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President Barack Obama on Sunday expressed condolences to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari for the deaths last month of 24 Pakistani troops, saying the NATO airstrikes that killed them were not a "deliberate attack." A White House statement said Obama placed a call early Sunday to Zardari expressing his regrets over the "tragic loss" and promising a "full investigation" into the incident, which has plunged the two uneasy allies into a diplomatic crisis. Obama "made clear that this regrettable incident was not a deliberate attack on Pakistan and reiterated the United States' strong commitment to a full investigation," the statement...

Nato's number two insurgent target 'killed in air strike' A senior al-Qaeda figure and Nato's second-highest priority insurgent in Afghanistan has been killed in an air strike, following a four-year manhunt. By Jeremy Kelly in Kabul 4:38 PM BST 26 Apr 2011 The death of Saudi Arabian national Abdul Ghani, also known as Abu Hafs al-Najdi, from a coalition air strike on April 13 ends a four-year hunt. Nato said Ghani directed al-Qaeda operations in the eastern border province of Kunar, where he was killed, including the recruiting and training of fighters as well as planning attacks against Afghan and...

The Israeli military said on Saturday a top militant killed in a predawn raid was “directly and physically involved” in the 2006 capture of Gilad Shalit, a soldier Israel believes is still being held in the Gaza Strip. Tayser Abu Snima, who Palestinian medics said was killed in an air strike on a vehicle along the Gaza-Egyptian border, was a key figure in the Hamas Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. The Israeli statement called Abu Snima a senior Hamas operative in Gaza and said he was “directly and physically involved in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,”...

Ajdabiya, Libya - An apparent NATO airstrike slammed into a rebel combat convoy Thursday, killing at least five fighters and sharply boosting anger among anti-government forces after the second bungled mission in a week blamed on the military alliance. (Snip) In a sign of the hair-trigger tensions along the front, thousands of civilians and fighters raced out of the rebel-held city of Ajdabiya in eastern Libya after reports that Moammar Gadhafi's forces gained ground in the chaos after the bombing. Some militiamen shouted insults against NATO as they retreated. "We don't want NATO anymore!" cried fighter Basit bin Nasser. Another

Colonel Gaddafi appeals to 'our son' Barack Obama to tell Nato to lay off by Reporter, Daily Mirror 7/04/2011 COLONEL Gaddafi yesterday made a direct appeal to Barack Obama to halt “an unjust war” against Libya. He also wished the US President good luck in the next election. In a rambling, three-page letter littered with errors, Gaddafi implored Obama to stop the Nato-led air campaign “against a small people of a developing country”. And he told him: “You are in a position to keep Nato off the Libyan affair for good.” Gaddafi said democracy could not be built by bombing,...

Two people were killed in an attack on a car near Port Sudan on Tuesday, which police suggested was a missile fired from the sea, while state media and a regional government official blamed a foreign aircraft. Witnesses at the scene near the airport at Sudan's main port city said the small car was destroyed and the two charred bodies of its passengers could be seen.

Initial assessment of French air strikes in Libya The expansion of war aims, beyond those recommended by the UN resolution, is becoming acute. Operations against Libya are in their sixteenth day without them showing clearly the French targets. Initially, Saturday, March 19, the war aims were well defined by Nicolas Sarkozy during his speech after the summit at the Elysee, "In the absence of a cease-fire and to withdrawal of armed forces, summit participants agreed to implement all necessary means, including military means, to oppose any aggression. " Thus expressed, the French concept of the implementation of resolution 1973 the...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Mar. 23, 2011) – Coalition forces conducted a precision airstrike targeting a Haqqani network leader, killing two insurgents and wounding one in Terayzai district, Khost province today. The Haqqani leader is involved in the supply of weapons, ammunition, and vehicles to HQN operatives and participates in direct attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. Coalition forces called in a precision air strike and the targeted vehicle was destroyed. Just prior to the weapon impact, an unassociated civilian vehicle and two pedestrians walking in a wadi appeared, next to the target vehicle. Immediately following the strike, the civilian vehicle came...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 25, 2011) – Coalition forces conducted a precision air strike targeting a group of armed insurgents in Gelan district, Ghazni province, killing two insurgents yesterday. A senior Taliban leader for the district was reportedly in the group of armed insurgents. He is responsible for improvised explosive device and direct fire attacks on coalition forces and the provincial reconstruction team. The Taliban leader is closely associated with other senior leaders in the area. Recent reporting indicates he led a rocket propelled grenade attack on coalition forces. Following intelligence tips, the precision air strike was conducted after ensuring no...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 22, 2011) — Coalition forces targeted the Taliban shadow district governor for Hisarak, Laghman province, killing more than 10 insurgents with two precision air strikes in the province yesterday. The targeted Taliban shadow district leader conducted attacks against Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials and coalition forces. He poses a threat to the security of Afghan officials and coalition forces in Hisarak and Sherzad districts. According to recent reporting he has acquired improvised explosive device material, machine guns and rockets for future attacks. Multiple armed insurgents, including the targeted Taliban leader, were identified in a...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 8) – Coalition forces targeted an al-Qaida-associated Taliban leader with a precision air strike in Kunar province yesterday, killing several suspected insurgents. The targeted leader is an active attack planner who leads at least 25 fighters. Additionally, he maintains close contact with al-Qaida leaders and facilitators. The targeted leader used Taliban compounds from which to launch attacks on the Pech Valley Road in Kunar and emplaced a heavy machine gun on the eastern ridge line of a nearby village to provide over watch for his sub-leaders. The Taliban leader also used light machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades...

01-02-2011 13:36 Kim Jong-il hides himself underground for fear of US F-22 Raptors North Korean leader hid himself in an underground bunker for nine days during the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise off the west coast from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 last year for fear of F-22 Raptors of the U.S. Air Force, the Joongang Sunday magazine reported. The F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft equipped with stealth technology. The U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington participated in the joint exercise. A defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity that Kim hid to protect himself from an...

One of the reasons why it’s so dangerous to mess with the United States militarily is that, while we Americans value hard work–which makes us formidable, in itself,–we’ve always exhibited and enjoyed a very healthy combination of inherent creativity/inventiveness and laziness, in the sense that if there’s a way to make our lives both easier and more productive at the same time (getting more work done with less effort) by building a better mousetrap, then, by God, we’re gonna’ figure it out and do it. Hell, we pride ourselves on it. Many American inventions now exist for precisely this reason....

Ever since the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey cast doubt on the efficacy of aerial bombardment in World War II, and particularly after its failure to bring victory in the Vietnam War, air power has acquired a bad reputation. Nowadays, killing enemies from the skies is widely considered useless, while its polar opposite, counterinsurgency by nation-building, is the U.S. government's official policy. But it's not yet time to junk our planes. Air power still has a lot to offer, even in a world of scattered insurgencies. More... Military aviation started off splendidly in 1911, when the Italians pioneered aerial bombing in...

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – At least 30 militants were killed in an air strike by the Pakistani military as two suicide bombers attacked police stations in northwest Pakistan Saturday, officials said. The air strike took place in South Waziristan district where the military in October launched an air and ground offensive to flush out Taliban militants.

"UP cops nab IM terrorist planning aerial strike" Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, TNN, 2 February 2010, 01:48am IST SNIPPET: "LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: The arrest of Shehzad alias Pappu — one of the key accused in the September 2008 serial blasts in Delhi and the Batla House encounter — by the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of UP Police from Azamgarh on Monday evening is being seen as a major breakthrough in exposing a module that was planning to unleash air strikes. Shehzad, intelligence agencies had recently discovered, had undergone a training to fly planes from an institute in Bangalore and had surfaced as a...

Sana’a – A US-born radical cleric is alive and well following reports he may have been killed in a Yemeni airstrike against suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts, friends and relatives said Friday. The government said it targeted a meeting of high-level Al-Qaeda operatives in Thursday’s airstrike in the remote Shabwa region. It claimed at least 30 militants were killed, possibly including Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who has been linked to the shooter in last month’s attack at the Fort Hood military base in the US. In addition to Al-Awlaki, the top leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (in Saudi Arabia...

Nato has promised a full investigation into an air strike on two fuel tankers that killed up to 90 people in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province. The alliance said many Taliban insurgents who had hijacked the tankers were killed but it admitted it had reports of many civilian casualties. The Nato-led forces said they regretted "any unnecessary loss of human life". President Hamid Karzai said targeting civilians was "unacceptable" and announced his own investigation panel. A statement from his office said the president expressed "deep sorrow for the loss of our compatriots" and "emphasised that innocent civilians must not be killed...

KABUL, Sept. 8, 2009 – The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has appointed a two-star general to lead the formal investigation into a Sept. 3 air strike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that reportedly killed numerous civilians. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal appointed Canadian Maj. Gen. C.S. Sullivan to lead the joint investigation board’s probe of the incident. Sullivan directs ISAF’s air component and serves as the command’s deputy director of joint operations. The board also will include a U.S. Air Force officer, a German officer and a legal advisor and will coordinate with the Afghan investigation team formed...

A German commander who ordered an air strike on fuel tankers that killed dozens of Afghans used intelligence from a single observer in a possible breach of tactical rules. An American warplane dropped 500lb bombs on the tankers after they were hijacked by Taliban militants and then became stuck in a river. Reports suggested dozens of civilians could have been burned alive alongside the militants as villagers crowded round the lorries to collect fuel before the bombs struck in northern Kunduz province. The Washington Post reported grainy live video footage seen by the officer from the F15 jet had not...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2009 – NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has launched an investigation into a coalition air strike that reportedly killed civilians yesterday, military officials reported. NATO officials still are working to ascertain the facts in the incident, which occurred in Regional Command North’s area of operations in Kunduz province, according to an ISAF news release. What is known is that ISAF soldiers reported that insurgents had hijacked two fuel trucks in Kunduz yesterday. The troops located the trucks on the banks of the Kunduz River when the vehicles became stuck in the mud. The troops observed...

A unilateral attack by Israel against Iran to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions would be an "absolute catastrophe," AFP quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as warning on Thursday. Sarkozy was speaking after a summit of the Group of Eight and other leaders in Italy at which they agreed on the need to pursue a negotiated deal with Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2009 – The investigation into a May 4 close-air support incident in Afghanistan’s Farah province that caused civilian casualties has pointed to some deviations from established tactics, techniques and procedures, but those involved showed extraordinary care in the incident, the Pentagon’s press secretary said today. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell responds to questions posed by members of the news media during a June 8, 2009, Pentagon press conference. DoD photo by R. D. Ward   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Geoff Morrell said Army Brig. Gen. Raymond Thomas conducted the review and briefed Navy Adm....

Reporting from Washington -- Military investigators have concluded that some airstrikes that killed civilians during a battle in western Afghanistan last month were mistakes, but are still trying to determine whether the service members who called in the strikes could have known they were no longer in imminent danger when the bombs were dropped. The investigation questioned the last two airstrikes conducted during the 8 1/2 -hour battle, according to a military official familiar with the probe. The 2,000-pound bombs used in those strikes were dropped by an Air Force B-1 bomber at night, when it was more difficult to...

TIME Magazine on Tuesday cites high-ranking Israeli security officials as saying that dozens of Israeli jets and unmanned drones took part in the January strike on a Gaza-bound weapons convoy in Sudan. According to sources cited in the TIME article, the attacks were carried out by F-16 fighters, which carried out two attack runs on the convoy. F-15 fighter planes were also positioned nearby, a precaution against the possibility of hostile fighters rushing to the area. Once the first bombing run was completed, unmanned drones laden with cameras passed over convoy site to ensure its destruction. After the footage indicated...

TEL AVIV, Israel–The Israel Defense Forces is carrying out drills to practice for a possible massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days - or even hours - of being given the go-ahead by its new government, according to a report today in the Times of London. "Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words," one unnamed senior defense official...

The squad was targeted as it fired rockets toward Israel, according to Hassanain and Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmed. The Israeli military said at least five rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries or damage.

KABUL – A coalition airstrike has killed a powerful Taliban commander who broke a promise to renounce violence after village elders persuaded President Hamid Karzai to free him from prison, officials said Monday. The Sunday night attack destroyed a building housing Ghulam Dastagir and eight other militants in the village of Darya-ye-Morghab, near the Turkmenistan border, the U.S. military said in a statement. Dastagir was responsible for a surge in violence in the province in recent months, including a November attack on an Afghan army convoy that killed 13 soldiers, the statement said. "He was like the shadow governor of...

GAZA CITY (AFP) – One Palestinian gunman was killed and three people were wounded by an Israeli air strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday as rocket and mortar fire from the territory hit southern Israel. The raid came amid international calls for calm one day after Hamas ended a six-month truce and with growing internal pressure on the Israeli government to take tough action in Gaza. The raid took place near the northern town of Jabaliya when warplanes fired three missiles at militants preparing to launch rockets. Ali Hijazi, 24, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant...

Pastoral scenes, tourist sites only targets of NATO war machines. Afghan and Pakistan tribal officials claim that a recent attack by NATO forces on a village did not kill any terrorists, but instead claimed the lives of three puppies, a kitty, an unknown number of children with glasses, and two wittle-wee fluffy bunnies. A stuffed animal warehouse was also blown up during the attack, the villagers charged. The attack occurred in the lawless tribal region on the Afghan-Pakistan border, an area named for Lucy Lawless. "We were just minding our own business sewing breast plates into tunics when I heard...

Exclusive: Israel’s air maneuver did not simulate possible Iran strike strategy June 21, 2008, 3:20 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile’s Western military sources do not believe that if Israel does attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, it will resort to the old-fashioned aerial blitz tactic employed in 1981 for bombing Iraq’s Osirak reactor. They therefore challenge the US officials’ conclusion that Israel’s aerial exercise in conjunction with the Greek Air Force over Crete in early June was in fact a rehearsal for Iran. What was demonstrated was the Israeli Air Force’s capability for deploying a large aerial force of more than 100 warplanes and...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2008 – Defense Department officials called a U.S. air strike yesterday in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border “legitimate” and “self-defense,” and said they are investigating the attack with Pakistani officials. “Every indication we have at this point is that the actions that were taken by U.S. forces were legitimate, in that they were in self-defense after U.S. forces operating on the border of Pakistan in Afghanistan territory came under attack from hostile forces,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said in a news conference today. “In self-defense, they called in an air strike, which took out those forces...

Excerpt - MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Airstrikes, possibly by U.S. planes, caused explosions in a remote area in southern Somalia, officials said Monday. There was no immediate information on casualties. Buale town chairman Ibrahim Noleye said planes were heard flying nearby Sunday night, followed by two loud explosions that shook the ground. Buale is 255 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. A U.S. military official said there was no information about U.S. planes activities in Somalia. Noleye said he had contacted officials in nearby villages, who told him by two-way radio that the planes had hit an area between Buale...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Baghdad's teeming Sadr City slum on Saturday, leveling a building 55 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people. Separately, the U.S. military said late Saturday that four Marines were killed on Thursday by a roadside bomb in Anbar province. The military also said that a U.S. soldier died of wounds suffered in a roadside bomb that struck the soldier's vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad Friday. At least 4,071 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq...

Turkey launches biggest bombing raid on Kurdish rebels in Iraq · Woman killed as 50 planes target PKK guerrilla bases · Prime minister warns of further military action Ewen MacAskill in Washington Monday December 17, 2007 Guardian Turkey yesterday launched the biggest attack on Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, sending more than 50 warplanes to bomb suspected Kurdish insurgent bases inside Iraqi territory, accompanied by long-range artillery shelling. Kurdish officials reported at least one civilian fatality, a woman, and two others injured. The strike, carried out in the middle of the night, sent hundreds of families fleeing and...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2007 – An air strike earlier this week in eastern Afghanistan was based on credible intelligence from multiple sources and by all indications struck its intended targets, the Pentagon’s press secretary told reporters today. NATO International Security Assistance Force troops used precision-guided munitions in the late Nov. 26 air strike in the mountainous Nuristan province, killing several insurgents, Geoff Morrell said during a Pentagon briefing. Abdullah Jan, the western Nuristan Taliban commander, is believed to be among those killed. Morrell dismissed press reports that the attack had mistakenly killed civilian construction workers. He noted that the closest...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2007 – A coalition air strike yesterday that killed terrorists also claimed the lives of a large number of innocent victims, military officials said. During an operation to pursue senior al Qaeda leaders in the Lake Thar Thar region, troops encountered small-arms fire from the target building. Responding in self-defense, coalition aircraft engaged the enemies inside the building. After the air strike, ground forces discovered that 15 terrorists, six women and nine children had been killed. Troops determined that two suspects, one woman and three children also were wounded. Ground forces also detained one suspected terrorist after...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2007 – A coalition airstrike killed more than 20 militants, and Iraqi security forces accompanied by coalition advisors captured 34 suspected terrorists during operations across Iraq Sept. 29, officials reported. -- A coalition aircraft fired on and killed more than 20 al Qaeda-affiliated insurgents during a battle northwest of Baghdad. The aircraft’s crew defended themselves after insurgents launched rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at the aircraft. Four enemy vehicles were destroyed during the firefight. -- Iraqi special operations troops detained a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq leader and two alleged cell members in Yusafiyah. -- Two...

9/28/2007 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped precision munitions near Al Nussayyib, Iraq, Sept. 25 killing Abu Nasr al-Tunisi and two other al-Qaida Iraq operatives, according to Air Force officials. They were killed when the aircraft, assigned to U.S. Central Command Air Forces, dropped two laser-guided 500-lb joint direct attack munition guided bomb unit-12 bombs, destroying the terrorist safe house where the three were meeting. "Airpower is crucial to setting the conditions for stability in Iraq," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Air Forces component commander. "Airpower overhead provides capability to the...

Terror label 'paves way for air strikes' By Philip Sherwell in New York, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:41am BST 26/08/2007 The White House's plans to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation are intended to give the Bush administration cover if it launches military strikes on the Islamic republic, according to a prominent former CIA officer. Washington accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps of backing attacks on American forces in Iraq Robert Baer, who was a high-ranking operative in the Middle East, said last week that senior government officials had told him the administration was preparing for air strikes...

US 'poised to strike Iran' Font Size: Decrease Increase Geoff Elliott, Washington correspondent | August 25, 2007 BOB Baer, the former Middle East CIA operative whose first book about his life inspired the oil-and-espionage thriller Syriana, is working on a new book on Iran, but says he was told by senior intelligence officials that he had better get it published in the next couple of months because things could be about to change. Baer, in an interview with The Weekend Australian, says his contacts in the administration suggest a strategic airstrike on Iran is a real possibility in the months...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2007 – The senior al Qaeda terrorist believed to be the mastermind behind both bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, was killed during a coalition air strike, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesperson told journalists in Baghdad today. “Yesterday, the government of Iraq announced that the coalition force killed a senior al Qaeda terrorist, Haitham Sabah al Badri,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark Fox, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq. “He was killed east of Samara on Aug. 2.” Al Badri, whose body was positively identified by family members, is believed to have masterminded both the February...

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A NATO air strike has killed 13 Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan's southeastern province of Khost, officials said on Saturday. The raid was called in after a group of Taliban fighters staged an abortive attack on a government headquarters in Ali Sher district late on Friday night, Khost's governor Arsala Jamal said. "The Taliban were killed in the bombing while retreating after the attack," he told reporters in Khost's town. A district official said at least five Afghan security forces were wounded in the Taliban attack, part of the spate of rising violence in recent weeks in...

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2007 – A suicide bomber attacked a coalition patrol southeast of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, today, and two Taliban fighters were killed in an airstrike, military officials reported. One coalition soldier sustained minor injuries and returned to duty, and one coalition vehicle was damaged. “The enemies of Afghanistan continue to fight against the peace and security that the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan works to maintain,” said Army Maj. Eric Zenk, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division spokesman. Elsewhere, defense officials reported five Afghan Security Guards were wounded and another two were killed during a four-hour firefight with...

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces captured five suspected terrorists early today near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, during a search for individuals believed to be responsible for transporting and hiding al Qaeda terrorists and other fighters moving into and around Nangarhar province, officials said. No shots were fired, and there were no injures to Afghan or coalition forces. Yesterday in the Gereshk district of Helmand province, a precision air strike targeted a Taliban weapons facilitator. Officials said the goal of the operation was to destroy a command element of the Taliban’s terrorist organization responsible for facilitating the movement...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A NATO air strike has killed a Taliban commander behind an insurgent takeover of a small southern Afghanistan town, as a US general took command of the 35,000-strong NATO-led force. A Taliban spokesman said meanwhile the fighters were ready to "hand over" the town of of Musa Qala, which they captured overnight Friday, if the government and foreign forces agreed "they won't bomb again." Mullah Abdul Ghafour and "some of his aides" were killed in the strike near the town in the province of Helmand, the interior ministry said in a statement that described the death...

1 hour, 45 minutes ago NATO-led troops killed a senior Taliban leader with a precision airstrike near a southern Afghan town overrun by militants, a spokesman for the alliance said Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT click here Col. Tom Collins said the airstrike near Musa Qala on Sunday morning killed a senior Taliban leader riding in a car. Musa Qala on Thursday was overrun by an estimated 200 Taliban fighters who disarmed local police, ransacked the district center and hoisted their trademark white flag. The town had been subject to a peace deal brokered last October between village elders and the Helmand provincial...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2007 – A coalition air strike targeted al Qaeda leaders today in Iraq, and Iraqi and coalition forces detained 45 terrorists and foiled attacks throughout Iraq this week, military officials reported. Coalition forces targeted the leadership of an al Qaeda in Iraq-related car bomb network during today’s air strike operation near Arab Jabour. Intelligence reports indicated that this network is responsible for a large and devastating number of car-bomb attacks in the Baghdad area. It also is responsible for roadside-bomb and sniper attacks against the Iraqi people and Iraqi and coalition forces, officials said. Coalition officials...

U.S. forces launch a second airstrike against suspected terrorist targets in Somalia The Associated PressPublished: January 24, 2007 WASHINGTON: The United States launched an airstrike in Somalia against suspected terrorist targets — the second such attack this month, defense officials said Wednesday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the strike was carried out in secret by an Air Force AC-130 gunship earlier this week, provided few details and were uncertain whether the intended target was killed. One official indicated that early indications showed that no high-value target was killed or captured. At the Defense Department, spokesman Bryan...

MIL-PAK-MILITANTS-REVENGE Militants preparing to avenge airstrike on religious seminary in PakistanISLAMABAD, Dec 18 (KUNA) -- Security around US and British diplomats and nationals have been beefed up following intelligence reports that militants of an outlawed religious extremist group are planning to avenge the airstrike on its religious seminary last month that killed over 80 alleged militants. The wanted leaders of Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), Maulvi Inayatur Rehman and Maulana Faqir Mohammad, at large, have pledged before their supporters to target VIPs in Pakistan and US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to the intelligence report submitted to the Interior Ministry. A...