[Washington Examiner] U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley was wounded in an attack that took place in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Thursday.
Navy Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesperson for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led Resolute Support mission, confirmed to CNN on Sunday that Smiley had received at least one gunshot wound.
Smiley, who oversees NATO military advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, still maintains charge of his command following the attack, for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility.
The NATO-led coalition had previously identified two Americans wounded in the attack as a military service member and a civilian government employee. The police chief of the Kandahar province and another Afghan official were killed in the attack.
On Saturday, Gen. Joseph Votel told the Associated Press that the U.S. was "pretty confident that the Afghans will be able to maintain the situation down" in Kandahar.
"My assessment is the Afghans are resilient to this," Votel said. "I don't consider it to be something that will change the security situation."
The attack came just before Saturday's parliamentary elections in the region. The Taliban have pledged to disrupt the electoral process, alleging that the elections ‐ already three years overdue ‐ are a being manipulated by the U.S.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The dead bodies of at least four people have been found in Mazar Sharif city, the lovely provincial capital of northern Balkh province of Afghanistan.
The local officials confirm that four individuals were killed after they were kidnapped from Nahr Shahi district on Saturday.
A front man for the provincial Security Commandment Sher Jan Durani confirmed that the dead bodies of four people have been found in the city but did not elaborate further.
In the meantime, a security source says the slain individuals were observers of a parliamentary candidate who were kidnapped and killed by the murderous Moslems.
The source further added that the election observers were kidnapped by the turbans from Afghania Mina area of Nahr Shahi district late on Saturday evening.
According to the official, the observers were killed shortly after the kidnapping and their dead bodies were shifted to Mazar Sharif city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The shadow district administrative chief of the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... group for Hesarak district of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province was killed in an Arclight airstrike of the U.S.-led coalition forces.
The provincial government media office in a statement said Taliban’s shadow district chief for Hesarak Abdul Jabar was killed in a dronezap on Saturday night.
The statement further added that the airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of Jokan area of Hesarak district and as a result Taliban’s shadow district governor was killed along with his six accomplices.
Jabar was travelling in a 4×4 vehicle with his accomplices when he came under the airstrike, the provincial government added in its statement.
According to Nangarhar governor’s office, the local residents have not suffered any casualty during the air raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] At least 11 people, including six children and a woman, were killed in a roadside improvised bomb (IED) blast in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial official said.
The roadside kaboom struck a vehicle on Sunday in the Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. 's Mamand area of Achin district that was carrying civilians, Attahullah Khogyani, spokesperson for the provincial governor, told Al Jazeera.
No one immediately claimed the attack.
Attacks across the country have been reported as Afghanistan's parliamentary elections were delayed and entered a second day on Sunday due to violence and technical issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[OUTLINE] The Security guards aboard a Hong Kong-flagged fat merchantman repelled an attack by pirates in a shootout off Somalia’s coast this week, the European naval force in the region said on Friday.
It was only the second reported attempt by Somali pirates to seize a commercial ship this year, after a resurgence of attacks in 2017 following years of relative calm brought about by regular patrols of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Naval Force (EUNAVOR).
On Tuesday, pirates approached and shot up the Hong Kong-flagged MV KSL freighter 340 nautical miles off Somalia, but private security guards aboard the ship acted quickly to foil the attack, EUNAVOR said in a statement.
"Due to the application of BMP [best management practices] protection measures by the master, his crew and the private security team, the piracy attack was thwarted and the crew and vessel remained safe," it said.
"There was a sustained exchange of fire before the skiff with several armed people on board broke off and changed course away from the MV," it added. Guards had already moved the crew to safe locations before the shooting erupted.
The last reported attack off Somalia’s coast was in February when guards aboard a Singaporean-flagged chemical tanker repulsed pirates who had shot at it.
Pirates once plagued the Indian Ocean shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa, with the peak year in 2011 when 237 attacks were reported and hundreds of hostages taken by pirates to be exchanged for ransom, according to maritime data.
Attacks dramatically subsided after several foreign navies, including from the EU and China, began regular anti-piracy patrols in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[AAWSAT] UK Newcastle Crown Court sentenced a Syrian civil engineer for sharing terrorism videos on Facebook. Jurors found the 32-year-old guilty of six counts of sharing terrorist material.
Abdulrahman al-Charbati received multiple warnings from Facebook for violating user laws by sharing murderous Moslem videos related to the conflict in Syria, which he repeatedly posted on his page. Later on, his page was reported and permanently blocked.
Despite the bans, the 32-year-old married father posted six "terrorist publications" on his profile, which had 5,000 "friends", in the course of one day in February last year.
Prosecutors said the videos, which show men in military uniform being murdered, others praising "deaders" and promoting suicide kabooms, could "encourage the watcher to commit acts of terrorism".
After counter-terrorism police raided his home at Noble Street, Sunderland, officers seized his phone and found a bomb-making manual titled "Easy Explosives".
The shocking, 120-page document contained advice for bomb-makers, which included handling their device "gently and softly", like a "creature", while it is being manufactured.
Al-Charbati told police "I just posted the news" and has been on trial accused of six offenses of dissemination of a terrorist publication and one of possession of a document containing terrorist information.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Protests have erupted in India-administered Kashmire after six non-combatants were killed when an unwent kaboom! shell went off at the site of a shootout in the southern district of Kulgam, officials said.
Senior superintendent of police in Kulgam, Harmeet Singh, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the forces had laid a midnight cordon around a dozen houses in Laroo village of the district on a specific information about the presence of rebels.
"By morning, three holy warriors were killed who were hiding in one of the houses. There was an exchange of gunfire and grenades from both sides," the official said.
The official said the rebels were locals and belonged to the south Kashmire villages of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag.
"When the fight was over, the forces cleared the area and left. There was stone-throwing from all sides by the people even during the encounter. Despite requests not to visit the site, locals approached the shootout site and a shell went kaboom!," he said.
Deputy commissioner of the district, Shamim Ahmad, told Al Jazeera that six civilians died in the blast and 30 others were maimed, some of them in the festivities.
"The situation is under control and curfew has been imposed. Phone and internet services have been suspended," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[Indian Express] Hours after three Death Eaters were killed in South Kashmire’s Kulgam in an encounter, two Pak intruders were neutralised in Rajouri after they ambushed an Indian Army patrol party near the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday. The intruders, who were heavily armed, are believed to be part of Pakistain’s Border Action Team.
Three security personnel bit the dust, while another was injured in the attack that took place in Sunderbani sector. The three deceased soldiers have been identified as Havildar Kaushal Kumar of Nowshera, Lance Naik Ranjeet Singh of Doda and Rifleman Rajat Kumar Basan of Pallanwala.
The Army has launched a "search and destroy" operation in the area, which is currently underway. "At about 1.45 pm, Indian Army in Sunderbani sector had a fierce encounter with heavily armed Pak intruders very close to the LoC. The patrol (team) killed two intruders and recovered war-like stores including two AK-47 rifles," an Army front man was quoted as saying by PTI.
He said three soldiers were killed while fighting the intruders and another soldier suffered grievous injuries and has been admitted to the Army Command hospital in Udhampur. The injured soldier’s condition is reported to be stable, the front man said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that their intelligence forces foiled a potential terrorist attack by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in neighboring Iran and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... "The intelligence team which had infiltrated the terrorist groups could provide the quadrilateral coalition of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia with intelligence about ISIS’s moves," the head of al-Soqour intelligence group at the Iraqi interior ministry Abu Ali al-Basari was quoted as saying by Iraq’s SNG news agency on Sunday.
He added that the turbans had plotted to carry out terrorist attacks in Turkey, Iran and Iraq’s Suleimaniyeh Governorate.
The report noted that the numerous Arclight airstrikes launched by the Russian fighter jets in Syria foiled the ISIS plots to infiltrate Iran, Iraq, Turkey and some of the European states and operations in Raqqa and Albu Kamal in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi authorities announced on Saturday the murder of four Islamic State militants during a clampdown in the ancient city of Hit in Anbar province.
“Al-Jazeera forces managed during a preemptive security operation to kill four terrorists inside a cave in western Hit,” the Dijlah TV channel quoted the Iraqi Security Media Center as saying in a statement.
According to the statement, the security forces launched a manhunt in Hit district in search of other IS terrorists.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Security forces found on Sunday bodies of eight Islamic State militants believed to be killed by the terrorist group’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi authorities said.
“The bodies were found shot in the head in the area between Haditha and Hit districts in Anbar,” security sources told Shafaq News website.
The sources noted that the militants are believed to be on the hit list issued by al-Baghdadi two weeks ago.
Iraqi intelligence reports earlier claimed that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued an order to kill hundreds of his followers, including leading figures, in Iraq and Syria over their disloyalty to the group.
The reports came at a critical time as the extremist group lost about 90% of the territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria in 2014, when it declared its “caliphate”.
Intelligence sources said that the world’s most wanted man “issued an order to kill 320 of his followers for their betrayal of the so-called Islamic State and their recklessness, a matter which inflicted heavy losses on the group in both Iraq and Syria.”
According to the sources, there are high-profile commanders on Baghdadi’s list, including Abu al-Baraa al-Ansari, Sief al-Din al-Iraqi, Abu Otham al-Tal Afari, Abu Iman al-Mowahed and Marawan Hadid al-Suri.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Federal Police announced arresting an Islamic State leader, southwest of Kirkuk.
In a statement on Saturday, the command said “the Federal Police arrested deputy leader of Muqdadiya in the so-called Diyala State. He fled toward Hawija after Diyala was liberated from Islamic State.”
The militant, according to the statement, was arrested in Hawija.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi police forces have arrested two Islamic State militants in Kirkuk as security campaigns continue nationwide in pursuit of the terrorist group’s dormant cells.
“Troops of the federal police have arrested two IS terrorists involved in targeting civilians and security forces in Kirkuk province,” Iraqi website Alghad Press quoted spokesman for the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Saad Maan as saying on Sunday.
“One of them faces terror-related charges, while the other was a member of the so-called Kirkuk State,” the spokesman added.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) – Two Iraqi people were killed Sunday in a car bomb blast in al-Rashad district in the oil-rich Iraqi province of Kirkuk.
Speaking to German Press Agency DPA, security sources said that a bomb planted by armed men on a road between Nisan 7 area and al-Rashad district in Kirkuk went off while a vehicle carrying two people was passing by the area.
“The explosion left two people killed,” the sources said without giving further details.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – As many as 10 members of Islamic State were arrested Saturday during a security operation in Mosul city, the Iraqi Security Media Center said.
“During a security campaign to arrest the wanted persons in Nineveh province, security forces apprehended 10 militants belonging to IS group in the eastern side of Mosul,” the Iraqi Alghad Press website quoted the center’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Saad Maan as saying.
“The IS militants were caught in al-Karama district in Mosul’s eastern side,” the spokesman said, adding that they have been fighting for Islamic State during the terrorist group’s capture of Mosul, which lasted for three years.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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[IsraelTimes] Victim, who also has Israeli ID card, believed to have angered Paleostinians by helping sell Arab home in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish buyers
Two top Paleostinian officials nabbed Please don't kill me! by Israeli forces over the weekend were held on suspicion helping abduct a Paleostinian resident of Jerusalem, who was also a US citizen, their lawyers said on Sunday.
Israeli forces arrested Paleostinian Authority Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith and Jihad Faqih, the Jerusalem director of the PA General Intelligence Services, on Saturday, but declined to say why.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... they are suspected of having assisted in abducting a resident of Jerusalem two weeks ago, who has since been held by the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank, their lawyers told the Rooters news agency. Both men deny the charges.
Hadashot news reported that the man who had been kidnapped was wanted by the Paleostinians for selling an Arab property in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish investors.
The Paleostinians frequently hand out the death penalty to those convicted of selling land to Israelis though PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has not authorized the implementation of executions since his election in 2004.
Instead, he has proscribed a sentence of hard labor for life on "anyone diverting, renting or selling land to an enemy state or one of its subjects."
The report said the kidnapped man was a Jerusalem Arab with an Israeli identity card and was also a US citizen.
Asked about the report, a US embassy spokesperson told Rooters that they were aware of the incident.
"We are aware of reports that a US citizen has been detained by the Paleostinian Authority. When a U.S. citizen is incarcerated or detained overseas, the Department of State works to provide all appropriate consular assistance," the official said.
A large group of Israeli security forces nabbed Ghaith on his way out of a family member’s wedding in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, his brother Hani Ghaith said.
A spokesperson for the Shin Bet security service referred questions to the Israel Police.
Mickey Rosenfeld, a front man for the Israel Police, said, "Two people were arrested and there is an ongoing investigation taking place."
Rosenfeld declined to confirm if Ghaith was one of the two people he said were arrested or provide any other details.
In late August, Abbas appointed Ghaith, a resident of Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood and a longtime Fatah activist, to the largely ceremonial role of PA Jerusalem governor.
In his new role, Ghaith is responsible for overseeing the PA’s operations in the neighborhoods within its jurisdiction on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Israel seldom arrests high-ranking PA officials.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Israeli security forces have arrested Ghaith many times in the past several years including on suspicion of incitement, his brother Hani said.
Eyewitnesses said security forces arrested Faqih near al-Judeira, a village in the central West Bank, and brought him to a detention center in Jerusalem, according to the Wafa report.
Adnan al-Husseini, a Paleostine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member and a former PA Jerusalem governor, condemned the arrests of Ghaith and Faqih, contending that they "target the Paleostinian presence in Jerusalem," Wafa reported.
Husseini called on the international community to intervene to secure the two PA officials’ release.
Yousif Mahmoud, a front man for the PA government, described the arrests as "a new crime at the expense of our people, its leadership and its eternal capital," Wafa reported.
[IsraelTimes] The army says a number of Gazooks crossed the border fence into Israel and hurled a number of bombs before IDF troops fired in their direction, causing them to flee back to the coastal enclave.
#1
I was speaking with an IDF guy a few days ago about the Gaza border.
Although he didn't say so, I got the impression that the units near the border fence actually look forward to having the occasional mini invasion. It gives them something to do and hones their skills using the various detection and firing devices.
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#2
That behavior can also make them complacent in their assumed superiority.
[SunStar] The Abu Sayyaf released on Wednesday evening one of their kidnap victims after the captive's family paid P1.2 million in ransom. Authorities said the group released Rufo Roda to a man who allegedly took part in the negotiation in downtown Jolo, Sulu.
Roda, a militiaman, was abducted in Piacan, a coastal village in the town of Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, along with his wife.
A group of five Abu Sayyaf rebels seized the couple following a clash on the evening of August 31. The clash resulted ub the death of five people and left a child injured.
The family of the victim allegedly paid P1.2 million worth of ransom money for the release of the couple but the bandits refused to free Ronda’s wife.
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[PhilStar] Three Abu Sayyaf rebels were nabbed after an clash with Philippine troops in Barangay Maligay, Patikul, Sulu on Thursday. Gafur Albani Absari, Medzfar Mangabong and Madjid Mangabon were turned over to the 501st Infantry Brigade for disposition and filing of charges.
Westmincom chief Arnel dela Vega said there is no letup in offensive operations against the Abu Sayyaf by personnel of the Joint Task Force Sulu. He said the operations also aim to rescue two foreigners and eight Filipino captives.
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10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] A high ranking Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) commander was killed in the Deir Ezzor countryside this weekend after a series of festivities with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The infamous Syrian ISIS commander, Tariq Jaber Makhlaf al-Ahmad al-Jabari (AKA "Abu Adham al-Shami"), was killed this weekend while fighting the Syrian Democratic Forces near the key town of Hajin.
Prior to his death in eastern Deir Ezzor, al-Jabari was wanted by the Syrian authorities for his terrorist actions across the country.
Al-Jabari was one of several Islamic State snuffies that were killed in the heavy battle between the aforementioned terrorist group and Syrian Democratic Forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkestan Islamic Party transported chemical weapons to the Jisr al-Shughour countryside, the Sputnik News Agency reported.
Citing informed sources, the Sputnik report claimed that the jihadist rebels transported "chlorine and sarin gases" from the town of Ma’arat Masrin to the Jisr al-Shughour in western Idlib.
The report did not state how the sources came across this information; however, similar allegations have been made over the last few months.
The Syrian Arab Army does have many spies currently operating inside the Idlib Governorate, as they often post videos behind enemy lines via social media.
Furthermore, the Syrian Army is believed to have many operatives currently embedded inside the command centers for the jihadist rebels; this was revealed during the East Ghouta operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[AlAhram] The US-led coalition said on Sunday it had killed bandidosmurderous Moslems in eastern Syria by striking a mosque that Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group used as a base, after reports of dozens of civilian deaths.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes killed 41 people, including 10 children, in al-Sousa village and its environs on Thursday and Friday.
Many were Iraqi relatives of Islamic State fighters, the UK-based monitor said.
The coalition raids, which hit a mosque and houses, also killed 22 jihadists around the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border, one of the last Islamic State group enclaves in Syria.
Syria's foreign ministry said on Saturday that coalition warplanes had "committed a crime", killing at least 62 civilians in al-Sousa and a nearby village in Deir al-Zor province.
Damascus, which deems the US and international forces in Syria occupiers, accused them of relentless bombing and called on the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... to "punish the aggressors".
The US-led coalition said it destroyed a mosque which Islamic State fighters had turned into a headquarters in al-Sousa to defend their last territory.
The strike on Thursday killed 12 holy warriors, disabling a command centre they had used to attack coalition forces and their allies, it said.
"Such ISIS misuse of the mosque is another example of their violation of the law of war and made the mosque a valid military target," front man Colonel Sean Ryan said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State group.
The coalition monitored the facility to know when only fighters were present, and it investigates "all credible allegations of civilian casualties", he said in an emailed statement in response to questions from Rooters.
The US-led coalition is fighting the remnants of Islamic State group near the frontier between Syria and Iraq. With air power and special forces on the ground, it backs the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance of militias.
Various rival offensives have crushed Islamic State group in most of the territory it controlled in both countries, though fighters still operate in the desert near the border and stage attacks.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/22/2018 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.
Somali pirates
[Indian Express] Hours after three 
