WASHINGTON: President General Pervez Musharraf has rejected “absolutely and totally” the prospect of joint US-Pakistan military operations to pursue retreating insurgents inside Pakistan. “The whole population of Pakistan will rise against it,” he told CBS news channel in an interview.
“Pakistan is being maligned by the West unfairly” in criticism that it is not doing enough to root out terrorists on its soil and to help crush the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, he said. He blamed the criticism on a “total lack of understanding of the environment and reality by President Hamid Karzai himself”. Asked if he was “angry” with Karzai, he replied: “Yes, indeed. Very angry.”
Musharraf dismissed as “absolute nonsense” a claim by Karzai that Taliban leader Mullah Omar was hiding in Pakistan. “He is in south Afghanistan somewhere. He is not in Pakistan, although President Karzai and everyone keeps saying he is in Quetta - absolute nonsense, absolute total nonsense- he has never been in Pakistan.”
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/04/15/story_15-4-2007_pg1_1
Al Qaeda's Maritime Threat
April 15, 2007
I. Introduction
II. Definition of Maritime Terrorism
III. Historical overview
IV. Al Qaeda Background
V. Wake-up calls
VI. Analyzing the USS Cole Incident
A. Abdul al-Rahim al-Nashiri
B. Planning Cycle – Recruitment
C. Planning Cycle – Preparation
D. Planning Cycle – Procurement
E. Planning Cycle – Conclusion
VII. Post USS Cole Attack Skims
VIII. Global Maritime Trade Links
A. Weaknesses – Vessels
B. Weaknesses – Ports
C. Weaknesses – Containers
IX. Response
X. Conclusion
XI. Bibliography
Excerpted
GAZA CITY -- Three explosions that shook the Gaza Strip over the weekend are being seen as a sign of growing strength of al-Qaida-inspired Islamic extremists in the area. The explosions damaged two Internet cafes and an American Protestant bookstore, YNetNews reported. No injuries were reported, but authorities were warning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that dangerous groups were proliferating. Attacks on businesses, internet cafes and music stores have become regular occurrences in Gaza, YNetNews said.
Authorities attribute the trend the growing population of young Palestinians in the Strip and the changes they are undergoing. In recent years, young people in the area have reportedly been finding camaraderie in ideological groups, many of which are funded by al-Qaida. These groups see Western influence as a threat to Islam and are committed to a violent struggle to preserve their ideals, YNetNews said.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/04/15/radical_islamic_groups_growing_in_gaza/
Islam’s rapid rise in Russia
Monday, April 16, 2007
Mosques once almost empty now overflow at Friday prayers, from Makhachkala to the courtyard of Moscow’s central Cathedral Mosque, where hundreds of men denied spaces inside kneel on prayer rugs and newspapers
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\04\16\story_16-4-2007_pg4_13
Philippine Troops Kill 8 Muslim Rebels, Capture 2 Camps
15 April 2007
The Philippine military says government troops have captured two camps belonging to the Islamist Moro National Liberation Front, killing eight Muslim rebels.
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