[Twitter] It was probably E-11A aircraft assigned to 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron. Wreck of a plane crashed today in Afghanistan looks like to be a U.S. Air Force Bombardier Global 6000 / E-11A “BACN” (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node).
The cause of the crash remains unclear, and no details about casualties have been given.
Also in social media was released short footage that showed wreck of a plane with U.S. Air Forces emblem.
E-11A is the military variant of the civil Bombardier BD-700 Global Express for use as overhead communications-relay platform in SW Asia. It carries Northrop Grumman Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or BACN, allowing disparate battlefield communications systems to share data. BACN was deployed on a test Bombardier BD-700 & originally designated RC-700A under reconnaissance classification. Re-designated E-11A under special electronics installation category.
BREAKING:
Taliban release official statement on Ghazni plane crash. Statement says plane crashed "noon hours today resulting in all crew & high-ranking CIA members killed".
[ToloNews] The aircraft crashed in Deh Yak district in the central province of Ghazni, south of Kabul, on Monday afternoon.
Footage seen by TOLOnews taken in Ghazni on Monday showed the burning wreckage of an aircraft with US Air Force markings, and US forces in Afghanistan have confirmed that the aircraft was a US Bombardier E-11A. TOLOnews earlier referred to the aircraft as a Bombardier Global Express jet, which is a commercial designation of the same aircraft.
The AP reported that the Bombardier E-11A is a U.S. Air Force electronic surveillance plane, saying: "The so-called Battlefield Airborne Communications Node can be carried on unmanned or crewed aircraft like the E-11A. It is used by the military to extend the range of radio signals and can be used to convert the output of one device to another, such as connecting a radio to a telephone."
The AP said the US military uses the system as “Wi-Fi in the sky,” in areas where communications are otherwise difficult, elevating signals above obstacles like mountains."
The Ministry of Defense said a convoy of Afghan Special Forces had been dispatched to Deh Yak district from Ghazni city, which is 25 kilometers west of the crash site.
Amid confusion about the plane earlier in the day, the Civil Aviation Authority in a statement posted on its Facebook page stated that no local, civilian planes crashed in Ghazni and that all flights were normal on Monday.
The US forces in Afghanistan in a statement confirmed the incident.
“A US Bombardier E-11A crashed today in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available,” the US forces-Afghanistan spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said.
Taliban claims that additional aircraft have crashed are false, he added.
[KhaamaPress] Taliban claimed they shot down a US plane in the Deh Yak district of Ghazni province, an area that is under the control of Taliban militants.
“A US plane was shot down and many American officers were killed”, Zabihullah Mujahid, a popular Taliban spokesperson hidden behind the internet and social media tweeted.
The plane flying for intelligence missions shot down in the Sadokhil area of Deh Yak district in Ghazni province on Monday afternoon, Mujahid said.
He claimed high-ranking CIA officers had been on board the plane.
The US military said it was investigating reports of a crash in Taliban-controlled territory.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a local journalist, said he saw two bodies but others had counted a total of five.
The aircraft in the footage appeared to show a US air force E-11 Battlefield Airborne Communications Node. It has been described by the air force as “Wi-Fi in the sky”, a roving communications satellite to support missions in remote areas without existing infrastructure.
Earlier this afternoon, Afghan media agencies citing local officials in Ghazni reported that an Ariana Afghan plane crashed with 83 people on board, but later the state-owned aviation company declined the report and said their flights have been conducted normally.
#1
"When you are lying there wounded on Afghanistan's plains/
And the women have come out to cut up what remains/
Just roll to your rifle, and blow out your brains/ And go to your God like a soldier!
#3
Note that 3dc’s Twitter thread has been updating continually since the original tweet — with lots of photos. It’s worth taking a few minutes to scroll through at the link and compare to the published news.
#6
The tail and engines a free of damage associated with a shoulder fired heat speaking missile. Also the APU inlet inboard of the right engine is open indicating it was at least started. My best guess is an inflight electrical fire
#7
Ref #6: My take as well. The aircraft would have undoubtedly had an onboard infrared countermeasure (IRCM) system, which would have honked off a basic load of flares.
[KhaamaPress] In multiple coordinated operations against the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... during the last 24 hours in different parts of the country, Afghan forces killed 51 fighters that signals renewed deadlock in the ongoing peace talks. not renewed deadlock - negotiating from strength
According to the Defense Ministry of Afghanistan, the government forces conducted several ground attacks and Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in nine provinces, as a result of which 51 bad boyz were potted, 13 maimed and six more arrested.
Local officials in Balkh province said that at least seven civilians bit the dust in airstrikes including three women and four children, which led people to promote new waves of demonstration in front of the provincial governor’s office.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach... the government pledged to send a fact-finding team to investigate the reports of civilian deaths and avoid making the same mistake in the future.
On the other hand, Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement, "Ten Afghan cops were killed and three maimed, and Taliban fighters have captured a large weapons cache."
Launch of new attacks and killings come as the US, and Taliban negotiators in Doha take a two-day break for consultations about how to overcome recent hurdles in the talks, a source close to the grinding of the peace processor.
Zalmay Khalilzad, US Special Representative in Afghanistan peace talks and reconsolidation process, has repeatedly been meeting with the Taliban’s chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach... sources close to the talks said the Taliban agreed to stop attacking American forces and reduce the level of violence against the Afghan government and civilians.
[ToloNews] A group of Balkh residents on Sunday claimed that seven non-combatants were killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... by government forces in the northern province, saying three children were among the victims.
The residents said the airstrike was carried out in Boka village in Balkh district of Balkh province. The residents said they want justice. and for those who did not pay the required attention during this airstrike to be punished.
The bodies of the seven victims were taken to the district center on Sunday by their relatives.
"They attacked at dinnertime. Children and women were killed. Who were they? Were they the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ?" asked Noor Mohammad, a Balkh resident.
"We are busy in finding bread for our families, but we are targeted by an airstrike. And also we are targeted by machine guns," said Ismail, a resident of Balkh.
Mohammad Ghani, a member of the family, said women and kiddies were killed.
"Women and children are among those killed. Two others are maimed. All are members of one family," Ghani said.
Balkh politicians said the airstrike was conducted in an area that is under the government’s control.
"Now, pick up the bodies and bury them with dignity," said Gul Rahman Hamdard, an MP from Balkh, to the mourning families. "I will talk to the government... I promise to be with you until this incident is assessed."
The Ministry of Defense in a statement said that a probe team has been sent to the area.
[ToloNews] At least 20 people were maimed after an unknown gunman threw grenades at a wedding party on Saturday night in Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... , local officials said Sunday.
The provincial governor's front man, Talib Mangal, confirmed the incident and said it occured in Alishir district of Khost province.
According to Mangal, there is, so far, no clear motive for the attack, but investigations are underway.
No group including the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... has grabbed credit for the attack.
[AlAhram] Nineteen soldiers were killed and five maimed in an attack on an army camp in central Mali before dawn on Sunday, an army front man and a local official told Rooters.
The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear. They entered the camp near the village of Sokolo at about 0500 GMT, opened fire, destroyed some structures and left soon after, said Balco Ba, a deputy administrator in the nearby town of Niono.
Army front man Dirran Kone said the camp was later under control, reinforcements were in place and a search was underway for the assailants. The Malian army's official Twitter account said a Malian plane had been deployed to monitor the scene.
Islamist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... operate in arid central and northern Mali and have used the area as a base from which to launch attacks on soldiers and civilians across neighbouring Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... , Niger and beyond.
Large areas of the Sahel, the band of scrubland south of the Sahara, have fallen out of the control of armies and police forces, vexing local governments and their international partners who have struggled to contain the spread of jihadist groups across West Africa.
Twenty-four Malian soldiers were killed and 29 maimed when murderous Moslems attacked a patrol in northern Mali in November. Twenty people were maimed earlier this month in the north, including 18 U.N. peacekeepers from Chad, in a rocket attack on a military base for U.N., French and Malian forces.
Military source: Warlord Haftar’s armed groups are retreating in western Sirte front after a failed attempt to seize Abu Grein town. Heavy clashes continue in the region pic.twitter.com/ysUgd9hZq2
Now Sources form inside #misrata hospital. #GNA losses. 11 dead ( Libyans ) and 106 injured ( Libyan and Syrian). Due to the clashes with the #LNA around AbuGrian today.#Libya. pic.twitter.com/XTE2xglFBa
Libya’s national oil company says production has fallen nearly 75 percent following the closure of the country’s largest ports and oil fields by the Libyan National Army.https://t.co/iLytiWNVK4
[DAILYCALLER] A large arsenal of "weapons of war" was found near a radical mosque in Germany, adding to fears that bandidosgunnies are well equipped to carry out attacks across Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... The weapons were found in a refrigerator after a SWAT team operation in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Ismail Tipi, a local politician from the Christian Democratic Union, warned of the possibility of more Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... sleeper cells holding similar arsenals.
"According to my information, a weapons cache was excavated with heavy military weapons in this operation," Tipi said in a blurb Friday. "The danger of arming violent fundamentalists in Germany is very large. That makes this secret use more than clear."
Some of the weapons used to carry out the Jan. 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... attack in Gay Paree came from the vast weaponry left over from the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Other busts of terrorist cells have recovered weapons from Croatia, Serbia and Slovakia ‐ these countries are under pressure from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to tighten regulations for gun sales.
"The fear is large that Salafist sleeper cells, jihadis, and ISIS bandidosgunnies in Germany get support from foreign intelligence services that are not friendly to us," Tipi said. "We can assume that the secret arsenals for a major attack are used not only in Germany but the whole of Europe. It would be very negligent if we do not recognize this danger and don’t uncover these arsenals."
French authorities found 334 war grade weapons and made 223 arrests during raids in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Gay Paree. About 160 suspicious mosques have or will be closed for radical activities in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2020 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
One wonders what constitutes "war grade weapons" in the French mind? British cooking? Gastronomical Snark O'The Day
[Yahoo News- ht to Wretchard] Saudi agents tried to kidnap a social-media star and regime critic on US soil, The Daily Beast reported. The plot was only foiled when the FBI caught them just as their plane arrived into LAX, the Beast said.
* The critic, 27-year-old Abdulrahman Almutairi, used social media to criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
* Almutairi joins a growing list of Saudi dissidents targeted by the regime. Carrying out such a mission on US soil would mark a new level of Saudi brazenness.
* Agents of the Saudi government tried to kidnap a young social-media influencer and regime critic on US soil, The Daily Beast reported, cited multiple sources familiar with the episode.
The critic, 27-year-old Abdulrahman Almutairi, lives in California and used social media to criticize the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist assassinated by the Saudi government.
The Daily Beast reported said that after Almutairi voiced his criticism of the crown prince on social media for Khashoggi's death, an "unidentified Saudi man accompanied Almutairi's father on a flight to collect Almutairi against his will and bring him back to Saudi Arabia."
Almutairi told the outlet that if he had been taken back to Saudi Arabia he would likely have been killed.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2020 11:01 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#4
Why do we give a flying fook about people who do not love us, do not share our values or appreciate our art and ideas and achievements as a civilization?
Why do we care about them?
Why can't we be content to raise our children, nurture our families, build our communities, transmit our culture and create and recreate our civilization and worship our god without worrying about the fate of these savages who neither respect nor care for us in the slightest?
What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
What water lapping the bow
And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog
What images return
O my daughter.
Security forces shoot live rounds to clear protest hotspots in Baghdad and southern Iraq for a second day, sparking skirmishes with demonstrators determined to keep up their movement.https://t.co/iV7qlf6BjB
Populist Iraqi cleric Moqtaqa al-Sadr calls off demonstrations against the US embassy “to avoid internal strife,” his office says.https://t.co/avwfLISNrI
Hundreds of Iraqi anti-government protesters flood the streets of Baghdad and southern provinces, defying a powerful Iraqi religious leader who recently withdrew his support from the popular movement.https://t.co/UCL8D2R93p
Update: US aircraft were seen landing inside the embassy compound in Baghdad, amid reports that the rocket attacks have reportedly resulted in a number of casualties, Al Arabiya correspondent reports.https://t.co/d83JBrgvahpic.twitter.com/Qim5Kumg00
[IsraelTimes] PA forces in West Bank find explosives, with ringleader said to confess plotting to hurt Maged Faraj; case thought to be linked to internal struggle to succeed the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... .Paleostinian Authority security forces have arrested a group of Fatah members suspected of plotting an attack on the powerful head of the PA’s General Intelligence Service Majed Faraj and his family, Paleostinian and Israeli sources said.
The suspects, some of whom formerly spent time in prison, are thought to be linked to Tawfiq Tirawi, a former West Bank intelligence chief ‐ Faraj’s predecessor ‐ who has been an outspoken critic of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and has tangled with a number of senior Paleostinian figures.
Continued on Page 49
[Jpost] The IAF struck a Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", outpost in retaliation to earlier attacks on Israel, the IDF spokesperson reported.
The Israeli Air Force struck targets in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip on Sunday evening following a rocket fired at Israel earlier and incendiary balloons spotted in the South.
The IAF struck a Hamas outpost in retaliation to these attacks, the IDF spokesperson reported.
One rocket was fired earlier at Israeli territory although it landed in an open field and did not cause any damage. Incendiary balloons carrying explosives were also spotted near Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border. Police were alerted and a bomb disposal unit was called to the scene. Police defused the explosives and no casualties were reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz are currently en route to the US where they are expected to hold separate meetings with US President Donald Trump ...the Nailer of NAFTA... concerning Trump's "Deal of the Century."
The American plan is meant to bring about an ending to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, yet the Paleostinian Authority and Hamas gave separate public statements that they are against the plan and will not discuss it.
A Jordanian court levels “terrorism” charges against a man suspected of wounding eight people in a November knife attack at a popular tourist site.https://t.co/K7j6seRnko
...oddly enough, in the original report of his attack and arrest in our archives, his name was given as Mohammad Abu Touaima and also as Mustafa Abu Tuameh. He was described by his loving father as a loser with a twisted mind — whatever that means — unable to slaughter even a baby chick, but recently become very religious...
22, faces up to 20 years in prison after the stabbing of three Mexicans, a Swiss woman, a Jordanian tour guide and a security officer at the Roman city of Jerash.
At a hearing open to the press, prosecutors accused Abourouis of committing a “terrorist act” and “promoting the ideas of a terrorist group” – a reference to ISIS.
Abourouis, who is of Palestinian origins and grew up in the refugee camp of Souf, was arrested immediately after the attack at Jerash, close to the camp and around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Amman.
The Jordanian prosecutor accused Abourouis of trying to join ISIS, an operative of which in Syria had “ordered him to commit attacks against foreigners”.
Two alleged accomplices, also Jordanians of Palestinian origin, were charged with “terrorism” in the same case. All three pleaded not guilty.
The military judge presiding over the trial accused the men of supporting Islamic State ideology and carrying out the attack at Jerash to avenge the death of late IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in prison.
[PJMedia] The New Year began with an uptick in slaughter attempts on Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.
First, on January 12, 2020, a Moslem man crept up behind a Coptic woman walking home with groceries, pulled her head back with a hand full of hair, and slit her throat with a knife in the other hand.
Nearby people attacked and restrained the man in al-Wariq, Giza, where the incident took place. Catherine Ramzi was rushed to a nearby medical center, where her throat was sewn with 63 stitches; despite initial heavy bleeding, she managed to survive. The doctor told her that had the knife penetrated one millimeter more‐her now mangled sweatshirt had provided some buffering against the knife‐it would’ve reached her jugulars and killed her.
During an interview, she explained that she had never before seen the man. All she heard him say during the assault is that she "deserved it" because her "hair was exposed." He may have also identified her as a Christian because, like many Copts, Catherine bears a visible tattoo of the cross on her hand.
When the interviewer suggested that the assailant must have been insane, Catherine and her sister, who was present during the interview, argued otherwise, giving several reasons‐including that the man knew and casually recited his ID number, his home address, and other detailed information to the arresting officers‐suggesting that he was sane in mind. "This was a determined man who sought to execute a specific idea in his mind," said Catherine’s brother. "There is no way that he was acting in a craze."
Two days after the attack on Catherine, on January 14, 2020, in the region of al-Maraj, Egypt, another Moslem man tried to slaughter a Coptic man with a sharp box-cutter in a public space; he managed only to slice off a portion of the Christian’s ear.
After Muhammad ’Awad, 32, was arrested and questioned as to why he tried to murder Rafiq Karam, 56, he confessed that he did not know the Copt, but that he simply "hates Christians, for they are from among the People of Lot, and the [death] penalty must be applied to them, for they commit indecencies."
"The People of Lot" is a reference to the homosexual behavior of the denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, as recorded in the Bible and later the Koran. This would not be the first time a Moslem misunderstands Christianity’s message of love as promoting libertine or illicit sexuality.
These recent attacks are hardly unprecedented for Egypt. For example, one need look no further than to al-Wariq, Giza, where Catherine was attacked for a nearly identical precedent: there, in March 2017, another Moslem man slit the throat of another Christian woman, also in broad daylight‐and also only to be characterized by authorities as "mentally unstable."
In January 2017, another Moslem man crept up behind a Coptic man, 45, and slit his throat, killing him in Alexandria. The murderer’s reasoning was that the Christian man owned a shop that sold alcohol, which the Moslem deemed "contrary to the shar’ia [Islamic law] and the religion [Islam]." There are many more examples.
In other words, these most recent and random murder attempts of 2020 are clear indicators that there’s nothing "new" about the New Year‐at least not in Egypt, where its Coptic minorities continue to be targeted for slaughter, simply for being Christians.
Syrian regime forces have reached the outskirts of a key city on the edge of the country’s last opposition-held stronghold, a monitor says.https://t.co/UN4jokgQod
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2020 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
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#1
on the road to Aleppo from Damascus
the rebels and govt fought a series of battles in 2012 and 2013 with each side winning for a time; about 100-200 combatants died in this first 'battle for Maaret Al Numan' and about 50-100 civilians
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/27/2020 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Road from or to Damascus? Well, knock me down, with a feather lightning bolt
The husband of a woman killed when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner earlier this month has fled the country after allegedly receiving threats from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence to stay quiet.https://t.co/mPKtfMlMHz
At least seven people have been killed in a car bomb that hit Azaz, an opposition-held city in northwestern Syria, a war monitor says.https://t.co/UykpljVt1u
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.
...
...
[ToloNews] One civilian was killed in an improvised 
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
[Jpost] The IAF struck a 
[PJMedia] The New Year began with an uptick in slaughter attempts on Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.
