Daily Terrorist Round-Up 6/5/05

[Straight Vermonter]

One killed, five arrested in hunt for militants behind Afghan mosque blast

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces have killed a man and arrested five as they step up a hunt for militants behind the Kandahar mosque bombing that left 21 dead this week, officials said on Saturday.

Police shot dead one man who refused to stop his motorcycle at a checkpoint Friday night, as security forces combed the southern city for the suspected Al Qaeda perpetrators behind the country’s worst bomb attack in two years.

“We’ve arrested five people in connection with the bombing,” Niaz Mohammed Sarhadi, district chief of Panjwayi, told AFP. One of the captured men was wounded as he attempted to escape through a police checkpoint, he added.

Wednesday’s bomb blast killed 21 people and wounded more than 50 as mourners gathered for the funeral of a Muslim cleric who was gunned down after speaking out against the former Taleban regime.

The visiting Kabul police chief, General Akram Khakriazwall, was among those killed in the attack, blamed by security officials on Al Qaeda militants.

Dozens of police, soldiers from the US-trained National Army and intelligence agents have launched a search for the militants involved, said an official in the provincial intelligence department who asked not to be named.

The offical said the suicide bomber was part of a five-member team of Al Qaeda-linked militants who had entered Kandahar to carry out attacks on government and US targets.

“We’ve intelligence reports that he was not alone,” the official said. “They were five people. One of them blew himself up, and we’re searching for the others.”

Taleban and their Al Qaeda allies have stepped up attacks over recent months after a winter lull in fighting, killing at least 62 people over the past week in bomb attacks and ambushes across southern and eastern Afghanistan.

An 18,000-strong US-led coalition force remains in Afghanistan to hunt down remnants of the militia, more than three years after they were ousted by a US-led military campaign following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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Two Taliban commanders seized in Afghanistan

Afghan troops and US-led military forces have captured two Taliban commanders during a hunt for militants in western Afghanistan, the defence ministry said.

"We've captured two Taliban commanders - Mullah Mohammad Rahim and Mullah Sultan," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi said.

Mr Azimi said that both men were deputies to infamous Taliban commander Mullah Brader Akhund, a close aid to the ousted militia's fugitive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Intelligence reports led the troops to the arrests in Farah province on Saturday.

The pair had been key players in the insurgency in the area, Mr Azimi said, adding that Sultan had been identified by the US military as a bomb-maker.

The Taliban, who were forced out of the power by a US-led invasion in late 2001, continue to wage a hit-and-run insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

More than 65 people have died in Taliban-related violence over the past week, 21 of them in a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Kandahar. 

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Suspected al-Zarqawi associate nabbed

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suspected deputy of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been captured in the restive city of Mosul, the Iraqi military said Saturday.

Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday arrested Mullah Mahdi and five other suspected terrorists -- Mahdi's brother, three other Iraqis and a Syrian, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Khalil al-Obeidi said.

Al-Obeidi said authorities believed Mahdi carried out attacks at the direction of al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist who is the most-wanted man in Iraq.

U.S. military officials believe Mahdi belongs to Ansar al-Sunni, a group thought to have ties to al-Zarqawi but not under his direct control.

Mosul is the second-most populous city in Iraq, according to the U.S. State Department, and the capital of Ninevah province, where Iraqi and U.S. troops have been conducting small-scale raids for the past month.

This week, the U.S. military increased its numbers in the province to about 4,000 troops and began a sweep of the area, looking for insurgents who might be using the remote region as a staging ground for terror attacks across Iraq.

Insurgent violence in the province continued Friday.

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Al Qaeda Clashes Caught on Tape (Excerpt)
By BRIAN ROSS and JILL RACKMILL

Jun. 3, 2005 - Never-before-seen propaganda videos obtained by ABC News showcase the intensely violent fighting and unique difficulties that surround the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the remote tribal areas of northwest Pakistan.

It is a view from al Qaeda's side of the battle. The videotapes were said to be made last year, when the Pakistani army undertook a major offensive into south Waziristan, a mountainous region bordering Afghanistan where the fiercely independent Waziri tribe reside and where bin Laden is believed to be in hiding. 

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Afghan killer gang 'leader' held

The leader of a gang accused of killing four journalists in Afghanistan in 2001 has been arrested, officials say.

Zar Jan was held on Saturday night after a clash with police in Sarobi, east of the capital, Kabul.

His gang has been accused of robbing and shooting three foreigners and an Afghan after holding them up on a road east of Kabul in 2001.

One gang member, Reza Khan, was sentenced to death for the crime by a court in Kabul last November.

A police official told Reuters news agency that Zar Jan had been "wounded by several bullets in the clash", and he would brought to Kabul on Sunday.

The journalists were stopped as they travelled from Jalalabad to Kabul in November 2001, just days after the Taleban left the capital.

The journalists were: Australian television cameraman Harry Burton, Afghan photographer Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, Julio Fuentes of El Mundo and Italian Maria Grazia Cutuli.

Reza Khan, who was sentenced to death in connection with the murders, had told the court last year that the order to kill the journalists had come from a top 

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3 Hizb-e-Islami terrorists held in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi police on Saturday claimed to have arrested three terrorists of Hizb-e-Islami in the capital and seized 0.5 kg RDX and Rs 1.10 lakh from them.

While two of the terrorists, identified as Ejaz Ahmed Wani and Shabir Ahmed Peer, were nabbed in Nizamuddin area on May 28, the third, Nazir Ahmed Khan, was arrested from Lajpat Rai market area of north Delhi on Saturday, police said.

Police recovered 0.5 kgs of RDX from Nazir, who was nabbed soon after his arrival from Kashmir, deputy commissioner of police Ajay Kumar told reporters. 

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Suspected JI members released (Thailand)

BANGKOK, June 4 (TNA) - A former doctor of a hospital in Thailand's southern border province of Narathiwat and his three associates who were acquitted from a charge of suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiya (JI) Islamic extremist group earlier this week were released by the Appeal Court on Friday.

The Appeal Court allowed the defendants to be released on bails, worth Bt7.0 million totally, or about Bt1.5 million each.

The former doctor, known as Dr. Vamahadee Vadao, of Narathiwat Rajanagarin Hospital, and his three associates left the Bangkok Remand Prison Friday evening.

The defendants were acquitted by the Supreme Court last Wednesday due to insufficient evidence.

However, their detention had continued until the plaintiff's appeal process was completed, as ordered by the court.

The four defendants were arrested by Thai security officers and were accused by public prosecutors of having involved in illegal JI activities masterminded from abroad, including a sabotage plan against five foreign embassies in Bangkok.

The court's verdict was hailed by many Muslims from the South who attended the court's hearing. 

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Militants bid to storm army camp foiled (India)

Srinagar, June 4 (PTI): Two militants donning 'burqas' today tried to storm an army camp in Handwara area of Kupwara district but the attack was repulsed and the ultras killed, officials said.

They said the two unidentified militants sprayed bullets on the sentry post at around 1300 hrs and one of them died on the spot in the return fire by the troops.

The other took shelter in a nearby school but was chased and shot dead without causing any harm to the students.

The officials said the burqa-clad militants were hoping to catch the security forces off-guard by taking advantage of a function being held at the camp of 21 Rashtriya Rifles.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

[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

[Dog]

Mullah Mahdi

Have we come to a consensus who this is.

Abu Adul Rahman al-Iraqi .....or is it someone else?

[SevenMinusOne]

Continued good news -

We need more captures out of Pakistan - Only way we are going to be able to flush UBL or Zawahiri out -

[Valin]

A bit off topic (but when have I ever let a little thing like that stop me)

Abu Aardvark
(click on link below for more)

http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2005/06/lebanese_stars_.html#trackback

Lebanese stars start a Moroccan war
On a lighter note, following up on reports from the estimable Lounsbury, the eponymous Nancy-Haifa Culture Wars are evidently turning into actual Nancy-Haifa wars in Morocco.


Nancy and Haifa posing together before the war

After Nancy Ajram packed the house in her Moroccan tour, and Elissa did the same. Now Haifa Wehbe wants to do likewise, and Casablanca might never be the same.
Meanwhile, Elaph reports that the Moroccan Musicians Association has called for a strike in protest over the marginalization of Moroccan artists in the face of the Lebanese threat.the Moroccan musicians have had enough.

Why don't their singers get hundreds of thousands of screaming, adoring fans? It must be the government's fault! Or America's!

Nancy and Haifa company are on Arab minds elsewhere, as well, and not in a good way. As recognition of their power grows, so does the backlash.

Abd al-Bari Atwan doesn't like the Lebanese vixen because she diverts Arab attention away from the political realm represented by the Lebanese journalist:

"Qassir was one of the victims, but the most important victim is this generation of Arabs, whose intellect is being shaped by SuperStar and the culture of Star Academy and the dancers on Rotana [the leading Arab music video station], and getting their news of the world and the progress of events from the news briefs on Radio Sawa! The stars of our age won't be poets and intellectuals and politicians and preachers, but rather the stars of Star Academy and the video clip singers."

Akram Abdi, writing in al-Sharq al-Awsat yesterday, mulls over Nancy Ajram's inclusion on the Newsweek list of 43 Arabs that matter, and concludes that they were right to include her:

The American magazine did not err in choosing her, for the influence of Nancy Ajram is apparent, if she were to call for an exceptional Arab summit, the Arab leaders would come together in the blink of an eye, without any second thoughts or differences or delays, and would sign agreements by consensus.

She goes so far as to say that the American way of thinking is no different from the "Ajrami" logic, and declares Nancy Ajram the 'woman of her era': a superficial, consumer era where the trivial dominates and nothing of consequence can be done. The Arab youth is 'targeted', as they are transformed into a 'video clip generation'.. and a MacDonalds generation.. and Adidas and Nike.

Man... that's a lot to lay on Nancy. Globalization, political alienation, the struggles of the Arab media, American hegemony... all from Haifa's red dress?



Haifa: the red dress of globalization, the plunging neckline of American hegemony

[Deetes]

I wonder if we will get to see these ABC terrorist training videos .... Or if they will be put in the vault with all the other unseen videos (911 etc....) I think we can handle it...

Oh cool new logo !!! No terrorist !! Kill terrorists!!!

[Cap Huff]

"Mahdi Moussa al-Jabouri" is another name I've seen. I may have missed an earlier posting, but I saw this here:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8107665/

"News of Abu Raad's arrests comes one day after Iraqi police announced the capture of another prominent Mosul-based militant, Mahdi Moussa al-Jabouri, also known as Mullah Mahdi, the purported head of the Mosul cell of feared terror group Ansar al-Sunnah Army."

[Coop]

A very good report, with the exception of Thailand releasing those goons.

[Dog]

al-Jabouri

Cap I remember seeing this name before while researching Omar Hadid. I can't remember where I saw it.

[Cap Huff]

I think there is another "al-Jabburi" (slightly different spelling) listed on one of SV's lists. Other parts of name were completely different.

[Cap Huff]

From the Centcom most wanted:

Ibrahim Yusif Turki al-Jabburi Insurgent leader in the Mosul area At Large $50,000

[Straight Vermonter]

The name thing makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes.