JERUSALEM POST: No increase in threats since Yassin’s death

There have been no signs of escalating terror threats against Israelis or Jews abroad since the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin 10 days ago, a senior IDF officer said on Wednesday.

“Maybe it’s still too early,” the officer said, adding, “We constantly monitor world terrorism in order to refrain from being surprised as in Mombasa. Intelligence assessments relate to specific areas such as Thailand and parts of Africa, but we have not seen any changes in Hamas strategy; its recent statements also support that,” the officer said. “However, it is quite probable that the next al-Qaida attack, which is probably already in motion somewhere, will be named after Yassin. Had the terror attack in Madrid occurred after Yassin’s demise it would have probably been named after him.”

JERUSALEM POST: Add Hizbullah to terror list: Shalom to EU

Israel wants to see the EU place Hizbullah on its list of terror organizations, and wants to see individual European governments move faster in legislation outlawing Hamas, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Wednesday.

Shalom’s comments came at a Jerusalem press conference with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot.

Shalom’s statement about placing Hizbullah on the EU’s list of terror organizations came in response to a question about what Europe can do to improve ties with Israel. Israeli government officials are increasingly pointing to links between Hizbullah and Palestinian terror groups in Gaza.

(Dutch Foreign Minister Bot today called the targeted strike on Yassin a violation of International law.)

CNN: Palestinian prime minister urges end to suicide attacks

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei denounced suicide bombings as “morally wrong” and an “obstacle to peace” Wednesday in an address to the Palestinian parliament.

He warned Palestinians not to carry out suicide attacks in response to Israel’s March 22 killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas.

“These bombings are used by the Israeli government as an excuse to continue its aggression and collective punishment against the Palestinian people,” Qorei said.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• The new African parliament (for what it’s worth) was inaugurated this month. Details over at Head Heeb and Mostly Africa.

• Yvette reports on more terrorist attacks against foreign aid workers in Somaliland. In a hopeful sign, Somalilanders responded to the attacks with a weekend full of anti-terrorism protests.

• German president Johannes Rau’s visit to Africa was followed by bombings in Tanzania and diverted by an assasination plot in Djibouti. Islamist terrorists are suspected of plotting both attacks. If only Germany hadn’t supported the war in Iraq….

Other Topics Today Include: Beaucoup de coups; trouble in Sudan; Blair and Qaddafi make up; War on terror news; Health and environment roundup; Mugabe’s condom problem.

Read The Rest…

There has been another explosion in northern Tashkent, the site of the recent shootout and series of suicide-bombings near the President’s residence.

Interfax news agency reported the blast hit the Sabir-Rakhimovski district, which is in northern Tashkent. Interior Ministry anti-terrorism department deputy chief Ilya Pyagay said that police were carrying out an operation in that neighborhood. He gave no further details.

That area is not far from the scene of fighting Tuesday that officials said left 23 people dead, including three police officers.

A Western security official also said he had been informed of a blast, and that people had seen fire trucks racing to the area. Witnesses also reported seeing police cars speeding through the city center toward the Sabir-Rakhimovski district.

There has also been an explosion in Andijon, in the Ferghana Valley:

Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency earlier reported that a blast also struck a residential building in the Fergana Valley city of Andijan overnight, citing police sources. The explosion could have been an accident, but police weren’t ruling out terrorism. Officials declined to confirm the report.

It could get very nasty real quick.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Security forces in Thailand are on high alert after the theft of a huge amount of explosives and other bomb making materials.

The government says Islamic separatists are behind a recent upsurge in violence in the Muslim-dominated southern region of the country.

Ten armed men raided a quarry in the southern province of Yala, stealing more than 1,300 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, 58 sticks of dynamite and 170 blasting caps.

The fertiliser ammonium nitrate was the main explosive used in the Bali bombings.

The government fears a major bomb attack is being planned to coincide with a major public holiday in mid-April.

Let’s hope I’m not posting a follow-up anytime soon - except to say that it’s been recovered.

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas terrorist indicted for planing to kill MK

A Military Court in the West Bank on Tuesday indicted a Hamas terrorist who planned to assassinate “a senior Israeli public figure from Beit She’an”. The public figure is most probably Likud Mk David Levy, a Beit She’an resident.

Over a month ago, security forces arrested Hamas member Majdi Abu-Hamis, 24, from the Jenin area, who worked in a fish shop in Beit She’an.

Abu-Hamis was also indicted on a series of attempts to hurt civilian and military targets, including shooting attacks at passing cars along the security fence in the Jenin area.

JERUSALEM POST/AP: UK: Muslims urged to report terrorist activity

A leading British Muslim organization said Wednesday it is writing to mosques around the country asking clerics and community leaders to look out for possible terrorist activity.

The Muslim Council of Britain said it was sending a letter to 1,000 mosques urging the “utmost vigilance” in the war against terror.

The announcement came a day after police arrested eight men in London and surrounding towns and seized half a ton of ammonium nitrate, a frequently used bomb ingredient. The suspects were all British, but news reports said the suspects were of Pakistani descent and at least some were Muslims.

To update a previous post, more details on the fighting in Durmen, just north of Tashkent are coming out:

Government forces besieged an apartment building near the presidential residence in northern Tashkent for nearly five hours after confronting the suicide bombers. Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the day.
…
The militants blew themselves up with homemade explosives while police tried to arrest them, the ministry said, without elaborating. It said the investigation was continuing.

Police stopped a small car and two alleged terrorists jumped out and detonated explosive-laden belts, killing themselves and three police officers and injuring five more policemen, said a National Security Service officer at the scene who declined to give his name.

In a separate nearby bombing, neighborhood resident Farida Raupkhajayeva said four women in a red car had driven up to a police checkpoint. One of the women, dressed entirely in black, got out of the car and approached a bus that was stopped there, Raupkhajayeva said.

When she ignored a police request to stop, they shot her in the legs, then she set off a bomb, said Raupkhajayeva, 50. The other three women then ran into an apartment building, where police began the nearly five-hour standoff with the suspects.
…
An AP reporter saw five corpses on a sidewalk outside the building. Police investigators and plainclothes security officers with Kalashnikov assault rifles milled about as a white-coated medical official put the bodies on stretchers.

Five men escaped, said a building resident who refused to give her name. She said the women in the car were wearing hijab veils, only revealing their eyes, which is rare in secular Uzbekistan. She said they were speaking another Central Asian language she could not understand.

A house several hundred yards away showed signs of heavy fighting, its walls blackened by fire and pocked by dozens of bullet holes. Neighbors who were cleaning up charred books and other debris said four young men had been killed inside the house and that none of its regular residents had been home at the time of the shootout.
…
Security was increased across the city, with soldiers on patrol and hotels deploying metal detectors and not allowing vehicles to approach. Soldiers with dogs patrolled the airport, but flights continued.

Several security operations were under way in Tashkent and the surrounding area Tuesday, said Svetlana Atikova, spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general’s office, without elaborating.

Authorities turned off water, gas and electricity in the district where Tuesday’s attacks occurred, and residents were forced to cook their evening meals over wood fires in the streets.

The lack of official information led to fear and confusion.

“I don’t understand who is killing whom. We learn about things only from rumors and we panic,” said Faya Vaganova, a 47-year-old resident.

The Washington Post has a good story as does EurasiaNet

This EurasiaNet correspondent monitored communications among police, utilizing the same type of Motorola walkie-talkie that is commonly used by security officials. Judging by the overheard comments, security forces struggled to contain the insurgents. One overheard comment – “We need black bags” – indicates that at least several security troops were killed. In addition, this EurasiaNet correspondent witnessed one wounded officer transported from the scene by an ambulance.

Officials later reported that a group of about nine insurgents had barricaded themselves in a house near the TTZ plant. After authorities determined that the insurgents did not have any hostages, they brought in an armored vehicle to open fire on the house, destroying the building and killing all those inside. Later police said they believed that at least three of the dead insurgents had participated in raids carried out in the same neighborhood on March 28. They based their conclusions on the fact that pistols found on or near the dead men apparently had been taken from police during the earlier confrontation.

Fighting was reported in a wide variety of other locations in the capital. On the outer edge of northeastern Tashkent, a suicide car bomber detonated at a police checkpoint at about 9 am. Insurgents also attacked a nearby police station. Witnesses reported seeing at least three bodies, including one police officer.
…
In the late afternoon, security forces cordoned off an area near the Druzhba Narodov metro station. They evacuated a 9-storey building and a 12-storey building and proceeded to search the buildings for explosives. Elsewhere in Tashkent, authorities were in full clampdown mode. Streets were largely deserted of civilians and police stood at myriad checkpoints, stopping and searching all vehicles. Train and bus transport in and out of Tashkent was halted.

The Chorvak Dam, north of Tashkent, may also have been targeted

Witnesses say that a van blew up in the Bostanlyk district near Tashkent when the run-in at the checkpoint in the Kibrai district was progressing. The explosion took place not far from the strategic Charvak dam. Had it been damaged, the so called Charvak Sea might have flooded the capital of Uzbekistan.

I’ll just add from my experience in the Tashkent area that yesterday’s bombings are very far (as in, all the way across the city) from today’s shootouts and bombings. The Kibray area, where Bo’stonlik is, is a reasonable distance out of the city as well.

CNN

A bomb threat prompted searches Tuesday of four Northwest Airlines planes at airports in Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, and Memphis, Tennessee.

Government officials stressed the threat was not considered credible and the searches were done out of an abundance of caution.

“Any time we have this type of information we have to take it seriously,” Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Amy von Walter said. She was not sure how the threat was conveyed.

Each plane was taken to a secure area to be checked.

JERUSALEM POST: Terrorists try to recruit child as suicide bomber

Palestinian terrorists tried to recruit a 15-year-old as a suicide bomber, at one point locking him in a dark room, but also luring him with clothes, a cell phone and promises of paradise, his family said Tuesday.

The story of ninth-grader Tamer Khweirah, who was extricated by an alert older brother, underscored the growing use of children by militant groups and stoked Palestinian debate over what is permissible in the fight with Israel.

Tamer is one of four teens arrested by the Israeli military in the West Bank city of Nablus in the past week on suspicion they were recruited by militants. One of the four, Hussam Abdo, 16, was caught at an Israeli checkpoint south of Nablus last week with eight kilograms (18 pounds) of explosives strapped to his body.

Read the rest of the article to see some of the methods and enticements the Islamic Jihad used to entice him.

[Previous comments on this story may be found here]

Breaking on CNN and FOX:

White House will allow Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath before 9/11 commission, a senior administration official tells CNN.

Update (AP):

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will be allowed to testify in public under oath before the commission investigating the failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, an administration official said Tuesday.

The official said the decision is conditioned on the Bush administration receiving assurances in writing from the commission that such a step does not set a precedent, said the official speaking on condition of anonymity. It appeared the administration already had such assurances verbally in private and is confident it will get them in writing.

White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales has sent a letter to the commission stating that Rice is prepared to testify publicly as long as the administration receives assurances from the panel that this is not precedent setting, the official said.

Update 2: Letter from White House Counsel to Commission

Update 3: It was all about a book deal! (satire)

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Spanish police have arrested three more people, including two Syrians, in connection with the March 11 Madrid train bombings, Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said on Tuesday.

A total of 18 suspects are currently in detention, 14 of whom are facing provisional charges of murder and terrorism.

The remaining four include the latest three arrested and another suspect who has yet to come before a judge for questioning.

Another five people provisionally detained have since been released.

Updating a previous post, come news from the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Uzbek security forces killed 20 suspected militants on Tuesday in an operation near the Tashkent residence of President Islam Karimov, a security officer told AFP.

”We have eliminated 20 people,” said the officer, who was involved in the operation.

The operation came on a second day of violence in Uzbekistan, which was rocked on Monday by a series of blasts and police shootouts in Tashkent and the ancient city of Bukhara.

Interesting phraseology.

From Fox:

Police arrested eight men Tuesday and seized half a ton of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used to make bombs, in anti-terror raids in and near London, the capital’s Metropolitan Police force said.

All the suspects were British and were arrested as part of an operation targeting alleged international terrorist activity, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said.

He added that the operation was not connected to the Madrid train bombs earlier this month or Irish republican terrorism.

Full story….

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, police arrested four Abu Sayyaf members who were in possession of TNT.

The explosives were to have been used to bomb trains and shopping malls in Manila, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo told a news conference.

“We have prevented a Madrid-level attack in the metropolis,” she said. blockquote>

Posted by Michele at 06:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

MAARIV: Palestinians introduce mortar launcher on wheels

Palestinian terror groups are constantly thinking up new ways to carry out “quality” operations against Israeli citizens and soldiers. The latest invention is a mortar launcher on wheels.

The new technique works as follows: The terrorists weld mortar launchers to the back of fast pick-up trucks. “Once the mortar is fired, the driver quickly flees so IDF helicopters would not be able to spot him”, an IDF official explained.

According to intelligence sources, the terrorists’ new “weapon system” makes them harder to spot. However, IDF officials say that the army has enough means to quickly identify the mortar launchers.

(Call the Nobel Physics Prize Committee, someone.)

JERUSALEM POST: MI: 16 attacks thwarted since January

Palestinian terror groups are currently experiencing “difficulties,” in carrying out attacks, which has led them to try to look for ideas to bypass the obstacles such as using children as suicide bombers, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Kupperwasser, who heads the intelligence branch’s research division said Monday.

Sixteen suicide attacks initiated from the West Bank have been foiled since January, Kupperwasser told members of the Knesset’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.

In the past 10 days alone, three attacks were thwarted, including an attempt to carry out a car bombing with a sophisticated device, the official said in the committee.

How does TIME Magazine view Hamas?

TIME: Inside Hamas

They talked about hitting the Sears Tower and simultaneous attacks on each coast, aiming for both California and states on the Atlantic coast. They went over plans for hitting Heathrow airport.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged leader of the 9/11 attacks who was captured in Pakistan, told investigators about the plans leading up to 9/11, including chilling accounts of what could have happened. Imagine it being worse than it was.

Bin Laden, who like Khalid had studied engineering, vetoed simultaneous coast-to-coast attacks, arguing that “it would be too difficult to synchronise”.

Khalid switched to two waves: hitting the east coast first and following up with a second attack. “Osama had said the second wave should focus on the west coast,” he said.

After 9/11, they wanted to put their second plan in action:

[bin Laden] instructed [Khalid] to continue operations - with Britain as the next target.

“It was at this time we discussed the Heathrow operation,” Khalid said. “Osama declared (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair our principal enemy and London a target.”

Read the whole story here.

More at The Age

Al-Qaeda may have developed a terrorist naval force of 15-30 vessels, a terrorism expert says.

Alexey Muraviev, co-ordinator of graduate studies in strategy and defence at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, told a maritime security conference in Sydney yesterday that there were signs a big terrorist strike might be planned.

An al-Qaeda intelligence chief was killed in Pakistan’s massive military sweep through western tribal areas to root out members of Osama bin Laden’s terror network and the Taliban, a military official said Sunday.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan identified the intelligence chief only as Abdullah. When pressed for details, including Abdullah’s full name and nationality, Sultan said he had no more information.

Update: Apparently, this incident took place some time last week.

Another senior al Qaeda member is on the run and wounded.

Updates forthcoming.

REUTERS: ‘We’re at Your Service,’ Hizbollah Tells Hamas

izbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told Hamas’s new leader on Saturday to consider the Lebanese guerrilla group under his command following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin this week.

In a show of unity between the two Islamist groups, Hamas new chief Khaled Meshaal also addressed thousands of Hizbollah supporters at a memorial service for his predecessor Yassin, whom Israel assassinated this week.

Nasrallah told him: “Consider us in Hizbollah, from the secretary-general and leadership down to our fighters and women, members of Hamas, and soldiers under your command.”

HA‘ARETZ: Fatah confession sheds new light on Arafat’s terror links

A confession by a member of Fatah’s armed branch in Nablus has shed new light on the extent of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s involvement in terror. The terror suspect told Shin Bet security service interrogators that money he received from Arafat was used to purchase weapons and to carry out shooting attacks in the West Bank.

Raaf Mansur, from the Nablus area, was detained by Israel Defense Forces soldiers last February. Mansur headed a wing of Fatah’s military branch, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. His cell was responsible for attacks in the Nablus and Jenin areas.

Letters confiscated by Israeli security forces from Mansur’s home included pleas sent to Arafat for money to fund armed activities. Mansur told interrogators that his appeals to Arafat resulted in a monthly NIS 7,500 payment to him. The allocations continued up to the time of Mansur’s arrest.

Mansur explained that the money was delivered via Abed al-Fatah Hameil, who serves as a financial adviser to the PA chairman. Mansur and Hameil met several times in Nablus. Mansur presented a list of his cell members and, after reviewing the names, Arafat’s assistant delivered the funds.

From Reuters :

A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded outside a bar in Thailand’s largely Muslim south on Saturday, wounding about 30 people, including seven Malaysian tourists, a police spokesman said.

The bomb exploded outside a bar and hotel in Sunghai Golok district of Narathiwat province, which has been under martial law since an armed raid in January on an army camp in the region in which many weapons were stolen.

The wounded included seven male Malaysian tourists. Three of them were in critical condition, police spokesman Champol Chaiyadej said from the scene.

He said 29 people were taken to hospital, 11 men and 18 women, most of them bar girls and waitresses working at the Top Ten club, an open-air bar next to the Marina Hotel in a border town popular with Malaysian tourists.

Police said they suspected the bomb had been detonated remotely.

(Via LGF)

Earlier, Reuters reported that Israeli troops killed a Palestinian boy. After doing a little more checking, the real story is slowly coming out…

REUTERS: Six-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Killed in Nablus

A six-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at an Israeli military jeep during a raid in a West Bank refugee camp on Saturday, the Israeli army said.

Television footage taken of the incident by foreign television networks showed a gunshot ricocheting off an armored Israeli jeep toward an upper floor of an adjacent building.

Twenty seconds later women’s screams could be heard. Moments later, a Palestinian holding the limp body of a boy with blood on his face and neck is seen outside the building. A Palestinian gunman was filmed in an alley minutes before the incident.

Palestinian residents said the dead boy, Khalil Walwil, was killed either when soldiers on a nearby hill opened fire at the building while he stood by a window or when troops shot at Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli forces in the camp.

An Israeli military commander, who was in the jeep that came under fire, said the boy was killed when a Palestinian gunman in an alley shot at his jeep as forces left Balata camp. The commander said none of his troops returned fire. “I did not fire back at him (the gunman) because his fire was not accurate,” said the commander, who under military regulations could only be identified as Lieutenant Colonel Guy.

“About 10 seconds after that I heard from behind my jeep terrible screams from a Palestinian woman. I turned around and I saw a family with a few people screaming. The father held his son who was covered in blood and they ran to ambulances there.”

OTHER SOURCES:
Ha’aretz, JPost, CNN. (CNN tells the Palestinian “Witnesses” story first, no mention of the video)

The situation is reminiscent of the Mohammed Al-Dura fabrication, except Reuters didn’t get the film crew to ditch the tapes in time.

According to Reuters FAQ:

QUESTION:
Do Reuters journalists voice their own opinions?

ANSWER:
No, never. News stories are sourced very clearly and precisely to enable readers and viewers to form their own judgment. Our correspondents do not use unconfirmed reports as the basis of a story, nor do they offer subjective opinion.

How do you feel about it?

REUTERS: Pakistani Soldiers Executed in Al Qaeda Standoff

Al Qaeda-linked militants have executed eight Pakistani soldiers taken hostage in fighting near the Afghan border, officials said on Saturday, raising the temperature in an offensive on Islamic radicals.

President Pervez Musharraf said his government was determined to act strongly against al Qaeda fighters, blaming them for a spate of attacks across the country including two attempts on his life in December.

The soldiers, their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head at point-blank range, were found in a ditch on Friday near Wana, the capital of the South Waziristan area in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal territories.

“It was a cold-blooded murder,” said Major-General Shaukat Sultan, the army’s spokesman. “We have identified the local and foreign militants and now we are chasing them. It was the worst kind of terrorism.”

HA‘ARETZ: Germany to launch probe into activities of Hamas in country

Federal investigators are launching a wide-scale probe into covert activities in Germany of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, according to a published report.

The report in Focus news magazine, due to hit newsstands across Germany on Monday, quotes sources close to Chief Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm as saying investigators are planning “a major operation” against Hamas in Germany.

Federal prosecutors anticipate “a number of proceedings” to result from the probe, according to Focus. A spokeswoman for Nehm declined to comment on the report.

Hamas is believed to have 300 active members in Germany, according to estimates by German intelligence agents.

An influential Shiite cleric in Iraq called Israel’s assassination of the spiritual leader of Hamas a “dirty crime against Islam” and the September 11, 2001, terror attacks “a miracle from God.”

Moqtada al-Sadr delivered a charged sermon at Friday prayers at a mosque near the holy city of Najaf, blasting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas.

Of course, no rant against the U.S. and Sharon would be complete without somehow tying the two together as partners in crime:

[al-Sadr] accused the United States of complicity in Yassin’s killing and said Iraqis should be react to the assassination “in the way that satisfies God.”

Al-Sadr led the worshippers in chants: “No, no Israel! No, no to the Jews! No, no America! No, no to terrorism!”

He also went on to condemn the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Keep your on this guy.

JERUSALEM POST: High terror alet to last 40 days

The high terror alert put in place following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin will last for at least 40 days, or until the end of Independence Day, Channel 1 reported Friday night.

The IDF’s targeted killings of Palestinian terror group leaders will continue. “These terror leaders have reason to worry,” the TV 1 reported senior defense officials as saying Friday.

Here is a quote from Condi Rice in October of 2000 [before the election]:

Osama bin Laden, do two things, the first is you really have to get the intelligence agencies better organized to deal with the terrorist threat to the United States itself. One of the problems that we have is a kind of split responsibility, of course, between the CIA in foreign intelligence and the FBI in domestic intelligence. There needs to be better cooperation because we don’t want to wake up one day and find out that Osama bin Laden has been successful on our own territory.

Here is the quote from Richard Clarke’s new book:

… as I briefed Rice on Al-Qaeda, her facial expression gave me the impression she had never heard of the term before. So I added, ‘Most people think of it as Osama bin Laden’s group, but it is much more than that, it’s a network of affiliated terrorist organizations with cells in over 50 countries, including the U.S.

Listen to the sound byte at Rush Limbaugh.

HA‘ARETZ: Wanted militant killed in van blast in West Bank camp of Balata

A wanted Palestinian militant was killed Friday when an explosion went off in the van he was driving in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, witnesses said.

The militant was identified as Ahmed al-Abed from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

Palestinian sources confirmed Israel Defense Forces’ claims that the explosion was the result of a work accident, saying that the militant had an explosives belt at the time of the blast.

“This is another sure sign that Palestinian terrorists are busying themselves in building the next bomb, choosing the next target and perpetrating the next attack against Israelis in the hearts of our cities,” David Baker, an official at the Prime Minister’s Office told Haaretz. “Israel remains on guard to thwart such attacks and to stop Palestinian terror in its tracks,” he added.

UPDATE:
It was two dead militants. Adjust your boxscores accordingly.

REUTERS: Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Frogmen in Gaza

Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants in wetsuits who came ashore near the Jewish settlement of Tel Katifa in Gaza and fired at an army post, military sources said Friday.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said two of its fighters carried out a “unique naval operation” and “ascended to heaven as martyrs” after battling Israeli troops.

“This attack is just a prelude to a series of earthquake-like operations,” the brigades said in a statement.

MAARIV: US refuses to guarantee Arafat’s well- being

The message sent by Israel with the elimination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin along with hints from Chief of Staff Ya’alon, reverberated loud and clear in Yasser Arafat’s office. Fearing a similar fate for the Palestinian Authority Chairman, his men turned to the US, asking them to prevent Israel from killing Arafat.

The Chief of Staff’s threat to the effect that targets for elimination could include Arafat and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, is part of the policy of intentional vagueness decided upon by Israel. In the framework of this policy, Israel does not intend to specify which terror leaders are targeted for future elimination, with the exception of Yassin’s successor – Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi - whom it has been officially decided to eliminate.

Arafat’s men are taking this policy seriously. During the course of the week security measures for Arafat’s protection in the Muqata in Ramallah were beefed up. Fearing those measures inadequate, Palestinians requested help from the American Intelligence service – the CIA- to intervene for Arafat’s protection. Simultaneously, the Palestinians also pursued other avenues of assistance in the US. According to American sources, the US has refused to give a commitment to Arafat’s men that Israel would not eliminate him too.

The Associated Press reports that the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin:

The United States had demanded that the resolution also condemn violence by Hamas and other militant groups, and that it identify them by name. Algeria, the resolution’s sponsor, had resisted.

The resolution “is silent about the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas,” U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said before the vote. He called the measure “unbalanced, one-sided.”

The vote was 11 countries in favor, three countries abstaining and one country — the United States — against.

[. . .]

Hamas has claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings and shootings of Israelis during 3 1/2 years of violence. Israel says it is targeting the group’s leaders to stop such attacks, but critics say killing suspects without arresting or trying them violates international law.

The Financial Times reports that Libya has promised to join the ‘war on terror.’ According to the Times:

Although the Libyan leader appeared only briefly and did not speak to reporters, Abdulrahman Shalgam, his foreign minister, explained the country’s determination to fight al-Qaeda, now widely suspected to be responsible for the Madrid bombings, alongside the US and Britain.

“For us, they are a real obstacle against our progress, against our security, against women, against the new culture, against moderation and against any change in our region,” he said.

Colonel Gadaffi’s hatred of al-Qaeda dates back to an assassination attempt, for which he issued an international warrant for the arrest of Osama bin Laden in 1999.

The dictator has long been regarded as a target for Islamic extremists.

CNN and others are reporting a new al-Qaeda tape, voiced by the #2 CEO of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al Jazeera (of course) broadcast the tape. The only part quoted so far is this:

pq. The tape calls Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, a “Muslim assassin” and urges the northwest border region’s largely autonomous tribes to fight government troops.

No absolute confirmation on whether it’s really al- Zawahiri yet.

Update: Fox has more.

“Musharraf seeks to stab the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan in the back,” the speaker said.

“Every Muslim in Pakistan should work hard to get rid of this agent government, which will continue to submit to America until it destroys Pakistan.”

…

The speaker appeared to be referring to the conflict in South Waziristan when he said, “I call on the Pakistani army: you, poor army, what a miserable state Musharraf has put you in … Musharraf ruins your natural fences — those tribes on the border — by engaging you in a fight with them. Then he removes your nuclear weapons. Will you stay silent until Pakistan is divided again?”

REUTERS: U.S. Places 2,000 More Marines Near Afghanistan

The United States has placed about 2,000 Marines with special operations training aboard Navy ships in the Gulf, poised for use in Afghanistan, where the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives is intensifying, defense officials said on Thursday.

U.S. commanders have not yet decided how many of the Marines deployed with the seven-vessel naval Expeditionary Strike Group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, will be sent into Afghanistan, officials said.

The Marines are from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The Wasp strike group, carrying 2,000 to 2,200 Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, left North Carolina on Feb. 19 for a scheduled six-month deployment in the Gulf region and arrived in recent days, officials said.

“Some of the those Marines will participate in and support operations in Afghanistan,” said a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

JERUSALEM POST: Amnesty to Palestinians: Denounce use of children

Amnesty International issued a report stating that “using children to carry out or assist in armed attacks of any kind is an abomination. We call on the Palestinian leadership to publicly denounce these practices.”

The report was published on Thursday in response to Wednesday’s foiled attack, in which a 14-year-old Palestinian, Husam Abdu Hawara, was discovered carrying an explosive’ belt while attempting to pass through Hawara checkpoint, near Nablus. According to the boy’s account, he received NIS 100 to blow himself up near the soldiers, with the additional promise of being awarded 72 virgins in heaven.

JERUSALEM POST: Gaza Psychiatrist: social anarchy produces child bombers

Dr. Eyad Sarraj, a human rights activist who heads up Gaza’s only psychiatric clinic, said that the case of Husam Abdu, 14, who was captured by the Israeli troops wearing a belt of explosives, is exceptional. He was apparently being exploited by parties still unidentified, Sarraj said, adding that perhaps even Israel is behind it.

“A group of Palestinians, or maybe one Palestinian, exploited this boy for certain purposes. However, as for Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” he said, “the two movements have repeatedly opposed the use of children in their operations.”

“Children do not understand the meaning of death, and that is why they are easily manipulated. This phenomenon characterizes a state of social anarchy. It is a product of families that do not protect themselves, and the father does not fulfil his role responsibly,” Dr. Sarraj said.

“It is worth mention that the Palestinian people magnify and exalt the topic of martyrdom. As for children, as shown in questionnaires they fill in, they see martyrdom as an honorable action and something to aspire towards,” Dr. Sarraj added.

(Never mind the propaganda on television, posters in their schools, and the trading cards.)

JERUSALEM POST: Muslim worshipers restricted at Temple Mount

Citing intelligence alerts over likely Palestinian disturbances at the Temple Mount after Friday Muslim prayers, Jerusalem police announced Thursday that they will be imposing restrictions on entrance to the holy site on Friday.

All Arab men under the age of 45 will be barred from entering the bitterly contested site for the mid-day prayers, police said.

The restrictions come days after Israel went on nationwide high alert following Monday’s killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

HA‘ARETZ: Blair and Gadhafi pledge to fight Al-Qaida

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sealed Libya’s return to the international fold on Thursday with an historic handshake with Muammar Gadhafi and an agreement to fight Al-Qaida together.

After more than an hour of talks, Blair said Libya’s rejection of banned weapons and rapprochement with the West could act as a template for other Arab nations to turn their back on Islamic extremism.

“We are showing by our engagement with Libya today that it is possible for countries in the Arab world to work with the United States and the U.K. to defeat the common enemy of extremist fanatical terrorism driven by Al-Qaida,” he told reporters.

“It is a very, very important signal for the whole of the Arab world.”

JERUSALEM POST: US to veto anti-Israel Security Council resolution

The United States is expected to veto a UN Security Council resolution Thursday night condemning Israel for killing Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The US, one of five nations with a veto power in the council, reiterated in the past week its refusal to condemn Israeli counter-terror actions without a condemnation of Palestinian terrorist groups.

On Tuesday, the council scheduled a debate to discuss Yassin’s assassination, after Algeria, the council’s only Arab member, failed to gain US support for council statement condemning Israel.

“Events must be considered in their context, and as we consider the killing of Sheikh Yassin, we must keep in mind the facts. Sheikh Yassin was the leader of a terrorist organization, which has proudly taken credit for attacks on innocent civilians,” said US ambassador John Negroponte.

JERUSALEM POST: Hamas arch-terrorist Muhammad Deif - an interview

Muhammad Deif, 42, commander of the Hamas military wing and the man who has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years, granted an interview to the official website of Hamas military wing Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades on March 8.

Deif, a resident of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, was appointed the new commander of the Hamas Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades, following the killing of his predecessor, Salah Shehadeh, in an IAF bomb strike in July 2002.

Israel holds the master-bomber Muhammad Deif personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of people in multiple suicide bombings since 1996. He was seriously wounded in an attempted targeted killing while in his vehicle in the Gaza Strip in September 2002. Responsible for the murders of scores of Israelis, Deif plotted, planned, and dispatched terrorists to perpetrate numerous terrorist attacks. Israel has attempted to nab Deif several times since the PA freed him in October 2000.

Read the rest, and then wonder if Kofi Annan will condemn Israel when Deif kisses a Hellfire missile on the lips.

CNN is reporting that Condi Rice just held a press conference to release an unclassified portion of an email sent to her from Dick Clarke just after September 11 in which he states that he worries the Bush Administration might be accused of not doing enough to prevent September 11, and listing actions that the Administration had taken against terrorism and Al Qaeda to combat that perception.

6:04 update: CNN reports Rice says on July 5, 2001, she met with Clarke and instructed him to put all domestic agencies on a higher alert, because there was a chance of a domestic attack, even though the evidence principly indicated a foreign attack.

MAARIV: FM Shalom asks UN’s Annan to denounce terrorism

Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom met tonight (Wednesday) in New York with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Shalom said during the meeting that the UN must denounce the perpetrators of terror rather than Israel over its justified assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yasin. Annan offered that the UN would take part in maintaining order in the Gaza Strip after the planned withdrawal takes place.

(Because they’ve done such a great job with UNFIL and holding member-state Lebanon to their obligations.)

The 9-11 Commission’s testimony today is being live-blogged by the Belgravia Dispatch weblog.

Today’s testimony featured tense exchanges between Commission member John Lehman (former Secretary of the Navy), Commission member Fred Fielding (former White House counsel), and Richard A. Clarke (who recently wrote a book, “Against All Enemies,” criticizing the Bush Administration’s pre-9-11 counter-terrorism efforts):

Here’s how Fox News reported this portion of the testimony:

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Several panelists said they were taken aback by the brouhaha surrounding Clarke’s book and his allegations in it, since his closed-door sessions with the commission panel were completely different in tone.

“You’ve got a real credibility problem,” John Lehman, former Navy secretary under President Reagan, told Clarke, calling the witness “an active partisan selling a book.”

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Via Instapundit.

Out the door to a dinner, but here’s something to pass up the food chain.

Roadracing World, a motorcycle roadracing magazine and website I read regularly, intermittently publishes letters from riders and racers stationed over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s an excerpt from one published today:

“My former NCOIC was severely injured in a terrible roadside bomb yesterday. He was in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle commander’s hatch when it exploded and some shrapnel hit him in the back of the neck. Luckily the convoy he was in was right next to a U.S. base so they managed to air-evacuate him almost immediately. He spent about 6 hours in surgery and they almost declared him dead twice. They finally managed to stabilize him but they weren’t showing any brain activity. So basically they thought he had brain stem damage. But this morning he was doing better and they are putting him under observation for 2 days to see if the swelling in his brain goes down before they try to evacuate him to Germany. My soldiers are pretty upset. He is now the 3rd soldier that I personally know who has been killed or severely injured here. He had a month left to go—he has a wife and 3 kids back in Germany. We are all just praying for his recovery.

The other bad news is that for some reason the stupid idiots at the Corps level JAG are deciding to clean out the jails here in Iraq. Well, instead of letting out the low-level weapons violators they are letting out the terrorists that are involved in putting