Posted on 09/28/2005 8:51:43 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers said Tuesday that the killing of Abdullah Abu Azzam, the alleged right hand man of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, will have a temporary impact on the insurgency in Iraq.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Myers said the killing of Abu Azzam will have "some impact," but over time the insurgency will replace him.
Zarqawi and his group will have "to have to go to the bench and find somebody that is probably less knowledgeable, less qualified," said Myers.
Myers said that there are foreign fighters ready to replace Abu Azzam, although he believes it will take time for Zarqawi to find someone of his "caliber." Abu Azzam, believed to be Iraqi born, was reportedly gunned down by US and Iraqi forces on Sunday.
He had a 50,000 US dollar bounty on his head and was listed in the top 29 most-wanted insurgents in Iraq by the US military.
The killing also puts pressure on Zarqawi because Abu Azzam was responsible for organizing attacks in Baghdad and coordinating al-Qaeda finances in Iraq, said Myers, the top US military officer. This is not the first time the Pentagon has said it killed or captured a top al-Qaeda leader while attacks persist. Regarding foreign influence in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said at the briefing that he agrees with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on his remarks that Iranian intervention in Iraq will have a negative impact on the region.
Soldiers from a 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division patrol detained nine suspected terrorists in three separate incidents while conducting security and stability operations near Taji on Sept. 27.
In the first incident, Soldiers of the 70th Engineer Battalion stopped a car during random inspections and searched the vehicles four occupants. The men had $14,000 of U.S. currency in 100 dollar bills, and a large number of fake government identification badges in their possession.
Later in the day, the Soldiers were approached by an Iraqi citizen who told them that a suspicious car was parked in his neighborhood. The Soldiers searched four men near the car identified by the citizen and found bomb-making materials.
While the U.S. troops questioned the car owners, they stopped and searched a fifth man who was acting suspiciously. The man's cell-phone history contained a message from another terrorist that roughly translated into "Thanks for the use of the rocket-propelled grenades."
All nine terror suspects were transferred to a Coalition detention facility for questioning.
The Egyptian police announced here Wednesday that they shot dead in the Sinai peninsula one of the suspects in the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings that ended up in the killing of 67 people last July.
An interior Ministry source said in a statement that the suspect, Mousa Mohammed Salem Badran, refused to surrender and opened fire on a group of policemen who tried to arrest him in Mount Halal area.
The source said this was comes within framework of chasing the suspects still at large and hiding at Al-Halal area since the Sharm bombings.
(Al-Halal is a mountain in the center of Sinai)
Two former jihadi commanders surrendered huge quantity of light and heavy arms and ammunition to the Disarmament of Irresponsible Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in the Qadis district of the western Badghis province on Tuesday.
General Aziz Ahmad Farahi, director operations of the DIAG in the western zone, told Pajhwok Afghan News two former jihadi commanders Mohammad Nadir and Dr Fathullah surrendered arms including rockets, machineguns and light arms.
Farahi said the commanders also surrendered more than four tons of expired ammunition to DIAG, which would be destroyed later. He added commanders who did not surrender weapons would be forced to join the disarmament process.
More than 13,00 heavy and light arms had been collected from 10 former jihadi commanders and candidates for the Wolesi Jirga and provincial council so far, he informed.
(There has been quite an increase in the number of jihadis "coming in from the cold" increases as the weather starts to turn to winter in Afghanistan)
Four Afghan nationals linked to a number of heinous crimes have been arrested in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, police officials said.
Lahore's Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Aamir Zulfikar Khan told a news conference on Tuesday the Afghans were involved in armed robberies and murder cases.
Zulfikar said Bashar Ilyas Bashari and Naseebullah lived in Jalalabad, Naimat Khan in Peshawar and Gul Khan in Lahore. The quartet of suspects had been under police watch for quite sometime before they were held.
"In the interrogation process, the Afghans have confessed to their involvement in killings, thefts and waylaying passengers," the SSP claimed.
Hasib Habib Imtiaz, another police official, said told newsmen stolen jewellery worth 150 thousand rupees, Afghan and Japanese currencies, three vehicles, three pistol and two Kalashnikov assault rifles had been seized from the detainees.
He promised that the men, who had admitted to killing a Pakistan Army officer and several other people, would be presented before the media after their interrogation was over.
Security officials in the southern Helmand province Wednesday claimed arresting three Taliban activists who were shifting an injured colleague to Pakistan for treatment.
Mohammad Wali Alizai, spokesman for the Helmand governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News the insurgents were netted late Tuesday night in Kajaki district of the militancy-plagued province.
He pointed out the Talib fighter, who had been injured in a recent clash that took place in Charchino district, was being taken to Pakistan. But security personnel detained the Taliban trying to sneak out of Kajaki.
The gubernatorial spokesman, who did not name the militant trio, added the wounded combatant was being treated at the Lashkargah Emergency Hospital while the two Taliban men were under investigation.
In the eastern Nangarhar province, border police rescued a minor named Fayyaz and arrested his kidnapper near Torkham. Col. Ibrar said on Wednesday a police party patrolling the border town apprehended the abductor at 11pm Tuesday night.
He revealed the child the suspected man, Matiullah, identified as his nephew was recovered in a state of unconsciousness. But on regaining his senses, the child said he hailed from Kabul and wanted to go home.
According to Ibrar, the abductor from Kunar had confessed to his crime. "Matiullah says Fayyaz's father Mohammad Younus owes him 15,000 afghanis. And that's why he abducted the boy," the colonel concluded.
Iraqi army forces arrested on Tuesday three insurgents for their involvement in an attack against the Iraqi army in Al-Azamiyah area in North West of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
A statement for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the insurgents attacked the army forces using hand grenades during which three Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were injured.
Chechen police discovered a large homemade bomb in a car they stopped near Grozny, and there were concerns that a second car they did not manage to head off could also contain explosives, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
The police officers tried to stop the two small, Russian-made sedans for inspection Tuesday outside the village of Pobedinskoye, said Roman Shchekotin, spokesman for the Southern Federal District office of the Interior Ministry. Instead of stopping, the people in the cars opened fire. Two people then jumped from one of the cars into the other and made their getaway.
Police found a metal box in the abandoned vehicle filled with 60 kilograms of ammonium nitrates and aluminum powder, two electric batteries and two 400-gram sticks of TNT, Shchekotin said. He added that police and security service officers were searching for the second car in hopes of heading off a possible terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, police detained a suspected rebel in Dagestan, the regional Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Tagir Dadayev, who is suspected of belonging to a gang headed by purported Islamic warlord Rappani Khalilov, was captured Tuesday in the town of Dylym, on the border with Chechnya.
Operation on detention of a deputy “emir” of Urus Martan, Ibragim Tsagarayev, was conducted at the central market in Grozny, Chechnya.
During strip-search of the detainee the police found a Makarov pistol and fake identity documents.
As REGNUM was told in Chechnya’s Interior Ministry press office, during the interrogation Tsagarayev confessed that he had participated in the attack on the house of head of Roshni-Chu village administration on August 14.
Philippine marines clashed with gunmen from the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group early Wednesday, leaving two guerrillas and one soldier dead, the military said.
Marines were patrolling a village outside Panamao town on southern Jolo island as part of an operation against the al-Qaida-linked group when they encountered the guerrillas, said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of an anti-terror task force.
A marine was fatally wounded and two guerrillas killed, said marine spokesman Capt. Rommel Abrau, adding troops also recovered an M-16 rifle and ammunition.
Aleo said the troops were pursuing the fleeing gunmen in the area, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila.
Israel launched missile strikes that knocked out power to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday as it pressed an offensive to halt cross-border rocket fire two weeks after its withdrawal from the strip.
The air raids took place just hours after Israel's army fired artillery shells into the Gaza Strip for the first time since the 1967 Middle East War, further aggravating tension on the fifth anniversary of a Palestinian uprising.
Renewed violence has battered hopes that Israel's troop pullout from Gaza, completed on Sept. 12 under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for "disengaging" from conflict with the Palestinians, would improve chances for peace.
With little prospect for progress soon along a U.S.-backed peace road map, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said a meeting set for Oct. 2 between Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had been postponed. He gave no new date for the summit.
Sharon, locked in a race with rival Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of the right-wing Likud party, has hit back hard against militants firing rockets into Israel.
Before dawn, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at four militant targets in and around Gaza City, destroying the offices of a leading Fatah militant and two other militant groups, Israeli military sources and Palestinian witnesses said.
The army said it had not deliberately targeted electricity infrastructure. After emergency repairs, at least 35,000 people remained without power after daybreak.
Militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have said they are halting rocket attacks to avoid large-scale Israeli retaliation.
| Terrorist Scorecard | |
| The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard | |
| Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's New Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| These articles are also at the The Round-up Blog | |
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Everyone feel free to add their own stories.
Bump
'a message from another terrorist that roughly translated into "Thanks for the use of the rocket-propelled grenades." '
Note to self: Purge history of cell phone calls.....
Militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have said they are halting rocket attacks to avoid large-scale Israeli retaliation
Hmmmm - maybe there was good reason to clear out of Gaza.
BUMP!
one of the first intelligent things Hamas has done.
Militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have said they are halting rocket attacks to avoid large-scale Israeli retaliation
I've got a bridge in NY I can let you have real cheap.
It may have been the correct observation.
I find it hard to believe they will cease their attacks, Valin. I guess only time will tell.
I really hope they do...but
That's a huge but (with one t) you left hanging there, my FRiend.
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