Posts

Showing posts from May 15, 2011

Somali pirates enter plea agreement

WTKR   WTKR-TV3 May 20, 2011 NORFOLK— Three Somali men have pled guilty to piracy charges. In Federal Court they admitted to performing illegal acts of violence with the intent to rob while out to sea. The charge is related to the hijacking of the American yac

Militant cadres including OGW arrested

Source: Kangla  IMPHAL, May 20: A combined team of CDO Imphal East and troops of the 28 Assam Rifles has arrested one cadre of the Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front this morning around 8.30am from Pangal Leirak, Ayangpalling road in Imphal East. A release said the arrested MNRF cadre has been identified as Olean alias Loungtiangam Tangkhul, 36 son of Mayarchung of Kasom Khullen, Ukhrul district. One mobile phone and one Laptop (Lenova) were recovered from the possession of the arrested militant, the release added.In another incident, a CDO team of Imphal West arrested one active cadre of KYKL identified as s/s sgt Langam Deve alias Sadananda alias Khamba alias Ibohal s/o Achou of Ningel Yairipok. In the meantime, a PIB defence wing release said the Red Shield Division of the Army has arrested three militants and an overground worker of the RPF from separate insurgency operations. It said one of the arrested militant belongs to KRF and is identified as one Kamboi Kipgen

Kurdish Hizbullah raises spectre of new conflict

By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey | Wed May 18, 2011 9:00am EDT (Reuters) - Ubeydullah Durna was trying to fend off a firebomb attack on his Islamist association by suspected separatist Kurdish militants when he was shot dead on the roof of the building. His bearded face, framed in a white shroud and a green headband emblazoned with a koranic verse, now adorns websites linked to the Kurdish Hizbullah movement group which fought a vicious battle with the leftist separatists through the 1990s. Durna's killing in the town of Yuksekova near Turkey's border with Iran on May 5 marked a chilling escalation in unrest between the two sides. Hizbullah, having abstained from militancy for over a decade, has warned that some supporters are ready to take up arms again. The warning comes at a critical time for Turkey as it prepares for a parliamentary election on June 12, with conflict in the region a major concern for voters. Such a prospect st

India’s ‘Golden Corridor’ Turning Into Maoist Hub – Analysis

Image
Written by: IDSA By P. V. Ramana The urban presence and activities of Naxalites of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) [CPI (Maoist], or Maoists, in short, is fast picking pace. On May 13, police arrested 10 Maoists in Pune, though they actually belonged to West Bengal. Nine of them were working as casual labourers while their leader was using the cover of a labour contractor. Four pistols and Naxalite literature running into 300 pages were recovered from their possession. Earlier on April 25, 2011, police in Thane, Maharashtra arrested Angelo Sontakke alias Sunita Patil, a former teacher, presently secretary of the ‘Golden Corridor Committee’ of the Maoists and the wife of Milind Teltumbde, secretary of the Maharashtra State Committee of the CPI (Maoist). A sum of Rs 1.54 lakh was seized from her possession. Two days later, on April 27, her associate Sushma Ramteke alias Shraddha Gurav, was arrested from Pune. She was working under the cover of being a marketing exec

Plaza protests could end Zapatero's reign

Image
Source: Scotsman Published Date: 21 May 2011 By Barnaby Eales The several thousand protesters of a new angry generation gathered in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona's main square, bashing pans in South American fashion. They were a far cry, in size and sound, from the numbers who had gathered to celeb

Roadside Bomb Wounds 4 Iowa Guardsmen in Afghanistan

WOI TV From the Iowa National Guard: Four Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, were wounded when their vehicle was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 18. Sgt. Chisum Frisch, 23, of Cedar Falls; Spc. Jacob Hutchinson, 21, of Cedar Rapids; Spc. Benjamin Ward, 26, of Rowley; and Private 1 st Class Tanner Williams, 18, of Tama, were transported to medical facilities at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Frisch, Ward and Williams were members of Company C, 1st Battalion, 133 rd Infantry, while Hutchinson belonged to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion. Approximately 2,800 Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team were deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, in July and August 2010. Their mission is to provide full-spectrum operations in a combat theater, including lethal and non-lethal

New Al-Qaeda chief pledges major attack on London to avenge Bin Laden's death

Image
Read more: dailymail Osama Bin Laden's replacement as leader of Al-Qaeda is planning a major terrorist attack on London, ordering his followers to 'crush' the city. Soon after being officially appointed caretaker chief of the terrorist group, Saif al-Adel vowed to avenge the death of his former boss. 'Our new leader has asked for a big plan for London,' Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. 'He believes the UK is the backbone of Europe and must be crushed.' Al-Qaeda's new leader Saif al-Adel, left, has vowed to make the UK pay for the death of Osama Bin Laden, right Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders met near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan to confirm the new role for al-Adel, 51, who was once Bin Laden's security chief. In response to the heightened threat on London, British Transport Police (BTP) are to be given the power to carry weapons on the capital's trains, stations and the underground for the first time. Tra

Attacks, blasts, firing kill seven in Balochistan

Source: The nation QUETTA - At least seven people were killed, including two personnel of security forces and two others sustained serious injuries in different incidents of hand grenade attack, landmine blast and firing incidents in different towns of Balochistan on Friday. As per reports reaching here, unidentified armed men hurled a hand grenade at the vehicle of security forces in Mand area of Kech district sharing border with Iran. The hand grenade exploded, killing two security personnel who were identified as Usman and Raziq on the spot and caused serious wounds to two other soldiers, Riaz and Rashid. The blast also damaged their vehicle as the assailants managed to escape from the scene after throwing the hand grenade. Police and law-enforcement agencies moved the dead and injured to the nearby hospital after cordoning off the area. The blast spread panic amongst people of the area. The sources said that following the incident, security forces started a search

Passerby dead as bomb hits US convoy

Source: The nation PESHAWAR - A bystander was killed and 11 other persons were injured, when explosives apparently planted in a car targeted a US Consulate vehicle on Jamrud road, near Customs House in University town Peshawar, on Friday morning. Police sources said that the bomb was planted in a Suzuki car parked alongside the US Consulate vehicles. The explosives were detonated with remote control, when the US Consulate vehicles coming from American Club came under attack at the intersection. Both the vehicles were bullet proof in which of one the vehicle smashed with electricity pylon, near by soon after the powerful blast. ‘Two US diplomats were slightly injured in a car bomb blast on Jamrud road’, US Embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said. He said that one vehicle was damaged and there is no death among their personnel and there are no serious injuries. He said that only one car was hit and inside that car there were US diplomats and a Pakistani driver. The

Al-Qaida eyed oil tankers as bombing targets

By Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo Associated Press Posted May 20, 2011 @ 09:31 PM   WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden’s personal files revealed a brazen idea to hijack oil tankers and blow them up at sea last summer, creating explosions he hoped would rattle the world’s economy and send oil prices skyrocketing, the U.S. said Friday. The newly disclosed plot showed that while bin Laden was always scheming for the next big strike that would kill thousands of Americans, he also believed a relatively simpler attack on the oil industry could create a worldwide panic that would hurt Westerners every time they gassed up their cars. U.S. officials said the tanker idea, included in documents found in the compound where bin Laden was killed nearly three weeks ago, was little more than an al-Qaida fantasy. But the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a confidential warning to police and the energy industr

What Obama Must Do About Yemen – Analysis

Image
Written by: The Heritage Foundation By James Phillips As turmoil and transformation sweep across the Middle East and North Africa, President Obama cannot afford to dwell on one crisis at a time. In particular, the United States must not neglect the ongoing crisis in Yemen, a country that has served as a base of operations for terrorist attacks aimed at the U.S. and its allies. A double dose of diplomacy and engagement is now vital to ensure that the U.S. can continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in the region. State of Play Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is quickly losing his grip on power in the face of mushrooming protests against his rule that have been joined by key military, political, and tribal leaders. Saleh now faces an unpalatable choice between stepping down and violently suppressing the populist revolt à la Muammar Qadhafi—one of only two Arab rulers who have been in power longer than Saleh’s 32 years. Yemen T

39 Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: Examining Counterterrorism’s Success Stories – Analysis

Written by: The Heritage Foundation By Jena Baker McNeill, James Carafano, Ph.D. and Jessica Zuckerman Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, at least 39 terror plots against the United States have been foiled thanks to domestic and international cooperation, as well as efforts to track down terror leads in local communities. Such a successful track record of preventing terror attacks should garner the attention of policymakers around the country as both Congress and the Administration wrestle with the difficult decision of where to best spend precious security dollars. The death of Osama bin Laden serves as a reminder that the war on terrorism is not over, and as a call to focus on strategies that have made the nation a harder target for terrorism, while examining which reforms are still necessary. This Heritage Foundation Backgrounder summarizes public information on the 39 foiled terror plots since 9/11. From this information, the authors delineate six ke