Source: energypublisher
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato says a bomb attack in Cotabato City that killed five people and injured at least 43 did not target the cathedral, as earlier reports had claimed. He called for calm in a statement to media on July 5, the day of the blast in the southern city.
“Violence does not achieve anything. Violence begets violence,” the bishop said. “Let’s all pray for the conversion of the bombers."
The Oblates of Mary (OMI) prelate said he believed extortion was a motive, and he later reaffirmed to UCA News that the bombing "is not about religion, the Muslims' desire for ‘self rule’ or anything political.”
He told UCA News said he had felt compelled to issue statements to e-groups and the media to correct reports that the cathedral was the target. There were no blasts inside the cathedral and the bomb was not set to go off as people were coming out of church, he clarified in his messages.
Peace advocates praised Archbishop Quevedo for his response.
“We applaud the courage and wisdom of Archbishop Orlando Quevedo OMI who, even as he condemned the bombing as sacrilege, has called for restraint,” the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy declared in its statement on the bombing.
Archbishop Quevedo explained to UCA News in Manila, on his way to a bishops' retreat, that he was preaching on priests and prophecy when a bomb exploded across the street from the church.
The injured were mostly women vendors and children.
The archbishop condemned the killing of innocent people but also urged restraint.
Since the bomb went off inside a stall selling "lechon," or roasted pig, he suspects extortion could be the motive. It was the second bombing of a business in the Cotabato area in recent years, he pointed out.
Most of those injured were on the road in the vicinity of the lechon (roast pig) house, he pointed out. Shrapnel from the blast also injured some churchgoers near the door of Immaculate Conception Cathedral. Cotabato City is on the main island of Mindanao, about 885 kilometers southeast of Manila.
The Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy, which describes itself as committed to building a "peaceful, progressive, and democratic Muslim Mindanao," condemned the blast as a “terrorist act” and called for prompt action to bring perpetrators to justice.
Archbishop Quevedo noted that bombings in recent years of businesses in Cotabato, General Santos, Kidapawan and Koronodal cities as well as Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces were found to be linked to extortion attempts.
He added that when he arrived in Manila, he heard reports blaming the government for trying to use the bombings to destabilize the country and give it an excuse to declare martial law and prevent the 2010 election.
The military would “most probably blame a rebel terrorist group, an offshoot of, but disowned by, the mainstream Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” he said, acknowledging this "might be the real case.”
Military spokesman Colonel Jonathan Ponce told reporters on July 6 that a suspect arrested shortly after the lechon-stall bombing was in police custody.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
British cops foil plan to attack mosques
Source: Rediff
July 06, 2009 10:49 IST
The British police has foiled a plan to attack mosques in different parts of the United Kingdom and arrested 32 Caucasian men in raids in London [Images].
The men in custody had accumulated rocket-launchers, hand grenades and explosives for the attacks, a private TV channel reported.
The channel quoted its sources as saying that the London Police raided 20 different places.
Membership cards of the radical British National Party and hate literature were also seized in the raids.
British parliamentarian Muhammad Sarwar praised the police and other law enforcement agencies for their timely action to prevent attacks on the places of worship.
He told the channel that he would be in touch with the Home Secretary and other officials concerned on the issue, the Daily Times reported.
Sarwar said it was the responsibility of the British government to protect the lives, property and religious places of all the communities living in the country.
ANI
July 06, 2009 10:49 IST
The British police has foiled a plan to attack mosques in different parts of the United Kingdom and arrested 32 Caucasian men in raids in London [Images].
The men in custody had accumulated rocket-launchers, hand grenades and explosives for the attacks, a private TV channel reported.
The channel quoted its sources as saying that the London Police raided 20 different places.
Membership cards of the radical British National Party and hate literature were also seized in the raids.
British parliamentarian Muhammad Sarwar praised the police and other law enforcement agencies for their timely action to prevent attacks on the places of worship.
He told the channel that he would be in touch with the Home Secretary and other officials concerned on the issue, the Daily Times reported.
Sarwar said it was the responsibility of the British government to protect the lives, property and religious places of all the communities living in the country.
ANI
Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Financial Network Targets India from the Gulf States
Source: Jamestown
Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 19
July 2, 2009 04:12 PM Age: 4 days
Category: Terrorism Monitor, Global Terrorism Analysis, Home Page, Terrorism, South Asia
Hafeez Muhammad Saeed, Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba
An impending threat from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group has prompted security establishments to raise an alert along India’s western sea-coast. According to intelligence sources, the LeT’s marine wing is planning a Mumbai-type incursion to target vital installations in the three coastal states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa. The group is also reported to have funneled huge amounts of money from its Gulf-based networks to fund jihad activities in India (Times of India, June 30). This is not an isolated intelligence alert. The threat emanating from the LeT was partially revealed following the recent arrest of Muhammad Omar Madni, a close associate of LeT/Jamaat-ud- Dawa chief Hafeez Muhammad Saeed. The arrest and interrogation of Madni revealed several startling details, including new routes used by terrorists, the location of bases inside and outside India, terrorist finances, and the recruitment strategy of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Muhammad Omar Madni, who also oversees LeT’s Nepal operations, was on a mission to recruit youths and send them to Pakistan for training. Madni travelled widely through Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and the Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, seeking funding and logistical support. His task was to recruit educated and computer-savvy youths from the major metropolises of India (Press Trust of India, June 7). Indian agencies believe he is not the only LeT recruiter in the sprawling hinterland of India (Statesman, [Kolkata], June 5). Madni’s brother Hafiz Muhammad Zubair, another Lashkar operative who worked closely with him, is presently based in Qatar (Telegraph [Kolkata], June 6).
Besides the usual routes of intrusion in Jammu and Kashmir, LeT has managed to build alternate routes through the porous borders of Nepal and Bangladesh while establishing bases in the Gulf countries. Investigating agencies have now confirmed that LeT is working on a new strategy which involves using Dubai as the center of planning for future strikes against India (India Today, June 22). Past and ongoing terror investigations suggest the Gulf countries have been the major hubs for LeT terrorists and many terrorist plots against India are now hatched outside Pakistan’s territory.
After groping in the dark for some time, India’s intelligence agencies have now confirmed that the Gulf link to terror in India is thriving and there are LeT cells operating in the Gulf that have financed and facilitated terrorist operations in India.
Mumbai’s crime branch probe revealed that the November 2008 Mumbai terror events were financed by LeT’s Gulf cells and Gulf-based operatives masterminded and executed a series of blasts in Indian urban centers ( Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Delhi and Surat) in 2008. These operations were carried out in collusion with militants of the Indian Mujahedeen (IM) and the proscribed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
While investigating the August 2003 twin blasts in Mumbai (car bombs at the Gateway of India and the Zaveri Bazaar), Mumbai Police unearthed a strong Dubai link. The plot was hatched by LeT’s Dubai operatives, who colluded with sleeper cells in Hyderabad, Ernakulum and Chennai. The blasts were claimed by an unknown group—the “Gujarat Muslim Revenge Force” (GMRF)—one of the many groups set up by SIMI and LeT following the 2002 Gujarat communal riots to avenge atrocities perpetrated against the Muslim community (Press Trust of India, October 10, 2003). Hanif, one of the Lashkar militants arrested in connection with the blasts, reportedly told police about the planning, logistics and targets of the LeT’s GMRF wing. Since 1993, Hanif worked in Dubai as an electrician and was sent to Mumbai in September 2002 to organize and execute the attacks. Police also interrogated Hanif about his ties to Basheer, a fugitive SIMI figure who fled to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one Abu Hamza, affiliated to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) (Frontline [Chennai], September 13-26, 2003).
Another major example of Lashkar’s Gulf connections arose in mid-2006, following the serial commuter train blasts in Mumbai. Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad seized approximately 37,000 Saudi Riyals from the residences of the LeT’s Mumbai cell chief, Faizal Ataur Rehman Sheikh (Indian Express, August 2, 2006). The money reportedly came in two installments from Saudi Arabia via the hawala network operated by Faizal’s London-based brother Rahil Sheikh and another Lashkar operative identified as Rizwan Ahmed Davre, an IT professional based in Riyadh. [1] Rizwan acted as a conduit between the unidentified Saudi funder, Pakistan based LeT commander Azam Cheema and Faizal Sheikh. Cheema reportedly designated Davre the ‘amir-e-baitulmaal’ (chief exchequer) for his able handling of monetary transactions (Indian Express, October 1, 2006)
Investigations by India’s intelligence agencies into the 2008 urban terrorist attacks uncovered ties to many Gulf hotspots, especially the financial networks in Muscat (Oman). At least four LeT operatives handled India operations from Gulf cities like Muscat and Sharjah. They are identified as Wali (a.k.a Shameem), Muslim Basheer, Sarfaraz Nawaz (a.k.a Hakeem Sarfoor) and Abu Haroon. These four are believed to be of Pakistani origin and to have been deputed in the Gulf to raise funds and monitor operations planned for India. While Wali was involved in fundraising activities and responsible for coordinating with SIMI and IM militants in India, Muslim Basheer, based in Muscat, was the chief coordinator for the LeT in the Gulf. Funds for the terrorist operations were raised by Wali, who provided the money for the blasts and who sent youths from the southwestern state of Kerala to Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) for terrorist training (New Indian Express [Chennai], March 27). Investigating agencies identified Abu Haroon, a travel agent in Muscat, as the operative who facilitated the movement of money to India from the Gulf region through hawala channels. Abu Haroon also coordinated between the Lashkar leadership in Pakistan and India (Rediff.com, May 27). The fourth terrorist, Sarfaraz Nawaz, another LeT man from Muscat and a former SIMI leader who likely fled to Oman following the countrywide crackdown on SIMI establishments, was brought from Muscat to India in a dramatic secret operation earlier this year by India’s external intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). The swift operation surprised many Indian officials, especially in the absence of any extradition pact between India and Oman (Rediff.com, March 04, 2009).
Three other terrorists involved in the July 2008 Bangalore serial blasts and other incidents have been identified as Saleem and Jaheed from Bangladesh (hawala operators) and Ali Abdul Azeez Hooti of Oman, the chief terrorist financier.
The Gulf’s increasing ties to terrorism resurfaced when investigations into the November 2008 Mumbai carnage tracked a similar pattern involving Gulf-based financiers and Lashkar coordinators. The role of Aziz Hooti as one of the financers in this connection is currently under probe. Hooti, the Oman based businessman and key Lashkar operative there, was in touch with Lashkar terrorist Fahim Ansari just before late November’s carnage in Mumbai. At present, Fahim Ansari is on trial and Aziz Hooti is in the custody of the Oman police for plotting against Western establishments in Oman. According to the information shared between Oman and Indian police, Aziz Hooti could have had direct ties to the Mumbai attackers. It is now believed in investigating circles that both Aziz Hooti and Nawaz played vital roles in financing terrorist activities in India, especially in providing funds for Indians taking jihadi training in the PAK region (The Hindu, May 28; Rediff.com, May 28).
Nawaz’s interrogation has revealed many facts about Lashkar’s plans in southern India. According to his statement, he and Ummer Haji, an IM cadre and key figure in the terror network in south India, had hatched a plan to carry out serial bomb blasts in Chennai and Bangalore (New Indian Express, June 29). However, Lashkar’s Chennai plot was dropped by Wali due to funding issues. Haji is the man who sent Kerala youths to Muzaffarabad in Kashmir for training. Aziz Hooti was also involved in the Bangalore plan while the terrorist triumvirate (Wali, Nawaz and Hooti) met in Sharjah in early 2008. Nawaz’s statement also sheds some light on Lashkar’s operational strategy in southern India. Bangalore police revealed that Nawaz was in close touch with Abdul Nazar Madhani, leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP - a left wing Kerala political party) (New Indian Express [Chennai], March 28)
SIMI has operational ties with many militant student groups, including the Saudi Arabian Jamayyatul Ansar (JA), whose membership is comprised of former SIMI activists and expatriate Indian Muslims. It should be emphasized that the LeT and its Jamaat ud-Dawah (JuD) subsidiary were born out of the Ahl-e-Hadith (AH) movement with roots in the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent. LeT largely draws its ideological inspirations from this transnational Islamic puritanical movement that openly propagates the doctrine of jihad in India. AH has been influential in the subcontinent with active ties to Saudi Wahhabis and strong diaspora links. One of the reasons for this could be the AH inspired student movements (e.g. the Mujahid Students Movement) active in Kerala with branches in Gulf countries, along with Indian Islahi centers in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. [2]
The beginning of this year was marked by Islamabad's crackdown on the LeT and other Pakistan based terror groups in which LeT came under severe pressure from the Pakistan administration to de-escalate its jihadi agenda against India. Despite the crackdown and the detention and subsequent release of LeT leaders in Pakistan, the LeT is reportedly once again looking to strike India by plotting against its vital installations and infrastructure.
The recent spurt of terror activities by the LeT in India has a direct connection to contributions from the Gulf-based cells that have planned and financed most of the group’s operations. The LeT’s Gulf based networks are becoming the lifeline for LeT/JuD operations in Pakistan and India. With this threat in view, India is now seeking a comprehensive anti-terrorism treaty with the Gulf nations. For now, Madani and Nawaz’s confessions have provided investigating agencies an outline of the shape of things to come regarding the LeT’s plans for terrorist operations in India.
Notes:
1. Hawala is an informal and alternative remittance system which operates outside of 'traditional' banking or financial channels.
2. Indian Islahi centers are Islamic organizations working among Indians (especially Keralites) in the Gulf countries to spread of the true message of Islam and guide Muslims away from the clutches of superstitious traditions, blind faiths, polytheism, etc. Indian Islahi Centers operate in almost all Gulf countries as a subsidiary of the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahedeen. In some Gulf countries and the northern states of India, this organization is known as Salafi Center. All these associations are working for the propagation of Quran and Sunnah among Muslims and non-Muslims.
Muhammad Omar Madni, who also oversees LeT’s Nepal operations, was on a mission to recruit youths and send them to Pakistan for training. Madni travelled widely through Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and the Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, seeking funding and logistical support. His task was to recruit educated and computer-savvy youths from the major metropolises of India (Press Trust of India, June 7). Indian agencies believe he is not the only LeT recruiter in the sprawling hinterland of India (Statesman, [Kolkata], June 5). Madni’s brother Hafiz Muhammad Zubair, another Lashkar operative who worked closely with him, is presently based in Qatar (Telegraph [Kolkata], June 6).
Besides the usual routes of intrusion in Jammu and Kashmir, LeT has managed to build alternate routes through the porous borders of Nepal and Bangladesh while establishing bases in the Gulf countries. Investigating agencies have now confirmed that LeT is working on a new strategy which involves using Dubai as the center of planning for future strikes against India (India Today, June 22). Past and ongoing terror investigations suggest the Gulf countries have been the major hubs for LeT terrorists and many terrorist plots against India are now hatched outside Pakistan’s territory.
After groping in the dark for some time, India’s intelligence agencies have now confirmed that the Gulf link to terror in India is thriving and there are LeT cells operating in the Gulf that have financed and facilitated terrorist operations in India.
Mumbai’s crime branch probe revealed that the November 2008 Mumbai terror events were financed by LeT’s Gulf cells and Gulf-based operatives masterminded and executed a series of blasts in Indian urban centers ( Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Delhi and Surat) in 2008. These operations were carried out in collusion with militants of the Indian Mujahedeen (IM) and the proscribed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
While investigating the August 2003 twin blasts in Mumbai (car bombs at the Gateway of India and the Zaveri Bazaar), Mumbai Police unearthed a strong Dubai link. The plot was hatched by LeT’s Dubai operatives, who colluded with sleeper cells in Hyderabad, Ernakulum and Chennai. The blasts were claimed by an unknown group—the “Gujarat Muslim Revenge Force” (GMRF)—one of the many groups set up by SIMI and LeT following the 2002 Gujarat communal riots to avenge atrocities perpetrated against the Muslim community (Press Trust of India, October 10, 2003). Hanif, one of the Lashkar militants arrested in connection with the blasts, reportedly told police about the planning, logistics and targets of the LeT’s GMRF wing. Since 1993, Hanif worked in Dubai as an electrician and was sent to Mumbai in September 2002 to organize and execute the attacks. Police also interrogated Hanif about his ties to Basheer, a fugitive SIMI figure who fled to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one Abu Hamza, affiliated to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) (Frontline [Chennai], September 13-26, 2003).
Another major example of Lashkar’s Gulf connections arose in mid-2006, following the serial commuter train blasts in Mumbai. Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad seized approximately 37,000 Saudi Riyals from the residences of the LeT’s Mumbai cell chief, Faizal Ataur Rehman Sheikh (Indian Express, August 2, 2006). The money reportedly came in two installments from Saudi Arabia via the hawala network operated by Faizal’s London-based brother Rahil Sheikh and another Lashkar operative identified as Rizwan Ahmed Davre, an IT professional based in Riyadh. [1] Rizwan acted as a conduit between the unidentified Saudi funder, Pakistan based LeT commander Azam Cheema and Faizal Sheikh. Cheema reportedly designated Davre the ‘amir-e-baitulmaal’ (chief exchequer) for his able handling of monetary transactions (Indian Express, October 1, 2006)
Investigations by India’s intelligence agencies into the 2008 urban terrorist attacks uncovered ties to many Gulf hotspots, especially the financial networks in Muscat (Oman). At least four LeT operatives handled India operations from Gulf cities like Muscat and Sharjah. They are identified as Wali (a.k.a Shameem), Muslim Basheer, Sarfaraz Nawaz (a.k.a Hakeem Sarfoor) and Abu Haroon. These four are believed to be of Pakistani origin and to have been deputed in the Gulf to raise funds and monitor operations planned for India. While Wali was involved in fundraising activities and responsible for coordinating with SIMI and IM militants in India, Muslim Basheer, based in Muscat, was the chief coordinator for the LeT in the Gulf. Funds for the terrorist operations were raised by Wali, who provided the money for the blasts and who sent youths from the southwestern state of Kerala to Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) for terrorist training (New Indian Express [Chennai], March 27). Investigating agencies identified Abu Haroon, a travel agent in Muscat, as the operative who facilitated the movement of money to India from the Gulf region through hawala channels. Abu Haroon also coordinated between the Lashkar leadership in Pakistan and India (Rediff.com, May 27). The fourth terrorist, Sarfaraz Nawaz, another LeT man from Muscat and a former SIMI leader who likely fled to Oman following the countrywide crackdown on SIMI establishments, was brought from Muscat to India in a dramatic secret operation earlier this year by India’s external intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). The swift operation surprised many Indian officials, especially in the absence of any extradition pact between India and Oman (Rediff.com, March 04, 2009).
Three other terrorists involved in the July 2008 Bangalore serial blasts and other incidents have been identified as Saleem and Jaheed from Bangladesh (hawala operators) and Ali Abdul Azeez Hooti of Oman, the chief terrorist financier.
The Gulf’s increasing ties to terrorism resurfaced when investigations into the November 2008 Mumbai carnage tracked a similar pattern involving Gulf-based financiers and Lashkar coordinators. The role of Aziz Hooti as one of the financers in this connection is currently under probe. Hooti, the Oman based businessman and key Lashkar operative there, was in touch with Lashkar terrorist Fahim Ansari just before late November’s carnage in Mumbai. At present, Fahim Ansari is on trial and Aziz Hooti is in the custody of the Oman police for plotting against Western establishments in Oman. According to the information shared between Oman and Indian police, Aziz Hooti could have had direct ties to the Mumbai attackers. It is now believed in investigating circles that both Aziz Hooti and Nawaz played vital roles in financing terrorist activities in India, especially in providing funds for Indians taking jihadi training in the PAK region (The Hindu, May 28; Rediff.com, May 28).
Nawaz’s interrogation has revealed many facts about Lashkar’s plans in southern India. According to his statement, he and Ummer Haji, an IM cadre and key figure in the terror network in south India, had hatched a plan to carry out serial bomb blasts in Chennai and Bangalore (New Indian Express, June 29). However, Lashkar’s Chennai plot was dropped by Wali due to funding issues. Haji is the man who sent Kerala youths to Muzaffarabad in Kashmir for training. Aziz Hooti was also involved in the Bangalore plan while the terrorist triumvirate (Wali, Nawaz and Hooti) met in Sharjah in early 2008. Nawaz’s statement also sheds some light on Lashkar’s operational strategy in southern India. Bangalore police revealed that Nawaz was in close touch with Abdul Nazar Madhani, leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP - a left wing Kerala political party) (New Indian Express [Chennai], March 28)
SIMI has operational ties with many militant student groups, including the Saudi Arabian Jamayyatul Ansar (JA), whose membership is comprised of former SIMI activists and expatriate Indian Muslims. It should be emphasized that the LeT and its Jamaat ud-Dawah (JuD) subsidiary were born out of the Ahl-e-Hadith (AH) movement with roots in the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent. LeT largely draws its ideological inspirations from this transnational Islamic puritanical movement that openly propagates the doctrine of jihad in India. AH has been influential in the subcontinent with active ties to Saudi Wahhabis and strong diaspora links. One of the reasons for this could be the AH inspired student movements (e.g. the Mujahid Students Movement) active in Kerala with branches in Gulf countries, along with Indian Islahi centers in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. [2]
The beginning of this year was marked by Islamabad's crackdown on the LeT and other Pakistan based terror groups in which LeT came under severe pressure from the Pakistan administration to de-escalate its jihadi agenda against India. Despite the crackdown and the detention and subsequent release of LeT leaders in Pakistan, the LeT is reportedly once again looking to strike India by plotting against its vital installations and infrastructure.
The recent spurt of terror activities by the LeT in India has a direct connection to contributions from the Gulf-based cells that have planned and financed most of the group’s operations. The LeT’s Gulf based networks are becoming the lifeline for LeT/JuD operations in Pakistan and India. With this threat in view, India is now seeking a comprehensive anti-terrorism treaty with the Gulf nations. For now, Madani and Nawaz’s confessions have provided investigating agencies an outline of the shape of things to come regarding the LeT’s plans for terrorist operations in India.
Notes:
1. Hawala is an informal and alternative remittance system which operates outside of 'traditional' banking or financial channels.
Sri Lankan Army suffers first casualty after defeating Tigers
Source: TOI
COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan soldier was shot dead by an alleged LTTE cadre in an eastern district of the country, causing the first military loss of
life in the force since the crushing defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May.
A soldier was killed by a boatman, who was stopped for a search by troops in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Saturday.
The man, who turned out to be a Tiger leader in the area, grabbed the gun of the soldier and killed him, the army said today.
The boatman was, however, but he was overpowered by two other soldiers.
The military has killed over a dozen rebels since the killing of Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and his outfit's leadership in mid-May, but yesterday's loss was the first fatality suffered by troops since the defeat of the Tigers.
The army said a major search was launched in the area to look for any more remnants of the defeated rebel movement.
COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan soldier was shot dead by an alleged LTTE cadre in an eastern district of the country, causing the first military loss of
life in the force since the crushing defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May.
A soldier was killed by a boatman, who was stopped for a search by troops in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Saturday.
The man, who turned out to be a Tiger leader in the area, grabbed the gun of the soldier and killed him, the army said today.
The boatman was, however, but he was overpowered by two other soldiers.
The military has killed over a dozen rebels since the killing of Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and his outfit's leadership in mid-May, but yesterday's loss was the first fatality suffered by troops since the defeat of the Tigers.
The army said a major search was launched in the area to look for any more remnants of the defeated rebel movement.
Security forces from J&K may be deployed against them, feel Maoists
Source; The Hindu
K. Srinivas Reddy
Expand guerilla war to newer areas, Maoist cadre told
“The LTTE had underestimated its enemy”
HYDERABAD: The proposed withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from active duties in Kashmir has forced Maoists to redraft their field tactics as they believe these forces will be deployed for counter-insurgency operations in States that face Left wing extremist problem.
Just a day after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced the plan to withdraw the Central Reserve Police Force from Kashmir, during his visit to the Valley on June 11, the Maoist Polit Bureau (PB) has sent out a circular to its fighters asking them to get prepared for a long-drawn battle apprehending that the CRPF pullout is a precursor to an all-round offensive against Maoists.
Refined strategy Maoists believe that the Centre’s move to “redraw lines of responsibility” among the Army, the paramilitary forces and the Kashmir police is part of a refined counter-insurgency strategy to be implemented in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and other Maoist-affected States.
Their analysis is that the Chhattisgarh government will shortly launch a major offensive to take over Abuz Maad in Bastar forests (about 4,000 sq km), dubbed as the Maoist military headquarters. The redeployment of the central forces will lead to a “long-drawn” armed conflict, the Polit Bureau has cautioned.
Sole intention The Maoist strategy to counter the offensive is to step up violence in its ‘strongholds and areas of struggle’ with the sole intention to “disperse the enemy’s [the State’s] forces over a significantly wide area.”
In the 14-page circular, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, the PB has asked the rebel ranks to “further aggravate the situation and create more difficulties to enemy forces by expanding guerilla war to newer areas,” under what it terms a Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC).
The forthright call to take up TCOC and inflict severe losses to the security forces by “meticulously planning the actions,” has the counter-insurgency specialists worried. They point out that the onset of the rainy season is not the right time to take up anti-naxal operations as most of the forest areas become totally inaccessible.
“… Tactical counter-offensives should be stepped up and also taken up in new areas so as to divert a section of the enemy forces from attacking our guerilla bases …”
This unequivocal assertion, analysts say, is a firm indication that the Maoist-affected States will witness more violence in the coming days. The military superiority of the rebel fighters has been proved by massive strikes against the police in the recent elections in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra.
The continuous attacks caused the death of 112 police personnel, including paramilitary forces, between April 6 and June 12, the day the PB released the circular.
Taking stock of the political situation in the country, the PB feels that the “relative stability” of the United Progressive Alliance government will lead to a more determined military offensive against the Maoist movement.
Going by the circular, the rebels’ focus will now be on defending their bases and zones in Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Their plan, apparently, is to rope in the militant anti-government organisations in the battle to fight the government forces.
Intelligence sources, who monitor the left wing extremist violence, indicate that there indeed is a plan to move at least 10 battalions of the Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) from Kashmir to Chhattisgarh after the troops underwent a month-long training. Kashmir and Chhattisgarh have different battle conditions. The forces have to be trained at least for a month as they move from one theatre of conflict to another, says a senior police officer.
The sources said:
“The pullout will begin from Kashmir, where 58 battalions of the CRPF are deployed. This is the only theatre of conflict where we can divert some forces. The Home Ministry too is of the opinion that the Jammu and Kashmir police should be on the frontline in the maintenance of law and order and not the CPMF.
“The situation in the northeast, the other major theatre of conflict, is becoming volatile again. Hence, troop pullout is not advisable. The third theatre of conflict involving the left wing extremism should receive more focus now.”
At present, 33 battalions of the CPMF are deployed in various States, with Chhattisgarh having 17, followed by Jharkhand 6, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa 4 each, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal one each. Chhattisgarh, the epicentre of the Maoist activity, has been demanding the deployment of at least 55 battalions to take on the naxals.
Fall of LTTE The PB sounds a note of caution, saying Maoists could learn a lesson or two from the setback the LTTE faced in the hands of Sri Lankan defence forces. It feels that the LTTE “failed to study the changes in enemy tactics, capabilities, international support” and this underestimation of enemy, coupled with overestimation of its strength, led to its defeat. “The LTTE’s fall will have a negative effect on revolutionary movement in India as well as South Asia too,” the PB notes.
K. Srinivas Reddy
| They are for increasing violence in their ‘strongholds and areas of struggle’ |
Expand guerilla war to newer areas, Maoist cadre told
“The LTTE had underestimated its enemy”
HYDERABAD: The proposed withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from active duties in Kashmir has forced Maoists to redraft their field tactics as they believe these forces will be deployed for counter-insurgency operations in States that face Left wing extremist problem.
Just a day after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced the plan to withdraw the Central Reserve Police Force from Kashmir, during his visit to the Valley on June 11, the Maoist Polit Bureau (PB) has sent out a circular to its fighters asking them to get prepared for a long-drawn battle apprehending that the CRPF pullout is a precursor to an all-round offensive against Maoists.
Refined strategy Maoists believe that the Centre’s move to “redraw lines of responsibility” among the Army, the paramilitary forces and the Kashmir police is part of a refined counter-insurgency strategy to be implemented in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and other Maoist-affected States.
Their analysis is that the Chhattisgarh government will shortly launch a major offensive to take over Abuz Maad in Bastar forests (about 4,000 sq km), dubbed as the Maoist military headquarters. The redeployment of the central forces will lead to a “long-drawn” armed conflict, the Polit Bureau has cautioned.
Sole intention The Maoist strategy to counter the offensive is to step up violence in its ‘strongholds and areas of struggle’ with the sole intention to “disperse the enemy’s [the State’s] forces over a significantly wide area.”
In the 14-page circular, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, the PB has asked the rebel ranks to “further aggravate the situation and create more difficulties to enemy forces by expanding guerilla war to newer areas,” under what it terms a Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC).
The forthright call to take up TCOC and inflict severe losses to the security forces by “meticulously planning the actions,” has the counter-insurgency specialists worried. They point out that the onset of the rainy season is not the right time to take up anti-naxal operations as most of the forest areas become totally inaccessible.
“… Tactical counter-offensives should be stepped up and also taken up in new areas so as to divert a section of the enemy forces from attacking our guerilla bases …”
This unequivocal assertion, analysts say, is a firm indication that the Maoist-affected States will witness more violence in the coming days. The military superiority of the rebel fighters has been proved by massive strikes against the police in the recent elections in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra.
The continuous attacks caused the death of 112 police personnel, including paramilitary forces, between April 6 and June 12, the day the PB released the circular.
Taking stock of the political situation in the country, the PB feels that the “relative stability” of the United Progressive Alliance government will lead to a more determined military offensive against the Maoist movement.
Going by the circular, the rebels’ focus will now be on defending their bases and zones in Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Their plan, apparently, is to rope in the militant anti-government organisations in the battle to fight the government forces.
Intelligence sources, who monitor the left wing extremist violence, indicate that there indeed is a plan to move at least 10 battalions of the Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) from Kashmir to Chhattisgarh after the troops underwent a month-long training. Kashmir and Chhattisgarh have different battle conditions. The forces have to be trained at least for a month as they move from one theatre of conflict to another, says a senior police officer.
The sources said:
“The pullout will begin from Kashmir, where 58 battalions of the CRPF are deployed. This is the only theatre of conflict where we can divert some forces. The Home Ministry too is of the opinion that the Jammu and Kashmir police should be on the frontline in the maintenance of law and order and not the CPMF.
“The situation in the northeast, the other major theatre of conflict, is becoming volatile again. Hence, troop pullout is not advisable. The third theatre of conflict involving the left wing extremism should receive more focus now.”
At present, 33 battalions of the CPMF are deployed in various States, with Chhattisgarh having 17, followed by Jharkhand 6, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa 4 each, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal one each. Chhattisgarh, the epicentre of the Maoist activity, has been demanding the deployment of at least 55 battalions to take on the naxals.
Fall of LTTE The PB sounds a note of caution, saying Maoists could learn a lesson or two from the setback the LTTE faced in the hands of Sri Lankan defence forces. It feels that the LTTE “failed to study the changes in enemy tactics, capabilities, international support” and this underestimation of enemy, coupled with overestimation of its strength, led to its defeat. “The LTTE’s fall will have a negative effect on revolutionary movement in India as well as South Asia too,” the PB notes.
Riots in China’s Muslim minority region
Source: The Hindu
Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: Riots broke out in the capital city of China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang autonomous region on Sunday with hundreds of protesters attacking passers-by and torching vehicles.
Xinjiang is home to 8 million Uighur Muslims, a minority group in China, and the region has seen intermittent tensions between Uighurs and China’s majority Han ethnic group. Sunday’s violence in the capital city of Urumqi follows racial violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese that took place in southern China last week and left two Uighurs dead and 118 others injured.
China’s State-run Xinhua agency reported that “an unknown number gathered on Sunday afternoon in Urumqi” and began “attacking passers-by and setting fire to vehicles.” Official reports did not mention the cause behind the violence. Xinhua reported that soon after clashes broke out, “police rushed to the site to maintain order.”
A local journalist, who asked not to be identified, told The Hindu that hundreds of Uighurs had on Sunday gathered to protest last weeks violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese.
A video of Sunday’s protest filmed by an Urumqi resident, a copy of which is with The Hindu, shows a crowd of several hundred gathering in a city street, blocking traffic and raising slogans.
Mass brawls The local journalist said Sunday’s violence was not restricted to Urumqi, and had also spread to parts of Tianshan district where Urumqi is located.
On June 26, mass brawls between the two ethnic groups broke out in a factory in China’s southern Guangdong province leaving hundreds injured. The violence broke out after a message on a website claimed six Uighurs had raped two Han Chinese women. Local police later found the claim to be false, and said the message had been posted by a recently laid-off factory worker.
In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a policy of encouraging factories in the prosperous south to hire minority Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Unemployment among Uighurs is high in Xinjiang and is one reason for the tension in the region, with many Uighurs blaming the increasing Han Chinese migrant population for restricting job opportunities. The recruitment policy has however been unpopular with Han Chinese.
Ananth Krishnan
BEIJING: Riots broke out in the capital city of China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang autonomous region on Sunday with hundreds of protesters attacking passers-by and torching vehicles.
Xinjiang is home to 8 million Uighur Muslims, a minority group in China, and the region has seen intermittent tensions between Uighurs and China’s majority Han ethnic group. Sunday’s violence in the capital city of Urumqi follows racial violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese that took place in southern China last week and left two Uighurs dead and 118 others injured.
China’s State-run Xinhua agency reported that “an unknown number gathered on Sunday afternoon in Urumqi” and began “attacking passers-by and setting fire to vehicles.” Official reports did not mention the cause behind the violence. Xinhua reported that soon after clashes broke out, “police rushed to the site to maintain order.”
A local journalist, who asked not to be identified, told The Hindu that hundreds of Uighurs had on Sunday gathered to protest last weeks violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese.
A video of Sunday’s protest filmed by an Urumqi resident, a copy of which is with The Hindu, shows a crowd of several hundred gathering in a city street, blocking traffic and raising slogans.
Mass brawls The local journalist said Sunday’s violence was not restricted to Urumqi, and had also spread to parts of Tianshan district where Urumqi is located.
On June 26, mass brawls between the two ethnic groups broke out in a factory in China’s southern Guangdong province leaving hundreds injured. The violence broke out after a message on a website claimed six Uighurs had raped two Han Chinese women. Local police later found the claim to be false, and said the message had been posted by a recently laid-off factory worker.
In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a policy of encouraging factories in the prosperous south to hire minority Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Unemployment among Uighurs is high in Xinjiang and is one reason for the tension in the region, with many Uighurs blaming the increasing Han Chinese migrant population for restricting job opportunities. The recruitment policy has however been unpopular with Han Chinese.
Nurgaliev: North Caucasus Violence Challenges the Authorities
Source;: Jamestown foundation
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 123
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 123
June 26, 2009 01:29 PM Age: 10 days
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, North Caucasus Analysis, Domestic/Social, Military/Security, Terrorism, North Caucasus , Russia
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev
According to Kavkazsky Uzel, the number of terrorist acts, murders of law enforcement personnel and kidnappings has grown significantly in Chechnya since April 16, the day the federal authorities formally announced an end to the decade-long counter-terrorist operation in the republic. The website came to that conclusion in a report published yesterday, which it said was based on data from its own archives and other open sources. Meanwhile, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev has warned that recent high-profile rebel attacks in the North Caucasus pose a serious challenge to the authorities.
Kavkazsky Uzel noted that on April 20, just four days after the end of the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was announced, a new counter-terrorist operation regime was imposed in Chechnya's Itum-Kale and Vedeno districts. According to the website, on April 23, this regime was extended to Shatoi district and four towns and villages in Shali district - Serzhen-Yurt, Shali, Chiri-Yurt and Novye Atagi. While the regime was lifted in the four towns and villages on April 27, a counter-terrorist operation regime remains in place to this day in the Vedeno, Shatoi and Itum-Kale districts.
In the 70 days before the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was formally ended, there were at least four kidnappings in the republic, with two of those kidnapped subsequently found dead. In addition, one civilian was killed and five were wounded. Since April 16, at last eleven civilians have been kidnapped and at least six civilians have died as a result of shootouts or bombings. In the 70 days before April 16, there were at least 14 special operations conducted by security forces and shootouts with rebels, during which six security personnel were killed and at least 17 wounded. During that same period, six members of "illegal armed formations" were killed, at least 27 were captured and another six surrendered, while 26 rebel accomplices were also captured.
Since the counter-terrorism operation formally ended on April 16, there have been at least 25 special operations conducted by security forces and shootouts with rebels, during which at least 15 security personnel were killed and 30 wounded. In addition, at least 26 suspected militants were killed, at least 30 captured and three surrendered, while 12 suspected rebel accomplices were captured.
In the 70 days prior to the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, six improvised explosive device blasts were reported, while three such bombings were prevented. Since April 16, there have been 16 such bombings, including the May 15 suicide bombing in Grozny that killed two policemen. That was the first suicide bombing in Chechnya since August 30, 2008, when a suicide bomber struck a base of the Yug special operations battalion in Vedeno, killing one serviceman and wounding 11.
Kavkazsky Uzel noted that following the May 15 bombing, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov vowed there would be no more amnesties for rebels and warned the parents of rebels that they would also bear responsibility for their sons' actions. On May 16, Kadyrov and Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, agreed to carry out joint counter-insurgency operations. On June 22, Yevkurov was severely wounded in a suicide bombing targeting his motorcade in Nazran.
Kavkazsky Uzel quoted the Memorial human rights group as saying that while the Chechen authorities have increased pressure on the republic's youth since the federal authorities ended the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya on April 16, that has had a boomerang effect, with a growing number of young people abused by the Chechen siloviki joining the ranks of the rebels (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 25).
Meanwhile, insurgent violence in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other republics of the North Caucasus shows no sign of letting up. A serviceman from the Chechen-manned Sever special operations battalion of the federal interior ministry was severely wounded by a bomb blast on June 23 during a joint operation with servicemen from Ingushetia's interior ministry on the outskirts of the village of Dattykh in Ingushetia's Sunzha district (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 25). Also on June 23, two people were killed and six wounded, including five law enforcement officers, in two roadside bomb blasts in Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan district. One of the bombs hit a car carrying local residents in a wooded area several kilometers from the village of Shalazhi in the republic's Grozny district, killing two. The other bomb hit a car carrying Urus-Martan district police officers, wounding five of them (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 24).
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev told a meeting of officials of Dagestan's interior ministry in Makhachkala on June 25 that the attack on Yevkurov and the murder of Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov earlier this month demand a tough response. "These terrorist acts are a direct and open challenge to the authorities - which means to us, the law enforcement bodies," he said. "And we will respond: we will respond severely, in compliance with the law ... Only then will the citizens of Russia be able to feel safe."
Nurgaliev said the rebel underground in the North Caucasus is ratcheting up its armed resistance and targeting state officials and law enforcement personnel, as well as clergy and ordinary civilians. He said that the rebels in the North Caucasus are unable to carry out large-scale military operations and therefore are focusing on "sabotage-terrorist" actions. Rebel leaders, supported by international terrorist and extremist organizations, continue to have the goal of creating "a so-called Caucasus imamate," Nurgaliev said (www.newsru.com, June 25).
Kavkazsky Uzel noted that on April 20, just four days after the end of the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was announced, a new counter-terrorist operation regime was imposed in Chechnya's Itum-Kale and Vedeno districts. According to the website, on April 23, this regime was extended to Shatoi district and four towns and villages in Shali district - Serzhen-Yurt, Shali, Chiri-Yurt and Novye Atagi. While the regime was lifted in the four towns and villages on April 27, a counter-terrorist operation regime remains in place to this day in the Vedeno, Shatoi and Itum-Kale districts.
In the 70 days before the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was formally ended, there were at least four kidnappings in the republic, with two of those kidnapped subsequently found dead. In addition, one civilian was killed and five were wounded. Since April 16, at last eleven civilians have been kidnapped and at least six civilians have died as a result of shootouts or bombings. In the 70 days before April 16, there were at least 14 special operations conducted by security forces and shootouts with rebels, during which six security personnel were killed and at least 17 wounded. During that same period, six members of "illegal armed formations" were killed, at least 27 were captured and another six surrendered, while 26 rebel accomplices were also captured.
Since the counter-terrorism operation formally ended on April 16, there have been at least 25 special operations conducted by security forces and shootouts with rebels, during which at least 15 security personnel were killed and 30 wounded. In addition, at least 26 suspected militants were killed, at least 30 captured and three surrendered, while 12 suspected rebel accomplices were captured.
In the 70 days prior to the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, six improvised explosive device blasts were reported, while three such bombings were prevented. Since April 16, there have been 16 such bombings, including the May 15 suicide bombing in Grozny that killed two policemen. That was the first suicide bombing in Chechnya since August 30, 2008, when a suicide bomber struck a base of the Yug special operations battalion in Vedeno, killing one serviceman and wounding 11.
Kavkazsky Uzel noted that following the May 15 bombing, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov vowed there would be no more amnesties for rebels and warned the parents of rebels that they would also bear responsibility for their sons' actions. On May 16, Kadyrov and Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, agreed to carry out joint counter-insurgency operations. On June 22, Yevkurov was severely wounded in a suicide bombing targeting his motorcade in Nazran.
Kavkazsky Uzel quoted the Memorial human rights group as saying that while the Chechen authorities have increased pressure on the republic's youth since the federal authorities ended the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya on April 16, that has had a boomerang effect, with a growing number of young people abused by the Chechen siloviki joining the ranks of the rebels (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 25).
Meanwhile, insurgent violence in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other republics of the North Caucasus shows no sign of letting up. A serviceman from the Chechen-manned Sever special operations battalion of the federal interior ministry was severely wounded by a bomb blast on June 23 during a joint operation with servicemen from Ingushetia's interior ministry on the outskirts of the village of Dattykh in Ingushetia's Sunzha district (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 25). Also on June 23, two people were killed and six wounded, including five law enforcement officers, in two roadside bomb blasts in Chechnya's Achkhoi-Martan district. One of the bombs hit a car carrying local residents in a wooded area several kilometers from the village of Shalazhi in the republic's Grozny district, killing two. The other bomb hit a car carrying Urus-Martan district police officers, wounding five of them (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, June 24).
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev told a meeting of officials of Dagestan's interior ministry in Makhachkala on June 25 that the attack on Yevkurov and the murder of Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov earlier this month demand a tough response. "These terrorist acts are a direct and open challenge to the authorities - which means to us, the law enforcement bodies," he said. "And we will respond: we will respond severely, in compliance with the law ... Only then will the citizens of Russia be able to feel safe."
Nurgaliev said the rebel underground in the North Caucasus is ratcheting up its armed resistance and targeting state officials and law enforcement personnel, as well as clergy and ordinary civilians. He said that the rebels in the North Caucasus are unable to carry out large-scale military operations and therefore are focusing on "sabotage-terrorist" actions. Rebel leaders, supported by international terrorist and extremist organizations, continue to have the goal of creating "a so-called Caucasus imamate," Nurgaliev said (www.newsru.com, June 25).
'26/11 has changed the way the world looks at terrorism'
Source: Rediff
July 02, 2009
The BBC's Richard Watson (external link) in a programme telecast this week made the startling claim that local links may have been associated with the terror attacks in Mumbai [Images] between November 26 and 29.
Watson claimed spotters on the ground kept the terrorists's handlers in Pakistan informed about the position of police forces during the three-day siege of Mumbai.
Indian security agencies investigating the attacks have insisted that there was no direct local links in the attacks. From day one, the investigators have stated that the attacks were planned and executed from Pakistan.
The Mumbai police said the attacks were carried out without any help from the Indian modules of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images], the Pakistan-based outfit blamed for the terrorism.
The Mumbai police say the terrorists's handlers in Pakistan obtained information about the positions of the security forces by watching reportage of the attacks on Indian and international television channels.
Watson spoke to rediff.com's terrorism expert Vicky Nanjappa on the telephone from London [Images] about how he concluded that local spotters were involved in the attacks.
Your story speaks about local links involved in the Mumbai attacks. The Mumbai police denies this.
It is important to say that our investigation did not prove a local link, but the evidence we heard suggested that there may have been a local link of some kind.
We already know that Fahim Ansari is accused of making preparations for the attack and that he was part of a local Lashkar-e-Tayiba cell. It is unlikely that he would have acted alone in Mumbai but we cannot prove this.
Conversations with several policemen -- unofficial conversations -- also indicated to us that local links were suspected, but no hard evidence has been found to support this.
Of course, the idea there were local spotters in Mumbai reporting back to the terrorist leaders has been strongly denied by Mumbai's Additional Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and we reported this denial in our piece.
Our evidence is circumstantial: The directions from the leaders in Paksistan to the terrorists on the ground (as revealed in the intercepts) suggests there may have been local help. We cannot put the case any more strongly than this.
It would be wrong to report that the BBC says there were local links etc -- we raise the possibility on the basis of the evidence we have seen.
There has been talk of local modules being involved in the Mumbai attacks. Do you think that the police deliberately omitted this aspect so that they could focus on the handlers in Pakistan?
I have no evidence that the police deliberately omitted this angle from their story.
Former intelligence official and security expert Mr B Raman wrote in a rediff column that had there been local links the police and intelligence agencies -- who were closely monitoring the conversation between the terrorists and their handlers -- would have picked up their conversations too.
B Raman is an excellent analyst on these matters, of course. But I am not sure that other local calls would necessarily have been picked up and even if they had been would they be placed into the public domain?
On the night of the attacks, intelligence officers managed to intercept the calls between the terrorists and their leaders with remarkable speed.
If this was achieved because, for example, they already were suspicious about some of the mobile telephone numbers from earlier intelligence and these numbers were being tracked, then it is possible these calls were picked up while others may not have been.
But this is speculation -- ultimately, we simply don't know without access to the full picture from India's Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.
Are local sleeper cells in Mumbai still active? The Intelligence Bureau informed the Union government two day ago about the presence of such cells whose members are planning on carrying out terror strikes.
I have no information on this.
How different was it for you to do a story on the Mumbai attacks? Were the police forthcoming in sharing information?
We found the police very helpful and forthcoming with information. Of course, they were keener to speak about the investigation -- which was first class -- than the alleged failures of the police response on the night the attacks began. But that is understandable.
Was there any pressure on you not to telecast anything about the local links?
No.
Would you like to share with us how you went about your investigation?
Not really.
How do you think the scenario in India, especially in Mumbai, has changed after these attacks? Also, what kind of impact has the attacks had on the West?
26/11 has changed the way the whole world looks at terrorism.
There is substantial concern in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, about similar low technology but deadly attacks.
The key fact is multiple targets -- and simultaneous attacks. If the terrorists were looking for a spectacular attack then unfortunately one can say they were successful.
What are your views on how Pakistan has reacted to this issue?
The release of Lashkar founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed in Pakistan was viewed with dismay in Washington and London. I have no special insight into this, but the general view -- not my view -- appears to be that Pakistan has been slow to investigate the Lashkar's involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
July 02, 2009
The BBC's Richard Watson (external link) in a programme telecast this week made the startling claim that local links may have been associated with the terror attacks in Mumbai [Images] between November 26 and 29.
Watson claimed spotters on the ground kept the terrorists's handlers in Pakistan informed about the position of police forces during the three-day siege of Mumbai.
Indian security agencies investigating the attacks have insisted that there was no direct local links in the attacks. From day one, the investigators have stated that the attacks were planned and executed from Pakistan.
The Mumbai police said the attacks were carried out without any help from the Indian modules of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images], the Pakistan-based outfit blamed for the terrorism.
The Mumbai police say the terrorists's handlers in Pakistan obtained information about the positions of the security forces by watching reportage of the attacks on Indian and international television channels.
Watson spoke to rediff.com's terrorism expert Vicky Nanjappa on the telephone from London [Images] about how he concluded that local spotters were involved in the attacks.
Your story speaks about local links involved in the Mumbai attacks. The Mumbai police denies this.
It is important to say that our investigation did not prove a local link, but the evidence we heard suggested that there may have been a local link of some kind.
We already know that Fahim Ansari is accused of making preparations for the attack and that he was part of a local Lashkar-e-Tayiba cell. It is unlikely that he would have acted alone in Mumbai but we cannot prove this.
Conversations with several policemen -- unofficial conversations -- also indicated to us that local links were suspected, but no hard evidence has been found to support this.
Of course, the idea there were local spotters in Mumbai reporting back to the terrorist leaders has been strongly denied by Mumbai's Additional Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and we reported this denial in our piece.
Our evidence is circumstantial: The directions from the leaders in Paksistan to the terrorists on the ground (as revealed in the intercepts) suggests there may have been local help. We cannot put the case any more strongly than this.
It would be wrong to report that the BBC says there were local links etc -- we raise the possibility on the basis of the evidence we have seen.
There has been talk of local modules being involved in the Mumbai attacks. Do you think that the police deliberately omitted this aspect so that they could focus on the handlers in Pakistan?
I have no evidence that the police deliberately omitted this angle from their story.
Former intelligence official and security expert Mr B Raman wrote in a rediff column that had there been local links the police and intelligence agencies -- who were closely monitoring the conversation between the terrorists and their handlers -- would have picked up their conversations too.
B Raman is an excellent analyst on these matters, of course. But I am not sure that other local calls would necessarily have been picked up and even if they had been would they be placed into the public domain?
On the night of the attacks, intelligence officers managed to intercept the calls between the terrorists and their leaders with remarkable speed.
If this was achieved because, for example, they already were suspicious about some of the mobile telephone numbers from earlier intelligence and these numbers were being tracked, then it is possible these calls were picked up while others may not have been.
But this is speculation -- ultimately, we simply don't know without access to the full picture from India's Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.
Are local sleeper cells in Mumbai still active? The Intelligence Bureau informed the Union government two day ago about the presence of such cells whose members are planning on carrying out terror strikes.
I have no information on this.
How different was it for you to do a story on the Mumbai attacks? Were the police forthcoming in sharing information?
We found the police very helpful and forthcoming with information. Of course, they were keener to speak about the investigation -- which was first class -- than the alleged failures of the police response on the night the attacks began. But that is understandable.
Was there any pressure on you not to telecast anything about the local links?
No.
Would you like to share with us how you went about your investigation?
Not really.
How do you think the scenario in India, especially in Mumbai, has changed after these attacks? Also, what kind of impact has the attacks had on the West?
26/11 has changed the way the whole world looks at terrorism.
There is substantial concern in the United Kingdom and the United States, for example, about similar low technology but deadly attacks.
The key fact is multiple targets -- and simultaneous attacks. If the terrorists were looking for a spectacular attack then unfortunately one can say they were successful.
What are your views on how Pakistan has reacted to this issue?
The release of Lashkar founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed in Pakistan was viewed with dismay in Washington and London. I have no special insight into this, but the general view -- not my view -- appears to be that Pakistan has been slow to investigate the Lashkar's involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
Top Greek judge's car, tax office hit by bombs
Source: AFP
ATHENS (AFP) — A top Greek judge's car was destroyed in a bomb blast while a tax office caught fire in a separate attack and another bombing targeted a government-affiliated migration organisation, police said.The car of the chairman of the Council of States, Greece's top administrative court, was gutted in the explosion of a gas canister bomb that was planted under his service car. Nobody was injured in the attack.
Judge Panagiotis Pikrammenos had just been appointed the previous day in a scheduled justice ministry handover.
The anti-terrorist service launched a probe into the tax office bombing in the central district of Ambelokipi, believed to be the work of Revolutionary Struggle, a far-left group that fired a rocket at the US Embassy two years ago.
Half an hour before the blast, which caused a fire that was put out before it could spread, anonymous warnings were telephoned to two Greek dailies, the police said.
Revolutionary Struggle, which features on the European Union's list of terrorist groups, more recently launched two strikes against US-based banking group Citibank and attacks on police that nearly killed a young officer.
In another attack, a gas canister bomb exploded outside the offices of the government-funded Hellenic Migration Policy Institute (IMEPO), causing minor material damage and no injuries.
Frequent bomb attacks in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki are often reported to be the work of extreme leftist groups or the anarchist movement.
Extremist hits against police and business targets intensified after police fatally shot a teenager in December, unleashing a wave of youth protests and violence which emboldened radical groups according to analysts.
Pipeline blasts put B.C. town on edge
Source: The Globe and mail
Nathan VanderKlippe
From Monday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009 09:14PM EDT
Light was just beginning to flood the northern British Columbia sky when Lance Delaronde was roused from his bed at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. He opened his door to find a panicked neighbour who had been jolted awake by a loud explosion and was warning others to evacuate.
Still half-asleep, Mr. Delaronde heard enough about the blast two kilometres from his house – a cloud of dust, a hissing sound – to get his wife and two children dressed and ready to leave.
In the nearby woods, about eight kilometres south of Dawson Creek, natural gas was still leaking from a separate blast that occurred only three days before, on July 1. That was the fifth in a string of bombings that have targeted pipelines and other gas facilities operated by energy company EnCana Corp.
Saturday's explosion took place just 500 metres from where workers were attempting to repair the earlier blast, and marked the sixth time an EnCana facility has been struck – this time a pipeline carrying toxic sour gas, RCMP later confirmed. All of the attacks have taken place within a short distance of each other, all of them around major holidays. RCMP sent nearly 20 people to scour the latest blast site for evidence that could point to whoever is responsible for an act they described for the first time with an alarming word: terrorism.
“It fits the bill in the sense that we've got civil and critical infrastructure that's being attacked,” said RCMP Corporal Dan Moskaluk. “The dynamics have changed and certainly EnCana family and workers, and the community large, are being terrorized by this.”
But in a part of Canada that prides itself on a sangfroid attitude to things it can't control, people have resolved not to be perturbed by a string of bombings that would likely have unnerved other communities.
Take Mr. Delaronde, for example. While some of his neighbours hit the road – one drove a camper to the local Wal-Mart parking lot – he fell back asleep.
Even those who left home returned quickly. Sixty-year-old Marita Svensson spent a few hours parked at Wal-Mart before driving back to her family's ranch, where she and her husband run 40 head of cattle.
“You can't live in fear and be scared,” she said.
In part, the refusal to be cowed comes from the fact that the blasts, while they have endangered nearby houses and cattle, have not hurt anyone. A small amount of sour gas – which is toxic enough to cause death – leaked from the Saturday pipeline blast before automatic shut-off systems stanched the flow, but no one was injured. EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said the company's crews succeeded Sunday morning in stopping gas leaking from the July 1 blast, which damaged a natural gas well.
Still, the explosions have dominated conversation in Pouce Coupe, the town of 900 nearest the recent blasts. Locals have speculated that the bomber could be a disgruntled landowner, an extremist activist looking to draw attention to the dangers of sour gas development, or perhaps even one of an unknown number of forest hermits who live off-grid in the region.
Those so-called “bush bunnies” look like “a character you'd see in a 1940s western movie, the Gabby Hayes type,” said Pouce Coupe Mayor Lyman Clark. “And there is a rumour among a lot of people that it's one of those type of individuals.”
Police have offered few details on who they believe is responsible. A letter sent to a Dawson Creek newsletter last October continues to provide one of the scant pieces as to the possible motivation behind the attacks. In the letter, addressed to “EnCana and all other oil and gas interests,” the author calls the energy industry “terrorists” and accuses it of “endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands.”
RCMP have set up a website to solicit tips, while EnCana has boosted its own security, offered a $500,000 reward for information and set up a special phone line for the bomber to call them. So far it hasn't rung, and the size and remoteness of the Dawson Creek wilderness area has made it difficult for policy and security forces to monitor the extensive petroleum infrastructure installed in the region.
Andrew Nikiforuk, a Calgary journalist who has written extensively about Alberta natural gas saboteur Wiebo Ludwig, travelled to Pouce Coup in early June, and said police appear to be flustered.
“I heard story after story of people who felt they had been really outrageously treated by the RCMP … Stories about people being tailed, cops coming into people's yards and just watching them all evening – a lot of stories about open harassment,” he said. “That's a sure sign the police are incredibly frustrated and don't know where to turn.”
Cpl. Moskaluk said RCMP have employed a team of “very-qualified investigators” who “have the capacity to sustain a long, long dedication to the investigation and the tasks that emerge from it.”
With a report from the Canadian Press
Still half-asleep, Mr. Delaronde heard enough about the blast two kilometres from his house – a cloud of dust, a hissing sound – to get his wife and two children dressed and ready to leave.
In the nearby woods, about eight kilometres south of Dawson Creek, natural gas was still leaking from a separate blast that occurred only three days before, on July 1. That was the fifth in a string of bombings that have targeted pipelines and other gas facilities operated by energy company EnCana Corp.
Saturday's explosion took place just 500 metres from where workers were attempting to repair the earlier blast, and marked the sixth time an EnCana facility has been struck – this time a pipeline carrying toxic sour gas, RCMP later confirmed. All of the attacks have taken place within a short distance of each other, all of them around major holidays. RCMP sent nearly 20 people to scour the latest blast site for evidence that could point to whoever is responsible for an act they described for the first time with an alarming word: terrorism.
“It fits the bill in the sense that we've got civil and critical infrastructure that's being attacked,” said RCMP Corporal Dan Moskaluk. “The dynamics have changed and certainly EnCana family and workers, and the community large, are being terrorized by this.”
But in a part of Canada that prides itself on a sangfroid attitude to things it can't control, people have resolved not to be perturbed by a string of bombings that would likely have unnerved other communities.
Take Mr. Delaronde, for example. While some of his neighbours hit the road – one drove a camper to the local Wal-Mart parking lot – he fell back asleep.
Even those who left home returned quickly. Sixty-year-old Marita Svensson spent a few hours parked at Wal-Mart before driving back to her family's ranch, where she and her husband run 40 head of cattle.
“You can't live in fear and be scared,” she said.
In part, the refusal to be cowed comes from the fact that the blasts, while they have endangered nearby houses and cattle, have not hurt anyone. A small amount of sour gas – which is toxic enough to cause death – leaked from the Saturday pipeline blast before automatic shut-off systems stanched the flow, but no one was injured. EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said the company's crews succeeded Sunday morning in stopping gas leaking from the July 1 blast, which damaged a natural gas well.
Still, the explosions have dominated conversation in Pouce Coupe, the town of 900 nearest the recent blasts. Locals have speculated that the bomber could be a disgruntled landowner, an extremist activist looking to draw attention to the dangers of sour gas development, or perhaps even one of an unknown number of forest hermits who live off-grid in the region.
Those so-called “bush bunnies” look like “a character you'd see in a 1940s western movie, the Gabby Hayes type,” said Pouce Coupe Mayor Lyman Clark. “And there is a rumour among a lot of people that it's one of those type of individuals.”
Police have offered few details on who they believe is responsible. A letter sent to a Dawson Creek newsletter last October continues to provide one of the scant pieces as to the possible motivation behind the attacks. In the letter, addressed to “EnCana and all other oil and gas interests,” the author calls the energy industry “terrorists” and accuses it of “endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands.”
RCMP have set up a website to solicit tips, while EnCana has boosted its own security, offered a $500,000 reward for information and set up a special phone line for the bomber to call them. So far it hasn't rung, and the size and remoteness of the Dawson Creek wilderness area has made it difficult for policy and security forces to monitor the extensive petroleum infrastructure installed in the region.
Andrew Nikiforuk, a Calgary journalist who has written extensively about Alberta natural gas saboteur Wiebo Ludwig, travelled to Pouce Coup in early June, and said police appear to be flustered.
“I heard story after story of people who felt they had been really outrageously treated by the RCMP … Stories about people being tailed, cops coming into people's yards and just watching them all evening – a lot of stories about open harassment,” he said. “That's a sure sign the police are incredibly frustrated and don't know where to turn.”
Cpl. Moskaluk said RCMP have employed a team of “very-qualified investigators” who “have the capacity to sustain a long, long dedication to the investigation and the tasks that emerge from it.”
With a report from the Canadian Press
Taliban shell misses Pak post, hits India
Source: The telegraph | ||
| NISHIT DHOLABHAI | ||
New Delhi, July 5: When a rocket flew in across the border and exploded in a Punjab village last night, the BSF immediately suspected shelling by Pakistani forces. But it turned out that the shell had been fired by the Taliban at a Pakistani Rangers’ post and had overshot the target. The incident has deepened fears that the war in Pakistan is inching ever closer to the Indian border and may spill over into India. Unconfirmed reports received by Indian intelligence say militants attacked the Rangers’ K.S. Wala post in the Lahore sector around 10-10.30pm. At roughly the same time, an Indian villager was injured in a rocket explosion in a paddy field at Dundi, Amritsar sector, near the Wagah border. As the BSF sent a protest note to Pakistani officials, its personnel in the Pulkanjari area of Punjab reported that a shell had also exploded on the Pakistani side and formed a crater. “The Pakistanis were even seen erasing the evidence, afraid that wrong signals may reach Islamabad,” a BSF source told The Telegraph. An intelligence official said: “We are trying to collate intercepts to get more details on what exactly is happening (on the Pakistani side) and what is the threat perception for India (through a spill-over).” Earlier yesterday afternoon, another incident served as a pointer to the chaotic state of affairs just across the border. A 23-year-old man was gunned down by the BSF at the Rodanwala post near Attari. The man had come running in from the Pakistani side and climbed up the first line of fencing. He was trying to climb the second line when he was shot and fell on the concertina fencing. The Rangers accepted, after some initial reluctance, that the man was a Pakistani. The BSF suspect he was a criminal or a militant being chased by the Pakistani forces. |
Pak terrorists fire rockets at Punjab border villages
Source: TOI
AMRITSAR: Pakistan-based terrorists attacked two villages, Dhandae and Baherwal, in Attari block in Amritsar with rockets late on Saturday night,
injuring one youth and spreading panic in the region. One of the three rockets fell within the Pakistani territory.
This is the first time that Indian villages along the International Border have been targeted during peace time from Pakistani soil. It was on March 30 this year that 12 armed Taliban terrorists had attacked the Manawan Police Academy in Pakistan's Punjab, barely 8km from the Indian border (and about 10km from the two villages), and killed eight people. Three of the attackers wearing suicide jackets then blew themselves up, while four were caught and taken to an undisclosed destination.
"On Saturday night, around 9.50pm, three rockets were fired from the Pakistani side of which two landed in Dhandae and Baherwal villages close to the International Border. A youth was injured,'' said BSF Inspector General Himmat Singh.
Saying the rockets could have been fired by Pakistan-based terror groups, IG Himmat Singh said, "We held a commandant-level meeting on Saturday night with Pakistan Rangers and conveyed our strong protest." He also said Pakistan Rangers assured them of an investigation into the incident.
BSF officers said the rocket must have covered at least 4.5km, which means it must have been fired from a site 2km inside Pakistan. They also said the attack could have been a retaliatory action to the killing of a Pakistani intruder, presumably a Taliban member or from some other terrorist group, by BSF on Saturday afternoon near the border fence.
The attack poses a serious threat to thousands of locals as well as tourists who visit the Attari checkpost to watch the Beating Retreat ceremony. The BSF does not have the weaponry or defence system to thwart such rocket attacks from across the border.
The rocket in Dhandae fell in an irrigated paddy field and exploded, leaving a crater about 10 feet wide. Residents panicked and rushed out of their homes for safety. A part of the paddy field was also burnt. Senior BSF, Army and police officials soon reached the spot.
Dilbagh Singh (24), an eyewitness who received splinter injuries, said, "I saw a ball of fire falling in the paddy field and then something hit my leg. I got scared and limped away from the site."
Another eyewitness Sukhwinder Kaur said, "We panicked and ran out of our homes as it seemed like Pakistan had attacked us. What if the rocket had hit our houses?" she asked.
BSF found the tail of the rocket and another part bearing a mark, `07R'. Some BSF jawans said they saw the rocket at a height of about 300 metres from ground level coming in from the Pakistani side on Saturday night. Further measures to strengthen the security along the border are being taken.
AMRITSAR: Pakistan-based terrorists attacked two villages, Dhandae and Baherwal, in Attari block in Amritsar with rockets late on Saturday night,
This is the first time that Indian villages along the International Border have been targeted during peace time from Pakistani soil. It was on March 30 this year that 12 armed Taliban terrorists had attacked the Manawan Police Academy in Pakistan's Punjab, barely 8km from the Indian border (and about 10km from the two villages), and killed eight people. Three of the attackers wearing suicide jackets then blew themselves up, while four were caught and taken to an undisclosed destination.
"On Saturday night, around 9.50pm, three rockets were fired from the Pakistani side of which two landed in Dhandae and Baherwal villages close to the International Border. A youth was injured,'' said BSF Inspector General Himmat Singh.
Saying the rockets could have been fired by Pakistan-based terror groups, IG Himmat Singh said, "We held a commandant-level meeting on Saturday night with Pakistan Rangers and conveyed our strong protest." He also said Pakistan Rangers assured them of an investigation into the incident.
BSF officers said the rocket must have covered at least 4.5km, which means it must have been fired from a site 2km inside Pakistan. They also said the attack could have been a retaliatory action to the killing of a Pakistani intruder, presumably a Taliban member or from some other terrorist group, by BSF on Saturday afternoon near the border fence.
The attack poses a serious threat to thousands of locals as well as tourists who visit the Attari checkpost to watch the Beating Retreat ceremony. The BSF does not have the weaponry or defence system to thwart such rocket attacks from across the border.
The rocket in Dhandae fell in an irrigated paddy field and exploded, leaving a crater about 10 feet wide. Residents panicked and rushed out of their homes for safety. A part of the paddy field was also burnt. Senior BSF, Army and police officials soon reached the spot.
Dilbagh Singh (24), an eyewitness who received splinter injuries, said, "I saw a ball of fire falling in the paddy field and then something hit my leg. I got scared and limped away from the site."
Another eyewitness Sukhwinder Kaur said, "We panicked and ran out of our homes as it seemed like Pakistan had attacked us. What if the rocket had hit our houses?" she asked.
BSF found the tail of the rocket and another part bearing a mark, `07R'. Some BSF jawans said they saw the rocket at a height of about 300 metres from ground level coming in from the Pakistani side on Saturday night. Further measures to strengthen the security along the border are being taken.
Taliban bomb near NATO base, two Afghans killed: army
source: AFP
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A suicide car bomb has exploded near the main gate of a massive NATO military base in the southern city of Kandahar, killing two Afghans and wounding 13, according to an army general.The insurgent Taliban movement said the attack was carried out by one of its followers and the target had been US vehicles entering the Kandahar Air Field about 10 kilometres (six miles) outside the city.
The vast complex houses thousands of international troops, including some of the US reinforcements sent by US President Barack Obama this year as part of his new strategy to defeat the Taliban, as well as Afghan soldiers.
General Shair Mohammad Zazai said the bomber had not intended to attack the base but blew himself up at a nearby Afghan army checkpoint for vehicles en route into the city. Police said however his target was not clear.
"Twelve civilians and two Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded," said Zazai, the Afghan army corps commander for the southern region. One of the civilians died later and another person was killed outright, he said.
The attacker had blown himself up in a group of vehicles waiting to be searched before entering Kandahar city on a road from the border with Pakistan, the general said.
The regional border police commander, General Safiullah Hakim, said one of the dead men was a truck driver. It could not be ruled out that the attacker was targeting the base, he said.
An AFP reporter at the scene said the explosion took place about 50 metres (yards) from the first gate into the base. Two vehicles trying to enter were damaged -- one carrying concrete barriers and the other loaded with armoured vehicles.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed the explosion but said its troops were not affected.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed the attack on behalf of his organisation, and said a dozen US soldiers were killed. Taliban information about death tolls is often incorrect or exaggerated.
The hardline Islamic insurgents have carried out a wave of suicide bombings in the past four years as part of a growing campaign against the internationally backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The Kandahar air field is one of the biggest bases in Afghanistan for the tens of thousands of foreign soldiers deployed to help the fragile Afghan government fight the extremists.
About 4,000 troops flooded into Taliban strongholds in adjacent Helmand province on Thursday, as part of Washington's new strategy to turn the tide on the insurgency.
Their aim is to drive out insurgents and establish security so Afghans can vote in August presidential and provincial council elections.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
US slaps sanctions on Al-Qaeda backers, others
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on an Al-Qaeda backer and three leaders of Pakistan-based Islamist group Laskhar-e-Taiba, which was blamed over last year's Mumbai attacks.
The US Treasury said it was imposing an assets freeze on the four, identified as Fazeel-a-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari, Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid and Nasir Javaid.
Peshawari allegedly provided assistance, including funding and recruits, to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban militia fighting to regain control of Afghanistan and battling government forces in Pakistan.
Qasmani is said to be the chief coordinator for Laskhar and Mujahid the head of the group's media department while Javaid had served as its commander in Pakistan.
Laskhar is widely thought to have been behind last November's 60-hour bloodbath in India's Mumbai city which led to 166 deaths.
The US Treasury said its action came two days after Peshawari, Qasmani and Mujahid were added to a UN blacklist of individuals and entities linked with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
All UN member states are obligated to freeze the funds and other assets of listed individuals and entities included on the blacklist, and to apply other sanctions, such as travel ban and arms embargo, a Treasury statement said.
Qasmani was also linked in the Treasury statement to the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai that killed 186 people and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in India's Panipat city which killed 68 people.
He allegedly conducted fundraising activities on behalf of Lashkar in 2005 and utilized money that he received from an alleged Indian crime figure and terrorist supporter Dawood Ibrahim to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing.
But the head of one of Pakistan's biggest charities -- widely viewed as a front for LeT -- condemned the sanctions and charged that the men were welfare workers rather than members of the militant group.
"None of the four belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba. They are welfare workers in Jamaat-ud-Dawa. None of them have a bank account in the USA or any country abroad," the head of the Dawa charity, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, told AFP.
"The USA has never produced any proof about the involvement of Dawa in terrorism. We are a private NGO working to promote education, medical cover for the poor and need, and rehabilitation in calamity-hit areas," he added.
President Barack Obama's administration has been piling pressure on Pakistan to bring those guilty of last year's Mumbai attacks to justice, a senior US diplomat said recently.
India blames neighboring Pakistan for harbouring those who planned the attacks, and one Pakistani national is on trial in Mumbai accused of being the only gunman who survived.
The US Treasury said it was imposing an assets freeze on the four, identified as Fazeel-a-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari, Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid and Nasir Javaid.
Peshawari allegedly provided assistance, including funding and recruits, to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban militia fighting to regain control of Afghanistan and battling government forces in Pakistan.
Qasmani is said to be the chief coordinator for Laskhar and Mujahid the head of the group's media department while Javaid had served as its commander in Pakistan.
Laskhar is widely thought to have been behind last November's 60-hour bloodbath in India's Mumbai city which led to 166 deaths.
The US Treasury said its action came two days after Peshawari, Qasmani and Mujahid were added to a UN blacklist of individuals and entities linked with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
All UN member states are obligated to freeze the funds and other assets of listed individuals and entities included on the blacklist, and to apply other sanctions, such as travel ban and arms embargo, a Treasury statement said.
Qasmani was also linked in the Treasury statement to the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai that killed 186 people and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in India's Panipat city which killed 68 people.
He allegedly conducted fundraising activities on behalf of Lashkar in 2005 and utilized money that he received from an alleged Indian crime figure and terrorist supporter Dawood Ibrahim to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing.
But the head of one of Pakistan's biggest charities -- widely viewed as a front for LeT -- condemned the sanctions and charged that the men were welfare workers rather than members of the militant group.
"None of the four belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba. They are welfare workers in Jamaat-ud-Dawa. None of them have a bank account in the USA or any country abroad," the head of the Dawa charity, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, told AFP.
"The USA has never produced any proof about the involvement of Dawa in terrorism. We are a private NGO working to promote education, medical cover for the poor and need, and rehabilitation in calamity-hit areas," he added.
President Barack Obama's administration has been piling pressure on Pakistan to bring those guilty of last year's Mumbai attacks to justice, a senior US diplomat said recently.
India blames neighboring Pakistan for harbouring those who planned the attacks, and one Pakistani national is on trial in Mumbai accused of being the only gunman who survived.
Is Lashkar the new al-Qaida?
Source: Timesofindia
NEW DELHI
: The evidence is tumbling out of the closet: Pakistan's creation Lashkar-e-Taiba is not merely allied to al-Qaida but can now be
described as the new al-Qaida. With the UN Security Council listing LeT leaders Arif Qasmani, Mohammad Yahya Mujahid and Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari as terrorists allied to al-Qaida, yet another veil is being ripped off Pakistan's terror claims.
The three, banned under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on June 29, are not mere footsoldiers of the Lashkar. In fact, the resolution brings out their importance for LeT and al-Qaida.
It says, ``Arif Qasmani has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks, to include the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007, Samjhauta Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India.''
The resolution added, ``Mohammed Yahya Mujahid is head of LeT's media department. In that capacity, Mujahid has issued statements to the press on behalf of LeT on numerous occasions. Fazeel-a-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari, leader of the Ganj Madrassah in Peshawar, Pakistan, was providing assistance to the al-Qaida network.''
The dangerous part in all of this is that while the US and Pakistani armies are targeting the Taliban, the ISI continues to shelter the Lashkar, a greater threat to India and the world.
It is openly acknowledged in counter-terrorism circles that the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai were masterminded by the ISI and executed with commando precision by the LeT. Increasingly, the LeT is emerging as more than a mere Pakistani terror outfit. It's now revealed to have strong connections with al-Qaida and globally on par with it.
LeT's primary target continues to be India, with the aim of weakening it and establishing a caliphate here. It is for this mission that LeT receives the bulk of its funding from the ISI and is so close to the Pakistan army that some of its retired officers are the chief combat trainers for the LeT, which has, in turn, been training Taliban-Qaida fighters.
Over the years, al-Qaida has found great use for the extensive network of LeT — its charitable arm, JuD, is an effective front for its terror activities. Several years ago, ISI brought the LeT and Dawood's organized crime network together — thus bringing about a marriage of interests.
Recently, Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer who is in charge of Obama's Af-Pak strategy review, was quoted as saying, ``I think we have to regard the LeT as much a threat to us as any other part of the al-Qaida system.''
While LeT and al-Qaida are yet to launch joint operations, there is ample evidence of the two entitites marching together on the jihad highway. Security expert B Raman says al-Qaida is finding Arab recruitment for jihad more difficult, and has come to rely on LeT's extensive network of Pakistan diaspora jihadis, who are being trained and sent off on missions or as sleeper cells.
In 2006, national security adviser M K Narayanan described LeT as part of the "al-Qaida compact", and "as big and omnipotent" as the former. "The Lashkar today has emerged as a very major force. It has connectivity with west Asia, Europe... It is as big as and omnipotent as al-Qaida in every sense of the term," he said.
After the Mumbai attacks, David Kilcullen, US counter-insurgency expert, told a panel that counter-terror officials in Europe had found CDs of al-Qaida's recent urban warfare tactics that matched those used in Mumbai
.
A significant number of Qaida leaders like Abu Zubaydah have been found from LeT safe-houses, while reports say over six Guantanamo bay detainees were LeT operatives or trained in LeT camps. Top intelligence officials in India say that their information shows LeT and al-Qaida share "cadres, ammunition and funds."
According to the South Asia Terrorism portal, LeT has an extensive network that run across Pakistan and India with branches in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Bangladesh and South East Asia. It gets donations from Pakistanis in Gulf, UK, Islamic NGOs and Pakistani businessmen. But main source of funds is ISI and Saudi Arabia. It maintains ties to groups in Philippines, Middle East and Chechnya, been part of the Bosnian campaign against Serbs, set up sleeper cells in Australia and US and been active in Iraq. It even has a unit in Germany.
Farhana Ali, terrorism analyst with RAND Corporation, said in a post-Mumbai discussion, "The internationalisation of LeT has made it a potent force, capable with its capabilities but also in its membership. In this way LeT is far greater in power than al-Qaida."
Selig Harrison, author of `Pakistan: State of the Union', points to a more dangerous threat from the LET. "Disarming LeT should be the top US priority in Pakistan because it would greatly reduce the possibility of a coup by Islamist sympathisers in the armed forces. The closet Islamists in the Army and the powerful ISI are not likely to risk a coup in Islamabad unless they can count on armed support from Lashkar-e-Taiba and its allies to help them consolidate their grip on the countryside."
NEW DELHI
: The evidence is tumbling out of the closet: Pakistan's creation Lashkar-e-Taiba is not merely allied to al-Qaida but can now be
described as the new al-Qaida. With the UN Security Council listing LeT leaders Arif Qasmani, Mohammad Yahya Mujahid and Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari as terrorists allied to al-Qaida, yet another veil is being ripped off Pakistan's terror claims.
The three, banned under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on June 29, are not mere footsoldiers of the Lashkar. In fact, the resolution brings out their importance for LeT and al-Qaida.
It says, ``Arif Qasmani has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks, to include the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007, Samjhauta Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India.''
The resolution added, ``Mohammed Yahya Mujahid is head of LeT's media department. In that capacity, Mujahid has issued statements to the press on behalf of LeT on numerous occasions. Fazeel-a-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen al-Peshawari, leader of the Ganj Madrassah in Peshawar, Pakistan, was providing assistance to the al-Qaida network.''
The dangerous part in all of this is that while the US and Pakistani armies are targeting the Taliban, the ISI continues to shelter the Lashkar, a greater threat to India and the world.
It is openly acknowledged in counter-terrorism circles that the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai were masterminded by the ISI and executed with commando precision by the LeT. Increasingly, the LeT is emerging as more than a mere Pakistani terror outfit. It's now revealed to have strong connections with al-Qaida and globally on par with it.
LeT's primary target continues to be India, with the aim of weakening it and establishing a caliphate here. It is for this mission that LeT receives the bulk of its funding from the ISI and is so close to the Pakistan army that some of its retired officers are the chief combat trainers for the LeT, which has, in turn, been training Taliban-Qaida fighters.
Over the years, al-Qaida has found great use for the extensive network of LeT — its charitable arm, JuD, is an effective front for its terror activities. Several years ago, ISI brought the LeT and Dawood's organized crime network together — thus bringing about a marriage of interests.
Recently, Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer who is in charge of Obama's Af-Pak strategy review, was quoted as saying, ``I think we have to regard the LeT as much a threat to us as any other part of the al-Qaida system.''
While LeT and al-Qaida are yet to launch joint operations, there is ample evidence of the two entitites marching together on the jihad highway. Security expert B Raman says al-Qaida is finding Arab recruitment for jihad more difficult, and has come to rely on LeT's extensive network of Pakistan diaspora jihadis, who are being trained and sent off on missions or as sleeper cells.
In 2006, national security adviser M K Narayanan described LeT as part of the "al-Qaida compact", and "as big and omnipotent" as the former. "The Lashkar today has emerged as a very major force. It has connectivity with west Asia, Europe... It is as big as and omnipotent as al-Qaida in every sense of the term," he said.
After the Mumbai attacks, David Kilcullen, US counter-insurgency expert, told a panel that counter-terror officials in Europe had found CDs of al-Qaida's recent urban warfare tactics that matched those used in Mumbai
.
A significant number of Qaida leaders like Abu Zubaydah have been found from LeT safe-houses, while reports say over six Guantanamo bay detainees were LeT operatives or trained in LeT camps. Top intelligence officials in India say that their information shows LeT and al-Qaida share "cadres, ammunition and funds."
According to the South Asia Terrorism portal, LeT has an extensive network that run across Pakistan and India with branches in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Bangladesh and South East Asia. It gets donations from Pakistanis in Gulf, UK, Islamic NGOs and Pakistani businessmen. But main source of funds is ISI and Saudi Arabia. It maintains ties to groups in Philippines, Middle East and Chechnya, been part of the Bosnian campaign against Serbs, set up sleeper cells in Australia and US and been active in Iraq. It even has a unit in Germany.
Farhana Ali, terrorism analyst with RAND Corporation, said in a post-Mumbai discussion, "The internationalisation of LeT has made it a potent force, capable with its capabilities but also in its membership. In this way LeT is far greater in power than al-Qaida."
Selig Harrison, author of `Pakistan: State of the Union', points to a more dangerous threat from the LET. "Disarming LeT should be the top US priority in Pakistan because it would greatly reduce the possibility of a coup by Islamist sympathisers in the armed forces. The closet Islamists in the Army and the powerful ISI are not likely to risk a coup in Islamabad unless they can count on armed support from Lashkar-e-Taiba and its allies to help them consolidate their grip on the countryside."
12 sentenced for terrorism in Serbia
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Saturday, July 4, 2009
Pak appeals in SC against JuD chief Saeed's release
Source: The Hindu
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan's federal government and the authorities of Punjab province on Saturday filed two petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the release from house arrest of of outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, wanted by India for the Mumbai terror attacks.
Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, was freed from detention on the orders of the Lahore High Court on June 2 after spending nearly six months in detention.
The court had said the Pakistan government did not produce any evidence to link Saeed to Mumbai attacks.
Saeed and several of his close aides were detained in the wake of last year's Mumbai attacks after his organisation was declared a front for the LeT by the UN Security Council. They were all subsequently freed.
India had expressed concern at the delay by Pakistani authorities in appealing against the release of Saeed.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Three dead, 15 hurt in Philippine bomb blast: military
Source: business 24-7
Bombs ripped through a cafe in the southern Philippines early Monday, killing three people and wounding 15, the military and witnesses said.
| By AFP on Monday, June 29, 2009 |
The three dead included a man seen placing one of the devices in a garbage bin at a coffee shop near the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, an overwhelmingly Muslim section of Mindanao island, one witness said, quoting local police.
"(One) bomb exploded prematurely. Among those killed was the bomb courier," said Major Randolph Cabangbang, military spokesman for the region.
He blamed a hardline Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) faction for the attack, which he said also injured 15 civilians.
"Military bomb experts told me that two bombs simultaneously exploded and they are still looking for the third explosive," said Eduardo Vasquez, a Roman Catholic priest who witnessed the attack.
The MILF, a group that has been waging a decades-old separatist campaign in the region, denied involvement and suggested government forces were to blame.
"Villagers saw soldiers arrive in the area at dawn and there was an explosion several hours later," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told reporters by telephone.
It was the second bombing in the region in three days, after nine people were wounded in a bus depot blast in the city of Tacurong. Local police said that was also carried out by the MILF.
A hardline MILF faction launched a series of raids on Christian settler communities across Mindanao in August 2008 that left dozens of civilians dead and displaced more than half a million people, according to aid agencies.
They followed a Supreme Court ruling that outlawed a draft peace agreement offered by President Gloria Arroyo to the MILF to end decades of rebellion in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.
The treaty would have given the large Muslim minority political control over large swathes of the south, which Christian politicians alleged would have been disproportionate to Muslim population numbers.
Militants kill seven in Assam
Source: NEUNDERGROUND BLOG
Sushanta Talukdar
Guwahati: Suspected militants gunned down seven persons including four women in two separate incidents in southern Assam’s North Cachar Hills district and northern Assam’s Sonitpur district late on Monday night. In the incident in Sonitpur district, four members of a Hindi-speaking family including a three-year-old child were shot dead and two others injured near the Naharani tea estate under Rangapara police station.
A group of militants opened indiscriminate fire in which a Hindi-speaking businessman, his wife, the couple’s child Pankaj, and a relative died instantly. A five-year-old girl and a teenaged girl were injured in the attack. Police, however, are yet to identify the militant outfit involved.
In another incident a mother and her two daughters were killed in an abandoned Zeme Naga village under Mahur police station late on Monday night. Following this, the death toll in attacks on Naga villages since March 19 has gone up to 51.
Furore in the House The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes for the second consecutive day over continued militant violence in N.C. Hills district with the main opposition party Asom Gana Parishad alleging that funds allocated to the N.C. Hills Autonomous Council had been diverted to militant coffers since the days of the Congress rule in the hill council.
The AGP members staged a walk out protesting a ruling by Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai expunging from the proceedings the references made by Leader of Opposition Chandra Mohan Patowary to Bodoland Territorial Council chief Hagrama Mahilary while raising some points about diversion of N.C. Hills council funds to militants.
Mr. Patowary, however, later demanded that Mr. Mahilary be arrested for his confession and going on record that he (Mr. Mahilary) had paid Rs. 50 lakh to the banned militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland.
Bomb blast kills 33 as Iraqis take charge of security
Source: Defence talk
BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces were in control of towns and cities nationwide after the pullout of US troops six years after the invasion, but a bloody car bombing underscored the tough challenge ahead.
US President Barack Obama, who opposed the 2003 war ordered by his predecessor George W. Bush, hailed the US withdrawal as an "important milestone" but warned of difficult days of bloodshed and violence ahead.
The landmark day was marred by a bomb attack on a popular market in Kirkuk, an oil hub which has long been riven by ethnic tensions, which left 33 people dead and 92 wounded including women and children.
"The explosion occurred at a very busy time. I only saw fire and my stall was thrown over. I saw traders on fire in their shops and there were dead and wounded people on the ground," said Aras Omar Ghaffour, a 28-year-old vegetable stallholder.
Iraq marked the American pullback with a national holiday six years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein but sparked an insurgency and sectarian bloodshed that left tens of thousands dead.
American troops were to have quit built-up areas by midnight (2100 GMT), ahead of a complete pullout ordered by Obama by the end of 2011.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took on critics of Iraq's army and police, saying they were up to the task of taking over from the Americans.
"It is an offence to the Iraqis. The people who said that the foreign troops would never withdraw and would keep permanent bases in our country were giving a green light to the terrorists to kill civilians," he said.
The US military said four soldiers died from combat-related injuries on Monday, taking to 4,321 the number of American troops killed since the invasion.
"Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead. We know that the violence in Iraq will continue; we see that already in the senseless bombing in Kirkuk earlier today," Obama said at the White House.
"This is an important step forward, as a sovereign and united Iraq continues to take control of its own destiny," he said, adding that Iraqi leaders now had to make "hard choices" to resolve political issues and bolster security.
"Today's transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history."
Obama has asked Vice President Joe Biden to oversee the US departure from Iraq and Washington's effort to promote internal political reconciliation.
Maliki had warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militias were likely to step up attacks in the run-up to June 30 in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces, despite an overall fall in violence.
The deadliest attack this year occurred near Kirkuk on June 20 when 72 people were killed.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he expects "sporadic attacks" as Al-Qaeda fighters "increase the level of violence to try to pretend that they forced us out of the cities" and show weakness in the Iraqi forces.
The top US commander General Ray Odierno told US reporters in a video briefing from Baghdad that he believed Iraq was now better off "not having a dictator such as Saddam Hussein.
"They are now going to be able to see that they can move ahead and the people of Iraq will have a say in their government."
But he declined to say how many US troops would be left in urban centres, saying that figure "will be different every single day," adding that the remaining US troops would be acting as trainers and advisers.
Tuesday's pullback was part of a security agreement signed in November setting the terms for a continued US military presence in Iraq, where there are currently about 133,000 American troops.
Across Baghdad, tanks and armoured vehicles manned by Iraqi soldiers and police and decorated with artificial flowers, flags and banners passed through the city, as nationalistic songs and popular music played.
The Status of Forces Agreement, which set the pullback deadline, says US commanders must now seek Iraqi permission to conduct operations, but their troops retain a unilateral right to "legitimate self-defence."
BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces were in control of towns and cities nationwide after the pullout of US troops six years after the invasion, but a bloody car bombing underscored the tough challenge ahead.
US President Barack Obama, who opposed the 2003 war ordered by his predecessor George W. Bush, hailed the US withdrawal as an "important milestone" but warned of difficult days of bloodshed and violence ahead.
The landmark day was marred by a bomb attack on a popular market in Kirkuk, an oil hub which has long been riven by ethnic tensions, which left 33 people dead and 92 wounded including women and children.
"The explosion occurred at a very busy time. I only saw fire and my stall was thrown over. I saw traders on fire in their shops and there were dead and wounded people on the ground," said Aras Omar Ghaffour, a 28-year-old vegetable stallholder.
Iraq marked the American pullback with a national holiday six years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein but sparked an insurgency and sectarian bloodshed that left tens of thousands dead.
American troops were to have quit built-up areas by midnight (2100 GMT), ahead of a complete pullout ordered by Obama by the end of 2011.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took on critics of Iraq's army and police, saying they were up to the task of taking over from the Americans.
"It is an offence to the Iraqis. The people who said that the foreign troops would never withdraw and would keep permanent bases in our country were giving a green light to the terrorists to kill civilians," he said.
The US military said four soldiers died from combat-related injuries on Monday, taking to 4,321 the number of American troops killed since the invasion.
"Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead. We know that the violence in Iraq will continue; we see that already in the senseless bombing in Kirkuk earlier today," Obama said at the White House.
"This is an important step forward, as a sovereign and united Iraq continues to take control of its own destiny," he said, adding that Iraqi leaders now had to make "hard choices" to resolve political issues and bolster security.
"Today's transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history."
Obama has asked Vice President Joe Biden to oversee the US departure from Iraq and Washington's effort to promote internal political reconciliation.
Maliki had warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militias were likely to step up attacks in the run-up to June 30 in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces, despite an overall fall in violence.
The deadliest attack this year occurred near Kirkuk on June 20 when 72 people were killed.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he expects "sporadic attacks" as Al-Qaeda fighters "increase the level of violence to try to pretend that they forced us out of the cities" and show weakness in the Iraqi forces.
The top US commander General Ray Odierno told US reporters in a video briefing from Baghdad that he believed Iraq was now better off "not having a dictator such as Saddam Hussein.
"They are now going to be able to see that they can move ahead and the people of Iraq will have a say in their government."
But he declined to say how many US troops would be left in urban centres, saying that figure "will be different every single day," adding that the remaining US troops would be acting as trainers and advisers.
Tuesday's pullback was part of a security agreement signed in November setting the terms for a continued US military presence in Iraq, where there are currently about 133,000 American troops.
Across Baghdad, tanks and armoured vehicles manned by Iraqi soldiers and police and decorated with artificial flowers, flags and banners passed through the city, as nationalistic songs and popular music played.
The Status of Forces Agreement, which set the pullback deadline, says US commanders must now seek Iraqi permission to conduct operations, but their troops retain a unilateral right to "legitimate self-defence."
EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan Nukes At Risk
Source: Humanevents
Taliban terrorists know where some of Pakistan's nuclear weapons are stored based on information from allies inside the country's national security forces.
A military source tells HUMAN EVENTS the Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan's western frontier have ties to elements of the Pakistan army and Inter-Services Intelligence. The ISI helped put the Taliban in power in Afghanistan in 1996s. Its agents have helped it carry out attacks, including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.
It is through these contacts that the Taliban and its extremist allies know the locations of some nuclear warheads. Pakistan is believed to have about 60 atomic bomb and missile warheads. They are mostly kept around the capital of Islamabad, in districts where army control is at its tightest. Some missiles are mobile and are periodically moved to different locations.
A U.S. official downplayed the chances that Taliban or al Qaeda can steal nukes, saying Pakistan has effective controls. Any knowledge the terrorists have on the arsenal is not sufficient to allow them to gain access, the official asserted to HUMAN EVENTS.
But the military source said extremists have sources within Pakistan's nuclear security units. The real problem, the source said, is that if nuclear-armed India believes terrorists have access to those weapons, it could spark a new conflict between the two countries.
"Short-term our greatest threat is the Taliban gaining access to those weapons," the source said.
Alarm over the prospect of Islamic terrorists seizing nukes heighten this spring, as Taliban forces briefly controlled territory close to the Pakistan capital. Some experts saw the beginning of an Iran-style revolution, in which the government collapses under the weight of extremists outside and inside the army and intelligence service.
Since then, government forces have mounted a concerted counter-insurgency operation in the so-called ungoverned areas of Pakistan. Fears of a nuclear takeover waned for a while. And Obama administration officials have gone out of their way to assure the nation that Pakistan's nukes will not fall into the hands of Osama bin Laden.
But last week, Rep. John Murtha, a powerful force on national security issues in his role as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, said he did not share the administration's confidence.
In terms of international threats, the prospect of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis taking over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal "is absolutely what I look at and worry about the most," he told defense reporters, according to the Global Security Newswire.
Murtha said he has discussed the issue with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Adm. Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs chairman, as well as Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, and CIA Director Leon Panetta.
"We think we know where the weapons are," Murtha said. "I don't know that we know, but they think they know."
"One thing for sure, we've got to be prepared if it goes the wrong way, to [secure] those sites," Global Security quoted him as saying. "And we have contingency plans, obviously, to do that."
At a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, a lawmaker asked Mullen about contingency plans to secure Pakistan's nukes. He declined to answer.
At a May 19 Pentagon briefing, Gates' press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said, "We are comfortable with their security measures, and I'm sure that our planners take whatever requisite action is required to ensure that that the arsenal in a country that is obviously in the midst of a great deal -- that finds itself with a great deal of challenges right now that they have some visibility on where such weapons are located."
Three days before Murtha spoke, al Qaeda's No. 3, Mustafa Abul-Yazeed, told the al Jazeera news network his group would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons against the United States.
"By God's will, the Americans will not seize the Muslims nuclear weapons and we pray that Muslims will have these weapons and they will be used against the Americans," he told al Jazeera.
In his memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," former CIA Director George Tenet said al Qaeda has an intense interest in obtaining and using weapons of mass destruction.
"Our intelligence confirmed that the most senior leaders of al Qaeda are still singularly focused on acquiring WMD," he wrote. "Bin Laden may have provided the spiritual guidance to develop WMD, but the program was personally managed at the top by his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Moreover, we established beyond any reasonable doubt that al Qaeda had a clear intent to acquire chemical, biological and radiological/nuclear weapons, to possess not as a deterrent but to cause mass casualties in the United States."
How would the Taliban-al Qaeda alliance know the location of some Pakistan nukes?
For one, A. Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, was exporting the technology through an illicit network to help some of the world's worst dictators build such weapons. His operatives surely have some knowledge of the military arsenal and have contacts with extremists themselves.
What's more, HUMAN EVENTS reported last August that elements of Pakistan's army aide the extremists by providing them with weapons and training. Rogue army officers surely have some knowledge of their country's nuclear arms.
"Pakistani government and the military in particular are not monolithic," said a senior U.S. official told Human Events. "In some areas, there's very good counter-terrorism cooperation with us. In other areas, there is plenty of room for improvement. There are elements within the government and military that might have some links to militant groups in the region. That is a matter of concern."
The New York Times reported that members of Pakistan's spy agency helped militants who bombed the India embassy in Afghanistan. The Times said there are intercepts of Pakistani ISI agents speaking directly to the terrorists.
A military source tells HUMAN EVENTS the Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan's western frontier have ties to elements of the Pakistan army and Inter-Services Intelligence. The ISI helped put the Taliban in power in Afghanistan in 1996s. Its agents have helped it carry out attacks, including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.
It is through these contacts that the Taliban and its extremist allies know the locations of some nuclear warheads. Pakistan is believed to have about 60 atomic bomb and missile warheads. They are mostly kept around the capital of Islamabad, in districts where army control is at its tightest. Some missiles are mobile and are periodically moved to different locations.
A U.S. official downplayed the chances that Taliban or al Qaeda can steal nukes, saying Pakistan has effective controls. Any knowledge the terrorists have on the arsenal is not sufficient to allow them to gain access, the official asserted to HUMAN EVENTS.
But the military source said extremists have sources within Pakistan's nuclear security units. The real problem, the source said, is that if nuclear-armed India believes terrorists have access to those weapons, it could spark a new conflict between the two countries.
"Short-term our greatest threat is the Taliban gaining access to those weapons," the source said.
Alarm over the prospect of Islamic terrorists seizing nukes heighten this spring, as Taliban forces briefly controlled territory close to the Pakistan capital. Some experts saw the beginning of an Iran-style revolution, in which the government collapses under the weight of extremists outside and inside the army and intelligence service.
Since then, government forces have mounted a concerted counter-insurgency operation in the so-called ungoverned areas of Pakistan. Fears of a nuclear takeover waned for a while. And Obama administration officials have gone out of their way to assure the nation that Pakistan's nukes will not fall into the hands of Osama bin Laden.
But last week, Rep. John Murtha, a powerful force on national security issues in his role as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, said he did not share the administration's confidence.
In terms of international threats, the prospect of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis taking over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal "is absolutely what I look at and worry about the most," he told defense reporters, according to the Global Security Newswire.
Murtha said he has discussed the issue with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Adm. Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs chairman, as well as Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, and CIA Director Leon Panetta.
"We think we know where the weapons are," Murtha said. "I don't know that we know, but they think they know."
"One thing for sure, we've got to be prepared if it goes the wrong way, to [secure] those sites," Global Security quoted him as saying. "And we have contingency plans, obviously, to do that."
At a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, a lawmaker asked Mullen about contingency plans to secure Pakistan's nukes. He declined to answer.
At a May 19 Pentagon briefing, Gates' press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said, "We are comfortable with their security measures, and I'm sure that our planners take whatever requisite action is required to ensure that that the arsenal in a country that is obviously in the midst of a great deal -- that finds itself with a great deal of challenges right now that they have some visibility on where such weapons are located."
Three days before Murtha spoke, al Qaeda's No. 3, Mustafa Abul-Yazeed, told the al Jazeera news network his group would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons against the United States.
"By God's will, the Americans will not seize the Muslims nuclear weapons and we pray that Muslims will have these weapons and they will be used against the Americans," he told al Jazeera.
In his memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," former CIA Director George Tenet said al Qaeda has an intense interest in obtaining and using weapons of mass destruction.
"Our intelligence confirmed that the most senior leaders of al Qaeda are still singularly focused on acquiring WMD," he wrote. "Bin Laden may have provided the spiritual guidance to develop WMD, but the program was personally managed at the top by his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Moreover, we established beyond any reasonable doubt that al Qaeda had a clear intent to acquire chemical, biological and radiological/nuclear weapons, to possess not as a deterrent but to cause mass casualties in the United States."
How would the Taliban-al Qaeda alliance know the location of some Pakistan nukes?
For one, A. Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, was exporting the technology through an illicit network to help some of the world's worst dictators build such weapons. His operatives surely have some knowledge of the military arsenal and have contacts with extremists themselves.
What's more, HUMAN EVENTS reported last August that elements of Pakistan's army aide the extremists by providing them with weapons and training. Rogue army officers surely have some knowledge of their country's nuclear arms.
"Pakistani government and the military in particular are not monolithic," said a senior U.S. official told Human Events. "In some areas, there's very good counter-terrorism cooperation with us. In other areas, there is plenty of room for improvement. There are elements within the government and military that might have some links to militant groups in the region. That is a matter of concern."
The New York Times reported that members of Pakistan's spy agency helped militants who bombed the India embassy in Afghanistan. The Times said there are intercepts of Pakistani ISI agents speaking directly to the terrorists.
Mr. Scarborough is a national security writer who has written books on Donald Rumsfeld and the CIA, including the New York Times bestseller Rumsfeld's War.
Analysis: Somalia aid tied to shaky government
Source: AFP
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's recent move to increase aid to Somalia takes aim at Islamic extremists' safe havens, pouring resources into a government that analysts say may not be worth salvaging.Resolving the Somalia dilemma demands that the U.S. walk a delicate line — politically and militarily.
Haunted by a disastrous 1993 U.S. military assault into the Somali capital, the administration is carefully working to lower the growing terrorist threat near the Horn of Africa without sending in American troops.
A U.S. military footprint, experts and military officials agree, would risk alienating allies and adding to charges by Islamic extremists of a Western takeover. It also would mean an additional military complication for U.S. armed forces already fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The administration's plan is to provide the faltering Somali government money with weapons and to help armies in several neighboring African nations train Somali forces. Many experts worry that the arms sent to Somalia may end up diverted to insurgent groups, and they question whether millions of dollars in aid will be well spent on a weakened government overwhelmed by violence and humanitarian needs.
Mogadishu's Transitional Federal Government "is not a government by any commonsense definition of the term," J. Peter Pham, an Africa expert and associated professor at James Madison University, told a congressional subcommittee this past week. "It has shown no functional capacity to govern much less provide even minimal services to the citizens."
For the U.S., even a shaky U.N.-backed government controlling only a few blocks in the capital may be the only option.
"You've got to look at the overall situation and say that the chaos that is there is our greatest enemy," said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on terrorism subcommittee.
"Job one would be trying to bring some semblance of order to Somalia, and if that is your objective, there is only one game in town — and that is the government that is there," he said.
Smith acknowledged the possibility that in the next six days or six weeks, that government could be gone, its leaders captured, dead or fleeing.
"Given the interest we have in that region, the presence of al-Shabab and al-Qaida, it is worth it to try and keep this government alive," Smith told The Associated Press. Al-Shabab is trying to topple Somalia's government and install a strict form of Islam. Hundreds of foreign fighters from countries including Pakistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are reinforcing the group's ranks.
The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies. The group controls much of Somalia and its fighters operate openly in the capital.
Experts who have studied the barely governed region warn that attempts by other countries to try to anoint and impose any rule on Somalia will fail. Instead, they say, allies should work to bolster a bottom-up approach building on local nongovernmental organizations and successful surrounding governments in the semiautonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland.
Ted Dagne, a specialist in African affairs who is with the Congressional Research Service, painted a grim picture of conditions in Somalia, telling Congress that many more will die there in coming weeks.
He said as many as 22,000 civilians have been killed and 1.1 million displaced in the past two years, largely in south-central Somalia. About 476,000 have fled to other countries, he said.
According to Dagne, roughly 400 foreign fighters have entered the country in recent months, including nearly 300 who flowed into Mogadishu during May. The fighters, he said, are working with local insurgents — largely al-Shabab — in their campaign to force the collapse of the transitional government.
Administration officials put the number of foreign fighters at less than 200. Counterterrorism officials estimate that dozens of al-Qaida-linked extremists have been moving from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to safe havens in Somalia and Yemen, and that they have used the region to set up temporary, mobile training camps.
Dagne said Somalia needs more weapons and a well-organized security force to battle an elusive insurgency that moves in small independent groups.
Political leaders from Somalia's diverse regions say the only way to beat back the militants is to build up the failing government, provide economic development and create an army and police force that can bring stability to the fractured nation. To do that, they said, they need millions of dollars in aid.
During the 2009 budget year, according to the CRS, the U.S. provided about $177 million in aid to Somalia. Officials say there are now plans to provide less than $10 million to help build the security forces, including the delivery of about 40 tons of arms.
Uganda's defense minister, Crispus Kiyonga, told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa this past week that the 4,250 peacekeepers from his country and Burundi, still fall far short of the 8,000 needed. He added that money is needed for logistical support and training. He proposed that six countries could each train at least one Somali battalion, giving the government six to 10 fighting units in about a year.
So far, Burundi, Uganda and Djibouti have been mentioned as interested in providing training. The Associated Press reported last week that U.S. officials are planning to work with Djibouti to help train Somalia's rudimentary police and military.
When Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., was last in Mogadishu, mortar shells were launched toward the airport as his plane was taking off. None hit the airport.
Payne, who is chairman of the House Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa, said last week that the April incident showed the deteriorating conditions in the embattled nation and marred an otherwise productive visit.
"The crisis we face in Somalia has devastating implications for the rest of the region," he said. "The terrorists waging this war have one objective in mind — to make Somalia the Swat Valley of Africa."
Pakistan's Swat Valley has been a safe haven for Taliban leaders, and only recently has the Pakistani military launched a persistent campaign against the insurgency.
U.S. military efforts to intervene in Somalia have had mixed results.
A U.N. peacekeeping mission deteriorated in October 1993 when U.S. troops tried to capture one of the most powerful warlords, Farah Aidid. That battle, featured in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.
In 2007, however, the Bush administration launched several airstrikes in an attempt to kill suspected al-Qaida members.
Those moves, along with U.S. support for Ethiopian military intervention against Islamic extremists who briefly took power in Somalia, slowly revived U.S. involvement there — though its role remains far from overt.
On the Net:
- State Department background: http://www.state.gov/p/af/ci/so/
- CIA background: http://tinyurl.com/nglwce
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