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Showing posts from May 31, 2009

Madani's arrest may help crack Lashkar's financial code Vicky Nanjappa

June 05, 2009 16:16 IST The arrest of Abdullah Omar Madani in New Delhi [ Images ] will help the police crack the financial code of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] , according sources in the Intelligence Bureau. Madani is reportedly a close aide of the LeT Hafiz Saeed [ Images ] and apart from handling recruitments in Nepal, Madani was also in charge of financial transactions in India. Off late, Madani had been raising funds and handling the same for India-based operations, say IB officials. When Madani was picked up, he had fake currency worth Rs 50,000 on him and this according to investigating officers was to be handed over to some of the sleeper cells set up in north India. Madani has slipped into Delhi after traveling through Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] for at least 15 days. The Lashkar was looking to rebuild its cells in the country and since Madani was Saeed's trusted aide, he was handpicked for the job. His role was to ensure that the cells in north India, es

Soldier dies in bomb blast as Taleban leader Mullah Mansur is killed

June 3, 2009 Deborah Haynes, Defence Correspondent A bomb blast killed another British soldier in Afghanistan yesterday as the Ministry of Defence announced that attack helicopters in the south of the country had eliminated a prominent Taleban leader. The serviceman from 2nd Battalion The Rifles died during a morning patrol in Gereshk in Helmand province. His next of kin have been informed. In a rare piece of good news from the front line, however, the MoD said that Mullah Mansur, the Taleban commander killed in the helicopter strike, was connected to a suicide bomb attack that killed two other British soldiers last month. He is also accused of masterminding other bombings against British and Afghan forces in and around Lashkar Gah in Helmand province. Apache helicopters carried out the attack in the early hours of Monday in an isolated area northeast of Lashkar Gah. Several other insurgent leaders and accomplices were killed or injured. The operation was

Pakistani leaders condemn mosque blast in northwest

www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-05 19:41:51   ISLAMABAD, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday strongly condemned the blast at a mosque in the country's northwest.     In their messages, Zardari and Gilani said that the government would fight extremists, militants and terrorists and would take all necessary measures to establish the writ of the government.     Zardari said that terrorists committed a horrendous act by carrying out the suicide attack when people were praying in the mosque.     He said that such acts of violence, bomb blasts and terrorism were a serious threat to the country.     Gilani said that the government was committed to bringing peace across the country and addressing the issue of militancy by establishing its writ.     He asked the provincial government to submit a report at the earliest and take measures to nab the perpetrators.     The two leaders in their separate messages

'Bomb blast' downed Air France plane

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Brazilian military search for debris from the Air France jet over the Atlantic Ocean. A terrorist attack was 'highly likely' to be behind the Air France plane crash in the Atlantic, a pilot claimed. The unnamed flyer said a bomb explosion on board was the probable cause, he told a French newspaper. 'I have flown these jets for Air France for more than ten years and the chances of an electrical fault seem unfeasible to me,' he added.  A bomb threat was made against an Air France plane flying from Buenos Aires days earlier, it has emerged. A warning phone call came in ahead of take-off on Wednesday last week but a search revealed nothing. An attack could not be ruled out bec­ause it is 'the main threat for all Western democracies' but no one had claimed responsibility, said French defence minister Hervé Morin. It came as the first photo emerged of 11-year-old British victim Alexander Bjoroy, who was on his way back to school

MNA, 4 family members injured in parcel blast

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By Faraz Khan KARACHI: Yaqoob Bizenjo, MNA and a leader of the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), and four of his family members were injured in a bomb attack on Friday afternoon. Bizenjo and four of his family members were injured when a low-intensity bomb, concealed in a parcel sent to him, exploded at his residence at Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA Phase-VI in the limits of Darakhshan police station. Investigators have said that the possibility that a terrorist organisation could be behind this act could not be ruled out as such outfits were planning to spread a wave of terror among government officials. A homemade device with approximately 200 grams of explosive material was used to prepare the parcel bomb, which exploded as soon the parcel was opened. Besides the MNA, his brother Sanaullah Bizenjo, his mother, his wife and his daughter Naz Bibi were also injured in the attack. Family members and the area people immediately called in the police after the attack and the inj

"Terrorists" blow up Georgia rail line, official says

TBILISI, June 2 (Reuters) - A bomb damaged a railway line connecting east and west Georgia on Tuesday in a "terrorist" attack, a local railway official said. The blast on the Tbilisi-to-Zugdidi line occurred at around 3:30 a.m. (2230 GMT Monday), two hours before a passenger train was due to travel the route.No one was hurt. The explosion was close to the de facto border with the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia but there was no immediate evidence of any separatist involvement. "I think it's a pure terrorist attack because some explosives and a clock mechanism were used," Zurab Gogokhia, the chief of Georgian Railways for the west of the country, said. "Thank God it happened before the passenger train appeared," he told Reuters. The line was repaired within hours. "The railway is now working as repair works are completed," Irma Stepnadze, the Georgian Railways spokeswoman, told Reuters, adding that 12 metres of track had to b

Al-Qaida criticizes Obama's upcoming Cairo speech

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF – 1 hour ago CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's deputy leader criticized President Barack Obama's upcoming speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, saying it will not change the "bloody messages" the U.S. military is sending Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al-Qaida has repeatedly lashed out at Obama since he was elected, a move some analysts believe indicates the terrorist organization is worried he will be effective in improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world. Obama has pitched his speech at Cairo University on Thursday as a key part of that process. "His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words," said Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's No. 2, in a new audio message posted Tuesday on militant Web sites. Al-Zawahri said the Egyptian officials who will welcome Obama are U.S. "slaves" and have turned the co

486 dead, 1,573 injured in suicide attacks since 2007

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Sunday, May 31, 2009 By Salman Aslam LAHORE AT least 486 people, including army, navy and police officials, had lost their lives and 1,573 injured in suicide attacks in Punjab since 2007 to date. The data collected by The News reveals that around 108 people were killed and 584 injured during suicide attacks across Punjab in 2009, while 274 people were killed and 722 injured in 2008. No less than 107 people were killed and 279 injured in suicide attacks in 2007. On February 5, 2009, 32 people were killed and 48 others injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself amidst a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan. Police said the blast targeted dozens of people converging on the Al Hussainia Mosque after dark, shortly before a religious gathering. Police blamed sectarian extremists for the incident. The explosion occurred just 50 feet short of the mosque.

Chinese authorities say peace restored in restive region after deadly attack

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KASHGAR, China - Blood was washed off the road. Debris was cleared away. And authorities said peace had been restored Tuesday in China's restive Muslim region where 16 police were killed in an attack that may have been timed to overshadow Olympic celebrations. But there were plenty of other signs suggesting all was not well in Kashgar, this ancient Silk Road city near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan at the opposite end of China from Beijing. Townspeople were reluctant to talk about Monday's brazen assault. Police stepped up security checks and put schools, hospitals and government offices on heightened alert, state-run media and locals said. Slogans on billboards, walls and buildings urged people to create a more secure and harmonious society. The precautions underscored the Chinese government's sensitivity to anything that could sour its plans for the Beijing Games to be a pivotal moment of national glory and global acceptance, despite continuing criticism of i

Roadside Bomb Kills 10 In Somali Capital

The Media Line Staff At least six Somali government soldiers and four civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Mogadishu Monday. The bomb exploded next to a police pick-up truck as it was driving to police headquarters on KM4 street, a thoroughfare frequented by the government officials, "I am here where the bomb blast took place," eyewitness Mohamed Abdullahi told The Media Line. "We are carrying out the bodies now; I can see five dead soldiers and four civilians." Eight soldiers were also injured in the blast, according to Somali police official Mohamed Madobe. They have all been hospitalized. There were no claims of responsibility at the time of printing. Roadside bombs have increasingly been used against Somali government troops and AU peacekeepers in the country. Witnesses said pro-government forces have regained control of a police station in the Yaqshid area Mogadishu, which was seized by Islamist insurgents a month ago. Somalia has seen so

Aussie police on inside with agents from Indonesia

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  The wreckage outside the Sari nightclub after the Bali bombing in 2002. Picture AFP Keith Moor June 02, 2009 12:00am ELITE counter-terrorism teams in Indonesia have foiled several planned terrorist attacks since the last successful attack in 2005. Weapons and explosives were seized in some of the raids by Indonesia's Satgas and Special Detachment 88 units. Indonesian-based Australian Federal Police agents helped by providing intelligence, analysis and technical expertise during the successful operations. The Herald Sun recently received briefings in Indonesia on the covert work of Satgas and Detachment 88. It included details of foiled attacks planned by the Jemaah Islamiah and its splinter groups. Some of the raids received publicity, but others were kept secret. The targets in most cases were not known, but intelligence suggests Western interests would probably have been included. Smashing JI - the group responsible for a spate of terrorism attacks in Indonesia in recen

Iranian Media: 19 Killed in Blast at Shi'ite Mosque in Iran

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By VOA News 29 May 2009 Iranians inside mosque in Zahedan after explosion, 28 May 2009 Iran's official news agency says a suicide attack killed 19 people and wounded 125 others at a Shi'ite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province near Iran's border with Pakistan. Provincial governor Ali-Mohammed Azad told the IRNA news agency the bombing Thursday was a terrorist act, and that the government has already arrested the perpetrators. Azad said the bombers had been planning additional attacks. He said the attacks were meant to destabilize the province as it prepares for June 12 presidential elections. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility. Zahedan, a mainly Sunni city in mainly Shi'ite Iran, has seen sectarian violence before. In 2007, a bomb attack in Zahedan killed at least 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. The Sunni militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack. S

Pakistan vows to wipe out Jundullah terror group

TEHRAN (FNA) - Pakistani interior ministry aims to wipe out Jundullah terrorist group after the terror cell claimed responsibility for a recent terrorist attack that killed at least 25 people in a mosque in southeastern Iran, informed sources said on Sunday. The interior ministry of Pakistan has presented all its information about Jundullah to the country’s intelligence services, including ISI and MI and FIA, and urged for the rapid identification of the group members and the immediate arrest of its notorious ringleader Abdulmalek Rigi, an informed source told FNA on Sunday, reiterating that Islamabad has ordered that the group be disbanded and wiped out. The group’s spokesman Abdolrauf Rigi contacted the Pakistan-based office of the al-Arabiya television network to report a bombing in a mosque in the Sistan-Balouchestan province last Thursday. The group reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomb blast rocked a mosque in the city of Zahedan as mourners part

Four killed, 13 injured in a bomb blast at bus stop

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Islamabad, June 1 (PTI) Four persons were killed and 13 others injured today when a bomb exploded at a crowded bus stand in Kohat town of Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province. The blast which took place at the Teera bazar area in the town was the latest in a series of terror attacks across the NWFP since the Pakistan army intensified military offensive in the region. Taliban which suffered reverses in the battle against the army have vowed to carry out attacks in Pakistani cities in retaliation against the operations. Authorities declared an emergency at local hospitals as the wounded were rushed there. Officials of the bomb disposal squad and security agencies inspected the site of the blast. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast, saying those involved in such attacks were enemies of the state and would be brought to justice. He said the government would eradicate terrorism from the countr

Taliban strikes back, blasts two Pak cities IANS

Islamabad: Suspected Taliban militants unleashed further terror in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Thursday, killing 15 people, including six security personnel, and wounding more than 100 in three bomb attacks, officials said. Two back-to-back blasts ripped through a busy street in Peshawar, the capital of NWFP, followed by a shoot-out with police. The Peshawar explosions came a day after a suicide attack on police and intelligence agency offices in the eastern city of Lahore killed 24 people and wounded more than 250. Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, terming it a response to the ongoing military operation in northwestern Swat district, where an offensive was launched early this month when the Taliban failed to abide by the terms of a peace deal. The bombs in Thursday's carnage were planted in a car and a motorbike parked in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar, located in the old city. Several vehicles and dozens of shops caught fire. "Six p

Pakistan court frees JuD chief Hafiz Saeed

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Hafiz Mohammed Saeed,Jamaat-ud-Dawa cheif, has been released by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday. (AP Photo) 2 Jun 2009, 1102 hrs IST, IANS ISLAMABAD: Chief of the banned Islamist organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Hafiz Saeed,  Hafiz Mohammed Saeed,Jamaat-ud-Dawa cheif, has been released by the Lahore High Court on Tuesday. A JuD spokesperson told reporters at Lahore that Saeed, who was under house arrest since December 12 last year, had been set free. "Saeed is not a terrorist," the spokesperson held, adding that JuD was not a terror organisation either. A K Dogar, Saeed's lawyer, said that the high court described the detention of Saeed as illegal and hence Saeed was set free. "The court has ordered that the detention of Hafiz Saeed was a violation of the constitution and the law of this country," the lawyer said. On May 30, the Pakistani government presented evidence to the Lahore High Court linking the J

Pakistani army rescues kidnapped students

By Sheree Sardar ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Reuters) - Scores of kidnapped Pakistani students and staff from a military-run college who were abducted by Taliban militants in the northwest of the country were rescued on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. The abduction took place on Monday as the Pakistani army pressed on with an offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley, in another part of the northwest. Separately, a high court ordered the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of an outlawed militant group which was accused of organising an assault on the Indian city of Mumbai in November, his lawyer said. Saeed's release is likely to dismay India, which has demanded that Pakistan "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism" since the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed, and which strained ties between the nuclear-armed rivals. Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said the Taliban were taking the kidna

'Pak is told to target the Muslim bomb against India'

June 02, 2009 09:51 IST Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi believes that the United States and Israel are creating sharp differences between India and Pakistan, so that the latter could not target its 'Muslim bomb' against the West. "The Pakistanis are told that their enemy is the Hindu, not the Jew or Christian, and therefore their bomb should be directed towards them, the Pakistanis' immediate enemy, and not anyone else," he wrote in The Washington Times . Similarly, the Indians are led to believe their real enemy is Pakistan and that the Pakistani bomb was directed toward them rather than the Israelis or Americans, Gadhafi said in an opinion piece published last week. "This policy aims to preoccupy Pakistan with India and India with Pakistan. Perhaps this is why America has not been willing to contribute to solving the Kashmiri problem, whereas the Israelis will try to always keep it flammable," he said. Gadhafi pointed out that if Islamic ex

Lashkar's Oman connection Vicky Nanjappa

June 01, 2009 17:29 IST Ali Abdul Azeez, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images] operative arrested in Oman, is suspected of involvement in the 26/11 attacks. Suspected of part financing Lashkar activities in India, Azeez, who has been sentenced to life by an Omani court for plotting terror strikes in Muscat, will be an important source of information for Indian investigators. Azeez was in Mumbai [Images] a week before November 26, 2008. He left for Muscat just before the attacks took place. Before he was arrested by the Omani police he ran an automobile components store and Internet cafes. His mother hailed from Maharashtra which is why he frequently visited India. During his visits, he heard accounts of atrocities against Muslims and this apparently led him to walk down the path of jihad. He was introduced to Lashkar activists and later visited the terror camps in Pakistan. Thereafter, the Lashkar assigned him a key role in Oman. Azeez's key aides are said to be Sarfaraz Nawaz and