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Showing posts from September 9, 2012

Maoists take to poaching to funds ops in Bihar

After security forces launched operations against that virtually ended their 'levy raj' to collect easy money, Maoists have taken to poaching of endangered animals for their organs, skins and horns to collect funds for their activities, according to a senior police official. The issue came to light after the police arrested four Maoists in Rohtas district. A wildlife smuggler who is a known Maoist aide was also arrested last month. Rohtas Superintendent of police Manu Maharaj said that it is clear that Maoists are now targetting wild animals for mobilising money. "The police have recovered arms and ammunitions along with equipment used in poaching from the accused in Ulho and Gotahar villages two days ago," he said.  Maharaj said police arrested Indu Paswan, a Maoist poacher kingpin on August 7."We also recovered a leopard skin and two sets of deer horns from him," he said. According to him, Paswan has confirmed them of this new strat

10 killed in Balochistan attack

Ten men were killed and four more injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a group of labourers working on a road in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Thursday, security officials said. The incident occurred in Dasht area of Mastung district, 25 km south of the provincial capital of Quetta, officials of the Levies militia said. Ten men were killed instantly when the gunmen fired indiscriminately at the group. All the dead and injured were Pashtuns, Levies officials said. The injured were taken to Quetta. The gunmen, who were riding motorcycles, escaped after the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the attack though such incidents are usually blamed on Baloch nationalist groups. Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been plagued by sectarian and ethnic violence and attacks by Taliban fighters. Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/report/ten-killed-in-balochistan-attack/20120914.htm

Maoists losing grip on Red bastion

SARJU ( LATEHAR ): Like many others children enrolled at Utkramit Rajkiya Vidyalaya in Sarju, the fourteen-year-old Mohammad Gulam Roshan has, of late, been regularly attending school. Since January, the attendance in the school - which has 426 students on its books - has been over 60%. The numbers are a marked changed from barely a couple of years ago, when the 30-40 students attended classes at the same school in 2009-10. Roshan, now in class IX, has been studying in the same school at Sarju since 2005. He vividly remembers the instances when the school was set on fire in 2007 and a landmine was recovered from beneath the veranda. "At times, only a handful of students came to school and we often had to return home because no one turned up," he remembered. Once considered a 'liberated zone' and the de facto capital of Maoist territory, Sarju is slowly but steadily slipping out of the control of rebels and normalcy is returning to the hill regi

Drug money funds terror acts in India

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The ISI, Maoists and NE outfits use money earned from drug trafficking to fund terror activities.     A nexus among Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Maoists and insurgent groups of North-East is using money earned from drug trafficking to fund terror activities in India, official sources have said. Major drug seizures on the India- Nepal border in the past four months have put a spotlight on this revenue generation strategy adopted by terror groups. Intelligence sources say that the ISI, Maoists and north- eastern groups are hand in glove. In the last four months, Custom officials have seized more than 10 kg of heroin worth R s. 60 crore in international market from the India- Nepal border in Bihar's Araria district. Apart from this, 1,000 kg of marijuana and four kg of charas were also seized in the same area. "The amount of seizure made in the last four months from the Indo- Nepal borde

Arrest of top urban leader to hit Maoists hard

In a major blow to the Maoists, Kolkata Police’s special task force (STF), on Tuesday, arrested the outfit’s Kolkata city committee secretary Abhishek Mukherjee and two of his associates. 30-year-old Mukherjee, along with Sunil Mandal and Subhas Roy, was produced before a Sealdah court on Wednesday and remanded in seven days’ police custody. While Mandal is a city committee member, Roy is from the Maoists’ central technical committee. The arrests will have a deep impact on the Maoists’ urban network since Mukherjee was the prime coordinator between different urban units of the outfit in Kolkata, the North and South 24-Parganas and Howrah districts. He had revived the city committee after it got defunct in 2005 when most of its members were arrested. Two sophisticated firearms, including a semi-automatic gun, were recovered from them, the police said. They have been booked under the arms Act among sev

Maoists’ campus connection

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Protest at Jadavpur University after a police crackdown. Abhishek Mukherjee(in right The arrest of Abhishek Mukherjee, an alleged Maoist leader who was once presumed dead, has re-ignited a debate on how deep a link exists between Maoists and students and teachers of various institutes, particularly Jadavpur University where Abhishek studied. Police have frequently described Jadavpur University as the nucleus of a group of students, many of whom are in the ranks of the CPI-Maoist and now under arrest. Abhishek is said to have told police about students and professors who became members of the CPI-Maoist and who fund Maoist activities inside the university. “He has named two senior professors with whom he used to work as secretary of the Maoists’ city committee. The professors used to publish Maoist documents for students and for distribution among people,” said a senior official of the Special Task Force that arrested Abhishek. He said Abhishek has revealed that the pro

Spy Conference: INTERPOL Agent Defines Modern Terrorism, Says It Is Changing

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INTERPOL agent Grajales (right) with Spy event founder Bernie Reeves. Photo: Telegram. By The Raleigh Telegram RALEIGH – At the Raleigh Spy Conference, director for INTERPOL’s Puerto Rico operations Rico Albert Grajales talked about the modern terrorist, including famous villains such as Carlos the Jackal and how terrorism has changed over the years to become a global phenomenon. Since the unique event was launched in 2003 by Bernie Reeves of Raleigh, the Raleigh Spy Conference has assembled current and past members of the intelligence community including speakers from the CIA, KGB, FBI, NSA, Naval Intelligence, INTERPOL, and other agencies from around the world. Speaking to members of the audience at the conference at the North Carolina Museum of History on August 23rd, Grajales first introduced INTERPOL and its role in modern day law enforcement. He said that the group is now operating in 190 different countries around the world, with a command

The Crime-Terrorism Nexus

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13 September 2012 Terrorist attack in Baghdad The connection between organized crime and terrorism may seem obvious but the nexus remains blurred, both conceptually and in reality. Therefore, if we want peace operations and stabilization missions to perform more anti-crime and terrorism functions in the future, argues Wibke Hansen, then establishing greater clarity about the nexus is critical. By Wibke Hansen for the ISN Organized crime (OC) is associated with a range of security threats, including kidnapping, human trafficking, organ trafficking, and outright violence. By facilitating the circulation of weapons, drugs, counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other smuggled goods, organized crime also poses indirect but more widespread threats to security. In some cases, organized crime can also undermine states th

Unidentified gunmen kill 10 laborers in southwestern Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen have killed at least 10 road construction workers in Pakistan’s troubled southwestern Balochistan Province, Press TV reports. The laborers were killed while they were working on a road in Mastung district’s Dasht area. The gunmen left anther six workers wounded. The victims were reportedly Pashtun tribesmen. The Pakhtun Khawa Mili Awami party has reportedly called for a strike by workers against the killings. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the Pakistani government's operations against Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and associated groups, the militants have still been able to spread their influence across various regions. Pakistan's pro-Taliban militants have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims over the past years. According to local sources, militants affiliated to Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist groups have killed hundreds of Shia Muslims in the region since the start of the campaign. Thousan

Hate films provide ground for US genocide of Muslim: Iran MP

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A senior Iranian lawmaker says the US publication of anti-Islam movies is aimed at justifying Washington’s bid for the “genocide” of Muslims in the region. “Since the September 11 [2001] incident, the criminal US has embarked on genocide in the Middle East countries and among the Muslims and to prepare the public opinion [for such a move], it has put on its agenda the production and publication of insulting movies,” Mohammad Hassan Asferi, member of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Thursday. “The media affiliated to [global] arrogance encourage the people to see this movie to present a terrorist image of Islam and Muslims in the world,” he added. Asferi added that the recently published anti-Islam movie insulting Prophet Mohammad (PBHU) is one such instance demonstrating the “depth of US animosity” against divine religions and Islam in particular. “The US and the international Zionism resort to insulti

Saudi Arabia, Qatar finance terrorism in Arab world: Libya politician

Outrage is growing across the Muslim world over a blasphemous movie that insults Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). On Wednesday, angry protesters in Libya and Egypt continued their demonstrations for the second consecutive day following the release of the sacrilegious movie. Similar protests were also held in several other countries including Tunisia, Morocco, and Sudan to condemn the film. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza City burnt US flags and expressed outrage at the anti-Islam film. Press TV has conducted an interview with Sabri Malek, a spokesperson for the Libyan Democratic Party, from London, to further discuss the issue. The video offers the opinions of two additional guests: Marwan al-Ashaal, an international lawyer from Cairo, and Stephen Lendman, a writer and radio host from Chicago. What follows is a rough transcription of the interview with Malek. Press TV: Good question there that [previous guest speaker] Stephen Lendman is asking; can you answer it? What about

U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions against Nasrallah, Hizbullah Officials for Backing Assad, Terrorism

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed on Thursday sanctions against Hizbullah's leadership in Lebanon, further exposing Hizbullah's active support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as its role in terrorist activities. “Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's secretary general, is being designated today pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13582, for providing support to the Syrian government,” said the Treasury in a statement. “Mustapha Badreddine and Talal Hamiyeh, two senior terrorist leaders of Hizbullah, are being designated today pursuant to E.O. 13224, for providing support to Hizbullah's terrorist activities in the Middle East and around the world,” it added. “By aiding Assad’s violent campaign against the Syrian people and working to support a regime that will inevitably fall, Hizbullah's ongoing activity undermines regional stability and poses a direct threat to Lebanon’s security,” said Under Secretary for

Security forces kill 15 Taliban militants in Afghanistan

Afghan and foreign security forces have killed at least 15 Taliban militants across the country over the past 24 hours, Press TV reports. According to Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, at least 15 militants were killed and a number of others were detained in different Afghan provinces. The statement added that 13 operations had been carried out in Kandahar, Baghlan, Kapisa, Zabul, Wardak, Jowzjan, Khost, and Ghazni. Security forces reportedly seized large amounts of Taliban weapons as well. Earlier in the week, announced that 16 Taliban militants had been killed in different parts of the war-torn country. The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism following the September 11 attacks in New York City. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but years into the invasion, insecurity continues to rise across the country despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops in the war-weary nation. The US-led war in Afghanist

Muslim group says Australian military action incites terrorism

WHILE Muslim leaders in Melbourne supported the anti-terrorism raids, a fringe group called a news conference in Sydney where it repeatedly refused to condone the police action or condemn the killing of the US ambassador and other diplomats in Libya. ''If you light fires overseas, flares will come,'' said the media representative for Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, Uthman Badar. Mr Badar said he was not interested in ''superficial rhetoric'' about victims because that ignored the root cause of terrorism: Western aggression against Muslims. He acknowledged that police had a right to protect Australia's security - ''if that makes you happy'' - but he insisted this missed the point. To stop terrorism, he said, we must address the provocation, which included Australia's military actions. Mr Badar said of the YouTube video that mocked Allah and reportedly provoked the US emba

Khmer Rouge ‘First Lady’ to be released: Cambodian court

Zeenews Bureau Phnom Penh: Ieng Thirith, former senior leader of Khmer Rouge is slated to be released from the detention as she was on Thursday declared unfit to stand trial for genocide by Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes court. The female leader, better known as, Khmer Rouge ‘First Lady’, is reported to be suffering from a form of dementia and memory loss. The Cambodian court’s statement also mentions about her cognitive impairment being “likely irreversible". "As there is no prospect that the accused can be tried in the foreseeable future, the trial chamber has confirmed the severance of the charges" against her, said a statement from the UN-back tribunal. Ieng Thirith was minister for social affairs during the Khmer Rouge’s brutal 1970s reign. She is accused of involvement in the “planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges” and was charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, homicide, torture and religious persecution. Source ht

Benghazi attack had 'all the hallmarks of Qaeda operation': US

Zeenews Bureau Washington: Mincing no words, US officials on Wednesday claimed that the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi city of Libya had the "hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation," and that it was a meticulously planned extremist plot. "Details may still be fuzzy... But clearly it has all the hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation," the Chairman of the Congress House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers told CNN. Asserting that the attack was a carefully planned one, the officials said that it was orchestrated and not a spontaneous outburst against an anti-Islam film produced in US. "This was a well-armed, well-coordinated event, it had both indirect and direct fire, and it had military maneuvers that were all part of this very organized attack," the Republican lawmaker told another media channel. US officials said the attack was "complex" and "they seem to have used this (protest) as an opportunity". The attackers appeared

U.S. Envoy to Libya May Have Died in Assault by al-Qaeda

(Updates with other attacks in sixth and seventh paragraphs.) Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The four-hour assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi may have been orchestrated by groups tied to al-Qaeda, lawmakers said as U.S. officials began to investigate the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. The attack in Libya that also killed three other U.S. personnel bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda and may have been carried out to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., said Michigan Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee. “It certainly appears to me the significance of this date was important,” Rogers told CNN yesterday. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who heads the Senate intelligence panel, also told the network the attack may have been premeditated. It may have been the work of al-Qaeda because “the weapons were somewhat sophisticated, and they blew a hole in the building and started a big fire

US consulate in Berlin evacuated as precaution

September 13, 2012 06:34 AM EST | BERLIN — The U.S. Embassy says its consulate in Berlin has been evacuated as a precaution after an employee reported a strange smell from an envelope. Spokeswoman Ruth Bennett said the smell came from an envelope containing supporting materials for a visa application given to consular employees by the applicant in person Thursday morning. There were no reports of injuries and American and German authorities are now examining the contents of the applicant. Bennett says she has no immediate information on the status of the person who brought the envelope in. The U.S. Embassy is located in downtown but the consulate is in the southern Zehlendorf area. Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120913/eu-germany-us-consulate-evacuated/

Half of Amnesty International's UK staff take strike action

Approximately 100 staff went on strike over the human rights organisation's cost-cutting programme About half of Amnesty International UK’s 200-strong workforce took part in strike action yesterday, the human rights organisation has confirmed. Staff took action to protest against what they call an "an ill-conceived cost-cutting programme", which members of the union Unite argue will hinder Amnesty's work and lead to redundancies. Unite initially said that about 40 of the organisation’s 200 workers were expected walk out, but a spokesman for AIUK said that approximately 100 staff went on strike. AIUK’s cost savings are being made so that it can contribute more money to its international headquarters over the next 10 years with a view to expanding the organisation globally. Unite said its members did not object to the increased contributions, but they were unhappy that this would result in redundancies in a branch that it said had posted 2 per cent year-on-yea

Attacks on U.S. Embassies Were Not About a Movie

Here are a couple of facts: On June 4 the White House confirmed that the US had killed Abu Yahya Al-Libi – OBL’s Libyan lieutenant who had moved into Al Qaeda’s #2 spot after Ayman Zahawiri after the Navy SEALs whacked OBL. On Tuesday 9/11, a tape was released of Zawahiri announcing that Libi had been killed earlier this year by a US drone attack. The Zawahiri tape was made during Ramadan which ended in the middle of last month. Zawahiri called for his terrorist underlings to avenge Libi’s death and especially exhorted Libyans to take revenge. The attack in Libya was well planned and executed. It wasn’t about a spontaneous protest against some ridiculous internet movie of Muhammad. The assailants came armed to the teeth, with among other things, RPG 7s. They knew that the US Ambassador was in Benghazi rather than Tripoli. They knew how to track his movements, and were able to strike against him after he and his colleagues left the consulate building and tried to flee in a car. As

Al Muntada Al Islami Trust denies links with Boko Haram militant group

By Tim Tonkin, Third Sector Online, 13 September 2012 Al Muntada Al Islami Trust The charity responds to allegations in The Observer that it gave financial support to the group The development charity the Al Muntada Al Islami Trust has strongly denied any connection to the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The Charity Commission said earlier this week that it was looking into claims in The Observer newspaper that a charity called the Al-Muntada Trust had given financial support to Boko Haram, which has links to the terrorist group Al Qaeda and is connected with attacks against churches and Christians in Nigeria. The regulator said it was trying to establish which charity the allegations related to because there were a number of registered charities with a similar name. The charity was not answering calls on Monday. But it has now put a statement on its website saying it rejects any link to Boko Haram. "Al Muntada Al Islami Trust notes, with regret, the publication

Arabic Sources Reveal Shocking Information about the attacks on U.S. Embassy in Egypt

The storming of the U.S. embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is not coincidental, despite the claims made by those behind it – as well as the liberal western media – that it was in response to an anti-Muslim film released in the U.S. Arabic sources, once translated, again tell the real story. » If you like this article, please donate to Right Side News Daily On September 10th, advertisements that encouraged people to join in the protests of the film were in abundance. The idea came from the Nour Salafist party’s Ahmed Khalil and Nadder Bakkar. Here is a rough translation: Nour Party announced in a statement on the official facebook page of the party, support for participation in the vigil held in front of the U.S. embassy on the fifth evening (Tuesday) to condemn the film for offending the Prophet (peace be upon him) on American television. The Engineer Jalal, once Secretary-General of the party, said that a number of party leaders are taking part i

Suicide bombers receive no death rituals

Scholars say bombers are the most unfortunate of people Mourners take part in the funeral prayer for innocent victims of a suicide bombing in Mardan Cantonment, Pakistan, February 12, 2011. Unlike their victims, suicide bombers receive no burial with Islamic rituals. By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR – Suicide bombers who believe they will go to paradise are mistaken, ulema scholars say. “The suicide bombers are the most unfortunate people on the surface of the earth, as they are neither bathed nor buried,” unlike undisgraced Muslims,” said Maulana Aminullah Shah in Par Hoti Mardan. Shah, a prayer leader in Mohallah New Islamabad, Par Hoti, Mardan, said he felt sorry for Rehmanullah, a 17-year-old suicide bomber who attacked Afghan and coalition forces last September and was buried without a funeral prayer. Rehmanullah’s father, Ghufran Khan, a day labourer, continues to grieve over his son’s death, saying the Taliban kidnapped and brainwashed him. He never got to see his son’s bo

KP bomb disposal unit receives robots, safety gear

New equipment will save lives of BDU officers, officials say A bomb disposal unit (BDU) member demonstrates techniques used to defuse bombs at BDU headquarters in the Special Branch Police office in Peshawar in August. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently received safety equipment, which the BDU officer is wearing, and four robots to defuse bombs. [Javed Khan] By Javed Aziz Khan2012-09-12 PESHAWAR – The bomb disposal unit (BDU) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police in August received four robots that will be used to detect and defuse explosives, officials said. The robots, a gift from the British High Commission, should provide a greater degree of safety for policemen confronting explosives, most of which are planted by militants. After BDU members finish their training, they’ll be able to deploy the robots to scan suspicious items and defuse explosives that turn up. “We will keep two robots in Peshawar while the other two will be sent to different ranges,” BDU chief and assistant i