Around the World, a Race Against Time Bombs in Air

source: abc news

5 countries, 2 days, several near misses: How authorities thwarted al-Qaida mail bombs
The woman stepped off Hadda Street into a pair of courier offices in Yemen's capital. In FedEx and UPS storefronts tucked along shopping centers and travel agencies in San'a, she mailed two Hewlett-Packard printers to the United States.

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2010 file photo, armed Yemeni police stand guard by a closed UPS office in San'a, Yemen. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

(AP)

She used a fake name, address and phone number. She paid in cash. Then she disappeared.
Hidden inside each printer was a bomb powerful enough to down an airplane.
Authorities believe it was the most sophisticated effort yet by al-Qaida in Yemen to strike inside the U.S. Though details are still emerging, a senior U.S. official said evidence points to a plot to blow up cargo planes inside the U.S., either on runways or over American cities.
Alerted to the plot by Saudi intelligence, security officials chased the two packages across five countries, trying frantically over the next two days to prevent an explosion that could have come at any moment.
Several times, the explosive packages were in plain sight. Twice, a bomb was aboard a passenger plane. Once, authorities were just minutes too late to stop a cargo jet with a bomb from departing for its next destination.
The pursuit — recounted to The Associated Press by officials in the U.S., Britain, Yemen, Germany and the United Arab Emirates — shows that even when the world's counterterrorism systems work, preventing an attack is often a terrifyingly close ordeal.
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For al-Qaida, the two bombs were a significant upgrade over the small device that failed to detonate inside a passenger's underwear on a U.S.-bound jet last Christmas. This time, the bombers packed four times the explosives.
Instead of relying on a suicide bomber to ignite the fuse, the bombmaker wired these devices to explode using the alarm function of two cell phones. The phones were wired to syringes full of lead azide, a powder that takes only a small electric charge to explode.
The printer cartridges were filled with PETN, an industrial explosive that, when X-rayed, would resemble the cartridge's ink powder. Used in heavy construction, PETN is stable enough to endure the jostling of a trans-Atlantic flight but extremely volatile if triggered by a small explosion.
Bomb experts say the cell phone alarm probably would have sent an electrical charge into the syringe, heating a filament and igniting the lead azide. That would trigger the PETN.
U.S. counterterrorism officials believe it was the work of al-Qaida's master bombmaker in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who's been linked to the Christmas plot.
UPS and FedEx employees screened the packages in Yemen, according to two U.S. officials who, like most people interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
In Yemen, cargo screening is done manually, one official said. Employees looked at the contents of the packages but never took the printer apart.
Both packages were cleared for delivery.
It was a breakdown in the first line of defense in the cargo system. The U.S. doesn't inspect international packages until they arrive, relying instead on shipping companies to do the screening.
The addresses on the packages were outdated locations for two Chicago synagogues. The recipients were figures from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition — historic episodes in which Christians persecuted Muslims.

FILE - This undated file photo released by the Dubai Police via the state Emirates News Agency (WAM)...

(AP)

For these reasons, officials believe al-Qaida never intended the bombs to be delivered and hoped instead for an airplane explosion.
The packages were dropped off Wednesday, Oct. 27. The FedEx bomb was loaded aboard a passenger jet, a Qatar Airways plane that seats 144. It left Yemen on Oct. 28, for Doha, Qatar. The UPS bomb left Yemen early that same evening, headed to Cologne, Germany.
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As Thursday evening turned to Friday morning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the CIA station received an urgent call from Saudi intelligence. Two bombs were being shipped from Yemen, bound for the United States. One was UPS, the other FedEx, and the Saudis had both the tracking numbers.
The AP is not reporting some details about the tip at the request of intelligence and administration officials who said doing so would jeopardize national security.
A senior CIA official in Riyadh relayed the tip to the agency's headquarters in Virginia, where it was early Thursday evening.
CIA officials called the White House, and homeland security adviser John Brennan briefed President Barack Obama, who was in his living quarters.
The FBI called FedEx and UPS, which had participated in a government terrorism drill in August. The exercise: A homemade bomb slipped onto a cargo plane.
U.S. and Saudi authorities put Europe on alert. Britain's intelligence division, MI-6, also received a tip through its office in Yemen.
U.S. authorities had been monitoring steady intelligence on a possible attack like this since early September, a U.S. official said. In early October, the U.S. received a general tip from the Saudis about a possible al-Qaida effort to down airplanes, intelligence officials said.
Also in late September, authorities intercepted a package from Yemen containing papers, books and other items sent to a Chicago-area Muslim bookstore, a senior U.S. official said. At the time, counterterrorism officials thought perhaps the package included coded messages or was intended to set up contact with allies in Chicago, the official said.
Now, investigators believe al-Qaida just wanted to track the package and see how long it took to get into the U.S. so it could time its bombs more effectively.
The official did not identify the bookstore, but FBI and Internal Revenue Service investigators have recently taken an interest in IQRA International Educational Foundation, a nonprofit Islamic foundation that runs a Chicago-area bookstore.
Financial manager Wahaj Ahmed said this past week that IRS auditors showed up about a month ago to inspect the books. That was around the time the group received a FedEx envelope from a company wanting to do business with IQRA.
The company was based in Yemen, he said.
The FBI arrived a few days ago, asking questions about the envelope.
"They said anything emanating from that area, they were tracking it," Ahmed said.
With U.S. intelligence on notice, officials in Saudi Arabia summoned the local liaison for Germany's Federal Criminal Police into a meeting to discuss the bombs.

FILE - This undated file photo released on Oct. 30, 2010 by the Dubai Police via the state Emirates...

(AP)

When the meeting began, a senior German official said, it was 1:34 a.m. Friday in Germany and the UPS bomb was sitting at the airport in Cologne, waiting to leave for England.
The liaison officer hurriedly called Germany and authorities rushed to stop the plane. At 2:40 a.m., police ordered that the package could not leave the country.
It was too late. The cargo plane had taken off 36 minutes earlier.
There had never been a chance to spot the bomb in Germany. UPS is among several "safe" companies, German officials said, so the packages weren't inspected.
The plane was on its way to central England. On the ground, officials didn't know for sure whether a bomb was on board, and if so, when it would go off.
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It is a 90-minute flight from Cologne to East Midlands, England.
At the White House, Brennan began calling U.S. intelligence leaders to brief them about the plot.
The FBI called Jewish organizations in the Chicago area, a U.S. official said, and placed two locations under surveillance.
When the UPS plane landed in England, it was just after 10 p.m. Thursday in Washington and 3 a.m. Friday in England. The bombs had begun their journey more than 24 hours before and neither had been found.
British investigators were waiting for plane, tipped off by Saudi, U.S. and German officials. Leicestershire police set up a security perimeter and pulled the package off the plane. Police searched the plane, and even the printer, for hours but found nothing.
Pauline Neville-Jones, British minister of state security, was briefed and Brennan spoke with British Deputy Security Adviser Ollie Robbins. But at 10 a.m. local time, after nearly seven hours of search, police concluded there was no explosive.
The UPS plane was cleared for takeoff to Philadelphia, and on to Chicago.
While British police were searching the UPS package, the FedEX bomb arrived in Dubai aboard a passenger plane from Qatar, where it had spent the night.
Dubai police, having been tipped off to the package, discovered the bomb shortly after it arrived, according to a UAE official security source. The sun was coming up Friday morning in Washington as investigators in Dubai got the first look at al-Qaida's deadly device.
The U.S. banned all inbound cargo from Yemen.
At 8:30 a.m. in Washington, the government alerted all cargo carriers: Someone is trying to ship explosives from Yemen into the U.S., and we don't know how many there are.
———
In England, police gave the all-clear. Despite not finding the bomb, authorities cleared the plane for takeoff for Philadelphia, and on to Chicago.
Before it could leave, however, British officials were told about the discovery in Dubai and were urged to look again. Brennan and Robbins spoke by phone a second time, and Dubai officials told British police exactly how to locate the bomb.
At 2 p.m. local time, nearly 12 hours after the UPS bomb arrived in England, police put the security perimeter back in place and resume the search.

FILE - This undated file photo released by the Dubai Police via the state Emirates News Agency (WAM)...

(AP)

Brennan and Robbins talked a third time, then Brennan called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a crucial but sometimes unreliable ally in the U.S.-led effort to wipe out al-Qaida.
At the White House, the plot was a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's morning security briefing.
Exactly when police in England discovered the bomb remains unclear, but authorities there removed the security perimeter and left the airport at 5:30 p.m. local time.
By then the search was on for all packages coming out of Yemen. FBI and Transportation Security Administration officials boarded cargo planes in Philadelphia and Newark, N.J., on Friday, pulling out packages and searching for bombs.
TSA said the searches were done "out of an abundance of caution." But at the White House and in capitals around the world, the question was more urgent. Are there more bombs?
———
Homeland Security officials alerted Jewish leaders around the country, through what's known as the Secure Community Network, that synagogues should be on the lookout for suspicious packages from Yemen.
UPS, FedEx and Mideast-based shipper Aramex put a halt to all shipments out of Yemen.
As Obama prepared to address the nation, two U.S. fighter jets escorted Emirates Flight 201 into New York. The flight was from Dubai, and investigators feared packages from Yemen may have been on board.
Obama called it a "credible terrorist threat against our country." Though he stopped short of blaming al-Qaida in Yemen for the plot, he singled out the group and pledged again to destroy it.
That night, in an unusual move, Brennan released a statement thanking Saudi Arabia for a tip that "helped underscore the imminence of the threat emanating from Yemen."
———
Al-Qaida in Yemen is easily the most tech-savvy of al-Qaida's affiliate groups. So, intelligence officials monitored jihadist Web sites for days, waiting for some claim of credit.
Finally, a week after the attempted attack, al-Qaida in Yemen sent word late Friday afternoon on a jihadist Web site that it had been behind the plot.
"Our advanced explosives give us the opportunity to detonate them in the air or after they have reached their final target, and they are designed to bypass all detection devices," the statement said.
Even though the bombs never exploded, al-Qaida declared itself victorious for slipping its bombs past security.
And it pledged there would more bombs, on more planes.
———
Apuzzo and Sullivan reported from Washington, Rising from Berlin. Adam Schreck in Dubai; Sarah El Deeb in Sana'a, Yemen; Paisley Dodds in London; Melissa Eddy in Berlin; Adam Goldman and Kimberly Dozier in Washington; and Don Babwin and Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Obama Pays Homage to 26/11 victims

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visit the memorial for the 26/11 terror attack victims at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel.

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama visit the memorial for the 26/11 terror attack victims at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai.

U.S. sanctions terrorist groups behind Mumbai attacks

Source: Xinhua

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions targeting Pakistan-based terrorist organizations responsible for the 2008 and 2006 attacks on India, one day before President Barack Obama's visit to India.
The Treasury targeted the financial and support networks of Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LET) and Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM), prohibiting U. S. persons from engaging in any transactions with targeted individuals and entities and freezes any assets the designees have under U.S. jurisdiction.
Actions were taken against Azam Cheema, who helped train operatives for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and was the " mastermind" behind the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings carried out by LET.
The sanctions also targeted Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, head of LET's political arm. Al Rehmat Trust, an operational front for JEM was designated for providing support to JEM, and Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi, JEM's founder and leader, was also designated by the sanction.
"LET and JEM have proven both their willingness and ability to execute attacks against innocent civilians," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "Today's action - including the designation of Azam Cheema, one of LET's leading commanders who was involved in the 2008 and 2006 Mumbai attacks - is an important step in incapacitating the operational and financial networks of these deadly organizations."
Obama is to leave for a visit to India on Friday, and his first stop will be Mumbai.
Related:
Obama, Singh to discuss regional and bilateral issue: official

NEW DELHI, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss regional and bilateral issues and how to expand strategic framework of India-U. S. relations on the basis of shared interests, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here Thursday.

Rao briefed the media on the upcoming visit by President Obama from Nov. 6 to 8.   Full story

Pakistan hopes Obama's visit to India to be conducive to regional peace

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan hoped Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to India would contribute to peace and stability in South Asia.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the United States understood how important Jammu and Kashmir issue is for peace and stability of the region.   Full story

Editor: yan

Factbox: Greek urban guerrilla groups

Source: reuters

Wed Nov 3, 2010 9:05am EDT

(Reuters) - Here are some facts on left-wing urban guerrilla groups in Greece, following a wave of parcel-bomb attacks on European government targets.

* FIRE CONSPIRACY CELLS:

-- Police suspect that one of two men arrested Monday is a member of the Fire Conspiracy Cells, a group that has staged several attacks on government targets over the past year and describes itself as an anti-state organization.

-- In May 2009, it claimed responsibility for two small time-bombs that exploded at the construction sites of two new police stations.

-- In September 2009, it said it had planted a small bomb outside a government building in the northern city of Thessaloniki. The bomb went off hours after a blast outside the Athens bourse claimed by another cell, Revolutionary Struggle.

-- In January 2010, Fire Conspiracy Cells claimed responsibility for a small bomb blast outside parliament.

-- Last March, the group claimed three small blasts in Athens: at a police detention center, the office of the far-right Golden Dawn group, and the home of a leading member of the Pakistani community. It vowed to step up attacks.

-- Police have arrested 17 people this year suspected of being members of the group.

* REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE:

-- The Revolutionary Struggle aims to overthrow the existing economic and political order in Greece and is opposed to the influence of globalization and capitalism on Greek society. Analysts have said that the group shares much of its ideology with the Fire Conspiracy Cells and have said that there may have been some co-operation between the two groups.

-- Revolutionary Struggle emerged in September 2003 with a bomb attack on a court in Athens, about a year after the capture of most of the leaders and senior members of the urban guerrilla group November 17, which had killed more than 20 Greek and foreign diplomats -- notably British defense attache Brigadier Stephen Saunders, shot and killed in his car in June 2000 -- in its 27-year existence. November 17 was named after the date of a crushed 1973 student uprising against the then-ruling military junta in which at least 13 students were killed.

-- In 2006, the group attempted to kill a minister and in 2007 it launched a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. embassy in Athens, causing minor damage but no injuries.

-- The group reappeared weeks after police killed a teen-ager in December 2008, which sparked the nation's worst riots in decades. It claimed responsibility for shooting at riot police guarding the Culture Ministry, wounding a 21-year-old officer.

-- Revolutionary Struggle has claimed responsibility for an attack on a police bus and a failed bomb attack on Royal Dutch Shell's headquarters in Athens, in 2008. In March 2009, it claimed two bomb attacks at Citibank branches in Athens.

-- The group has also said it was behind a blast at the Athens bourse in September 2009 which damaged the building.

-- Greece charged six suspected members of Revolutionary Struggle in April, over a series of bomb attacks

 REBEL SECT:

-- The Rebel Sect emerged in February 2009 in a gun and grenade attack on an Athens police station. Weeks later, two hooded gunmen fired dozens of shots at a TV station in southwestern Athens, causing no injuries.

-- The Rebel Sect usually claims responsibility for its raids, in discs sent to the media. In its statements, the group has said it targeted police, politicians, lawyers and journalists.

-- In June 2009, the Rebel Sect claimed responsibility for the killing of a Greek anti-terrorism policeman in Athens. He was shot several times at close range. It was the first deadly attack since the country's 2008 riots.

Sources: Reuters/Jane's

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Additional writing and editing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

60 killed, over 100 wounded in Pakistan mosque blast

Source: sify

2010-11-05

Islamabad, Nov 5 (IANS) At least 60 people were killed and more than 100 injured Friday when a mosque was hit by a powerful blast by a suicide bomber near Kohat town in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, state television PTV reported.

The blast targeted a mosque in Darra Adam Khel area under Sapeena police station when the Friday mid-day prayers were being offered, said Shahidullah, Dictrict Cordination Officer (DCO), Kohat. 'The roof of the mosque has caved in and several people are still trapped under the debris,' he said.

'Ambulances have reached the spot and emergency has been imposed in the nearby hospitals,' he said, adding 'the death toll could only be confirmed after the conclusion of rescue operation. It is premature to say anything about the nature of the blast at this stage.'

Senator Haji Razzaq, who hails from Darra Adam Khel, said 'The security situation in the area was precarious and threats from militants were being received.'

Information minister of KPK, Iftikhar Hussain, condemned the blast and said such incidents could not dent the resolve of government against the militants.

'There are no proper medical facilities in the area, which is about 70 km from Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,' media reports said. 'The injured are being shifted to Kohat and Peshawar as rescue officials have reached the spot and started operations,' said GEO TV.

'The suicide bomber who carried out the blast was around 17-18 years old,' the report said quoting security officials. The number of dead and injured is feared to rise as locals are shifting the victims to hospitals in private vehicles as well, it added.

The restive KPK province has become a constant victim of terrorist activities because of its proximity with Afghanistan where the war on terror is underway since 2001 while operation against militants has also been launched in Pakistan's northwestern areas.

Yemeni soldiers killed in clashes

Source: AljazeerA

Security official says soldiers died when al-Qaeda-linked fighters attacked a military checkpoint in volatile Abyan. Last Modified: 04 Nov 2010 02:17 GMT

A security official said clashes between government troops and al-Qaeda-linked fighters were continuing [EPA] At least two Yemeni soldier have been killed after anti-government fighters attacked a military checkpoint in the country's south, a security official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of the attackers was also killed in Wednesday's assault in the town of Jaar in the southern Abyan province. He said the clashes were continuing between fighters believed to have links with al-Qaeda and security forces and that he expected casualties. Al-Qaeda has stepped up attacks in the impoverished and largely lawless country. The latest assault came a day after a major military and intelligence operation was launched by Yemeni authorities to track down an alleged Saudi bomb-maker who is a key suspect in a foiled air cargo bomb plot over the weekend. The hunt for 28-year-old Ibrahim al-Asiri was launched in the provinces of Maarib and Shabwa, a security official told the Reuters news agency. "Asiri is believed to be hiding and moving with senior al-Qaeda elements such as Nasser al-Wahayshi [the Yemen al-Qaeda leader]. Security intelligence are still tracking them down to exactly identify their whereabouts," the official said. Yemen is under immense pressure to find those responsible for planting two explosive devices found in air cargo destined for the US late last week.

Terrorism: the threat shifts to Yemen – and Africa

Source: Guardian
  The Saudis tipped Britain off about last week's bomb – but as new dangers emerge, Britain needs to cultivate new friends

 

East Midlands Airport: Britain was tipped-off about the bomb by the Saudis. It will need to cultivate other friendly informants to stay ahead of the plotters. Photograph: Mark Jones/Newsteam Four years ago, Saudi Arabia was reported by London to have threatened to stop supplying vital intelligence to the UK about al-Qaida unless the Serious Fraud Office dropped an investigation into a huge BAE arms deal with the country.
It transpired that Tony Blair had written a "secret and personal" letter to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, demanding that he stop the investigation. He said there was a "real and immediate risk of a collapse in UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic co-operation". The SFO investigation was dropped. Whether the Saudis would have carried out such a threat is a moot point. What is clear is that MI5 and MI6 have relied on Riyadh to foil terrorist plots.
Last week, bombs were placed on two planes, one landing at East Midlands airport. The CIA and MI6 were alerted to the plot by the Saudis, according to counter-terrorist sources. Today, the home secretary, Theresa May, described a man arrested in Britain earlier this year as an "associate" of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
AQAP, which is based in Yemen, has mounted a campaign against the "far enemy" – the US and the UK. It is said to have recruited the "underpants bomber" who allegedly tried to bring down an airliner over Detroit last Christmas. Last year, it claimed credit for the attempted assassination of Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism chief, Prince Muhammad Bin Nayef.
But AQAP's ultimate aim is to bring down the House of Saud. Unsurprisingly, the Saudis are devoting huge resources to combating that group, monitoring the border with Yemen and recruiting informants. It can be assumed that it was through these routes that the Saudis received the intelligence that allowed them to tip off MI6.
There is a reason why it is better, or easier, for the west's intelligence services to rely on the local security forces rather than send in their own officers. It is much less contentious, an experienced counter-terrorist official observed, for the Saudis to be seen helping Yemen, a neighbouring Muslim country, than westernerstoday. The UK can help by providing spying kit to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, with the latter also benefiting from a large increase in aid from Andrew Mitchell's Department for International Development as part of the government's new national security strategy.
"We will invest in conflict prevention and stopping terrorist plots overseas," May stressed, echoing a point emphasised last week by Sir John Sawers. In the first speech by a serving head of MI6, Sawers said: "Our intelligence effort needs to go where the threat is."
That is no longer Afghanistan or the tribal areas of Pakistan. It has shifted to Yemen and Somalia, and is moving to other regions of Africa. Bombing there may have played a part. But as General Sir David Richards, the new chief of defence staff, suggested recently, bombing these countries is hardly a good idea. In future, that means dealing with people who live there and in neighbouring countries, such as Saudi Arabia.

12 militants killed in US drone attacks in Pakistan

Published: Thursday, Nov 4, 2010, 0:07 IST Place: Peshawar | Agency: PTI 

Three US drones today fired missiles at Taliban hideouts in the Pakistan's volatile North Waziristan tribal region, killing 12 suspected militants, security officials said.

In the first attack, a spy plane fired two missiles at a moving vehicle in Qutab Khel area, five kilometres southeast of Miran Shah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal agency, the officials said.

Four suspected militants were killed in the attack, said security officials. The dead men are believed to have been members of the Haqqani network of Taliban, which often targets the US and foreign forces across the border in Afghanistan, they said.

However, local residents said the bodies of the victims were charred beyond recognition. They said the victims could be from local tribe also.

In the second attack, the unmanned aircraft fired missiles at another vehicle in Taee Khel near Miran Shah, killing four other suspected militants.

Local residents did not approach near the vehicle as they feared more attacks. In the third strike, four missiles were fired at a compound in the same area, killing yet four more militants, the officials said.

The US has significantly stepped up drone strikes in the tribal belt in response to intelligence reports that the Taliban had drawn up a Mumbai-like terror plot to launch attacks on European cities.

Over 150 people have been killed in drone strikes since September 3.

Resurgent al-Qaida threatens Christians in Iraq with 'destruction'

Source: Guardian

Website warning follows deadly cathedral attack, with insurgency harder to contain as US disengages

 

Iraqi Christians carry the coffin of a relative who was killed along with 45 other Christians last night at the Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images Al-Qaida in Iraq has threatened more attacks on Iraq's Christians, claiming that they are legitimate targets who now face the "doors of destruction".
The warning, published today on militant websites, came three days after gunmen from an al-Qaida front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, raided one of Baghdad's main cathedrals during Sunday mass. More than 50 people were killed and dozens were wounded when Iraqi forces stormed the church in an attempt to lift the four-hour siege.
In its statement, ISI described the pope as "the hallucinating tyrant of the Vatican" and warned that Christians would be "extirpated and dispersed" from Iraq. "All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the muhajideen wherever they can reach them," the statement said. "We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood."
Iraq's Christians were not specifically persecuted under Saddam Hussein, but hundreds of thousands are believed to have fled the country amid the sectarian violence unleashed by the 2003 invasion. The attack on the Our Lady of Salvation church, and a series of bombings across Baghdad yesterday , have stoked fears that al-Qaida, thought to be almost a spent force in Iraq, has regrouped to seriously jeopardise the country's brittle security.
Tuesday's bombings targeted mainly Shia neighbourhoods, many of which remained in lockdown today as leaders tried to quell sectarian tensions.
The city remained subdued as security chiefs scrambled to assess how at least 20 car bombs had been driven all over town and left to detonate outside their targets. At least 64 people were killed.
"We have not seen this sort of momentum since 2004," said a general responsible for the interior ministry's intelligence division. "They are pure al-Qaida again. They are not a collection of criminals, Ba'athists and anyone else who cloaks their real ambitions in ideology."
The general said many of the current al-Qaida leaders had been freed from the now defunct US military prison system. "This was a college for them, they appointed leaders and passed on expertise."
The claim that fresh violence is being sparked by veterans of the insurgency's darkest days has been raised by numerous Iraqi police and military officers, but downplayed by US officials, who say they have not seen such evidence. In 2008 US commanders claimed al-Qaida was "strategically defeated in Iraq". But as the US military disengages, the Iraqi forces they leave behind acknowledge that they are finding an active and largely Sunni-led insurgency difficult to contain.
The scale of the church massacre and Tuesday's bombing blitz has horrified security chiefs who have claimed credit throughout the year for the capture of senior militants across the country.
"It is true that al-Qaida are strong again," said General Diyaa Hussein Sahi, the head of Baghdad police's major crime unit. "It is also true that many of them have been freed from the prisons. They are dangerous people and we are doing our best to find them."
Since the summer the vast majority of attacks in Iraq had been targeted assassinations of key officials using magnet bombs or silenced pistols. However this week's large-scale violence — with a distinct sectarian theme — appears to point to a new campaign and confidence among insurgency leaders.

Glasgow airport evacuation false alarm: police

(AFP) – 6 hours ago
Source: AFP 
LONDON — The evacuation of Glasgow airport was a false alarm triggered by the discovery of a suspicious-looking bag, police said Thursday, amid heightened concern about aviation security after the Yemen parcel bomb plot.
Parts of the airport were evacuated at 7:55 pm Wednesday after the discovery of the bag in an area where passengers are searched before boarding their flights.
The airport remained open during the alert and was accepting flights although departing passengers could not be processed, an airport spokesman told the BBC.
But early Thursday police in Glasgow said the alert had been a false alarm.
"While this incident has turned out to be a false alarm, there's no doubt that the initial action taken by staff at the airport was absolutely correct," Assistant Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson said.
The airport was the target of a failed terror attack in June 2007, when a flaming car was driven into the main terminal building.
Two men were in the car. One later died of his injuries and the second was jailed for his role in the attack.
Wednesday's security alert came after two parcels sent from Yemen and containing explosives were uncovered last Thursday in Britain and Dubai on cargo planes en route to the United States.
It also followed a Greek parcel bomb plot that has seen packages mailed to European leaders and foreign embassies in Athens. Greece has said the plot has no link to international terror but may be the work of Greek left-wingers.
In the US plot, the parcels were addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago and contained the explosive PETN in ink toner cartridges.
Western governments have imposed new restrictions on freight in the wake of the plot, and Yemen has scrambled to contain the fallout by announcing exceptional security measures on all freight leaving Yemeni airports.
In the Greek plot, 13 parcel bombs have so far been accounted for, including one that reached the German chancellery in Berlin and another found on board a courier plane to Paris after it was diverted to Bologna late on Tuesday.
These were respectively addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Philippines calls for terror warnings to be downgraded

(AFP) – 2 hours ago
Source: AFP
 
MANILA — The Philippines on Thursday urged the United States and other allies to downgrade travel warnings about an imminent terrorist attack in Manila, saying it had not monitored any such threat.
The United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued travel advisories this week warning an attack may occur at any time in the Philippine capital, and that areas frequented by foreigners were potential targets.
But Philippine foreign affairs department spokesman Ed Malaya said local security authorities disagreed with the advisories.
"They are not really seeing any imminent threat," Malaya said on DZBB radio.
"Our expectation... is that they (foreign governments) will review and update their travel advisories so that it will be reflective of the generally peaceful conditions that we have."
Malaya could not be reached for comment by AFP.
Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Jose Mabanta said that, because of the advisories, troops in the sprawling capital of 12 million had been placed on heightened alert with sensitive installations being closely watched.
But he said the alert was only a precaution, and that military intelligence did not share the view of an imminent terror attack.
"There is nothing extraordinary. Everything is normal, people are going about their usual business," Mabanta told reporters.
In their travel advisories, the Western countries warned their citizens to take precautions when travelling to public areas in Manila, including shopping centres and airports.
Reliable information indicated that terrorist attacks may occur at any time in Manila, they said.
But the head of the anti-terrorism unit at the National Bureau of Investigation, Ross Bautista, said that the intelligence information gathered so far had not been validated.
"We have received information from outside (of the country), and we are processing that," he said.
"It needs to go through analysis and needs to be verified if they are really true."
The NBI is the investigative arm of the justice department and is the local counterpart of Washington's Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Israel Attack Kills a Top Militant in Gaza

By FARES AKRAM Published: November 3, 2010
Source:NYTIMES
GAZA — A Palestinian leader of an Islamic extremist group inspired by Al Qaeda was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military.

Enlarge This Image

Suhaib Salem/Reuters

The car in which the killed militant was traveling exploded near a central police compound.

The car in which the militant was traveling exploded near a central police compound. Hamas officials said an Israeli missile fired from a drone caused the blast. The Israeli military gave no details about how the attack, which ended a period of relative calm, was carried out.
The sound of the blast echoed through the city, and a column of black smoke and fire rose from the car, which was destroyed.
The militant was identified as Mohammed al-Nemnem, 27, a senior member of the Army of Islam, an extremist group.
Barak Raz, a spokesman for the Israeli military, described Mr. Nemnem as “a ticking bomb” and said that Israel mounted the attack against him on Wednesday because it “had the intelligence and means to carry out the operation.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that Mr. Nemnem had been “personally involved in directing several terrorist attacks against Israeli targets in recent years.” More recently, the military said, he was involved in “directing a terror attack against American and Israeli targets in the Sinai Peninsula, in cooperation with Hamas elements in the Gaza Strip.”
It gave no further details about the timing or location of that attack, or whether it had indeed been carried out.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, won Palestinian parliamentary elections there in 2006, and then took full control in 2007. Its relations with some of the smaller and more extreme splinter groups have become tense, at times leading to open confrontation.
Also on Wednesday, a Hamas police officer shot dead a Palestinian salesman and critically wounded his assistant in a market in the Beach refugee camp, west of Gaza City.
A spokesman for the Hamas police said the police officer had intervened to stop a quarrel when a bullet was accidentally discharged from his gun. But witnesses said that the police officer had been involved in a “furious” argument with the salesman, Alaa al-Sourri, before shooting at him.

Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

In the New Iraq, a Familiar Taste of Misery

Source: NYTIMES

Baghdad Journal

Ahmed Malik/Reuters

Police officers grieved Wednesday in Baghdad at the funeral of a colleague killed in a bombing.

By ANTHONY SHADID

Published: November 3, 2010

BAGHDAD — Ten people died at Aroba Square, near a gold-domed shrine in the capital, where a bomber strolled a little after sunset before he blew himself up.

Related

• At War Blog: A Bunker Mentality, Busted (November 3, 2010)

The day after, no one would know that. Electrical wires dangled, billboards were torn, lights were shattered and windows were broken. But that describes anywhere in Baghdad, a city more neglected than destroyed, living on bitter nostalgia.

The scene was ordinary. And that angered Hassan al-Bahadli on Wednesday.

“Seven years!” he shouted, amid a crowd in the dark, claustrophobic warren of Majid Market. “Seven years, and these explosions are still going on?”

An argument ensued, as it often does here. “The first thing in a constitution is the rights of the citizens,” he said. “It’s the respect of the people. There’s no respect here. All we hear are delusions and promises on paper.”

At least you have the freedom to speak, a cousin pointed out. A friend insisted that the dead were really martyrs for a democratic future. These were points heard often after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

They are uttered less now, especially after two days of some of the most vicious bloodletting since 2003 that killed at least 122 people, seven months of political dysfunction that at least hints at a failed state and seven years of occupation, war and misery that have turned disillusionment into disgust.

“What about yesterday?” Mr. Bahadli asked them.

The acting speaker of Parliament said Wednesday that Parliament would meet next week. On Monday, lawmakers who have earned more than $11,000 a month, for 18 minutes of work in a session in June, will gather.

Or maybe not. The biggest bloc is considering whether to boycott, and a quorum is in question. Even if it does meet, there is no deal to end the gridlock.

As the stalemate drags on, people complain more urgently, with the inflection of not being listened to. This year, which could be remembered for a partial American withdrawal and the election of a government meant to preside over the departure of the rest of those troops, may be recalled differently: the time when a new Iraq — the term still offered by diplomats and a ruling class ever more divorced from those they rule — looked broken.

“My friends, my neighbors, my relatives?” said Ahmed Abdel-Amir, 22, a laborer, who gathered a severed arm and leg near the bombing and put them in a bag that was sent to the hospital. “Who could accept this happening to us, day after day?” It was the fourth bombing there in 18 months, residents said.

“The government has failed!” shouted Abed Ali, 16.

Fouad Massoum, the acting speaker who called Monday’s Parliament session, said something about the meeting that could have been applied to the entire anxious country.

“What will happen, I don’t know,” he said. “What will happen, let it happen.”

No one quite knew what happened on Tuesday, either. There were the facts, delivered by the government with seeming investigative prowess. Bombs were planted in 12 cars across Baghdad, each detonated by remote control about the same time. Three more roadside mines went off. Another car was booby-trapped. When it was over, 64 people were dead and 360 wounded, most in Shiite neighborhoods.

“The plan was well thought out,” said Maj. Gen. Jihad al-Jabri, a senior official at the Interior Ministry.

The day after, everyone seemed to be blamed. The American military called it “typical A.Q.I. tactics,” using the initials for Al Qaeda in Iraq, a homegrown group also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s opponents blamed him. “The prestige of the state has crumbled,” said one of them, Fattah al-Sheikh.

Mr. Maliki’s supporters blamed other Arab countries eager to derail any hint of progress in the political talks. Some people in the streets blamed Iran, others America or Israel. A lawmaker aligned with the populist cleric Moktada al-Sadr blamed the security forces. At checkpoints, Hakim al-Zamili complained, you find “the soldier busy talking on his cellphone with his friend.”

One policeman blamed himself. “There’s no way I can stand up to any terrorist,” said the officer, Alaa Salomy. “I have four children. Who will help them? The government?” He answered his own question. “I don’t think so.”

Across town, in Abu Chir, residents looking at another ordinary scene echoed Mr. Massoum. They did not know what would happen next.

“We’re in a coma,” said Yusuf Mahmoud, 55, a shopkeeper.

Down the street, someone had scratched out the face of Mr. Maliki from a faded election poster. At the mention of Saddam Hussein, Rafed al-Sanadi offered praise, or at least what constitutes praise here these days. “When he appeared, even the ground shook in fear of him,” he said. All shared an angst, the incendiary kind, at feeling helpless.

“No one knows who is who,” Mr. Mahmoud said. “No one knows when something will happen. Bombing after bombing, killing after killing. It’s a mess.”

“I don’t know why Iraqi lives are considered cheap.”

Duraid Adnan contributed reporting.

 

Baghdad Blast terror

Baghdad reels from blasts to public spots

Bollywood 'terror' held in Vietnam

Source: TOI
MUMBAI: A well known extortionist, Prakash Pandey alias Bunty Pandey, was detained in Vietnam on Wednesday morning. His detention was the result of a red corner notice issued against him. He is likely to be brought to Mumbai in a day or two.  Bunty Pandey, who is on the run for several years, was a terror for developers and Bollywood personalities. There are around 20 serious offences including murder, attempt to murder, extortion are registered with the Mumbai police. The Mumbai crime branch through CBI had issued a red corner notice against him a couple years of back, when his name cropped up in a series of extortion cases. Bunty Pandey is said to be behind several shoot outs in suburban Mumbai. 

Nov 2 Serial bombing victims IRAQ

Multiple Bombings Rock Parts of Baghdad

Bombings and mortar strikes tear through mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing scores of people and injuring many more. (Nov. 2)

At least 63 are killed in coordinated attack in Baghdad; al-Qaeda in Iraq suspected in blasts

Source: Washington post
Wednesday, November 3, 2010

BAGHDAD - A string of at least 20 explosions shook the Iraqi capital Tuesday night, most of them in Shiite neighborhoods, authorities said.

The rare coordinated attack, which included car bombings, roadside bombings and mortar fire, prompted officials to impose a curfew in the capital shortly after 8 p.m.
The blasts killed at least 63 people and wounded 285, Iraqi police officials said, citing early reports from the field. The Associated Press reported 76 killed, citing unidentified Iraqi officials.
Teams of American soldiers were dispatched to some of the blast sites to assist Iraqi security forces, military spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said, adding that U.S. military radar had picked up 13 to 17 explosions Tuesday night, none thought to be the result of a mortar or rocket attack. Bloom said the attacks appeared to be the work of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"This seems to be typical AQI tactics," he said in an e-mail.
U.S. soldiers have become a rare sight in Baghdad since June 2009, the deadline the Iraqi government set for Americans' nominal departure from cities as part of a bilateral agreement signed the year before.
Coming two days after an attack on a Baghdad Catholic church during Mass in which 58 people were killed, the newest wave of violence infuriated Iraqis. Many blamed the worsening security situation on their elected officials, who have been unable to form a government since parliamentary elections March 7.
"There is no government," said Baghdad resident Hamid Ahmed al-Azawi, 51. Referring to Iraq's political leaders, many of whom live inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, he added: "If the Americans leave tomorrow, we will assemble a team of 500 armed men to topple the Green Zone. How much longer are the Americans going to protect them?"
Lawmakers are at loggerheads over who is entitled to become prime minister and whether the post should be weakened.
As the blasts began thundering through the city shortly after sunset, Baghdadis huddled inside homes and merchants closed shops early. Traffic thinned, ambulances wailed and U.S. helicopters circled overhead as this violence-weary capital returned to a familiar defensive posture.
Sunni extremists have carried out coordinated bombings in Shiite areas in the past in an effort to stoke sectarian violence. The tactic succeeded in 2006 and 2007, but retaliatory sectarian attacks have diminished in recent years.
Violence has spiked sharply across Iraq in recent months, according to U.S. military data. Between June and September, 784 Iraqis were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded in acts of violence, according to the quarterly report to Congress by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction that was released over the weekend.
Although the number of security incidents remains well below the levels of 2006 and 2007, it increased fivefold during the period covered in the report.
Alwan is a special correspondent.

Terror attacks 'imminent' in Manila: Australia warns

Source: AFP

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

SYDNEY — Australia warned that terror attacks may be imminent in the Philippine capital Manila, saying it had received credible evidence that violence was brewing.
Canberra issued an updated travel bulletin calling for Australian travellers to be extremely cautious but did not raise its warning level for the country and gave no indication of who could be planning potential attacks.
"Reliable reports indicate that terrorist attacks may be imminent in Manila, including places frequented by foreigners such as large shopping malls and convention centres," the foreign affairs department said.
The advisory restated Australia's advice against travelling to the southern island of Mindanao due to the "very high threat" of violence and kidnapping.
Warning of an imminent strike on the restive island it said several foreigners had been kidnapped on the nearby Sulu Archipelago and Zamboanga Peninsula. One man, a Japanese national, was still in captivity.
"We strongly advise you not to travel to mainland Mindanao, the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Sulu Archipelago regions of Mindanao ... due to the very high threat of terrorist attack, including kidnapping and related counter-terrorism operations," the department said.
"Credible information indicates terrorists may be in the advanced stages of planning attacks. Attacks may be imminent and could occur at any time, anywhere in Mindanao."
Muslim rebels and bandits frequently carry out kidnappings for ransom in Zamboanga and other parts of the volatile southern Philippines' Mindanao region.
The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines' history, is the most infamous group that operates in Mindanao and is well-known for kidnapping foreigners as well as locals.

Taliban running short of IEDs, says British general

Source: Guardian
Attacks on Taliban supply lines cause tenfold price rise in key ingredient of improvised explosive devices

US marines assess an improvised explosive device in Nabuk, Helmand province. Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

  

The Taliban's ability to produce large numbers of its most effective and lethal weapon, the improvised explosive device (IED), appears to have been severely constrained in the south of Afghanistan, including Kandahar, after months of US-led operations.
According to the region's British outgoing commander, General Nick Carter – who briefed journalists before handing over to his US successor today – anecdotal evidence suggests growing shortages have meant the cost of the key chemical ingredient, ammonium nitrate, has increased tenfold in recent months.
The price of other components such as detonators, Carter claimed, had increased 11 times, reflecting disruption of the Taliban's supply networks both in the country and across the Pakistan border.
IEDs are the biggest killers of British and US troops in Afghanistan, accounting for more than half of all fatalities. Placed on paths, in fields, alongside roads and throughout villages, the 180 that exploded in September claimed the lives of 24 US soldiers. They also account for two out of every three non-fatal casualties.
A bomb killed two coalition service members in the volatile south yesterday, Nato said.
The trend had been for IEDs to become ever larger, more numerous and sophisticated, usually with a small charge – perhaps a conventional anti-personnel landmine – detonating a larger device packed with homemade explosives, whose main ingredient is ammonium nitrate.
Their use has escalated hugely over the last six years. In 2004, according to analysis of the Afghan war logs, there were 308 makeshift bombs. Last year there were 7,155. In total the Taliban has planted more than 16,000 IEDs in those six years.
The reported shortages of materials for the devices follows two months this year when the Taliban and allied groups planted record numbers of the bombs in response to the surge of almost 30,000 additional US troops deployed in Afghanistan. In July 1,374 bombs were detonated or defused, and in September 1,321 were detonated or detected, the two largest totals in almost a decade – which might also explain the shortages.
Nato and Afghan troops began an operation to wrest back control of the south from the Taliban insurgency in July. They have established some pockets of security but insurgents still carry out daily attacks and bombings.
In some rural districts around Kandahar, villages have been so heavily mined that it has proved impossible to clear them safely by conventional methods and some areas have been bombed to set off the devices.
Carter said: "We have many more resources in the area. We have restricted [the Taliban's] freedom of movement in districts like Arghandab and Zhari, which had been key areas for them to influence the city of Kandahar.
"They also no longer have the same resources. The price of ammonium nitrate has increased 10 times. Basic IED components by 11 times. With these constraints and the economic impact of the poppy blight this year, we believe it is difficult for them to go on the offensive."
He said 80% of IEDs now being discovered were handed in by Afghans to local police.
At the weekend Isaf and Afghan forces destroyed a significant Taliban shipment and storage site in the Barham Chah bazaar, in Helmand province. That uncovered an explosives factory with stores of 23.7 metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate, detonator pressure plates, 500 litres of acid, and 2,000 kilos of precursor chemicals – enough materials to make 2,000 IEDs.
Carter warned that it would take until at least next summer to determine whether the campaign around Kandahar and in the south had produced a lasting impact.
"Timelines are always dangerous," he said. "We have seen progress. But the point I am making is that we will only know if those gains are irreversible when we get to next July."

Theresa May announces freight ban for Yemen and Somalia

Source: BBC

Advertisement

1 November 2010 Last updated at 17:15 GMT Help

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has announced that the ban on unaccompanied air freight from Yemen will remain in place and will be extended to packages from Somalia.
The extra security measures have been introduced following the discovery of a US-bound cargo bomb at East Midlands Airport last week.
The home secretary told the House of Commons the devices found were thought to be the work of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula but there was no information to suggest another attack by the group was imminent.
From midnight on Monday there will also be a suspension of the carriage of toner cartridges larger than 500g in passengers' hand baggage on flights departing from UK airport.
"We will prohibit the carriage of these items by air cargo into, via or from the UK unless they originate from a known consignor" said Mrs May.

Greek terrorists accused of bomb attacks

Source: washingtonpost

Police escort mail-bomb suspect Gerasimos Tsakalos to a public prosecutor's office in Athens. (Petros Giannakouris)

 

By Elena Becatoros and Melissa Eddy

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 

 

ATHENS - Greek terrorists are suspected of unleashing an unprecedented two-day wave of mail bombings targeting embassies in Athens, international organizations and foreign leaders, with devices exploding Tuesday at the Russian and Swiss embassies and German authorities destroying a bomb sent to Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

By Tuesday evening, at least 11 mail bombs had been detected in the Greek capital - one addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and eight to the embassies of Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland.

Two more were destroyed in controlled explosions at the Athens airport - one addressed to the European Union's highest court, in Luxembourg, and the other to law enforcement agency Europol in the Netherlands.

If it is confirmed that domestic Greek terrorist groups are responsible for the attacks, it would mark a dramatic escalation for organizations that have never attempted to strike targets abroad. Security at all embassies in Athens has been increased.

The campaign used small devices that caused one injury and minimal damage. But it highlights the difficulty of keeping bombs out of the international delivery system - also a target of Yemen-based militants armed with more powerful explosives.

It was unclear whether the bomb sent to Germany was delivered by land or air. If sent by air, it would highlight the potential limitations of air cargo security that remain, despite the concern triggered by the mail bombs dispatched recently from Yemen. 

"If they have been flown, then it rather begs the question whether European freight air security is up to muster at all," said Chris Yates, an aviation security consultant based in Britain.

But transportation industry officials also said there are few if any security checks on packages transported within the European Union by road or rail.

"Once they're in Europe, the goods are free to move around," said Robert Windsor, manager of trade services at the British International Freight Association.

- Associated Press

Nicholas Paphitis contributed to this report.

 

mail bomb havoc in Greece

Mail bomb wave hits embassies in Greece with 2nd explosion & 2 threats

greece package bomb

Nicolas Sarkozy 'among targets of Greece parcels bombs'

source: bbc

A controlled explosion was carried out as more packages were found

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was among the intended recipients of four parcel bombs found in Athens on Monday, Greek police have said.

One of the bombs, addressed to the Mexican embassy in Athens, exploded in the offices of a private courier company, slightly injuring an employee.
The other two parcels were addressed to the Belgian and Dutch embassies in the city.
Two men, aged 22 and 24, have been arrested over the attack.

Greece has been experiencing a wave of attacks against government and police targets, attributed to far-left groups, and police said they were not linking Monday's events to al-Qaeda.

Wigs and guns
The first package detonated when a woman working at the courier company became suspicious of the contents and threw it to the ground.
Another package addressed to the Dutch embassy was found at the offices of a second company and a controlled explosion was later carried out.
As police arrived, two men described as wearing wigs and bulletproof vests and carrying handguns, were arrested at a bus stop.
At this point, two further packages were found, addressed to the French president and the Belgian embassy.
One of the men detained is suspected of being a member of an anarchist group, Conspiracy of Fire, thought to be behind a string of crude bomb and arson attacks.
Left-wing groups were blamed for a parcel bomb explosion in June in which a close aide to Greece's counter-terrorism minister was killed.

Turkish authorities release photo of suspected bomber

Source: CNN
1 Nov 2010 -- Updated 1510 GMT (2310 HKT)

Turkish authorities sealed off Istanbul's central Taksim Square as forensic investigators probe the attack.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• PKK spokesman denies his group was involved
• NEW: Authorities have released a photo of the suspected bomber
• No group has claimed responsibility
• Area tense but vendors selling flowers and roasted chestnuts

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkish authorities reinforced police presence Monday around Istanbul's central Taksim Square, a day after a bomber detonated explosives there, killing himself and wounding 32 people.
"It's tense," said an owner of a nearby café who asked not to be identified. His business is but one of the hundreds of bars and restaurants around Taksim, in what is the most congested entertainment district in Turkey's largest city.
On Monday, the Anti-Terror Unit of the Istanbul police department distributed a photo of a balding, dark-haired man that police officers said he was the man who carried out the attack. However, Turkish authorities have so far avoided naming the dead bomber or any organized group they suspect may have been behind the attack. They have also played down the fact that Sunday's strike appeared to be a suicide bombing.
Meanwhile, in a phone interview with CNN, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, denied responsibility for the attack.
"Some circles are pointing to our movement as the ones who are responsible for this. This is not the reality," said PKK spokesman Roj Welat, speaking by telephone from Northern Iraq where the rebel group's leadership is based. "We do not have any connection whatsoever with this action."

Video: Suicide bomb injures 32

RELATED TOPICS

• Istanbul
• Turkey

At a news conference Monday, Interior Minister Besir Atalay ruled out any possibility that there was a second attacker. He said that the police posted in Taksim Square were the clear target of the bombing, and that the bomber had not previously been under police surveillance.
"We have information, however we are being cautious... we do not want wrong information or mis-information to be released," Ataly said in a televised news conference. "We are not able to make a statement yet about the suspect or which organization was behind the attack."
So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing.
In recent decades, bombings and other acts of political violence have been carried out in Turkey by a broad spectrum of home-grown groups, ranging from leftists, to al Qaeda operatives, ultra-nationalists, and Kurdish separatists.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, some Turkish commentators cast blame on the PKK, the rebel group which has fought longest and hardest against the Turkish state.
The timing of the bombing was also suspect. The PKK had previously announced that one of its periodic "unilateral cease-fires" was due to expire on Sunday, October 31.
But in his phone interview with CNN, Welat, the PKK spokesman, announced that the rebels had decided to extend their cease-fire until after Turkey holds general elections, which are expected to take place sometime next summer.
For months there have been rumors in the Turkish media of some kind of talks taking place between PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government. Ocalan has spent the last decade imprisoned on an island in Turkey's Marmara Sea.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement Sunday condemning what she called a "terrorist attack ... which brutally targeted innocent civilians in one of the city's busiest squares."

Municipal employees worked hard to clean up evidence of the attack Sunday. Within hours, the pavement in Taksim square had been scrubbed clean of blood and body-parts. By nightfall Sunday, tourists were posing for photos in front of the square's central monument. Just a few yards from where the blast erupted, street vendors were once again selling flowers and roasted chestnuts as if nothing had happened.

Death Toll Rises Following Iraqi Church Hostage Rescue

Source: VOA

VOA News 01 November 2010

Photo: AP

Iraqi Christian lawmaker, Younadem Kana, center left, Iraq's top Catholic prelate, Chaldean Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, center, and Bishop Shlimone Wardoni, center right, are seen outside Our Lady of Deliverance church the morning after its congregation was taken hostage in Baghdad, Iraq, 1 Nov 2010. 

Iraqi officials say 52 people, including at least 30 worshipers, are dead following a bloody standoff at a Baghdad Christian church.

Iraqi forces stormed the church late Sunday, hours after militants burst into the building, taking more than 100 people inside hostage.

It is not clear how many people were killed by the militants and how many died during the rescue effort.  Officials said 70 people were wounded.

Survivors say the militants entered with guns firing and immediately killed one of the priests at point-blank range.

A Christian member of Iraq's parliament Monday told reporters that at least 25 worshippers died due to what he called "the lack of professionalism or haste" in freeing the hostages.  But Defense Minister Abdel Qader al-Obeidi defended the decision to storm the church, saying the gunmen were about to start killing the more than 100 people inside.

Al-Qaida's Iraq affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police officials at the scene said between five and seven militants were killed during the rescue operation, and that another eight had been arrested.

They said some of the militants set off suicide vests and threw grenades as Iraqi forces entered the church.

As Iraqis began cleaning up outside the Our Lady of Salvation church in the city's Karada neighborhood Monday, survivors described of the carnage inside and outside the church.

They said the gunmen set off a car bomb and opened fire before entering the church, and then beat some of the worshippers.

The U.S. military provided air support the rescue operation.  Surveillance video released by the U.S. shows a series of explosions inside the church as Iraqi forces moved in.

Iraqi officials said the violence began earlier Saturday when militants launched an attack on the Baghdad stock exchange, also in the Karada neighborhood.

Officials said the attackers killed two security guards, wounded four others and detonated two bombs before moving to the church.

The Islamic State of Iraq had been demanding the release of fellow militants from prisons in Iraq and in Egypt.

The group called the church "the dirty place of the infidel" and warned of more attacks against Christians.

2 policemen martyred, 8 injured in Swabi suicide attack

Source: The nation

At least two police personals have been martyred and eight were wounded in suicide attack and firing by extremists at Police Line here in the area of Mansoor Town on Monday morning.
According to media reports, militants suddenly attacked at Police Line with hand grenade and soon afterwards an exchange of firing started between militants and police and after a few minutes a suicide bomber exploded himself with a suicide jacket as a result two police men martyred and eight were injured.
DIG Swabi Abdullah Khan told the media that the suicide attack was targeted for the Swabi police station but due to the vigilance for the police officers they could not succeed in this hideous attempt otherwise the damage could have been massive.
DIG told the media that four gunmen tried to attack the police station on stopping ,one of them blew himself up resulting in two casualties and injuring six while two of the attackers were killed and search operations is being conducted to track the remaining two terrorists.
The target of the attack was police line, many suspicious people have been held for interrogation and area has been cordoned off.
Talking to the media, District Police Officer(DPO) Ijaz Khan revealed that terrorists threw a hand grenade at police line main gate and as a result of police retaliation a suicide bomber exploded himself with blast. He confirmed the martyrdom of two police personals and eight injuries. He said that injured persons shifted to hospital.
During the media talk, Provincial Information minister Iftikhar Hussain said that it was a suicide attack and one militant was killed in the attack.
Police cordoned off the area after the suicide attack.

iraq church hostage: death toll

Bomb Plot Shows Key Role Played by Intelligence

Source: NYtimes
In the middle of last week, a woman who claimed her name was Hanan al-Samawi, a 22-year-old engineering student, walked into the U.P.S. office in the upscale Hadda neighborhood of Sana, Yemen’s sprawling capital city. She displayed a photocopied identification card, and dropped off a bomb hidden inside a printer cartridge with a Chicago address listed as the package’s destination. A few blocks away, another package concealing a homemade bomb was dropped off at a FedEx office, also seemingly headed to Chicago.

Enlarge This Image

Hasan Jamali/Associated Press

A Yemeni police officer stood guard outside the University of Sana, where Hanan al-Samawi, a mail bomb suspect, studied. More Photos »

Multimedia

Graphic

Emerging Details on the Terror Scare

Slide Show

Suspicious Packages Trigger Global Response

Related

• The Lede Blog: Suspect in Printer Bombs Gains Notoriety (October 31, 2010)

Enlarge This Image

Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

In Sana, Yemen, portraits of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his eldest son, Ahmed, were displayed in a car’s back window. More Photos »

Within days, the two packages had advanced through four countries in at least four different airplanes — two of them carrying passengers — before they were identified in Britain and Dubai after an 11th-hour tip from Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service set off an international terrorism alert and a frantic hunt.
The foiling of the package plot was a significant success in an era of well-publicized intelligence breakdowns and miscommunications. It was also a sobering reminder to officials around the world that quick response to timely intelligence rules the day. Despite the billions of dollars governments have spent on elaborate airport technology to guard against terrorism threats, the packages would probably have been loaded onto planes bound for the United States, but for the Saudi tip.
In a report on Monday quoting British officials, the BBC said the Saudi tip originally emanated from a “repentant” Al Qaeda operative, identified as Jaber al-Faifi, who defected two weeks ago and handed himself over to Saudi authorities. The BBC said the defector was “described as a former detainee at the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”
There was no immediate corroboration of the report.
The plot also points up holes in the system, particularly the security of cargo flights, that have already caused criticism abroad and are likely to rekindle new debates in the United States.
In Qatar, officials acknowledged Sunday that one of the packages had been carried on two Qatar Airways passenger planes, apparently having eluded the airline’s cargo screening system. In Britain, officials were embarrassed about how long it took the authorities to identify one of the packages as a carefully concealed bomb.
American and Yemeni officials still have little hard evidence about who was involved in the thwarted attack. On Sunday officials in Yemen discovered that Ms. Samawi’s identity had apparently been stolen, and that she was not the same woman who dropped off the packages. Ms. Samawi was released on bail on Sunday, and the authorities in Yemen have thus far arrested no other suspects.
It was one more piece of a carefully designed and cleverly disguised plot that investigators believe was conceived by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, the group that American officials say might pose the most immediate threat to American soil.
In television appearances on Sunday, John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, said that American and British authorities were leaning toward the conclusion that the packages were meant to detonate in midair, en route to their destinations in Chicago. If that turns out to be the case, it would be a rare attack aimed at the air cargo system — one of the foundations of the global economy — rather than the passenger system, which has received the most attention from governments working to avoid a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
For the most part, governments around the world had bet that it was less likely that the cargo system would be the target of attacks, given that its flights carry few passengers.
“It is time for the shipping industry and the business community to accept the reality that more needs to be done to secure cargo planes so that they cannot be turned into a delivery systems for bombs targeting our country,” Representative Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement.
Congress in 2007, in legislation proposed by Mr. Markey, mandated that all air cargo be inspected before it is loaded onto passenger planes, setting an August 2010 deadline for the requirement. But as of the deadline, only about 65 percent of the cargo headed to the United States on passenger planes from abroad is inspected — and a far smaller proportion coming to the United States on all-cargo flights is physically checked, as these planes are not subject to the mandate.

Congress in 2007, in legislation proposed by Mr. Markey, mandated that all air cargo be inspected before it is loaded onto passenger planes, setting an August 2010 deadline for the requirement. But as of the deadline, only about 65 percent of the cargo headed to the United States on passenger planes from abroad is inspected — and a far smaller proportion coming to the United States on all-cargo flights is physically checked, as these planes are not subject to the mandate.

Enlarge This Image

Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

In Sana, Yemen, portraits of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his eldest son, Ahmed, were displayed in a car’s back window. More Photos »

Multimedia

Graphic

Emerging Details on the Terror Scare

Slide Show

Suspicious Packages Trigger Global Response

Related

• The Lede Blog: Suspect in Printer Bombs Gains Notoriety (October 31, 2010)

Even when the cargo is checked, air carriers in certain countries use equipment like X-ray detection devices or a visual check by an airport worker that often cannot identify packages with bombs, because the small amount of explosive material can be carefully hidden inside a routine electronic device, like a computer printer.
Interviews in Washington, London and the Middle East reveal how the two bombs made their way through several countries before the tip from Saudi intelligence officials caused them to be pulled from airplanes.
The bomb dropped at the U.P.S. office in Sana ended up in East Midlands Airport, near Nottingham, England, by way of Cologne, Germany. A terrorism alert from Washington provoked a search for the package, which was found and kept from being shipped to the United States. But British authorities took more than 20 hours to determine that it contained hidden explosives.
Theresa May, the British home secretary, told the BBC that the government would review its security arrangements for handling air cargo entering or passing through Britain in the wake of the printer-bomb plot, but declined to give any details.
In Britain, cargo operators are vetted and named “trusted carriers.” Cargo itself is not screened, which some experts said made British airports vulnerable to terrorist exploitation. Ms. May said that any changes would have to take into account economic concerns. “We’re well aware of the economic aspects of air freight transport,” she said.
The second package — a bomb hidden inside a Hewlett-Packard desktop printer — was sent out Thursday on a Qatar Airways passenger flight to Doha, the Qatari capital. There it sat for a day, and was then flown 235 miles east to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where it arrived Friday in the local FedEx distribution warehouse.
By that time Emirati authorities had received a warning call from Britain about a suspicious package there, and they identified the printer almost immediately, according to an official familiar with the investigation. Investigators removed and dismantled the explosive, which had been placed into the toner cartridge printer so carefully that all the printer’s components appeared to be in place and it might well have passed unnoticed.
A cellphone was concealed in the bottom of the printer, and the printer head was designed to detonate the explosives.
On Sunday, officials in Qatar said in a statement that “the explosives discovered were of a sophisticated nature whereby they could not be detected by X-ray screening or trained sniffer dogs.”
As for who was behind the plot, evidence remains elusive, though officials believe the bombs bear the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in Yemen’s top bomb maker. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a cable saying that the packages might have been linked to two schools in Yemen. If true, that would suggest that foreign students might have been involved in the plot, as in the attempted bombing of a commercial jetliner in Detroit last Dec. 25 by a Nigerian trained in Yemen.
But American and Yemeni investigators are trying to determine whether the schools — listed as the Yemen-American Institute for Language-Computer Management and the American Center for Training and Development — even exist. There is a school in Sana called the Yemen American Language Institute, but it is sponsored by the United States State Department. Its director, Aziz al-Hadi, said in a telephone interview that the school “has never used FedEx or U.P.S.” and did not help foreigners obtain visas. The school does not have a reputation for attracting religiously conservative students, unlike some other language schools in Yemen. There is an American Center for Training and Development in Egypt, but not in Yemen.
Ms. Samawi was released partly because the shipping agent for the courier company was brought into her interrogation and told investigators that she was not the person who had signed the shipping manifest, said a Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Yemeni authorities have concluded that the plotters deliberately used Ms. Samawi’s name, address and telephone number to make the shipment look legitimate. Ms. Samawi’s mother was detained Saturday as well, but family friends said that was only because she insisted on accompanying her daughter.
“She is a very open-minded person; we cannot believe these accusations at all,” said Siham Ahmad Haza, 24, who described herself as a close friend of Ms. Samawi’s, and a fellow student of computer engineering at Sana University. “She listens to music a lot, especially Western music. She loves foreigners, she’s a balanced person.”
Ms. Samawi has two younger sisters, and her father works as an engineer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, according to family friends. The family lives in Shamlaan, on the outskirts of Sana.
About 100 students protested at Sana University on Sunday, chanting “Freedom, freedom for Hanan!”