Missile kills Pakistan tribal head

CNN ^ | Friday, June 18 | Syed Mohsin Naqvi

[AdmSmith]

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A tribal leader accused of harboring Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's western border region was killed Thursday night in a targeted missile strike, according to Pakistan intelligence sources. The Associated Press quoted an army spokesman Friday as identifying the tribal leader as Nek Mohammed, a former Taliban fighter.

He was killed late Thursday at the home of another tribal chief, the spokesman said.

"We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.

[Boot Hill]

8	“The news has sent a wave of happiness among the trade and business communities”

Surf's up!

When you study the infrastructure of Afghanistan, the one fact that leaps out at you is the near total absence of any effective transportation system. They are probably the world's record holder for the near total absence of railway lines. In fact, in the whole country, there is less than 16 miles (yes, you read that correctly) of railway lines. This one tiny little 64 mile railway, from Kandahar to Chaman, would more than quadruple Afghanistan's total railway mileage!

This is the best thing that could ever happen in that region, and they need lots more of it. The single biggest cultural problem that allows terrorism and a 12th Century lifestyle to exist in Afghanistan (and much of Pakistan), is ethnically based tribalism and regionalism. But as the song tells us, "How Do You Keep Them Down on the Farm Once They've Been to Par-ie (Paris)"?

Cultural and economic intercourse is absolutely vital to that region's long-term stability.

multimap.com

|

The above map came from MultiMap.com. Click the logo on the left to visit the best site on the internet for accurate and detailed maps of the entire world.

 
To orient yourself regionally, find Kandahar on the map of Afghanistan, below (lower center) and in the map above (center).

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

“Fighting has intensified, particularly in the east along the rugged, 1,500-mile border with Pakistan and in the south near Kandahar.”

No surprise there, the fighting (and casualties) have increased because of greatly intensified U.S. pressure on al-Qa'ida and Taliban forces as we close in on Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri (along the Paki/Afghan border), and Mullah Omar (in the mountains north of Kandahar). We have entered and held areas that previously were too hot. This is not a cause for concern, it is a cause for preparing the inevitable celebration.

Typical New York Times "gloom and doom" crap.

--Boot Hill

[AdmSmith]

They are planning for more tracks:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/07/30/railways.shtml

Russian Railways to Build Railways in Afghanistan Created: 30.07.2004 15:39 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:39 MSK MosNews

The company Russian Railways (RZD) has reached initial agreements on building railways in Afghanistan and Iran, the RZD's first vice-president, Vladimir Yakunin, told the Itar-Tass.

The initiatives on both projects came from Afghan and Iranian officials, he was quoted as saying.

During his visit in November of 2003, Afghan transport minister Sayd Mohammad Ali Jawid made it clear it would like to issue a contract to the RZD for building a circular railway in Afghanistan.

The line is destined to connect Afghanistan’s largest cities and to provide access to neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

[Boot Hill]

Given the recent unpleasantness between Russia and Afghanistan, that is a surprise choice to award the contract to. Fifty years ago, America would have been the ideal choice, but not today.

Connecting Kabul to Kandahar is just a beginning of what is needed. Look at the second map I posted in #641. Every city shown there should be on the rail line. Ticket prices for passengers should be subsidized to keep them artificially low to encourage travel.

But that's a plan for the long-term. In the short-term we need to kill as many of the Taliban and al-Qa'ida as it is humanly possible or no railway will make any sense or have any value.

--Boot Hill

[nuconvert]

"Estimates of the troops previously in the area run from 40,000 to 80,000, counting both Wana and Miram Shah based troops. In US terms, that's from 4 to 8 divisions, from 12 to 24 brigades, from 36 to 72 battalions."

Thanks for the breakdown.

[nuconvert]

Captured Qaeda Figure Led Way to Information Behind Warning

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1183149/posts?page=1

[AdmSmith]

Who was the one giving lectures in English ?

http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=44528&cat=World

Uzbek terrorists received training on Pak soil: Report
Washington | August 02, 2004 2:50:36 PM IST

As many as 85 Islamist terrorists, currently in the custody of the Government of Uzbekistan were reportedly trained in Pakistani terrorist camps.

According to the Daily Times, which quoted a Washington Times report, most of them were Uzbek citizens and included at least 17 women.

"Financing and training (of these terrorists) was provided at terrorist camps in Pakistan. The routes and ways of trafficking fighters to the training camps went through the territory of four republics. The traffickers provided the fighters with false passports and identification documents that allowed them to use routes through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Pakistan," the report quoted Alisher Mukhamedov, a senior Uzbek official, as saying.

Indicating that these militants had links with al Qaeda, he said, "according to suspects interviewed, the trainers were al Qaeda soldiers in Pakistan. The lecturers gave talks in Arabic, Uighur and English, which were translated into Uzbek for the students."

Further elaborating, he said: "Training included showing videos of combat in Chechnya; training in the use of small arms; preparing poisons; the use of encrypted handwriting."

He specified that the terrorist camps located in Waziristan (the tribal area in Pakistan) were run by the al Qaeda. The Islamic movement of Turkestan organised and indoctrinated these young people with a distorted view of the world. The underground cells were organised and directed by leaders outside of Uzbekistan and were linked with international terror organizations," Alisher further said. (ANI)

[AdmSmith]

That person was not speaking Arabic nor Uighur. Maybe Pashto?

[AdmSmith]

Strange name for the defense attorney "Wazir Ali Muhammad Al-Haaq"...

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031777058101&path=!localnews&s=1037645509099

Hearing begins at Fort Bragg for soldier charged in 101st attack

[AdmSmith]

Incompetence or something else: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-7-2004_pg7_25

Failure to detect Qaeda in Gujrat: 64 cops suspended from service

* Six people arrested in connection with 13 Al Qaeda terrorists

By Mansoor Butt

GUJRAT: District Police Officer (DPO) Raja Munawwar Hussain on Wednesday suspended 64 policemen, including 14 officers, for negligence of duty after Al Qaeda suspects were arrested from their jurisdiction (Islam Nagar) on Sunday.

In a press conference at his office, the DPO said the Punjab chief minister had directed all deputy inspector generals and DPOs of Punjab to keep records of suspects and all rented houses in their districts.

"We held a meeting and directed all officers to keep records, but the 64 policemen of Civil Lines and its two subordinate posts, Shaheen Police Post and Lari Adda Police Post, failed to carry out these directives and the arrested men had been living in a rented house within their jurisdiction," he said, adding that these 64 men had been suspended on the orders of the chief minister.

They include: Inspector Zafar Hanjra, Sub-Inspectors Sagheer Shah, Raja Ghazanfar Ali, Amir Malik, Mubashir Ahmed and Mohammad Saeed, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Safdar Hussain Qureshi, Zahid Hussain, Talat Siddique, Mohammad Younis Malik, Manzoor Hussain, Mohammad Abbas, Zafar Iqbal and Mohammad Afzal, Head Constables Zulfiqar Ali, Iftikhar Hussain, Mohammad Zaman, Sajid Hussain Bhatti, Akhtar Mehmood, Sultan Arif and Mohammad Arif. In addition to these are 40 constables.

Meanwhile, Gujrat Police arrested six people on Wednesday in connection with the 13 Al Qaeda terrorists arrested in the shootout at Islam Nagar on Sunday. As police stepped up its investigation on the terrorist network, six people, including Mohammad Aslam, Niaz, Nawaz and Shoaib, were arrested for suspected links with the Al Qaeda terrorists.

[Dog]

Boot IMHO .....Mullah Omar is in or near Quetta.

[Boot Hill]

To find out if he's hiding out in the Quetta area, what do you say you and I create a 501(c)(3) foundation and name it "Sat Phones for Our Islamic Leadership"? (SPOIL has a nice ring to it!). Then we can write a grant proposal for the acquisition and distribution of the sat phones and submit it to a useful idiot like Teresa Heinz for funding. Then we send the sat phone ID codes to the boys launching the Hellfire Missiles from the UAV's. Game, set, match.

--Boot Hill

[Dog]

This is a FYI

Someone on another thread mentioned the courier caught with a message from Zarqawi to Binny.....was caught on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border....

[Coop]

Yeah, but I haven't found confirmation of that story yet. Let me know if you find something.

[nuconvert]

Lol

[nuconvert]

"Incompetence or something else"

My guess is both.

[AdmSmith]

They nabbed a courir:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4380919,00.html

More al-Qaida Arrests Made in Pakistan


Tuesday August 3, 2004 11:46 AM

AP Photo ISL102

By PAUL HAVEN

Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani authorities have arrested several more al-Qaida suspects in the past few days, including one man seized trying to leave the country from an airport in the eastern city of Lahore and another arrested in a nearby town, a senior government official and police said.

The arrests were all made in the last 72 hours and the suspects were being interrogated, said the government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

One of the men arrested identified himself as a Syrian named Juma Ibrahim. He was taken in Sunday in Hafizabad, a town near the eastern city of Lahore, said district police chief Aslam Ghauri. He said the man told authorities that he was in the town for business, but had no references and could not say who he was meeting with, Ghauri said.

The man has been turned over to Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's spy agency, Ghauri said.

The senior government official said another man had been arrested trying to board a plane in Lahore with several questionable documents. He would give no details.

``Yes, we have made several arrests of al-Qaida linked people,'' said the official. It was not clear where the other arrest was made or how significant the suspects are.

The official said they were believed linked to other al-Qaida suspects taken in recently, including a computer expert arrested July 13 that has been identified as Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, also known as Abu Talha.

Information provided by Khan, as well as another al-Qaida suspect, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian arrested July 25, was a major factor in the decision by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to issue a warning about a possible al-Qaida attack on prominent financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.

Ghauri said the Syrian suspect was arrested at a bus station. He had no passport or travel documents, only a U.N. refugee agency card that identified him as a refugee and allowed him to travel to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, more information emerged about the hunt that led authorities to Ghailani.

A senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that the man had spent some time in the tribal area of South Waziristan before traveling in recent weeks to Gujrat. He said he was helped by al-Qaida ``facilitators'' who arranged for him to hide in several local houses and stay out of sight.

Ghailani is African and would stand out among the tribal people along the Pakistan-Afghan border, but he likely never was seen by the locals.

``When these people enter a house, they don't come out. They have one or two local people who arrange food for them, and even they rarely see the person,'' said the intelligence official, who also spoke on condition his name not be used. ``They try to maintain that level of secrecy.''

Ghailani is also suspected of spending time in the southern port city of Karachi, home to a number of local extremist groups as well as al-Qaida, and in the eastern city of Lahore.

``We were searching for him for a while and we were several days behind him in different cities, until the moment was right and we caught him,'' the senior government official said.

[AdmSmith]

Take a look at his encrypted documents.

[AdmSmith]

I cn nt spll courier

[jeffers]

Al Qaeda leadership is taking a major hit over the last three weeks. We are rolling them up left and right.


Regardless of whether these people are giving information about Bin Laden or Zawahiri's whereabouts, it would be wise for all of our troops and assets to remain vigilant, because Bin Laden cannot know whether he is safe or not and may be forced to make a move.