Posted on 04/12/2005 5:03:46 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
Afghan Police Say 12 Taliban Killed After Ambush
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Twelve Taliban insurgents were killed onMonday in a battle with U.S. and Afghan government forces inthe volatile southeast of the country, police said. Two soldiers from the U.S.-led foreign force in Afghanistanwere wounded in the fighting which also involved U.S. aircraft,a U.S. military spokeswoman said. The two wounded troops werein stable condition. "We collected 12 enemy bodies killed during the operation,"Hai Gul Sulaimankhel, police chief of Paktia province told Reuters.
The insurgents were killed after they attempted to assassinate Kheyal Baaz Khan Sherzai, the former military commander of neighboring Khost province, as he traveled on amain road near Gardez town. U.S. and Afghan forces responded with a joint ground and air attack in two areas to the east of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, Sulaimankhel said.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the fighting but said only one Taliban fighter died while five Afghan government troops were killed, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported. The battle followed an increase in rebel attacks in partsof the south and east where the militants have been most activesince their overthrow by U.S.-led forces in late 2001. The attacks have followed a lull over the winter after the guerrillas failed in a vow to derail an October presidential election.
Earlier, Khost's governor Mirajuddin Patan said five guerrillas had been killed after their failed attack on Sherzai, a prominent ally of U.S.-led troops hunting the Taliban when he was provincial commander. "Sherzai survived the ambush and as a result of the American air attacks, five Taliban were killed," Patan toldReuters. Lieutenant Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the U.S.military, declined to comment on Taliban deaths in the fighting. If confirmed, the toll of Taliban dead would be the highest in months.
Last week, the guerrillas said they killed a senior provincial official after kidnapping him in the southern province of Zabul, the third such murder of a local official inthe south in less than a week. The guerrillas killed five policemen in a clash in Zabul onThursday.
Four suspected Qaeda members arrested (Iraqi AQ Members in Pakistan)
PESHAWAR: An intelligence agency conducted two separate operations against Al Qaeda elements on Saturday and arrested four Iraqis suspected of working for the group, officials said on Monday.
In the first operation, intelligence personnel raided a house in Faisal Colony on Dalazak Road in the jurisdiction of Faqirabad Police Station and arrested an Iraqi, Abdul Aziz, who was fluent in Pashto, officials said. However, police expressed ignorance over the raid or arrest.
In the second operation, three suspected Al Qaeda members, also of Iraqi origin, were arrested from a house on Charsadda Road, they added. All suspects were taken to an undisclosed location, officials said.
Terrorists Captured Near Trans-Samaria Highway With Firebombs
(IsraelNN.com) An IDF reserves unit arrested three terrorists near the Shomron village of Kfar Jamin, which is near the trans-Samaria Highway , on suspicion that they intended to carry out attacks on Israeli vehicles.
Firebombs were found on the terrorists and they were taken in for investigation.
Earlier, in the Mt. Hevron region, four such firebombs were thrown at Israeli vehicles. There were no injuries.
(American Moslem) Soldier on trial in grenade attack that killed two
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — An Army sergeant went on trial Monday for a grenade attack that killed two U.S. officers in Kuwait.
His lawyer tried to stave off a possible death sentence by arguing that his client suffered mental illness.
A military prosecutor said Sgt. Hasan Akbar knew exactly what he was doing, pointing to his detailed diary entries before the March 2003 attack and the fact that he stole the grenades and cut power to his camp just before striking.
Premeditation is the central issue in the court-martial of Akbar, 33. Akbar confessed several times and allegedly told investigators he carried out the attack in the opening days of the Iraq war because he was worried that U.S. forces would harm fellow Muslims.
With the fact of the attack not in dispute, his lawyers hope to spare him a possible death penalty for premeditated murder by alleging a history of mental illness that stretched back to his teen years.
Fourteen soldiers were wounded in the attack, either by the grenades or when Akbar opened fire with a rifle in the ensuing chaos.
Southern insurgents ‘turning on one another’
BANGKOK, Apr 11 (TNA) – Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangura Na Ayutthaya today warned of a new shift in Thailand's southern insurgency, saying that militants were now increasingly turning on fellow Muslims and killing indiscriminately.
Nonetheless, he provided some hope for light at the end of the tunnel, saying that members of the public were increasingly cooperating with state security forces in providing information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the violence.
And he promised justice for the insurgents, saying: “We must treat them with justice, and in the cases of Tak Bai and Krue Se, the two cases last year of which security forces have been accused of heavy-handed tactics, we will pursue the matters in the form of legal action”.
Interior Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, meanwhile, acknowledged that the recent stepping up of attacks against security personnel did not bode well for the southern situation, but stressed that the killings appeared to be revenge attacks against the government, as it captured more and more militant ringleaders.
But he praised the public for cooperating with the government, and said that intelligence reports did not suggest any major insurgent incidents. (TNA)--E006
Three Hizbul militants arrested (India)
Srinagar, April. 11 (PTI): Three Hizbul Mujahideen militants involved in the abortive attempt on the life of a senior police officer were arrested in an operation by security forces in Anantnag district, a defence spokesman said today.
The militants identified as Sarfaraz Ahmad Malik alias Asif, Shiraf Ahmad Matoo and Fayaz Ahmad Bhat were arrested in a joint operation by police and security forces from their Hazidanter village yesterday, the spokesman said.
The trio confessed their involvement in the IED blast in Anantnag town last year which left Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, Ravinder Kotwal and ten cops injured, the spokesman said.
He said the militants are being questioned at a joint interrogation centre, Khanabal and the recoveries made from them included one rifle, one magazine and 14 rounds.
Two PKK militants killed in eastern Turkey
ANKARA, April 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Two militants from the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed Monday by security forces in eastern Turkey, an official statement said. "Turkish security forces launched an operation against a group of terrorists in Idil town of Sirnak province and two terrorists were killed in the clash," Sirnak Governor's office said in the statement. The operation was continuing in the region, added the statement.
The latest operation came after nine militants from the group were killed in a large-scale military operation against the PKK last week. Turkish security forces said last week's operation in southeastern Turkey was the biggest and most comprehensive attack on the PKK in the past six years, with two brigades of Turkish security forces and some 2,000 militants engaged.
The PKK, with an aim at establishing an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey, launched an armed campaign against the government in 1984. More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the violence in the mainly Kurdish area since then. Fighting has subdued significantly since PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999. However, the group called off a unilateral ceasefire in 2004, disrupting the fragile peace.
The Turkish government refuses to negotiate with the PKK, which it lists as a terrorist organization. Enditem
Imam, four militants among six killed in J and K (India)
Srinagar, Apr 11 (UNI) Four militants, a security official and an Imam (priest) were killed in different militancy-related incidents across Jammu and Kashmir as troops arrested three top Hizbul Mujahideen ultras and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the past 24 hours, an official spokesman said today.
The spokesman said militant gunned down 50-year-old Ghulam Qadir Sheikh, an Imam (priest) of the local Jamia Masjid, at Kither Bonjwah in Kishtwar tehsil of Doda district last night.
He said ultras killed Reyaz Ahmed Bhat, a former militant, and wounded another person, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, when they fired upon point blank at Dooru in Sopore town of the border district of Baramulla this morning.
While Bhat died on the spot, Dar sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a hospital where his condition is stated to be critical, he added.
The spokesman said security forces killed a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant, identified as Mohammad Irfan of Bhawalpur in Pakistan, in an encounter at Wani Daroosa forests in Sogam of Kupwara district last night. One AK rifle, four magazines and 58 rounds were seized from him.
The Taliban ain't doin' so well lately. [grin] And sounds like a significant set of captures in Pakistan - Iraqis in Al Qaeda. Who'd a thunk it?
What? You're too good to ping your groupies? :-)
Quite an excellant round-up!! It's a good day!
Let me know if you want on/off the terrorist roundup ping list
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Thanks for the ping old guy! :)
It wasn't so bad when the hair went but now that my mind is going....what was I saying?
Thanks for the ping, SV.
Don't know, can't hear you.
Blinded by the glare coming off the top of your head.
Sure, pile on!
;-)
BUMP! Goes to show you that the Imans are in on it too.
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