US, NATO set to launch massive assault against Taliban-led militants

[yellow people]

US Marines airdropped into Taliban-held territory


US Marines airdropped into Taliban-held territory

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<cite class="caption">
AP – U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment read and pack their gear under red light head lamps …

</cite> <cite class="vcard">By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer Alfred De Montesquiou, Associated Press Writer </cite> – <abbr title="2010-02-19T00:43:51-0800" class="recenttimedate">1 hr 48 mins ago

</abbr>
<!-- end .byline --> MARJAH, Afghanistan – Elite Marine recon teams were dropped behind Taliban lines by helicopter Friday as the U.S.-led force stepped up operations to break resistance in the besieged insurgent stronghold of Marjah.

About two dozen Marines were inserted before dawn into an area where skilled Taliban marksmen are known to operate, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Other squads of Marines and Afghan forces began marching south in a bid to link up with Marine outposts there, meticulously searching compounds on the way. The 7-day-old Marjah offensive is the biggest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and a test of President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the Taliban while protecting civilians.

Several residents interviewed said some Taliban fighters in the area were non-Afghan. "Some of them are from here. Some are from Pakistan. Some are from other countries, but they don't let us come close to them so I don't know where they are from," said poppy farmer Mohammad Jan, 35, a father of four.

A NATO statement said troops are still meeting "some resistance" by insurgents who engage them in firefights, but homemade bombs remain the key threat to allied and Afghan forces. Six coalition troops were killed Thursday, NATO said, making it the deadliest day since the offensive began. The death toll so far is 11 NATO troops and one Afghan soldier. Britain's Defense Ministry said two British soldiers were among those killed Thursday.

No precise figures on Taliban deaths have been released, but senior Marine officers say intelligence reports suggest more than 120 have died. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. U.S. and Afghan troops encountered skilled sharpshooters and better-fortified Taliban positions Thursday, indicating that insurgent resistance in their logistics and opium-smuggling center was far from crushed.

A Marine general said Thursday that U.S. and Afghan allied forces control the main roads and markets in town, but fighting has raged elsewhere in the southern farming town. A British general said he expected it would take another month to secure area.

Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of U.S. Marines in Marjah, told The Associated Press that allied forces have taken control of the main roads, bridges and government centers in the town of 80,000 people about 360 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul. "I'd say we control the spine" of the town, Nicholson said as he inspected the Marines' front line in the north of the dusty, m&d-brick town. "We're where we want to be."

Throughout Thursday, U.S. Marines pummeled insurgents with mortars, sniper fire and missiles as gunbattles intensified. Taliban fighters fired back with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, some of the fire far more accurate than Marines have faced in other Afghan battles. The increasingly accurate sniper fire — and strong intelligence on possible suicide bomb threats — indicated that insurgents from outside Marjah are still operating within the town, Nicholson said.

Under NATO's "clear, hold, build" strategy, the allies plan to secure the area and then rush in a civilian Afghan administration, restore public services and pour in aid to try to win the loyalty of the population in preventing the Taliban from returning. But stubborn Taliban resistance, coupled with restrictive rules on allies' use of heavy weaponry when civilians may be at risk, have slowed the advance through the town.

British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, NATO commander in southern Afghanistan, told reporters in Washington via a video hookup that he expects it could take another 30 days to secure Marjah. NATO has given no figures on civilian deaths since a count of 15 earlier in the offensive. Afghan rights groups have reported 19 dead. Since those figures were given, much of the fighting has shifted away from the heavily built-up area where most civilians live.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly criticized the use of airstrikes and other long-range weaponry because of the risk to civilians. Twelve of the 15 deaths reported by NATO happened when two rockets hit a home on Sunday. Also Thursday, a NATO airstrike in northern Afghanistan missed a group of insurgents and killed seven Afghan policemen, the Interior Ministry said. A NATO statement acknowledged the report and said it and the ministry were investigating.

In eastern Afghanistan, eight Afghan policemen defected to the Taliban, according to Mirza Khan, the deputy provincial police chief. The policemen abandoned their posts in central Wardak province's Chak district and joined the militants there, he said. One of them had previous ties to the Taliban, he said, but would not elaborate. "These policemen came on their own and told us they want to join with the Taliban. Now they are with us," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Muhajid said.

 

[yellow people]

1,000 US dead in Afghan war

World
Feb 23, 2010

1,000 US dead in Afghan war

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> WASHINGTON - THE number of US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan reached 1,000 on Monday, according to website icasualties.org, a grim milestone in the war launched more than eight years ago. The independent website, which tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, said 54 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far this year, compared with a toll of 316 last year - the worst since the US-led invasion of 2001. The top-ranking US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned of more casualties as US-led forces press an offensive in Marjah, a key Taleban stronghold, where foreign troops have faced strong militant resistance.

'We must steel ourselves, no matter how successful we are on any given day, for harder days yet to come,' he told reporters. The volatile southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand - where US, Nato and Afghan forces now are battling the Taleban in Marjah - account for the highest number of US and coalition casualties. The Defence Department announced the latest American service member killed in the war as Corporal Gregory Stultz, 22, who died on Feb 19 from small arms fire in Helmand province. -- AFP

 

[yellow people]

Senior Taleban in custody

World
Mar 5, 2010

Senior Taleban in custody

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN'S intelligence agents have arrested a senior Afghan Taleban commander, the latest move in a crackdown against the insurgent network in Pakistan. Agha Jan Mohtasim, a former finance minister for the Taleban before the US-led invasion in 2001, was detained in the southern city of Karachi, two intelligence officials said on Thursday. They did not say when the arrest was made, and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to give their names to the media. Pakistan and Afghan officials have said at least four other Afghan Taleban leaders have been arrested in Pakistan in recent weeks, including the No. 2 leader of the movement, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

The arrests have been hailed by US officials and many analysts as a major blow to the Taleban in Afghanistan, though they caution the group has rebounded from the death or detention of previous leaders. Opinion is divided on whether the crackdown signals that the country's powerful intelligence forces are adopting a harder line against the militants. The United Sates has long demanded Pakistan take action against the group, which critics say have long enjoyed relative sanctuary in Pakistan. Some experts say the arrests may be aimed at removing moderates within the Taleban who were considering taking part in possible reconciliation talks with the Afghan government. -- AP

 

[Lu Bu]

Nato air strike kills civilians

World
Apr 6, 2010

Nato air strike kills civilians

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> KABUL (Afghanistan) - A NATO air strike in southern Afghanistan mistakenly killed four civilians, including two women and a child, while targeting suspected militants in a compound, the military said on Tuesday. 'Insurgents were using the compound as a firing position when combined forces, unaware of the possible presence of civilians, directed air assets against it,' the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. 'Later, once they were able to enter the compound, combined forces found four dead civilians - two women, an elderly man and a child - inside,' a statement read. 'Four males, suspected insurgents, were also found dead inside the compound.' Asked by AFP if the civilians were killed by the coalition air strike an ISAF spokesman said: 'yes sir'. -- AFP

 

[yellow people]

Al-Qaeda using 'H-bomb' to kill

Apr 18, 2010

Al-Qaeda using 'H-bomb' to kill

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> BAGHDAD - AL-QAEDA in Iraq is rigging houses and shops with explosives in a new tactic that has killed and maimed civilians in recent weeks and defied the thousands of security forces in Baghdad, officials say. The renting of residential buildings for targeted bombings has forced police and the army to adapt their operations, in a bid to prevent more of the attacks that have killed dozens since the country's inconclusive March 7 election.

The US military has even coined a new acronym - HBIED (house-borne improvised explosive device) for the bombings, which have also left hundreds wounded in the past month in the Iraqi capital. The HBIED follows the IED (improvised-explosive device - homemade bomb) and VBIED (vehicle-borne improvised-explosive device - car bomb) into a terrorist lexicon started in Iraq and subsequently transported to Afghanistan.

'Our forces are focusing on the renting of apartments and buildings,' Major General Qassim Atta, a Baghdad security forces spokesman, told AFP. Insurgents were continually looking to exploit gaps in the city's defences, he said. 'They change their methods periodically because most of their plans and tactics have been discovered. I believe they are already searching for another method of attack, maybe churches or bridges.'

Some 25 people were killed on election day, when explosives destroyed two buildings in northeast Baghdad. The US military, which pointed the finger at Al-Qaeda, said the properties had been rented and deliberately blown up. A further 35 people died on April 6, when explosives were planted in houses and shops in mostly Shiite neighbourhoods, leading Atta to say Iraq was in an 'open war' with Al-Qaeda and loyalists of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. A number of those properties had also been rented days earlier, security officials told AFP.

Counter-terrorism experts say the insurgents are placing bombs in houses and shops despite the methods being frowned upon by much of Al-Qaeda. 'These stories are credible,' said Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington DC, and author of 'Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned from Inside Al-Qaeda in Iraq'. 'The tactic is seen as very disreputable, even among active insurgents,' but it allows them 'to get around a lot of the tactics developed to prevent car bombs,' such as the mass of security checkpoints in Baghdad, Dr. Fishman said. -- AFP

 

[Lu Bu]

Al Qaeda leaders killed in raid


Apr 19, 2010
Al Qaeda leaders killed in raid

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> BAGHDAD - IRAQI security forces backed by US troops killed al Qaeda's top two leaders in Iraq in what the US military described on Monday as a 'potentially devastating blow' to the militant group. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of its local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, were found dead in a hole in the ground inside a house after it was surrounded and stormed by troops.

The deaths could be a major set-back to the stubborn insurgency at a time when Iraq is emerging from the sectarian slaughter unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion but still struggling to end suicide bombings and other attacks. 'The death of these two terrorists is a potentially devastating blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq,' the US military in Iraq said in a statement.

The killings may boost Mr Maliki's stature as he tries to ensure his reappointment as prime minister following a March 7 general election that produced no outright winner. Mr Maliki's ambitions for a second term are proving to be a stumbling block to the formation of an alliance between Iraq's two main Shi'ite Muslim political groups that would give them the clout to form a coalition government. -- REUTERS

 

[General Veers]

Al-Qaeda leader killed in Iraq

Apr 20, 2010
Al-Qaeda leader killed in Iraq

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American and Iraqi officials announced on Monday that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri (next picture) were killed in a joint operation on Sunday in what Vice President Joe Biden called a 'potentially devastating blow' to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. -- PHOTO: AFP

PHOTO: REUTERSImage

BAGHDAD - A REGIONAL Al-Qaeda leader was killed on Tuesday as US and Iraqi forces continue to put pressure on the terrorist organisation following the reported deaths of its two top-ranking figures on the weekend, officials said. American and Iraqi officials announced on Monday that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint operation on Sunday in what Vice President Joe Biden called a 'potentially devastating blow' to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

US military spokesman Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza said American and Iraqi security forces would be keeping pressure on Al-Qaeda. Iraq 'They're still a threat here, and we will not lose sight of that,' he told The Associated Press. In a joint morning raid, US and Iraqi forces acting on intelligence information killed suspected insurgent leader Ahmed al-Obeidi in the northern province of Ninevah, Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said.

Mr Al-Moussawi said the slain insurgent, known as Abu Suhaib, was in charge of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's operations in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Ninevah. The terrorist organisation in the past has reacted to the deaths of leading figures with new attacks, but it was not immediately clear whether scattered violence on Tuesday across the country was related. -- AP

 

[General Veers]

Four children die in crossfire


Apr 20, 2010
Four children die in crossfire

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> KHOST (Afghanistan) - FOUR children were killed in crossfire between foreign soldiers and insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, the education ministry said on Tuesday. The incident took place in the Gurbuz district of Khost province at about 6.00 pm local time (1330 GMT, 9.30 pm) on Monday, it said in a statement. 'The school children... were killed in an exchange of fire between ISAF and the opposition,' it said, referring to NATO's International Security Assistance Force and militants.

A spokesman for the ministry, Mohammad Asif Nang, told AFP: 'Essentially the foreign forces opened fire on them.' The statement coincided with a release from ISAF that said four people had died in Khost after their vehicle was fired on by the international soldiers while it was accelerating towards their convoy. It was unclear if the two reports referred to the same incident. An ISAF spokesman said: 'We don't have any reports that children were involved in this incident.' -- AFP

 

[lauhumku]

Ash delays army deployment


Apr 21, 2010
Ash delays army deployment

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More than 6,000 troops due to join coalition forces fighting Afghanistan's insurgency have been delayed by the aviation shutdown in Europe caused by the volcanic ash cloud, NATO said on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

KABUL - MORE than 6,000 troops due to join coalition forces fighting Afghanistan's insurgency have been delayed by the aviation shutdown in Europe caused by the volcanic ash cloud, NATO said on Wednesday. A total of 5,400 US troops and 1,100 coalition soldiers had been due to arrive in Afghanistan from Europe this week, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told AFP. 'The delays are not having any impact on operations,' a spokeswoman said, asking not to be identified.

'Most of those delays had been coming through Europe. Many (troops) also come through Kuwait and there are no problems there,' she said. Some supply deliveries - everything from ammunition to food - had also been delayed, she said, adding the hold-ups had had no obvious impact. NATO and the US have 126,000 troops in the country, with deployments being boosted almost daily to peak in August at 150,000. -- AFP

 

[General Veers]

Seven soldiers killed in ambush


Apr 23, 2010
Seven soldiers killed in ambush

PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - SEVEN soldiers have been killed and 16 wounded in an ambush by militants in Pakistan's north-west tribal belt, a bastion of Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters, the military said on Friday. The insurgents ambushed the troops on Thursday in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, an area branded by Washington the most dangerous place on Earth. 'The military convoy was carrying out a routine movement from Miranshah to Dattakhel,' a statement from the military said.

'In the ambush, seven soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom), including an officer and a junior commissioned officer, while 16 soldiers were injured.' Two of the injured were in a critical condition, the statement said. Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year increased operations against militants in the tribal belt, which became a stronghold for extremists who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001. -- AFP

 

[SwineHunter]

CIA uses smaller missiles


Apr 26, 2010
CIA uses smaller missiles

WASHINGTON - THE US Central Intelligence Agency has started using smaller missiles in its hunt for Al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant leaders in Pakistan in hopes of minimising civilian casualties, The Washington Post reported on Monday. Citing unnamed current and former officials in the United States and Pakistan, the newspaper said the new technology had resulted in more accurate strikes that have provoked relatively little public outrage.

According to the report, one such missile was used by the CIA last month in Miram Shah, a Pakistani town in the tribal province of South Waziristan. The projectile, which was no bigger than a violin case and weighed about 35 pounds (16 kilograms), hit a house there and killed a top Al-Qaeda official and about nine other suspected terrorists, the paper said. The m&d-brick house collapsed and the roof of a neighboUring house was damaged, but no one else in the town was hurt, The Post said. The CIA declined to comment on the article. - AFP.

 

[SwineHunter]

Drone strike kills 4 in Pakistan


Apr 26, 2010
Drone strike kills 4 in Pakistan

MIRANSHAH (Pakistan) - MISSILES fired from a US drone aircraft killed at least four militants on Monday in Pakistan's north-west tribal belt near the Afghan border, security officials said. The drone struck at about 10.30 am local time (0530 GMT, 1.30 pm Singapore time) in the Khushali Toorkhel area of North Waziristan, a tribal district and known stronghold for Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups.

'The target was a militant compound belonging to followers of a local rebel commander, Haleem Khan, and the US drone fired three missiles,' a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. 'Four militants were killed while several others were wounded in the strike. The death toll may rise.' Another security official confirmed the strike and the toll, but said the nationalities and identities of the dead were not yet known. -- AFP

 

[M.Bison]

UN staff killed by friendly fire


Apr 27, 2010
UN staff killed by friendly fire

In this Oct. 28, 2009 file photo, Afghan security men are seen at a guest-house after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. Investigators believe three UN employees were shot and killed by the Afghan police while trying to escape from the guest-house, Susana Malcorra, a top UN peacekeeping official said. -- PHOTO: AP

<!-- story content : start --> UNITED NATIONS - UNITED Nations investigators believe that Afghan police mistakenly shot and killed four UN employees during a Taleban attack in Oct 2009, UN officials said on Monday. Susana Malcorra, a top UN peacekeeping official, made the remark in a briefing about a UN board of inquiry into an Oct 28 Taleban attack on a guest-house in Kabul that resulted in the deaths of five UN employees. She described confusing circumstances in which Taleban attackers and Afghan security forces who responded were dressed in identical police uniforms.

It was a 'very, very chaotic situation in the middle of the night,' she said. Investigators believe three UN employees were shot and killed by the Afghan police while trying to escape from the guest-house, Ms Malcorra said. 'The sense is that it was friendly fire,' she said. Ms Malcorra said that UN security officer Louis Maxwell, an American, may also have been killed by Afghan police who appeared to have mistaken him for an insurgent.

A senior UN official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that there was little doubt Maxwell was killed by Afghan police, though it is unclear which officer killed him. The fifth UN victim died in a fire that began raging after the Taleban attackers set off grenades in the guest-house, Ms Malcorra said. The United Nations has asked Afghan authorities to pursue the investigation, Ms Malcorra said. The UN inquiry was led by Andrew Hughes, the Australian former head of UN police. Afghanistan's UN mission declined to comment but said Ambassador Zahir Tanin had passed on the report to Kabul. -- REUTERS

 

[lianbeng]

NATO - No Action Talk Only!

 

[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

Taleban chief believed alive


Apr 29, 2010
Taleban chief believed alive

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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start -->
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan) - PAKISTANI Taleban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is now believed to have survived a US missile strike earlier this year, but has lost clout within the militant network, a senior intelligence official said on Thursday. The revelation contradicts initial confidence among US and Pakistani intelligence officials that the brash militant leader had been killed in the mid-January missile attack. The Taleban consistently denied Mehsud was killed, but declined to offer evidence he lived, saying it would compromise his safety.

The latest independent investigations and reports from multiple sources in the field led Pakistani intelligence to conclude Mehsud had indeed survived, though with some slight injuries, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity. 'It was just a miracle that only one person escaped that attack, and he was Hakimullah Mehsud,' he said. 'Miracles do happen.' Mehsud, however, had lost a good deal of power, and other Taleban commanders, such as Waliur Rehman, were overshadowing him.

Two other intelligence officials in the north-west told The Associated Press over the past several days that they had determined that Mehsud was alive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media on the record. The Taleban have been known in the past to deny a militant leader had died even if he had. They waited for 18 days to confirm that Mehsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in an August strike as they squabbled over who would be his heir. -- AP

 

[General Veers]

<small>
MAY 2, 2010, 9:32 P.M. ET</small>

<!-- ID: BT-CO-20100502-704484 --> <!-- TYPE: T Wire --> <!-- DISPLAY-NAME: --> <!-- PUBLICATION: Dow Jones Newswires --> <!-- DATE: 2010-05-02 21:32 --> <!-- COPYRIGHT: Dow Jones & Company, Inc. --> <!-- ORIGINAL-ID: --> <!-- article start --> <!-- CODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=AEQ CODE=PRODUCT SYMBOL=WMMI CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=ASI CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=US CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=NY CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=FE CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=USE CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=PK CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=FEO CODE=GEOGRAPHIC SYMBOL=NME CODE=MARKET SYMBOL=NND CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJN CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJG7 CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=FCTV CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJFP CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJIV CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJG CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJWR CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJI CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WAER CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=NACM CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CMDI CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJMS CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=AER CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJMO CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJIR CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=TER CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=BKG CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CMR CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGV CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGS CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJIB CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJRT CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EMR CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=FXW CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EMT CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJWI CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJAE CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJQB CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJQA CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=EWR CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=GEN CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=DJGP CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=MLT CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WER CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=PLT CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=WSJC CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=APIN CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=TSY CODE=SUBJECT SYMBOL=CRM --> Pakistan Taliban Leader Threatens US In New Video - Monitors

ISLAMABAD (AFP)--Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was believed killed in January, vowed attacks on the U.S. in a new video dated early April, the SITE monitoring group said Monday. "The time is very near when our fidaeen (soldiers) will attack the American states in the major cities," Mehsud said in the Internet video alleged to have been made April 4, SITE reported.

Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a U.S. bombing raid in January, but some reports last week quoted Pakistan intelligence officials as saying he had survived the strike. Another video allegedly from Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban claimed it was behind an attempted car bombing in New York during the weekend, although the credibility of the claim has been questioned.

 

[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

Pakistan Taliban leader threatens US in new video
Posted: 03 May 2010 0932 hrs
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</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="60" valign="top"></td> <td class="update" height="80" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="138">Photos </td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="47">1 of 1</td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnPrev" value="<< Previous" onclick="Prev();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_previous.gif" type="image" height="15" width="18"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="19"><input id="bntPlay" value="Play - Stop" onclick="Play()" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_stop.gif" type="image" height="15" width="19"></td> <td bgcolor="#f6f6f6" width="18"><input disabled="disabled" id="btnNext" value=" Next >> " onclick="Next();" src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_next.gif" type="image" height="15" width="18"></td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Hakimullah Mehsud </td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td class="update"></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>
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ISLAMABAD : Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was believed killed in January, vowed attacks on the United States in a new video apparently made last month, the SITE monitoring group said Monday. Mehsud threatened to retaliate against the United States within a month for the killing of Islamist militant leaders, according to a transcript of the video alleged to have been made on April 4, SITE reported.

"The time is very near when our fidaeen (soldiers) will attack the American states in the major cities," said Mehsud, who was seen flanked by two armed and masked men in the nine-minute video. Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in January, but some reports last week quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying he had survived the attack.

Another video allegedly from Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban issued on Sunday claimed it was behind an attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square at the weekend, although the credibility of the claim has been questioned. If the TTP claim was authenticated, it would be the first attack by the TTP against a target in the United States.

Mehsud assumed leadership of the group blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in attacks across Pakistan after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike in August last year. The United States had been eager to retaliate against Mehsud after he claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a Central Intelligence Agency base in eastern Afghanistan in December that killed seven Americans.

Mehsud said the TTP would attack the United States "for having martyred many of our great Muslim leaders including Baitullah Mehsud and many respected brothers from Al-Qaeda," SITE reported. "Our fidaeen have penetrated the terrorist America, we will give extremely painful blows to the fanatic America." Mehsud also warned members of NATO and other allies to abandon the United States, telling them: "You will face even worse humiliation, destruction and defeat than America itself."

- AFP/il

 

[lauhumku]

Al-Qaeda replaces slain leaders


May 16, 2010

Al-Qaeda replaces slain leaders

New 'caliph' and deputy
Follows naming of war minister and warning of bloodshed

BAGHDAD - AL-QAEDA'S Iraqi affiliate has appointed new leaders to replace senior commanders killed by US and Iraqi forces, after naming a 'war minister' who threatened bloody days for the country's majority Shi'ites. In a statement published on jihadist websites on Saturday, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said its governing council had selected Abu Baker al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi as its caliph, or head, and Abu Abdullah al-Hassani al-Qurashi as his deputy and first minister. The names were most likely noms de guerre rather than the operatives' real names.

'We ask God to help them make the right decisions, provide them with good followers who ask and urge them to do good, and prevent them from wrong doing,' the statement said. 'And let them finish what the two martyr sheikhs started in lifting the flag of Jihad and seeking the rule of God and building a strong and cherished Islamic state,' it added. The two leaders replaced the former purported head of the ISI, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who were killed in a raid north of Baghdad last month. Masri had previously been viewed by US intelligence as having the more senior of the two positions, but the statement from the ISI described Masri as Baghdadi's first minister.

The two new appointments followed the naming on Friday of a new 'war minister' for the ISI, al-Nasser Lideen Allah Abu Suleiman. Abu Suleiman declared the launch of a campaign against Iraq's military and police and said the ISI would deliver 'a long gloomy night and dark days coloured in blood' to Shi'ites. Violence in Iraq has dropped since the height of sectarian carnage in 2006-07, but bombings are still common and a March 7 election that produced no outright winner has fuelled tensions. A series of attacks since the election in which dozens of people have been killed has been blamed on an effort by al Qaeda in Iraq's remaining network to prove to its supporters that it was still a potent force despite the loss of its commanders. -- REUTERS

 

[SwineHunter]

Plot to attack World Cup


May 18, 2010
Plot to attack World Cup

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Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani is suspected of planning a 'terrorist act' in South Africa during the World Cup beginning June 11. -- PHOTO: AP

<!-- story content : start --> BAGHDAD - IRAQI security forces have detained an Al-Qaeda militant suspected of planning an attack targeting the World Cup in South Africa next month, an official said on Monday. Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad security services, said Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani was an officer in the Saudi army. He is suspected of planning a 'terrorist act' in South Africa during the World Cup beginning June 11, General al-Moussawi told a news conference in Baghdad. He said al-Qahtani entered Iraq in 2004 and is suspected in several attacks in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

In South Africa, a police spokesman said Iraq has not notified them of the arrest. 'We have not received any official reports from them,' Vish Naidoo told The Associated Press. 'Whatever arrest they made there, they know, we don't know anything about it.' Earlier on Monday, South African police paraded fire engines, armored carriers and other vehicles through Johannesburg to show they were ready to secure the country for the World Cup. 'South Africa will be hosting the whole world, and therefore will take no chances,' Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said. In Iraq, attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda have continued despite the killing last month of the group's two top figures in a US-assisted military operation. -- AP

 

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Insurgents attack NATO's southern Afghan base


Insurgents attack NATO's southern Afghan base

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago

Foreign Secretary William Hague, center, and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, second left, address the press along with Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul, right, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, May 22, 2010. On the left is Afghan spokesperson Ahmad Zahir Faqiri. .William Hague, Defence Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell are set to meet President Hamid Karzai in their first visit to to the country since a new coalition government took power in London this month.

KABUL, Afghanistan – Insurgents launched a rare ground assault against NATO's main military base in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, wounding several international service members in the second such attack on a major military installation this week, officials said.

A Canadian Press news agency report from the base said artillery and machine gun fire reverberated through the area, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, several hours after the attack began.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack — the third major assault on NATO forces in Afghanistan in six days — but the Kandahar area is a Taliban stronghold.

On Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in the capital, killing 18 people including six NATO service members including five Americans and a Canadian.

The next day, dozens of Taliban militants attacked the main U.S. military base — Bagram Air Field — killing an American contractor in fighting that lasted more than eight hours.

Rockets started hitting Kandahar Air Field about 8 p.m. local time (15:30 GMT), followed quickly by a ground assault, said Navy Commander Amanda Peperseim, a spokeswoman for NATO forces at the base. She said the attack was still ongoing and did not provide further details.

She said at least five rockets struck the base, wounding a number of service members, as militants tried unsuccessfully to breach the defense perimeter on the northern side. There were no reports of deaths and she did not have the precise number of wounded.

Peperseim did not know how many insurgents launched the attack but said they did not appear to be wearing suicide vests, as had many of those who stormed the Bagram Air Field north of Kabul on Wednesday. In addition to the U.S. contractor's death, 16 militants were killed and five attackers were captured in the Bagram assault.

Rocket attacks against the Kandahar base, located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Kandahar city, are not uncommon. But ground assaults against such large facilities as Kandahar and Bagram are rare, and two attacks in the same week show that the militants are capable of complex operations despite NATO military pressure.

The attacks came soon after the Taliban announced a spring offensive against NATO forces and Afghan government troops — their respone to a promise by the Obama administration to squeeze the Taliban out of their strongholds in southern Kandahar province.

Kandahar Air Field is the launching pad for thousands of additional U.S. forces pouring into the country for a summer surge against the Taliban.

Attacks in the south earlier Saturday killed three NATO service members — one American, one French and one Dutch — and an Afghan interpreter. That brought to 996 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the war began in October 2001, according to an Associated Press count. The Dutch death toll in Afghanistan now is 24 and the French toll is 42.

A loudspeaker announcement at the Kandahar base said the ground attack was coming from the north, said Maura Axelrod, a reporter with HDNet who was inside the base. She said she could hear heavy outgoing fire and that commanders had come into the bunker where she had taken cover to order all Marines with weapons to help in establishing a security perimeter.

An Afghan named Najibullah who works with a private security company on the base said that he heard rockets hitting for about half an hour. He only gave one name.

NATO's current push is aimed at winning over the population in Taliban-friendly areas by establishing security and bolstering the local government. However, each military strike has created potential for backlash amid arguments about who is truly an insurgent.

In the latest such incident, at least a dozen people were killed south of the capital Saturday after U.S. troops spotted two insurgents trying to plant bombs, an Afghan official said.

The two were shot dead in Paktia province, district chief Gulab Shah said. Troops saw comrades drag the two bodies away and called in a helicopter gunship which killed 10 more people, whom U.S. officials said were all militants, Shah said.

Shah said Afghan authorities will investigate to make sure the dead were all insurgents.

Civilian deaths are a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai has urged NATO to take all necessary measures to protect civilian lives.

More than eight years into the war in Afghanistan, international support is also weakening.

The defense minister of Britain's new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government met with Karzai in Kabul on Saturday and said he hopes to speed the withdrawal of British troops.

Defense Secretary Liam Fox is quoted in Saturday's edition of The Times newspaper he "would like the forces to come back as soon as possible," and wants to see if it is possible to speed the training of Afghan troops.

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Associated Press Writers Mirwais Khan in Kandahar and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.