The Daily Terrorist Round-Up 8/29/05 (Some good ones today)

[Straight Vermonter]

Terrorists use landmines against Egypt's police in Sinai Mountains

Stay Angry

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Three North African terrorists killed in Mosul

BAGHDAD , Iraq – Three North African terrorists were killed during security operations in northern Mosul August 27th. Tips from concerned citizens and recently acquired intelligence led Multi-National forces to the safe house where they found and killed the foreign terrorists.

· Abu Mujahir, Tunisian, was a facilitator of foreign fighters and foreign suicide bombers in the Mosul area. He is also alleged to have received and dispersed money from Abu Khallad to finance fighters under his control. Abu Khallad's death at the hands of Coalition forces was officially reported on August 27th.

· Abu Dur , Algerian, was subordinate to Abu Muhajir and helped him to direct foreign fighters as well as numerous bombing attacks in the Mosul area.

· Abu Uthman , Algerian, another subordinate of Abu Muhajir and a foreign fighter facilitator.

“The killing of these foreign terrorists and capture and killing of more than 100 other foreign fighters during the last six months in the Mosul area continues to demonstrate the coalition's success in disrupting of the Al-Qaida in Iraq (AQIZ) terrorist network and those who support them,” said Col. Billy J. Buckner, Multi-national Corps spokesman.

The safe house where the incident occurred was used to hide foreign fighters from local Iraqis. As Coalition forces approached the house, they were fired on by the terrorists. Coalition forces immediately returned fire and killed all three individuals.

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Taliban commander killed in Afghan clash: U.S

U.S. forces have killed a senior Taliban commander responsible for a spate of attacks in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday. The man, identified as Payenda Mohammed, was in command of more than 150 Taliban fighters in Uruzgan province. He was killed along with three of his men in a battle last week, a U.S. military spokesman said.

"He was known for conducting rocket attacks, ambushes, guerrilla-style attacks and setting up illegal checkpoints," Colonel Jim Yonts told a briefing.

Taliban insurgents are battling the government army and about 20,000 U.S. troops across a rugged swathe of south and east Afghanistan. About 1,000 people have been killed in violence this year, most of them militants, but including 48 U.S. soldiers.

The governor of Uruzgan province, Jan Mohammad Khan, said Payenda Mohammed was one of the main Taliban commanders in the province and he had been responsible for numerous attacks.

Fifteen Taliban fighters were wounded in the clash in Kandahar province last Wednesday, Yonts said. U.S. A-10 aircraft and attack helicopters were called in after the insurgents took up positions in some caves. Vehicles and weapons were later found in the caves, he said.

In a separate clash, six Taliban fighters were killed in a battle with police in Zabul province in the south on Sunday, a provincial official said.

Six policemen were hurt when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine near the southern border town of Spin Boldak, also on Sunday night, a police officer said.

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Ramadi-based terrorists captured

ABU JABBAR Pre-detainment photo of Abu Jabbar, a terrorist and member of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQIZ) who was captured in Ramadi on August 27th by Coalition forces.

Abu Jabbar

Multi-national forces raided a suspected terrorist hideout in Ramadi Aug. 23 and captured a pair of known terrorists based in Ramadi.

Captured were Durayd Jassar Khalifah Hamud (aka Abu Jabbar), a known terrorist leader and weapons dealer for the Nu’man Brigade and Ali Husayn Muhammad Jasim, (aka Khalid Nazal or Abu Umar), a known IED cell leader in the Nu’man Brigade.

Multiple intelligence sources led Multi-national forces to Abu Jabbar’s and Khalid Nazal’s Ramadi location. Multi-national forces raided the location and detained them without incident.

Abu Jabbar, a key al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in the Ramadi-based Nu’man Brigade, is alleged to have facilitated the purchase, transportation and distribution of weapons for the brigade.

Khalid Nazal was an IED Cell leader who was responsible for numerous IED attacks the Ramadi area.

Source : MULTI-NATIONAL CORPS-IRAQ

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Defence Ministry claims killing 18 Taliban in south

KABUL/KANDAHAR, August 28(Online): The Defence Ministry claimed the Afghan and US-led coalition forces had killed 18 militants in the southern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces.

The ministry's spokesman Zahir Azimi told Pajhwok Afghan News that 10 militants were gunned down following joint operations by the Afghan National Army and the coalition forces in the Ghorak and Khakrez districts of the Kandahar province.

Azimi said the operation started in the morning and continued till Thursday evening. He said one car and a motorcycle were also captured during the crackdown.

The same day, Azimi added, three Taliban fighters were killed and two others captured in a clash that occurred some 30 kilometres from the provincial capital Tirinkot. In another encounter in the Chora district of Uruzgan, the Afghan and coalition forces killed five fighters and arrested two others. Five Ak-47 assault rifles and one rocket have also been recovered from the arrested militants.

Taliban purported spokesman Latifullah Hakimi confirmed the clashes but rejected the Defence Ministry's claims regarding the killing and capturing of the Taliban as baseless.

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Militant killed, another wounded in Kirkuk explosion (Work Accident)

BAGHDAD, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- A militant was killed on Saturday and another wounded when an explosive device they were preparing blew up at their home in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, said an Iraqi police source.

The source added that the wounded militant was taken to hospital for treatment, adding that weapons and explosives were confiscated from the site.

More..

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Saudi Arabia details raids on militants

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Security authorities on Friday announced the arrest of 41 suspected militants, including those captured during a series of simultaneous raids earlier this month in which al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia was killed.

< snip >

Saudi authorities in their statement identified for the first time the two other militants slain during multiple raids in both cities.

One was 29-year-old Majed Hamed Abdullah al-Haasiri, a Saudi who was No. 14 on a list of 36 most wanted terrorists sought for connection to terror attacks in the kingdom dating back to 2003.

Al-Haasiri was killed in a shootout with police in the capital, Riyadh.

More..

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Multi-National Forces in Iraq declare capture of assassinations cell

BAGHDAD, Aug 28 (KUNA) -- The Multi-National Forces in Iraq Sunday revealed a terrorist cell was discovered and captured Northeast of the capital, Baghdad, and said the cell is specialized in assassinations of Iraqi officials.

Iraqi Army and MNF forces jointly raided "a suspected location of a terrorist cell specialized in assassinations and planning attacks against government officials in Al-Khalis," a statement said. The MNF statement added the raid was in the early hours of Friday and the operation was conducted and concluded quickly.

The 11 arrestees were taken to a safe location for questioning, it was stated.

More..

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Threat of Taliban revival brings Kabul, Delhi closer
C. Raja Mohan

The resurgence of the Taliban, with alleged support from within Pakistan, is nudging New Delhi and Kabul towards greater security cooperation and aligning Indian and American interests in Afghanistan. The joint statement between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Manmohan Singh, who begins a two-day visit to Kabul tomorrow, is expected to highlight the new political urgency in New Delhi and Kabul to draw closer and do more for regional security.

As an emboldened Taliban undermines political stability in Afghanistan, India’s stakes in ensuring a rapid consolidation of the Karzai government have dramatically increased. The joint statement, an idea which apparently came up only in the last few days, will reflect the tectonic shifts in the geopolitics of the north western subcontinent amidst a renewed political threat from the Taliban.

Pointing to the new dangers, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran declared on Friday, ‘‘We have offered our full support to Afghanistan in dealing with this ‘newly emerging threat’ to their political stability.’’ The Indian offer of security support to Afghanistan, the details of which are unlikely to be debated in the public domain, should be right at the top of the Singh-Karzai agenda in Kabul.

The resurgence of the Taliban is also driving India and the United States towards each other in Afghanistan. During his visit to Washington last month, Manmohan Singh agreed to support the American Global Democracy Initiative, the first results of which could soon be visible in Afghanistan.

The United States until recently, had been hesitant to support a greater role for India in promoting military stability in Afghanistan. Washington was highly sensitive to Islamabad’s concerns about India knocking at Pakistan’s back door. But with the renewed threat of the Taliban’s return, and the growing number of American military casualties in Afghanistan, Washington might be less averse to an expanding Indian security role in Kabul.

India, on its part, has no reason to back the new demands from China and Russia for a withdrawal of American troops from Central Asia and Afghanistan. India has no desire to see a re-establishment of Taliban rule in Kabul.

Meanwhile, the unfolding peace process between India and Pakistan has opened the door for some creative new thinking in all the three capitals — ideas that look beyond the traditional zero sum game in Afghanistan. Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul might see strong Indian support to the Afghan pipeline project that the Karzai government and the international community are keen to promote.

Besides helping Afghanistan take advantage of its location at the cross roads of Asia, the pipeline to bring natural gas from Turkmenistan in Central Asia to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan should help lay the foundation for regional economic integration in the north western part of the subcontinent.

Beyond the Afghan pipeline project, which could supplement the energy flows into India through the Pakistan-Iran pipeline, New Delhi and Kabul will hope Islamabad will soon offer India overland access to Afghanistan. A trade and transit arrangement involving India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will benefit all three countries, and is being backed by the Bush Administration.

Sections of the Pakistan establishment, however, appear to be betting on an early withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and a political future for the Taliban.

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SAUDI FOILS AL QAIDA STRIKES

Saudi Arabia has foiled an Al Qaida offensive against Western expatriates in the kingdom.

Saudi security sources said authorities have captured or killed dozens of operatives from the Al Qaida network in operations in Arar, Medina and Riyad. The sources said the network planned attacks against Westerners in Jedda and Riyad.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said 41 suspects were detained. The ministry said on Aug. 26 that the arrests foiled several unspecified strikes.

"Security forces succeeded in surrounding elements of this criminal gang and was able to expose their plans and prevent imminent attacks," the ministry said in a statement.

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'Overground Worker' Arrested

Security forces have arrested an overground worker of Lashkar-e-Toiba in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said today.

A Lashkar activist identified as Ashaq Hussain, resident of village Harni (Mendhar) was held at Balli, seven km north east of Nariyan in Poonch district last night, the sources said.

Six detonators, six pieces of wire, three pencil cells and explosive-like substance, which were kept in a polythene bag, were recovered from the bushes where the OGW was apprehended, they said adding he was handed over to police.

The security forces also recovered a cache including one radio set and 405 rounds of AK ammunition at Kakgiyan forest in Krishna Ghati of Poonch district early today, they said.

Meanwhile, the army troops busted a hideout in Kalaban forests of Manjakote belt of Rajouri district last night and 15 packets of one kg each containing explosives and three batteries were recovered, they added.

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Three PKK militants killed in clash in southeastern Turkey

Three members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed by Turkish security forces in a clash in southeastern Turkey, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

The clash erupted Thursday morning between Turkish security forces and PKK members in rural area of Besiri township of Batman province, leaving three PKK militants dead and another captured.

PKK has launched a series of landmine and remote-controlled bomb attacks in Turkey over the past few months.

The group took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984 and its conflicts with government forces have claimed some 37,000 lives since then.

Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a speech in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey. In response to his call for laying down arms, the PKK announced a one-month ceasefire from Aug. 20 to Sept. 20.

Source: Xinhua

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Sunni infighting involving al Qaeda erupts in Iraq

RAMADI, Iraq, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Two Sunni Arab tribes, one loyal to al Qaeda and the other to the government, clashed in western Iraq, killing at least 20 people and wounding scores, clerics and hospital officials in the town said on Saturday.

Click the picture for a large map of tribes & here for a map key

The tribes fought months ago and violent confrontations erupted again on Friday and Saturday near Qaim, where U.S. Marines launched several offensives to root out insurgents from May to July.

Clerics in the town say members of the Karabilah tribe -- allied to al Qaeda -- attacked homes of the rival Albu-Mehel tribe -- many of whom are members of Iraq's new security forces in their province of Anbar.

Witnesses from the town said the tribes were involved in intense firefights and mortar attacks in the streets. The U.S military confirmed that two tribes were fighting but had no information on casualties.

Sheikh Nuri al-Rawi, the preacher of the town's main mosque, was wounded when gunmen shot him twice outside his mosque, his aide said.

Hospital officials say they have received 20 bodies in the past day but that the death toll is likely to be much higher as tribes often perform quick burials and the hospital is in the control of al Qaeda -- leaving Albu-Mehel to send their casualties elsewhere.

The Sunni infighting comes only a few days after two Shi'ite militias battled in several Shi'ite cities including areas of Baghdad.

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Bangladesh police detain more bombing suspects

DHAKA, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Bangladesh police arrested 10 more suspected activists of the Islamist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, blamed for recent serial bombings that killed two people and injured about 100 across the country, police said on Saturday. Police said the suspected militants were picked up in southeastern and western regions of the country and were placed under the joint interrogation of police and army troopers.

"The investigation is progressing satisfactorily," M. Abdul Quayyum, inspector general of police, told local television.

Police were looking for 500 or more Islamists believed to have been involved in the Aug. 17 bombing campaign in which hundreds of nearly simultaneous blasts rocked the country. But the group's supreme leader Shayek Abdur Rahman is still at large. Rahman and his close associates are rumoured to have fled Bangladesh, though police say they have no proof.

"Of the nearly 150 now in police custody, dozens confessed their involvement in the bombings. They either carried, or planted and detonated locally made bombs fixed with time devices," said a police officer who asked not to be named. No one claimed responsibility for the blasts but copies of a leaflet found at most bomb sites carried a call by Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a group which is banned, for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim democracy.

Moulana Fariduddin Mashud, a former director of the government-run Islamic Foundation, and Moulana Abdus Sattar, a leader of the radical Ahley Hadis group, were among those being interrogated. They were arrested at Dhaka airport along with four others while trying to fly abroad. Police suspect that Mashud and Sattar, who run a number of Islamic non-government organisations, funded the serial bombings.

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[Straight Vermonter]

Let me know if you want on/off the terrorist roundup ping list

Terrorist Scorecard

The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard

Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard

Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard

Saudi Arabia's New Most Wanted Scorecard

The Round-up Blog

A million thanks to all of you who ping me to the great articles so that I can post them here.

[Straight Vermonter]

Ping

[Happy2BMe]

Keep up the good work!

[Valin]

Multiple intelligence sources led Multi-national forces to Abu Jabbar’s and Khalid Nazal’s Ramadi location.

Translation: Some neighbors.

[Valin]

Terrorists use landmines against Egypt's police in Sinai Mountains

"Security officials said they were concerned that new landmines may have been smuggled into the forbidding region by foreigners who have decided to help in arming local militants."

Gaza? Remember Egypt was the first target of the moder terrorist movement, and their decendents now control much of Gaza.

[BostonianRightist]

Anyone have any idea why the border between Bangladesh and other nations is so jagged? Or is it actually fairly straight but looks jagged because of altitude changes?

[Coop]

Are you talking about Saddat? I think I'd call the Israeli Olympic athlete massacre the beginning.

[Coop]

Bad weekend to be a terrorist or a Cindy Sheehan/Code Pink protester.

[Valin]

I'm talking about the Muslim Brotherhood. They were founded in 1928(?) in Egypt.

Muslim Brotherhood Movement
Homepage
http://www.ummah.org.uk/ikhwan/

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History
Soon after the biggest calamity happened in 1924 with the collapse of the "Khilafa", and the declaration of war against all shapes of Islam in most of the Muslim countries, the Islamic "revival" entered into the movement phase in the middle east by establishing "Al-Ikhwan Al-Moslemoon" (Muslim Brotherhood) in Egypt, 1928 [1]. Soon after that date, it began to have several branches outside Egypt [2]. Al-Ikhwan, since that date, began to spread the principal Islamic idea : That Islam is "Creed and state, book and sword, and a way of life" [3]. These principles were uncommon at that time even among many muslim "scholars" who believed that Islam is restricted within the walls of the mosque [2]. The Ikhwan, after a few years, were banned and tortured in most of the Muslim countries [2]. However, the "mother movement" kept growing and working. Its 1st leader and guide (murshid) _Hassan Al-Banna_ prefered "gathering men over gathering information in books" [1], and so he emphasized building the Ikhwanic organization and establishing its internal rules so that it would keep going, unaffected by his absence. And that's what happened after his shahada in 1949 in Cairo.


For a good history of the modern Islamic terror movements

Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam
Gilles Kepel
Harvard University Press, 416 pp, $29.95

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674008774/002-3591591-9103239?v=glance

In this history of fundamentalist Islam, Kepel stands conventional wisdom on its head, asserting that the spate of Islamist violence during the last few years is a result not of the movement's success, but of its failure. A professor at Paris's Institute for Political Studies, Kepel clearly traces the rise of the contemporary Islamist movement from its origins in the mid-20th century through its later appearance in countries such as Malaysia, Algeria and Turkey, as well as in Western Europe. Its apogee, he argues cogently, was the 1979 revolution in Iran that brought about the defeat of the Shah and the rise of a fundamentalist Islamic regime. But while ideologies that fused Islam with political power gained adherents throughout the world in the ensuing 20 years, says Kepel, in no other country were Islamists able to seize and hold power for more than a few years, a factor that he attributes to the ideology's inability to attract both the middle class and the poor. "Muslims no longer view Islamism as the source of utopia, and this more pragmatic vision augurs well for the future," he writes. Despite some outpourings of support, he believes, Osama bin Laden and his followers squandered much of the movement's political capital with its attacks on American institutions, most notably the World Trade Center. Kepel's approach is not without weaknesses in many places around the globe, fundamentalist political Islam has transformed society and politics, even if Islamists have not been able to attain political rule. But amid the plethora of books on Islam released since September 11, this work stands out, both for its erudition and its provocative thesis.

[Coop]

Oh, okay. You're going back a ways. :-)

[Just A Nobody]

Thank you SV! ...they found and killed the foreign terrorists.

He was killed along with three of his men

killed 18 militants in the southern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces.

A militant was killed on Saturday and another wounded

al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia was killed.

Saudi authorities ... identified ... two other militants slain

Now this is more like it! Take no prisoners!

[elhombrelibre]

This says it all. The Iraqis are sick and tired of these vicious weirdos.

[SteveMcKing]

"Saudi authorities in their statement identified for the first time the two other militants slain during multiple raids in both cities. One was 29-year-old Majed Hamed Abdullah al-Haasiri, a Saudi who was No. 14 on a list of 36 most wanted terrorists sought for connection to terror attacks in the kingdom dating back to 2003."

I thought the list was 29 long, with ~27 captured or killed?

Saudi Arabia has done everything we've asked of them, a fantastic job of cooperating. I despise the knee-jerk anti-muslim reactions I read at times. Jordan, too, is a strong Muslim ally, and though Pakistan is more complicated, they have also taken caualties for us.

Iraq, of course, is presently the greatest ally we have in the region - or even the world.

[popdonnelly]

Code Pink openly advocates support for the "insurgents". I wonder where the Justice Department is?

[WOSG]

very valuable news. thank you.
Liberating Iraq PING.

[Coop]

BTTT

[Straight Vermonter]

I thought the list was 29 long, with ~27 captured or killed?

That is the old list. If you look at post #1 you will see a link to both lists.

[Chgogal]

Love your pings. Thanks.

[Khurkris]

Thanks SV - Good Job as always.

[ladyinred]

I am with you . Why aren't these anti Americans arrested for sedition? What the heck is going on in this county when these freaks can just advocate support for our enemies? And they are NOT "insurgents" either, they are TERRORISTS!!!!! GRRRR. ( :-) )