World Terror Watch - News and Discussions

[1.44]

Two Pakistani Taliban leaders captured

Two Pakistani Taliban leaders captured
​

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- In what is seen as a blow to the Pakistani Taliban, two top figures from the militant group have been seized by security forces, Pakistani officials said.

The two were identified as Commander Saif Ullah, described by police as the right-hand man of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, and Maulvi Umar, the well-known spokesman for the group.

Both were arrested on Monday, the officials said.

Ullah was seized with his brother, Zahid, at a house outside Islamabad, police said. UIlah had been injured in either a drone attack or shelling near the Afghan border and was seeking medical treatment, they said.

He was in charge of terrorist activities in southern Punjab province and worked to recruit suicide bombers and facilitate suicide attacks, one of the officials said.

Ullah is also believed to have had a role in a bombing at Islamabad's Marriott hotel in 2007 and is being questioned about that attack, which killed the suicide bomber and one other person.

Umar was arrested in Pakistan's Mohmand Agency, one of seven semiautonomous tribal agencies along the 1,500-mile porous border that Pakistan shares with Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Members of a local militia or "lashkar" detained Umar and handed him over to security forces, a senior intelligence official said.

Hundreds of Pakistani villagers have formed anti-Taliban militias in the wake of the Pakistani military offensive and subsequent Taliban attacks on civilian targets.

Intelligence officials say the region is rife with Islamic extremists who have launched attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Umar was recently in the media spotlight contradicting U.S. officials' contention that Mehsud had been killed in a drone strike.

U.S. and Pakistani government officials have said they are confident that Mehsud was killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike on his father-in-law's house in the South Waziristan tribal region earlier this month.

The Pakistani Taliban have not confirmed Mehsud's death because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor, the top U.S. envoy to the region said Monday.

"The reason it's clear he's dead is that if he weren't dead he'd be giving TV and radio interviews to prove he's not dead," Richard Holbrooke told CNN.

During his interrogation, Umar told authorities that Mehsud was killed in the drone strike, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister in the North West Frontier Province.

Last week, Umar told CNN that Mehsud is alive, but ill, and would speak to reporters when he feels better.

Mehsud rarely gave news conferences or appeared before the media.

Other media reports have quoted another spokesman for the group as saying Mehsud is dead and a mourning period is under way.

DNA tests were reportedly being conducted to back up those claims, but U.S. officials have expressed doubt that enough genetic material would be left behind considering the enormity of the strike.

Holbrooke said Mehsud's assumed death has sparked "a succession crisis" among the Pakistani Taliban.

"The chaos benefits us but it doesn't mean that this thing is over," he said.

Mehsud's likely death and this week's arrests are a sign of "the ratcheted-up pressure" that has been placed on the Mehsud network this year, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said.

"The U.S. has mounted some 20 drone attacks this year in the Pakistani tribal agency of southern Waziristan where the (Baitullah Mehsud) network is based," Bergen said. "That has interfered with the Pakistani Taliban's ability to plan attacks and train others as many of their leaders are now focusing mostly on survival."

Two Pakistani Taliban leaders captured - CNN.com

 

[I-G]

Majority of Americans against Afghan war, shows poll

Majority of Americans against Afghan war, shows poll


STAFF WRITER 12:44 HRS IST
Lalit K Jha

Washington, Aug 20 (PTI) American opinion appears to be turning against the war in Afghanistan, with a poll revealing today that a majority believe it was not worth fighting and just one-fourth in favour of sending more troops to the country.

The Washington Post-ABC News polls showed that among all adults, 51 per cent say the war is not worth fighting, up six percentage points since last month and 10 since March.

Less than half, 47 per cent, say the war is worth its costs while those strongly opposed (41 per cent) outweigh strong proponents (31 per cent), the poll said.

The survey results, that come as Afghanistan went to polls today, show the support was declining in the US for the war President Barack Obama has defended.

fullstory

 

[LETHALFORCE]

these polls do not mean anything, the government always does what it wants.

 

[Singh]

But is this factor the decider of presidential elections ?
I bet gay marriage is a bigger issue wrt presidential elections and approval ratings.

 

[youngindian]

Chidambaram on 3-day visit to Bhutan from tomorrow

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Home Minister P Chidambaram will leave for Bhutanese capital Thimphu tomorrow on a three- day official visit to the neighbouring country during which he is expected to discuss issues related to border security and activities of northeast militants among others.

During his visit, Chidambaram will meet King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley, former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Minister for Home and Cultural Affairs Minjur Dorji and other leaders.

"The visit will further strengthen bilateral relations between India and Bhutan," a Home Ministry spokesman said.

Chidambaram is expected to discuss issues related to security along border, activities of northeast militants besides others, sources said.

Bhutan was a major base for banned ULFA and NDFB till 2003 when the country's Royal Army launched a major offensive against them to flush them out of its soil.
fullstory

 

[1.44]

U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient

U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient
​

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.

The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud.

The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.

“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.” He added that General McChrystal was still completing his review and had not yet requested additional troops on top of the those added by Mr. Obama.

The American commanders in Afghanistan spoke this weekend with Richard C. Holbrooke, Mr. Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over the past two days, Mr. Holbrooke visited all four regional command centers in Afghanistan, and the message from all four followed similar lines: while the additional American troops, along with smaller increases from other NATO members, have had some benefit in the south, the numbers remain below what commanders need. The total number of American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan is now about 57,000. It was unclear whether the commanders told Mr. Holbrooke exactly how many additional troops might be required.

Eastern Afghanistan, in particular, has been a trouble spot. On Sunday, during Mr. Holbrooke’s stop at the Bagram military base, Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the United States and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, told him and visiting reporters that the Haqqani network was expanding its reach. “We’ve seen that expansion, and that’s part of what we’re fighting,” he said. American commanders believe that the network, whose leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin have been linked to Al Qaeda, are using sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks against American and Afghan forces.

The problems in Afghanistan have been aggravated by what the American commanders call the Pakistani military’s limited response to the threat of militants based there. Although General Scaparrotti said that cooperation by Pakistan and the United States against the militants had improved recently, he stressed that it was important for the Pakistanis to keep up the pressure, particularly after the reported killing of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud.

That echoed concerns from Obama administration officials who worry that with the absence of Mr. Mehsud, who was the Pakistani government’s enemy No. 1, the military would shift its emphasis away from the tribal areas where the Taliban and Al Qaeda operate. “They think it’s ‘game over,’ ” one senior administration official said. “It’s more like, ‘game over, next level.’ ”

The White House has been concerned about declining support for the war among the American public. After recent polls illustrating the decline, Admiral Mullen and Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired general who is the ambassador to Afghanistan, went on Sunday talk shows to discuss the direction of the mission.

“I’m certainly aware of the criticality of support of the American people for this war and in fact, any war,” Admiral Mullen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And so certainly the numbers are of concern. That said, the president’s given me and the American military a mission, and that focuses on a new strategy, new leadership, and we’re moving very much in that direction.”

He said, “I believe we’ve got to start to turn this thing around from a security standpoint in the next 12 to 18 months.”

Mr. Holbrooke visited regional command centers in Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Bagram on Saturday and Sunday. Speaking to Afghan reporters at the NATO base in Mazar-i-Sharif, Mr. Holbrooke said that part of the new strategy would include reaching out to members of the Taliban who show a willingness to lay down their arms. Many Taliban fighters, Mr. Holbrooke said, “fight because they’re misguided, or because they want a job.”

“Anyone who renounces Al Qaeda and comes back to work peacefully in the Afghan system,” he continued, “will be welcome.”

American lawmakers intensified their criticism of President Hamid Karzai, saying his government had not done enough to crack down on corruption and the drug trade that fuels the insurgency. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr., Democrat of Pennsylvania, told reporters at a dinner on Sunday at the American Embassy in Kabul that he had told Mr. Karzai, “There’s going to come a time when the patience of Americans will run out.” Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who was also at the dinner, said: “Time is not running out next week, but they have to show results. It’s the last chance.”

Concerns about fraud in the election have brought more complaints to Afghan officials. Mr. Karzai’s main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, told a news conference in Kabul on Sunday that the number of suspected irregularities had been “alarming.”

Afghanistan’s Election Complaints Commission said Sunday that it had made a priority of investigating 35 complaints, including allegations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and violence. The commission, jointly led by Western and Afghan officials, said it had received 225 complaints of irregularities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/asia/24military.html?_r=1&ref=world

 

[F-14]

Task Force Spartan, it includes the following units:


1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment
3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment (RSTA)
4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment
710th Brigade Support Battalion
3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion
4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Col. Randy George)
The 4th BCT, known as Task Force Mountain Warrior, is responsible for Nangarhar, Nuristan, Konar and Laghman provinces in eastern Afghanistan. It relieved the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, or Task Force Duke, which had been conducting operations in the area for the past 15 months. [8] The 4th BCT includes the following units:


1st Battalion 12th Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion 12th Infantry Regiment
3rd Squadron 61st Cavalry Regiment
2nd Battalion 77th Field Artillery Regiment
704th Brigade Support Battalion
4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion
5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division (Col. Harry Tunnell)
Based at Fort Lewis, Washington, the 5th SBCT deployed approximately 4,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in mid-summer 2009. [9] This is the first rotation to Afghanistan for one of the U.S. Army's new Stryker brigades and includes the following units:


4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment
3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Battaion, 1st Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment
8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment
Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan/Task Force Leatherneck
MEB-Afghanistan absorbed the former Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Afghanistan in southern Afghanistan on May 29, 2009, reflecting Marine portion of the increased U.S. troop commitment to Afghanistan. Commanded by Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, MEB-Afghanistan includes the following units:


Regimental Combat Team 3
1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment
2nd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment
2nd Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment
3rd Battalion 11th Marine Regiment
2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
Marine Aircraft Group 40
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 772
MarineLight Attack Helicopter Squadron 169
Marine Attack Squadron 214
Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2
Marine Wing Support Squadron 371
Combat Logistics Regiment-2
Combat Logistics Battalion 8
8th Engineer Support Battalion
2nd MEB Headquarters Group
Headquarters, 82nd Airborne Division (Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti)
The headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division relieved the 101st Airborne Division's headquarters on June 3, 2009. [10] Consisting of roughly 1,000 soldiers the 101st's headquarters officially became Combined Joint Task Force 82 and now commands NATO’s Regional Command East sector in Afghanistan.

45th Sustainment Brigade (Col. Clay B. Hatcher)
The 45th, based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, relieved the 101st Sustainment Brigade on February 9, 2009. [11] The brigade is responsible of the Joint Logistics Command and is augmented by an Army Reserve unit and a unit from the Maine Army National Guard.


Headquarters and Headquarters Company
45th Special Troops Battalion
524th Combat Service Support Battalion
286th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Army Reserve
484th Movement Control Battalion, Maine Army National Guard
82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Col. Paul Bricker)
The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) deployed approximately 2,800 soldiers to Afghanistan in the spring of 2009. The deployment is part of the buildup of combat forces in Afghanistan and the brigade relieved the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Known as Task Force Pegasus, the brigade is based at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan. [12] The 82nd CAB includes the following units:


Headquarters and Headquarters Company
1st Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment (Attack Reconnaissance), flying AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters
2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment (Assault), flying UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters
3rd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment (General Support), flying CH-47F Chinook helicopters
1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment (Attack Reconnaissance) flying OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters
122nd Aviation Support Battalion
33rd Brigade Combat Team, Illinois Army National Guard (Col. Scott Thoele)
The 33rd BCT is currently the headquarters of Task Force Phoenix, which is in charge of training the Afghan National Army. The 33rd deployed in the winter of 2008, relieving the 27th BCT of the New York Army National Guard. [13] The brigade includes 1,600 soldiers from Illinois augmented by volunteers from Arkansas, Guam, Georgia and Oregon and soldiers from the Inactive Ready Reserve. The 33rd includes the following units:


2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment
1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment
33rd Special Troops Battalion
634th Brigade Support Battalion
2nd Battalion, 122nd Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Battalion, 103rd Armor Regiment, Pennsylvania Army National Guard
48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard (Col. Lee Durham)
The 48th Infantry BCT deployed to continue training the Afghan National Security Forces. [14]. The 48th IBCT includes the following units:


Headquarters and Headquarters Company
48th Brigade Special Troops Battalion
1st Squadron, 108th Calvary Regiment
1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment
1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment
148th Brigade Support Battalion

source :wiki

 

[1.44]

CIA terror tactics:Threaten to kill terror suspect's children and rape mother

CIA terror tactics spur changes, new probe
​

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is setting strict new standards for treatment of terror suspects, as the Justice Department launches a criminal probe of past interrogation tactics during President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.
A newly declassified version of a CIA report revealed Monday that CIA interrogators once threatened to kill a Sept. 11 suspect's children and suggested another would be forced to watch his mother sexually assaulted.
The fresh crop of damaging revelations only intensified the long-running political fight about the secret interrogation program — whether it protected the United States then, and whether spilling its secrets now will weaken the nation's future security.
Top Republican senators said they were troubled by Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to begin a new criminal probe, which they said could hamper U.S. intelligence efforts.
And former Vice President Dick Cheney told The Weekly Standard, a conservative journal, that the decision "serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."
On the other side, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the revelations showed the Bush administration went down a "dark road of excusing torture."
Holder said Monday he had chosen a veteran prosecutor, John Durham, to open a preliminary investigation to determine whether any CIA officers or contractors should face criminal charges for crossing the line on rough but permissible tactics. Durham already is investigating the destruction of CIA interrogation videos.
At the same time, President Barack Obama ordered changes in future interrogations, bringing in other agencies besides the CIA under the direction of the FBI and to be supervised by his own national security adviser. The administration pledged that questioning would be controlled by the Army Field Manual, with strict rules, and said the White House would keep its hands off the professional investigators doing the work.
Despite the announcement of the criminal probe, White House aides declared anew that Obama "wants to look forward, not back" at Bush-era tactics.
White House officials said they plan to continue the controversial practice of rendition of suspects to foreign countries, though they said that in future cases there would be greater safeguards to ensure such suspects are not tortured.
Monday's five-year-old report by the CIA's inspector general, newly declassified and released under a federal court's orders, described severe tactics used by interrogators on terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Seeking information about possible further attacks, interrogators threatened one detainee with a gun and a power drill, choked another and tried to frighten still another with a mock execution of another prisoner.
And other once-secret documents released late Monday show that parts of the CIA's tough treatment program continued even after Bush's September 2006 transfer of agency prisoners to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, appointed by Bush in 2006, expressed dismay at the prospect of prosecutions for CIA officers. He noted that career prosecutors already had reviewed and declined to prosecute the alleged abuses.
Obama has said interrogators would not face charges if they followed legal guidelines, but the report by the CIA's inspector general said they went too far — even beyond what was authorized under Bush era Justice Department legal memos that have since been withdrawn and discredited. The report also suggested some questioners knew they were crossing a line.
"Ten years from now we're going to be sorry we're doing this (but) it has to be done," one unidentified CIA officer was quoted as saying, predicting the questioners would someday have to appear in court to answer for such tactics.
The report concluded the CIA used "unauthorized, improvised, inhumane" practices in questioning "high-value" terror suspects.
In one instance cited in the new documents, Abd al-Nashiri, the man accused of being behind the 2000 USS Cole bombing, was hooded, handcuffed and threatened with an unloaded gun and a power drill. The unidentified interrogator also threatened al-Nashiri's mother and family, implying they would be sexually abused in front of him, according to the report.
The interrogator denied making a direct threat.
Another interrogator told alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, "if anything else happens in the United States, 'We're going to kill your children,'" one veteran officer said in the report.
Death threats violate anti-torture laws.
Investigators credited the detention-and-interrogation program for developing intelligence that prevented multiple attacks against Americans.
"In this regard, there is no doubt that the program has been effective," investigators wrote, backing an argument by former Cheney and others that the program saved lives.
But the inspector general said it was unclear whether so-called enhanced interrogation tactics contributed to that success. Those tactics included waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique that the Obama administration says was torture. Measuring the success of such interrogation is "a more subjective process and not without some concern," the report said.
The report described at least one mock execution, which would also violate U.S. anti-torture laws. To terrify one detainee, interrogators pretended to execute the prisoner in a nearby room. A senior officer said it was a transparent ruse that yielded no benefit

CIA terror tactics spur changes, new probe - Yahoo! News

 

[F-14]

its all fare even kautalian says that in his book the arthashstara and besides it is a war and where have you heard Human rights in a war

 

[I-G]

Three police killed, one injured in Chechnya suicide blast

14:0825/08/2009
MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - A suicide bomber killed three police officers at a carwash in a Chechen village on Tuesday, local police said.

Police have identified the bomber as Mahomet Shakhidov, a member of a gang commanded by Hussein Gakayev.

Police initially reported that four officers had been killed in the attack, which took place at around 11.00 a.m. (7.00 GMT) in the Shali district of the Russian North Caucasus Republic.

The suicide bomber approached police officers who were waiting for their vehicle to be cleaned at a carwash and set off a home-made explosive device hidden under his clothing. Three officers were killed on site, and a fourth has been hospitalized with severe wounds.

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has ordered a complete review of all Interior Ministry facilities in the North Caucasus to assess vulnerability to terrorist attacks, following several months of increasing militant violence in the region.

Three police killed, one injured in Chechnya suicide blast | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

 

[I-G]

Iranian Sunni rebel confesses U.S. role in terror plots inside Iran

Iranian Sunni rebel confesses U.S. role in terror plots inside Iran
2009-08-25 16:50:15 GMT2009-08-26 00:50:15 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English

ZAHEDAN, Iran, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian Sunni rebel said on Tuesday the United States had supporting role in launching terror plots inside Iran.

"After meeting with the U.S. officials in the U.S. embassy in Pakistan four years ago, they (the U.S. officials) promised to help us with everything we needed," Abdolhamid Rigi, the brother of insurgent Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, told reporters.

On Tuesday, Iran's government organized a media tour to Zahedan, the capital city of Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Balouchestan, where the media attended a confession program of Abdolhamid Rigi.

Some video projection of the crimes that the Rigi group have committed in the province was shown. The media was also taken to the sites where Jundallah group had killed civilians.

"We were deceived by them (the U.S. officials)...We received monetary and armed supports from the United States...We received orders from them" to carry out the terrors inside Iran, Abdolhamid Rigi said.

He said he has killed his wife and stabbed his brother-in-law since his brother Abdolmalek told him that they were cooperating with the Iranian government.

Jundallah, or Peoples Resistant Movement of Iran, is an insurgent Sunni Islamic organization based in Balochistan of Pakistan which claims to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran.

The group was founded by and is currently under the command of Abdolmalek Rigi. It claims to have killed 400 Iranian soldiers and many more civilians.

The group has been identified as a terrorist organization by Iran and Pakistan and has been behind numerous acts of terror, kidnapping and smuggling narcotics. Many believe it is linked to al-Qaida.

In May, the group detonated a bomb in a mosque in Zahedan, killing 25 people and wounding many more.

Thirteen members of the group were hung in July in Zahedan city.

Iranian Sunni rebel confesses U.S. role in terror plots inside Iran - World News - SINA English

 

[IBRIS]

US storms Afghanistan clinic to kill Taliban leader

At least one US soldier and a dozen Taliban militants have been killed in Afghanistan after US-led forces attacked a clinic where a Taliban commander was seeking medical treatment.

According to a statement by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the troops managed to detain Mullah Muslim, the Taliban commander who was injured in a firefight during August 20 presidential elections.

A US military statement said troops had "received a tip-off" that insurgents had taken one of their wounded commanders to a clinic in the southeastern province of Paktika.

The militants reportedly opened fire on the US troops when they neared the clinic in the Sar Hawza district on Wednesday.

US storms Afghanistan clinic to kill Taliban leader

Sources said the confrontation between the US forces and insurgents lasted more than five hours.

The NATO said that an AH64 Apache helicopter was called in to end the confrontation "after ensuring the clinic was cleared of civilians".

The alliance confirmed that a US soldier was killed during the lethal clashes and seven Taliban-linked militants were arrested.

Hamidullah Zewak also said that at least 12 insurgents had lost their lives when US forces pounded the suspected militant positions in the clinic.

Some unconfirmed reports also suggested that there had been civilian causalities in the deadly strike as well.

Insurgency has reached a record high in the country's southern and eastern provinces bordering Pakistan.

The Taliban-led insurgency has intensified in the war-ravaged country, making 2009 the deadliest year for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Sixty-four US-led troops have been killed in the last four weeks as violence surged ahead of and following the Afghan presidential election.

July was the deadliest month for the international forces in Afghanistan with 75 foreign troops -- including 43 Americans -- killed in militant attacks.

 

[RPK]

Saudi prince injured by militant

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saudi prince injured by militant

wanted militant blew himself up in the office of a Saudi prince responsible for security, state news agency SPA has reported.

The man had wanted to personally tell Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in his Jeddah Interior Ministry office that he would give himself up.

The prince, who was meeting well-wishers for the holy month of Ramadan, was slightly injured.

The news agency did not identify the suicide bomber.

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television showed Prince Mohammed meeting King Abdullah later.

He has been involved in the kingdom's anti-terror strategy

 

[I-G]

Suicide bombing in Chechnya kills 2, wounds 6
AP
Published: August 28, 2009, 10:01

Rostov-On-Don: Police in Chechnya say two militants blew themselves up to escape capture, wounding three policemen and three civilians in the process.

It is the second suicide bombing this week in Chechnya and part of a rising wave of violence in Russia's North Caucasus.

Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev said Friday that police blockaded the two militants in a house in the town of Shali overnight. He said when police demanded they give themselves up, the militants opened fire and then set off explosives attached to their bodies.

Deniyev said three policemen and three civilians were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds.

Separatist rebels and Russian troops have fought two full-scale wars in Chechnya over the past 15 years, and small clashes persist.


Gulfnews: Suicide bombing in Chechnya kills 2, wounds 6

 

[I-G]

Saudi minister escapes assassination attempt
AP
Published: August 28, 2009, 11:32


Riyadh: A suicide bomber lightly wounded a senior prince largely credited for Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign when he blew himself up just before going into a gathering of well-wishers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the state news agency said Friday.

It was the first known assassination attempt against a member of the royal family since Saudi Arabia began its crackdown on Al Qaida affiliated militants eight years ago following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The militant who attacked the assistant interior minister, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, late Thursday at the Ramadan gathering in Jiddah had previously expressed his intention to give himself up to the official, the Saudi Press Agency quoted the royal court as saying.


It is customary for senior members of the royal family to hold regular open gatherings where citizens can air grievances, seek settlement of financial or other disputes or offer congratulations.

Upon hearing news of the attack, King Abdullah swiftly headed to hospital, according to the agency. It said the prince, who is the son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef, was discharged from the hospital and nobody else was seriously injured.

The Interior Ministry has spearheaded the kingdom's aggressive campaign against terrorism, one that has intensified since militants first struck in the kingdom in May 2003. The country is the birthplace of Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and was home to 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers.

On August 19, authorities announced the arrest of 44 suspected militants with AlQaida links in a yearlong sweep that also uncovered dozens of machine guns and electronic circuits for bombs.

Last month, Saudi officials said a Saudi criminal court had convicted and sentenced 330 Al Qaida militants to jail terms, fines and travel bans in the country's first known trials for suspected members of the terror group.

The 330 are believed to be among the 991 suspected militants that the interior minister has said have been charged with participating in terrorist attacks over the past five years.

Gulfnews: Saudi minister escapes assassination attempt

 

[1.44]

August Is Deadliest Month for U.S. in Afghanistan

August Is Deadliest Month for U.S. in Afghanistan
​

WASHINGTON - A U.S. soldier was killed August 28 in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, bringing the American military death toll to its highest point for a single month since the conflict began in 2001, a U.S. official said.

A total of 46 soldiers have been killed there so far this month, higher than the previous monthly record set in July with 45 deaths.

The year 2009 has already been a record-breaking year for the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led bid to oust the Taliban began following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

According to the independent Internet site icasualities.org, at least 300 coalition soldiers have lost their lives since the beginning of the year, up from 294 in 2008.

August Is Deadliest Month for U.S. in Afghanistan - Defense News

 

[1.44]

US develops success metrics for Pak, Afghanistan

US develops success metrics for Pak, Afghanistan
​

Washington: After months of efforts, the Obama administration has finally developed a set of about 50 measurements, which would gauge its progress in the Afghan-Pak war zone.
Currently under 'test run' by the White House, the metrics to assess war success would be presented before the Congress on September 24, 'The Washington Post' reported today.

"Administration officials are conducting what one called a 'test run' of the metrics, comparing current numbers in a range of categories -- including newly trained Afghan Army recruits, Pakistani counter-insurgency missions and on-time delivery of promised US resources -- with baselines set earlier in the year," the daily said.
These set of metrics have been developed in response to the deadline set by the Congressmen in spring this year, when the Obama administration had approached Capitol Hill seeking additional aid for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

US lawmakers want "clear benchmarks" for any aid to Pakistan and do not want to give any additional blank cheque to Islamabad as was under the Bush administration. The Washington Post said the White House briefed key Congressional committees on the metrics being developed by it.

"The document currently being fine-tuned, called the Strategic Implementation Plan, will include separate 'indicators' of progress under nine broad 'objectives' to be measured quarterly," the daily said citing an administration official involved in the process.

Some of the about 50 indicators will apply to US performance, but most will measure Afghan and Pakistani efforts, it said.

A strong proponent of such metrics, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, according to the daily, said in an interview, "We are definitely moving to a set of metrics that can give us benchmarks as to how we are proceeding" and whether President Barack Obama's strategy "is pursuing our national security interests."

Menendez has sponsored a legislation in the US Congress setting conditions on aid to Pakistan.

Bureau Report
US develops success metrics for Pak, Afghanistan

 

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Four suicide bombers detained in Chechnya: Official

Updated on Friday, September 04, 2009, 16:41 IST Tags:Chechnya, Suicide bombers, Ramzan Kadyrov

Moscow: Authorities in Chechnya said on Friday they had averted several major attacks as they announced the detention of four youths trained as suicide bombers in the increasingly volatile region.


A spokesman for Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov said police on Thursday detained four men around 18-20 years old, who had planned to carry out suicide attacks at police headquarters and a mosque in the region's main city Grozny as well as a mosque in the town of Shali.

"We are talking about people who had been preparing large-scale, high-profile terror acts," the spokesman, Alvi Karimov, said, adding the Chechen leader has personally overseen the operation.

The detained men told authorities they had been trained as suicide bombers by two Arabs, he said.

"They said they had been told they would go to paradise," Karimov said.

Police confiscated several explosive belts and three Kalashnikov assault rifles among other ammunition, he added.

Dressed in fatigues, Kadyrov was shown on Russian television Friday scolding the detained youths as he held a suicide bomber's belt in his hands.

In neighbouring Ingushetia, the local leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov warned earlier this week that several suicide bombers were on the loose and appealed for extra vigilance.

In the past several months, suicide bombing has returned to haunt Russia's increasingly bloody northern Caucasus region as the weapon of choice for an Islamist-led rebellion.

In a meeting with top Muslim clerics last month, President Dmitry Medvedev said there was a need for a comprehensive youth programme as criminal groups still managed "to pull young people under their wing."

Bureau Report

Four suicide bombers detained in Chechnya: Official

 

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Militant warlord involved in attempt on Ingush president's life killed - FSB

11:4605/09/2009

ROSTOV-ON-DON, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - A militant killed in Ingushetia in a special operation Friday was a bandit warlord and was involved in an attempt to kill the Russian North Caucasus republic's president, security agencies said.

A spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Russian North Caucasus republic said three militants were killed yesterday, and one of them, Rustam Dzortov, born in 1979, had been on a wanted list in Russia.

"He from January 2009 led the activity of all gangs on the republic's territory... and, according to testimony by earlier detained Makhauri, was one of those who organized the attempt on the life of Ingush President Yunus-bek Yevkurov," he said.

Yevkurov underwent a series of operations in Moscow after sustaining head and internal injuries when a car bomb exploded as his motorcade passed on June 22. The region has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months.

Attacks on troops, police and other officials have been reported almost daily in Ingushetia and Russia's other North Caucasus republics in recent months. On August 17, Ingushetia was rocked by a suicide bombing which killed at least 24 police officers and injured 136.

Militant warlord involved in attempt on Ingush president's life killed - FSB | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

 

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Pakistan holds six Germans in terror raids
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BERLIN: Pakistan has jailed six Germans, including a four-year-old girl, on suspicion of trying to join an extremist group, after arresting them on the Iranian border in May, according to the weekly Der Spiegel.

They reportedly include the brother-in-law of Munir Shuka, spokesman for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant group with ties to Al-Qaeda that is often cited as a top security concern by governments in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Also held are a German converted to Islam and his wife of Eritrean origin along with their four-year-old daughter, according to Der Spiegel in a report to appear Monday.

The six were said to have claimed to be Turkish and to have lost their papers, and it was not until August, when Pakistani intelligence took over the case, that their identity was revealed.

Since then the German authorities have been trying to secure the release of the woman and the child, Der Spiegel said, adding that all six were now expected to be expelled to Germany.

A seventh man, a Tunisian who had lived in Germany but whose residence permit had expired, would not be among them.

A German foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the case, saying that efforts were under way at consular level to resolve it.

Der Spiegel said two of the detainees had told consular officials they wanted to ‘join the jihad’, and complained of ill-treatment at the hands of Pakistani security forces.

DAWN.COM | World | Pakistan holds six Germans in terror raids