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Showing posts from September 13, 2009

6 injured in Chechnya suicide blast

Source: http://www.abc.net.au By Moscow correspondent Scott Bevan Posted Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:18pm AEST A female suicide bomber has blown herself up next to a police car in the Russian republic of Chechnya, injuring six people. Russian news agencies are reporting that a woman ran up to a police car with two officers inside in the Chechen capital of Grozny. She reached for the car's door and there was an explosion, a local police source told the Interfax news agency. The blast was powerful enough to shatter windows in a nearby five-storey building. Although Russia ended a decade-long anti-terrorism operation in Chechnya in April, the strife-torn republic has experienced ongoing attacks that authorities have attributed to militants.

FBI investigation turns up plans for NYC subway blast

Source: http://www.kdvr.com by Julie HaydenKDVR Denver September 18, 2009 FBI agents investigate Najibullah Zazi's Aurora condo during an investigation into his terrorist ties. (September 18, 2009) FBI agents raid the home of Najibullah Zazi in Aurora, Colorado. Photo DENVER - Sources tell FOX 31 that Najibullah Zazi, 24, and his associates were planning on making a bomb to blow up a major transportation center in New York City. The sources indicate that the group's plan was to buy ingredients for the bomb as Zazi and his associates drove from Denver to New York and assemble the explosive device along the way. His Denver taxi license application, filled out in February, claims Zazi came to Colorado in January after working as a vendor in New York for several years. He filed for bankruptcy in March claiming to only make $800 a month, but he had racked up more than $50,000 in credit card debt. Zazi is an Agfghan national who lived in Pakistan as a child and came to

Explosions hit Myanmar's biggest city, no injuries

Source: (AP) – 2 days ago YANGON, Myanmar — A series of seven small explosions hit the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, on Thursday, but no casualties were reported. An official said five blasts went off at the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in western Yangon and a separate blast happened at another industrial zone in Shwepaukan on the city's northern outskirts in the pre-dawn hours. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The seventh explosion occurred around 10 a.m. Thursday in the Mingaladon Industrial Park, also in northern Yangon, he said. The official said the blasts of small, handmade explosive devices caused minor damage, but no injuries. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, or suspects. However, the timing of the blasts suggested they could be linked to a political protest. Friday is the second anniversary of the start of massive but short-lived pro-democracy protests in Yangon led

Indonesian police: DNA test confirms Noordin death

Source: AP By ALEX KENNEDY and ALI KOTARUMALOS (AP) – 3 hours ago JAKARTA, Indonesia — DNA tests have confirmed that Southeast Asia terrorist leader Noordin Top was killed days ago in a shootout with Indonesian security forces, police said Saturday. Police initially identified 41-year-old Noordin's body by taking fingerprints after the gun battle Thursday at a hide-out in central Java. DNA tests have confirmed those findings, National Police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said. Officials showed a photo of Noordin taken after his death in which he has a thick beard, and contrasted it with photos of him clean-shaven that police used in wanted posters. "There's no longer any doubt," Sukarna told a news conference. Authorities had earlier believed that they killed Noordin last month in a 16-hour siege of another terrorist hide-out in central Java, but DNA tests proved otherwise. Sukarna said Indonesian officials were coordinating with Noordin's family in Malay

Iran detains several after Friday protests

Source: (AP) – 2 hours ago TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's official news agency says police detained several protesters after Friday's massive demonstrations. The spokesman of Tehran police department Colonel Mahdi Ahmadi said Saturday that "several" people were detained for throwing rocks at police and setting motorcycles on fire, according to IRNA. No exact number was given for the detentions. On Friday thousands of anti-government protesters staged counter-demonstrations to the official pro-Palestinian rallies of Jerusalem day. It was the first major opposition protests in two months. The opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June re-election was fraudulent.

Afghan Blast Raises New Doubts in Europe

By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and RACHEL DONADIO Published: September 17, 2009 KABUL, Afghanistan — A powerful suicide bomb that killed six Italian soldiers here on Thursday prompted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy to declare that his nation had begun planning to “bring our young men home as soon as possible.” An Afghan man carried his wounded son from the site of the bomb attack in Kabul against vehicles with the NATO-led force. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in Brussels on Thursday, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “We are all anxious and hopeful to bring our boys home as soon as possible.” An Afghan doctor treated an boy injured during a suicide bomb blast in Kabul on Thursday. Enlarge This Image Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press A covered body is seen at the site of a suicide car bomb attack that targeted an Italian military convoy in Kabul on Thursday. In Brussels, Mr. Berlusconi, a close American ally but in some political trouble at home, was careful to say th

Deadly car bomb blast in Kashmir

Source: BBC A car bomb has killed at least two policemen and a civilian in the regional capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, Srinagar, officials say. Ten other officers were injured in the explosion, which occurred outside the city's main jail. Some of the wounded are said to be in critical condition. Muslim separatists have been waging an insurgency in Indian-administered Kahshmir since 1989. Both India and Pakistan claim the territory and have fought wars over it. There has been an upsurge in violence in recent weeks, following a long period of quiet. Three police officers were killed in attacks last month. In Saturday's incident in Srinagar, the car bomb was detonated as a police vehicle drove past.

Suicide Blast Kills 30 in Pakistan

Source: NYT By PIR ZUBAIR SHAH Published: September 18, 2009 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least 35 people were killed Friday in a suicide car bomb attack in a Shiite village in northwest Pakistan, a top provincial official said. The village is in Kohat District, the site of past sectarian killings. Pakistanis loaded into a vehicle the body of a victim of a bombing on Friday in a Shiite village in the North-West Frontier Province. The explosion was followed within hours by the shooting of three people at a funeral for one of the people who died in the bomb blast and the killing of an influential district mayor in nearby Hangu, a center of sectarian strife, according to the provincial official, Mian Iftkhar Hussain. The initial blast, a powerful explosion that shook the village of Ustarzai near the garrison town of Kohat, flattened a two-story hotel and a number of shops at a nearby bazaar. Rescue teams worked through the afternoon to pull victims from the rubble. The bomb contain

Several dead in Iraq market blast

Source: Al zajeera Deaths in Iraq reached a 13-month high in August after a steady drop in violence [EPA] A car bomb attack in a town south of Baghdad has killed at least seven people and injured 21 others. The road side blast on Friday evening in the town of Mahmoudiya occurred as people were shopping before the Islamic Eid holiday, according to a security official. Many other people were buying food for their evening meal, iftar, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when the bomb in a parked car exploded in a predominately Shia area. The mixed-denomination town, about 30km south of Baghdad, the capital, was previously the scene of consistent attacks. Triangle of Death "We were preparing for the iftar when our apartment was shaken by such a heavy blast ... that horrified and panicked our children,'' said Riyadh Jabbar, a Mahmoudiya resident. "Each time we begin to feel safe and secure, we are awakened by the thunder of blasts.'' Mahmoud

Pak bows down to pressure, register cases against Hafiz

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Source: Indian express Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed has been blamed for masterminding Mumbai terror attacks.   Under mounting international pressure, Pakistani police has registered two cases against JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and one against his close aide Abu Jandal under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Three FIRs - two against Saeed and one against Abu Jandal - were registered at police stations in Faisalabad, some 100 km from here, for inciting people to wage "jehad" (holy war) against "infidels", a senior police officer said Late Thursday night. The officer, who did not wish to be identified, said Saeed had attended Iftar-dinners and held a meeting with activists of his banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah organisation on August 27 and 28 during which he asked the people to wage a jehad. "Saeed had also sought donations from the gatherings for jehad," a source in a law enforcement agency said. The police action aga

Time running out to tackle Taliban in Afghanistan, British general warns

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Source: guardian Major General Nick Carter, set to take charge of UK and other Nato forces, says troops need to show 'positive trends' British troops in Afghanistan. Photograph: Rupert Frere/AP The British general set to take charge of UK and other Nato forces in southern Afghanistan warned today that time for tackling the Taliban was running out. Major General Nick Carter, who will take charge of 45,000 troops six weeks from now, said there was an opportunity to "make a difference" in the next year but added that forces needed to show "positive trends" as soon as possible. "I absolutely acknowledge that time is not on our side ... we've got to show positive trends as quickly as we possibly can," Carter told the BBC. He said he was determined to seize the initiative from the Taliban by separating insurgents from the civilian population both physically and mentally, adding that civilians needed to b

Terrorism Mastermind Killed During Police Raid in Indonesia

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Source: VOA By Brian Padden Jakarta 17 September 2009 Indonesian police officers carry ammunition as they walk from the site of police raid on a suspected terrorist hideout in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, 17 Sep 2009 Indonesian police say that Noordin Mohammad Top, the alleged mastermind of the July 17 hotel bombings in Jakarta has been killed during a police raid. Indonesian Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri made the announcement Thursday afternoon in a nationally televised news conference. He says Noordin Top was among the four people killed in the police raid on a militant hideout in Indonesia's Central Java province Thursday. However, the police are being careful and will do further tests to confirm the death. Danuri says they are 100 percent sure that the fingerprints match but they will have to wait 30 hours for DNA testing to confirm the results. Several weeks ago, police mistakenly said Noordin had been killed in another raid. Noordin w

Al-Shabab Vows to Avenge US Raid in Somalia

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Source: VOA By VOA News 15 September 2009 The Somali insurgent group al-Shabab is vowing to avenge a U.S. military raid that killed one of Africa's most wanted al-Qaida suspects. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of Africa's most wanted al-Qaida suspects, in an undated photo released on 15 Sep 2009 Speaking to reporters Tuesday, senior members of al-Shabab said their fighters will retaliate for the commando raid that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. They also vowed to continue their fight against Western nations. Witnesses say helicopters fired on a car near the southern Somali town of Barawe Monday, killing at least two passengers and wounding two others. The U.S. military has confirmed involvement in the raid and says the attack killed Nabhan. His body is now believed to be in U.S. custody. Nabhan was a Kenyan wanted for questioning about attacks against a hotel and an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002.   The hotel bombing kil

Somalia Analyst Calls for Law Enforcement Approach to Terrorists

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Source: VOA By Joe DeCapua 15 September 2009 Since the September 11 th terrorist attacks on the United States, some have called for a law enforcement response rather than a military one.  Monday's U.S. Special Forces raid on Somalia, which killed a suspected terrorist, has raised the issue again. Dan Volman, director of the African Security Research Project, questions the wisdom of the raid. "I think it's in some ways a real serious mistake and I think it will undermine a lot of the efforts by the United States and other parties to achieve a peaceful resolution or at least some kind of resolution…in Somalia," he says. He says the raid indicates "the Obama administration remains committed to the global war on terrorism, which I think is a faulty strategy." Volman says the raid "stigmatizes" the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), making it appear "as an agent of the United States government."  H

US Attacks Suspected Terrorist Hiding in Somalia

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Source: VOA By Alan Boswell Nairobi 15 September 2009 Kenyan terror suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan talks to a relative on a mobile phone in the Nairobi High Court (2004 File) Somali witnesses say a U.S. air assault in Somalia has killed a top terrorist suspect linked to al-Qaida. The fugitive is believed to have been behind the bombing of a Kenyan hotel and is also suspected in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Terrorist suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed in a helicopter assault Monday, according to Somali eyewitnesses. The eyewitnesses say after attacking a convoy carrying the terror suspect, the U.S. troops landed and took the corpse of the Kenyan-born man with them.  U.S. military officials said the commando operation took place in the coast district of Barawe in southern Somalia, which is heavily controlled by al-Shabab, a radical Islamist terrorist group thought to have direct links with al-Qaida. U.S. authorities say Nabh

Lawmaker: Sri Lanka re-detains released refugees

Source: AP By KRISHAN FRANCIS (AP) – 35 minutes ago COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of Tamil war refugees whom the Sri Lankan government said it had released from military-run camps last week were simply moved to other detention centers, a lawmaker said Thursday. Mavai Senathiraja, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance, an opposition party representing ethnic Tamils, also alleged that thousands of others who were promised freedom remain in the camps. His claims came as a top U.N. official, who toured camps in the north on Thursday, urged the quick release of nearly 300,000 minority Tamils forced from their homes by the civil war. The 25-year war ended in May when the government routed the Tamil Tiger rebels. Human rights advocates have called on Sri Lanka to immediately release all the civilians held in the camps and have warned that monsoon rains due to start next month could create a public health crisis in the crowded facilities. The government has refused to open t

Two Suicide Bombers Strike AU Peacekeeper Base in Somalia By Alan Boswell

 sOURCE: voa Nairobi 17 September 2009 Two suicide bombings have rocked the headquarters of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, killing the second-in-command and injuring the head general. The UN says at least 30 personnel were injured and being evalcuated for treatment. An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Two vehicles entered and then exploded in the African Union peacekeeping force compound, sending a heavy trail of black smoke into the skyline of the capital city. Among the dead is the top Burundian military officer in Somalia and deputy commander of the peacekeeping force, General Juvenal Niyonguruza. The head military official, Ugandan General Nathan Mugisha, was injured in the attack. The peacekeeping force is composed of about 5,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops. At least nine peacekeepers were killed, and some reports have indicated that Somalis may be among the dead as well. An eyewitness at the Mogadishu airport, which

Kabul Suicide Attack Kills Italian Soldiers, Afghan Civilians

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Source: VOA By Sabina Castelfranco Rome 17 September 2009 A body covered with a blue sheet lies at the site where a suicide car bomber attacked an Italian military convoy on a road in Kabul, Afghanistan, 17 Sep 2009 Italy has suffered the deadliest attack on its troops in Afghanistan, when suicide bombers struck a military convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul. At least six Italian soldiers and 10 civilians were killed. Ambulances rushed to the scene Wednesday following the latest attack in Kabul, the deadliest to date for Italian soldiers deployed in the country. At least six Italian soldiers were killed. The blast also wounded 52 civilians and four Italian soldiers. At around midday local time, officials say a car loaded with explosives struck two vehicles carrying Italian paratroopers along the airport road near the U.S. embassy. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Italy's Defense Minister Igna

A Terrorist Mastermind Whose Luck Ran Out

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By SETH MYDANS Published: September 17, 2009 BANGKOK — Over the past six years, Noordin Muhammad Top, considered to be the most violent Islamist militants in the region, had become an almost mythical figure among both those who sheltered him on the run and those who pursued him and finally killed him in Indonesia on Thursday. European Pressphoto Agency A wanted posted for Noordin Muhammad Top, Indonesia’s most wanted Islamist militant. While suspected of orchestrating the country’s main bombing attacks during those years, he repeatedly slipped away from capture, most recently in August when, after an all-night raid on a safe house, the police discovered they had killed the wrong man. At a news conference on Thursday, the chief of the National Police, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, held up photographs of fingerprints that he said confirmed that this time, the man they had killed was Mr. Noordin. Journalists joined the police in raising a cheer. As the region’s main Isla

Suspects named on United Nations terror list living free in Britain

 Source: telegraph Calls were growing last night for firm action to be taken over a dozen terror suspects named on a UN list of individuals with links to al Qaeda who are still living freely in the UK – many at the taxpayer’s expense. The revelation that the men are being allowed to live in Britain without the prospect of being arrested or deported has prompted calls for an urgent change in the law. Among the 12 suspects named on the UN list are a number of men accused of raising funds for a violent jihadist group with alleged links to Osama bin Laden. Opposition MPs claim their presence in the UK leaves this country at risk from the prospect of new terror plots being hatched by violent extremists. Patrick Mercer, Conservative member of the Home Affair Select Committee and chairman of the Sub-Committee on Counter Terrorism, said: “Yet again our security is wide open to these sorts of individuals and it is something the Home Secretary has to address.” One of the men named on the UN C

Arming Somalia

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This article from Front page magsazine says the arming of somalia by the US and the effects / repurcussions it has on the regions security in entirity. The Transitional governments or the US need to look into the major issues of confidence building after weaponising and fighting the al shabab or the hizbul al islam likes should be dealt with with an iron grip as they themselves are also losing ground. Frontpage The United States sent RPGs, machine guns, mortars, and -- in the words of one U.S. official -- "cash in a brown paper bag" to Somalia last spring.   Foreign Policy   reports on how the shipments took place, and who's not happy about it. BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON   |   SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 Late in May, as violence consumed the streets of the infamously violent capital city of Mogadishu, Somalia, packages of ammunition, weapons, and cash began arriving from the United States as part of an attempt to help the country's flailing Transitional Federal Government (TFG)