Daily Terrorist Round-up 5/11/05 (Op. Matador Continues, Terror Arrests in Philippines)

5/11/05

[Straight Vermonter]

OPERATION MATADOR CONTINUES INTO FOURTH DAY

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq – Marines, Sailors and Soldiers from Regimental Combat Team Two, 2nd Marine Division, continued combat operations in northwestern Al Anbar province May 11. Three Marines have been killed in the course of the four-day operation. A significant number of terrorists, anti-Iraqi forces and foreign fighters have been killed. The offensive is aimed at eliminating terrorists and foreign fighters from the area.

Information gathered prior to the operation about the presence of foreign fighters in the region has been confirmed by clothing, identification, dialect and by admissions from detainees. The number of foreign fighters in the Al Qaim area is not known.

The region is used as staging area for foreign fighters who cross the Syrian border illegally through smuggling routes, known as “rat lines.” It is here that these foreign fighters receive the weapons and equipment to conduct attacks, such as suicide car bombs and assassination or kidnapping of political or civilian targets, in the more populated key cities of Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul.

Yesterday, east of Husaybah, AH-1W “Super Cobra” helicopters observed three armed males digging holes into the road to place explosives. The helicopters engaged and killed the terrorists.

In Husaybah last night, half of a mile south of Camp Gannon, Marines killed several terrorists armed with AK-47 automatic rifles. The enemy was brought down by Marine light-machine-gun fire.

Two nights ago, terrorists attempted to launch a counter-attack seven kilometers from nearby Camp Gannon, in Al Qaim. They attacked a Marine convoy with small-arms fire, RPGs, roadside bombs and two suicide car bombers. One car bomb damaged an armored humvee. The second suicide car bomber was destroyed by a Marine M1-A1 Abrams main battle tank.

At a vehicle checkpoint five kilometers southeast of Ubaydi, the scene of the initial fighting and in the area where terrorists launched the suicide-vehicle attacks against a convoy, Marines fired on a car that continued toward the checkpoint despite warnings to stop. The driver was unharmed but a woman and child in the vehicle died as a result of the incident.

The driver, approaching the check point, ignored the posted warning signs to stop and bypassed an obstacle barrier, continued toward the post. At 200 meters from the checkpoint, Marines used hand and arm signals then fired a warning flare towards the vehicle, both which the driver ignored. The Marines next fired warning shots in front of the vehicle.

The driver then jumped out of his moving car and fled away on foot, leaving his car, and its passengers, to continue towards the checkpoint. The Marines then fired at the vehicle’s engine block to disable it. The vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the checkpoint. At the time the vehicle was heading toward the checkpoint, the Marines were unaware of the gender of the passenger or that there was a child in the vehicle. The Marines said they believed the vehicle was a suicide car bomb.

The driver of the vehicle was apprehended and is being held for questioning in a nearby detention facility.

Coalition and Marine Corps aircraft, tank and light armored reconnaissance vehicles are participating in the operation.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

For additional information regarding this release, contact the 2nd Marine Division PAO, Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, at PoolJS@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil.

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Shoebomber's aides in court
By Jon Boyle

THREE men accused of aiding jailed "shoebomber" Richard Reid, who narrowly failed to destroy a US airliner over the Atlantic four years ago, went on trial for terrorist conspiracy in a top Paris court.

Presiding judge Jacqueline Rebeyrotte said the trio were charged with plotting terrorist acts between 2001 and 2002 and of assisting Reid, who tried to down a Miami-bound airliner from Paris with a bomb hidden inside one of his shoes.

According to French intelligence, Ghulam Rama, a Pakistani with joint British nationality, used trips to Britain, New York, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia between 2001 and 2002 as cover while he organised terrorist attacks, she said.

Rama is charged along with Frenchmen Hakim Mokhfi and Hassan El Cheguer.

All three face up to 10 years in jail if convicted, but lawyers said their clients were innocent.

"Mr Rama has always said that he has never had any contact with Richard Reid," lawyer Didier Machetto said before the trial began. "There is no evidence that can support the theory that he was planning terrorist acts."

Fellow passengers overpowered Reid as he tried to detonate a custom-made device in his shoes on an American Airlines flight in December 2001. The British national, aged 31, was jailed for life by a US court in January 2003.

A French probe on Reid's activities in France revealed he had used a Paris cyber cafe to contact Pakistan, a trail that led them to Rama, president of the Straight Path Muslim charity.

Rama allegedly told police he saw Mokhfi and Cheguer with Reid. But his lawyer Machetto said Rama, who spoke to the court in English via an interpreter, was sick and confused when police first asked him if he recognised a photograph of Reid.

The French pair deny ever meeting the would-be shoebomber.

According to a French intelligence report read out by Rebeyrotte, Rama met several people thought to be close to al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and other known Islamic extremists during trips to his native Pakistan.

Rama dismissed the reports.

"I have never met anybody. Straight Path - we're the straight people, you know? We are not connected directly or indirectly with any terrorist organisation. This is beyond my comprehension," Rama said.

Future hearings, Rebeyrotte said, would focus on a flurry of phone calls between the accused following Rama's release by police after his initial arrest in April 2002.

Rama was re-arrested in June of that year along with Cheguer and Mokhfi. All three have been in custody ever since.

Rama is accused of recruiting Mokhfi and Cheguer and organising their stay in a training camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir run by a group reputedly close to al Qaeda.

Reid made several trips to al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan where he met Zacarias Moussaoui, 36, a Frenchman who last month pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges in connection with the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Also last month, a British man who conspired with Reid to blow up another airliner over the Atlantic was jailed for 13 years.

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Abu Sayyaf man in mass kidnap falls
By Roel Pareño

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A suspected member of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, who was allegedly involved in the mass abduction of teachers and students in Sumisip, Basilan five years ago, was captured late Monday, a military spokesman said.

Military intelligence agents nabbed Muktar Maldan in the coastal village of Taluksangay, 15 kilometers east of this city, and are interrogating him, said Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual, Armed Forces information chief.

Maldan, alias Ajan, was implicated in the March 2000 kidnapping of more than 50 students and teachers of Claret school, including Fr. Rhoel Gallardo.

Maldan was identified by one of the kidnap victims, Pascual said, without giving other details.

An Abu Sayyaf spokesman at the time said the abduction was meant to disprove government claims that the group had been largely defeated after its founder, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, was killed in a police raid in December 1998.

Some of the students and teachers were released after negotiations with local officials and Muslim religious leaders, but most were rescued by soldiers in May 2000 following a clash in which Abu Sayyaf gunmen reportedly killed Gallardo and three teachers.

Earlier, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded two other male teachers, prompting a massive military offensive.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is on the US and European lists of terrorist organizations, has since been blamed for other kidnappings and bombings, including an explosion last year on a ferry that killed at least 116 people.

Security officials say the group also has ties with the Jemaah Islamiyah, another al-Qaeda affiliate with cells in several Southeast Asian countries.

Many Filipino soldiers deployed in the South have undergone counter-terrorism training by US soldiers.

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Police nab suspected Abu Sayyaf hit man (Inside government office building!)
By Roel Pareño

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A suspected Abu Sayyaf assassin was arrested by local police here while trying to secure a passport inside a consular office on Monday, police authorities said. The suspect was identified as Usman Pilinsa, 21, a native of Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.

Investigation disclosed that Pilinsa was nabbed inside Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office after authorities were alerted of the latter’s presence. Pilinsa has a pending warrant of arrest issued by the Isabela Regional Trial Court for murder and no bail bond was recommended. The suspect was tagged in the gunslaying of businesswoman Haji Aida Kandaying last year.

A relative of Kandaying who was also inside the DFA office saw and recognized Pilinsa and alerted the police. The victim’s relative alleged that Pilinsa was a member of the Abu Sayyaf group and a gun-for-hire assassin. Police have locked up Pilinsa and placed him under interrogation to determine the accusations lodged against him that he is a member of the Abu Sayyaf group.

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SECURITY MEASURES CONTINUE TO YIELD WEAPONS AND TERROR SUSPECTS (Iraq)

MOSUL, Iraq -- Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), detained 17 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq May 10 and May 11.

Troops from the 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Iraqi Police arrested two curfew violators while patrolling in southern Mosul. Troops from the 3rd Division Iraqi Army detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation northeast of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.

Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southwest of Tal Afar. Multi-National Force Soldiers detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation west of Tal Afar. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.

For more information, contact Lt. Col. Andre Hance via email at ANDRE.HANCE@MNBNW.IRAQ.ARMY.MIL

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Pakistan arrests four suspected Sunni militants

KARACHI, May 10 (Reuters) - Pakistani police arrested four suspected members of an outlawed Sunni Muslim group after a gunbattle in the southern port city of Karachi, a senior police official said on Tuesday. The men, arrested on Monday, were being held on charges of plotting attacks on Shi'ite Muslims, police said. They were members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group that targets the Shi'ite minority and whose members were also implicated in December 2003 assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf.

Police also seized guns, detonators, audio and video cassettes, compact discs, and religious literature after the gunbattle in Karachi's Mahmoodabad neighbourhood. Manzoor Mughal, a deputy inspector general of police, said the suspects carried out at least three different attacks against Shi'ites in Karachi, killing over 20 people. "They (the suspects) were planning more terrorist attacks in the city," said Mughal. There has long been rivalry in Pakistan between majority Sunnis and minority Shi'ites but sectarian violence has surged in recent years.

President Musharraf, an important ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, has vowed to eradicate militancy and to establish a society characterised by "enlightened moderation". The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has also targeted top government officials, Western interests and other religious minorities in recent years. The group has ties with Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban and other militant groups.

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OPERATION COBWEB (Iraq)

CAMP ECHO, Iraq -- Soldiers from Multi-National Divison Central-South conducted Operation COBWEB to find and capture anti-Iraqi forces in the north part of Wasit province from May 6 - 10.

Soldiers from the 1st Polish Brigade Combat Team, the 8th Iraqi Division and the 19th Iraqi Brigade participated in this operation.

Twenty-nine terrorists have been detained, forty kinds of guns have been confiscated and explosive materials have been found. Clockwork time fuses, propaganda materials, including films that show executions of some Iraqi Internal Ministry officials, and other materials concerning anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi administration activities were also found.

Along with detainees, some uniforms which were used during executions, were found.

For more information, please contact the Public Information Office of Multi-National Division Central-South, at Thuraya 00 873 762 197 788 or e-mail piomndcs@poczta.onet.pl or visit their website at www.piomndcs.org.

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Somali warlords plan Mogadishu security drive
By Mohamed Ali Bile

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali militias plan to withdraw hundreds of gunmen from Mogadishu this week to boost security in the chaotic capital and persuade a fledgling government to base itself there, warlords said on Wednesday. An internal row over where to install President Abdullahi Yusuf's government has exposed deepening power struggles within his troubled administration, which has worked from offices in Kenya since it was formed there at peace talks last year.

Three prominent warlords from the big Hawiye clan who also hold cabinet positions plan to pull out 85 battlewagons -- flatbed trucks mounted with heavy machineguns or with anti-aircraft guns fired horizontally -- and some 850 gunmen from Mogadishu by Saturday, aides said. "Preparations are under way to collect 85 technicals agreed from three sub-clans of the Hawiye," said Ahmed Mohammed Dirie, spokesman for Osman Ali Ato, Muse Sudi Yalahow and Mohammed Qanyare, among the city's strongest militia chiefs. "The militias have until Saturday to collect the technicals and take the militiamen to four camps outside Mogadishu."

Somalia collapsed into chaos after the overthrow of military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. Conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people since then. The United States and the European Union welcomed the plan to withdraw gunmen from Mogadishu and work to relocate the government there. In a joint statement issued in Washington, the two major powers also said: "The Somali reconciliation process is at a critical stage. There is an urgent need for a viable agreement on relocation and security."

Yusuf is a friend of Ethiopia, the region's top military power, but he has no powerbase in Mogadishu. Many Somalis are hostile to what they see as attempts by their huge, nominally Christian-led neighbour to dictate events in the region. Members of Yusuf's cabinet and a fledgling transitional parliament have been arguing for months about several matters including where to base themselves once they go home.

A pro-Yusuf faction wants to be based temporarily in the towns of Baidoa and Jowhar, arguing the militia-infested capital Mogadishu is too dangerous as yet. It also wants African Union peacekeepers to deploy to restore order and help the government, which has no revenues of its own, get established.

An anti-Yusuf faction of ministers who have their powerbases in Mogadishu say the government should go straight to the traditional capital. They dislike the idea of foreign troops and adamantly oppose Ethiopia contributing troops for such a force.

Muse Sudi, Osman Ato and Qanyare are prominent members of the latter faction, underlining their differences with Yusuf by working from Mogadishu while the president works from Nairobi.

In remarks to a session of parliament on Wednesday, Yusuf urged lawmakers to vote for a proposal by his followers authorising the government to relocate to Jowhar and Baidoa. The session of 152 lawmakers voted for the deployment of an AU force of Ugandan and Sudanese troops, with 145 in favour and seven abstaining, a move that gives the government the authority to ask the AU to give its consent to the venture.However some observers questioned whether the vote carried credible political support since more than 100 members of the 275-strong body are currently in Somalia, many of them staying away from Nairobi as a protest against Yusuf's policies.

The peace talks hosted by Kenya were dogged by rifts between Ethiopia and Arab-backed African states wary of Ethiopia's sway over the talks.

U.S. investigators suspect Somalia served as a base for al Qaeda bombers who struck at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002.

[AFPhys]

If you have a ping list for posts such as this, please add me to it. If not - I'll be sure to check your post history...

Thanks for the compilation.

[Sacajaweau]

btt

[Americanexpat]

Guy jumps out of his moving car leaving his wife and child inside and they die. What a fine human being. Now he will whine to the MSM about the dirty Americans that murdered his family. And the MSM will suck it up.

[Deetes]

Um I think he does have a "ping" list I think ;-)

[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

[Coop]

Busy reporting day. Good work. I was just reading that "They Came Here to Die" article, and the amount of explosives/weapons caches the Marines captured is really quite impressive. We lost at least three good Marines, but many terrorists have been killed and countless innocent lives have been saved by their heroic actions.

[Khurkris]

A good days hunting.

[Dog]

I have been out of the loop most of the day at work..did we ever find out if the Zman is dead?

[Straight Vermonter]

No such luck...yet.

[bitt]

bttt - thanks, SV....