Free Republic

Somalia's government said it had suspended and detained several members of an elite, U.S.-trained commando unit for stealing rations donated by the United States, adding that it was taking over responsibility for provisioning the force. The Danab unit has been a key pillar of U.S.-backed efforts to combat the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab. The United States agreed in February to spend more than $100 million to build up to five military bases for Danab. Somalia's defense ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that it had notified international partners of the theft and would share the outcome...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's federal Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Friday it had detained six men suspected in a bombing in the southern city of Pyatigorsk last month that killed three people and added to security fears in the run-up to the Winter Olympics. Russia is on security alert only weeks before it opens the 2014 Winter Games on February 7 in the southern Black Sea resort of Sochi, some 270 km (170 miles) west of Pyatigorsk where the car bomb went off...

DALLAS ― After the Republican National Convention, Rep. Ron Paul’s family and aides were allegedly detained and interrogated in Clearwater, Florida yesterday. Paul’s family and aides attempted to depart for Texas when eight Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents refused to allow their passage. According to Lew Rockwell, Paul's former chief of staff, agents first questioned the pilot’s credentials, then insisted the passengers and plane be searched for explosives. TSA agents did not cite any specific threat, but insinuated the Paul family was a threat to Mitt Romney, claiming the nominee “might be nearby.” The pilot reminded

The NYPD is questioning a New Jersey man in connection with the Etan Patz case, the 6-year-old boy who vanished more than 30 years ago as he walked to the school bus from his SoHo home, NBCNewYork.com reported Thursday

Candy, snacks, bakery products, pet food and other Chinese products that contain milk will be detained at the border until tests prove that they are not contaminated, the federal government announced Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration said it issued the alert because of concern about such products being contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine. It was discovered in infant formula in September and has sickened more than 50,000 infants in China and killed at least four.

An Iraqi police officer speaks with local men about their concerns during a patrol. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Bendet. FOB KALSU -- Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army troops teamed up with paratroopers from 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, discovering three large weapons caches Sunday.The first cache was discovered in the town of Bahbahani, Iraq, outside of Musayyib. It contained 15 rockets, 30 mortar fuses, one sniper rifle, 15 rocket-propelled grenades, one rocket propelled-grenade launcher, one tripod, one mortar tube, and two 60mm mortar rounds.Once the joint patrol discovered the cache, they halted the...

RAFAH, Egypt - A Palestinian legislator was briefly detained Tuesday at the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip when he was found carrying $2 million in a suitcase, security officials said. The legislator Mushir al-Masri belongs to the ruling Hamas party, whose funding was cut off by the United States, the European Union and Israel after it won Palestinian elections earlier this year. Al-Masri was released after he was questioned by Egyptian security officials, who seized the money, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. He spent Tuesday night...

Arizona's Counter-Terrorism Information Center has advised Arizona's law enforcement officials that there is a possible increase in suspicious purchases of prepaid cell phones. Tucson Police have been searching for two men, of Middle Eastern descent for allegedly trying to buy around 50 disposable cell phones at a local Sam's Club. Those men are wanted for questioning, but not criminal charges. The Counter-Terrorism center is also monitoring the case. Tuesday, two new claims. An inside source says at a Tucson Family Dollar store, two men have also been trying to buy cell phones from that chain. And there's news from Huachuca...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2006 – Iraqi army forces conducted an early morning raid today in eastern Baghdad, Iraqi police repelled a terrorist attack in Baghdad today, and coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained five during a raid yesterday, military officials reported. The Iraqi army raid was part of Operation Together Forward, the Iraqi government's plan to improve security conditions in Baghdad. Insurgents immediately engaged the forces, and a firefight ensued. The purpose of the raid was to capture an insurgent leader responsible for numerous deaths of Iraqi citizens, officials said. Police from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st National Police...

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2006 – Terrorists killed 14 Iraqi citizens and injured at least six others in an attack today in western Baghdad. In other news, coalition forces raided a terrorist safe haven near Julaybah yesterday, killing three terrorists and detaining four suspects, officials in Iraq reported today. In today's attack, two vehicles packed with explosives detonated near a Camp Victory complex checkpoint. Initial reporting indicates that the terrorists blew themselves up in a parking lot east of the coalition forces' base. Their target wasn't the compound, bur rather, Iraqis congregated in a parking lot, officials said. Those injured were...

KABUL, Afghanistan - A top al-Qaida leader whose links stretch from Osama bin Laden's training camps to extremist networks in Europe has been captured in Pakistan, a U.S. law enforcement official confirms for the first time. Pakistani officials also tell The Associated Press that Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a dual Syrian-Spanish national with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, has been flown out of the country to an unspecified location. Nasar was captured in a November sting in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta that left one person dead, the American official said on condition of anonymity because of...

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China has detained a prominent minister of an unofficial Protestant church in a crackdown on Christian groups that defy Communist Party control, a U.S.-based group said Friday. Pastor Zhang Rongliang was taken away Dec. 1 from an apartment in a village near the central city of Zhengzhou, the China Aid Association said in an e-mailed news release. The communist government allows worship only in state-supervised churches, which claim about 11 million members. Worshippers and clergy in unofficial churches are regularly harassed and detained. Activists say unregistered "house churches" such as Zhang's have as many as 100...

The US military has detained 18 people in connection with last month's rocket attack on Baghdad's Rashid hotel, which killed a US colonel and wounded 15 others, an army spokesman has said. "We can confirm there have been some detentions, exactly 18 is the number," said Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo. "There will be more information and details within 24 to 48 hours," he said. Eight to ten rockets hit the heavily fortified Rashid, where US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying while on a visit, in the early morning of October 26. The bombardment was the first deadly hit...

PASADENA, Calif. - David Lee Roth (news) got an unwanted visitor when a man being chased by police climbed over a fence and tried to hide in the rock star's yard. The former Van Halen frontman's publicist said Roth used a shotgun to hold the man at bay until police arrived, but police spokeswoman Janet Pope could not confirm that Wednesday. "He was laying on the grass when our officers arrived," Pope said of the man arrested. She said Charles Cooley, 47, was being pursued by officers responding to complaints of someone throwing rocks at windows around 2 a.m. Saturday....