Taliban insurgents to allow Afghans to vote in the nation's presidential elections set for Aug. 20.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 07:49 ||
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A civilian helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 people, a military official has told the BBC. The helicopter crashed at the Kandahar airfield, Nato's largest base in southern Afghanistan, apparently as it was trying to take off. Reports from Moscow say the helicopter was a Russian-built Mi-8. This isn't looking good for the Brits. I think they contract Mi-8s to move their personnel around.
Why can't the Brits build Hueys under license?
Another article posted today mentions that the Brits bought US-made Chinooks that won't fly because they forgot to license the avionics software from us. Obama could probably resolve that problem, if he wanted to. But don't hold your breath....
The crash is the second in a week. Six passengers died when a helicopter came down in Helmand province on Tuesday.
Russia's Interfax agency quoted a spokesman for Russia's Federal Air Transportation Agency (Fata) as saying the aircraft was a Russian-built Mi-8 transport helicopter. Fata said it was owned by the Russian air company Vertikal-T.
The nationalities of the dead are not yet known.
A statement from the International Security Assistance Force said: "A civilian contracted helicopter crashed during take-off from Kandahar airfield. "Emergency personnel are on the scene. There was no indication of the cause of the accident but insurgent action has been ruled out."
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 07:37 ||
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The Hueys do not perform well in the high altitudes and the heat. The best heavy lift out there is the Chinook.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/19/2009 11:50 Comments ||
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#2
Upade from AP: No military personnel were wounded or killed, NATO said. Parent said the helicopter burst into flames when it crashed near the runway only moments after takeoff.
The Russian news agency Interfax said the Mi-8 was owned by the Russian air company Vertikal-T. It cited Russian charge d'affaires Andrei Vadov as saying there were no Russians among the 16 killed.
The Mi-8 helicopter can seat up to 24 people, Parent said. Civilian helicopters help ferry civilian contractors and supplies to small military outposts across Afghanistan.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 12:21 Comments ||
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[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Kandahar, killing 9 civilians including 5 kids on Friday, officials said The bomb blast occurred when a civilian vehicle, heading to Spin Boldak district, hit an improvised explosive device (IED), according to the provincial police chief Gen Saifullah Hakim. Three others are reported wounded in the blast that were taken to a nearest hospital in the province. Gen Saifullah Hakeem added three women and as many men were among the dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] A US military F-15E fighter jet crashed in Afghanistan early Saturday, killing two servicemen on board, according to reports.
May they get to heaven ten minutes before the Devil knows they're dead.
A spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan, Col Greg Julian, told Associated Press that a second fighter aircraft travelling with the jet that went down saw no evidence of enemy fire.
The military says the F-15E crashed in eastern Afghanistan at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday, according to AP. The military did not immediately say where in eastern Afghanistan the jet went down. The crash will be investigated by a board of officers, the military said.
No fighter jets have crashed in Afghanistan in years as Taliban militants do not have the anti-aircraft artillery to shoot down high-flying jets. The Taliban militants have shot down a number of foreign helicopters with rocket launchers in the recent years. Taliban militants have not immediately claimed responsibility for the fighter jet crash.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] At least 2 Afghan soldiers were killed and 4 others injured in a suicide attack in southern Afghanistan, Saturday, officials said. The attacker detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at the front gate of a military base in Shajoy district of the restive Zabul province. "The car filled with explosives hit the compound of Afghan National Army (ANA) that martyred two and wounded four soldiers," said a spokesman for Afghan Defence Ministry, Maj Gen Zahir Azimi. An army official in Zabul told Quqnoos that the incident took place around 08:00am in a village outside the district centre.
This is the second suicide attack that has been occurred in southern Afghanistan, targeting Afghan security forces. Three days earlier, a bomber attacked a police convoy in the south western Nimroz province that left three policemen dead and four others wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
WASHINGTON -- The American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed to have been captured, appeared on a video posted Saturday to a Web site by the Taliban, two U.S. defense officials said.
Good. They were clever enough to keep him alive.
The soldier is shown in the 28-minute video with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video one of his captors holds the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number are clearly visible. He is shown eating at one point and sitting on a bed.
The soldier, whose identity has not yet been released by the Pentagon pending notification of members of Congress and the soldier's family, says his name, age and hometown on the video, which was released Saturday on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban. Two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in the video is the captured soldier. The soldier said the date is July 14. He says he was captured when he lagged behind on a patrol.
I thought he left the base with three locals, then disappeared. Do I misremember?
The story is whatever his captives say it is.
He is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, which he calls extremely hard, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low. Asked how he was doing, the soldier said on the video: "Well I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."
Yes. Especially the prisoner of evil, untrustworthy people.
... who will probably end up chopping his head off unless he becomes Johnny Jihad, Junior...
He begins to answer questions in a matter-of-fact and sober voice, occasionally facing the camera, looking down and sometimes looking to the questioner on his left. He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend. "I have my girlfriend, who is hoping to marry," he said. "I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I'm gone. I miss them and I'm afraid that I might not ever see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again and I'll never be able to hug them."
He is also prompted his interrogators to give a message to the American people. "To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home," he said. "Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country. Please bring us home. It is America and American people who have that power."
The video is not a continuous recording -- it appears to stop and start during the questioning.
It is unclear from the video whether the July 14 date is authentic. The soldier says that he heard that a Chinook helicopter carrying 37 NATO troops had been shot down over Helmand. A helicopter was shot down in southern Afghanistan on July 14, but it was carrying civilians on a reported humanitarian mission for NATO forces. All six Ukrainian passengers died in the crash, and a child on the ground was killed.
God bless them all.
On July 2, the U.S. military said an American soldier had disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and was believed to have been taken prisoner.
I didn't misremember. Why the discrepancy?
A U.S. defense official said the soldier was noticed missing during a routine check of the unit on June 30 and was first listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown."
Details of such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving away any information to captors. But Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went missing in eastern Paktika province near the border with Pakistan from an American base. The region is known to be Taliban-infested.
The most important insurgent group operating in that area is known as Haqqani network and is led by warlord Siraj Haqqani, whom the U.S. has accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings including the July 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed some 60 people. The Haqqani group also was linked to an assassination attempt on Afghan president Hamid Karzai early last year.
On Saturday, a U.S. military official in Kabul, Col. Greg Julian, said the U.S. was "still doing everything we can to return him safely."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Has the Red Cross/Crescent/Thingy been able to talk to him yet? Has he been provided with his own religious materials? Has he been provided with a chaplain of his own faith? In other words, has he been treated as well as the prisoners at Gitmo have been?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/19/2009 2:30 Comments ||
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#2
he calls extremely hard, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low. Asked how he was doing, the soldier said on the video: "Well I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."
Well then don't leave your kit back on the FOB, lag behind on patrols....go AWOL and DEFECT to the enemy!
#3
I dunno about "defect" but ain't US soldiers trained to resist in any way possible when captured? His statements on tape sound kinda wishy-washy, as reported. And lagging behind on patrol? Isn't it a team leader's responsibility to keep his squad together? I think there's more to this story....
That's what the Pakistanis taliban told him to say. More likely the military's version is correct and he was enticed to walk off the base with 3 spies base workers.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 7:37 Comments ||
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#5
Scooter,
Our guys are routinely trained - in a fairly basic way - about what to do in the event of a 'worst case scenario'. (My son just graduated from USAF Basic Training and he says they got a whole day of it but that it will probably be the last he sees unless he deploys) USAF/USN/Army pilots and aircrew tend to get much more detailed training in this area than the ground troops (google SERE for more info) because they're much more likely to be captured on any given day. I've known people who have gone through SERE and to a man and woman they all say that the experience was priceless - and that they'd turn in their wings rather than go through it again.
Having said all that, what this kid is doing isn't unreasonable so far. We're told to resist to our own limits but not everybody has the stones to do it like John McCain or Lance Sijan or George Day. As long as he's not actively making statements against the US and the Allies he'll get a clean bill of health when he gets home. We also don't know that the Talibunnies haven't slipped him something - they have no compunction about hopping up their own guys before sending them off to commune with Allan; I doubt they'd quail about tranking a prisoner.
Also, you're right - squad leaders are taught that the lives and safety of their troops are paramount, which is why I'm inclined to believe that this guy somehow got lured off post. A squad leader bad enough to let this happen wouldn't survive long in Afghanistan - either the bad guys would get him or his own troops would report it up the chain.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/19/2009 10:54 Comments ||
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#6
More data please. It's hard to come to firm conclusions without it. It will probably take awhile for the Taliban to figure out how best to exploit this new bootie.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/19/2009 11:14 Comments ||
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#7
In SERE training they teach you to say whatever it takes to stay alive. People who think they should hold out and die before saying something bad about the US are fools and watch too much TV. What everyone needs to know he doing what he needs to in order to survive. We, the public, need to be screaming that he is being forced to say these things. We need to know and understand the situation he is in and it is not a movie, it is real life. We need to understand what happened and why. Then and only then should we judge him.
The true test of him will be when he is released. What he says when he has free will to speak will be the truth. Then we can judge him, right now he is scripted, told what to say and how to say it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/19/2009 17:38 Comments ||
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#8
I hope I'm wrong, but sad to say, but I doubt he is ever coming home. There is likely a videocaamera and a knife waiting for him after he has served all the use these savages can get from him. We are fighting primitive savages, and they will not plan to end this well.
God protect him and save his soul. But there is a chance that his fellow soldiers will find him, and alive or dead, terrible retribution will come to those who hold him now...
[Iran Press TV Latest] Two French military personnel held hostage by Somali al-Shabaab fighters will be tried under Sharia law, says the group's spokesman.
*bang*Guilty of being foreign kaffirs on Muslim soil. *bang* Next!
According to an unnamed spokesman, the two face espionage and conspiracy charges and if found guilty, they will be handed death sentences. "They would be tried under Sharia law for espionage and conspiracy against Islam and assisting the apostate government and would be punished accordingly," the spokesman told journalists in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The two French citizens were on an official mission in the Somali capital to train Somali intelligence services when they were snatched from their hotel rooms on Tuesday by 10-armed men who then handed them over to Al-Shabaab. The group has not set a date for the trial and did not disclose the place where the trials would be held.
Al-Shabaab controls much of southern and central Somalia and is determined to overthrow the UN-backed government, which controls little more than a few blocks of Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Or, to be haggled against the somali pirates processed in the french judicial system???
[Al Arabiya Latest] Somali gunmen kidnapped three foreign aid workers Saturday in a raid on a Kenyan border town as Somali hijackers released a German ship and its crew after three month in exchange for a ransom, officials said. The three were snatched from their office in Mandera, in northeast Kenya.
"The authorities in Mandera (in Kenya) told us that those aid workers had been kidnapped. We're now going to run after them," Sheikh Osman, a senior official in the neighboring district in Somalia, said.
The nationalities of the aid workers and the organization for which they were working were not immediately clear. "We haven't seen them yet, but they have crossed the border," an elder in Bulohawo, Adan Wardhere told AFP, saying the kidnappers had seriously injured a security guard during the abduction.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the best foreign aid for a long term satble Somalia is short term: HE and Cluster bombs
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2009 11:29 Comments ||
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Mauritania's state security chief says two men detained in a late-night shootout in the capital are part of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell that killed an American citizen last month. Christopher Leggett, a husband and father of four children. Leggett worked for an aid group that provided computer classes.
Mohamed Lemine Ould Ahmed says the pair were among four people responsible for killing a 39-year-old American in Nouakchott in June. Ahmed says two other members of the cell were detained four days after the attack. He said Saturday the attackers had entered Mauritania from Mali.
One of the two men detained Friday was shot and wounded by police. Ahmed confirmed reports the wounded man was wearing an explosive belt around his waist.
The American had lived in Mauritania for seven years. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the American's death.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 12:31 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The four top leaders of the new JMB splinter Islam O Muslim claim they along with the mainline outfit have "supporters and well-wishers" in the administration in three districts in Rajshahi Division. Senior police officials who interrogated the four till Friday say the militants have patrons in the administration from top to bottom levels. The militants used to get different types of support, especially in legal matters, in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon where they already have a stronghold, the officials add.
"We are looking into the matter since the militants revealed the information," said Nazrul Islam, superintendent of police of Chapainawabganj. The police are now looking for evidence which would substantiate the claims of the militants, the district police boss added.
The law enforcers handed over Selim alias Saifullah, military commander of the JMB offshoot, to the court on Friday on completion of five-day and three-day remand by Bholahat and Shibganj police in two cases.
Other militant leaders who were taken on remand and interrogated face-to-face with Selim are former JMB Rajshahi regional commander Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat, former JMB military commander Abdul Momin and Abdur Rakib alias Suman. During the face-to-face interrogation held in Chapainawabganj, the four gave important information and said they have yet to fix single leadership as their new offshoot was formed in April. They claim Selim alias Saifullah is the main organiser but they four altogether equally shared the leadership so far. Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat was primarily considered for organisational activities, while Selim was looking after operational affairs.
However, a special intelligence team to combat militancy informed that Islam O Muslim has 10 commanders.
The militant leaders held three meetings to decide about the launch of the new offshoot. First they held a meeting in Raghunathpur in Nachole and then in Ranihati and Kansat in Shibganj, Chapainawabganj. As the four sat in a meeting in Kansat for the last time in April, they decided to call the new organisation Islam O Muslim.
Selim brought in arms from India and they decided to use small weaponry for self-defence as the mainstream had threatened to kill them for "betrayal". The militants claim they were on the JMB hit list as some of them betrayed the mainstream by misappropriating money. Selim took away around Tk 1.5 lakh from the JMB fund, they add.
The militant leaders had another aim of reorganising the inactive JMB leaders in the region and collecting small weaponry for their cadres. They collected some 16 small firearms and the police have recovered 14 of them.
Senior police officials term the arrest of the four a great relief as the law-enforcement agencies including the Rapid Action Battalion held them at very primary level. The police last month arrested four militants in Chapainawabganj followed by the arrest of another three militants including Shahadat. Later, Rab and BDR jointly arrested Selim in early this month.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A new offshoot of banned Islamist outfit JMB, Islam O Muslim was formed in Chapainawabganj three months ago, following internal feud between present leadership of JMB and some of their members over financial and ideological matters. The new outfit gets strong moral and financial support from Ahle Hadith community in Maldah and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal in India, captured Islam O Muslim leaders told police during interrogation.
Former JMB leaders Selim alias Saifullah, Shahadat alias Abdur Rahim and Abdul Mumin were brought in presence of each other under police remand, where they disclosed different facts about formation of the new outfit. They said they arranged a meeting at a mango orchard at Kansat village under Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj in April this year.
Following two other meetings at bordering Raghunathpur and Ranihati villages in Shibganj upazila where Shahadat, Selim, Abdul Mumin, Rabiul Islam, Abdul Mubin, Ramzan and others were present, the name Islam O Muslim was selected as per proposal by Selim.
Shahadat, Selim and others opposed different JMB activities, especially bomb blasts, and opted for using small arms to kill the targeted people.
Shahadat took charge as the main organiser of the new outfit to convince and induct active as well as inactive members of JMB in Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon districts, the new outfit leaders told police. Shahadat, Selim and others opposed different JMB activities, especially bomb blasts, and opted for using small arms to kill the targeted people.
After swindling Tk 1 lakh taken from JMB for collecting arms and ammunition for the organisation, Selim broke away from the outfit and fled to India several months ago. On return, he started work to form a new outfit and persuaded several JMB members to join it. Islam and Muslim has strongholds in bordering Shibganj, Gomostapur and Bholahat upazilas but they are yet to form a full-fledged committee, police quoted Shahadat as saying.
Earlier, police Rab and BDR raided several places and arrested six top leaders of the organisation and seized arms and ammunition from them.However, two of their top leaders Ismail and Ramzan are yet to be netted.
Selim, main organiser of Islam and Muslim, has another wife in Murshidabad in India, where he used to take shelter and arrange supply of arms to his cohorts in Bangladesh, sources said. "This new organisation [Islam O Muslim] was born in April this year. But it could not expand much as the main activists have been arrested. We are trying to arrest others," said Nazrul Hossain, superintendent of police in Chapainawabganj.
Selim has been sent to a TFI cell in the capital from Chapainawabganj for further interrogation for three days, he said. On Friday, Selim gave confessional statement under Section 164 before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court in Chapainawabganj, said IO of the case, Sub Inspector Shahin Akond of Sadar Police Station said. I'm guessing, on the basis of no evidence at all, that there's a Pak connection in the JMB upper echelons, possibly with the just-discovered 14-year-old Lashkar-e-Taiba structure, almost certainly with HuJI...
This article starring:
ABDUL MUBIN
JMB
ABDUL MUMIN
JMB
RABIUL ISLAM
JMB
SELIM ALIAS SAIFULLAH
JMB
SHAHADAT ALIAS ABDUR RAHIM
JMB
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Kyrgyz security forces have arrested a group of suspected militants coordinating a logistics supply network for Taliban insurgents fighting US forces in nearby Afghanistan, domestic media reported. Security analysts say the surge of US troops in Afghanistan, and Pakistan's offensive against militants in the Tribal Areas, may have forced some Taliban fighters of Central Asian origin to trickle back into the former Soviet region.
Really? A fascinating admission by the Daily Times of Pakistan.
For "Taliban" read "al-Qaeda in Afghanistan" or simply "al-Qaeda in Pakistan."
"al-Qaeda in the Greater Pakistan area"?
Kyrgyzstan's 24.kg news agency reported that the state security agency had arrested 18 suspected militants who used to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and were now involved in sending supplies to Afghanistan and other logistical matters. It said in a report late on Friday that the group included citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Central Asia, a vast strategic region between Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran, is also a key transit route for supplies headed for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Governments in Central Asia have blamed the latest attacks on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group whose militants have long fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. IMB has "fought alongside" the Talibs, but they're a separate, al-Qaeda-affiliated organization.
In the latest in a series of attacks on security forces across the region, Tajik forces killed five gunmen in a shootout near Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan. In another clash, Kyrgyz security forces killed three men they described as extremists in a gun battle in the Ferghana valley, Central Asia's most densely populated area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Chinese police shot and killed 12 Uighur rioters in Xinjiang this month, regional governor Nuer Baikeli said on Saturday, in a rare government admission of the deaths inflicted by security forces.
" In any country ruled by law, the use of force is necessary to protect the interest of the people and stop violent crime. This is the duty of policemen. This is bestowed on policemen by the law "
Xinjiang governor Nuer Baikeli
In Xinjiang's worst ethnic unrest in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in regional capital Urumqi on July 5 after taking to the streets to protest against an ethnic clash at a factory in south China in June which left two Uighurs dead.
The violence left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 wounded, mostly Han Chinese who launched revenge attacks in Urumqi days later. About 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been detained in an ensuing government crackdown. Asked to elaborate on the casualties, the governor said most of the victims sustained head wounds after they were bludgeoned with bricks and iron rods.
Police shot dead 12 armed Uighurs attacking civilians and ransacking shops after they ignored warning shots fired into the air, said Nuer Baikeli, a Uighur.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A local Taliban commander was killed and four of his aides injured when a US drone targeted their hideout in Shaktoi area of Ladha tehsil in South Waziristan Agency late on Friday. The political administration sources said the drone fired two missiles that landed near the house of local Taliban chief Ameer Abdullah Mehsud. Commander Zar Jan Mehsud of the Kekarai tribe died in the attack while four others sustained injuries. The sources said a meeting was underway in the compound when the missiles struck the house. Meanwhile, the agency's political administration started a crackdown against the Mehsud tribe and arrested dozens of tribesmen, besides sealing their business centres in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts.
This article starring:
Ameer Abdullah Mehsud
TTP
Zar Jan Mehsud
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Darra Adamkhel chapter, on Saturday warned Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Afghan refugees in Pakistan to stop supporting the US-led allied forces or face a string of suicide attacks.
"Most of the close relatives of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan have joined the Afghan National Army, police, intelligence agencies"
In a Pashto-language pamphlet issued to the media here, the outlawed TTP threatened the Afghan refugees in Pakistan to force their relatives to leave jobs in Afghan government departments and organisations and quit support to American and Nato forces within a fortnight or face severe action. It asked the Muslims in general not to oppose "the sacred movement of Taliban" or they would be awarded an exemplary punishment.
"Most of the close relatives of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan have joined the Afghan National Army, police, intelligence agencies and other government departments. They are also hand in glove with international intelligence agencies, including India and Israel, and working against the interest of Pakistan by spying when they come here and go back with important information," the pamphlet warned, adding that they would be killed if they failed to act by the specified date. The leaflet also urged the Ulema not to lead the funeral prayers of such 'hypocrites'.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
Ten militants were killed and seven others injured when fighter planes pounded the hideouts of militants in Orakzai Agency while a close aide of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, Zar Jan Mahsud, was killed and four others sustained serious injuries in a US drone attack in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on Saturday.
Tribal sources said the fighter planes pounded the hideouts and compounds of the militants in Arghanjo, Sam Killay, Jabba and Katakhel in Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency, killing 10 militants and injuring seven others. The sources said 11 compounds of the militants were destroyed in the operation. The injured militants were taken to a private clinic in the agency. Eyewitnesses said the fighter planes also hit a house of a militant commander, Ameenullah, in Sam Killay, killing two women and as many children.
The people of the troubled areas in the tribal region have started migration towards safer places.
Commander Zar Jan had just came out of the building, along with his four bodyguards, when he came under attack by the US spy plane... "We don't know whether or not someone had attached a chip to his clothes."
Meanwhile, a US spy plane fired two missiles at the house of a militant commander in Shaktoi village near Ladha subdivision of South Waziristan Agency, killing an important militant commander and a close aide of the TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud, Zar Jan Mahsud, and injuring four others. Sources close to the militants said the drone fired two missiles, which landed near the house of Taliban commander Ameer Abdullah Shah Mahsud, where a crucial meeting of the Mehsud militant commanders was in progress.
Commander Zar Jan had just came out of the building, along with his four bodyguards, when he came under attack by the US spy plane. His colleagues recalled that Zar Jan had told them that he wanted to prepare for prayers and went out of the building. "We don't know whether or not someone had attached a chip to his clothes, but the moment he went out of the house the drone fired missiles, killing him on the spot," said a friend of Zar Jan while requesting anonymity. Four other militants escorting Zar Jan received serious injuries, he added. The injured militants, he maintained, were taken to a private health facility in the nearby Ladha town, where two of them were stated to be in critical condition.
He said few doctors are available in the Mehsuds-inhabited areas of South Waziristan nowadays after the government launched an operation against Baitullah Mehsud and his fighters.
This article starring:
AMINULLAH
TTP
AMIR ABDULLAH SHAH MAHSUD
TTP
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
TTP
ZAR JAN MAHSUD
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Security forces carried out search operation at Chamtalai, Swat and killed 2 terrorists including terrorist commander Abu Bakar.
According to ISPR, search and clearance operations were conducted in Swat and Malakand, during last 24 hours. During search operation at Shangla and Shakardara, Swat security forces recovered 3 rockets of RPG-7, one 81 mortar, IEDs and ammunition. One terrorist was killed and 4 suspects apprehended in Search operation conducted in area around Kanju Township. Security forces destroyed 7 terrorists hideouts in search operation at Bajkata near Daggar.
Terrorists fire raided at Jandola, Bannu resultantly 1 soldier embraced shahadat. An IED exploded during routine search near Jani khel Fort, resultantly 3 soldiers were injured.
This article starring:
ABU BAKAR
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Three militants, including a commander, and a class-1V employee of the Matta police station, were killed on Saturday in incidents of violence and the military operation in different parts of Swat Valley. The militants, who were on the run after the full-scale military operation in Swat Valley, appeared to be attempting to re-start their terrible activities in Matta Tehsil, their former stronghold in the valley.
A class-1V employee working at the Matta police station, identified as Iqbal, was slaughtered late on Friday night at his home in Sambat Cham area of Matta. This is perhaps the first incident of beheading after the military operation. The incident, at a time when security forces are still after the militants, triggered panic among the people.
There were reports of police action after the killing of the class-1V employee but that could not be confirmed. The district police officer of Swat was said to be unavailable at his official residence when reached by this correspondent to confirm whether there was any police action after the slaying of Iqbal.
Security forces claimed to have cleared the valley of Taliban, asking all the displaced people to return. The locals also believe that most parts of the valley have been purged of the militants. However, there were still some areas where the Taliban were reported to be present. "I can say with conviction that there will be no problem from Landakay to Mingora but effective action is still needed in parts of Matta and Kabal," a resident of Mingora said, asking not to be named.
The major military operation might have ended in Swat Valley but security forces are still busy in mopping up operation against the Taliban militants, locals said.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said security forces continued a search and clearance operation in Swat and Buner districts. It claimed that two militants, including a commander Abu Bakar, were killed in Chamtalai, and another was killed in Kanju Township during the search operation. During the search operation in Shangla and Shakardarra, it added, security forces recovered three rockets, mortars, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ammunition.
In Buner, security forces conducted a search operation in Bachkata near Daggar and destroyed seven terroristsà hideouts. The locals reported that there was still problem in Malikpur, Balo Khan, Mulla Banda, Dokada, Hisar, Gokand and Bachkata.
However, the Frontier Corps, leading the operation in Buner, rejected such reports as untrue. A press release, issued in reaction to a story in this paper about resurfacing of the Taliban, said here on Saturday that the militants were not present in aforementioned areas. The communication reasserted that there was no resurfacing of the Taliban in Buner and their command structure had been destroyed. "They (Taliban) do not have any capability to launch organised militancy against the locals or the government agencies," it said. However, the press release said minor occasional acts of terrorism could not be ruled out.
In Bannu district, the ISPR said, the militants launched an attack in Jandola which resulted in the killing of a soldier. Besides, an IED explosion near Janikhel during a routine patrol injured three soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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The political administration has arrested 15 tribesmen including a tribal elder under Section 40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulations under an ongoing crackdown against Mehsud tribesmen. Administration officials told Daily Times that on Saturday, Khasadar personnel arrested 15 people, including Mehsud elder Dilbar Khan. Officials said that earlier a crackdown was launched against the Shabi Khel, the Mehsud sub-tribe of TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud. Now, the action has been expanded to other Mehsud sub-tribes as well.
This article starring:
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
TTP
DILBAR KHAN
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah addressed the residents of Swat via his illegal radio station a few days ago, the first such broadcast since reports emerged that the Taliban leader was injured during the military operation in the district. "Fazlullah was heard on his illegal FM radio channel three or four days ago," residents of Mingora city told Daily Times by phone. However, they added, the Taliban leader seemed to have lost his drive and was not as aggressive when referring to the security forces as he had once been. "You can feel as if the operation has taken the sting out of him," they said. The residents, however, were unable to confirm whether Fazlullah was broadcasting live or whether it was a pre-recorded message to keep the government confused about his present status.
This article starring:
MULLAH FAZLULLAH
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Kohsar police Saturday night arrested nine 'terrorists' from a Blue Area hotel. According to a police official, all nine arrested terrorists belonged to the banned religious outfit Hizbut Tehrir. "They were dining in '4-Seasons' -- a Blue Area restaurant -- when police arrested them. They have been shifted to Kohsar Police Station where investigation is underway," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Five people were killed, including the son of a senior Sunni Arab militiaman, in two attacks on Saturday in a town outside Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a police officer said.
A roadside bomb in Al Karma, 15 kilometres east of Fallujah, killed three people and wounded six, police Colonel Hafiz Muklif said.
Those killed include the son of Naeem Saleh al Halbusi, the deputy chief of a Sunni militia opposed to Al Qaeda, and two bodyguards, Muklif said. Halbusi was injured in the attack.
Sunni militias, made up of local tribes and former insurgents and known as the 'Sahwa' or 'Awakening' -- who have been siding with the American military since 2006 -- played a crucial role in ousting the Al Qaeda from their former strongholds. A second roadside bomb in the town killed two people and wounded two, the police officer said.
The security situation in Fallujah -- once a major bastion of the Sunni insurgency -- has improved dramatically since the launch of the Sahwa movement.
But Saturday's attacks follow a bombing a day earlier at the Fallujah home of a police lieutenant colonel and ex-Sahwa leader in which his two sons were killed and six people were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
#3
Why are we surprised? Dinner-jacket was re-elected. He's sworn to destroy Israel and any other "democratic" country. Trace back the orders and you'll find them coming from the Revolutionary Guards.
Dinner-jacket needs to feel the wrath of a 20-ship ARCLIGHT strike on his residence, and soon.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/19/2009 14:52 Comments ||
Top||
Philippine troops have rescued five employees of a logging company who were kidnapped by suspected Muslim guerrillas in the country's south last week, the military said Sunday.
The five employees, including a woman, were seized Wednesday by eight guerrillas belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Kapai township in Lanao del Sur province, military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said. Army troops and police rescued the victims Saturday near Kapai without a fire fight, he said.
A local mayor helped the troops locate the hostages, who were moved from one rebel hide-out to another to evade the military, Brawner said, adding that government forces were pursuing the kidnappers.
Brawner identified the leader of the kidnappers as Basit Kauyag.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said he was not sure if Kauyag was a member of the guerrilla front, but that it would investigate Brawner's allegation.
The Philippine military has cracked down on kidnappings in the south, which are mostly blamed on the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf group, fearing ransom payments could be used to finance terrorist attacks.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2009 12:42 ||
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Indonesian police have recovered a laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers of Friday's twin hotel attacks in Jakarta, the country's official news agency said Sunday. The laptop contained information and codes that the attackers may have used to communicate with each other, the state-run Antara News Agency said. The computer was found in a room at the Ritz Carlton, one of two hotels targeted Friday. The other site was the JW Marriott.
The blasts killed nine people -- including at least two presumed suicide bombers -- and wounded more than 50.
Anti-terrorism officials are investigating the links between the attacks and Noordin M. Top, the suspected leader of a small Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group. The group has ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, but so far there has been no claim of responsibility for the latest attack. Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bomb-maker, and trainer for the group, which was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott -- in August 2003 -- as well as attacks on a Bali nightclub in 2003 and the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004, according to the FBI.
Among the victims who have been identified by Indonesia's health ministry, two were Australian, and one each from New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 10:44 ||
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Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
#1
TOPIX > JAKARTA BOMBINGS: AUSTRALIA WARNS INDONESIA AT RISK OF MORE TERROR ATTACKS.
#2
The attack occurred in an area where Indonesia's governing elite, both civilian and military, lives. Not that the terrorist leaders are afraid of dying, but my feeling is that a serious manhunt is going on, and any perpetrators caught are going to be beaten to a pulp to extract every last bit of information they have.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Senior Indonesian counter-terror officials say a wanted Malaysian national is behind the recent twin bomb blasts in two luxury hotels in Jakarta.
The Indonesian Security Ministry's anti-terror desk chief, Ansyaad Mbai, said on Saturday that "the attacks were clearly linked to Noordin Mohammed" who is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002. Indonesian police say the homemade bombs used in the attack were identical to those used in previous attacks linked to Noordin.
The fugitive militant is already wanted by Malaysian and Indonesian authorities for his alleged involvement in several bomb attacks in Jakarta and Bali. Noordin also known as Top was said to be a key recruiter and financier for the Jemaah Islamiah militant group and is now thought to have set up his own splinter group.
The attacks on the Marriott Hotel and the nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel in central Jakarta's business district on Friday killed at least nine people and injured more than 50 others. Five foreigners are known to be among the dead while several more were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Jakarta has been targeted by militants several times over the past years. The deadly attacks on two clubs in Bali in October 2002 killed 202 people including several Australian tourists.
This article starring:
Noordin Mohammed
Jemaah Islamiah
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia has told this reporter SABINA AMIDI, a stringer to the JERUSALEM POST
of his role in suppressing opposition street protests in recent weeks. He has also detailed aspects of his earlier service in the force, including his enforced participation in the rape of young Iranian girls prior to their execution.
He said he had been a highly regarded member of the force, and had so "impressed my superiors" that, at 18, "I was given the 'honor' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death." In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin, he explained. Therefore a "wedding" ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard - essentially raped by her "husband."
"I regret that, even though the marriages were legal," he said.
Why the regret, if the marriages were "legal?" "Because," he went on, "I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their 'wedding' night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning. And they would always fight back, so we would have to put sleeping pills in their food. By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die.
"I remember hearing them cry and scream after [the rape] was over," he said. "I will never forget how this one girl clawed at her own face and neck with her finger nails afterwards. She had deep scratches all over her."
This rat bastard of a Basiji needs to die.
Not to mention the rat bastards who gave him this assignment, then evaluated his work. And the next several levels of management, all of whom signed off on the project, the Sharia consultants over in Qom who wrote the legal opinion permitting it... this is not one little Basiji-man run amok.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
07/19/2009 00:40 ||
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#2
Upon reading this, I remembered something I had read years ago, about this very same charming custom of the islamic republic. So, it wouldn't be an abberration, but something organic to this very regime, which hangs and stones pretty much anyone on motives we'd call absolutely frivolous, not to mention the corruption, moral and economical of the theocrats. Yet, they and their useful idiots/allies/stooges like chavez do believe they hold the moral high ground.
#4
Its crap like this that makes me want to believe that eradication of Islam is necessary - by killing every leader, authority and lay preacher they have, razing every mosque and madrassa, nuking and then seeding Mecca wiht long-lived radioactive isotopes, and destroying the Koran whenever and wherever it is found.
The bastards in Iran deserve to be hung by their own entrails for this sort of thing.
#6
They are so MOTIVATED at maintaining the crazy, you almost have to marvel...
at this point normalcy has been bred completely out of Islamic existence and only nuttiness can remain. Planned Obsolescence of Islam is in order, because the only people who want Islam are too crazy to know that they are nuckin futz.
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iranian hardliners hit back at former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday for criticizing the conduct of last month's election and its aftermath, highlighting deepening establishment divisions. An editor seen as close to Iran's top authority said Rafsanjani was backing "law-breakers," a reference to opposition protesters, and a senior cleric accused him of creating rifts in the Islamic Republic and hinted he should face legal action.
In apparent defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rafsanjani said in a sermon on Friday that many Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12 vote, which showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won. Leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since the election, the powerful cleric also declared that Iran was in crisis after the poll, which opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi says was rigged in the hardline incumbent's favor.
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, an Ahmadinejad ally and a member of Iran's top legislative body, rejected Rafsanjani's remarks. "Who planted the seeds of doubt in the election in the minds of people? ... Isn't this sowing discord?" Yazdi told a news conference, according to the official IRNA news agency.
He added, according to Fars News Agency: "Those who planted doubt in society and those who irrigated it to make it sprout out of the soil and pour into the streets to violate people's lives and property ... should be dealt with legally."
The election stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite. At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed the street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.
Post-election events have also further strained ties between Iran and the West, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear program. Western powers criticized the crackdown. Iran accused them of meddling.
Rafsanjani's robust stance appeared to set him on collision course with Khamenei, who has openly backed Ahmadinejad in a departure from the supreme leader's accepted role as a lofty clerical arbiter above the political fray.
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters used the Friday prayers led by Rafsanjani, a moderate who backed Mousavi in the election, to stage the biggest show of dissent in weeks. Clashes erupted near the university between police and followers of Mousavi, who came second and still contests the official election results.
The government has portrayed post-election mass protests as the work of local subversives, or "rioters," and Western powers seeking to topple the Islamic establishment.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the Kayhan daily, said Rafsanjani had done nothing to prevent the gathering of Mousavi supporters inside and outside Tehran University, where prayers are held each Friday and broadcast live on state radio. "At the same time he used every opportunity available to challenge the outcome of the election," wrote Shariatmadari, who earlier this month called for Mousavi and another leading reformist to be put on trial for "terrible crimes."
Noting Rafsanjani had urged everybody to abide by the law, his editorial added in a reference to those who defied a protest ban: "Mr Rafsanjani ... not only disregarded what he had said but openly supported the law-breakers."
Shariatmadari is seen as a close ally of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure with the final say on all matters of state.
Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts -- a powerful body that can in theory dismiss the supreme leader -- in his sermon demanded the immediate release of people detained in the unrest and called for press curbs to be relaxed. Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists, activists and lawyers, have been detained by the authorities since the election.
This article starring:
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Kandahar, killing 9 civilians including 5 kids on Friday, officials said The bomb blast occurred when a civilian vehicle, heading to Spin Boldak district, hit an improvised explosive device (IED), according to the provincial police chief Gen Saifullah Hakim. Three others are reported wounded in the blast that were taken to a nearest hospital in the province. Gen Saifullah Hakeem added three women and as many men were among the dead.
A new offshoot of banned Islamist outfit JMB, 
Kyrgyz security forces have arrested a group of suspected militants coordinating a logistics supply network for Taliban insurgents fighting US forces in nearby Afghanistan, domestic media reported. Security analysts say the surge of US troops in Afghanistan, and Pakistan's offensive against militants in the Tribal Areas, may have forced some Taliban fighters of Central Asian origin to trickle back into the former Soviet region. 
A local Taliban commander was killed and four of his aides injured when a US drone targeted their hideout in Shaktoi area of Ladha tehsil in South Waziristan Agency late on Friday. The political administration sources said the drone fired two missiles that landed near the house of local Taliban chief 
Ten militants were killed and seven others injured when fighter planes pounded the hideouts of militants in Orakzai Agency while a close aide of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief 
[Geo News] Security forces carried out search operation at Chamtalai, Swat and killed 2 terrorists including terrorist commander 
The political administration has arrested 15 tribesmen including a tribal elder under Section 40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulations under an ongoing crackdown against Mehsud tribesmen. Administration officials told Daily Times that on Saturday, Khasadar personnel arrested 15 people, including Mehsud elder 
Taliban leader 
[Iran Press TV Latest] Senior Indonesian counter-terror officials say a wanted Malaysian national is behind the recent twin bomb blasts in two luxury hotels in Jakarta. 
A serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia has told this reporter 
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iranian hardliners hit back at former president 
