Terrorism Watch

By the CNN Wire Staff January 22, 2011 -- Updated 0336 GMT (1136 HKT) Soldier arrange flowers on their tank as an uneasy peace hangs over Tunisia on January 21. Tunisians have begun three days of mourning in respect of the people who died during the 'Jasmine Revolution.' STORY HIGHLIGHTS "Jewels and huge sums of money ... have been seized," official says, according to state media 1,200 others have been arrested, Tunisia's interior minister says, state media says All political parties applying for authorization "received positive reply," according to official TAP news agency (CNN) -- Tunisia's new government is interrogating 33 people from ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's entourage, a top official said Friday, while 1,200 others who have "spread terror among the population carried out unacceptable acts" have been arrested, according to state media. Tunisia's Interior Minister Ahmed F

Reuters – Two cars are set on fire during riots on Friday between supporters of Albania's opposition Socialist … By Benet Koleka Benet Koleka – Fri Jan 21, 6:03 pm ET TIRANA (Reuters) – Three men were shot dead as protesters battled police at an anti-government rally in the Albanian capital Friday, in what Prime Minister Sali Berisha called an opposition attempt to foment a Tunisia-style uprising. Supporters of the opposition Socialist Party, which refuses to accept the result of a 2009 election, protested outside Berisha's office against what they see as official corruption and electoral fraud. Some pelted the building and police with stones, sticks and umbrellas.

Source: TIME By ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER / CAIRO Abigail Hauslohner / Cairo – Fri Jan 21, 5:40 pm ET Many Arabs across the Middle East are looking to events in Tunisia for inspiration. It is the first of the region's dictatorships to fall at the hands of its own people since 1979 - with no Islamist revolution needed; no U.S. invasion; no inspiring leader, just the mass uprising of a well-educated and disenchanted populace. "A lot of people have been talking about Tunisia," says one 57-year-old Cairo resident who only gave his name as Mohamed. "They had a bad president and the people were sick of him, so they overthrew him. Here, the people are sick too - more so than they were in Tunisia. Eventually here, they're going to do it too." More than a few people in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, agree with Mohamed. And some even believe the time is no

  Reuters – Workers clean up near the remains of mud-walled forts constructed by Muhammad Ahmad, or the "Mahdi", … Slideshow: Sudan's Darfur Conflict – Fri Jan 21, 3:59 pm ET KHARTOUM, Sudan – Rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region ambushed a small army unit Friday, triggering an hours-long clash that killed 21 soldiers and 13 rebel fighters, the military said. Army spokesman Capt. Sawarmy Khaled said the rebels behind Friday's attack were led by the main Justice and Equality Movement , which has been involved i

Source: washingtonpost A recently completed investigation of the killing of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan nine years ago makes public new evidence that a senior al-Qaeda operative executed the Wall Street Journal reporter. Khalid Sheik Mohammed - the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, who is being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - said at a military hearing in 2007 that he killed Pearl. But there have been lingering doubts about his involvement, and the United States has not charged him with the crime. According to the new report, which was prepared by faculty members and students at Georgetown University, U.S. officials have concluded that vascular technology, or vein matching, shows that the hand of the unseen man who killed Pearl on video is that of Mohammed. The report also says Mohammed told the FBI that a senior al-Qaeda operative advised him to take control of Pearl from his original kidnappers. The 31,000-word report, published in

From Mohammed Tawfeeq , CNN January 21, 2011 -- Updated 1535 GMT (2335 HKT) STORY HIGHLIGHTS Initial police reports said 32 people died in Karbala bombings At least 150 others were wounded There have been several attacks on Shiite pilgrims on their way to Karbala Baghdad (CNN) -- The grim toll in deadly bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims in Iraq rose Friday as officials said at least 50 people were killed. Initially, police said 32 people died Thursday in the holy city of Karbala, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Baghdad. But health officials in Karbala said Friday that at least 50 people were dead. An additional 150 people were wounded. Many of the casualties were women and children. Health officials in Karbala reported four explosions -- two bombs in parked minibuses on the roads leading to two of the main entrances to the city and two smaller bombs left in plastic bags. An Interior Ministry official said, however, that the two bombs on the roads w

By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy Updated Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:00pm AEDT South Korean commandos operating thousands of kilometres from home have carried out a daring raid, rescuing the crew of a freighter hijacked by heavily-armed Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. After a cabin-to-cabin gun battle the special forces team killed eight of the pirates and captured five of them. South Korea's president has praised his commandos, saying it is a sign that his country will not tolerate anything that threatens the lives of its people - a warning intended to be heard all the way to Pyongyang. They struck before the first light of dawn, with a team of navy commandos scaling the sides of the chemical freighter covered from the air by sharp shooters in a helicopter. They had warned the Somalis to surrender but the pirates, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades had refused. South Korean Lieutenant General Lee Seong-ho says fi

  Many of the pirates say they began as fishermen but have lost their livelihoods because of foreign trawlers Continue reading the main story PIRACY CRISIS Growing risk Q&A: Prosecuting pirates Spotlight on 'guns for hire' Somali piracy: Global map Somali lawmakers are redrafting a bill to make piracy illegal after the parliament refused to pass it. The power vacuum left by two decades of civil war in Somalia has allowed pirates to flourish and demand big ransoms from passing ships. But some MPs described them as heroes for keeping foreign fishing fleets away from Somali shores, and said they were acting as unofficial coastguards. The redraft is likely to make foreign trawling in Somali waters an offence. BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says Somalia once had rich fishing off its lengthy coastline, but years of over-fishing by foreign trawlers has devastated fish stocks. Trawlers from Taiwan and Malaysia are among the fleet of ve

The U.S.-backed coalition led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is on the verge of losing its grip on power after Jumblatt's defection to Hezbollah. Reporting from Beirut and Cairo — The U.S.-backed parliamentary coalition led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri was on the verge of losing its tenuous grip on the Lebanese government after a key politician defected Friday to support the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The decision by Walid Jumblatt, a Druze chieftain and longtime player amid Lebanon's fractious parties, to back Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria , highlighted the dangerous regional maneuverings across the troubled Lebanese political scene. The move was a blow to Washington, which had worked with Hariri until his 14-month-old unity government collapsed this month. "The party will stand firm in support of Syria and the resistance," Jumblatt, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, said at a news conference in Beirut . He di

Source: Expressbuzz LONDON: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has issued a new tape threatening to kill all the French nationals it has kept hostages, if France does not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.The message said that hostages will be killed if President Nicolas Sarkozy does not withdraw troops from "Muslim lands", the Daily Mail reported here.The Al Qaeda has been holding seven people, including five French nationals, in its custody in Niger since September. Two French journalists captured over a year ago are also in their captivity in Afghanistan."President Nicolas Sarkozy's refusal to remove his forces from Afghanistan is nothing but a green light for killing the French hostages," Bin Laden said in the audio tape."But we will not do that at the time that he determines to try and finish off with the repercussions of his position, which will cost him dearly within France and outside of it."The audio warned Sarkozy to withdraw tr

Source:( AFP ) – 1 day ago PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Suspected Taliban militants abducted two oil company officials on Thursday after an ambush that left six people dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest, officials said. Militants on hilltops in Darmalik village, 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of the town of Kohat, opened fire on an oil company team returning from an exploration site in the area, senior police official Fazal Naeem told AFP. "Two company officials were killed along with four soldiers from the paramilitary Frontier Corps who were providing escort to the team," he said. The attackers, believed to number more than a dozen, captured two oil company officials before fleeing in waiting cars, he added. Kohat administration chief Khalid Omarzai confirmed the incident and the abduction of officials, who were believed to be locals. The area is located close to Pakistan's lawless tribal region on the Afghan border. Taliban militants entrenched in the region

Source: zee news Baghdad: The governor of Iraq's western Anbar province on Monday survived at least a fourth assassination attempt in just over a year, escaping unharmed a suicide attack that left six people wounded, police and health officials said. Governor Qasim al-Fahadawi, a former businessman who has friendly ties with the US military in Anbar, lost an arm and underwent intensive surgery to rebuild his leg after a suicide bomber struck his Ramadi office in December 2009. Monday's attack took place in Ramadi, the provincial capital located some 70 miles (115 kilometres) west of Baghdad, when the bomber rammed his car into al-Fahadawi's 12-vehicle convoy. Al-Fahadawi was not hurt in the blast, but three of his guards and three bystanders were wounded, a police official said. A health official confirmed the casualties. Anbar province, a Sunni Muslim stronghold that was once infested with al Qaeda, was the birthplace of the government-backed militia known as Sahwa, o

Berlin: A package containing a hand grenade was found outside the Croatian embassy in central Berlin today, a police spokesman said, days before the country's president was to visit the German capital. "Police units are at the scene," the spokesman said. "It has been removed by technical experts from the Berlin police force and taken to a place where it will be blown up." He added that police were investigating where exactly the package had been left but said that they had no leads yet on possible suspects or motives. No further details were available. "There were no threats as far as we know," the spokesman said. Croatian President Ivo Josipovic was due to visit the German capital for three days from Wednesday, with talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled for Thursday. On Wednesday Josipovic was due to meet the speaker of parliament, Norbert Lammert. PTI

Source: Zee news Islamabad: Investigators probing the abduction of a leading Hindu spiritual leader of Pakistan are clueless about his whereabouts, a media report said on Monday, adding that there had been 22 kidnapping incidents in recent weeks on the same highway from where the octogenarian was spirited away. Lakki Chand Garji, 82, who is the 'maharaja' of the Kali Mata Mandir in Kalat town in Balochistan province, is considered to be one of Pakistan's most revered Hindu spiritual leaders. He was kidnapped by a gang of armed men December 21 last year. Express Tribune reported on Monday that investigators are clueless on the high-profile kidnapping. Lakki Chand Garji has been the 'maharaja' at the Kali Mata Mandir for the past 60 years and he has command over many languages, including Balochi, Hindi, Sindhi, Persian and Brahavi. In recent weeks, there have been more than 22 incidents of kidnapping for ransom and hold-ups by gangsters on the Kalat-Surab section

Source: Zee news Peshawar: An explosion ripped through a minibus travelling in a militant-infested area of northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing 18 people, police said. There were conflicting reports of whether the blast was caused by a bomb or by the gas cylinder used to power the vehicle. The bus was travelling between the cities of Hangu and Kohat, which are located close to Pakistan's lawless tribal region. The explosion tore apart the vehicle, killing all 17 people on board, and tipped over a second bus nearby, said Hangu police chief Abdur Rasheed. One person on the bus that tipped over was killed and 11 others were wounded, he said. Rasheed said the blast occurred when the gas cylinder on board malfunctioned. But the top police official in the region said explosives were used to trigger the explosion. Islamist militants frequently carry out attacks in the area against both civilians and security forces. Local television footage showed the twisted carcass of th

Source: Rediff Heavy losses at top levels in the Maoists are hurting the rebels, says Krishnakumar Padmanabhan. Though security agencies have been facing major losses on the ground in the fight against the Maoists, the defining development in recent months is the crippling losses the Maoists' central leadership have suffered. The losses that the rebels have inflicted on the security forces are at ground level and done by low-level cadre of the party, senior intelligence officers told Rediff.com "What is really crucial is that their brains trust has been severely depleted. The situation at the senior level is really bad," said a senior intelligence official, who did not want to be named in this report. In 2004, the Communist Party of India-Maoists Central Committee had 38 members, its Politburo had 13, and the Central Military Commission had 10. For three years since then, there wasn't much change in the party's structure and it was mostly status quo. The figu

Source: Philstar on yahoo MANILA, Philippines - The Southern Police District (SPD) released yesterday a sketch of a woman who reportedly brought a gift-wrapped bomb to the Parañaque City residence of a housewife, who was killed in her Taguig City house last December. The sketch showed a woman, aged 22 to 25 years old, in dark sunglasses and with shoulder-length hair. She was described to be around 4’11” to 5’1” tall by a security guard who received the package at Yvonne Padilla Chua’s residence at Pascor Subdivision in Barangay Sto. Nino, Parañaque City on Dec. 28, 2010. Senior Superintendent Federico Castro Jr., deputy chief for operations of SPD, said they are still in the process of the verifying the woman’s identity. The guard earlier told police the woman identified herself as a “maid” of Chua’s mother. He, however, failed to identify any of the househelp of Chua’s mother, Castro said. According to Castro, they are hopeful that through the picture, the taxi dri

Source   African Press Agency 500 police officers of the Anti-terrorism and Insurgency Centre of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI) have graduated on Friday after a counter terrorism training in Jaji in northern Kaduna State of Nigeria. Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, said at the ceremony that the training was aimed at addressing the insecurity situation in the country. Ringim, who was represented by Mr Emeka Okeke, a commissioner of police in charge of training, said that more than 1,000 police officers were receiving training at the Army School of Intelligence, Lagos. He commended the inter agency cooperation existing between the police and the army, saying that it would strengthen internal security. Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Onyeabor Ihejirika, who spoke at the ceremony, commended the trainees for their endurance. He urged them to improve on the knowledge they had acquired, stressing that the course was a condensed version of the re

Source: Gramin forerunner ADMIN  / JANUARY 16, 2011 /  NO COMMENT by  Stefan Brandlehner Tom Cruise cry’s in the movie ‘Lions for Lambs’, Do you want to win the war on terror… Yes or No. The movie is good but really fluff in regards to how to really win the war on terrorism. This article is about what major security holes that currently exist in America and finally what we need to do to really win the war on terrorism. There are 11 Major Security Holes cited by security experts that are possible scenarios in the near future. They are found in the book by Clark Kent Ervin titled ‘Open Target, Where America is Vunerable to Attack’ published in 2006. According to Mr. Ervin, the following areas need to be watched carefully for terrorist activities as there are many weak and vulnerable areas that could trigger another major terrorist attack. Border Security  Aviation  Port Security  Mass Transit  Intelligence  Preparedness The book is a chilling reminder that it’s pretty obvi