Threat Matrix- Daily Terror Thread (4):

New York Post ^ | February 24, 2004 | By NILES LATHEM

[Revel]

February 24, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has dispatched the elite commando force that hunted down Saddam Hussein to Afghanistan for a new operation aimed at getting Osama bin Laden, officials said yesterday. Military sources confirmed that members of the shadowy Task Force 121, the unit that conducted the high-tech search for Saddam and his henchmen, have recently begun operating in the remote mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where bin Laden and key al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding. The Task Force is made up of highly trained Delta and SEAL commandos, as well as CIA paramilitary operators. It operates outside normal military channels.

[TexKat]

12 Shiite Worshippers Killed in Pakistan

By MOHAMMED ARSHAD, Associated Press Writer

QUETTA, Pakistan - Armed men opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers during a religious procession in a city in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 33, authorities told The Associated Press. The mayor declared a curfew.

Officials reported an explosion and gunfire in a congested area of Quetta, the main city in southwest Baluchistan province, as a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims marking the Muharram holiday passed by.

Soon after, a Sunni Muslim mosque, a television network office and several shop were set afire as Shiites rioted in parts of the city, and an exchange of gunfire took place near the scene of the initial attack, police said.

Riaz Khan, a Quetta police official, put the death toll at 12.

Samim Durrani, medical superintendent at the central government hospital, said it had received 10 dead and 33 injured, some in critical condition. Other hospitals in the city were also believed to have received casualties.

Mayor Abdul Rahim Kakar told AP that he had imposed an immediate curfew in the city of 1.2 million to maintain law and order. He said troops and paramilitary forces had been deployed and were bringing the situation under control.

"I was present near the procession when we first heard an explosion and then some people fired shots," he said. "We still do not know what kind of explosion it was."

Ambulances were quickly called in to ferry the wounded to local hospitals.

No arrests have been made.

The violence occurred hours after a series of coordinated blasts in Iraq struck major Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, killing scores of religious pilgrims.

Meanwhile, two people — one Shiite and one Sunni — were killed and 40 other people wounded in a clash between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Phalia, a town in Punjab province, about 100 miles east of Islamabad, said Nisar Ali Shah, a local police official.

The shootout happened during a Shiite procession, and people from the two sides then set several houses on fire, Shah said.

In Quetta, gunshots continued to ring out in the city nearly an hour after the killings, said Khyzar Hayyat, a local police official.

"The situation is very bad," he said. "I can hear gunshots."

Khan said that a Sunni mosque was set afire and was partially destroyed. Also, there was an exchange of fire between Shiite Muslims and unidentified rivals, he said.

Ijaz Khan, a reporter for the private GEO television network, said six unidentified people entered the GEO office there and set it afire. The office was empty and no one was injured. Last week, the network had run a talk show that allegedly aired offensive comments against Shiites.

Quetta was the site of one of the deadliest acts of sectarian violence in years in Pakistan. Attackers armed with machine-guns and grenades stormed a Shiite Muslim mosque in the city in July, killing 50 people praying inside.

Allama Hassan Turabi, a senior Pakistani Shiite leader, demanded that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf — who has repeatedly vowed to defeat extremism in the Islamic country — sack government officials including the interior minister for failing to prevent Tuesday's attack.

"This is not the first attack against us. Our people are not safe at homes. They are not safe in mosques," he told AP by telephone from Karachi.

Security had been stepped up nationwide in anticipation of Muharram, a month of mourning when Shiite Muslims recall the seventh-century death of Hussein, grandson of Islam's prophet, Muhammad.

Shiites mark the occasion with religious processions, wearing black clothes as a sign of mourning and whipping themselves, in a sign of penitence over Hussein's death.

Most of Pakistan's Sunni and Shiite Muslims live peacefully together, but small radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent attacks. About 97 percent of Pakistan's population is Muslim, and Sunnis outnumber Shiites by a ratio of about 8-to-2.

On Saturday, a suicide attacker blew himself up at a Shiite mosque in Rawalpindi, injuring two worshippers. The explosives appeared to go off prematurely.

[freeperfromnj]

I would definitely keep a heads up today. They seem to have kicked up the violence in Iraq as Zawahiri stated on the tape. Also, it is primary day in NYC, as it was on 9/11.

[freeperfromnj]

TERROR LINK TO FERRY FIRE

From correspondents in Manila, Philippines

March 02, 2004

A MAN identified by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf as a suicide bomber was aboard a ferry that caught fire last week following an explosion, the Philippines coast guard said.

At least 134 people remain missing and are presumed dead, down from the tally of 137 after three more survivors were found, officials said.

The al-Qaida-linked group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility and identified the "suicide bomber" as Arnulfo Alvarado, 33, the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper reported.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8852387%5E1702,00.html

[TexKat]

I'm so sick of these d_mn terrorist I could just spit.

[freeperfromnj]

I hear you. We are now learning that the Phillipine ferry fire was a suicide terrorist. How can you help but wonder what really happened down in Virginia....and Mississippi for that matter?

[TexKat]

Composite sketch of suspect.

Man who stole, crashed plane still sought

March 2, 2004, 1:25AM

By ERIC HANSON

A search continued Monday for a man who stole and crashed a single-engine plane in Brazoria County.

The incident marked the second time this year that an airplane has been stolen in the United States, according to the Aviation Crime Prevention Institute, a private group working to eliminate aviation-related crime.

"We had six thefts all of last year," said Bob Collins, the group's president.

The Cessna 172 stolen Sunday morning was reduced to a pile of crumpled metal in a muddy field after the man who stole it flew into a set of power lines just south of the airport, one mile north of FM 2004 near Lake Jackson.

"This guy used up all the luck he is ever going to have," Louis Jones, county aviation director, said Monday. "To hit the power lines and walk away unhurt is unbelievable."

Sheriff's investigator Chris Kincheloe said detectives are pursuing numerous leads, including information provided by three motorists who saw the airplane hit the power lines.

A few minutes later, the same witnesses said they saw a man walking toward Texas 288 from the crash area.

Kincheloe said the man told the witnesses that two other men had crashed the airplane and walked back to the airport.

"It is real farfetched," Kincheloe said of the man's story.

Kincheloe said the man was described as being very thin, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10. He had a mustache, and dark hair and dark eyes.

"We just have to find the right person and line him for the witnesses," Kincheloe said.

Investigators said they do not know why the man stole the aircraft from the Brazoria County Airport, but they but ruled out terrorism as a motive.

Collins said that in the 1980s, hundreds of airplanes were stolen each year, usually by drug smugglers, but that the numbers have dropped drastically in recent years.

"There is enough money being made that they don't have to take a chance by stealing an airplane," he said Monday.

Collins said the other theft this year occurred in Florida, where a small airplane was taken and then stripped for parts.

He said the motive for most thefts is either joy riding or selling parts.

The airplane stolen from Brazoria County was taken from a locked hangar about 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

Police said that a few minutes later, the aircraft struck the power lines 100 feet above the ground and then fell into a field.

Alicia Dixon, spokeswoman for Reliant Energy, said 11,000 customers lost power. It was restored about 90 minutes later.

Locks to 14 other hangars were broken, but only the Cessna 172 was stolen, Jones said.

The airplane's owner told airport officials he had recently returned from a trip and the key was still in the aircraft. Jones said that only enough gasoline for about one hour of flying remained in the airplane's tanks. The owner could not be reached by the Chronicle for comment.

An FBI evidence team and sheriff's deputies examined the wreckage for clues after it was brought back to a hangar.

Investigators also have been examining surveillance video taken by security cameras at the airport.

"We have seen it, but it's not very good," Kincheloe added.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Brazoria County Sheriff's Department at 979-864-2216.

[freeperfromnj]

Thanks for that update. Another story that just doesn't pass the smell test. Heading out now - will check back for updates when I get to the city.

[TexKat]

Col. Hunt on Fox News just now stated that Saudi Arabia is actually behind the multiple explosions in Iraq this morning because there is no way that the Saudis will stand for a Shite state.

[milkncookies]

Biblical' locust plague threatens Mideast
Ahead of Passover, U.N. agency warns of potential devastation

Posted: March 2, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

With the Passover celebration just weeks away, a locust plague of biblical proportions could threaten parts of the Middle East and Africa, according to a United Nations agency.

An outbreak that potentially could darken the sky and consume everything in its path is "in progress on the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia where swarms are forming," the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said.(SNIP)

[Velveeta]

The 17 page letter found referencing causing discourse between the Shite and Sunnis and the latest go signal from Zawahiri comes to my mind.

Sure does.

[Mossad1967]

From http://www.homelandsecurityus.net/: After the end of February ؛ the Al-Qaeda with receiving is on you! And the apparent the hitting will be a surprise and without previous warning and the first preventive anticipative hitting will be outside America !!!!!!!!! Definite heads up time at home!!!

[SCR1]

Is someone attempting to ignite a Shi'ite and Sunni civil war? I don't understand the religious differences, but the recent attacks on Shi'ites would seem to indicate that. How would Iran and Al Qaida fit into that fight? What about Saudi Arabia? What is going on?

[freeperfromnj]

the latest go signal from Zawahiri comes to my mind.

No a good sign that we all seem to be making that connection this morning.

[freeperfromnj]

Shi'itse also attacked in Pakistan and Kabul.

29 SHIITE WORSHIPPERS KILLED IN PAKISTAN

By Mohammed Arshad
The Associated Press
3/2/2004, 8:35 a.m. ET

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Armed men opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers during a religious procession in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 150, authorities said. The city's mayor declared a curfew.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-4/1078229344204870.xml

ONE SHI'ITE KILLED, 16 WOUNDED IN KABUL CLASH

March 2 — KABUL (Reuters) - One Afghan was killed and up to 16 were injured in clashes between minority Shi'ites and army cadets in the capital Kabul, witnesses said Tuesday.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040302_218.html

[StillProud2BeFree]

Absolutely that is what they are trying to do - ignite a civil war between the Shi'ite's and the Sunnis. No question there.

[Velveeta]

Is someone attempting to ignite a Shi'ite and Sunni civil war?

That seems to be the case. You may recall a few weeks ago, the U.S. found a 17 page document by Al Qaeda linked terrorist Zarqawi. Zarqawi's goal of starting a civil war between the 2 (Shiites and Sunnis) was detailed in this letter.

As of today, it's obvious that although the letter was found and exposed, terrorists have embraced the plan.

[SCR1]

Well it just occured to me, who produced the letter to be broadcast on every news station in the World?? Was it The US Gov? Gee, I hope not, sure would at least make us look like a bunch of buffoons, if not, perhaps a co-conspirator to the locals. Why didn't they just shuffle the letter into the Veritcal File??

[Velveeta]

Nothing like waiting around with clenched teeth, eh? We're all on the same page, that's certain.

[Calpernia]

The exact translation was not published. The memo written to Zawahiri was a 'plea' for help because they were losing their stronge hold in Iraq.

So the memo was scrubbed of any and all code words and dual meanings and released as counter propaganda.

[TexKat]

Fox News: Suicide bombers the cause for some of the explosions in Iraq. One of suicide bomber's belt in Kerbala failed to detonate. He is now in custody.