Posted on 08/24/2005 11:22:34 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
VATICAN THREATENED BY AL-QAEDA
STAY ANGRY
Iraqi Soldiers, U.S. Marines Kill Two Attacking Insurgents (Plus Iraqis reporting weapons caches)
Iraqi soldiers and coalition forces killed two insurgents who attacked them in the town of Hit, Iraq, Aug. 22, Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq officials said. The joint patrol of Iraqi soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment were on a dismounted security patrol when they were attacked.
The troops fired two warning shots into the grill and the deck on the driver's side of a truck that was speeding toward them. The truck driver crouched down while the passenger fired a weapon at the patrol. At that point the joint patrol fired small arms at the vehicle, causing the vehicle to stop about 100 feet past the patrol.
Upon searching the vehicle, soldiers found two dead men and recovered one AK-47 automatic rifle and several spent 7.62 mm casings. The passenger tested positive for gunpowder residue.
In other news, a citizen informant led Iraqi police to a large weapons cache in the Zohour district of Baghdad Aug. 22, officials said. When police arrived at the location pointed out by the informant, they uncovered 68 mortar rounds buried in a field and delivered them to a local police station.
Officials said this marks the second time in two days that a significant cache was found in the same area. Thirty-two mortar rounds were discovered there on Aug. 21.
Elsewhere, Iraqi Police Service officers delivered two 120 mm rounds of unexploded ordnance they had found on patrol to a police station in Mosul Aug. 22. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team removed the munitions for later disposal.
(Compiled from Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)
Commander: Taliban recruiting at schools
By Daniel Cooney
SHARAN BASE, Afghanistan --Taliban rebels are emptying Islamic boarding schools of students in a desperate drive to recruit fighters, including teenage boys, before next month's legislative elections, the U.S. military's operational commander in Afghanistan told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
But Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya said that despite the rebel threat and a spike in U.S. casualties in a spate of attacks, the 20,000 American forces in Afghanistan are enough to safeguard the polls, the next key step toward democracy.
He said the increase in American troops being killed -- 66 so far in 2005, making it the deadliest year for American forces in the country since they ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001 -- was a result of a dramatic jump in the number of U.S. patrols and operations against militants.
"We are out there patrolling more, therefore we are more susceptible to enemy attacks," he said while visiting a U.S. base next to the town of Sharan, in volatile eastern Paktika province. "If we are going to truly disrupt the enemy all the way through the elections and keep him off balance, we are going to have to continue these operations."
(This no-brainer seems to have escaped the MSM . I'm glad to finally see the point made.)
Six Taliban killed in raid on Afghan bomb store
KABUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. and Afghan government soldiers killed six suspected Taliban militants and seized bombs in a raid on a rebel storehouse, a provincial official said on Wednesday. The violence in the southern province of Zabul was the latest in a surge of trouble in the run-up to Sept. 18 elections.
"They wanted to carry out terrorist attacks with these remote-control bombs," Gulab Shah Alikhil, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said of the six militants killed and the explosives seized in the Monday raid.
About 30,000 U.S.-led and NATO troops are in Afghanistan trying to defeat Taliban insurgents and ensure security for next month's parliamentary and provincial elections.
About 1,000 people, most of them Taliban fighters, have been killed in clashes, ambushes and blasts this year.
U.S. forces have suffered 47 deaths in combat in Afghanistan over the same time, their worst casualty rate in the country since arriving in late 2001 to force the Taliban from power.
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned the recent increase in militant attacks and Jean Arnault, special U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, said quelling violence remained a distant goal for millions of Afghans.
Despite the violence, Afghan government and U.S. officials say the vote, the country's next big step on a difficult path to stability, will not be disrupted.
Prominent Islamic Cleric Among Those Detained in Bangladesh Bombings
By Anjana Pasricha
Police in Bangladesh have detained a prominent Islamic leader in connection with the wave of bombings that hit the country last week. Police say Moulana Fariduddin Masud, 60, was taken off a Dubai-bound flight at Dhaka's international airport late Monday. They are interrogating him about the almost simultaneous explosions from more than 430 crude bombs that ripped through towns and cities across the country last week.
The authorities said the attacks seemed aimed at spreading panic rather than causing major damage, but two people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
The detained cleric established several Islamic charity organizations after he quit as director of the country's state-run Islamic Foundation four years ago. Police suspect these organizations may have links to a banned group that has been named as the prime suspect in the blasts, the Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin. Leaflets found at some places where the blasts occurred bore the group's name, and warned of "direct action" if the government fails to establish Islamic rule in the predominantly Muslim country, which is governed by secular laws.
A security analyst in Dhaka, former Brigadier General Sakhawat Hossain, said the police are not sure the bombers are still in Bangladesh. "So far as the law enforcing agencies are concerned, there seems to be a bit of seriousness about getting hold of as many people as they could and get[ting] into the important personalities," he said. "The doubt is whether they are within the country."
Police say they are also searching for the head of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Sheikh Abdur Rehman, who they believe masterminded the attacks. There is speculation that he, too, may have left the country.
Officials say they have arrested 150 people after nationwide searches that included raids on many Islamic seminaries, or madrassas. Most of those arrested are suspected of planting bombs.
Last week's bombings were the latest in a series of bomb and grenade attacks that have targeted Muslim shrines, movie houses and political rallies in Bangladesh in the last two years. The new bombings prompted demands from across the country that the government crack down on Islamic extremism.
Hizbul Mujahideen militant arrested in Patna
Anand Mohan Sahay
A joint team of Delhi and Patna police personnel has arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen militant Virendra Kumar Singh in Patna. Police officials said arrested Hizbul militant Singh would be taken to Delhi for interrogation on Tuesday.
A senior police officer told rediff.com that police have evidence to prove that Singh was working for Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmir based terrorist group."Singh's name figures in the finance dealing of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Delhi," the official said.
The joint police team after getting intelligence information raided a radio station and arrested Singh on Monday night.
Patna Superintendent of Police R K Rathi said a warrant in connection with terrorist activities has been pending against Singh with the Delhi police. Police suspect that Singh arrived in Patna on Sunday to supply a consignment of fake currency notes to some traders from Gujarat.
Singh is a resident of a village in Bhojpur district in Bihar. He used to regularly visit Patna to meet his brother who runs a school in Rajendra Nagar.
Top Lashkar militant held in Delhi
NEW DELHI, Aug. 23. — Delhi police today arrested a top Lashkar-e-Taiyaba militant, who is the main accused in Sai Baba temple blast in Hyderabad in 2002 and also helped an accused in the American Center attack in Kolkata, Amir Raza, to enter Pakistan via Dubai, police said today.
Abu Razak Masood, the outfit’s chief coordinator in Dubai, was arrested from Zakir Nagar area of south Delhi, police said. He was picked up near Batra hospital, where he was planning to meet one of his associates, a senior police officer stated. The accused was living in Zakir Nagar area of south Delhi for the past few days.
Masood, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, had come to the country a fortnight back, an officer said, adding that the accused motivated people in Dubai to join militancy.
BRITAIN: GROUNDS FOR DEPORTATION ANNOUNCED
London, 24 August (AKI) - The British home secretary Charles Clarke has issued a list of "unacceptable behaviour" which is considered grounds for deportation or exclusion from the UK. The list includes behaviour which threatens national security, public order or the rule of law, such as provoking or glorifying terrorism. The list is the result of a review of the home secretary's powers to exclude and deport people, which Clarke ordered immediately after the July 7 attacks in London, which killed 56 people, including the bombers.
Human rights groups have warned that those deported could face torture in the countries they are sent to, but British prime minister Tony Blair has justified the tighter anti-terror measures, saying that "the rules of the game" changed following the attacks in London.
"Individuals who seek to create fear, distrust and division in order to stir up terrorist activity will not be tolerated by the government or by our communities," Clarke said, while publishing the results of the review. "By publishing the list today I make it absolutely clear that these are unacceptable behaviours and will be the grounds for deporting and excluding such individuals from the UK."
A database will also be set up as part of efforts to crack down on clerics branded "preachers of intolerance and hatred". The database will list foreign-born nationals accused of encouraging terrorism, who will then face automatic vetting before they are allowed back into Britain. Other examples of the 'unacceptable behaviour' which will lead to deportation include radical preaching and publishing websites and articles intended to encourage terrorism.
Clarke already banned one such radical cleric - Omar Bakri Mohammed - several days after he travelled from Britain to Lebanon, amid speculation that he was being investigated for treason.
Clarke issued his list just one day after the UN expert on human rights, Manfred Nowak, urged the UK not to deport anyone to a country where they are at risk of torture. The British government says it is still securing assurances from certain countries that no-one deported there will be mistreated, as it is obliged to do as a signatory of the UN Convention against Torture.
However, in a statement, Nowak, who is special rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights, said: "The fact that such assurances are sought shows in itself that the sending country perceives a serious risk of the deportee being subjected to torture or ill treatment upon arrival in the receiving country."
AFGHANISTAN: OSAMA BIN LADEN REPORTED INJURED
Kabul, 24 August (AKI) - Osama bin Laden has been wounded in Afghanistan, according to two different reports carried by various Islamic websites. Referring to the al-Qaeda leader as Abu Abdullah, the second message, which appeared on Wednesday, said: "Mullah Ahmadi, military leader of the Badr brigades, which form part of the al-Qaeda organisation in Afghanistan, has confirmed that Sheikh Abu Abdullah has been injured in his left leg."
It follows a previous message on several Islamic websites saying the fugitive terrorist leader was injured while taking part in an attack on a Spanish military base in Afghanistan.
The second message relaying the news is titled "Confirmation of the injury of Sheikh Abu Abdullah in the Al-Khulud expedition" and adds other details, specifying that the injury was to the left leg and claiming it was sustained "when the Sheikh went out onto the battlefield to lead the expedition during which the Spanish base was attacked and which was named the Al-Khulud expedition."
"The source has promised to broadcast soon a video of the expedition, which lasted four hours," the message continues, before concluding: "Therefore we ask Allah to heal the Sheikh and make him well again. Don't be miserly in praying for him."
Last week a Spanish helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing all 17 military personnel on board. Another helicopter taking part in the same training exercise made an emergency landing following the crash, injuring several other Spanish soldiers. Spain has dispatched additional troops to replace those killed and injured, but there has been no report of a subsequent attack on a Spanish base in Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN: ISLAMIC SCHOOLS COY ABOUT THEIR BOOKS (Finances)
Syed Saleem Shahzad
Karachi, 24 August (AKI) - A November 30 deadline for Islamic madrassas schools to register with the state risks not being met because of many madrassas' reluctance to have their financial records scrutinised and to reveal the source of their income. Last week, Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, issued an ordinance that the country's estimated 1,882 seminaries or madrassas be registered with the state. That decision - together with an expulsion order for foreign students - was prompted by reports that suspects in the deadly 7 July London bombings may have received training at Pakistani madrassas.
But now an agreement between Musharraf and two of the country's most important Islamic leaders - the leader of opposition of Parliament's lower house, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Hanif Jalundari, who heads the alliance of religious education boards that paved the way for the madrassas' registration, appears to be in jeopardy.
This because oposition to the ordinance by some members of the religious education boards has brought the madrassas registration process to a standstill, government sources say. The main issue is that the madressas are not ready to reveal their financial records, believing that once the government has identified their donors, it can exert pressure on them. But another sticking-point is the government's refusal to postpone the expulsion order for foreign students until they have completed the courses for which they are currently registered.
Prosecutors demand death for Australian Embassy bomber
Indonesian prosecutors on Tuesday asked for the death sentence for one of the Australian Embassy bombers, saying he was a key planner in the attack that killed 11 people and showed no remorse for his actions. Abdul Hassan, a 34-year-old worker at a state-owned agriculture firm, also is accused of buying bomb-making material and hiding the attack's masterminds Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top, who remain on the run.
Hassan has said that the victims of the September 2004 blast, all of whom were Indonesian, were killed because of "Allah's will." The dead were either passers-by, people queuing up to enter the heavily fortified mission or security guards. "During the trial, he never expressed regret about what he had done," prosecutor Jeffri Huwae told the court. "His actions caused the death of innocent people and threatened national stability, and there are not any factors which could ease his sentence. He deserves to get the maximum sentence of death."
Hassan has been on trial for about two weeks and a verdict is expected sometime next month.
Hassan, the second embassy bomber to face a death sentence, told reporters that prosecutors were pressured by unnamed foreign countries to recommend a tough verdict. His lawyer, Novanda Kurniawan, insisted her client knew nothing of the bomb plot.
"My client was only a messenger," Kurniawan said. "He knew nothing about the plan when other suspects asked him for help."
Police have arrested six suspects in the attack, which was blamed on the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group. All six are being tried separately. Two have already been sentenced to 3 1/2 years and 4 1/2 years respectively.
(Since Indonesia has chosen to merely give a slap on the wrist to terrorists operating in their country it is only right that foreign countries should pressure them to give the death penalty.)
Police arrest alleged al-Qaeda member
LAHORE: Lahore Police on Tuesday claimed arresting an alleged member of al- Qaeda Muhammad Afzal Phatan within jurisdiction of Race Course police station on Tuesday.
According to police sources Muhammad Afzal Phatan, residence of Abbottabad has some links with the al-Qaeda outfit and the suspect is said to be involved in different terrorist activities in the country.
While a terrorism case has also been registered against him in the Khairpur police station. Earlier, a case registered against him under article 337/L in November 2003 in the said Khaipur police station.
Race Course police station informed the Khairpur police in this regard and probably the accused would also be handed over to Khairpur police within next two days.
Indeed....my point exactly. We are indeed winning, but don't ever hear it, except from a few sources.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.