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Showing posts from April 26, 2009

23 Tigers killed by Sri Lanka navy

1 May 2009, 1546 hrs IST, PTI COLOMBO: Sri Lankan forces on Friday foiled another desperate attempt by Tamil Tigers to break out, sinking their three boats in a pre-dawn strike killing 23 sea Tigers. Also in further embarrassment for the rebels, 58 child soldiers, including a senior female LTTE leader, surrendered. The Lankan warships who have blockaded the small coastline off Mullaittivu, still held by the Tigers noticed an attempt by three LTTE boats to take to sea and sank them after challenging them, a naval spokesman said. This is second time in less than four days that Sri Lankan navy has thwarted attempts by Tamil Tigers to put their boats to sea. The encounter comes as reports say that the entire LTTE leadership including its supremo V Prabhakaran is holed up in a small stretch of land. The Tamil Tigers also today took their war into the cyberspace by hacking into the official website of the Sri Lankan army. The hackers believe to be Tiger computer experts replaced

US's May Day blow to Nepal Maoists

2 May 2009, 0055 hrs IST, TNN KATHMANDU: As Nepal's ruling Maoist party amassed its cadres at the heart of the city for a May Day rally Friday and threatened to quit the government if army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal was not dismissed, an unexpected blow came from Washington that said the Obama government would continue its predecessor George W Bush’s policy of keeping the former rebels on its watch list of terror organisations. The US Department of State’s 2008 country reports, released in Washington late on Thursday, said that though the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) won the Constituent Assembly election in 2008 and took control of various government ministries as well as the prime minister’s position, it remained a US-designated terrorist entity under the Terrorism Exclusion List. The report on Nepal blamed the Young Communist League (YCL), the strong arm of the former guerrillas that has been dubbed the Young Criminal League by the opposition, for much of the cont

Bangladesh working to uproot Islamic militancy - Hasina

Fri May 1, 2009 8:15pm IS DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Friday her government was working to uproot Islamic militancy to strengthen democracy in the country. "We will not allow extremists to repeat the carnage (of people) in the name of religion any more," Hasina told a May Day rally organised by the labour wing of her Awami League party. "Unlike the previous government, we have started uprooting religious militancy to strengthen democracy in the country." Hasina took office on Jan. 6 following a massive win in an election that saw Islamist parties and their allies routed. She vowed to fight all anti-democratic forces to the end and warned against possible attempts to destabilise the country. The government has been conducting a sweep for members of outlawed Islamist groups, which it suspects may have been involved in a mutiny at the Dhaka headquarters of a paramilitary unit in February. The February 25-26 mutiny killed nearly 80

'Islamist militants regrouping in Bangladesh'

29 Apr 2009, 1108 hrs IST, IANS KUSHTIA (BANGLADESH): Forty top leaders of Islamist militant outfits are regrouping with their 10,000-plus cadres in south-western Bangladesh in districts bordering India's West Bengal state, authorities have said. Bangladeshi authorities say they gleaned this information after interrogating Hizb-ut-Towhid militants who were arrested in this border town last week. Hizb-ut-Towhid is an Islamist terror group run by Bayezid Khan Panni. The outfit is banned in several countries. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has now asked the home ministry to update its dossiers on militant bodies. The ministry found that of the 33 groups identified so far, four were banned by the Khaleda Zia government after protests at home and an international outcry against activities of the Islamist militants. The Daily Star quoted unnamed sources in the intelligence agencies as saying that the law enforcers were trying to hunt down the chiefs of those outfits holed up

Outdated gear, systems hamper India’s fight against terror: US

2 May 2009, 0128 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: India’s counter-terrorism efforts remained hampered by outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems, the annual report on global terrorism by the US State Department, citing the Mumbai terror attacks, said. The Mumbai attackers appeared to have been well-trained and took advantage of technology, such as Global Positioning System trackers. But “local and state police proved to be poorly-trained and equipped and lacked central control to coordinate an effective response,” said the report. Ranking India among the world’s worst terrorism-afflicted countries in 2008, the report released on Thursday said that in spite of numerous terror attacks, none of the perpetrators of the attacks have been prosecuted. But the assessment of the US terror report would not come as a surprise here. It took almost four and half years and several terror strikes for the Centre to reintroduce sterner laws. After the Mumbai terror attacks, t

Chinese billions in Sri Lanka fund battle against Tamil Tigers

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Source: Timesonline.com May 2, 2009 Chinese construction workers build the port at Hambantota that analysts believe will become a base for its navy Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota. This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line. This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects China’s supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March

Sri Lanka admits bombing safe haven

Sri lanka has admitted bombing a "safe haven" created for up to 150,000 civilians fleeing fighting between Tamil Tiger fighters and the army. The foreign minister, Palitha Kohona, confirmed the raids after leaked images from the UN appeared to show that the military had shelled the tiny coastal area of Mulattivu, in the north east. He told al-Jazeera TV that the raids had been carried out weeks ago and were targeted at Tamil Tiger artillery, well away from civilians. "As long as the retaliation is proportionate, it is perfectly legitimate and what we did was locate and retaliate against those guns," he said. "I would challenge anybody to say these shell holes were created once the civilians moved into the area." Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly denied that the military attacked civilian areas with heavy weapons. "If you are not willing to accept the fact that we are not using heavy weapons, I really can't help it,"

US report identifies causes of unrest in NE

Source: Assam Tribune.com Spl Correspondent  NEW DELHI, May 1 – Failure to properly accommodate the competing interests of diverse ethnic groups, low levels of development, and the success of previous insurgent movements in the north eastern region were cited as some of the prime reasons, fuelling insurgency in the region, according to US State Department’s Country Report on Terrorism 2008. The Report, released in Washington on Thursday, has noted various facets involving militancy in the region. It mentioned about the growing concern over the porous Indo-Bangladesh border, allegations of existence of insurgent camps and lack of anti-terrorism agreement between the two countries. In what should make New Dehi see red, the report said, in 2008, India ranked among the world’s most terrorism-afflicted countries. Insurgent groups in North-east, were often fighting for recognition, political, and economic rights, or independence. Failure to properly accommodate the competing interests of

Taliban at the Doorstep?

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Source: hardnewsmedia.com   Taliban capturing Swat. 'Special Pakistani Forces' of trained jihadis penetrating the LoC in Kashmir. America playing a double game. Is the Indian government at all serious about this apocalyptic threat? Sanjay Kapoor  Hague / Delhi Parliament elections are  feeding the Indian habit to procrastinate on key issues. The lame-duck government in Delhi is blissful that it does not have to engage with Taliban-racked Pakistan, aggressively intervene in internecine bloodletting in Sri Lanka nor mess around in the internal affairs of a paranoid Bangladesh and Nepal. And, what is better is that it does not have to pay attention to the sweetly-laced agenda driven formulations of glory, courtesy Richard Holbrooke, the US president's chief troubleshooter on Af-Pak. In Europe the Af-Pak crisis and its volcanic repurcussions are reverberating across the political spectrum. Western powers are deeply worried about the Taliban calling the shots in Pakistan and on

Is Pakistan’s war against Taliban real?

Source: Daily news * Economist report says doing no more than the minimum under US pressure is not new * Army accused of not abandoning support for former militant allies Daily Times Monitor LAHORE: On April 26, Pakistan Army launched an attack on the Taliban in Lower Dir killing 70 militants and losing 10 soldiers. It also displaced nearly 30,000 people. On April 28 in Buner, as helicopter gunships and jets strafed their positions, the Taliban captured nearly 70 policemen and soldiers. The army dropped airborne troops behind Taliban lines and freed 18 of them. Fifty militants were killed in the first two days of fighting. The army said it would take a week to drive the Taliban out of Buner. Why the sudden violence? The Taliban’s advance into Buner was a violation of the peace deal America had opposed. But at first neither the government nor the army reacted. On April 22, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pakistan was becoming a “mortal threat” to the world. Its govern

Five US, Latvian troops killed in Afghan attack

Source : Daily news * Taliban attack soldier outpost near Pak-Afghan border * 20 Taliban killed or wounded in counterattack KABUL: Three US and two Latvian troops were killed when the Taliban stormed a military outpost in northeastern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said. The Taliban attacked a small remote outpost of soldiers in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar near the border with Pakistan, US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP. The Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, announced earlier on Friday that Afghan troops had come under attack in Kunar’s rugged Ghaziabad district and three soldiers had been killed and two wounded. It could not immediately be confirmed if it was the same incident but that appeared likely. The Taliban had claimed responsibility. Counterattack: Azimi said 20 of the Taliban who attacked the Kunar base overnight on Friday had been killed or wounded in the counterattack. The NATO and U

Heart-rending tale of Sri Lankan refugees

Source : The Hindu V. Raghavendra KAKINADA: Till a few months ago, life was peaceful for them but the renewed offensive of the Sri Lankan Army on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) brought them the kind of misery which none wants to go through. They used to eke out their livelihood by fishing on the high seas but the fighting forced them to flee their homes and forever changed their destinies. Leaving behind everything in their native place, Mullaithivu, which is currently witnessing a fierce battle between the Army and `Tigers,’ a small group of 21 Tamil-speaking fishermen and women set sail on a fibre boat in the Bay of Bengal but only about half of them could reach safety, that too far away from their homeland. The fisherfolk intended to take shelter in a refugee camp at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu but the boat went adrift as they lost their direction and ended up in Uppada in Andhra Pradesh, where they were rescued by local fishermen late on Wednesday. Survivors of the ordeal are

Poppies a Target in Fight Against Taliban

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Lynsey Addario for The New York Times American troops after a battle with the Taliban.  More Photos > By  DEXTER FILKINS Published: April 28, 2009 ZANGABAD,  Afghanistan  — American commanders are planning to cut off the  Taliban ’s main source of money, the country’s multimillion-dollar  opium  crop, by pouring thousands of troops into the three provinces that bankroll much of the group’s operations. Multimedia Slide Show Cutting Off the Taliban's Bankroll Related Times Topics:  Opium in Afghanistan Enlarge This Image Lynsey Addario for The New York Times American troops patrolled poppy fields in southern Afghanistan on Monday minutes before being ambushed by the Taliban.  More Photos » The New York Times Troops were attacked in a poppy field in Zangabad.  More Photos > The plan to send 20,000  Marines  and soldiers into Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul Provinces this summer promises weeks and perhaps months of heavy fighting, since American officers expect the Taliban to vigorou

PAKISTAN AND OPEN SOURCE WARFARE

Source: Global Guerrillas Here's some background:  The insurgency in Pakistan isn't one modeled on Mao's method (against which US counter-insurgency doctrine is based).  In those 20th Century insurgencies, the effort was run as a replacement for the nation-state, replete with ideological purity, hierarchical leadership, and wings for government functions.  In modern, 21st Century insurgency, the groups that participate are self run (autonomous) and built from different (usually local) motivations/loyalties.  What leads them to work together is a common dream, a plausible promise of what might be.  Pakistan's open source insurgency was sparked into existence by the Red Mosque siege and has now found a plausible promise -- economic and social justice through land distribution and sharia courts.  Rapid growth is sure to follow.  As a result, you are going to see many more stories  like this  (although without a full explanation of the warfare theory that drives it): The al