Posted on 07/23/2005 4:33:43 PM PDT by Gucho
Update: Sunday, July 24, 2005. 8:44am (AEST)
Iraq's Al Qaeda wing posted a new Internet video of the Egyptian envoy to Iraq it claimed to have killed earlier this month, after several reports emerged he may still be alive.
The brief footage showed Ihab el-Sherif describing a peace deal between Egypt and Israel, but as in a previous video posted by the group earlier this month, it did not show his actual killing.
Mr Sherif's body has not been found.
After Al Qaeda announced it had killed him, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed the news and ministry sources said it had established his death through multiple sources.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit said in published remarks there was a slim chance Mr Sherif was not dead.
"The peace deal between Egypt and Israel divides Sinai into four parts ... In one part Israelis and foreign nationals residing in Israel can enter there without any visa," a calm looking Mr Sherif said.
He was not wearing a blindfold as he had in the previous video.
No militants could be seen in the footage which was posted on a website used by Iraqi insurgent groups.
Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq had posted on the same website earlier this month a video showing Mr Sherif speaking but not his actual killing.
Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, which owns a mobile phone network in Iraq, also said in published remarks on Wednesday he had information Mr Sherif was still alive.
In its earlier statement, the group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it killed Mr Sherif because "he gave information that showed the infidelity of his regime and allegiance to the Jews and Christians".
Egypt, a key US ally, was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
The group claimed on Saturday to have kidnapped the chief of the Algerian mission in Baghdad.
-Reuters
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An Iraqi youth throws a rock at a defaced wall mural of former Iraqi president...the youth had lost several members of his family under ... Hussein.
More photos like this one need to get out.
UPDATED: 5:47 pm EDT July 23, 2005
LONDON -- Car bombs at an Egyptian luxury hotel. Explosions in London subways. Suicide blasts in Baghdad. With the frequency of terror attacks apparently mounting, experts searching for common threads behind the attacks suggest that the war on terror is being waged against an ever-increasing well of recruits, bound together by motives and cause _ rather than a single al-Qaida mastermind.
With havens in Afghanistan under pressure and their finances under scrutiny, militants may take philosophical guidance from the likes of Osama bin Laden but are largely relying on their own resources in carrying operations, experts interviewed by The Associated Press said Saturday.
"They all want to be part of this phenomenon," said Loretta Napoleoni, author of "Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks," as she explained the terror wave. "It's not like someone is telling (the militants), `You bomb on the first of July.'"
Anger over the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict also seems to be providing some inspiration, despite early arguments from Bush administration officials that fighting insurgents in Iraq would help prevent them from launching attacks on Western targets. The war has instead turned into a recruiting tool, experts said.
The constant images on Arab language networks of dead and dying civilians _ coupled with U.S. soldiers conducting operations _ has only heightened sensitivities.
"Iraq has been an absolute gift to al-Qaida," said Paul Rogers, a professor of peace studies at Bradford University in northern England. "(Al-Qaida) seems to have no difficulty in getting more and more recruits."
The attack Saturday in Egypt came only two days after four bombs partially detonated on three subway trains and a bus, causing no deaths but spreading panic two weeks after four suicide bombers hit similar targets, killing 52 people.
Magnus Ranstorp, a terror expert at St. Andrews University in Scotland, said few definitive links between the attacks in London and Egypt were likely.
However, the attackers may have taken note of the London attacks and opted to accelerate their plans _ hoping to make people even more afraid and the terror more widespread.
"It's more about the timing _ to overwhelm the West," Ranstorp said, adding the idea may have been to "overstretch the enemy."
He also said al-Qaida itself has been long been divided into two camps _ one that favors targets on secular regimes in the Middle East and another favoring targets among the "crusaders" of the West.
What's more, no Arabs have been blamed in the London attacks. Three Britons of Pakistani descent and a Briton of Jamaican descent were identified as the suspected suicide bombers in what has been seen as a "homegrown" operation.
The Red Sea resort city was believed to be one of the safest places in the country _ a factor that would have made it harder to carry out any attack without surveillance, expertise and planning. The complication involved suggests the attacks were planned long ago.
"For an attack of this size and nature to happen in such a regionally important center destroys the image of its tight security and sends a clear message to authorities that they can be hit anywhere," said Egyptian terrorism expert Dia'a Rashwan. "We can't blame a small, amateurish group for this."
A strange twist in the Egyptian bombing investigation suggested that while all the attacks might not be related, some of them might be.
A new video by al-Qaida in Iraq showing an Egyptian envoy _ who was kidnapped and later reportedly killed by the group _ indicated a possible reason the Sinai town could have been targeted, saying Egypt lets Israelis "desecrate" the peninsula by giving them easy access.
The tape, which was not dated, shows Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sherif answering questions about access by foreigners to tourist areas near Sharm el-Sheik. It doesn't mention Saturday's attacks in Egypt, but its release on the day of the bombings was noteworthy.
The spate of attacks in London and Egypt also could be seen as an attempt to demonstrate al-Qaida's prowess in the face of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at Dubai-based think-tank, the Gulf Research Center.
"They're saying this war is not winnable," Alani said. "If you look at the map of al-Qaida operations, they stretch from London to Bali to Istanbul to Mombasa to Saudi Arabia and Iraq."
The devastating blasts are likely meant as revenge for Western involvement in Iraq, Alani said, adding the message to Westerners is that "you are not safe anywhere as long as your government is involved in this unjust war."
In the longer term, the attackers seek to physically isolate Muslims and the West, Alani said. Some isolation will occur if the terrorists keep up their assaults.
"Americans will not go to the Middle East anymore. Europeans will find different destinations," he said. "And Middle Easterners will be very careful in going to the West."
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, told reporters the fresh attacks only underline the need to study the root causes of violence.
"The whole world is getting very disturbed. The frequency (of terrorist attacks) seems to be mounting," he said. "You just cannot tell these people (the terrorists) to stop."
Associated Press
I'm sure. Could you imagine the lamestream media printing them even if they were in abundance?
Jul 23, 2005 - 05:05:18 pm PDT
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Arabs signaled readiness Saturday to end their boycott of the commission drafting Iraq's constitution while the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad began his new job calling for broad participation in the process as a key deadline loomed.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former American ambassador to Afghanistan, said another priority will be improving U.S. reconstruction aid, now widely viewed as lagging and leaving Iraqis demoralized.
"My approach will be to under-promise and over-deliver," Khalilzad said Saturday as he took up his new duties.
In a strange twist, al-Qaida in Iraq posted a videotape showing a reportedly slain Egyptian diplomat discussing foreign access to tourist areas near Sharm el-Sheik in what appeared to be an attempt at justifying Saturday's deadly attacks in the Red Sea resort.
"If you seek evidence of how the Jews are desecrating the land of the Muslims, contemplate the words of the Egyptian ambassador about Jewish access and desecration of the land of Israel," said a written statement accompanying the video.
Iraq's most feared terror group also claimed responsibility for abducting two Algerian diplomats in Baghdad.
Iraqi police, meanwhile, announced the capture and purported confession of a suspected mastermind of the July 16 bombing in Musayyib that killed nearly 100 people in one of the deadliest attacks since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
Musayyib's police chief, Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Shammari, told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that the suspect was captured and two of his associates killed in a raid in the nearby town of Jarf al-Sakhr. Al-Shammari did not say when the arrest was made or identify the suspect.
Work on the draft charter stalled after 12 remaining Sunni members announced a walkout following the Tuesday assassination of colleagues Mijbil Issa and Dhamim Hussein al-Obeidi.
The committee is working against an Aug. 15 deadline for completing the charter _ considered a key step in the establishment of a broad-based, constitutional government _ and the Sunni walkout raised doubts whether the document could be finished on time.
On Saturday, however, Sunni committee member Saleh al-Mutlaq said he and his colleagues had nearly reached agreement on most of the demands set by the influential minority _ including an international investigation into the killings, better security and a greater role in deliberations.
"We have reached an agreement on most of the points, except for the international investigation," al-Mutlaq said. "We will try to find a formula to solve this problem and return to participating in the committee."
Earlier Saturday, the drafting committee decided to postpone discussions on key disputed issues until the Sunni Arab members ended their boycott. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the committee, identified those issues as federalism, self-determination, dual nationality and Iraq's national identity.
The claim of responsibility for Thursday's abduction of Algeria's top envoy to Iraq, Ali Belaroussi, and fellow diplomat Azzedine Belkadi was made in an Internet statement. Its authenticity could not be verified.
The two diplomats were seized gunpoint in the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad as part of an apparent campaign to undermine support for the Iraqi government among Arab and Muslim nations.
The terror group had also claimed responsibility for attacks on three other diplomats from Islamic countries, including Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sherif, who was seized July 2.
Three days after al-Sherif was kidnapped, gunmen also attacked envoys from Pakistan and Bahrain. The Pakistani escaped unharmed while the Bahraini envoy was slightly wounded.
Al-Qaida in Iraq later claimed al-Sherif had been killed but offered no evidence and his body has not been found. It warned Muslim nations against deepening its ties to Baghdad.
In the latest video, al-Sherif answers questions about the legal status of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, which was returned by Israel in 1982, including the description of an area that can be accessed by Israelis and foreigners without a visa.
There was no indicaton when the video was made, but al-Sherif was wearing the same shirt he wore in a video released on the Web on July 7.
A statement posted with the video said that while the blood of Muslims is spilled in Iraq and Palestine, "the enemies of God are having fun and wandering the land of the Muslims."
"In Egypt, Jews are desecrating the Sinai," the statement added.
It was unclear whether the release of the tape on the same day as the Sharm el-Sheik attacks indicated a link between the perpetrators and the kidnappers of al-Sherif.
The attacks on Muslim envoys have occurred as Iraq's new government appears to be making progress on the political front, including steps toward a new constitution. U.S. and Iraqi officials hope such progress will undermine the Sunni Arab-led insurgency and restore stability.
Khalilzad, who replaced John Negroponte, now national intelligence director, met Saturday with President Jalal Talabani, promising continued U.S. support to help Iraq's fledgling democracy.
"It is vital that all Iraqis participate in the constitutional process," Khalilzad said. "Iraq can only succeed if all Iraqis can see themselves in the picture."
In other developments:
_An Iraqi man held on suspicion of insurgent activity has died at a U.S. aid station south of Baghdad after being found unconscious in his cell, the U.S. military said Saturday.
_Insurgents attacks Saturday against Iraqi police and civilians killed at least six people, including three Fallujah police officers.
Associated Press
23/07/2005 - 8:53:37 PM
A bomb blast at an Istanbul café late tonight injured at least two people, Turkish police said.
The blast, which police said was caused by either a remote controlled bomb or a bomb on a timer, took place at a café at the bottom of the Galata bridge, which is frequented by both Turks and tourists.
The injured included a Dutch citizen and a Turk who worked in the café-restaurant, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Police said they suspected that Kurdish rebels were behind the attack.
23/07/2005 - 8:12:55 PM
Scotland Yard tonight confirmed that a “suspicious package” had been found in north west London which may be linked to the four bombs recovered in the wake of Thursday’s attempted attacks.
The package was found by a member of the public in bushes in Little Wormwood Scrubs at shortly after 10am today.
Scotland Yard said: “Explosives officers attended the scene. An initial examination suggests that the object may be linked to devices found at four locations in London on July 21.”
The scene remained cordoned off tonight, while explosives officers worked to make the package safe.
Police said it would be subject to “detailed forensic analysis”.
Peter Clarke, head of the Met’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said: “The object appears to have been left in the bushes, rather than hidden.
“Naturally this is a matter of concern, and I would urge the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious items or activity.”
23/07/2005 - 1:59:28 PM
A teenager was today remanded in custody charged with an arson attack on the home of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay.
The 17-year-old appeared before magistrates in Aylesbury, Bucks, charged with arson with intent to endanger life, and arson recklessly endangering life, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police said.
Lindsay, 19, blew himself up on a Piccadilly Line train in London on July 7, killing himself and 26 others.
A 17-year-old youth and a 20-year-old man arrested over the attack on his unoccupied family home in North Road yesterday have been released without charge.
July 23, 2005
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- As the mid-afternoon sun blazed on the Mojave Desert and thunderclouds loomed in the distance, a sleek-looking dark gray war bird took to the sky July 14 to push the envelope of flight testing here.
At the controls, test pilot Maj. John Teichert, 411th Flight Test Squadron, pushed the F/A-22 Raptor past Mach 1, opened the weapon bay and released a Guided Bomb Unit-32 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition, marking the first time a Raptor has dropped a JDAM at supersonic speed.
"Qualifying the Raptor to release GPS-guided bombs at supersonic speeds is a significant milestone for the program," Major Teichert said. "Releasing a bomb under such conditions provides a notable increase in Raptor tactical capabilities."
The GBU-32 Separation Test Vehicle that was released is the same size, shape and weight as a real bomb, but without the guidance kit.
In 2004, the Raptor proved it was capable of air-to-ground operations with subsonic JDAM releases. Other aircraft have released a JDAM at supersonic speeds.
"But the speeds at which we will eventually release the JDAM over the next couple of weeks will far exceed any current aircraft's JDAM envelope," said the test pilot.
Additionally, this was the first time a JDAM was released supersonically from an internal weapons bay.
Even with thorough mission planning and briefing, including several contingencies, by the test team and the test conductor, the testing was not without its challenges.
Some of these challenges included limited range airspace to reach test conditions, longer range travel of the weapon after release, more difficulty with the photo chase aircraft keeping up with the Raptor and harsh conditions for the aircraft and the weapon at release.
"All these factors obviously increased the stress level of the mission. Attention to detail was heightened in order to ensure a successful test," Major Teichert said.
Major Teichert credited the mission success to thorough coordination between the test team, the mission crew and the range controllers.
"Pilots and engineers had coordinated the details of the test during the test planning phase," he said. "This close orchestration allowed the test to meet its objectives as well as demonstrate operational relevance."
According to Major Teichert, the Raptor is designed to operate high and fast where it enjoys an enhanced tactical advantage over air-to-air and surface-to-air threats.
"Adding the capability of supersonic JDAM provides a substantial increase in bomb range to destroy lethal threats well outside of their engagement envelopes," he said. "The Raptor is essential to the Global Strike concept, and supersonic JDAM optimizes that capability."
By Christopher Ball - 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
N. Korea Offers to Abandon Nuke Weapons
Friday July 22, 2005 12:46 PM
By BURT HERMAN
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has offered to abandon its nuclear weapons if the two sides in the Korean War sign a peace agreement to replace the 1953 cease-fire that halted hostilities but did not resolve the conflict.
A peace pact would halt what the North calls U.S. hostility ``which spawned the nuclear issue,'' a spokesman from the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. That would ``automatically result in the denuclearization of the peninsula.''
The unnamed spokesman, quoted by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, said such a move would ``give a strong impetus'' to the six nation arms talks set to resume Tuesday in Beijing.
The North said earlier this month it would end its 13-month boycott of the talks - which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States - after being reassured by a U.S. envoy that Washington recognized its sovereignty. Three previous rounds aimed at convincing the North to disarm have failed to resolve the nuclear standoff.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has been encouraging recently about the prospects for the talks. He mentioned to a visiting South Korean Cabinet minister last month that the denuclearization of the peninsula was the dying wish of his father, the North's founding ruler Kim Il Sung. The elder Kim died in 1994.
However, it wasn't clear if the North's new demand could throw off next week's talks by creating yet another troublesome negotiating point - one that's festered for five decades already since the fighting stopped.
Most recently, the U.S. has objected to discussing a peace deal or any other concessions until after North Korea gives up its weapons.
The North, however, said its new request ``presents itself as an issue pending an urgent solution for fairly settling the nuclear issue between (North Korea) and the U.S.''
The North alleged Friday that Washington has for decades stifled efforts to turn the Korean War cease-fire into a lasting peace agreement. Doing so ``is essential not only for the peace and reunification of Korea but for the peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world,'' the North's spokesman said.
The July 27, 1953, cease-fire ending the Korean War established the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula. There have been periodic talks since then about establishing a peace treaty, but they have failed to make progress.
In the absence of a treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war with hundreds of thousands of troops facing off across the DMZ, including 32,500 U.S. troops. Since 2000, the two countries have sought to reconcile as South Korea has pursued a policy of engagement with its communist neighbor.
The nuclear standoff began in 2002 after U.S. officials accused the North of running a secret uranium enrichment program.
The North has since withdrawn from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and made moves that would allow it to create more radioactive materials for atomic bombs. In February, North Korea claimed it had nuclear weapons, but it hasn't performed any known tests that would confirm its arsenal.
The North's delegation to the talks, led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, departed Friday for Beijing, KCNA reported.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5159319,00.html
Sun 24 Jul 2005
AMID the spires and polished tiles of Whitechapel Road's East London Mosque, the rift in British Islam is all too apparent. Inside one of the UK's biggest and busiest places of worship, which holds 3,000 people, there are prayers for those behind the bomb attacks to be caught quickly. There is a nervous mood. A few hours earlier the mosque had been thrown into the spotlight when it was evacuated because of a "racist" bomb threat.
Mohammed Aziz, 66, a shop owner who has attended the mosque for the past 10 years, said: "We were not involved in these terrible attacks. We want to see the people responsible caught."
Abdul Ullah, the community contact for the police at the mosque, added: "The police are doing a fantastic job. These were outrageous crimes which we all condemn, but some narrow-minded people are using it as a reason to target the Muslim community and it is totally wrong."
But just a few yards away, there is a dramatic change of view. Outside the mosque, Muslim teenagers lean against the railings. Their trendy football tops and designer jeans suggest they are better integrated into British society than their elders, but they hide deep feelings of resentment at the authorities.
Nakib Islam, 19, from East London, said: "A lot of young Muslims are confused after the bombings. If they are on the fence between being extremist or normal then it will only require them to see how the Muslim community is being made a scapegoat to send them over the edge. The occupation of Iraq and Palestine is fuelling the anger and that needs to be dealt with if we are to defeat terrorism."
Senior Muslims have looked on aghast as four of their number took their own lives in suicide bombings, which in turn killed others of their faith. The dream of a respected, prospering Muslim community, preserving the best of their heritage while enjoying the Western lifestyle, is in serious danger of collapsing in suspicion and violence.
Blair's hope of a consensus embracing the opposition parties and mainstream Islam in order to stop future bombers looks increasingly fragile as Muslims question the tactics used to stop attackers, specifically the shooting dead of a man at Stockwell tube station on Friday. Yesterday police admitted he was not connected to the bombings inquiry.
While the main Muslim organisations were last week happy to join Blair's platform for a moderate community rooting out the hard-liners, they have now begun to challenge what they see as a "shoot-to-kill" policy. Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "We do need to hear from the police what made them think that the man was a risk to the public. It's the police who need to reassure us that they thought they had no choice. We need to know why they did not think they could arrest him or disable him in some way."
Scottish Muslim leaders have added their concerns over the "shoot-to-kill" policy. Jalal Chaudry, the chairman of the Islamic Society of Scotland, said: "The police must have had some reason for shooting him but I am very concerned because things are going from bad to worse.
"The wounds had just started healing but then there was another bomb. The community is worried. Things are happening one after another. I am very sad about the shooting in London. If the police had captured him they could have interrogated him. I feel we are going in the wrong direction no matter how much we are trying to calm things down."
But Mohammed Sarwar, Britain's first Muslim MP, has called for all Britain's communities to unite against the terrorists and praised the restraint of mainstream Britain.
He said: "You would not believe the anger in the Muslim community against those terrorists. The terrorists are trying to set everyone against each other. What we need is for all the communities to unite and tell the terrorists their attacks are unacceptable. We need a fatwa, a judgment from scholars, that the bombers' acts are not in accordance with Islam.
"But we also need to reach out to the young people. They don't talk to their parents or community leaders, they go out and face racism and they are at risk of being targeted by extremists. We need youth forums where we listen to what they say and bring them into mainstream politics. It is the only way we can deal with problems."
The events of the past fortnight appear to be exposing cracks in Britain's Muslim community. Young radicals are moving further away from their integrationist elders.
As if to emphasise the divide, some leading Muslim commentators insist that even by joining a platform with Blair, the community has done too little to distance itself from the bombings and have urged people to show the same opposition to the killings as they showed to the Iraq War.
Tariq Alhomayed, the editor-in-chief of the London-published Arab newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, said in a column: "In the last few days, prominent figures in the British Muslim community, from across Britain, have come out and condemned terrorism in editorials published in the national press. This is not enough. We expect more from Britain's Muslims: those who marched in their thousands against intervention in Iraq ought to march, once more, against violence and terrorism.
"Silence is increasingly dangerous. It establishes a link between British Muslims and those who condone terrorism and violence around the world.
But others believe a rush to condemn the bombings risks Muslims taking the side of secular governments against fellow believers. Qasim Khwaja, a member of the National Executive of the hard-line Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, said: "Firstly it is not proved that anything was carried out by Muslims. Even if they were, why should the whole community be expected to answer for it? We did not see every Christian have to answer for killings in Northern Ireland, and neither would we expect them to."
Khwaja is incensed at the suggestion that his view, of an international world government under Islam, should be viewed as beyond the pale. He said: "A Socialist will say they want the current system overthrown and replaced with Socialism or Communism, and that is seen as just one more point of view. I want the world to live peacefully under Islam, with rights for all the other religions, but with all the Muslims united, and my views are somehow unacceptable. Where is the fairness there?"
And he warned Muslim leaders about cosying up to the British authorities. "The Muslim Council of Britain will lose its credibility if it involves itself in policing Muslims for the government. That is not their role. We have intelligence service and security services; that is their job."
The Muslim divide is more than a problem for the leaders of the faithful. Even if only a fraction of young and disaffected believe they should support bombers, or join their number, just a tiny fraction of the Muslim population of 1.7 million could supply enough recruits. Northern Ireland's violence was sustained for nearly 30 years with a small proportion of its one million people.
Muslim leaders face a nightmare balancing act of putting enough pressure on political leaders to keep their credibility with the young while heading off criticism from non-Muslim Britons and playing their part in combating terror.
On Whitechapel Road, Sultana Ali, a 28-year-old student, decided on Friday that the train or tube was not an option and that she had to take a taxi through the London traffic to get to Friday prayers.
That was because she was carrying a rucksack containing some books on her left shoulder and she was wearing a Muslim headscarf.
Even before Thursday's shooting, fellow passengers on the tube eyed her with suspicion. She added: "I was sat there with my rucksack and people were looking at me as if to say I shouldn't be there. One man even told me to get off the train with my bag. It is unbelievable."
24 Jul 2005 - 00:00:35 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA, July 24 (Reuters) - Palestinian militants killed two Israelis near the Gaza border on Sunday as U.S. Secretary Condoleezza Rice departed the region after trying to save a fragile ceasefire ahead of Israel's Gaza pullout.
The militant groups Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, said they carried out the shooting in response to Israel's assaults against gunmen.
"Blood for blood and a killing for a killing," an al-Aqsa spokesman told reporters in Gaza.
Rice wrapped up a three-day visit to the region aimed at preserving a shaky truce Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared in February and to ensure Israel's planned pullout from Gaza next month goes smoothly in wake of fresh violence.
The militants fired at a vehicle near a Gaza border crossing, killing an Israeli couple, the army said, adding that they were not residents of nearby Jewish settlements. Forces then shot dead one of the gunmen.
Spokesmen from all three militant groups confirmed they had lost contact with one of their members.
They told reporters they were still committed to the truce but vowed further attacks if Israel continued to arrest and kill Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
"We are committed to calm but are also committed to responding to Zionist violations (of the ceasefire)," an Islamic Jihad spokesman said.
RICE PRAISES ABBAS'S EFFORTS
Rice praised on Saturday efforts by Abbas to stop militants but said more action needed to be taken against them, especially to ensure Palestinian attacks do not hamper Israel's Gaza pullout, its first from land Palestinians want as a state.
Gaza gunmen have upped rocket and mortar bomb attacks despite the truce. Israel has vowed to strike back at militants who may try to disrupt its planned withdrawal from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank.
Israel has killed 15 Palestinians, mainly gunmen, since a Palestinian suicide bombing killed five Israelis earlier this month. It has also resumed air strikes against militants.
Washington sees the pullout as a step towards reviving peace talks. Israeli settlers and right-wingers, who view the West Bank and Gaza as their biblical birthright, say the pullout would reward Palestinian militants.
Palestinians welcome the move but fear Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will strengthen the Israeli hold on the West Bank under what he calls "disengagement" from conflict.
Rice also urged Israel on Saturday not to seal off Gaza from the outside world after the pullout, echoing a key Palestinian demand. Palestinian officials said Israel had not done enough to discuss key aspects of the plan.
Some 8,500 settlers would leave Gaza, home to 1.4 million Palestinians. But only a few hundred of more than 230,000 settlers will be removed from the West Bank, where they live alongside 2.4 million Palestinians.
AlertNet news
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:02 PM BST
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - Police were questioning two men arrested in south London as they combed the city in one of the biggest manhunts in British history on Saturday for four men wanted for failed bomb attacks on London's transport system.
The apparently copy-cat attacks that caused traffic chaos but killed no one on Thursday came two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in London.
The two men were held after raids late on Friday in the Stockwell area of south London close to the site of one of Thursday's failed bombs on three underground trains and a bus -- the same targets as the July 7 bombs.
The arrests took place hours after police chased and shot dead another man in front of shocked passengers in the packed Stockwell Underground train station. Less than 24-hours after the pictures were released police said they had received more than 400 calls from the public.
The killing of a suspect -- shot five times at close range in the train -- took the fight against terrorism to a new level of force.
It sparked a fierce debate over whether police were right to adopt an apparent shoot-to-kill policy.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission and anti-war campaigners condemned the shooting as the start of a dangerous new chapter, but police and London's mayor defended it.
"IHRC fears that innocent people may lose their lives due to the new 'shoot to kill' policy of the Metropolitan Police," chairman Massoud Shadjareh said in a statement.
DEFEND THE PUBLIC
Mayor Ken Livingstone said the duty of the police was to protect the public against people considered to be terrorist suspects, and police said they had followed the man they shot from a house under surveillance and who had run when challenged.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was investigating the killing, as it did all fatal police shootings.
Media said police were operating under secret new guidelines, codenamed Operation Kratos, allowing them to aim for the head if they believe there was a threat to the public.
Police were sent to a series of security alerts.
Police briefly closed Mile End underground station on Saturday in a security alert, but declined to comment on speculation it was over the mistaken sighting of one of the suspect bombers. They said no one had been arrested.
The July 7 attacks killed 52 people and injured 700 in the worst peacetime attacks in the city's history. But on Thursday the devices failed to go off properly and no one was killed.
Because of that, police have more clues, including the unexploded bombs, eye witness reports and CCTV footage.
But security experts and the former head of London's police warned that the attacks could continue.
"If you look at any normal terrorist campaign through history it usually does last a fair period of time," former Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens told BBC World.
CALL FOR CALM
Details of the manhunt dominated TV bulletins, while newspapers splashed the suspects' pictures beneath the words "The Four Most Wanted", "The Fugitives" and "Human Bombs".
Witnesses told of plain-clothes police pursuing a suspect on to a subway train carriage. He slipped as he ran and then was repeatedly shot at point-blank range as he lay on the floor.
London's police chief Ian Blair said on Friday his force faced "the greatest operational challenge" in its history.
Police refused to say if the men in custody or the man shot dead were among the four suspects pictured in the photographs.
But the best-selling Sun tabloid said the first man arrested on Friday was suspected of trying to blow up the bus in Thursday's attempted bombings. Police declined to comment.
The Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, an al Qaeda-linked group, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombings and those of July 7 and has threatened to target Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, which also have troops in Iraq.
However, the group's claims of responsibility for previous attacks in Europe have been discredited by security experts.
Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed for calm but rejected suggestions that Britain's invasion of Iraq alongside U.S. troops in 2003 was in any way linked to the attacks.
© Reuters 2005
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