12 killed, 60 injured in twin blasts in Pakistan's Lahore

source: chinaview 2009-12-08

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two explosions killed 12 persons and injured at least 60 others in eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Monday evening, local TV channel reported.

Twin blasts took place outside Moon Market police station in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, the private TV Express News reported. Several shops and a bank caught fire due to the blasts.

Witnesses said that large number of shoppers were present at the market at the time of blasts. Ambulances and rescue teams reached the blast site, and at least 60 people were shifted to Services hospital, Jinnah Hospital and other nearby hospitals where emergency have been declared.

Police sources said that the killed and injured included children and women. The condition of several injured is said to be serious.

Power supply to the area has been suspended after the blasts. The channel footage showed that fire fighters are making efforts to tackle the fierce blaze.

Several vehicles parked in the commercial area were also damaged and caught fire. People were making hue and cry at the blast site and searching their beloved ones.

Nothing is known so far about the nature of the blasts, sources said.

Moon Market is a commercial center of Iqbal Town, Lahore, where shoppers are normally present in large numbers. A suicide attack occurred in this area on Aug. 13, 2008.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, in separate messages, strongly condemned the twin blasts in Lahore. President Zardari said such cowardly acts of terrorism would not deter the government's resolve to fight this menace in the country.

Prime Minister Gilani expressed his deep grief over the killing of innocent people and prayed for the early recovery of the injured. He directed the concerned authorities to investigate the matter and provide best possible medical treatment to the injured.

Somaliland forces arrest six terror suspects

Source: somaliland press

LAS ANOD, 4 December 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Somaliland anti-terrorist forces have arrested six men suspected of planning acts of terrorism in the southern town of Las Anod, the regional capital of Sool on Tuesday [1st December], QaranTv reported.

Somaliland government issued a statement on their website stating the six men were arrested after bomb-making materials and small arms were discovered in their possession.

In a separate press conference in Las Anod, Somaliland’s police chief of Sool region, Mr Farah Awale told local reporters that the weapons consisted of two anti-personnel landmines, mobile phones and bomb-making materials.

It is not clear if the men have being charged yet but Mr Farah said there was an on-going investigation. The police did not give details of how they arrested the six suspects but said they had been under police surveillance for two weeks.

The arrest comes a month after a roadside bomb killed Somaliland’s 12th infantry division commander, Mr Osman Yusuf and wounded four others in a blast that rocked Las Anod.

Somaliland forces in Sool often combat terrorists who cross the border from Somalia and tribal militants who are opposed to Somaliland.

Death Toll in Bulgarian Orphanage Blast Rises to 3

Source: novinite
Society | December 5, 2009, Saturday

Social Minister, Totyu Mladenov, is on his way Saturday evening to the Krumovgrad orphanage where three children died after a homemade bomb exploded. Photo by BGNES

Three boys, ages 13, 15 and 16, died Saturday when a homemade bomb exploded in an orphanage in the southern Bulgarian town of Krumovgrad.

The device went off around 2 pm. One of the boys died on the scene while the other has been taken to the Krumovgrad hospital where he later died. A third boy was listed in critical condition in the hospital in the regional center – the city of Kardzhali, and died during surgery.

Police arrived shortly after the blast and found remains from a homemade explosive. It is still unclear if the children were trying to make the bomb or it came from outside and exploded while the boys were handling it.

Forensic experts and members of the anti-terrorist task force are searching the location while psychologists are helping the other children cope with the tragedy. The Social Minister, Totyu Mladenov, his deputy, Valentina Simeonova, and the Director of the State Agency for Child Protection, Nadya Shabani, are on their way to Krumovgrad.

One dead after bomb blast in southern Philippines: police

Source: Mysinchew
Foreign 2009-12-05 14:54

ZAMBOANGA, Dec 5 (AFP) - One person was killed and six policemen wounded Saturday when a bomb exploded near a police station on a southern Philippine island known as a haunt for Muslim extremists, police said.

The bomb blast, in Jolo town on the island of the same name, damaged the police station and a neighbouring building constructed with US assistance to promote peace, said local police head Chief Inspector Usman Pingay.

One local government employee was killed and six policemen wounded, he said.

Pingay said that the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group, known for kidnapping and bomb attacks, may be behind the blast, although investigations had only just begun.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jolo in recent months, including a roadside bomb blast that killed two US soldiers.

Set up in the 1990s allegedly with money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, it has been blamed for the Philippines' worst terrorist attacks. It is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.

Small groups of US military advisers are stationed on Jolo and elsewhere in the southern Philippines to train troops in how to combat the Abu Sayyaf.

The Man Behind Russia's Deadly Train Blast

Source: Time
By SIMON SHUSTER / Moscow Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009

An undated photo of a man identified as Chechen separatist leader Doku Umarov

kavkazcenter.com / AP

When Illyas Musayev heard that the Neva Express train had been bombed on Nov. 27, killing 26 well-to-do Russians and injuring about 100 others, the Chechen separatist was incredulous. He didn't want to believe that his former comrade in arms Doku Umarov had kept the pledge he made in August to bring his holy war out of the isolated Caucasus Mountains and into central Russia. But that is the picture that has emerged. On Wednesday, Umarov's Islamist group, the radical wing of the Chechen resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack on the train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Now Musayev and experts agree that Russia, having ignored Umarov's stated intention in August to broaden his targets, faces the prospect of a nationwide insurgency.

"Yes, these attacks will most likely continue," Musayev, who served with Umarov in the independent Chechen government before it was crushed by the Russian army in 2000, tells TIME by phone from Copenhagen. Now living in Denmark, he is one of the leaders of Chechnya's civil resistance in exile, which maintains contact with the armed wing back home but denounces its tactics. "There are many young people there who are ready to do anything, who have lost parents during the [Chechen] wars, brothers, sisters, who have never gone to school, who have done nothing but train with Umarov and those around him. Under the cover of religion, of Islam, they will push these young people to commit these acts."(See pictures of a jihadist's journey.)

In the impoverished Russian regions of the North Caucasus, this would be nothing new. Centuries of Kremlin rule have failed to stamp out the Islamist resistance there, and suicide attacks and assassinations are not uncommon. Umarov, the self-appointed leader of the Caucasus emirate he proclaimed in 2007, is now waging a terrorist campaign to turn at least six regions into a new, independent state governed by radical Islamic law. Up to now, his methods have focused on localized guerrilla warfare, sending suicide bombers or gunmen to hit police targets or pick off officials from the Kremlin-backed regional governments.

But on Aug. 21, Umarov's organization — calling itself the Martyrs' Battalion Riyadus-Salikhiyn — announced a change of strategy. In a statement issued on the separatist website kavkazcenter.com, the group said it would no longer confine its battle to the heavily policed regions that it seeks to control. Russia's industrial centers, factories and infrastructure would become the targets. "To carry out these tasks, subversive groups were created and sent to a host of Russian regions with the aim of carrying out industrial sabotage. The priority targets laid out for them are gas pipelines, oil pipelines, the destruction of electricity stations and high-voltage power lines, and sabotage at factories," the statement read.(See pictures of Barack Obama in Russia.)

In practice, however, the new campaign does not appear to shy from hitting human targets too. On Aug. 17, in an attack that Umarov's battalion later claimed responsibility for, a truck packed with explosives rammed through the gates of a police station in the city of Nazran in the North Caucasus and detonated its payload, killing 25 policemen and injuring more than 150 others as they lined up for the morning head count. The group also took responsibility for a hydroelectric-dam accident that killed 75 people in Siberia on the same day. But the attack on the Neva Express, a luxury train from Moscow to St. Petersburg used by wealthy Russians and government officials, appears to be Umarov's first major operation in the Russian heartland.

"The tactic of moving away from his paramilitary structure and instead using small cells to strike at the structures of power — this is what Umarov is now carrying out," says Andrei Soldatov, a security expert and political commentator in Moscow. In other ways, too, the bomb laid on the tracks of the Neva Express bore the trademarks of Umarov's new approach. As rescue workers sifted through the wreckage, a second explosion at the scene of the bombing injured Russia's chief investigator in the Prosecutor General's office, Alexander Bastrykin, a close ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "This tactic is used by terrorists in the North Caucasus," Bastrykin said in an interview published on Wednesday in the state-owned daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta. That bomb, investigators said, was triggered by a mobile phone, a method favored in the Caucasus. Putin, meanwhile, has called for tough measures against those behind the bombing. He said on a TV phone-in on Thursday that the attack showed that the threat to Russia from terrorism remained high. "It is necessary to act in a very tough way against criminals who carry out these kinds of terrorist attacks," said Putin, who went on to urge viewers to remain vigilant to the possibility of future attacks.(See pictures of Vladimir Putin on vacation.)

Analysts say it is still unclear how the Kremlin will react if bombings continue to hit closer to home. In 2002 the government's response to a deadly theater siege in Moscow — masterminded by one of Umarov's predecessors, Shamil Basayev — was to institute a brutal security regime in Chechnya and place restrictions on the media. The alleged human-rights abuses and repressions carried out by the Moscow-backed government in Chechnya are usually justified by reference to the threat of terrorism.

Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, says that at this stage, the government is more likely to tighten security around Russia's infrastructure and other vulnerable targets. But if Umarov's terrorist campaign continues, the exiled Musayev fears a ruthless response from Putin's government. "This could play right into the Kremlin's hands," he says. "It could give them an excuse to retaliate against the regular citizens in Chechnya who sympathize with the resistance, to bring new troops there, to tighten the screws just as they've always done when our leaders take responsibility for these crimes."

Police: Blast near KFC restaurant in NW Pakistan

Source: AP on Google

By MUNIR AHMAD (AP) – 12 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD — Police say a bomb has exploded near a KFC fast-food restaurant in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar.

There was no immediate word on casualties in the blast Saturday.

Police official Haroon Khan says several vehicles were damaged and the windows of nearby stores were shattered in the explosion.

The KFC restaurant is well known in the city and has security guards stationed outside.

It is the latest in a string of attacks to rock the country as the army battles the Taliban in the northwest. An attack Friday on a mosque frequented by army personnel killed 37 people in Rawalpindi city.

Scores killed as suicide bombers storm Rawalpindi mosque

Massacre at Pakistan mosque shows Taliban strength

Source: AP on google

By ASIF SHAHZAD (AP) – 3 hours ago

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — A Taliban suicide squad targeted Pakistani military officers and their families praying at a mosque Friday close to army headquarters in a gruesome display of the militants' ability to strike at the center of power in this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed nation.

The barrage of bombs and bullets left 37 people dead, including seven senior officers and 17 children.

The deaths of so many top brass inside a heavily fortified area a few miles from the capital was a major coup for the Pakistani insurgents, who are under pressure as the army pushes an offensive against their stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border.

Friday's carnage also dramatized the risks Pakistan faces if it steps up its support for the United States in the war against Islamic extremists on its side of the border with Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama believes Pakistan is a key partner in that war, but critics contend that Pakistan, hedging its bets in the event the Taliban eventually regain power in Kabul, has held back against Afghan insurgents who use the lawless border region as a safe haven.

The attack on the mosque, which was largely reserved for military families, was the latest in a relentless Taliban onslaught against mostly military targets across Pakistan. It came nearly two months after the brazen siege of the army headquarters on Oct. 10, when insurgents held dozens hostage in a 22-hour standoff that left 23 people dead including nine militants.

By targeting a packed mosque during Friday prayers, the militants showed they cared little about igniting a possible backlash in this overwhelmingly Muslim country. Authorities urged clerics who had so far avoided publicly criticizing the militants to do so.

The attack began shortly after 1:30 p.m. when the assailants lobbed hand grenades to break through a checkpoint close to the mosque, said Yasir Nawaz, a police official at the scene.

Witnesses said two of the militants then stormed the mosque, while others ran into buildings nearby.

They wore suicide belts under traditional baggy Pakistani clothes, lobbed grenades and sprayed automatic weapons at worshippers.

"They were killing people like animals," witness Nasir Ali Sheikh. "Whoever they saw they shot at. They were well trained and moved very quick."

At least four attackers took part in the attack, which left the walls of the mosque smeared with blood and victims lying on abandoned prayer mats.

Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour, killing them or watching them blow themselves up. Reporters were prevented from getting close as helicopters hovered overhead and trucks carrying commando teams and ambulances raced to the scene.

The dead in Friday's attack included a major general, a brigadier, a colonel, two lieutenant colonels, one major and a retired major as well as three regular soldiers, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Seventeen children — 11 of them army kids — and 10 civilians also were killed.

Another witness, Ameeruddin Sheikh, cried when describing the corpse of a young boy.

"He was hardly 12 or 13 years of age. His face was fresh and blood was all over his body. His eyes were open and it was as if they were asking all of us what kind of jihadis would kill people when they were praying."

Many of the military families who use the mosque, which had about 150 worshippers, live in army housing close by. Residents said that to enter the mosque people need to show military identification and were frisked by guards.

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to the BBC's Urdu service, saying the mosque was targeted because it was used by the army. A military spokesman said he was aware of the claim.

The army launched the South Waziristan offensive in mid-October, pitting some 30,000 troops against about 10,000 militants. It has been more successful than many people expected and the soldiers now control what was once a sanctuary for local and foreign al-Qaida militants. Many of the insurgents — including their leaders — appear to have fled to other parts of the lawless border area.

The army has so far enjoyed broad public support for the offensive.

But the repeated Taliban attacks risk hurting the country's resolve as well as the morale of the army's poorly paid rank and file. Some politicians and many ordinary Pakistanis believe the government should negotiate with the militants — not fight them — and blame the United States for pressing Islamabad to act.

The United States is unable to send troops into the border region, but has struck at militants over the last year with at least 60 missile strikes at targets there. The attacks have scores of alleged insurgent commanders but fueled anti-American sentiment.

U.S. officials said Friday they were considering increasing the frequency of the missile strikes and expanding them to the western province of Baluchistan, something that would likely prompt a furious response from Pakistani officials and strain already tense U.S.-Pakistani ties.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad and Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

Suicide bomber kills at least 19 people in mogadishu

Somalia graduation day suicide attack condemned

Source: BBC NEWS
Officials believe government ministers were the targets of the blast

There has been widespread condemnation of a suicide bomb attack in Somalia that killed at least 19 people, including four government ministers.

The prime minister of Somalia's UN-backed government, Omar Sharmarke, described it as a "vicious and calculated outrage".

The African Union condemned the bombing - at a graduation ceremony for medical students - as "inhumane and cowardly".

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, in the capital Mogadishu.

However, presidential spokesman Hassan Haile told the BBC he believed it was the work of Islamist militants al-Shabab.
Militant groups control most of Mogadishu and much of the country.

I had to step over their bodies to get out - people were screaming: 'Is it a bomb? Is it a bomb?'

Mohammed Olad Hassan

BBC reporter

Bomb attack: 'Light turned to dark'

"The loss of our ministers is disastrous, but it is an outrage to target the graduation of medical students and kill those whose only aim in life was to help those most in need in our stricken country," Mr Sharmarke said.


Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed described the attack at the Shamo Hotel as a "national disaster".

He described the victims as "dear citizens... unjustly assassinated while carrying out their duty to the nation".

The African Union said the blast would "not deter the resolve and determination of the African Union to support the people of Somalia in their quest for peace and reconciliation".
The acting head of the AU's peacekeeping force Amisom, Wafula Wamunyini, said the blast was "intended to intimidate and blackmail" the UN-backed government.

The EU's new foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, said in a statement: "I condemn in the strongest possible terms this cowardly attack against civilians including students, doctors and journalists."


UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement the bombing marred "what should have been an event filled with hope for Somalia."

A statement signed by the UN, the US, the EU and the Arab League said the attack would not deter the international community from continuing its support to the Somali government.
Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said the male bomber had been dressed in women's clothing, "complete with a veil and a female's shoes".

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan, who was at the scene, said there was a huge explosion in the hotel's meeting hall where hundreds of people were gathered.

"Everyone was covered in dust," he said.

"I looked across and the young guy sitting next to me was dead. I had to jump over him to get out. It was a shocking, terrible scene."
Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Education Minister Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel, Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Sports Minister Saleban Olad Roble were all killed, officials said.

At least two journalists were also among the dead but officials said most of those killed were students. More than 60 people were injured.

The students had been graduating from Benadir University, which was set up in 2002 to train doctors to replace those who had fled overseas or been killed in the civil war.

Assam eyes peace after ULFA chief's arrest

Source; IBN LIVE

Guwahati: The detention of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has once again given Assam hope that peace will finally prevail in the state. ULFA has indulged in violence, terror and bomb blasts for nearly 30 years and with Rajkhowa's arrest by the Bangladeshi security agencies, it seems that the endgame has begun for the terror outfit.
Is Rajkhowa finally giving in and has he run out of options? Reacting to Rajkhowa's arrest and his desire to engage in peace talks Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the picture was not yet very clear. "I am not in the dark, nor in the clear picture. I am in between," said Gogoi while addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday.
ULFA down; Assam CM offers talks
ULFA chief ready for talks, to get safe passage
Many in Assam are viewing the statements about Rajkhowa with scepticism even though there is little peoples' support for the ULFA. For many it is the outfit's
Commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua who equals ULFA. In 1992, journalist Sunil
Nath was part of ULFA and present at the talks with the then central government
of PV Narasmiha Rao.
"I believe unless Paresh Barua does have to come, but if he doesn't give consent nothing is going to happen," said Nath. It's been more than a year since the A and C companies of ULFA's 28th battalion moved into designated camps. Now with news of Rajkhowa's coming forward for peace, there are many who live on hope of peace
As the uncertainty continues, Assam waits in hope to rewrite history and end its chapter of violence.

BHACKGROUND NEWS
New Delhi: United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who has been arrested by the Bangladeshi authorities, says he is ready for talks with the Indian Government.

Government sources said that Centre is considering giving safe passage to Rajkhowa to facilitate the peace talks.

Rajkhowa's wife Kavita and two sons have also been reportedly kept under house arrest in Uttara in Dhaka.

Even though a faction of the ULFA top brass remains reluctant about brokering peace with the Government, Rajkhowa has reportedly been flown in from Bangladesh and has been handed over to the Indian authorities.

However, there has been no official confirmation of the handover.

Islamist Ally Turns on Somalia's al-Shabab

 Source: VOA
Ras Kamboni faction of Hizbul Islam says its fighters are preparing to challenge al-Shabab in southern and central Somalia

2 December 2009

In Somalia, an Islamist faction says it considers its former ally, al-Shabab, to be the greatest threat to the country.  A spokesman for the leader of the Ras Kamboni faction of Hizbul Islam says Hizbul Islam fighters are preparing to challenge al-Shabab in all areas of southern and central Somalia.

The spokesman for the leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigade tells VOA the fight against al-Shabab militants, which began in late September in the southern port city of Kismayo, is expected to continue until al-Shabab is ousted from Somalia. 
Abdinasir Seraar is the spokesman for Ahmed Madobe, the military commander al-Shabab has repeatedly blamed for triggering the conflict in Kismayo.

Seraar says the fight against al-Shabab will move from the Jubba region to regions of Gedo and Middle and Lower Shabelle, including the capital Mogadishu.  He says Hizbul Islam's goal is to liberate the country from al-Shabab militants, who Seraar says are indiscriminately killing innocent Somalis and trying to wipe out Somali culture.

Ras Kamboni Brigade and its ally, Anole, are clan-based factions of Hizbul Islam, a fundamentalist nationalist opposition group that formed an alliance with al-Shabab earlier this year to oppose the U.N.-backed government in Mogadishu.  Another faction of Hizbul Islam is led by Hassan Dahir Aweys, who briefly ruled Somalia in 2006 as the spiritual head of the Islamic Courts Union.

Ras Kamboni and Anole took up arms against al-Shabab after al-Shabab tried to impose sole control over Kismayo and its port, which serves as an important source of revenue for all sides.

Al-Shabab, which is on a U.S. list of terrorist groups for having ties to al-Qaida, suddenly found itself at war with Hassan Turki, a long-established hardline Islamist/nationalist leader, who is also listed as a terrorist by the United States.  Turki had been commanding the Ras Kamboni Brigade until he fell gravely ill about three months ago.

Mindful of Turki's popularity among hardline Islamists and nationalists in Somalia, al-Shabab's leadership in Kismayo has been careful not implicate Hassan Turki in the conflict, casting blame solely on Turki's successor, Ahmed Madobe.

Late last month, Islamist fighting spread to the towns of Afmadow and Dobley in Lower Juba, with al-Shabab claiming victory.  Al-Shabab's spokesman for the Jubba regions, Hassan Yacqub, told reporters Ahmed Madobe fled into neighboring Kenya with his fighters after losing Dobley.  But Seraar says that is a lie.

He says Madobe is in Somalia, still in command of his fighters.  He says Hizbul Islam made a tactical retreat from Afmadow and Dobley and forces there are re-grouping to launch a counter-offensive, which could happen at any time.

It is still not clear how much Somalia's transitional federal government will benefit from the split among the Islamist opposition in the south.

For the past 10 months, government forces and African Union peacekeepers have been battling near-daily attacks by Hizbul Islam and al-Shabab forces in Mogadishu.

In a sign that Ras Kamboni and Anole factions may have difficulty convincing other Hizbul Islam fighters to shift the focus of the insurgency toward al-Shabab, the spokesman for Hizbul Islam in Mogadishu told reporters Tuesday his group is preparing to increase attacks against the transitional government and African Union forces.

Ugandan Rebel Attacks Causing Food Problems in Central African Republic

Source: VOA

After driving them out of Uganda and chasing them across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ugandan government troops are now fighting the rebel Lord's Resistance Army in the CAR.

02 December 2009

Attacks by Ugandan rebels in the Central African Republic are leading to food shortages as local farmers are driven off their lands. 

After driving them out of Uganda and chasing them across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ugandan government troops are now fighting the rebel Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic.

Those rebels occasionally ambush vehicles on the road along the southern border with Congo. But they spend most of their time raiding villages for supplies and food. And that is displacing the local population.

"People are no longer able to farm.  They are in the bush running away from this LRA, Lord's Resistance Army.  They do not know next when they will be able to go back to their farms," said Sitta Kai-Kai who directs U.N. World Food Program operations in the Central African Republic. 

She says the country's southeastern provinces are traditionally among the most food secure.  But with the rebel incursion, WFP is now feeding more than two-thousand displaced civilians in the village of Zemio, 1,000 kilometers from the capital Bangui.

"It has complicated the situation not only for the local population, but also for the government and for all of us.  Until this year, we did not think that we would be feeding those people with food aid," she said.

Because government troops are fighting a rebellion along the northern border with Chad, Kai-Kai says humanitarian convoys in the southeast are limited by the number of soldiers available to protect them.

While Ugandan troops are active in responding to rebel ambushes, there are too few to prevent local villages from being raided by hungry rebels.

"They are hungry.  They come and loot, and then go back to the bush.  And the local population, not knowing where they are, they are living in constant fear," said Sitta Kai-Kai.

The Lord's Resistance Army began in 1987 in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.  It is accused of widespread human-rights violations; including murder, mutilation, abduction, sexual enslavement and the conscription of child soldiers.

Its leader, Joseph Kony, is wanted by the International Criminal Court.  Ugandan military officials believe Kony is currently hiding out in the Central African Republic. 
 

Ten Percent of Mosques in U.S. Preaching Extremism londonmosque

Source: Christian Action

The FBI believes that 10 percent of mosques in the U.S. are preaching extremism, reports Ronald Kessler of Newsmax.com. The anonymous counter-terrorism official interviewed by Kessler describes the number as a conservative estimate.

Some researchers have estimated a much higher number. A group of experts launched the Mapping Sharia Project, which surveyed about 200 mosques and Islamic institutions. They found that 80% of the mosques visited had extremist literature.

"Rarely do we have them [the Muslim community] coming to us and saying, 'There are three guys in the community that we're very concerned about," Kessler quotes one FBI agent as saying.

"They want to fix it inside the community. They're a closed group, a very, very closed group. It's part of their culture that they want to settle the problem within their own communities. They've actually said that to us, which I then go crazy over."

One FBI agent told Kessler that when he met with the leader of a Muslim organization, he was told by the leader that they wouldn't inform them about extremists because, in his words, "We would lose our constituency."

The article was based on interviews with counter-terrorism personnel by Kessler for his latest book, "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack."

Deadly Blast in Pakistan

A suicide bomber targeted Pakistan's naval headquarters in Islamabad on Wednesday. The bomb killed a guard and critically wounded two navy soldiers.

The guard was killed as he tried to keep the bomber from entering the naval headquarters.

The blast happened after the attacker was stopped and asked to take off his coat and show identification. The attacker removed his coat to reveal a suicide vest, which then exploded.

Militants have killed hundreds of people in bombings since a security offensive was launched in October in South Waziristan.

Suicide bomber kills officer at Pakistan navy complex

A suicide bomber has blown himself up at the entrance to the headquarters of Pakistan's navy in Islamabad, killing a security officer, officials have said.
Chief police commissioner Fazeel Asghar said two other security officers had been critically wounded. Two civilians, one a six-year-old boy, were also hurt.
One witness said this attack was carried out by a boy who could have been as young as 13.
Orla Guerin reports.

NWFP Assembly loses fourth lawmaker

Thursday, December 03, 2009By By Khalid Kheshgi

PESHAWAR: With the killing of the Awami National Party’s MPA from Swat Shamsher Ali, the NWFP Assembly has lost its fourth lawmaker since September 2008. All of them belonged to the ruling alliance and met unnatural deaths.

Fifty-nine-years-old Shamsher Ali advocate was killed in a suicide attack on Tuesday outside his residence at Dheray in Swat’s volatile Kabal tehsil. Amongst the critically injured were his two brothers.

Elected to the NWFP Assembly from PF-83 (Swat) on the ANP ticket in the February 2008 general elections, Shamsher Ali was a lawyer by profession and had a long association with the nationalist party. His brother Shaukat, who sustained serious injures in the suicide attack, was kidnapped by the militants soon after the security forces launched operation Rah-e-Rast in Swat in May this year and was subsequently freed.

Amongst the lawmakers in the NWFP Assembly, Alamzeb was the first victim of terrorism when he was killed in a bomb blast during inspection of development work in his PF-1 (Peshawar) constituency on February 11, 2009. Later, his brother Aurangzeb Khan was elected to the provincial assembly on the ANP ticket in the bye-election.

PPP MPA Iftikhar Khan Shagai from Mardan died in a road accident while on his way to attend death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto in Naudero on December 26 last year.

NWFP Minister for Excise and Taxation Liaqat Ali Shabab and PPP MPA Malik Tehmash had suffered serious injuries in the accident as they were also travelling in the same vehicle. The incident occurred in Rajanpur district in Punjab. His elder brother Imtiaz Khan Shagai was elected to the provincial assembly from PF-30 (Mardan) in the by-poll.

ANP MPA Akhtar Nawaz Khan from Haripur was assassinated over an enmity near his house in Khalabat town in Haripur district on September 10, 2008 when he was returning home after attending a funeral during Ramazan. Besides others, a local tehsil nazim was nominated in the First Information Report. Gohar Nawaz, brother of the slain lawmaker, was elected to the Frontier Assembly from PF-51 (Haripur) as independent candidate and then joined the ANP.

Elder brother of ANP MPA Waqar Ahmad Khan and his two nephews were killed by militants in Shah Dheray in Swat while younger brother of Minister for Forest and Environment Wajid Ali Khan serving in the Frontier Police as inspector was assassinated in Mingora.

NWFP ministers Bashir Ahmad Bilour and Syed Aqil Shah survived bomb blasts in Peshawar while Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel got bullet injuries when militants attempted to kidnap him in Darra Adamkhel.

Bomb blast kills Afghan civilian, wounds 3

Source: chinaview 2009-12-01

KABUL, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan civilian was killed and three others sustained injuries as a bomb blast rocked Uruzgan's provincial capital Trinkot on Tuesday, deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Musa said.

"The bomb planted on a hand-cart exploded in a bazaar this morning killing a passerby on the spot and wounding three others," Musa told Xinhua.

He blamed the enemies of peace, a term used against Taliban militants, for the blast, adding the enemies carried out the attack to disrupt peace in the province.

Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left over 1,500 civilians dead since early this year.　

Islamists claim Russian train bombing

By Alexander Osipovich (AFP) – 22 hours ago

MOSCOW — A militant Islamist group claimed responsibility Wednesday for last weekend's deadly Russian train bombing, as investigators said the well-planned attack resembled tactics used by Chechen rebels.

The so-called "Caucasus Emirate," an umbrella group uniting various Islamist factions, said in a statement posted on a Chechen rebel website that it was behind the attack that killed 26 people and injured around 100 others.

"This operation was prepared and executed along with other acts of sabotage, planned from the start of this year and successfully carried out against a set of strategically important sites in Russia, on the orders of Caucasus Emir Dokku Umarov," the statement said.

There was no immediate way of verifying the claim. The statement was posted on KavkazCenter.com, a website that has been used as a mouthpiece by Chechen rebels.

Umarov is the self-proclaimed leader of the Caucasus Emirate, which has sought to establish Islamic Sharia rule in Russia's largely Muslim North Caucasus region.

Friday's bombing struck the Nevsky Express, an upscale passenger train running from Moscow to Saint Petersburg popular with well-off Russians and foreign tourists.

Prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation into the blast, which was the first major attack to hit Russia's heartland, outside the North Caucasus, since a spate of suicide bombings in Moscow in 2003 and 2004.

The statement on KavkazCenter.com said the train "was mainly used by the ruling bureaucrats of Russia."

At least two government officials were killed on the train, and the chief of Russia's Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, was injured by a remote-controlled bomb blast when he arrived at the scene the next day.

Bastrykin -- whom officials say was not seriously injured -- said in a newspaper interview that the bomb that injured him resembled explosive booby-traps laid by Chechen rebels in earlier attacks.

"The second blast at the site of the train disaster could have been targeted directly at the investigative group. Such a tactic has been used by terrorists in the North Caucasus," he told the official state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

Meanwhile, media reports said police were looking for four suspects of non-Slavic appearance, said to be of a Caucasus ethnicity.

The Kommersant newspaper and the Interfax news agency, citing unnamed police sources, said the four had rented a room in Lykoshino, a village two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the disaster scene, in the days before the bombing.

Officials were tight-lipped about the Caucasus Emirate's claim of responsibility. "We do not comment on such information," an unnamed security official told the ITAR-TASS state news agency.

Chechen rebels have previously issued bogus claims of responsibility, such as one for a deadly August disaster at a Siberian hydro-electric plant that later turned out to have been caused by a technical fault.

Shortly after the train bombing, an obscure Russian ultra-nationalist group calling itself Combat 18 claimed responsibility, but both officials and other nationalists said the claim was not credible.

Investigators have said that Islamists were behind a previous bombing of the Nevsky Express, in August 2007, which injured 60 people.

Also on Wednesday, thousands of people gathered to denounce the attack and mourn the victims at rallies backed by the ruling United Russia party.

Some 4,000 people gathered near a World War II memorial complex in Moscow, while around 1,500 people attended a similar rally in Saint Petersburg.

"I am afraid for the life of our country," said Natalya Petrenko, 45, who attended the rally in Saint Petersburg.

"I don't know what to do now or who can help us. This wasn't the first terrorist attack, and I don't see the government doing anything about it."

Pakistan Taliban Defiant Over Afghan War Push

Source: SKY

10:15am UK, Wednesday December 02, 2009

Alex Crawford, Asia correspondent

The Pakistan Taliban has admitted for the first time its forces are fighting in Afghanistan and insisted a US troop surge will not defeat them.

Sky News obtained what is believed to be the first interview with the group's leadership since the Pakistan's military began its offensive in the tribal area of South Waziristan.
In the video footage, Tehreik e Taliban's deputy leader Wali ur Rehman said his fighters were undeterred by America sending an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.
He said: "US defeat in Afghanistan is more visible day by day. Statements from their officials and army generals show that they are fed up and questioning how long they stay in Afghanistan.

If I did not think that the security of the US... was at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow.

Read our report on the US sending more troops to Afghanistan

"They don't have an idea that the Afghan nation and fighters from all over the Muslim world fight like brave soldiers.
"US plans have failed in Afghanistan. Soon the US will face defeat in Afghanistan and will withdraw their forces."
The interview was obtained on the condition that Sky did not reveal when it was filmed or where.
But the militant leader admitted he himself had travelled several times to Afghanistan with the mujaheddin (fighters) and fought mainly in Khost, in the east of the country.

We fight in Afghanistan, and we will fight there until we defeat the cruel non-Muslim forces.

Tehreik e Taliban's deputy leader Wali ur Rehman

He went on to explain why the Pakistan Taliban was working alongside rebel forces in Afghanistan.
"We think it is our duty to help our Afghan brothers fight the US," Rehman said.
"It is our prime duty to fight in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Allah directed us to fight with our nearest non-Muslims.
"Yes, we accept it and we fight in Afghanistan, and we will fight there until we defeat the cruel non-Muslim forces."

what the afghan troop surge will mean

His admission comes months after the Pakistan military mounted the offensive to rout South Waziristan of the Taliban.
The interview appeared to be evidence that the Taliban leadership, at least, continues to be able to issue threats and interviews to the media, despite the apparent constant army bombardment.
Access to the battle zone is heavily restricted apart from army escorted trips for certain media representatives.
The interview is likely to be viewed with some concern by the Western forces battling the militant insurgency inside Afghanistan.
It has long been suspected that the Afghan militant groups were getting help and support from militants across the border

Nazir arrest: Police hopeful of breakthrough in terror probe

Source: DNA

Kozhikode: The arrest of T Nazir, alleged to have masterminded a series of subversive activities, including recruitment of youths from Kerala to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, would provide a major breakthrough in the ongoing probe into series of terror related cases in the state, police said. The Kerala police was trying to get the custody of Nazir to resolve the series of terror-related cases, inspector general of police (north) Tomin J Thachankary said here today.

Nazir, also allegedly involved in the 2005 IISc Bangalore attack, was arrested along with another LeT suspect along the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya.

He had allegedly masterminded a major terror network from Kerala by recruiting youths from the state and sending them to PoK for training.

Nazir had also plotted the twin bomb blasts at two major bus stations in the crowded Mavoor Road in Kozhikode in October 2003 in which two persons, including a police constable sustained injuries.

His alleged involvement in the blasts cropped up based on information provided by Halim, a native of Kannur, who was arrested in connection with the District Collectorate bomb blast in Ernakulam earlier this year.

A Special Investigation Team had been formed to probe the terror related cases in Kerala.

Football ace tells of bomb escape

Source: The Sun

Almost died ... David Etale

A HERO squaddie who plays as striker for a Scots footie team has told of his amazing escape from a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

David Etale, 23 - up front for Edinburgh's East of Scotland league outfit Spartans - was nearly fatally wounded in a roadside bomb last Friday.

The brave Kenyan, a member of the British Army's Edinburgh-based 3rd Batallion The Rifles, suffered a fractured spine.

But help was quickly on hand and he was flown to Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital - where he faces surgery and a four-month stay.

Last night Etale said: "I count myself lucky to be alive. Apparently the vehicle was totally destroyed."

He thanked his team and the Scottish public for their support, and vowed: "I will play football again."

Second Bomb Blast At Russian Train Crash Site

Source: SKY

5:40pm UK, Saturday November 28, 2009

Andy Jack, Sky News Online

A second bomb has gone off at the site where an explosive earlier sent a luxury express train careering off the tracks in Russia killing dozens of people.

The less powerful bomb is not thought to have injured anyone, the head of Russia's state railway operator said.
The train was originally derailed by a bomb equivalent to 7kg (15lb) of TNT, the head of Russia's domestic intelligence service told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Several carriages of the Nevsky Express travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg were sent off the tracks near the town of Bologoye, 200 miles from Moscow.
"Two wagons were completely overturned... several people were completely crushed under the metal. I heard screams, moaning," police officer Andrei Abramenko, who was travelling on the train, said.
A unnamed source in Moscow's law enforcement agencies has been quoted as saying: "A one-metre-diameter hole has been found next to the railway track."

A man injured the crash arrives at Moskovsky train station in St Petersburg

Russia's Health Minister Tatyana Golikova has said 39 people have been killed, 18 are missing and more than 90 are being treated in hospital. But death toll is still unclear.
The train was carrying 661 passengers in 13 carriages and four of them were damaged, Russian railways said.
Sky News Moscow correspondent Amanda Walker said a mobile field hospital was being flown to the area, near Bologoye.
"That gives you an idea of the scale of the operation," she said.

Workers gather to remove one of the carriages

The derailment is Russia's worst train accident for several years and may raise fears of a surge in attacks by rebels from the North Caucasus.
Walker said: "Two years ago, in August 2007, a different train but the same service was the victim of a terror attack when about 60 people were injured. It was believed to be connected to Chechen separatists."
Russian prosecutors said they believed ex-soldier Pavel Kosolapov, a former associate of the late Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, was the mastermind behind that blast.
Kosolapov is still on the run.

View Bologoye, Russia in a larger map

One injured in bomb blast in Manipur

Source: PTI

Imphal, Nov 30 (PTI) Suspected militants lobbed a bomb at a CRPF convoy in Imphal west district of Manipur, leaving a youth injured, police said today.

Militants standing by the roadside at Sagolband Bijoygovinda near here lobbed the bomb at a passing CRPF convoy going from Imphal to the headquarters at Langjing, about 20 km west of here, yesterday.

A bystander received splinter injuries in the incident.

The explosion occurred soon after the convoy passed through the area, police said, adding that had it exploded a few seconds earlier, there would have been several casualties.

A senior CRPF personnel said they searched the area seconds after the explosion but the militants escaped.

City football hero in Afghan bomb blast

  30 November 2009

David Etale

 Source: Edinburgh news

A FOOTBALL player and soldier was due to arrive back from Afghanistan today after being injured by a roadside bomb on Friday.

David Etale, a striker for city-based Spartans, was one of three soldiers wounded in the attack. It is thought the other two casualties were also from 3 Rifles, which is based at Redford Barracks.

Mr Etale was left unconscious after the blast, with his back suffering the brunt of the impact, but he was said to be "recovering well" from his injuries and was able to walk and call home last night to speak to family.

His partner was expected to fly down to an army hospital in the south of England tomorrow to be by his bedside.

His teammates were left anxiously waiting for news after hearing of the incident just before Saturday's Scottish Cup tie against Forfar, which they went on to lose 1-0. His parents and sisters, who live in Kenya, were also informed.

Mr Etale, 23, began his six-month tour of duty in October and had been due to return to Edinburgh for nine days leave next month.

A professional footballer in Kenya who has won international caps, he joined the British Army three years ago.

Many of his relatives were killed in the fighting in his homeland and he now sends money home to help the rest of his family rebuild their lives.

Spartans chairman Craig Graham said players had been shocked by the news, and their thoughts were with Mr Etale and his family. He said: "Overshadowing all the football was the news that David was injured on Friday along with two of his colleagues in a bomb blast.

"We don't have too many details but we do know David is in hospital. We've been told his injuries are not life threatening. He can speak on the phone, walk a little, but has shrapnel in his back."

Mr Etale was due to be flown back overnight, arriving in Britain today.

Mr Graham said: "When people were first told, the atmosphere was very quiet, but I think David would have wanted us to be as focused as we could on the match. Since then, everyone has been very keen to find out how he is.

"He was really, really popular. He really loved football and his colleagues used to call him the 'tracksuit soldier'. He was also very keen to get involved with voluntary work in the community."

Shortly before he left for Afghanistan in October, Mr Etale had volunteered to take a group of youngsters to watch the Scotland versus Holland match.

Mr Graham said they were also very concerned about the other two soldiers, who have not yet been named. He said around 40 men from 3 Rifles regularly came to attend Spartans matches.

Mike Lawson, Spartans' joint manager, added: "The bad news from Afghanistan made the football seem insignificant. That famous 'life and death' quote by Bill Shankly all those years ago couldn't be further from the truth.

"When Craig phoned me just as I was leaving home to head down to the Academy, the news we had all dreaded hearing left me numb.

"Our thoughts go to David, all his fellow soldiers out there and their families back home."