LONDON (AP) - A British newspaper reported Sunday that Israeli pilots were training to strike targets in Iran with low-yield nuclear weapons, but Israel swiftly denied the report and analysts expressed doubts about its reliability.
Citing unidentified Israeli military sources, The Sunday Times said the proposals drawn up in Israel involved using so-called "bunker-buster" nuclear weapons to attack nuclear facilities at three sites south of the Iranian capital. Israel has never confirmed it has nuclear weapons, although the Jewish state is widely believed to possess a significant stockpile.
Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes like generating electricity. The Sunday Times reported that Israeli military officials believed Iran could produce enough enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons within two years, and the newspaper said Israeli pilots had made flights to the British colony of Gibraltar to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office declined to comment on the report. "We don't respond to publications in The Sunday Times," said spokeswoman Miri Eisin. However Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the report, saying: "if diplomacy succeeds, the problem can be solved peaceably." The United States and its allies suspect Tehran of secretly trying to produce atomic weapons there.
Some view Israeli officials' occasional implied threats as a means of pressuring the world community to take action, building on the recent United Nations Security Council decision to impose some economic sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Some analysts viewed Sunday's report as another element of delicate diplomacy. "I refuse to believe that anyone here would consider using nuclear weapons against Iran," Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent defense analyst and columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, told the AP. "It is possible that this was a leak done on purpose, as deterrence, to say: 'Someone better hold us back, before we do something crazy.'"
Ephraim Kam - a former senior intelligence official now at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies - also suggested the report should not be taken literally. "No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to the Sunday Times," he said.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070107/D8MGLDE00.html
Men in Jordan Charged With Attack Plots
Jan 7, 5:15 PM (ET)
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Two men were charged Sunday with plotting attacks against Americans living in Jordan. Prosecutors indicted Mohammed Shehada, 25, a Jordanian, and Sameeh al-Hotari, 25, who was born in Kuwait, for conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks and possession of an automatic weapon, a Kalashnikov.
Shehada and al-Hotari, who were in police custody, allegedly decided to avenge Muslims "who suffer from the Americans" and planned to kill an American man who lived in a suburb of the Jordanian capital, Amman. The indictment did not identify the American. The two suspects began watching the American in August but were arrested before they could try to kill him, the indictment said. The two men were accused of plotting to kill other Americans, but indictment did not give specifics about those plans. There was no information about attorneys for the two men, and a trial date has not been set.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070107/D8MGN2503.html
Police find a bomb near the home of suspected arms trafficker in South Lubbock. What was already a dangerous warrant to serve turned into an even more dangerous situation when police found a homemade bomb near a South Lubbock home.
Thursday afternoon, investigators were serving a search and arrest warrant at 8806 Tahoka highway. Officials were looking for stolen weapons and ammunition. While searching the property, officers found what they thought was a bomb outside the home. The officers then called in the Lubbock Bomb Squad who confirmed that it was an Improvised Explosive Device.
According to a bomb technician, the I.E.D. had the destructive power equivalent to a large hand grenade. "From what I’ve seen of it looks like a hang grenade or larger," says LPD Bomb Technician, James Curtis. "Anyone constructing one of these is exposing themselves to danger especially when using smokeless powder. It’s very unstable."
When investigators found the bomb, it was not triggered so they do not believe it was set as a trap for officers serving the warrant. The bomb squad was able to safely remove the I.E.D. from the property and detonated it at a different location.
http://www.klbk13.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1959
Car Explosion Kills Two People (Utah)
January 6th, 2007 @ 10:00pm
Fire investigators have their hands full trying to figure out how two people were killed when their car exploded near a Maverik gas station. Investigators still don't know the cause.
SNIP:Investigators are not releasing the names of the victims. They can't say if the car was rolling or stopped. And cars don't just explode. So exactly what happened? We don't have an answer yet.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=782802
Suicide Belived to be the Cause of SUV Explosion
January 7th, 2007 @ 5:13pm
Investigators apparently believe a spectacular car explosion that claimed two lives yesterday was either a double suicide or a murder-suicide. Investigators are being tight-lipped with information. But suicide seems to be the prevailing theory.
Excerpted