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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. strike killed six people Thursday on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border, a lawless region believed to be a stronghold of Al Qaeda, two intelligence officials said. The identities of those killed in the attack was not immediately known, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. "At present, local Taliban have surrounded the destroyed house, and they are not letting anybody get close to it," said one of the officials. Citing agents and informants in the field, the officials said six...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States is entangled in an Islamist web from Afghanistan to India that exposes its reliance on Pakistan as a central but increasingly fragile ally in the war on terror, analysts say. The 60-hour siege last month in Mumbai, even if it is eventually proven to have been masterminded by Kashmiri separatists, advances broader Islamist aims in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and beyond, they add. And nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has long backed various Islamist groups, is more than ever central to the growth of the militant problem in all three countries and a key to their solution....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2008 – Afghan and coalition forces killed two militants yesterday in the Nar Surkh district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, military officials reported. Militants using an illegal checkpoint attacked the combined forces with small-arms fire. Forces responded with small-arms and heavy-weapons fire, killing two militants. “The Afghan national security forces continue to take charge and provide security to the Afghan people in Helmand province,” Army Col. Jerry O’Hara, a U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesman, said. “The ANSF are leading from the front and defending their country against those who rule by intimidation, hide among women and throw acid at...

The U.S. military and NATO received a rude awakening this weekend after Taliban military units raided three separate terminals in Peshawar. More than 200 Humvees and trucks carrying supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan were destroyed in the attacks, which took place over the course of two days. In the largest attack, a Taliban force of abut 200 to 300 men – a company in military terms – rampaged in one shipping terminal for 40 minutes before the security forces responded. The Pakistani military has promised to protect the supply columns, but no forces were in sight during the attacks.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2008 – Afghan and coalition forces killed six militants during a security patrol yesterday in the Sangin district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, military officials reported. The combined forces positively identified an armed enemy reconnaissance element posing an imminent threat to the patrol and engaged it with small-arms fire, killing two militants. In a separate incident, the combined forces received small-arms fire from militants in a concealed position along the patrol route. Troops responded with small-arms fire and killed four militants. Coalition forces found and destroyed two roadside bombs in separate locations on the route, a road frequently...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2008 – The pending deployment of thousands of additional U.S. troops and extra equipment to Afghanistan in tandem with a streamlined command structure will boost the campaign to win the war there, a senior U.S. officer posted in Afghanistan said today. “We are certainly optimistic,” said Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, who wears two hats as a senior operations staff officer for both NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. “There’s no doubt in our mind that we can win and will win this fight,” Tucker told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference....

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 4, 2008 – Coalition forces killed two armed Taliban militants and detained three others during an operation to disrupt the foreign-fighter and roadside-bomb networks in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, military officials said. In the Zormat district of Paktia province, about 80 miles south of the Afghan capital, coalition forces targeted a known Taliban militant believed to act as a liaison to al-Qaida by moving foreign fighters into the area to conduct terrorist activities. He also is believed to have ties to senior Taliban leaders in the region, coordinating roadside-bomb and suicide attacks that target government and military personnel...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2008 – Afghan and coalition troops today detained three militants in Afghanistan’s westernmost province, a day after troops killed 10 and detained four others in separate battles with insurgents, military officials reported. In today’s operation, three men were detained in the Shindand district of Herat province near the Iranian border. Afghan army commandos, assisted by coalition troops, detained the men as “persons of interest” in what is believed to be the headquarters of a bomb-making cell in the Zer-e-koh Valley. The men were carrying AK-47 assault rifles and wearing vests loaded with ammunition. Commandos encountered no resistance...

ISLAMABAD: Maulvi Fazlullah, leader of a banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, has been killed, Interior Ministry said here Wednesday. However, spokesman of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has denied the government’s claim.

A report by Germany's Parliament found forces in Afghanistan got through more than 1.7 million pints of beer and 92,000 bottles of wine last year. They are already on track to top those figures this year, with 901,000 pints of beer and 56,000 bottles of wine being shipped in the first six months. US forces are not allowed to drink, while British soldiers are allowed only small quantities while off-duty. Earlier this year, another report found that 40 per cent Germany's 3,600 soldiers in Afghanistan were overweight. This has prompted Reinhold Robbe, Parliamentary Commissioner for the armed forces, to observe:...

Do you think Islamabad may have wanted a face lift for diplomatic purposes on their efforts to fight terrorism?  The timing of this attack — and its public-relations promotion — suggests that the Gilani government in Pakistan feels some heat after Mumbai: At least 30 Taliban militants were killed Wednesday during military air strikes in a restive Pakistani tribal district bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.The strikes were carried out by Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships at militant hide outs in Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the military is hunting Al-Qaeda linked Taliban militants.“According to reports received here at least...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2008 – The terrorist threat has shifted from Iraq to the safe havens of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. Gates told reporters at a Pentagon roundtable that coalition and Iraqi forces have their “foot on the neck of al-Qaida in Iraq.” But now the threat lies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the North West Frontier province of Pakistan and the border area in Afghanistan. The safe havens pose a threat to the U.S. homeland, allowing terrorists to refit, train, plan and raise money for attacks. Gates said the United States...

A SCHOOL cancelled its Christmas performances to make way for Eid. A letter was sent to parents of children at Greenwood Junior School, Sneinton, on Monday. But following complaints from parents, a second letter was sent apologising and explaining that the performances would be staged in the new year. READ ARTICLE HERE

Greenwood Junior School sent out a letter to parents saying the three-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which takes place between December 8 and 11, meant that Muslim children would be off school. That meant planning for the traditional nativity play were shelved because the school felt it would be too difficult to run both celebrations side by side. The move has left parents furious. Janette Lynch, whose seven-year-old son Keanu attends the school, in Sneinton, Nottingham, said: "The head has a whole year to plan for Eid and so she should be able to plan for both religious festivals. "I...

British parents looking to see their children in a traditional Christmas play are fuming after a school decided to cancel the performance because it conflicts with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper reported. Officials at the Greenwood Junior School in Nottingham decided to postpone the annual holiday performance because it would have been too difficult to have both the Christmas and Eid celebrations together, The Telegraph reported. But parents told The Telegraph that they were originally told the performance was canceled because Muslim children wanted to celebrate Eid with their families, making it difficult to schedule...

Today President Bush welcomed Darfur Human Rights Activist Dr. Halima Bashir to the Oval Office. (Transcript) Dr. Bashir has been tortured my militant Muslims throughout her life, most horrifically after she dared to speak out about the abuse of women and young girls in her native Sudan. She tells her story in her book “Tears In The Desert”. President Bush: This good soul brings firsthand accounts to what life is like in Darfur. She has witnessed violence, deprivation, and she carries a message of a lot of people who want our help. First Lady Laura Bush spoke about women’s rights...

COTABATO — Authorities in Mindanao have arrested a Pakistani with alleged links to a Southeast Asian extremist group for making bombs, it was announced yesterday. Muhammand Alpariz was arrested at his apartment in Shariff Kabunsuan province by joint police and military operatives on Tuesday, local 6th Infantry Division spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando said. Found in his possession were "two 60-millimeter mortar shells rigged to improvised explosives devices" and two howitzer shells ready to be attached to similar bombs, said Southern Mindanao police head Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango. "These bombs, if exploded, would cause extensive damage," he added. "He did...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defied the United States unlike any other leader in the Western Hemisphere since Cuba's Fidel Castro. Chavez has strong ties with state sponsors of terror, suppresses democracy at home, and has worked to destabilize his neighbors. Recently, Chavez has also helped the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah establish a base in the Western hemisphere. For years, the U.S. State Department has stated its concern that Hezbollah raises funds “among the sizable Muslim communities” the South America, and that weak rule of law could “tempt terrorist groups to seek to establish safe havens” in the tri-border area...

(UPDATE: OFFICIAL HEZBOLLAH FORUM TAKEN DOWN WITHIN HOURS OF THEM KVETCHING ABOUT US! And we just received this nice video tribute to the JIDF from them (via Facebook, go figure!) Any translators for the video? This was the nice message): SUBJECT: :) have a horrible day ;)

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Sudan's government is still supporting genocide in Darfur, including through rape and holding up humanitarian aid, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said Wednesday. "Genocide continues," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the UN Security Council, accusing Sudan of refusing to cooperate with the court. "Rapes in and around the (refugee) camps continue. Humanitarian assistance is still hindered. More than 5,000 displaced persons die each month," he said. Moreno-Ocampo urged the 15 Security Council member nations to be prepared for the possibility of an ICC-issued warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir. In July Moreno-Ocampo asked the ICC...