CNN reports that Pakistan’s education minister survived a rocket attack outside the southwestern city of Quetta. 18 rockets were fired at Education Minister Zobaida Jalal’s residence, killing one of Jalal’s servants.

Jalal has been responsible for recent changes to the curriculum in Pakistani schools that reduce the influence of fundamentalist Islam and the concept of holy war.

Critics have said she acted under pressure from the United States.

Jalal said the attacks were “harrassment” and called them “disheartening,” but said she would not be deterred from her duties.

“I will continue doing what I am supposed to do,” she said.

JERUSALEM POST: Al-Qaida men to stand trial for Istanbul bombings

In an indictment made public Monday, Turkish prosecutors allege that Osama bin Laden suggested targets for an attack in Turkey and his al-Qaida network later provided US$150,000 to the Turkish Islamic militants who carried out the November suicide bombings in Istanbul.

On Monday, the trial of 69 suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell opens in an Istanbul courthouse.

The truck bombings targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and the local headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank. Prosecutors say 61 people, including British Consul-General Roger Short, were killed and more than 600 others injured in the attacks .

…As related by Winds of Change.NET team member on the scene Robin Burk, a USMA West Point Instructor. I especially liked the closing bit about her students - go, Jackie!

Albert, Phillip R., 41, Terryville, Connecticut; Allison, Thomas F. , 22, Roy, Washington; Anderson, Marc A., 30, Brandon, Fla.; Andrews, Evander E., 36, Salon, Maine; Archuleta, Tamara Long, 23, Belen, New Mexico; Bancroft, Matthew W., 29, Shasta, Calif.; Barry, Michael C., 29, Overland Park, Kansas; Bertrand, Bryan P., 23, Coos Bay, Ore.; Blessing, Jay A., 23, Tacoma, Washington; Boes, Helge, 32, Not reported, Virginia; Bourgeois, Matthew J., 35, Tallahassee, Fla.; Bryson, Stephen L., 35, Montgomery, Ala.; Carlson, William, 43, Southern Pines, North Carolina; Carter, Curtis A., 25, Lafayette, La.; Chapman, John A., 36, Waco, Texas; Chapman, Nathan R., 31, San Antonio, Texas; Checo, Steven, 22, New York, N.Y.; Claunch, Herbert R, 58, Wetumpka, Alabama; Clemens, Brian Michael, 19, Kokomo, Indiana; Clemens, Shawn M., 28, Allegany, New York; Cohee III, Walter F., 26, Wicomico, Md.; Commons, Matthew A., 21, Boulder City, Nev.; Cook, Robert J., 24, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Corlew, Sean M., 37, Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Craig, Brian T., 27, Houston, Texas; Crose, Peter P., 22, Orange Park, Fla.; Cunningham, Jason D., 26, Camarillo, Calif.; Davis, Bryant L., 20, Chicago, Ill.; Davis, Jefferson D., 39, Clarksville, Tenn.; Dennis, Jerod R., 19, Antlers, Oklahoma; Disney, Jason A., 21, Fallon, Nev.; Dorrity, James P. , 32, Goldsboro, North Carolina; Ebbers, James H., 19, Bridgeview, Ill; Edmunds, John J., 20, Cheyenne, Wyo.; Egnor, Jody L. , 34, MIDDLETOWN, Ohio; Esposito, Jr., Michael J. , 22, Brentwood, New York; Feistner, Curtis D., 25, WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN; Foraker, Ryan D., 31, Logan, Ohio; Frampton, Gregory Michael, 37, Fresno, California; Frazier, Jacob L., 24, St. Charles, Illinois; Frith, Kerry W., 37, Las Vegas, Nev.; Fuller, Chad C., 24, Potsdam, New York; Galewski, Justin J., 28, Olathe, Kan.; Geiger, Christopher P., 38, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Germosen, Scott N., 37, Queens, N.Y.; Gibbons, Thomas J., 31, Calvert County, Maryland; Gilman, Benjamin L., 28, Meriden, Connecticut; Golding, Nicholes Darwin , 24, Addison, Maine; Gonzalez-Garza, Rodrigo, 26, San Antonio, Texas; Gutierrez, Kelvin Feliciano, 21, Anasco, Puerto Rico; Hall, David E., 21, Uniontown, Kansas; Hays, Nathan P., 21, Lincoln, Wash.; Hicks, Jason Carlyle, 25, Jefferson, South Carolina; Jakes Jr., Michael J., 20, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jallah, Jr., Dennis , 49, Fayetteville, North Carolina; Johnson, Benjamin, 21, Rochester, N.Y.; Jones, Darrell , 22, Wellston, Ohio; Kerwood, William J., 37, Houston, Missouri; Kimbrough, Paul W., 44, Little Rock, Arkansas; Kinser, Adam G., 21, Sacramento, California; Kisling Jr., Daniel Leon, 31, Neosho, Missouri; Lagman, Anthony S., 26, Yonkers, New York; Lane, Mitchell A., 34, Lompoc, California; Losano, Raymond, 24, Del Rio, Texas; Maltz, Michael, 42, St. Petersburg, Florida; Mancini, Curtis, 43, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Maria, Giovanny, 19, New York, N.Y.; Maugans, Jamie O., 27, Wichita, Kan.; McCollum, Daniel G., 29, Richland, S.C.; McDaniel II, William L. , 36, Greenville, Ohio; McNeil, Spence A., 19, Bennettsville, South Carolina; Michaud, Seth R., 27, Hudson, Massachusetts; Moehling, Timothy Wayne, 35, Panama City, Florida; Morales, Orlando, 33, Manati, Puerto Rico; Morgan, Dwight J., 24, Mendocino, Calif.; Mowris, James D., 37, Aurora, Missouri; Mueller, Christopher Glenn, 32, San Diego, California; NAME NOT RELEASED YET, , Not reported yet, Not reported yet; NAME NOT RELEASED YET, , Not reported yet, Not reported yet; NAME NOT RELEASED YET, , Not reported yet, Not reported yet; NAME NOT RELEASED YET, , Not reported yet, Not reported yet; O’Neill, Evan W., 19, Haverhill, Massachusetts; O’Steen, Mark, 43, Ozark, Alabama; Owens. Bartt D. , 29, MIDDLETOWN, Ohio; Parker, Kristian E., 23, Slidell, Louisiana; Parker, Vincent, 38, Preston, Miss.; Payne Jr., Ronald R., 23, Lakeland, Florida; Pena, Pedro, 35, , Florida; Perreault, Theodore L., 33, Webster, Massachusetts; Petithory, Daniel H., 32, Cheshire, Mass.; Plite, Jason Thomas, 21, Lansing, Michigan; Plumhoff, Steven, 33, Neshanic Station, New Jersey; Price, Bruce E., 37, , Maryland; Profitt, Jason, 23, Charlestown, Indiana; Prosser, Brian C., 28, Frazier Park, Calif.; Retzer, Thomas E., 30, San Diego, California; Ridout, Juan M. , 36, Maple Tree, Washington; Roberts, Neil C., 32, Woodland, Calif.; Romero, Daniel A., 30, Lafayette, Colo.; Scott, Justin A., 22, Bellevue, Kentucky; Seitsinger, Danton K., 29, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Shero, Anissa A., 31, Grafton, W.Va.; Sledd, Antonio J., 20, Tampa, Fla.; Smith, John D., 32, West Valley City, Utah; Spann, Johnny Michael, 32, Winfield, Ala.; Speer, Christopher J., 28, Albuquerque, N.M.; Stanley L. Harriman, 34, Wade, N.C.; Stein, John, 39, Bardolph, Illinois; Stonesifer, Kristofor T., 28, Missoula, Mont.; Svitak, Philip J., 31, Joplin, Mo.; Sweeney, Paul A., 32, Lakeville, Pennsylvania; Tapper, David M., 32, Camden County, New Jersey; Taylor, John E., 31, Wichita Falls, Texas; Teal, John “Mike”, 29, Dallas, Texas; Thomas, Adam L., 21, Palos Hills, Illinois; Tillman, Patrick D., 27, Chandler, Arizona; Tracy Jr., William John, 27, Webster, New Hampshire; Tycz II, Peter P., 32, Tonawanda, N.Y.; Vance Jr., Gene A., 38, Morgantown, W.V.; Wadman, Brandon James, 19, West Palm Beach, Florida; Walkup Jr., Thomas A., 25, Millville, New Jersey; Walters, Howard A., 33, Port Huron, Michigan; Winters, Jeannette L., 25, Du Page, Ill.; Wood, Roy A., 47, Alva, Florida

Dan Darling does his usual in-depth analysis of 2 recent flashpoints in the War on Terror, and 2 ongoing situations:

1. The recent attacks in Saudi Arabia
2. Al-Qaedist Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai’s assassination in Karachi, Pakistan
3. The latest FBI terror alert for the 7 suspects [see poster & FBI link]
4. Chalabi - what’s going on?

Since Dan is now a summer intern with AEI thanks to his blogging exploits, it’s entitled: “Recent WoT Flashpoints: Live From Neocon HQ”

JERUSALEM POST: Arafat: We thwarted 34 attacks in the past 6 weeks

Channel 10 TV interviewed Arafat on Sunday at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Arafat has been trapped by Israeli troops and threats for more than two years. An edited version of the interview was broadcast Sunday evening.

Arafat repeated the pledge that the PA was ready to take over the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal, on condition that the withdrawal is “real and complete”. Arafat charged that the Palestinian Authority is able to stop terrorism, and said his forces have done so in the past. “We have thwarted 34 attacks in the past six weeks,” Arafat told Channel 10.

(How? By bouncing checks?)

From the Jerusalem Post :

UNWRA’s commissioner general Peter Hansen is demanding Israel apologize for allegations made last week by defense minister Shaul Mofaz that UN ambulances had been used to transport IDF soldier body remains to terrorist strongholds, reported IBA news.

And from the Electronic Intifada :

Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has today demanded an apology and retraction from the Israeli Government and Military for the damaging and baseless allegations they have made against UNRWA’s ambulance drivers in the Gaza Strip.
[…]
The statement was released in response to an incident in which an ambulance driver’s life was threatened by armed men who demanded that he transport them, along with their wounded comrade, to hospital. UNRWA forbids the transportation of armed fighters in its vehicles, but does not demand that its unarmed staff put their lives at risk.
[…]
“I urge you, the Minister of Defense and all others who have repeated this unsupported canard regarding body parts, to issue an immediate retraction and apology for making such a wholly unsupported accusation.”

The Israeli Defence Force site shows a picture that could be interpreted as consistent with the UN story. (see Below)

And from Reuters, via Access Middle East, here is video footage that won’t have made it to your TV. See if it matches the UN’s story of a single ‘militant’ using the UN ambulance to take his wounded comrade on a mission of mercy to a hospital, or as Israel alleges, that the UN ambulances are being used as ‘Terrorist Transport Vehicles’.

So…why hasn’t this footage been seen on TV?

Hat Tip to reader Braintrust, who got it from LGF.

From the Strange Cooincidences file, the Casper Star Tribune reports that “[Michael] Moore’s crew shot the 16-minute interview with Nicholas Berg during an Iraqi business conference in Arlington, Va., on Dec. 4, said his brother, David Berg” for use in Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore didn’t use the footage, but has sent copies to Berg’s family, who notes:

Given Moore’s political leanings, David Berg said he was “really nervous” about what the footage of his brother might show. His brother wasn’t overtly political, he said.

“He went to Iraq because he had certain beliefs about helping people in messed up situations, but it’s not like he was trying to help the Bush administration,” David Berg said.

David Berg said Moore handled the situation with “dignity, respect and discipline.”

“Michael Moore has really been a total class act with this whole thing,” David Berg said. “He could have sold this to the media or stuck it in his movie.”

Not particularly newsworthy, but interesting.

Channel News Asia reports that four US servicemen have been killed in Zabul province (south Afghanistan). They also report violence in three different southern districts Saturday.

No press release yet over at CentCom.

CNN is reporting that Al Qaeda chief Abdul Aziz al-Mukrin promises to “shake the ground underneath their feet” if the Saudis try tostop his jihad. The threat was in an audio file on an arab-language web site.

AP: Standoff Ends After Deadly Saudi Attack

Saudi forces freed dozens of American and other foreign hostages Sunday after a shooting rampage turned into a daylong standoff with Islamic militants at an expatriate resort. A Saudi security official said the lead attacker was in custody and two other suspects were being arrested.

Saudi officials would not comment on the condition of the hostages. However, a diplomat in Khobar said officials told him there were deaths among the hostages and attackers. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said he did not know how many hostages were dead, but was informed that two gunmen were killed.

At least 10 others — including an American — died in the attack claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group that began Saturday morning when gunmen in military-style dress opened fire on security forces at two oil industry compounds in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh.

AP: IAF airstrike in Gaza kills three

An explosion ripped apart a motorcycle in Gaza City early Sunday, residents said, killing three people - including a senior Hamas commander and his assistant.

Hamas charged that Israel was responsible for what it called a “dirty assassination crime” killing Wael Nassar, 38, a top Hamas commander, and his assistant, Mohammed Sarsour, 31, his assistant, and a bystander. The two Hamas leaders were on the motorcycle when it exploded, witnesses said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Witnesses said they saw a flash in the sky and then the motorcycle exploded, indicating an Israeli missile strike. The residents said they did not see any Israeli helicopters in the sky, though they heard an unmanned Israeli plane.

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinians kill PA policeman

Palestinian Authority policemen on Friday night shot and killed one of their colleagues who tried to escape from a prison in Jericho.

The policeman was identified as 23-year-old Ahmed Shorabji. He was arrested last week on suspicion that he had helped three members of Islamic Jihad escape from the Jericho lock-up.

Expatica reports:

The Dutch government confirmed Friday it provided ransom money in April to secure the release of an aid worker who had been kidnapped in Dagestan for 20 months.

REUTERS: Afghans Arrest Suspected Kabul Suicide Recruiter

Afghan police have arrested a man suspected of trying to recruit students to carry out suicide attacks on international peacekeepers in Kabul, a spokesman for the multinational force said on Saturday.

In a separate operation, 36 people were detained by Afghan security forces and peacekeepers when explosives were discovered in Bagrami, on the eastern outskirts of the capital.

Commander Chris Henderson, spokesman for the 6,400-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said he knew of no connection between the suspect’s activities at the university and two deadly suicide attacks on ISAF forces earlier this year.

“He was discovered at the (Kabul) university apparently encouraging students to conduct suicide attacks against ISAF,” Henderson told a news briefing in Kabul, adding that the Taliban sympathizer was arrested on Thursday afternoon.

“There was no suspected threat against anyone other than ISAF, yet it was the police that discovered this person and the police had acted independently and they did so very, very quickly.”

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Five Lebanese taken hostage by gunmen during attacks in eastern Saudi Arabia have been released.

At least seven people, including four foreigners, have been killed.
[…]
During the triple raids at least four westerners, two Saudi guards and an Egyptian boy were killed.

Lebanon’s ambassador in the Saudi capital Riyadh said the five Lebanese nationals - including two children - had been freed, but it is unclear whether they were the only hostages taken.

Updating the previous post, from the BBC :

A statement purported to be from al-Qaeda, carried on an Islamic website, has claimed responsibility.

They don’t give a URL.

From the AFP :

A statement purported to be from the Al-Qaeda organization and received by e-mail claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks against oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia.

”The heroic mujahedeen in the Jerusalem Squad were able, by the grace of God, to raid the locations of American companies … specializing in oil and exploration activities and which are plundering the Muslims’ resources, on Saturday morning,” said the statement signed by “the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula.”

“They have so far managed to kill or wound a number of crusaders, God’s enemies. We will give details later, naming the heroes of our blessed squad,” it said.

The authenticity of the claim could not be independently confirmed.

From Middle East Online :

The killings came after a statement purported to be from the Al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia and posted on an Islamist website Thursday urged followers to wage an urban guerrilla war of assassinations, kidnappings and bombings.

The “execution group” in each four-tiered cell should be “trained to carry out operations inside cities, including assassinations, abductions, bombings, sabotage, raids and the liberation of hostages,” said the statement attributed to Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin and posted on www.qal3ah.org.

Note: Some funny stuff going on with their security certificate and DNS entry, and the site (naturally enough) is wholly in Arabic. Please don’t go there, as it’s bound to be monitored for genuine Al Qaeda sympathisers. Thanks.

UPDATE: It’s Internet Haganah entry 171, not a new site.

CNN: Six killed at Saudi oil compounds

At least six people were killed and an unspecified number of hostages taken after gunmen attacked complexes housing oil workers in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar, police said.

Officers said they were pursuing the fleeing suspects with a helicopter and exchanged fire with them near residential areas. They said they feared the death toll could rise.

Police said the shootings took place on Saturday outside two residential buildings and an office compound used by APICORP (Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation) in Khobar, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of the capital, Riyadh.

Authorities told CNN some of the gunmen took up to five people hostage. Unconfirmed reports later said some of these hostages were released.

Later reports say that the released hostages may have been Lebanese.

CNN: Army finds Tillman likely killed by friendly fire

U.S. Army Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former professional football player killed last month in Afghanistan, probably died from friendly fire, a Pentagon source told CNN Saturday.

The Army is expected to announce the findings of its investigation into Tillman’s death at a news conference in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

Tillman joined the Army after the September 11, 2001 attacks — turning down a multimillion dollar contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals.

He served as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan.

China’s Xinhuanet reports that Pakistan has test-fired a medium range ballistic missile, the Hatf-5 (Ghauri).

Gunmen opened fire Saturday in separate attacks on three housing compounds in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Khobar, Western diplomats said, and at least five people were believed to be killed, including three Westerners.

Witnesses spoke of four gunmen in military-style dress attacking a compound where foreigners worked for an oil company. Other witnesses said they saw three men with Western features lying on the ground covered with newspapers, witnesses said. The three bodies were taken away in ambulances, they said.

Two security guards were believed to be dead, according to a Western diplomat who said there were three separate shooting attacks on housing compounds in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of the capital, Riyadh. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.

Update: It seems that about the same time this attack took place, terrorists took “a large number of men, women and children” hostage at the Oasis compound in Al-Khobar. At least five Lebanese were among the hostages. There have been reports of shooting between the terrorists and police.

Update 2: AP reports that at least five of the hostages have been killed, presumably the five Lebanese.

This Monday is Memorial Day in the United States, our annual day of remembrance for those who have given their lives in military service of our country. With the war in Iraq, Memorial Day this year promises to be more poignant than in several years past. As such, we want to honor our war dead on these pages as well.

On Monday, May 31st, Michele and I will publish readers’ Memorial Day remembrances on our Op-Ed page. Remembrances may reflect on the meaning of the day, or may offer a memorial to a particular person or people who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country, regardless of war or theater. If you’d like to share your thoughts on the day, remember a particular person, or just say thank you to those who have served, we welcome your words.

We will accept and post any submission as we receive it and without editing, presuming it is appropriate to the tenor of the call above, and that it honors our standards of respectful and civil discourse.

If you’d like your thoughts, or your remembrance of a fallen soldier or soldiers, to be posted this Monday, please email your submission to alan at command-post dot org.

HAARETZ: Report: Iran establishes unit to recruit suicide bombers

Iran has set up a new unit to recruit suicide bombers from around the world, the London-based Arabic newspaper A-Shark al-Awsat reported Friday.

According to the report, the secretary-general of the new unit began by drawing up a list of names of people who support suicide attacks in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

The newspaper reported that the bureau, called “The martyrs of the resurrection of the Islamic world,” replaces a unit of the Iranian Republican Guard, which was known as the “department for the revolutionary freedom movements.”

(Does the list of names include Peter Hansen of the UNRWA?)

REUTERS: Palestinian Killed in Suicide Car Bombing in Gaza

A Palestinian militant was killed in a suicide car bombing against an Israeli convoy in an army-patrolled corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border on Friday, officials and witnesses said.

Two soldiers were slightly injured when their vehicle hit another during the ambush, the army said, in the latest violence following an Israeli siege in Gaza that claimed more than 40 Palestinian lives and drew international condemnation.

Three armed factions — Islamic Jihad, al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Popular Resistance Committees — claimed joint responsibility for the attack near the Rafah refugee camp.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Israel and its neighbours, courtesy of Inkgrrl.

TOP TOPIC

• Referenced here earlier in the week, the Israeli Operation Rainbow at Rafah is supposedly over. More inside.

Other Topics Today Include: Arab Summit fraught with usual troubles, despite early promise; Mubarak rejects participation in G8 Summit to consider democracy in the Middle East; revisiting a Palestinian call to non-violent resistance; Amal ousted for Hizbollah supremacy in Lebanese elections; the young al-Assad speaks to al-Jazeera.

Read The Rest…

Many of you are familiar with our regular Winds of War Briefings over at Winds of Change.NET, offering a roundup of the global War on Terror that is cross-posted here (I neglected to cross-post Monday’s phenomenal briefing, so here it is).

We have a slot open right now.

Last time I put out this call for people to step up and take on these briefings, a guy named Dan Darling answered. We accepted, he delivered, his own blog Regnum Crucis grew in popularity, and now he’s headed to a Washington think-tank thanks to his briefings. USMA Instructor Robin Burk also answered, and she ended up becoming a team member on our blog.

Winds of Change.NET had over 1,000,000 visitors in 2003, and we’re on pace to top that in 2004. This is a great gig for the right person - and right now, 2 regular slots are open - including a weekly Winds of War briefing:

Read The Rest…

[update to this story]

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been charged by the United States in an 11-count indictment in Manhattan federal court, Fox News has confirmed.

….


The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury on April 19, 2004, and was unsealed Thursday. The indictment charges him with hostage-taking and conspiracy to take hostages in connection with an attack in Yemen in December 1998 that resulted in the deaths of four hostages. The maximum sentence for the hostage taking is the death penalty.

The indictment also charged Al-Masri with trying to set up terrorist training camp in Oregon. Other charges include providing material support to Al Qaeda and the Taliban by facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan.

From the AFP, via The Australian :

Hundreds of international peacekeepers lined the tarmac of Kabul’s airport today to honour a Norwegian soldier killed in a rocket attack at the weekend.

Grenadier Tommy Roedningsby, 29, died when three rocket-propelled grenades were fired on his International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) convoy as it was returning to base in east Kabul.

As some 400 peacekeepers from Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Italy and other nations stood to attention on the airfield, four Dutch Apache helicopters flew overhead.

Speaking at a short memorial service before the coffin was carried to the plane, acting ISAF commander Gero Schachthofer said all the soldiers were gathered “as international comrades in arms”.
[…]
Roedningsby’s death brings to 89 the number of peacekeepers who have died in Afghanistan since the force was established shortly after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
[…]
Some 6,400 UN-mandated international peacekeepers are deployed in Kabul and northern Kunduz.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

South African authorities say they foiled an Al Qaeda-linked plot to disrupt the country’s general elections last month.

South Africa’s police commissioner Jackie Selebi told a parliamentary committee that police arrested a number of people in South Africa just days before the April elections.

This information was passed on and resulted in arrests in Jordan, Syria and Britain.

Details of the plot and what action was taken with the arrested suspects have not been made public.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Four men were cleared of Real IRA (RIRA) membership charges on Wednesday after a Northern Ireland judge ruled the dissident guerrilla group behind the 1998 Omagh bombing was not a banned organisation.

Judge Paul Girvan acquitted the four, all from the west of the British-ruled province, at Belfast Crown Court after deciding the Real IRA was not a proscribed group.
[…]
Britain immediately said it was considering an appeal.

The authorities had believed the group, a breakaway faction of the mainstream IRA, was among the Northern Irish armed groups banned under anti-terrorism legislation.

But the judge said the group was not listed in the Terrorism Act 2000, rejecting the prosecution’s argument that it was covered because the IRA was named in the legislation.

The four men still face charges of conspiracy to murder and possessing a rocket launcher in February 2002.

The Real IRA split from the mainstream IRA after the latter called a ceasefire in 1997 in its campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

In August 1998 the Real IRA killed 29 people when it detonated a car bomb in the market town of Omagh, the bloodiest attack in three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A prosecutor who helped send three men to jail for their role in the Bali bombing has been shot dead in the Indonesian province of Sulawesi.

The shooting comes at a time of growing extremist violence in Sulawesi and a terrorist threat against Western interests in the area.

Fery Silalahi worked on a range of cases involving corruption and terrorism in Sulawesi, among them helping to convict three Jemaah Islamiyah members for their connections to the Bali bombings.

The three men were just last week acquitted by an appeals court but Mr Silalhi had been quoted as saying the men would not be released until a prosecutor’s appeal had been heard.

Mr Silalhi was in a car in the town of Paelu yesterday when he was shot dead by gunmen who then escaped on motorcycles.

CNN: UK Muslim cleric Hamza arrested

A man arrested in London on an U.S. extradition warrant and due in court later Thursday is reported to be controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.

London’s Metropolitan Police refused to confirm the detention, saying only that officers from the Extradition and International Assistance Unit arrested a “British citizen, aged 47” at about 3 a.m. Thursday following an American request for his extradition.

But police sources told The Associated Press that Hamza was the man arrested.

Hamza’s lawyer said he was the man being held, saying she had spoken to him and he remained “calm.”

Below are the faces of the seven people Ashcroft and Mueller referred to today. Armed and dangerous, clear and present danger.

Click each mug for info on each al Qaeda operative.

[Thanks to Puddle Pirate for the code]

Live blogging, so pardon the way it is written:

Ashcroft reiterated much of what we’ve heard the past 24 hours - Al Qaeda is planning a massive attack inside the U.S. they plan to hit us hard. Shortly after the new year, AQ suggested they were 70% ready to attack us. After the 3/11 bombing in Madrid, they said they were 90% ready. AQ believes that 3/11 advanced their cause.

Upcoming events in US that may be targets of AQ attack: G8 summit, Democrat Convention and Republican Convention.

Here, he gave the usual speech; we seek help from the people, be vigilant, be on alert. Later, he will list seven individuals we should be on the lookout for, considered armed and dangerous and a clear and present danger.

AQ is constantly recruiting young middle eastern men, to infiltrate them into the U.S. They look for people who are in their late 20’s and early 30’s who can look European and who may travel with a family. They also seek converts to Muslim, especially those of Southeast Asia or North African descent.

(to be continued)

AP: Terrorists Planning Summer Attack

U.S. officials have obtained new intelligence deemed highly credible indicating al-Qaida or other terrorists are in the United States and preparing to launch a major attack this summer, The Associated Press has learned.

The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.

“There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard,” said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.

Fox News is reporting that terrorists are now believed to be within the United States and are planning major attacks for this summer. There is a high likelihood that they possess either chemical, biological, or radioactive weapons which would inflict significantly higher casualties than a conventional bomb.

An AP report in the Washington Post bears grim news:

Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror, al Qaeda has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday.

Al Qaeda is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe, and it may be seeking weapons of mass destruction in its desire to inflict as many casualties as possible, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said in its annual survey of world affairs.

Osama bin Laden’s network appears to be operating in more than 60 nations, often in concert with local allies, the study by the independent think tank said.

Although about half of al-Qaida’s top 30 leaders have been killed or captured, it has an effective leadership, with bin Laden apparently still playing a key role, it said.

It’s not entirely clear what IISS’ angle is here; the report “suggested that the two military centerpieces of the U.S.-led war on terror - the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - may have boosted al-Qaida” for contradictory reasons:

Driving the terror network out of Afghanistan in late 2001 appears to have benefited the group, which dispersed to many countries, making it almost invisible and hard to combat, the story said.

And the Iraq conflict “has arguably focused the energies and resources of al Qaeda and its followers while diluting those of the global counterterrorism coalition that appeared so formidable” after the Afghan intervention, the survey said.

The report’s methodology seems rather simplistic as well:

The IISS said its estimate of 18,000 al Qaeda fighters was based on intelligence estimates that the group trained at least 20,000 fighters in its camps in Afghanistan before the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban regime. In the ensuing war on terror, some 2,000 al Qaeda fighters have been killed or captured, the survey said.

None of which suggests that the report shouldn’t necessarily be taken very seriously, but as usual bear in mind the difficulty of getting accurate information in this context as well as any possible biases of the source.

JERUSALEM POST: Dahlan conducted fruitful negotiations with Hamas

Muhammad Dahlan, the former PA security minister, said in an interview with the pan-Arab satellite television channel al-Arabia that he has conducted negotiations with senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip, with the consent of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, to discuss the role of PA security forces following a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.

Dahlan described the negotiations as fruitful and constructive, and said that if Hamas and Islamic Jihad were to continue carrying out attacks following an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, then a serious rift is likely to develop between them and the Palestinian Authority.

(Dead Jews equals a rift between terrorist organizations?

MAARIV: Deal could lift travel restrictions from Arafat

According to a report published in Tuesday’s “Dar al- Hayat”, an Arabic language newspaper published in London, Israel will allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat freedom of movement in exchange for a Palestinian pledge to end terror attacks in the Gaza Strip.

The paper quotes diplomatic sources as saying that the proposal was made when Egyptian Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and GSS director Meir Dagan on Monday. Suleiman met with Arafat at his besieged headquarters in Ramallah Monday afternoon and relayed the message, the sources say.

(Palestinian pledge?)

HAARETZ: Police: Ambulance network smuggled PA officers into Israel

Police have uncovered a network that smuggled Palestinian Authority officers, including members of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat’s elite Force 17 personal protection unit, into Israel in fake ambulances.

Police said it is possible the ring has also smuggled terrorists into Israel using the same method.

One individual has thus far been arrested in connection to the case and police said additional arrests are expected.

Ma’aleh Adumim police recently arrested a resident of Azzariyeh, who holds a blue Israeli identity card, suspected of posing as an ambulance driver and infiltrating into Israel dozens of Palestinians disguised as sick patients.

The “patients” were hooked up to medical devices inside the ambulances and presented soldiers or police officers with forged documents at Israeli checkpoints.

HAARETZ: Two killed in Ramallah gun battles between PLO factions

Two Palestinians were killed and another seriously wounded in clashes in Ramallah over the past two days between Fatah and Popular Front Struggle, a small group within the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Palestinian sources reported that clashes between the groups began on Monday when the bodyguard of Popular Front Struggle leader Samir Rousha shot and killed a Fatah member who lived in a refugee camp near Ramallah

HAARETZ: IDF thwarts Hamas suicide attack planned for Jerusalem

Security forces last Sunday evening foiled a major terrorist attack by Hamas, which was planned for the ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood of Jerusalem, according to information released Monday.

Following a specific warning, members of the Shin Bet security service, Jerusalem district police and the Israel Defense Forces closed roads in the north part of the city to traffic, and placed IDF troops and police throughout the area.

The security forces also arrested an 18-year-old resident of the Old City who was meant to assist in the attack.

During his questioning by Shin Bet officials, the youth said that he had been recruited by his cousin and was supposed to receive an explosive device weighing some 20kg, which he was then to transfer to a suicide bomber who was apparently on his way from the West Bank city of Nablus.

THE SUN: Terror threat: We’ll kill Madonna

MADONNA has axed three gigs in Israel — after terrorists threatened to kill her and her kids.

The singer was terrified by a blitz of poison-pen letters.

Madge “freaked out” when she learned of a terrorist plot to kill her two young children if she performed in Israel.

She first planned to defy the extremists but cancelled after the unnamed Palestinian group mentioned details about Lourdes, seven, and three-year-old Rocco in a series of threatening letters.

A source said: “The notes were unbelievably scary. Madonna is a strong woman but she freaked out when her kids were mentioned.

“At first she was prepared to go on stage anyway and hire extra security.

“But she was not ready to take chances with her kids — they are her whole world.”

The threats were sent to the singer’s offices in Los Angeles.

They became more frightening as they displayed in-depth knowledge of the star’s closest aides.

JERUSALEM POST: Report: PA police arming Gaza terror groups

Palestinian Authority police are transferring weapons to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to assist in their fight against the Israeli army, according to a senior official quoted on Army Radio Sunday.

The official also said Hamas was planning a mega-terror attack, using several suicide bombers or booby-trapped cars in Israeli high-rises.

More information…

IMRA: PA Opens Gaza Armories To Arm Hamas, Al Aqsa Brigade, etc. To Fight

Israel Television Channel Two Arab Affairs Correspondent Ehud Yaari reported

this evening that according to a senior Israeli security official, the
Palestinian Authority has opened its armories in Gaza to distribute weapons
to the various illegal Palestinian militias - Hamas, Al Aqsa Brigade, etc.
to battle against the IDF.

With the exception of Preventive Security’s armory, the armories of all the
various PA security forces, including the civil police, were opened to the
illegal militias to arm them.

Yaari noted that the very same Palestinian police forces that are supposed
to be strengthened by international contributions were transferring weapons
to the terrorists that they are ostensibly to be strengthened to fight
against.

If true, then the following logic can be applied:

Arafat is in charge of Palestinian security forces
The security forces act under orders from Arafat alone.
The security forces are opening their armories to terrorist groups.
Therefore…

Connect the dots.

HAARETZ: Senior security source: Hezbollah planning major terror attack

Hezbollah is planning a major terror attack along the northern border with Lebanon, a senior security source said on Sunday, Israel Radio reported.

The source added that Hezbollah was also aiding the Palestinians in carrying out terror attacks.

HAARETZ: Two Palestinians killed after vehicle explodes in Nablus

Two Palestinians were killed on Sunday after a vehicle exploded in the West Bank town of Nablus. Defense establishment officials said that the two were senior Hamas members.

A third man was seriously hurt in the explosion.

The blast was apparently caused by explosives carried by the two. Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied any army involvement in the incident.

UPDATE:

Here’s more on the reliability of Palestinian propagandists witnesses:

MAARIV: Nablus: 3 Hamas operatives killed in premature bomb detonation

hree Hamas operatives were killed this afternoon (Sunday) in an explosion that rocked their car while driving on the streets of Nablus, Palestinian sources reported.

The sources initially said that missiles fired from an IAF helicopter gunship had caused the blast. Later, they reported that the blast was a result of a premature detonation (widely known as a ‘work accident’). The IDF also said it had nothing to do with the blast and that it was most likely the result of a car bomb that exploded prematurely.

(The same media that bought the “Wedding” story hook, line and sinker will now slip in the “initial reports said it was helicpter fire” bit in there despite it being an outright lie.)

JERUSALEM POST: Gaza municipality to dedicate street to Yassin

The Gaza City Municipality has decided to name one of the main streets in the city after slain Hamas leader and founder Ahmed Yassin.

The decision to honor Yassin, who was killed in an IAF missile attack on March 22, was taken at a recent meeting of the Gaza City Municipality.

Nasser Al-Sawir, a spokesman for Gaza City Municipality, said the street that would be named after Yassin is located in the Zeitun neighborhood. He said the street was called Um Laimun and is one of the main streets in the city center.

…

A source in the municipality said another street would be named after Yassin’s successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was also killed in an Israeli raid three weeks later. The source said the decision was approved by senior officials in the Palestinian Authority.

AP: Kashmir Bus Explosion Kills 26 Soldiers

Suspected Islamic militants blew up a military bus in India’s portion of Kashmir (news - web sites) on Sunday, killing at least 26 soldiers and wounding 15, officials said.

The bomb was planted under a small bridge along a road connecting the cities of Sringar and Jammu, Border Security Force spokesman Neeraj Sharma said.

The attack on the Border Security Force bus came hours after India’s new prime minister, Manmohan Singh, took charge in New Delhi.

At least 26 soldiers died at the scene of the explosion and 15 were wounded, many critically, Sharma said. A police officer said two civilians were also wounded when their vehicle caught fire from the explosion.

HAARETZ: Soldier, 4 Palestinians injured in suicide attack in Jordan Valley

A suicide bomber struck at the Bekaot roadblock in the northern Jordan Valley on Saturday afternoon, injuring one Israel Defense Forces soldier and four Palestinian bystanders.

A Palestinian man suffered serious wounds and was evacuated by helicopter to Haemek Hospital, Afula. The soldier suffered from light wounds and was evacuated by ambulance to the hospital in Afula. Three Palestinians suffered from light wounds and were taken to a hospital in the Palestinian Authority.

The bomber reportedly approached the checkpoint from the east. The soldiers noticed he was behaving in an odd manner and ordered him to stop. When he failed to do so they fired warning shots in the air. The man then set off the explosive belt some 30 meters from the checkpoint, near a group of Palestinians, Israel Radio reported.

Nasrallah addresses thousands at anti-US rally

Thousands of Shiite Muslims wearing white shrouds symbolizing their readiness to die, filled the streets of their neighborhood in Beirut, carrying Hizbollah flags and chanting, “Death to America! Death to Israel!”

Al-Manar television, run by the militant Hizbollah group that organized the march, estimated the crowd at 200,000.

The demonstration was in response to a call by Hizbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah earlier this week for “a symbolic demonstration to tell America that we are ready for martyrdom to defend our holy places.”

REUTERS: Ya’alon: one tunnel found so far in Rafah

IDF forces operating in Rafah have so far found and destroyed one arm-smuggling tunnel, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya’alon said Friday in an interview with Channel 1.

He added that the IDF is hoping to find more tunnels and arrest arm smugglers operating in Rafah during the ongoing Operation Rainbow.

Ya’alon also alluded that the Egyptians are not doing enough to stop arm-smuggling rings from operating in Egyptian-Rafah.

JERUSALEM POST: Zakai: Rafah damages caused by terrorists, not IDF

He added that Palestinian footage of destruction in the area showed many of the buildings they claim to have been demolished in the four-day operation were in fact destroyed over the course of the past three and a half years.

Describing the Palestinian reports of the destruction in Rafah following IDF activity as a “well-oiled propaganda machine”, Zakai declared that none of the residents were suffering from starvation, and that in cases where water and electricity were cut off, crews immediately began repairing the damage.

Regarding footage of plowed up roads, Zakai said these were the result of terrorists placing bomb underneath the road surface and covering them up with asphalt, so as to detonate as troops entered the camp. Similarly, many of the damaged houses documented by Palestinians are a product of powerful explosives placed by terrorists inside the walls of houses to harm IDF troops searching the area.

For many people, the big question about Rafah is “why?” Why were the Israelis so determined to press this attack, despite casualties?

The short answer is, weapon smuggling and arms manufacturing. Here’s the official explanation from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The drawings and cross-sections are especially illuminating. I had no idea that the smuggling (and even having one’s house demolished) was so lucrative, and the excerpted “Islam Online” interview with a smuggler was interesting. Thanks to Winds of Change.NET reader Shirley-Anne for that tip.

Meanwhile, Dave at Israellycool fisks some of the distortions and outright lies that many media outlets are promoting uncritically, and adds a few thoughts of his own. Suffice to say that he’s unimpressed with the performance of the media. As he should be.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

• For the second time in less than a year, Georgia approached the brink of civil war only to step back. The results and players were nearly the same, but this time, it was the leader of Ajaria, a semi-independent region on the Black Sea, who fled.

Other Topics Include: More on Ajaria; Russo-Uzbek Love-in; US Trains Uzbek NCOs; Russian Border Guards to Leave Tajikistan; Afghanistan’s Disarmament Plan Hits Snags; Turkmen Education System in Freefall; The Makings of a To’y; and, Disabled Athletes in Afghanistan

Read The Rest…

AP: Israeli Troops Pulling Out of Rafah Camp

Israeli troops and tanks began pulling out of the Rafah refugee camp at daybreak Friday, residents said, after a three-day sweep that left 39 Palestinians dead.

Israeli military sources confirmed that soldiers were “redeploying” after the operation in the camp, but they said that in principle, the search for weapons-smuggling tunnels under the border would continue.

As recently as Wednesday, Israeli leaders insisted that the operation would continue.

FBI Bulletin via Drudge (citing Time.com)

The FBI has disseminated to 18,000 law enforcement agencies an intelligence bulletin advising police officials to be on the lookout for suicide bombers attempting to strike inside the US, TIME’s Elaine Shannon reports today on TIME.com. The lightly classsified bulletin, headlined “Possible suicide bomber indicators,” and circulated earlier today (May 20) via the FBO’s secure Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Intranet, warns local badge-carriers to look for obvious signs of trouble - people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, trailing wires from their jackets - and, as well, more subtle ones, such as tightly clenched fists. Someone who never shows his palms could be gripping a detonator rigged to go off when a button is released. “If you shoot him, you’re still not safe because his hands relax and the bomb explodes,” says a counter-terrorism official, TIME reports.

The FBI bulletin also notes that suicide bombers may disguise themselves in stolen military, police or firefighter’s garb or as pregnant women, TIME reports

.

JERUSALEM POST: PA to include factions in summit delegation

The Palestinian Authority has agreed to include representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril, in its delegation to the upcoming Arab summit in Tunisia. This is the first time that members of three radical groups are included in an official PA delegation to an Arab summit.

The PLO’s hard-line “foreign minister,” Farouk Kaddoumi, will head the PA delegation to the summit. Palestinian sources said it was not clear who would represent the three groups at the summit. They ruled out the possibility that Khaled Mashaal (Hamas), Ramadan Shalah (Islamic Jihad) and Ahmed Jibril (PFLP-General Command) would leave Syria, pointing out that the three fear they may be targeted by Israel.

(Can observer status at the United Nations for terrorist groups be far off? Will Al-Qaida and the Taleban be asking for seats in the balcony next?)

UPDATE:
And just a reminder of Hamas’ ultimate goal, in case any member of the media is reading this and wants to print the “1967 Borders” statement their editor keeps handing them:

Meanwhile, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, Osama Handan, threatened that his group would carry the fight to the West Bank after Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip.

…

Hamdan said Hamas would never recognize Israel’s right to exist. “Our stand is clear,” he said. “We want one Palestinian state, and the Jews are welcome to live in peace with us. However, we will never accept Israel.”

Quote him verbatim.

JERUSALEM POST: Terrorists killed in Saudi Arabia

Saudi security forces clashed with five wanted militants at a suspected hideout north of Riyadh Thursday, killing four of the men and wounding a fifth, a security official said.

A security agent was also killed and two others were wounded in the shootout at a resthouse outside the town of Buraida, the official said on condition of anonymity. Buraida is one of the kingdom’s fundamentalist strongholds.

The official said the men were “misguided individuals,” a euphemism Saudi officials use to refer to Islamic militants. He said weapons and ammunition were found at the scene.

He did not give further details. It was not immediately known whether the militants were on a government list of 26 most-wanted militants.

SKYNEWS: Hamas Leader Killed

A leader of the armed wing of the radical Hamas movement has been killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, it has been reported.

AFP news agency said the news came from Palestinian medical and security sources.

The body of 37-year-old Khalid Abu Anza, who was killed in the early morning, was recovered by medics in the evening, AFP reported.

BLOOMBERG: Blast Occurs at McDonalds in Istanbul, Turkey, Reuters Reports

A blast occurred in a car park outside a McDonald’s Corp. restaurant in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Reuters said, citing the private TV8 Turkish television channel.

TV8 cited police radio as saying the blast was caused by a so-called percussion bomb, which makes a loud noise while causing little damage, Reuters reported. Nobody was hurt in the explosion, the agency said.

UPDATE:
Unexploded McBombs in Rome.

While what little media coverage there was of the recent chemical weapons plot in Amman, Jordan was over within a day, it received wide coverage within blogosphere. I myself consider the possibility of terrorists using chemical weapons to kill thousands of innocent people to be worthy of at least as much airtime as anything else these days, but then it’s probably just as well that I got out of the the whole media business to begin with. In any case, this analysis will deal with both the Amman plot and other aspects of what we know about al-Qaeda’s WMD program, as well as the potential future implications from this.

Read The Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Al Aksa threatens to kidnap soldiers

The Fatah’s Al Aksa Martyr’s Brigades in Gaza have threatened to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to 3exchange him for Marwan Barghouti, reported IBA news Thursday.

A movement leader, Abu Kusai, said that kidnapping IDF soldiers would be given the highest priority.

(If kidnapping New York Times reporters is too difficult for them, how are they going to kidnap a live soldier? Better stick to dead body parts.)

HAARETZ: Palestinians try to kidnap U.S. reporter from Rafah

A New York Times correspondent narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt by Palestinians while covering Israel’s extensive raid into the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, the newspaper said on Thursday.

James Bennet, bureau chief for Israel and the territories, said he was speaking on a cellphone in front of a Rafah hospital on Wednesday when a Palestinian he did not know came up, smiled and offered his hand, saying, “Welcome.”

When Bennet shook his hand, the man and another Palestinian grabbed him and tried to thrust him into an old Mercedes car that pulled up with its back door open, recalling kidnappings of foreigners by Muslim militants in wartime Beirut in the 1980s.

As many of you may know, female Chechen suicide bombers are often referred to as “black widows” because their attacks come in part as a response to the deaths of their husbands at the hands of the Russian military. There is speculation that many of the women who were part of the Tashkent bombings were widows as well.

Expect to see more of the same. Pakistani forces are hunting an Uzbek woman training female suicide bombers in the Afghan border region.

Pakistan’s security forces are hunting for the widow of a suspected Uzbek terrorist who is allegedly training women suicide bombers in the border region with Afghanistan, Reuters reported, citing local government officials.

The woman has set up a training camp in the border area, Reuters cited an unidentified official from the government of North West Frontier Province as saying. Her husband was a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in a Pakistani military operation in the area in January, the official told Reuters.

The original Reuters story says the woman is named Aziza and that she is training Pakistani women to engage in attacks within Pakistan in order to get revenge for her husband’s death during the operations against the IMU in January.

(Cross-post from The Argus)

JERUSALEM POST: Court to deliver Barghouti decision Thursday

The Tel Aviv District Court will hand down its verdict Thursday in the trial of West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.

A special panel of judges, headed by Sara Sirota, will rule whether Barghouti is guilty of murder, accessory to murder, incitement to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and membership in a terrorist organization.

Barghouti, who was arrested by an elite IDF force in April 2002, headed the Fatah Tanzim and al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which have been declared terrorist organizations by Israel. In the original indictment against him, Barghouti was referred to as a “terrorist with blood on his hands.”

If convicted by the court, Barghouti, 44, who is placed by Palestinian opinion polls second in popularity to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, can expect life imprisonment, a Justice Ministry spokesman said.

UPDATE:
Guilty.

(In any country with a death penalty, he’d be facing execution. Instead, he’s now being kept as a bargaining chip for exchange with the next swarm of Palestinians robbing body parts from the scene of an ambush on Israeli soldiers or murdered civilians.)

AP/NYT — Palestinians Say Blast at Protest Kills at Least 10

Israeli forces fired a missile and a tank shell Wednesday into a large crowd of Palestinians demonstrating against the invasion of a neighboring refugee camp, witnesses said. At least 10 Palestinians were killed, all children and teenagers, a Palestinian health official said.

At least 50 people were wounded, 36 critically, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Palestinian witnesses saw a missile land in the middle of the crowd of 3,000 demonstrators, and Associated Press Television Network footage showed smoke and debris flying as a large explosion rocked the area. The footage then showed Palestinians carrying the wounded, including children, from the smoky scene.

Military sources said on condition of anonymity that a helicopter and a tank fired one round each near the crowd after soldiers felt threatened.

Palestinian witnesses said four missiles and four tank shells were fired, and they also heard machine-gun fire from tanks.

Defense sources said senior officers, including the chief of staff, were in an emergency meeting to investigate the incident.

“We are still checking the event. This is a combat zone filled with explosives devices and it is premature to know exactly what happened this afternoon in Rafah,” army spokeswoman Maj. Sharon Feingold said.

The demonstrators were marching down the busy main street of Rafah town, protesting against the Israeli invasion of the nearby Tel Sultan neighborhood in Rafah refugee camp. When the crowd was less than a mile from the besieged camp, the helicopter and tank began firing, witnesses said.

JERUSALEM POST: Steinitz: Palestinians are perpetrating war crimes

Wednesday’s killing of 15 Palestinians by a helicopter missile in Rafah is a sad and tragic event, said Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee chairman Dr. Yuval Steinitz (Likud) speaking on Israel Radio Wednesday afternoon.

“Something is definitely wrong,” he said, “but something is even worse with a Palestinian enemy that skewers its own people in the fighting. The terrorist organizations and the Palestinian administration injure Israeli civilians intentionally using rockets and suicide bombers, and if this operation fails, they will target Israeli civilians using Katyusha rockets, as well.”

“Furthermore, they are prepared to place their own people and their children into the eye of the fighting in order that there will be Palestinian civilian casualties,” he said.

“I am the last to avoid criticizing the army, sometimes even harshly,” Steinitz said. “But you cannot avoid shooting at armed gunmen just because they are surrounding themselves with innocent civilians. I would even say that placing Israeli soldiers at risk in order to do so would in itself be an illegal order.”

(To deny the Palestinian use of women and children as human shields as a terrorist act on the part of the Palestinians is ultimately a denial of their humanity by the UN and other NGO human rights groups.)

JERUSALEM POST: IDF: Rafah teenagers killed by Palestinian bombs

Two young teenagers killed in Tuesday’s fighting in Rafah were killed by a bomb planted by Palestinians, according to a preliminary IDF probe into the matter.

Ahmed Mughayer, 13, and his sister Asma, 16, were gathering washing on the roof of their house when hit in the head by stray bullets fired by troops from the roof of an adjacent building, family members told Associated Press, but the IDF has ruled out the possibility of gunfire.

The North Korean train that exploded last month had a cargo uknown until now: a missile shipment to Syria. The blast also killed twelve Syrian technicians that were on board.

U.S. officials confirmed a report in a Japanese daily newspaper that a train explosion on April 22 killed about a dozen Syrian technicians near the Ryongchon province in North Korea. The officials said the technicians were accompanying a train car full of missile components and other equipment from a facility near the Chinese border to a North Korea port.

A U.S. official said North Korean train cargo was also believed to have contained tools for the production of ballistic missiles. North Korea has sold Syria the extended-range Scud C and Scud D missiles, according to reports by Middle East Newsline.

Emergency Preparedness and Response Statement

Submitted testimony of Alan Reiss, Former Director, World Trade Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Submitted testimony of Joseph Morris, Former Chief, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department

Submitted testimony of Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York Police Department (NYPD)

JERUSALEM POST: Ya’alon: Iran, Syria smuggling arms into Rafah

Chief of staff Lt.-Gen Moshe Ya’alon told a press conference Tuesday, “we are in the midst of an operation in Rafah, which is aimed at improving our ability in fighting against weapons smuggling The aim of the operation is to uncover as many tunnels as possible.”

The weapons have been arriving at Sinai beaches, and from there they are transported to the Gaza Strip. “The operations are being financed almost entirely by Iran and organized via Damascus and Lebanon with the aid of the Hizbullah,” Ya’alon continued. There has recently been an improvement in the quality of arms being smuggled in, he said, including Katyusha rockets, and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

According to the chief of staff, Egyptian efforts are not sufficient, and although Israel is holding a dialogue with Egypt to improve their operations, only Israel can do this job.

“The absence of control by Israel over the (Philadelphia) route will result in the Gaza Strip’s saturation in arms, which will make it difficult for us to operate in the future,” Ya’alon observed. He said he does not see any other force besides the IDF that can prevent this from happening.

“At this hearing, the Commission turns its attention to the day of September 11, 2001. We will focus on what confronted civilians and first responders during the attacks, how they made decisions under adverse conditions, and what first responders communicated to civilians and to each other,” said Commission Chair Thomas H. Kean.

“The Commission also will explore the state of the emergency preparedness and response today,” said Commission Vice Chair Lee H. Hamilton. “We will examine what steps have been taken since 9-11 to improve our preparedness against terrorist attacks and other emergencies, and whether we need national standards of preparedness.”

TCP will bring you updates and transcripts as the day goes on.

Update:

Some points in the 26 page prepared report, culled from various news sources:

• A fire chief’s error led him to believe that the radio equipment wsn’t working. It was working and was used later in Tower 2.

• Lack of communication is a big issue here - too much radio traffic was a contributor to that, but there is also the issue of the inability for departments - fire, police and 911 - to share information.

• The report shows why a helicopter rescue was impossible because of equipment on the roof.

• Emergency and safety procedure enacted after the 1993 bombing proved innefffective on 9/11.

[to be updated]

HAARETZ: Report: Lebanon foils Israeli plot to kill Nasrallah

Lebanon has cracked a spy ring recruited by Israel to help assassinate the head of Hezbollah, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Lebanese security forces have arrested a Palestinian woman in her forties who had been recruited by Israeli agents in Tunisia to establish a spy ring comprised of Arab workers in Lebanon, the As-Safir newspaper said in a front-page story.

A Lebanese security source said a plot of some kind had been uncovered but declined to comment on its details or scale while investigations were ongoing.

Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor Adnan Addoum told Reuters agency that no such case had been referred to the judiciary and “this was media talk”.

HAARETZ: 3 Palestinians killed in Israeli missile strike in Rafah

Three Palestinians were killed early Tuesday and seven were wounded, one critically, when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at an unoccupied part of the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, in what appeared to be the beginning of a large-scale Israeli operation aimed at widening a border buffer zone.

Hospital officials said at least two of the dead were gunmen, but the wounded were civilians. The Israel Defense Forces said the target was a group of armed Palestinians approaching Israeli forces.

A few minutes later, Israeli bulldozers began leveling land next to the refugee camp. Palestinian security officials said the huge, armored bulldozers moved to the edge of the Qishda section of the camp near the border and began working on land in an Israeli-controlled zone.

HAARETZ: Hamas leader Khaled Mashal rejects talk of cease-fire

Hamas political leader in Syria Khaled Mashal rejected Monday the Palestinian Authority’s proposals for a cease-fire, saying Israel was waging a “war of annihilation” against his people.

“Our people will not be made refugees again,” Mashal told The Associated Press, referring to the displacement of Palestinians after the Middle East wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973.

Hamas has sent scores of suicide bombers into Israeli towns since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, killing hundreds of Israelis.

“Our choice is between death and death,” he said. “Our people will defend themselves until the last breath. The world left us no other choice.”

HAARETZ: IDF cuts Rafah from rest of Gaza, deploys on Khan Yunis road

A massive number of Israel Defense Forces troops on Monday successfully completed a major operation in the southern Gaza Strip, to isolate the town of Rafah from the rest of Gaza and neighboring Egypt.

Troops and tanks were then deployed at regular intervals along the road between Rafah and the neighboring town of Khan Yunis. The IDF said the move was aimed at preventing militants moving between the two towns.

The operation, the first division-level operation to be conducted in Gaza, was also aimed at destroying tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into the Strip, as well as arresting and/or killing wanted militants.

Palestinian gunmen and troops exchanged sporadic gunfire in the area. Army Radio reported that militants fired anti-tank missiles at troops, although there were no injuries.

Seven IDF tanks and armored bulldozers, backed by helicopter gunships, moved into the area between Rafah and the town of Khan Yunis, witnesses said.

JERUSALEM POST: Al-Qaida planned to bomb Israel’s Canberra embassy

A British-born Muslim convert was recruited by al-Qaida for a plan to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra with a truck bomb, prosecutors said Monday on the opening day of the man’s trial.

Jack Roche, 50, was told by senior officials in Osama bin Laden’s terror network to form a terror cell in Australia to carry out the plot, prosecutor Ron Davies told Perth District Court. The bombing was never carried out.

Roche has pleaded innocent to one charge of conspiring to damage the Israeli embassy by means of explosives, and as a consequence harm diplomatic staff. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in convicted.

JERUSALEM POST: Suicide bomb dispatcher gets 35 life terms

The Samaria military court sentenced Islamic Jihad member Jaleb Jaradat, 23 from Silt el Hartiyah to 35 life terms and an additional 35 years for the murder of 31 people.

Jaradat dispatched suicide bombers to the Megido and Karkur junctions in 2002.

Judges said they had considered the death penalty but were unauthorized to do so. Jaradat remained unrepentant.

JERUSALEM POST: Um El Fahm Hamas member arrested

An Israeli Arab resident of Um Al Fahm who was arrested last month by the Shin Bet and Israel Police admitted to operating on behalf of the Hamas.

Together with a Palestinian resident in the territories, he planned to abduct an Israeli pilot, smuggle a car rigged with explosives into Israel and launch suicide bomb attacks.

REUTERS: Israeli Missiles Strike Fatah Office in Gaza

Israeli helicopters fired missiles at an office of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement and that of another faction in Gaza City early on Monday.

Medics said the Fatah building and offices of the Democratic Front faction were empty at the time of the early morning strike and there were no casualties.

An Israeli military statement said the missiles struck two offices “which served as focal points for Palestinian terrorist activity” in the raid close to the site of an ambush that killed six soldiers a week ago.

Ramzi Ramab, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the offices targeted, told Reuters his workers had a narrow escape, having managed to flee as they heard the helicopters in the sky, “but the office was destroyed.”

JERUSALEM POST: Gulf leaders denounce terrorism

Leaders of Arab countries from the Persian Gulf denounced terrorism Sunday and declared their solidarity with Saudi Arabia, which has suffered several deadly terrorism attacks in the past year.

The leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council states Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, as well as senior officials from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, were meeting in Jiddah, in western Saudi Arabia, for their annual consultative summit.

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“We must announce again our solidarity and support for our brothers in the Kingdom (Saudi Arabia) in their fight against the ugly terrorist incidents that have tried to take aim at its stability and security,” Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah told the gathering.

(Keep an eye out for the “legitimate resistance” excuse to be published soon.)

JERUSALEM POST: 54 members of Islamic group arrested in Egypt

Police arrested 54 members of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood early Sunday in an ongoing crackdown against the organization, officials said.

The Brotherhood said “about 55” people had been arrested. A leading member of the group said police told the men they were being detained for belonging to an illegal group, said Ali Abdel-Fattah.

A statement from the group said the dawn raids were “a surprise escalation, against all expectations and (in line) with the fierce American and Israeli campaign against the Arab region, which requires solidarity between the regimes and all political forces,” with the Brotherhood at the forefront.

Abdel-Fattah said the “American and Zionist campaign” referred to the recent events in Iraq and in the Palestinian territories.

HAARETZ: Palestinian officials say they are ready for cease-fire

Palestinian officials said Sunday that they are ready for a cease-fire with Israel as a first step toward reviving the stalled road map peace plan. Militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas told Egyptian mediators they are ready to commit to a cease-fire, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath said.

Sha’ath said he made the cease-fire proposal during a meeting Saturday in Jordan with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“We told Powell that … we are ready for such a cease-fire if the United States is able to bring an Israeli commitment to such an agreement,” he said.

Sha’ath said Powell did not respond to the offer. Powell was traveling Sunday and not immediately available to comment.

JERUSALEM POST: Report: IDF reveals plan for tunnel in Rafah

The IDF revealed plans Sunday to create a 60 meter wide underground canal, 20 meters deep that is aimed at preventing the forging of arms-smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian side of Rafah to the Palestinian side. This is one option to widening the Philadelphia Corridor, reported channel 2 news Sunday.

Against a background of pledges by the defense establishment that operations in Gaza were to be bolstered, the High Court of Justice on Sunday rejected a petition by Palestinians to ban the demolition of homes in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

Rejecting Palestinian claims quoted on Associated Press that the IDF had destroyed nearly 90 houses, leaving over 1000 people homeless, army officials claim that only 40 houses had been destroyed, and these had been used as cover by Palestinian gunmen to attack soldiers.

(Say what you will, but I wouldn’t mess with the gondoliers the IDF has punting across that bad boy.)

HAARETZ: Qureia calls for truce, says Palestinians mustn’t react to raids

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday that Palestinians must refrain from reacting to Israeli raids so as not to give Israel an excuse for attacks, Israel Radio reported.
Qureia, who met with Mubarak in Cairo, also called for a cease-fire, saying it could lead to a renewal of peace talks, the radio said.

In addition, Qureia said the Palestinians would fulfill all their commitments if Israel were to completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip, according to the report. However, he reiterated the Palestinians’ call for withdrawal from the West Bank as well.

(Islamic Jihad and Hamas denial in four… three… two… one…)

MAARIV: Court convicts extreme right activist with supporting terror groups

The Jerusalem Magistrates court convicted extreme right wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir with supporting a terror organization, Sunday. Charges against Ben-Gvir include printing pamphlets calling on the government to “remove the foreigners from the Temple Mount”; the pamphlet is signed “ex Kahana activists”.

Ben-Gvir said in response: “I am not surprised that the same system that does not indict people for flying the PLO flag would convict me”. Ben-Gvir promised to appeal the courts decision.

HAARETZ: Israeli, Palestinian officials trade barbs at international forum

Israeli and Palestinian officials meeting at a closely watched international forum exchanged impassioned accusations about who was to blame for deadlocked peace talks, illustrating the difficulties of resolving a 56-year-old conflict.

“Stop blaming it all on the Palestinians,” said Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath. “Stop saying that the occupied people have first to demonstrate their sanity before the occupier pulls out from their homeland.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert countered that Sha’ath’s comment summed up “the basic obstacle to any dramatic change.”

“Everyone is guilty, everyone is responsible, everyone has contributed to the failure except the Palestinians,” he accused Sha’ath of believing, adding sarcastically that Sha’ath “hasn’t heard that there is terror by Palestinians.”

(Yasser Arafat recently called on all Palestinians to terrorize the enemy… maybe Nabil Sha’ath was watching Wheel of Fortune or something.)

Finally, Powell reacts…

JERUSALEM POST: Powell lashes out at Arafat

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday blamed Yasser Arafat for blocking U.S. efforts to strengthen Palestinian security forces as a means of ending terror attacks on Israel.

Winding up his latest effort to push peacemaking forward, without any apparent concrete results, Powell also criticized Arafat for a statement the Palestinian leader made Saturday to his people urging them to “find whatever strength you have to terrorize your enemy.”

“Mr. Arafat continues to take actions and make statements to make it exceptionally difficult to move forward” on peacemaking, Powell said at a news conference before returning to Washington from the World Economic Forum held at an isolated Dead Sea resort.

JERUSALEM POST: PM: Israel seeks Egyptian help in stopping terror

Israel has asked Egypt for assistance in halting weapons-smuggling by Palestinian militants across the border into Gaza, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his Cabinet on Sunday.

Sharon told the ministers that he had been in touch with Egyptian officials over the past week. He also said he had asked the United States for help.

Thirteen IDF soldiers were killed last week in Gaza in a series of attacks by Palestinian terrorists. Israel says the terror groups smuggle weapons through tunnels across Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Sharon said the talks with Egypt are meant at modifying Israel’s historic Camp David peace agreement, which limited the amount of troops Egypt could maintain along the border with Gaza. He said the changes would allow Egypt to bring larger numbers of troops to the border area to halt the smuggling.

There was no immediate comment from Egypt.

JERUSALEM POST: Court to rule Thurs. in Barghouti trial

The Tel Aviv District Court will hand down its ruling Thursday in the trial of detained West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.

A special panel of judges, headed by Sara Sirota, will rule on whether the leader of the Palestinian uprising is guilty of murder, accessory to murder, incitement to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and membership of a terrorist organization.

According to the indictment, Barghouti was head of the Fatah, the Tanzim and Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, all of which have been declared terrorist organizations by Israel.

Barghouti “led, ran, and set into operation terrorist actions against the state of Israel by conspiring with senior officials in the field who were responsible for their implementation. These actions were conducted in accordance with policy determined by the leadership of the terrorist organizations, and Barghouti was involved with carrying out this policy.”

JERUSALEM POST: PM: Gaza fighting centers on terror oxygen pipe

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the cabinet on Sunday that IDF soldiers are fighting with bravery, devotion and skill against Palestinian terror that is threatening the existence of the State of Israel.

Sharon said that soldiers have succeeded in demolishing factories for manufacturing Kassam rockets in the Zeitoun neighborhood.

“The fighting on the Philidelphi axis is centered on hurting the main oxygen pipe of the terror,” he said. “We will not allow this terror to threaten the country following a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”

ARAB NEWS: Syria Blames ‘Isolated’ Group for Attack

Syria blamed yesterday an “isolated” group of Syrian extremists for an attack and gunbattle in Damascus late in April in which four people were killed. Syria’s state-run news agency quoted an Interior Ministry official as identifying the assailants as Ayman Shlash and Mohammed Al-Nahhar, who died in the April 27 clash with security forces in a diplomatic quarter of Damascus, and Ahmed Shlash and Ezzo Al-Hussein, who were arrested.

The unidentified official did not say whether the men were related or what their motive was. But a Syrian close to the government told The Associated Press last week that among the men were two brothers, the Shlashes, and a cousin, and that they were among Arab volunteers who went to Iraq in the early stages of the US-led war on Saddam Hussein’s regime.

ARAB NEWS: Abdullah Warns Terrorists

Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday warned terrorists and their supporters that the Kingdom would not allow them to tarnish its international image.

Saudis and their government were “against those who undermine the Kingdom’s security and try to damage the country’s reputation,” he told a group of citizens from the southern Asir region.

The crown prince reiterated that the government was determined to track down “this deviant group, who have abandoned the Islamic nation and faith” and violated humane values.

Speaking to another group of citizens from Taif, Prince Abdullah said the Kingdom would nail the terrorists sooner or later. “Leave the matter of this deviant and aggressive group to us,” he said. “We will go after them no matter how long it takes.”

AP: Arafat Makes Call to ‘Terrorize’ Enemy

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat urged his people Saturday to “terrorize your enemy,” as he bitterly marked the 56-year anniversary of the establishment of Israel.

In a speech broadcast live on Palestinian television, Arafat repeatedly called on his people to be steadfast in their struggle against Israeli occupation.

He ended the speech with a quote from the Koran. “Find what strength you have to terrorize your enemy and the enemy of God,” he said.

The phrase in the Koran refers to Muslims’ wars against pagans. It is followed by a phrase saying “if they want peace, then let’s have peace.”

Yasser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

REUTERS: Islamic Jihad Leader Unhurt in Gaza Missile Strike

Israeli missiles struck the Gaza office and home of Islamic Jihad’s top leader early on Saturday in a failed bid to assassinate him, apparently in retaliation for the killing of 13 Israeli soldiers this week.

Witnesses said helicopter gunships fired eight missiles at the targets, wounding at least eight Palestinians, but officials of the militant group said Mohammed al-Hindi had safely fled the area.

The attempt on al-Hindi’s life followed Israel’s assassinations of the two senior Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

The missile barrage came hours after two Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas militants in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip in the latest in a series of ambushes that has dealt the Middle East’s mightiest army its worst blow in two years.

UPDATE:
Reuters has the obligatory “earthquake-like response” threatened by Islamic Jihad.

If you’re keeping score, that’s two earthquakes, one volcano, several doors opening to Hell, and non-stop calls from telemarketers threatened upon Israel for the targeting of leaders of terrorist organizations.

MAARIV: IDF demolishes house of Hamas terrorist in Ramallah

IDF soldiers destroyed the house of a Hamas terrorist in Ramallah Friday morning. The terrorist, Riad Ahmed Abdullah Abu Dahar, was responsible for the bombing in Jerusalem in September 2001 in which 14 Israelis were injured.

HAARETZ: Palestinians: IDF razing homes in Gaza refugee camp

The Israel Defense Forces launched a mass demolition of buildings Friday in the Rafah refugee camp, adjacent to the Philadelphi Route where five IDF soldiers were killed in a Palestinian attack on an armored personnel carrier two days before.

Witnesses said armored bulldozers had demolished 20 houses and were threatening many more in the camp.

Panic-stricken residents grabbed whatever belongings they could carry and fled, some waving white flags at approaching Israeli forces, the witnesses said.

(When mass rallies in Gaza and the West Bank have people waving white flags instead of Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Palestinian flags there might one day be hope for peace.)

JERUSALEM POST: IDF widening Philadelphia Corridor

Palestinian sources report Israeli bulldozers have destroyed about 20 houses since operations began Friday to widen the Philadelphia corridor.

Earlier, Defense minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters that Palestinians had used United Nations ambulances to transport body remains to areas under their control. Visiting soldiers at an army base in the southern Gaza Strip, Mofaz said he expected UN Sec.-Gen Kofi Annan to address the issue.

Israeli bulldozers Friday started smashing buildings in a Palestinian refugee camp close to a military patrol road where five soldiers were killed in a Palestinian attack two days earlier. Palestinians are protesting the act and calling for international intervention.

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today’s “Winds of War” is brought to you by Dan Darling. of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• Time Magazine is now catching on to the problem of extremist Islam in southern Thailand. This primer on al-Qaeda in Thailand should hopefully prove useful to readers.

• Arab League foreign ministers have endorsed the concept of democracy in a document for the Arab League summit expected to take place in Tunis this month.

• The New York Times has some pretty good coverage of the Pan-Sahel Initiative, which is aimed at countering the threat posed by the Algerian GSPC.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Taliban attack; LeT medical wing; new Pakistani lashkar formed; Chavez assassination plot; Afroze discharged; election violence in the Philippines; Zarqawi nephew jugged; Saudi princess calls for end to anti-Saudi campaign; Kadyrov assassination round-up; 3/11 investigation round-up; Sweden fighting image as terror haven; Syria’s uneasy truce with radical Islam; and a hermaphrodite suicide bomber.

Read the Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Two suicide bombers arrested in Nablus

Two fugitives arrested by security forces in Nablus on Thursday planned to launch a suicide bomb attack in a supermarket or restaurant in the Gush Dan region.

The two were identified as Morad Fadel, 19, and Mohammed Abed, 18.

Sources in the Shin Bet told the Jerusalem Post that the two are affiliated with the Fatah Tanzim and received their instructions from Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon.

JERUSALEM POST: UNRWA: Palestinian gunmen hijacked ambulance

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Palestinian territories has issued a call to all parties in the conflict to respect the integrity of its ambulance service after an incident on Tuesday in which armed Palestinian combatants threatened the lives of an UNRWA ambulance team (a driver and a paramedic) and forced them to transport an injured gunman and two of his armed colleagues to a hospital in Gaza City.

Palestinian gunmen battled IDF troops in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood since Tuesday when six Israeli soldiers were killed when their APC was destroyed by a mine.

UNRWA has also called for all sides to respect the neutrality and impartiality of its staff.

“UNRWA condemns this action in the strongest possible terms at no time and under no circumstances should armed men enter any UNRWA vehicle,” a statement from the organization said.

JERUSALEM POST: Sharon thanks Egypt for rescuing soldiers’ remains

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday afternoon, to thank him for the Egyptian assistances in retrieving the remains of the six soldiers killed in Tuesday’s attack in Zeitun, the Prime Minister’s office announced.

Sharon asked Mubarak to pass on his appreciation to Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman for his efforts.

Mubarak thanked Sharon and expressed his interest in increasing cooperation between the countries, and forwarding Sharon’s diplomatic plans.

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinians fire at bus in Samaria

Palestinians fired at an Israeli bus near Sa-Nur in northern Samaria.

The bullet proof bus was damaged, but none of its passengers were injured.

HAARETZ: Syrian president refuses to expel Palestinian militants

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Thursday the United States had provided no proof to warrant imposing sanctions on his country and added he would not bow to U.S. demands to expel Palestinian militants.

Assad disputed the case that the Bush administration had made to impose the embargo, saying Syria does not have weapons of mass destruction and there is no evidence of foreign fighters crossing the border from Syria to Iraq.

He said Syria had asked Washington for evidence of infiltration from Syria into Iraq.

“We have no response to the request to give us one passport, one name, one evidence of that. So far, we haven’t received anything,” Assad told a group of American editors.

President Bush yesterday used particularly pointed language in announcing the findings necessary to trigger economic sanctions on Syria (a development noted by Laurence here on Monday), following up on the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003:

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby determine that the actions of the Government of Syria in supporting terrorism, continuing its occupation of Lebanon, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining United States and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.

(Emphasis added; the rest of the Executive Order, detailing the sanctions, can be found here).

HAARETZ: Sources: Deal reached with militants to return soldiers’ remains

Palestinian sources on Wednesday claimed that militant Palestinian groups had reached an agreement with negotiators from the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to return the remains of six Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed in Gaza City on Tuesday to Israel. In return, Israel will have to immediately withdraw from the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Army Radio said that the militants will transfer the remains to the Palestinian Authority, who will then pass them on to Israeli officials.

FYI:
From the Jerusalem Post:

“We are not talking about any exchange, and there is no talk of the other side receiving anything in return. Requests for assistance in the matter have been made the relevant parties, but there will be no negotiations with terrorist organizations,” a security official told the Jerusalem post.

The same official said that the ongoing IDF operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood is nearing its end, and soldiers have found most of the remains, the official said.

ANOTHER UPDATE:
MAARIV: Islamic Jihad: Soldiers remains to be returned Wednesday evening

A senior Islamic Jihad official said that Palestinians will return the body parts of six IDF soldiers Wednesday evening. The official said the remains were supposed to have been returned Wednesday morning in exchange for a full IDF withdrawal from Beit- Zeitoun but was postponed due to Israeli delays.

HAARETZ: PA calls on militants to return body parts of IDF troops

he Palestinian Authority released a statement Tuesday evening calling on the militant groups and residents of the Gaza Strip who hold remains of the IDF troops to return the parts.

In the statement, released after a meeting of PA officials in Ramallah, the Palestinian leadership called on the groups to treat the bodies “according to Islamic law, and not to hurt Islamic values.” The PA condemned the “criminal” IDF operation, but called on the militant groups not to “tarnish the image and values of the Palestinians.”

(Image and values?)

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today’s “Winds of War” is brought to you by Dan Darling. of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• Osama bin Laden, or someone who sounds like him, is offering $136,000 apiece in gold for the heads of top US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. One might note that contrary to the news story, bin Laden earlier posted a $9,000,000 bounty on the heads of the CIA, FBI, State, and Defense departments, in addition to the more recent $15,000,000 bounty placed on the heads of Sanchez, Kimmit, and Rumsfeld.

• Russian-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov has been assassinated along with 31 others in a massive explosive in Grozny during the Victory Day celebrations. Details are sketching, but some accounts suggest that the culprit was a female suicide bomber.

• more and more is being learned about the elaborate web of financing that Jemaah Islamiyyah is relying upon in the Philippines. At least one of the individuals in question, Abdullah, still has a huge bank account that has been open since at least 1998. This financial network is run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law and a free man in Saudi Arabia.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; warlords opposing Afghan disarmament drive; no breakthrough in Wana negotiations; more sectarian violence in Pakistan; Georgia reclaims Ajaria; Pattani separatists have Wahhabi and al-Qaeda ties; Islamists vs. Maosts in northern Bangladesh; Pekanbaru linked to Bali; 3 Bosnian charities identified as al-Qaeda fronts; al-Qaeda attack on Canada inevitable; every Iraqi mujahid an al-Qaeda member; Zarqawi ordered Casablanca bombings; al-Ansari is a Tora Bora veteran; Azizi met with 3/11 plotters; sectarian violence rocks Nigeria; Macedonian minister claims innocence; Indonesian Islamists want Bashir sprung; and the world’s nuttiest dictator.

Read the Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Missiles fired into Gaza in second IAF strike

In the second such strike of the day, IAF helicopters fired missiles at the Zeitoun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon.

It was not immediately known who the target of the strike was.

Updates when further information is available.

HAARETZ: PM to convene security cabinet to discuss deaths of soldiers

“Today, we were given a painful reminder of the price we have to pay for defending our country and ensuring the safety of our citizens,” Sharon said in a special Knesset session marking the 59th anniversary of the end of World War II. “We are fighting a ruthless enemy, without human feelings,” he said.

“We will not stop fighting him (the enemy) and hitting him, wherever he acts and hides,” Sharon said.

UPDATE:
From IMRA:

Israel Radio reported that Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called at the meeting of the Security-Diplomatic Cabinet this evening for Israel to shut off the water and electricity in the Gaza Strip until the Palestinians hand over the body parts they hold of the six IDF soldiers killed today. He also suggested that the parents of the soldiers be asked for permission to broadcast around the world uncensored photographs and footage of their son’s body parts being displayed by the terrorists.

JERUSALEM POST: One killed, 10 wounded by helicopter fire in Gaza

Eyewitness reports in the Gaza Strip say one person was killed and 10 wounded in an assassination attempt perpetrated by IAF helicopters on a car in Gaza City Tuesday noon.

A car containing a number of armed Palestinians was spotted by security forces. An air force helicopter was dispatched which fired a missile at the car. According to Palestinian media reports, Yossef Hajazi, a Hamas member was killed and 10 other s were wounded including civilians standing outside the car.

HAARETZ: 6 soldiers killed in Gaza; troops pour in as Strip split in 3

Six Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the Givati regiment were killed Tuesday morning when a bomb exploded under the armored personnel carrier (APC) in which they were travelling.

The troops were part of a large-scale operation in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun, aimed at destroying workshops producing Qassam rockets.

The families of the six fatalities have been informed.

The vehicle was on its way out of Gaza City when the explosion occurred, according to some media reports.

In the aftermath of the attack, the IDF split the Gaza Strip into three sections, sealed off the Zeitoun neighborhood and sent in massive reinforcements to assist in the operation to recover the soldiers’ bodies and the burned-out APC.

Hamas claimed that it has body parts belonging to the six soldiers. An IDF source said on condition of anonymity that troops, under heavy fire, were having difficulty in retrieving the bodies.

Military sources said that Israel has no intention of negotiating with Hamas if it does have body parts of the soldiers, Army Radio reported.

The Christian Science Monitor offers this inside account of terror recruitment and training … and it leaves you with the impression that even terrorists fight a war for talent.

In a face-to-face meeting, Osama bin Laden invited him to join Al Qaeda - and even asked him to serve as a personal bodyguard. Meanwhile, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the now-infamous Jordanian deemed responsible for recent attacks in Iraq, wanted Abdallah to join Al Tawhid, Mr. Zarqawi’s rival organization.

Abdallah opted for Al Tawhid, in part due to Jordanian ties. He went to Germany to carry out attacks, but his plans were interrupted when German authorities arrested him in April 2002.

MAARIV: Popular Front terrorist sentenced to nine life terms

Alam Ka’abi, a Popular Front terrorist, was sentenced today to nine life terms plus 15 years in prison for the murder of eight Israelis. The Samaria Military Court convicted Ka’abi for sending a number of suicide bombers to blow up in population centers in Kfar Saba and Netanya. He was also responsible for several attacks carried out against military targets.

AP: U.S. to impose sanctions on Syria this week

President George W. Bush this week will levy economic sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorism and not doing enough to prevent militant fighters from entering neighboring Iraq, congressional and administration sources said Monday.

The sanctions, which the White House will impose as early as Tuesday, are being ordered because the administration believes Syria has aggravated tensions in the Middle East by supporting militant groups.

The United States is ordering the sanctions “because they will not fight terror and they won’t join us in fighting terror,” Bush said in an interview last week with the Cairo-based newspaper Al-Ahram International.

“We’ve asked them to do some things and they haven’t responded,” Bush said. “And Congress passed a law saying that if Syria will not join - for example, booting out a Hezbollah office out of Damascus - that the president has the right to put sanctions on.”

A twosome of terror tunnel tips:

MAARIV: Palestinians using advanced tools to dig tunnels

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Babi Ben-Itach has told Maariv Online that the Palestinians who dig up weapons-smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border have began using professional electric tools unseen by the IDF so far.

Yesterday, Desert Patrol battalion fighters and undercover Border Guard officers have uncovered an arms-smuggling tunnel in the Rafah area. Six Palestinians who were digging up the tunnel were caught in the act and surrounded to IDF forces following negotiations. A search of the tunnel, which was five-meter deep and 200-meter long uncovered electric digging tools.

Lt. Col. Ben-Itach said: “For the first time we uncovered advance tools for digging tunnels. We are talking about an entirely different rate of digging from what we have seen so far”.

and

JERUSALEM POST: Arms smuggling tunnel network found in Rafah

Soldiers uncovered a 150 meters long network of arms smuggling tunnels Sunday morning in Rafah. For the first time, soldiers also arrested eight Palestinians inside the tunnel.

Security officials noted that since the town was divided in 1982, the tunnels have been used not only to smuggle weapons and fugitives but also cigarettes, car parts, electrical goods, foreign currency, gold, drugs and cloth.

The officials noted that since the outbreak of violence in September 2000, the Palestinian Authority has failed to prevent construction of the tunnels. Since the beginning of 2004, IDF soldiers have uncovered 11 tunnels, and since September 2000, a total of 90 have been uncovered and destroyed.

(Welcome to Arafat’s Ant Farm… just grab both sides and keep shaking.)

‘American forces destroyed the Baghdad headquarters of a rebel Shiite cleric early today, hours after troops killed at least 19 of his militiamen in clashes in the Sadr City slum district, the military and witnesses said today’ reports the New York Times.

Sadr’s forces are threatening retaliation, noting ‘We have now entered a second phase of resistance and our patience is over with the occupation forces’

Cross-posted from Spot On.

HAARETZ: IDF catches Palestinian hermaphrodite with 15-kg bomb

Israeli security forces thwarted a terror attack planned for the center of the country when they arrested a Palestinian hermaphrodite armed with a 15-kilogram bomb in the West Bank on Monday, Army Radio reported.

Amal Juma’a, 32, was a hermpahrodite who goes by the name Ahmed, Palestinian Authority sources told Army Radio.

Juma’a was arrested near the West Bank city of Nablus and planned to bring the bomb into the center of the country for an attack planned for Monday, according to the report.

IDF troops also arrested the suspect’s 15-year-old brother and a neighbor of the same age, according to the report. They are being questioned by security forces.

Palestinian security forces defused the bomb, the radio said.

(Would it have gotten 36 male virgins and 36 female virgins, or 72 hermaphrodite virgins?)

Terrorists vs. terrorists…

MAARIV: 8 Palestinians injured in brawl between Fatah and Hamas operatives

Eight Palestinians were injured tonight during a brawl that broke out between Hamas and Fatah operatives in Nablus, Palestinian sources reported. During the fight, a part of the el-Kuds University was burnt

(Everybody was Al-Quds Fighting… they were fast as lightning…)

Associated Press reports indicate that:

A photographer for the Reuters news agency was killed Sunday by an explosion in the Chechen capital that also killed the province’s Kremlin-backed leader, the agency said.

Adlan Khasanov, 33, had worked for the agency in Chechnya as a photographer and television cameraman since the late 1990s.

More updates at Backcountry Conservative

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinians open fire at Israelis in Gaza

Palestinians opened fire Sunday evening on a large group of Israelis who had congregated at the site of the attack on the Hatuel family near the Kissufim crossing in the Gaza Strip, Army Radio reported.

The group of people arrived at the site to mark a week since the murder of Tali Hatuel and her four daughters.

There were no injuries reported in Sunday evening’s incident.

Troops stationed nearby returned fire.

UPDATE: Two gunmen killed.

JERUSALEM POST: PA legislator’s offices attacked in Gaza

A Palestinian female legislator from the Gaza Strip, whose offices were attacked by gunmen on Saturday night, has called on the Palestinian Authority to launch an investigation into the incident. The attack is yet another sign of the growing state of lawlessness and anarchy in PA-controlled areas.

Eyewitnesses said 12 Fatah gunmen raided the offices of Jamileh Saydam, a representative of the Deir al-Balah district in the Palestinian Legislative Council, beating some of the workers and destroying furniture and documents. Saydam, who is also a member of Fatah, was not in the office at the time.

They said the attackers also fired several shots and hurled a stun grenade inside the offices before leaving.

The assault is seen as part of a power struggle between rival Fatah militias in the Gaza Strip.

Interfax reports:

GROZNY. May 9 (Interfax-South) - Six people were killed in the May 9 terrorist attack in Grozny, said Vladimir Yakovlev, presidential envoy to the South Federal District.

“Six people were killed. They are the president [Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov], the State Council chairman [Khusein Isayev], a journalist [Adlan Khasanov], a child and two of Kadyrov’s bodyguards,” Yakovlev told journalists after a session with senior law enforcement officials in Grozny.

More updates at Backcountry Conservative

While surfing for Chechen news this morning I found this opinion piece, Russian Islam, by Alexei Ivanenko at Kavkaz-Center. He offers a perspective on why Islam is appealing to increasing numbers of Russians in the south, and is worth reading. His first two reasons are “rationalism,” or “dogmatic clarity,” as opposed to the mysticism of Orthodox Christianity, and “convenience,” or “ritual easiness,” compared to the complex rituals of Orthodox Christianity. It’s the third reason I found interesting:

3. ‘Anti-system structure of Islam’. Islam is the only serious alternative to the society of consumers. Not everyone is happy with the fact that commercial pop-culture based on propaganda of sex and mindless violence is becoming the only form of culture. Not everyone wants to turn into a money-making and money-squandering machine that serves the image appropriate to a certain status rather than just making a living. Not everyone can put up with the catastrophic degradation of morals, when the juvenile crime rate, infidelity and extramarital depravity become a norm of life.

The old age of a member of society of consumers is terrible. In the West the old people are forgotten by their children and they have to spend the rest of their days in senior homes. And in Russia their lot is loneliness and constant dangers to become victims of all kinds of scam artists. Islam is an alternative to all of it. Furthermore, the Holy Quran allows coordinating positive moments of all modern political spectra: market with no profiteering, and social justice without tyranny.

This is, incidentally, what Thomas Friedman has been saying for years.

Three English-language Chechen news sources for you, all of which are pro-resistance / anti-Russian (or “invaders,” as most of these press sources describe the Russian government). Spend some time reading through these sites and you’ll get a sense of two things: (1) there’s a lot of news about Chechnya we don’t hear about in the Western press, and (2) this absolutely sounds like a war of Islamic fundamentalism, and not just independence.

The sites:

• SIA Chechenpress
  

• Kavkaz Center

• Ichkeria Independent News Agency

The Russian Information Agency has a bio for President Ahman Kadyrov here.

Several news items from the Russian Information Agency:

• PUTIN: TRAGEDY IN GROZNY MUST NOT AFFECT THE WORK CURRENTLY UNDER WAY IN THE REPUBLIC

• CHECHEN LEADER KILLED, BUT UNDEFEATED-PRESIDENT PUTIN

JERUSALEM POST: Boim warns Lebanon, Syria over Hizbullah

Israel has an interest in keeping the northern border quiet, but if it is not quiet there, it won’t be quiet in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and in Syria either, Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim said Sunday.

Boim was speaking in reaction to the latest outburst of violence on the border in which St.-Sgt. Denis Laminov was killed and six other soldiers were wounded – two of them seriously.

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

Italian anti-terrorist police say they have arrested five suspected Islamic extremists in Florence overnight and are conducting a series of searches elsewhere in Tuscany and Liguria.

Police say the five were Tunisian and Algerian nationals suspected of links to Al Qaeda.

Authorities say they belonged to the outlawed Ansar al Islam and were involved in recruiting suicide bombers to carry out attacks against Western targets in Iraq.

The ANSA news agency says 13 searches have already been carried out in the provinces of Liguria and Tuscany.

From The Australian :

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov has died from wounds in explosion at Grozny stadium, Interfax news agency says citing Interior Ministry source.

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

Pro-Moscow leader of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov has been injured in a blast which hit a stadium in the republic’s capital Grozny in which several people are thought to have died, Interfax news agency reported.

Earlier, two Russian news agencies cited undisclosed sources as saying the top Russian commander in the region, General Valery Baranov, may have also been injured in the blast.

Media reports say at least eight people were killed and 32 injured in the blast which came during a concert to celebrate Russia’s Victory Day holiday.

The explosion occurred at 10:35am local time in the Dinamo Stadium.

The RIA Novosti reporter at the stadium said there was a heavy police presence at the site at the time, but did not specify how many people were inside.

Rebels from Chechnya have regularly used Chechen or Russian holidays as an occasion to stage strikes throughout their four-year war against federal troops.

Mr Kadyrov, 52, is a one-time Muslim cleric who won a landslide victory in Chechnya’s highly controversial presidential election earlier this year.

During the first war between Russian troops and Chechen separatists in the 1990s, Mr Kadyrov fought with the rebels.

Appointed a mufti in 1995, he once called for a jihad, or holy war, against Russia.

But when Russia launched the second war against Chechen separatists in October 1999, Mr Kadyrov sided with Moscow.

His recent anti-Islamist stance had earned him respect among ordinary Chechens who have become disenchanted with their elected separatist leaders, and several warlords have pledged allegiance to him.

UPDATE : From the ABC :

Chechnya’s President Ahmad Kadyrov and the head of Russian forces in the breakaway republic, General Valery Baranov, are reported to have been killed in a blast in the capital, Grozny.

The explosion went off in a packed stadium, killing at least another seven people and injuring more than 30 according to the Interfax news agency.

General Baranov was the top commander of Russian troops in the North Caucasus region which includes separatist Chechnya.

Grozny’s Dinamo Stadium was packed with people who had come to watch a ceremony marking Russia’s defeat of Germany at the end of World War II.

It is believed a landmine went off underneath the podium during the celebration.

Mr Kadyrov has been the target of previous assassination attempts by Chechen rebels.

Television showed scenes of pandemonium at the stadium, with people running around in panic and smoke rising from the wreckage of the stands.

Cars down on the field were driving victims away.

One man could be seen carrying a young boy, unconscious and bleeding from the mouth, down the terraces.

The blast appeared to target the VIP area of the stadium during the celebrations.

UPDATE : From the ABC (previous link now inoperative) :

A blast at a packed stadium has killed 14 people and wounded Chechnya’s Moscow-backed President and the commander of Russian forces in the region during annual celebrations of Moscow’s victory over Nazi Germany.

Earlier reports suggested Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and the commander of forces in the region, General Valery Baranov, had been killed in the attack at Grozny’s Dinamo Stadium.

Tass news agency quoted a top regional official as denying a report by Interfax news agency that Mr Kadyrov had died.

It also said General Baranov was currently undergoing surgery.

The blast which tore through the stadium was caused by a bomb planted in the stadium’s structure, a top security official said.

“The bomb was placed inside a concrete part of the stadium,” Khamid Kadayev, Chechnya’s deputy Interior Minister said, speaking on television from the scene of the blast.

He said this was why the bomb had not been detected the previous night when the stadium was swept by security officials before the celebrations.
[…]
Mr Putin reacted by saying “payback was inevitable” against the people who set off the bomb in Grozny, RIA Novosti new agency reported.

UPDATE : Latest from the ABC :

Mr Putin confirmed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who had been the target of several previous assassination attempts, had been killed in the attack.

”Kadyrov passed away on May 9 on the day of our national holiday, Victory Day,” Russian media quoted the president as saying during a meeting with Kadyrov’s son Ramzan.

“This was a real, heroic man,” Mr Putin said.

He appointed Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov, whose influence in the region appears limited, to temporarily head the republic.

Chechen police and hospital officials told AFP at least 16 people, including Reuters photo correspondent Adlan Khasanov, had been killed and 32 others had been injured.

“During the explosion, Kadyrov was hit in the head, shoulders and legs,” an Interior Ministry official said.

He died later in a Grozny hospital.

“As of 1:30pm, 16 people are confirmed dead and 45 others injured,” the official said who asked not to be named.

The explosion occurred while well-known Chechen artist Tamara Dadasheva was performing on stage, eye witnesses said.

The blast, which seriously injured her, caused screams of horror and a rush for the exits.

The bomb appeared to have been planted in front of the stage but its impact was strong enough to kill Mr Kadyrov and seriously injure General Baranov, who were sitting in the VIP section in the top rows of the stadium.

A round of gunshots followed the explosion but it was not clear where they came from. At least one child was injured in the blast.

Interior ministry officials said two more unexploded bombs had been found in the stadium after the attack.

MAARIV: Hamas to collaborators: turn yourselves in and be pardoned

The Hamas is calling on collaborators with Israel to turn themselves in, promising full amnesty in return. “If you passed on information we promise not to hurt you or tell you families about your bad history”, read a leaflet issued by the Hamas in Gaza.

AP: Palestinian Leaders Reject Bush Comments

The usual He Said, Jew Said for the most part, but this is the most interesting part of the story:

On Saturday, the militant Islamic Jihad group condemned the Palestinian Authority for arresting two of its militants — a would-be suicide bomber and his recruiter — and called on its members to open fire at Palestinian security officers who come to arrest them.

In a statement distributed in mosques in the West Bank town of Jenin, the group accused Palestinian security officials of trying to curry favor with Israeli intelligence agents for personal gain.

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

A US Marine was killed and another injured in a firefight in southern Afghanistan with suspected fighters from the ousted Taliban regime, a US military spokesman said.

The coalition troops came under attack in the Tirin Kot area of insurgency-hit Uruzgan province overnight, Colonel Tucker Mansager said.

“Coalition forces have reported coming under attack overnight south of Tirin Kot. One US Marine was killed and one wounded,” he said.

“These people (Marines) were out on a mission away from their base when this attack occurred.

“I can say that it was as the result of a direct fire engagement with anti-militias.”

ARAB NEWS: We Are at War With Terrorists, Says Naif

Saudi Arabia is in a state of war with terrorism, Interior Minister Prince Naif declared yesterday. But he also said efforts at communicating with extremists had been effective in bringing a number of them back into the fold.

“We are in a state of war and it will end only with the extermination of this deviant group,” he said, but acknowledged that there were contacts with extremists. “It helped correct the extremist views of many deceived young Saudis who were prepared to carry out terrorist attacks.”

A number of committees whose members include Islamic scholars have been set up to study the reasons for the spread of terrorism and find out who are financing it and inciting youth to carry out terrorist attacks, he said.

He said Saudi security forces were now ahead of the terrorists’ game. “We have paralyzed the movement of terrorists,” Yemen’s September 26 weekly quoted the minister as saying. When asked about the bombing of a security building in Riyadh that killed six people and wounded145 others, he said the Kingdom was “well prepared to confront such terrorist attacks.” Prince Naif denied a conflict between his account of who was behind the Yanbu killing spree and that of Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard.

Speaking to top military and civilian officials in Jeddah last Saturday when four terrorists went on a shooting spree in Yanbu killing five Westerners and a National Guard officer, the crown prince said he believed Zionists were behind most terrorist attacks in the Kingdom. But in a press statement after the attack, Prince Naif blamed Al-Qaeda.

“I don’t see any contradiction in the two statements, because Al-Qaeda is backed by Israel and Zionism,” he said.

JERUSALEM POST: Three fugitives shot and killed in West Bank

Three Palestinian fugitives were killed overnight Thursday by IDF forces operating in the West Bank.

In Nur al-Shams refugee camp, east of TulKarm, two Islamic Jihad fugitives were killed and a third arrested following a prolonged gun battle with IDF troops.

The soldiers entered the camp, surrounding a building in which the wanted men were hiding. After calling to them to surrender, one of the men handed himself over to the troops, while the two others opened fire from inside the building. A gun battle ensued, and the two were killed.

Soldiers later found three Kalashvikov rifles inside the building, near the bodies.

JERUSALEM POST: IDF thwarts 100-kilogram car bomb attack

IDF forces operating in Salem, near the West Bank city of Nablus, succeeded in thwarting a massive car bomb attack early Friday.

IDF forces detonated a car rigged with explosives parked in an olive grove outside the village. Army officials said the three bombs inside the car contained 100 kilograms of explosives.

A powerful bomb exploded at a Shiite Muslim mosque packed with worshippers in this southern port city on Friday, killing 10 people and wounding scores of others, police and witnesses said.

The attack occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at a mosque inside a government-run religious school, shattering windows and pocking the walls with shrapnel. Bits of flesh and pools of blood lay all around as rescue workers tended to the wounded.

The school, which houses students ages 4-18, has separate mosques for Sunni and Shiite Muslim worshippers. Witnesses said the school had let out early, as usual on Friday. Most of the victims were adults who came to the mosque for prayers.

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

Our third and final segment looks at the efforts being made to strengthen and track democracy and liberty in Pakistan, examines past security ties between the USA and Pakistan, and concludes with an assessment of U.S. policy implications and options. Pakistan’s possession of nuclear materials, its role in the proliferation of same, and its ongoing disputes with India certainly make the development of a stable, democratic, and free Pakistan a project worthy of America’s - and the world’s - close attention.

Part 1
* Pakistan: Political Structure
* The Islamist MMA
* Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Part 2
* Liberal Freedoms: A Mixed Record
* Historical Background of Democracy in Pakistan
* Why Has Democracy Always Failed in Pakistan?

Part 3
* Freedom Ratings
* International Efforts at Fostering Liberty
* History of U.S.-Pakistan Security Ties
* Scenarios and Options for U.S. Policy

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn.

MORE MUSHARRAF DEALS

• General Musharraf faces a particular constraint as Pakistan’s President - as chief of army he is constitutionally forbidden from holding the post of President. As the position of army chief holds considerable influence he is reluctant to let go; even at the risk of unraveling a deal he struck with the Islamic undamentalist alliance under which he was to ‘shed his uniform’ by the end of 2005. Musharraf is now engaged in political re-engineering [video] that many observers feel will involve him becoming the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, faction-ridden political party founded by Pakistan’s founder. While Pakistan’s progress towards democracy is at best marginal, both the European Union and the Commonwealth are moving towards legitimizing Musharraf’s regime.

• Meanwhile the Pakistani army made a deal with Al Qaeda supporters in its South Waziristan region in a step which showed Musharraf’s limitations in the war on terror. More than 78 militants arrested in this year’s “hammer and anvil” spring offensive were released in return for the surrender of 5 key Al Qaeda Taliban supporters, who were also granted amnesty. Nek Mohammad, who had trained and fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan remains unrepentant. The Pashtun tribesmen seem to have defeated yet another army.

• Pakistan recently complained about a slight border incursion by US troops chasing elements of Al Queda and the Taliban. Showing again its weakness as a key alley in the war on terror Pakistan has refused to kill or capture foreign militants on the border of Afghanistan. It is hard to understand why the US has made Pakistan a Non-Nato Major Ally (NNMA).

• If you would like to learn more about Pakistan’s government and political structure you should read Patrick Belton’s excellent analysis at Winds Of Change. Here is part 1 and part 2 of his three part report.

Other Topics Today Include: India’s all electronic elections; non-proliferation resolutions; Shifting Alliances; Lashkar-e-Taiba in Oz; Pakistan and India; Nepal in chaos; Bangladesh’s internal woes; Terror in Thailand.

Read The Rest…

From The Australian :

Bounties are being offered for killing any citizen of the following nations:

USA, China, Russia, France, UK : 1 Kilo of Gold

Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Thailand, the Philippines, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Ukraine : 500 grams of Gold

Specific bounties are being offered for individuals:
Paul Bremer or Kofi Annan : 10 Kilos of Gold

Contestants should carefully examine the Terms and Conditions of this once-in-a-lifetime-offer though:

“For security reasons, the rewards will be given as soon as conditions permit, God willing,” the transcript read.

”As for those who die while killing an occupying soldier, the great prize will be for us and for him when God grants him martyrdom, and the smaller prize (the gold) will be for his family.”

Not stated are the rules for people with dual citizenship like me - do I count as 500g for Australian, 1000g for British, 1500g for both, or 750g for the average?

The FBI detained an Oregon man they say may be linked to the Madrid train bombings

Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, in a Newsweek web exclusive, reports that the Portland, Oregon, lawyer was detained after evidence was provided by Spanish authorities that the man’s fingerprints allegedly were found on bomb-related evidence associated with the Madrid train bombings.

According to Newsweek:

The man was identified as Brandon Mayfield, a convert to Islam who is tangentially linked to one of the chief defendants in the so-called “Portland Seven” case—a suspected terror cell in Oregon whose six surviving members pled guilty last year of plotting to fight for the Taliban against U.S. soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.

Sources said that Mayfield had been under round-the-clock surveillance by the FBI for some time. According to law-enforcement sources, he was picked up by agents in Portland today and is being held as a “material witness” in a Grand Jury investigation—a status that allows the Justice Department to hold him in secret without formally filing charges against him.

[. . .]

Sources said Mayfield’s fingerprints were found on a bag containing bomb material connected to the Spanish attack. But officials said considerable uncertainty remained about Mayfield’s role. The lawyer’s previous connection to the Portland Seven was tangential; he had represented the interests of one of the chief defendants, Jeffrey Battle, in a custody matter involving Battle’s 6-year-old child that arose after he and the other suspects were arrested in the fall of 2002.

Reuters reports:

Mayfield’s brother Kent, reached at his home in Halstead, Kansas, confirmed the arrest and the surveillance and said he suspected government agents had tapped his telephone line.

“They yanked him out of his home without giving any kind of information to his family,” Kent Mayfield told Reuters. “I can swear up and down my brother has no connection to terrorist attacks.”

[. . .]

Brandon Mayfield is a former Army officer and a vocal critic of the Bush Administration’s foreign policy, Kent Mayfield said, but he declined to elaborate.

Agents raided Brandon Mayfield’s home, taking computer equipment and his wife’s credit cards, leaving her with just a driver’s license, Kent Mayfield said, adding that the couple had three children.

“I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration. So if that’s a crime, well you can burn half of us,” Kent Mayfield said.

Cross-posted California Yankee

In addition to the Bush letter of support for Sharon’s plan and his refusal to issue a clarification at the request of various Arab governments, here’s another way in which the United States is taking Palestinian terrorism into account when it comes to aid and diplomacy…

JERUSALEM POST: US dumps water projects in Gaza over convoy bomb

The United States has stopped two water development projects in the Gaza Strip because of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to find those behind a deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy seven months ago, an official said Thursday.

U.S. officials have expressed displeasure over the failure of Palestinian police to arrest those responsible for setting off a remote-control bomb next to a U.S. Embassy convoy in northern Gaza last year, killing three American guards, in the first fatal attack on U.S. officials there.

The projects, worth tens of millions of dollars, have not been officially canceled, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, bids will not be taken, effectively freezing them at an early stage.

The projects are a water desalination plant and a carrier network from north to south Gaza.

HAARETZ: Court convicts cabbie who transported suicide bomber

Ofer Schwartzboim, the taxi driver who unwittingly transported a suicide bomber to Geha Junction last December, was convicted of causing death by negligence, in Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday, Israel Radio reported.

Under the terms of a plea bargain worked out by the prosecution and the defense, Schwartzboim is expected to receive six months of community service and will have his taxi driver’s license permanently revoked, the radio said.

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

This second segment looks at the history and status of democracy and liberty in Pakistan. While all democracies are imperfect and democratic failure is not unknown (q.v. Europe’s history over the last century), Pakistan’s history has certainly been shaky at best. After going over the present state of liberty in Pakistan and giving you some historical background, this article looks at 4 reasons why democracy and liberty have had such a rocky ride, courtesy of a Pakistani NGO named Pildat.

Part 1
* Pakistan: Political Structure
* The Islamist MMA
* Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Part 2
* Liberal Freedoms: A Mixed Record
* Historical Background of Democracy in Pakistan
* Why Has Democracy Always Failed in Pakistan?

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

Israeli troops have arrested a political leader of the Islamist movement Hamas in a pre-dawn raid in the northern West Bank.

A Palestinian security source says the soldiers have seized Raafat Nassif, who has been on their wanted list for two years, along with his deputy, Amr Shehadeein, in the Anabata area, east of the town of Tulkarm.

Mr Nassif is considered Hamas’s political leader in Tulkarm.

The source says five other Palestinians have also been arrested in the West Bank, including two police officers.

REUTERS UK: Israel kills top Hamas man

Israel has released a co-founder of Hamas to the Gaza Strip but has shot and killed another leader of the militant group in the West Bank.

Mohammed Taha, 68, had been the highest ranking Hamas figure from Gaza in Israeli custody. He was arrested during a military raid in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza in March 2003.

Witnesses said Taha was freed at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, and then driven by supporters to Bureij, in central Gaza.

It was not immediately clear exactly why Taha was released at a time when Israel has stepped up operations against Hamas, having assassinated two leaders of the group — Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantissi — since March.

Shortly after Taha’s release, Israeli soldiers shot dead a senior Hamas militant leader, Imad Mohammed Janajra, 31, in an olive grove in the northern West Bank, witnesses said.

An Israeli military source said Janajra was shot when soldiers spotted him armed and approaching them near his village of Talousa. The source said troops also detonated a bomb planted nearby.

Your explanation for this phenomenon is welcome in the comments.

JERUSALEM POST: Carlos the Jackal on hunger strike in prison

Jailed terrorist Carlos the Jackal is on a hunger strike to protest being transferred to solitary confinement at a high-security French prison, his lawyer said Wednesday.

The Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, stopped eating and drinking Tuesday after prison authorities tried to move him from his cell, said his lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre.

After refusing the transfer, Ramirez was put in a special disciplinary section and was to appear Thursday before a disciplinary panel, prison officials said. The officials declined to specify why he was being switched to solitary confinement, saying it was part of prison procedure.

Coutant-Peyre also said that Ramirez was being “deprived” of his diabetes medication, a claim prison authorities denied, saying Ramirez was refusing the treatment.

Our Friday democracy briefings examine current events in democratization around the globe, and link to lengthier analyses of democratization trends in countries of particular interest. This Special Report examines democratic prospects in Pakistan, and is by Patrick Belton, a researcher at Oxford and president of a foreign policy society and think tank, who writes daily at OxBlog.

This first segment looks at the various factions in Pakistan, and brings you up to speed on the country’s recent political history internally. The Art of Peace has a sobering article about Musharraf stepping down as Army Chief at the end of the year, and what this might mean. There are even rumblings of civil war -which may not come to pass, but it’s worthwhile to understand the players here just in case.

• Pakistan: Political Structure
• The Islamist MMA
• Recent Parliamentary Elections and Constitutional Changes

Read The Rest…

HAARETZ: IDF shoots dead two armed Palestinians in Gaza Strip

Israel Defense Forces troops shot dead two armed Palestinian militants south of the Karni Crossing in the Gaza Strip, as they tried to cross the security fence around the Strip.

The IDF said that the two men were spotted trying to cross into Israeli territory. An explosive device was set off next to troops called into the area to deal with the incident, but no one was injured and no damage caused. The military believes that the device was planted in order to assist with the infiltration.

After the device went off, troops located the two men and shot them.

AP: Suspected Lebanon Hezbollah Site Attacked

Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a suspected guerrilla hideout in south Lebanon on Wednesday, shortly after Hezbollah gunners fired on Israeli jets, security officials said.

The Lebanese officials in southern Lebanon said two Israeli fighter jets fired at least one missile at a valley near the village of Zibqine, southeast of the southern port city of Tyre.

Black smoke billowed from the area. There was no immediate word on casualties.

International Herald Tribune: What If? Europe Simulates Qaeda Nuclear Hit

European officials have conducted a simulation showing how Al Qaeda could kill 40,000 people and plunge the continent into chaos if a crude nuclear device were detonated outside NATO headquarters in Brussels.

“We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe,” said the former U.S. senator Sam Nunn, who helped organize the exercise, named Black Dawn. “To win this race, we have to achieve cooperation on a scale we’ve never seen or attempted before.”

Nunn spoke to reporters Tuesday, a day after the closed-door war games, which were attended by top officials including the European Union’s security chief, Javier Solana, and his new counterterrorism coordinator, Gijs de Vries.

In the first part of the scenario, European officials were asked how they would respond to intelligence that Al Qaeda had obtained enough highly enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb.

In the second, they were confronted with computer projections and video displays illustrating the impact of terrorists exploding the device at NATO’s headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels, immediately killing 40,000 people, overwhelming hospitals with hundreds of thousands of injured, spreading panic through Europe and plunging the world economy into turmoil.

“Once you are in this phase, there are no good options,” said Michele Flournoy, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who helped prepare the exercise.

More than 50 people from 15 countries and a dozen international organizations attended the exercise, mostly EU ambassadors but also civilian and military officials from that North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Interpol and other bodies.

Nunn appealed to the Europeans to step up funding for increased protection at sites where weapons-grade uranium and plutonium are stored - particularly in former Soviet states.

He said that preventing Al Qaeda from getting its hands on such material was the best chance of stopping it from building a bomb.

“It’s well within Al Qaeda’s operational capabilities to recruit the technical expertise needed to build a crude nuclear devise,” he said. “The hard part is getting the nuclear material, but we do not make it nearly hard enough.”

Nunn, a Democrat from Georgia and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped push through a $10-billion program in 1991 to destroy and safeguard weapons of mass destruction in Russia and other former Soviet republics. But he said at least 60 percent of sites still must be secured.

He said European leaders should make good on pledges made two years ago as part of a $20 billion commitment by the Group of 8 of industrialized nations to provide more funding for that program over 10 years.

They should also push President George W. Bush and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to do more when the G-8 group of world leaders meets next month in Georgia, he said.

“It’s too easy for the G-8 to have a photo opportunity, to have a nice set of dinners, to have press conferences, make a bunch of pledges, go home and everybody forgets about it,” Nunn said. “That must not happen.”

Solana and the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, convened the exercise to show the extent of the danger. “The threat of catastrophic terrorism is not confined to the United States or Russia or the Middle East,” Solana said. “The new terrorist movements seem willing to use unlimited violence and cause massive casualties.”

Nunn urged increased protection for weapons-grade uranium kept at research sites, which are often poorly guarded university facilities; accelerated destruction of tactical nuclear weapons by both the United States and Russia; enhanced international intelligence sharing; and more help to find new jobs for poorly paid Russian nuclear scientists.

Some commentary at OTB.

Taliban guerrillas have killed nine government troops and five policemen in Southern Afghanistan.

According to Reuters:

The Islamist fighters killed the nine soldiers in an ambush on a patrol in Kandahar province’s remote district of Meya Nishin late Monday, according to Taliban spokesman Haji Latif Hakimi.

Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor confirmed the ambush, but said he had heard only five soldiers were killed.

Doctors in neighboring Zabul province told Reuters they had received the bullet ridden bodies of five policemen abducted on Monday in the Shah Joy district.

“We have killed the five that we kidnaped,” Taliban commander Mullah Rozi Khan told Reuters.

Four government soldiers were killed Sunday in Zabul in a mine blast.

MAARIV: 16 year-old suicide-bomber recruiter indicted

Nasser Awartani, a 16-year-old operative of the Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades, was indicated today (Tuesday) at the military court in Samaria over recruiting of Palestinian suicide bombers.

One of the would-be terrorists Awartani allegedly recruited was the “boy bomber” – 16 year-old Husam Bilal, who was apprehended some five weeks ago at the Hawara roadblock with an 8 kg. explosive belt strapped to his body.

According to the indictment, Awartani also dispatched Sabih Abu Saud, also 16, who perpetrated the suicide bombing near the village of Azon near Kalkilya. One IDF soldier was injured in the attack, which took place on November 2003.

HAARETZ: Palestinian boy killed by militants’ pipe bomb in Tul Karm

A nine-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two other children were wounded in the West Bank on Tuesday when they accidentally detonated a pipe bomb apparently prepared by militants, witnesses said.

The boys found the crude device hidden in the crevice of a stone wall close to a main road near the city of Tul Karm, and it exploded while they were playing with it, the witnesses said.

Federal officials have pinpointed an airline flight from Los Angeles to Washington as a potential terrorist target in the past two weeks and have begun scrutinizing the flight crew’s luggage and using security agents to follow pilots preparing for the flight.
Bomb-sniffing dogs are also being stationed in the gate area as passengers of United Airlines Flight 200 from Los Angeles International Airport to Dulles International Airport undergo more intense security checks.

Washington Times

MAARIV: Acid leakage results in apprehension of would-be bomber

Police officers recently foiled a suicide bombing attack in Israel, it was revealed on Monday. However, a highly unusual chain of events led to his apprehension.

It appears a leak in his bomb-belt caused phosphorus material to reach his skin causing such a severe burn that a hole was literally seen in the stomach of the would-be bomber.

Police forces who were recently on high terror alert in one of the cities of central Israel noticed a Palestinian running “like crazy”. They began a chase and soon detained him. At first they suspected that he ran because of the panic that suddenly gripped him when he noticed the large security deployment. However, it was then revealed that the reason for his detention was a severe burn in his stomach.

The terrorist was rushed to a nearby hospital and for days suffered pain from the material that consumed his skin.

(No virgins for you!)

As a follow-up to the post immediately prior, we’ve posted about the gasoline tanker missing from New Jersey before. Read the original post and Newsday story here.

New York City police are worried that five empty suitcases at Penn Station and the FBI’s headquarters could be a dry run for a terrorist attack.

The New York Post reported this weekend that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s counterterrorism task force has put out a bulletin asking police to be on the lookout for similar packages.

“It was determined that it was unusual in that that many empty bags would be found throughout the city,” MTA spokesman Tom Kelly told Newsday. “It may be coincidence, but in this day and age, you can’t take a chance.”

There’s also concern about a missing tanker. Yes, a missing tanker.

The FBI is also worried about a large gasoline tanker truck that has been missing from a New Jersey parking lot.

The tanker disappeared in mid-April with the FBI searching for it since. They still haven’t located its whereabouts

Kelly told Newsday that the bags were discovered during a week-long stretch in late March and early April, Kelly said.

JERUSALEM POST: Arms smuggling tunnel destroyed in Gaza

IDF forces left the Rafah area after uncovering arms smuggling tunnels in the area overnight, reported Israel Radio Monday.

Soldiers discovered a well dug from a house and destroyed both that house and the one to which the tunnel leaded.

CNN: Turkey foils ‘NATO bomb plot’

Turkish officials say police have foiled a bomb plot targeting a NATO summit in Istanbul that will be attended by world leaders including U.S. President George W. Bush.

Police detained at least 16 members of Ansar al Islam, a terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda, the governor of Bursa province said in a statement Monday.

Otuzkaan Koksal said police confiscated a large number of weapons and bomb-making materials in the raid in Bursa, 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of Istanbul.

He said officers seized about 4,000 CDs featuring training instructions from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Koksal said Ansar al Islam had planned to carry out more attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq after the June 28-29 NATO summit.

HAARETZ: Four Palestinian militants killed after car explodes in Nablus

Four Palestinian militants were killed in an Israel Defense Forces strike in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday night, hours after gunmen killed a Jewish settler and her four children in the Gaza Strip, medics said.
Israeli sources later confirmed that the IDF had targeted senior Tanzim operatives in the city.

According to the sources, the operatives were responsible for sending children carrying explosive devices to the Hawara roadblock and had attempted to send suicide bombers to Jerusalem during Passover, Purim and Independence Day.

Medics said the bodies in the car that was targeted were ripped apart by the explosion.

Gerry Images - some may find graphic image disturbing.

(I apologize for the delay in posting this. I was shocked by the unreality of the reports that this was really a group of Palestinian Police officers having failed to defuse a car bomb. Compounding the shock was the fact that the wire services would believe such a story.)

JERUSALEM POST: Mofaz: Hamas aiming for nonconventional attacks

Hamas is looking for “nonconventional” ways to carry out massive attacks because of its failure to carry out a large-scale revenge attack following the killing of Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet Sunday.

Mofaz, who briefed the ministers before Sunday’s shooting attack in Gush Katif that killed 34-year-old Tali Hatuel, a pregnant mother, and her four children, said that the Palestinian terrorist organizations are highly motivated to carry out attacks, and that the security services prevented 11 suicide attacks last month.

Mofaz said Israel has been on an unprecedented defensive footing since the killing of Yassin in March, including a closure on the territories. This situation, he said, will continue. He made no mention of a lifting of the closure, which he said has proven its effectiveness.

REUTERS: Israelis Fire Missiles Into Gaza City, Witnesses Say

Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at targets in Gaza City Sunday hours after Palestinian militants killed five Jewish settlers in the territory, witnesses said.

They said the missiles appeared to have hit a building used by the main militant faction Hamas. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

UPDATE from Haaretz: The building was a radio station used by Hamas.

UPDATE from Haaretz: Hamas official was being interviewed in building when it was hit

(Did he crawl out or was he carried out feet first?)

HAARETZ: Explosive belt found in truck at Karni border crossing

Security personnel at the Karni crossing on Sunday afternoon found an explosive belt hidden in a Palestinian truck attempting to leave the Gaza Strip via the Karni crossing.

The truck was set to make its way to the West Bank.

The Karni crossing was reopened Sunday morning after a similar incident last week when security officers discovered an explosive belt in a container of textiles also bound for the West Bank.

Police last week detained for questioning the driver of the vehicle carrying the container. He is a resident of Rahat in the Negev.

The driver of the truck detained at Karni on Sunday, also a Rahat resident, is a close relative of last week’s detainee.

HAARETZ: Mofaz: Security forces thwarted 11 suicide attacks in April

Israeli security forces thwarted 11 suicide bombings in April, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said during the Sunday morning cabinet meeting.

He also said terror organizations are attempting to carry out more complex attacks on Israeli targets and added that Hamas is under increased pressure and is facing financial difficulties.

HAARETZ: Mother, four children killed in terror attack in Gaza

Five members of an Israeli family - a mother and her four children - were killed Sunday afternoon in a Palestinian shooting attack on their vehicle while they were traveling on the road that leads to the Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif.

Another Israeli civilian traveling in a separate car suffered moderate gunfire wounds in the attack near the Netzer Hazani settlement.

IDF troops were called to the scene and killed the two terrorists. Two Givati Brigade infantrymen suffered serious and moderate wounds during the exchange of fire with the gunmen.

An explosive device was detonated near the site of the shooting while the IDF troops were chasing the terrorists, but it caused no injuries.

The de-facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia blames recent terrorist activity in Saudi Arabia on the Jews. Via the Saudi Press Agency:

Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, received at the royal court at Alsalam palace in Jeddah today princes, ministers, senior personnel of the Royal Court and the Cabinet, a number of citizens and commanders and officers of the royal guard who came to greet him and congratulate him on safe arrival in Jeddah.

Later, Crown Prince Abdullah received a number of university professors who expressed regret at the criminal acts which took place in the city
of Riyadh recently.

On behalf of them, Dr. Ayedh Algarni said the way to success and salvage is to follow moderation methods based on the holy Qur’an and Prophet’s traditions.

He called for credibility, determination and tolerance in confrontation of the attackers, appealing to Allah Almighty to continue bestowing
security and stability on the kingdom.

Addressing the gathering, the Crown Prince said the Kingdom is targeted.
”It became clear to us now that Zionism is behind terrorist actions in the Kingdom.

I can say that I am 95 percent sure of that”, he said.

He regretted that Zionism has misled some of our sons.

The Crown Prince noted that today’s Yanbu incident led to killing three attackers and injuring one. On their part, the attackers injured 25 Saudis and Killed 4 or 5 foreigners and one guard and one policeman.

Crown Prince Abdullah added that the misled persons also killed people at Public security. He described those deceived persons as stooges of Satan and colonialism, affirming that the Kingdom will be victorious in confronting any deviating group.

The Crown Prince stressed that the Kingdom will strike with an iron fist anyone who tries to destabilize its security, adding that the Kingdom will eradicate this deviating group as long as it might last 20 or 30 years.

Cross-Post from OTB

AP/MSNBC: BREAKING NEWS: Americans among the victims in Saudi attack

Gunmen opened fire Saturday in an office where Westerners worked in northwestern Saudi Arabia, killing and wounding some people inside, including a British national. Americans were among the casualties, and the Saudi Interior Ministry said three attackers were killed.

An Interior Ministry statement did not say how many civilians were killed or injured in the attack in Yanbu, 550 miles west of Riyadh, or provide details on the nationalities of the foreign casualties.

However, European diplomats told The Associated Press a Briton was among the dead and a U.S. Embassy official confirmed Americans were among the casualties — though the official would not say if they were dead or wounded.

Update: CNN: Deadly car bombing in Saudi Arabia

Four militants have attacked a compound in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea industrial town of Yanbu, where Saudis, Americans and other Westerners work, killing and wounding some of the workers, according to the Saudi Interior Ministry.

The militants entered the building, opened fire on the workers, then detonated a car bomb after Saudi security forces based in compound chased them, the ministry said.

An informed source said two of the militants were killed when they detonated the car bomb; a third was shot and killed by Saudi authorities; and the fourth was shot and wounded by authorities and arrested.

The ministry confirmed that three of the militants were killed and the other was injured and arrested.

The ministry did not have an exact casualty figure on how many workers were killed and wounded in Saturday’s attack.

The American, Australian and British Embassies in Riyadh are checking reports that some of their nationals could be among the casualties.

Yanbu is about 150 km (100 miles) north of Jeddah and is the first time such an attack has happened there.

This week, the man believed to be the top al Qaeda operative in Saudi Arabia threatened to hit Saudi security forces hard — to “shake the ground underneath their feet” — if they try to stop the jihad launched by the terrorist network. He also warned Muslims to stay away from Americans or else risk being hurt in attacks.

On Tuesday, Abdul Aziz al-Mukrin denied al Qaeda was responsible for the suicide bombing last week which damaged the old Saudi security headquarters building. Five people were killed and 147 wounded in that blast.

Sesame Street or Koche Sesame - is coming to Afghanistan.

The famous puppets of “Sesame Street” will help Afghanistan’s children overcome their country’s traumatic past, starring in videos to be shown in schools recovering from Taliban rule and decades of war.

The first of 400 education kits, with specially adapted programs featuring Big Bird and other characters, have been given to Afghan authorities, officials said.

“We need our children to have their eyes and their minds opened to new ideas,” said Sekander Giyam, an adviser to the Afghan minister of education.

The kits also will help Afghan teachers “move into a new century of education,” Giyam said in a statement released late Thursday.

The program will first be distrubted in Kabul and seven neighboring cities.

But it was unclear how many students they will reach, given that few schools or families in impoverished Afghanistan can afford video equipment, and many in the south and east of the country speak only Pashto language.

This looks like a job for Spirit of America.

CNN: King: Morocco has anti-terror plan

In a nationally televised speech ahead of a major Muslim religious holiday, Morocco’s King Mohamed VI said Friday that his country has developed a plan to steer away from the kind of terrorism Casablanca experienced nearly one year ago.

“Today we are finalizing and putting together an integrated strategy, which is global and multi-dimensional,” he said, according to a CNN translation of the text of his remarks.

“This strategy aims to reinvigorate and renovate the religious field in order to keep Morocco from extremism and terrorism and to preserve its identity which has the feel of moderation and tolerance.”

REUTERS: Saudi Says Foreigners Killed in Militant Clash

Saudi Arabia said Saturday it killed three militants who stormed a contracting building in the Red Sea port of Yanbu and an unknown number of foreigners and Saudis were killed in the incident.

“At 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) Saturday four men entered the headquarters of a Saudi contractor in Yanbu and fired at random on Saudis and foreigners,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

“Security forces chased them and they took refuge in residential areas and hijacked some cars. Three of them were killed and a fourth was wounded. There were a number of deaths and injuries among Saudis and foreigners,” it added.

U.S. diplomats in Saudi Arabia said Saturday they had received reports that Westerners, including Americans, had been attacked in the Red Sea industrial city of Yanbu and some were killed.

“We have reports of more than one death. Americans appear to be among the victims,” a U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Riyadh said. “We are still working on gathering details.”