Operation Phantom Fury--Day 449 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 344

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2006 – Two members of an ABC news crew embedded with the 4th Infantry Division were injured today when an improvised explosive device struck their armored personnel carrier north of Taji, Iraq, during a combined operation of Iraqi army and coalition forces, U.S. officials in Baghdad reported.

The two reporters, ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, and an Iraqi soldier were injured in the attack, which occurred at approximately 12:25 p.m.

The wounded were evacuated to a military hospital for further treatment.

"Our immediate priority is the well-being of the two injured reporters and the Iraqi soldier," Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, a Multinational Division Baghdad spokesman, said.

(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.)

Related Sites:

Multinational Force Iraq

Iraqi Soldiers Seek Captive U.S. Journalist

Iraqi, American Soldiers Engage Terrorists

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2006 – Iraqi and American soldiers successfully engaged terrorists and other anti-Iraqi forces in a series of recent operations, U.S. military officials reported.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Mountain Division, discovered two dead Iraqis with spent 9 mm casings next to them during a patrol in central Baghdad today.

Elsewhere, a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police and coalition forces in Kirkuk turned up four suspected terrorists today. Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, established the surprise checkpoint early this morning in an area of town notorious for terrorist activity. As the police were administering the checkpoint, a vehicle was seen reversing its direction to avoid being checked. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers pursued the vehicle as it drove across open fields and empty lots to avoid being checked.

Soldiers fired at the vehicle, killing three male occupants. Another male was unhurt and was detained. All of the men were wearing Iraqi police uniforms, but none of them had official Iraqi police identification documents. The four men tested positive for explosives residue. A search of the vehicle yielded three AK-47 rifles, one sub-machine gun, and two pistols, officials said.

Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers also used a tip from a local Iraqi citizen to help detain a suspected kidnapping cell leader yesterday. The soldiers, from 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, detained the suspected criminal. In his home, they found a pistol, a sniper rifle, IED batteries, timers and circuit boards. En route to his house, the soldiers also found three decapitated Iraqi bodies on a nearby soccer field.

While searching three other houses in the area, the U.S. patrol detained three additional suspected criminals or terrorists. These searches yielded four 155 mm rounds, two with cell phones attached and rigged for detonation, numerous IED trigger devices, one AK-47 rifle, and anti-Iraqi forces literature. The two Iraqi army soldiers died and four were wounded when an improvised explosive device exploded in Tal Afar, Jan. 27. A second IED exploded while Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division, were evacuating the casualties from the first IED explosion. No one was reported injured in that second IED explosion, officials said.

A third explosion occurred while the soldiers were conducting a cordon-and-search operation in the area. One Iraqi civilian was killed, another was wounded, and two Iraqi soldiers were killed in that explosion, officials said. Soldiers with Task Force Band of Brothers, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, immediately responded and searched the area where the third explosion occurred. These U.S. soldiers detained two suspects, who tested positive for explosive residue.

Also Jan. 27, Iraqi security forces backed up by U.S. soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, responded Jan. 27 to a call stating that organized terrorists had killed several civilians inside a mosque in central Baghdad. Subsequent reports indicated that 30 to 50 terrorists were operating within the mosque and were firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at Iraqi police nearby. Aviation air assets helped to resolve the situation. Three suspected terrorists have been detained in connection with the incident.

Elsewhere, soldiers with Task Force Band of Brothers found and destroyed an IED near Samarra Jan 26, thanks to a tip about men digging on a roadside berm. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, investigated the tip and discovered two large artillery rounds placed in the berm. Tips from local residents have helped Iraqi and coalition forces stop dozens of attacks in the area, officials said.

(From Multinational Force Iraq and Task Force Band of Brothers news releases.)

Related Site:

Multinational Force Iraq

**TALK SHOW RADIO HOSTS**

01:00am ET - 05:00am ET - Coast to Coast AM with George Noory
12:00pm ET - 03:00pm ET - The Rush Limbaugh Show
G. Gordon Liddy Show (10:00 AM-1:00 PM ET)
G. Gordon Liddy Show (12:00 PM-3:00 PM ET)
3:00PM ET-6:00PM ET -- Sean Hannnity
Neal Boortz -- 9:00AM ET-12:00PM ET
06:00pm ET - 9:00pm ET - The Michael Savage Show
9:00am ET - 12:00pm ET - The Laura Ingraham Show
11:00pm ET - 01:00am ET - Fox News LIVE with Alan Colmes
11:45am ET - 12:00pm ET - Paul Harvey News & Commentary
Paul Harvey News Radio Archives
SUNDAY ~ 10:00pm ET - 01:00am ET - Matt Drudge-LIVE!
4:00pm ET - 5:00PM ET ~~ The Kyle Warren Show
6:00PM ET - 8:00PM ET ~~Mark Levin
10:00PM ET - 12:00AM ET~~John Batchelor
12p.m. ET - 2 p.m. ET~~Bill O'Reilly
6:00am ET - 10:00am ET~~Imus in The Morning
9am ET -12pm ET ~~ Glenn Beck Show (Audio Feed)
10:00pm ET -1:00am ET ~~ The Jim Bohannon Show

Click Rollin Down the Road ~~ 12:00am ET - 5am ET
Thr Michael Reagan Show~~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET
The Mike Gallagher Show~~12:00am ET - 3:00am ET
The Hugh Hewitt Show ~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET
Michael Savage Show ~ 9:00pm ET - 12:00am ET (Click Bitcaster)
*Click News & Talk Radio List*

Click Talk Radio Hosts

Coalition's Newest Democracies Helping Fledgling Democracies

By Capt. Steve Alvarez, USA - American Forces Press Service

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Jan. 29, 2006 – For more than a year, Albanian army Maj. Ilirjan Balliu has served as the senior national representative for Albania with the 63-nation coalition organized to combat global terrorism.

Shortly after his arrival to U.S. Central Command here, Balliu had breakfast with a U.S. military officer. As the two shared conversation and coffee, the U.S. officer revealed what was on his mind. "'If you would have told me years ago that I would have been sitting at a U.S. military base, eating and talking to an Albanian military officer, I wouldn't have believed you,'" the U.S. officer said, Balliu recalled with a smile.

Since the end of the Cold War, many former foes are now allies, coalition officials said. Now some of these former Soviet Bloc nations are globally united and aligned with organizations like CENTCOM's coalition, NATO and the European Union. And as part of the coalition, these fledgling democracies are helping nations like Iraq and Afghanistan rebuild with a democratic foundation, even as they themselves continue to build their nations with democratic rule.

Former Soviet Bloc and other formerly communist nations now supporting coalition operations are: Russia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Germany (now part of Germany), Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Tajikistan, Slovenia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

"We're supporting the reconstruction of these countries," Romanian navy Capt. Sorin Nicolaescu said. "All these guys in theater are there voluntarily. They are there because they wanted to go."

Nicolaescu is Romania's senior national representative at CENTCOM, where he leads a small contingent of officers who help their country coordinate its military involvement in the war on terror. Romania became a NATO member in March 2004. They are a democratic republic and parted from their Soviet alliance in 1989.

Currently, Romania has approximately 1,400 military personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. In southern Iraq, Romanians are patrolling and securing routes used by the coalition. "They're doing force protection, engineering missions, training Iraqi forces -- the full range of missions," Nicolaescu said. Romanians are also protecting Iraqi infrastructure and providing medical care for insurgent detainees in theater, he said.

Other nations new to democracy are committing troops to the cause of democracy in CENTCOM's area of responsibility. Azerbaijan is an emerging democracy and also a member of the coalition. The country is a member of the Council of Europe and also participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, a project created in 1994 to build trust between NATO and European states and the former Soviet Union. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, all former members of the Partnership for Peace, have sinced joined NATO.

Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 and first deployed forces to support coalition operations in Kosovo. It currently has 170 personnel serving in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. In Afghanistan, an Azerbaijani platoon is under the command of a Turkish battalion, patrolling and providing force protection. In Iraq, Azerbaijanis are guarding the Haditha Dam and power grids in the often-violent Anbar province, Azerbaijani army Lt. Col. Akbarov Ilham said. He serves as a coalition liaison officer for his country.

Azerbaijan, like Iraq and Afghanistan, is a mostly Muslim nation, according to the U.S. State Department. Albania, another former Soviet Bloc country, is also mostly Muslim and leaders have chosen to develop their country using Western methods.

Balliu, the Albanian officer, said his nation was embraced by the free world when it chose democracy in its post-Soviet Union development, so he and other military personnel feel a sincere and deep calling to serve in the war on terror. He is one of a two-person team sent to this Tampa, Fla., base by his country. Currently Albania has about 150 troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan providing force protection in Iraq, and medical personnel to a Greek hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.

"We want to give them our experience in democracy, ... in emancipation," Balliu said. He adds that Albania's connection to the Islamic culture has provided a critical cultural bridge for Albanian forces that facilitates interactions between Albanian soldiers and citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq. "We are Muslims, Orthodox (Christians) and Catholics," Balliu said. "We know the traditions. Discussions with these people are easy for those who know the customs. When our troops are in the field they're sensitive and explain the benefits of democracy."

These days, Balliu said, Albanian troops are well-received where they're deployed. "(Locals) know our troops now, and they greet us using our language," he said.

Due to the small size of Albania's military, many personnel are now participating in their second deployments to Iraq, Balliu said. "Going for the second time shows that we're a member of this coalition until we finish in Iraq," Balliu said. "We will be in this coalition until we win."

Balliu insists that a nation's geographic and geopolitical size should not discourage it from pursuing democracy. Democracy is not just something reserved for nations like the United States. "Even the smallest birds want to fly," he said.

Related Site:

U.S. Central Command

Fires Brigade battle buddies at 4ID ROC keep commanders informed

Pfc. Joseph Baudhuin (left) and Pfc. Robert Shofner, both of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, are radio transmission operators at the 4th Inf. Div. Rear Operations Center. The Soldiers served with each other in basic combat and advanced individual training, their first assignment at Fort Hood, and now through their deployment here. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Malec, Fires Bde. PAO, 4th Inf. Div.)

January 29, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The 4th Infantry Division’s Rear Operations Center is considered the eyes and ears of what’s happening outside the wire, 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week.

The Soldiers who run the ROC come from the Fires Brigade and are charged with gathering and passing on information quickly to commanders at all levels.

"I work as a radio transmission operator where I listen for the updates and changes in convoy routes, route status, and nine-line medivac requests for all of Iraq," said Pfc. Joseph Baudhuin, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Fires Bde.

Baudhuin, along with his fellow Soldiers, maintain constant situational awareness..

"I actually see what’s happening all over Iraq everyday," said Baudhuin, with a serious look on his face as he also explained that all the information he gathers gets reported each day to give commanders a clear picture of what’s happening on the ground.

The hardest part about the job is reporting the serious incidents involving Soldiers, said Baudhuin, a recent high school graduate from Lakeville, Minn.

"Hearing it over the radio - it’s almost like you are really there, but you then remember that you have to pass on what you hear over the radio quickly and without hesitation."

Baudhuin is not alone. He has a battle buddy whose been by his side through basic combat and advanced individual training, his first assignment at Fort Hood and now, his first deployment - Pfc. Robert Shofner, also of HHB, Fires Bde.

While both Soldiers said they started out a bit rough in basic training, they motivated each other through air traffic controller school at Fort Rucker, Ala., to graduate from a specialty that has only a 33 percent pass rate.

"He seems like a brother to me now," said Baudhuin, of Shofner. "Being roommates, you really learn a lot about somebody - what gets on their nerves. You know what makes them happy, you laugh together because you are going through the same stuff together."

"I first found out about him because he had gained the name "Cheeseburger" in basic training," said Shofner, with a slight chuckle.

"He ate a cheeseburger when he was not supposed to at chow, then we were all smoked for that. From then on, we all called him Cheeseburger - nobody really knew his real name," said Shofner, a Jasper, Texas, native.

"Overall, the two of them are very squared away," said Sgt. 1st Class Antwone Reese, ROC noncommissioned officer in charge.

"They always seem to know what to do, when to do it and they work very well together, which in turn, makes my job a whole lot easier," continued Reese.

Although glad he has a battle buddy to lean on throughout his deployment, Baudhuin admits it still is hard to be far from home.

"My wife Katelynn’s birthday was just the other day, and I really wished I could have been there for that," said a slightly misty-eyed Baudhuin. "But I sent her a gift a while ago, and I called home on her birthday and heard her open it up - and that was really neat."

"The Army is great. They take care of you. They take care of your families, and I really want to make this a career if my wife will let me," said Baudhuin.

By Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Malec - Fires Brigade PAO

Call to reveal more on $37m FA-18 Hornet crash

January 30, 2006 - 1:17PM

An environmental group has called on the United States Navy to provide more information on the fate of the FA-18 Hornet strike fighter plane which ditched in the sea.

Australian Conservation Foundation marine campaign coordinator Chris Smyth said it was not yet known whether the plane, which ditched into the sea on Saturday night, could potentially harm the environment.

"We still don't have enough information," he said today.

"We are concerned about the fuel load, the payload in terms of what sort of weapons are on the plane and what sort of damage might have been caused by the crash itself and what, over time, might leak from the plane as well."

The pilot ditched into the sea around 200km south-east of Brisbane after failing to land on the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan during a training exercise.

The US Navy has yet to confirm whether it will seek to salvage the plane and is investigating the incident.

Mr Smyth said his group has contacted the US Embassy in Canberra to get more information on the plane.

"Even though this is an accident we would hope the US Navy, in cooperation with Australian authorities, would ensure this plane was removed or give us some very good reasons why not," he said.

The USS Ronald Reagan is the world's largest aircraft carrier with a crew of 6,000 and is powered by two nuclear reactors.

It left Brisbane on Friday after a five-day visit.

The vessel, on its maiden overseas deployment, was conducting naval operations in support of the war on terror as well as security commitments in the western Pacific.

Federal Labor Leader Kim Beazley, in Brisbane today, said the jet could be left where it was to be used as a dive wreck.

"So if the Americans want to leave it there, then leave it there," he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/call-to-reveal-more-on-37m-jet-crash/2006/01/30/1138469642135.html

AAP

Troops shift to desert post

Sunday, January 29, 2006

By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER - Staff Writer

MOSUL, Iraq--When 1st Lt. Rob Murdough found out he and soldiers in his platoon were being moved from Mosul to Rawah in western Iraq for the remainder of their tour, he asked his parents to send him an electric razor.

"We heard water for shaving can be scarce at times," he said.

That's not all the soldiers will find different when groups of soldiers relieve their counterparts who have been stationed in Rawah since the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team arrived in August.

While most of the brigade is situated around Mosul, a city of nearly 2.5 million, elements of the brigade are stationed at Combat Outpost Rawah, about 60 miles from the Syrian border. The soldiers there are from the same brigade, with the same training and equipment, including Stryker vehicles.

But they have been involved in a different fight under austere conditions in a rural, desolate corner of the desert.

"We're about 18 months behind where Mosul is right now as far as security," Lt. Col. Mark Freitag said in December. "It's a different fight. It's not even close."

The soldiers at Rawah--with a joint task force of Marines, sailors and airmen--are responsible for an area of western Iraq that encompasses about 17,000 square miles throughout the Euphrates River valley, and about 40 miles of the Syrian border.

Murdough, with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, said he has told his soldiers that Rawah presents a more streamlined and focused mission. Local security is not as robust. An Iraqi army battalion was set up there just three months ago. There are no police and no city government. The region still operates on a tribal system, with no strong leadership or decision-making system. The improvised explosive devices meant to target U.S. troops here are larger than in Mosul and countless weapons caches have been uncovered in the area.

The town is also a renowned crossroads for foreign fighters who funnel into the country from Syria and into Rawah before heading north to Mosul or south to Baghdad.

The battle isn't the only thing different about Rawah. The soldiers will also undergo a lifestyle change.

Soldiers in Mosul reside at forward operating bases situated around the city, small communities with Turkish shops, recreation facilities, small trailers for housing, beds, dining facilities, satellite TV, Internet and phone service. At Combat Outpost Rawah, the amenities are bare-bones. There are the basic tents, cots and portable toilets, as well as hot breakfast and lunch produced in a mobile kitchen. There's also sand as far as the eye can see.

Family members are especially concerned about communications. While there is Internet and phone access in Rawah, it is sporadic.

But most of the soldiers moving from Mosul to Rawah are gladly trading their current comforts for a more active day job that they hope will help the remainder of their deployment go more quickly and give them a chance to partake in "old-school war," as Staff Sgt. Jacque Keeslar called it.

"To make time go faster, that's all I want to do," said Sgt. 1st Class C. Kelly, with the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry. "That's my main purpose, to get back to my wife and kids."

Kelly and other cavalry soldiers were packing up and moving out last week after making Mosul home for the last five months. They lived in a multi-story building affectionately known as the Bombed-Out Palace, once belonging to a family member of Saddam Hussein.

The center of the palace is mostly caved in, contributing to leaky ceilings and cracked floors. Earlier this month, the soldiers were gathering up the last of their belongings and packing their Strykers for the several-hour drive to Rawah. They posed for a formal picture, ate one last meal in the chow hall and, by daylight the next morning, only pigeons remained.

Kelly said that he thinks Mosul is a more difficult fight than Rawah. The situation in Rawah is what most soldiers were expecting when they arrived in Iraq. Instead, Kelly said, soldiers who arrived in Mosul had to adapt to the urban battlefield, learning to interact with residents diplomatically and working on civic projects as well as combat operations.

He said the soldiers coming from Rawah will probably have a harder time adjusting to Mosul than their counterparts will adapting to Rawah.

"At least we did the hard part first," Kelly said. "So now we can go down and put our game face on if we need to."

Murdough said there are pros and cons to the battle and living conditions at each location. He said surely some of the soldiers coming to Mosul from Rawah will enjoy having beds, buffets of food at each meal and a chance to catch the Super Bowl.

"There's always 'the grass is a little greener' in these cases," Murdough said.

But when it comes down to it, for most of the soldiers, there is no difference.

"Is (Rawah) more dangerous?" Murdough said. "You can't really quantify that. It's Iraq."

Wounded ABC Anchor Evacuated to Germany

Update - January 30, 2006

ABC "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured Sunday when the Iraqi Army vehicle they were traveling in was attacked with an explosive device.

Both journalists suffered head injuries, and Woodruff also has broken bones. They were in stable condition following surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq, and were being evacuated to medical facilities in Germany, ABC News President David Westin said Sunday night.

"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," Westin said.

Woodruff and Doug Vogt, an award-winning cameraman, were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling in a convoy with U.S. and Iraqi troops near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad.

They were wearing body armor and helmets but were standing up in the hatch of the mechanized vehicle when the device exploded, exposing them to shrapnel. An Iraqi solder was also hurt in the explosion.

ABC said the men were in the Iraqi vehicle - considered less secure than U.S. military equipment - to get the perspective of the Iraqi military. They were aware the Iraqi forces are the frequent targets of insurgent attacks, the network said.

ABC reported senior producer Kate Felsen had been working with Woodruff for the past two weeks.

"He wanted to get out and report the story and not be locked in and taking information from someone else who was experiencing it," Felsen said.

She said she spoke with Woodruff and Vogt after the attack.

"Doug was conscious, and I was able to reassure him we were getting them care. I spoke to Bob also and walked with them to the helicopter," Felsen said.

The U.S. military confirmed that Woodruff and Vogt were injured in the midday attack and said an investigation is under way.

Lara Logan, a CBS News correspondent who has covered Iraq, said the Taji area is considered particularly dangerous because it was the site of one of Saddam Hussein's munitions dumps. Many of the explosives are believed to have gotten into the hands of insurgents, she said.

"I admire Bob for going with the Iraqis," said Logan, who was blown 12 feet in the air by an explosion while with the U.S. military in Afghanistan in 2003. "It's important to hear their story and to experience it from their point of view. He did the right thing."

It was another dose of bad news for ABC News, still recovering from the cancer death of Peter Jennings in August. Woodruff, 44, assumed Jennings' old job anchoring "World News Tonight" with Elizabeth Vargas earlier this month.

Setting the broadcast aside from its network rivals, ABC usually stations one of the anchors in a New York studio while the other is doing reports from the field. Woodruff spent three days in Israel last week reporting on the Palestinian elections, and was to have been in Iraq through the State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to ABC.

Woodruff, a father of four, has been at ABC News since 1996. He grew up in Michigan and became a corporate lawyer in New York, but changed fields soon after a stint teaching law in Beijing in 1989 and helping CBS News during the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Vogt, 46, is a three-time Emmy award winning cameraman from Canada who has spent the last 20 years based in Europe covering global events for CBC, BBC and now exclusively for ABC News. He lives in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Vogt was recently in another convoy in which someone was killed by another improvised explosive device but Vogt wasn't injured.

"They've covered all the wars, the hot spots," said ABC News' Jim Sciutto, who is covering the war in Iraq. "The best we have with Doug. He's the cameraman we all request when we go to the field because he's so good, a fantastic eye. He's won so many awards for ABC."

On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, anchor Bob Schieffer abandoned his commentary to wish Woodruff and Vogt well. "It just hit us all like a lightning bolt because we've all been there," he later told The Associated Press.

NBC "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams said he had been in touch with Woodruff's family and is praying for the families of both men.

"There is no way to cover the story in Iraq without exposure to danger," he said.

Dozens of journalists have been injured, killed or kidnapped in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped by gunmen Jan. 7. She was among 250 foreigners who had been taken captive in the country since the U.S. invasion; at least 39 of those foreigners were killed.

The most visible among the U.S. TV reporters was David Bloom of NBC News, who died from an apparent blood clot while traveling south of Baghdad on April 6, 2003.

The Blooms and Woodruffs were known to be close friends, and when NBC News executives had to tell Bloom's widow that her husband had died, they made sure Lee Woodruff was there to offer support.

Iran says kidnapped soldiers freed

Monday, January 30, 2006

TEHRAN: A group of Iranian soldiers kidnapped near the border with Pakistan nearly two months ago was freed on Sunday, an interior ministry official told AFP.

The source, who asked not to be named, gave no further details on the end to the abductions — which Iranian officials had blamed on a hardline Sunni Muslim group operating in the unruly border area in Iran’s southeast..

Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on January 7 that the kidnappers belonged “to groups influenced by the ideology of the Taliban”, the hardline Sunni militia which ruled Afghanistan before the US-led invasion of 2001.

Both the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda allies follow an extreme form of Sunni Islam that regards Iran’s official Shiite faith as heretical. In two videotapes broadcast by the Dubai-based new channel Al-Arabiya, the kidnappers identified themselves as members of the Sunni militant group Jundallah (Soldiers of God).

They had also threatened to kill the hostages unless the Iranian authorities release 16 jailed comrades. Iranian officials and media had initially insisted the kidnappers were bandits, drug traffickers or dissident tribesmen.

The southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan is notoriously lawless and is a key transit route for opium and other drugs headed for Europe and the Gulf. afp

Pakistani forces arrest Turkish militant

ISLAMABAD, Jan 29 (KUNA) -- Pakistani security forces Sunday arrested a Turkish Al-Qaeda linked militant and seized important documents in the northern tribal region, bordering Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the military accused Coalition helicopter of, despite repeated protest by Islamabad, airspace violation.

A Turkish Al-Qaeda militant in his late 20s, Alias Yousuf, was arrested in a raid in a remote town near Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan tribal agency, said intelligence sources. They said forces also recovered important documents and ammunition.

A US helicopter, sources said, engaged in an operation against Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan, Friday night, and repeatedly violated Pakistani airspace.

Military spokesman Shaukat Sultan, terming it a technical violation, said that the helicopter went back after receiving warnings from Pakistani side.

Sources said US helicopters were fighting Taliban militants inside Afghan territory, adding that they repeatedly violated the airspace and dropped two missiles on Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan tribal agency. But, they said, there were no casualties.

German govt confirms sale of submarines to Israel

29 Jan 2006

BERLIN: Germany will help Israel buy two submarines at a discounted price, Peter Eickenboom, a junior defence minister responsible for armaments, was quoted as saying today.

Eickenboom's comments coincided with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Israel.

Eickenboom told German MDR radio the government would stand by a decision made by the previous Social Democrat-Greens coalition government on November 21, its last day in office.

''The sole reason for this is Germany's special obligation to help secure the existence of the state of Israel,'' Eickenboom told MDR, according to the text of his comments.

The station said Israel plans to order the two Dolphin class submarines from German firm Thyssen-HDW, although the sales contract has yet to be signed.

Media reports said the deal would cost around 1 billion (1.22 billion dollars), of which the German government is set to pay one third, provided this does not exceed 333 million euros.

Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament must approve the government's participation in the deal.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.