5 Witnesses Insist Iraqis Didn't Fire On Guards

Five eyewitnesses to a Sept. 16 shooting incident in Baghdad involving the private security firm Blackwater USA insisted that company guards fired without provocation, forcing civilians and Iraqi police to run for cover, and that the Iraqi officers did not return fire. The eyewitnesses and a senior Iraqi police official close to an investigation of the incident contradicted initial accounts provided by the company and the State Department, which employs Blackwater to protect U.S. diplomats…..(Washington Post, 29 Sep 07)

Syrian cleric assassinated

A Syrian cleric who recruited foreigners traveling to Iraq to fight US-led forces was assassinated in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday, his aides said. Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa was shot dead after he emerged from Friday prayers, they said. “A man fired several bullets into the sheikh’s chest. A crowd chased him and he was eventually caught. He is now with the authorities under custody,”……(Gulf Times, 29 Sep 07)

US army recovers bodies of murdered Sunni couple in Baghdad''s Adhamiyah

The bodies of a murdered Sunni Iraqi police lieutenant and his wife were recovered in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood three days ago, a US army statement said on Friday. The couple had been abducted several days before by Sunni insurgents, the statement quoting a relative as saying, adding that the bodies were discovered dumped in a pile of trash beneath a pedestrian overpass in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Adhamiyah in Baghdad….(KUNA, 29 Sep 07)

Al-Qaeda suicide bomb fears spark pleas for a British return to Basra

British troops in Basra are being urged to return to the front line and help their Iraqi counterparts in the battle against insurgents after two bombs in as many days left eight people dead and many more wounded. Britain’s forces, however, insisted that the explosions were isolated incidents and the overall situation in Basra had become much calmer since they withdrew from their last stronghold inside the oil-rich city at the start of the month…..(Times Online, 28 Sep 07)

Top US lawyer on Manila 'al-Qaeda' blacklist

...The blacklist labeled "Al-Qaeda/Taliban Link" of 504 people from 50 countries, including Australia, was imposed between July 25 and August 10, 2007, when Manila hosted a meeting of Southeast Asian ministers…It included members of church groups in Europe, Australia and the United States, left-wing activists, lawyers and unionists groups. Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General, was among those banned from entry…..(Reuters, 28 Sep 07)

Blackwater Focused on Cost, Not Safety, Report Says

The private security firm Blackwater USA brushed aside warnings from another security firm and focused on cost, not safety, before it sent its personnel to escort trucks to Fallujah in 2004, resulting in four American deaths that marked a major turning point in the war, a congressional report said yesterday… Asked about the report, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "Had there been times where they had performed to a standard that we don't appreciate? Apparently, yes, and those are under investigation."….(Washington Post, 28 Sep 07)

Blackwater guard 'turned gun on colleagues and told them to stop shooting'

A Blackwater guard reportedly yelled at colleagues to “stop shooting” during an afternoon of chaos in Baghdad that left 11 Iraqis dead and called into question the accountability of all Western private security firms operating in Iraq. The US-based company, which protects the American Embassy in the capital and its staff, is at the centre of a storm concerning the September 16 drama, which has enraged the Iraqi Government and sparked a series of investigations……(Times Online, 28 Sep 07)

Blackwater deaths 'tragic' - US

….(BBC, 28 Sep 07)

US Embassy says Islamic extremists may be planning to kidnap travelers to Kenya

Somali-based Islamic extremists may try to kidnap American citizens in eastern Kenya's beach resorts, the U.S. Embassy said Friday. "There are indications that Islamic extremists based in Somalia may be planning to target Westerners, especially American citizens, in the Kiwayu Island tourist area and other beach sites frequented by Western travelers on the northeast coast near Somalia,"….(AP, 28 Sep 07)

Letter-bombing caretaker jailed

A primary school caretaker found guilty of carrying out a letter bomb campaign in which eight people were injured has been given an indeterminate sentence. Miles Cooper, 27, from Cambridge, sent seven letter bombs to addresses in England and Wales earlier this year, five of which exploded. Judge Julian Hall said Cooper must serve four years and 149 days before being eligible for parole. He told Cooper: "You are a terrorist, there can be no mistake."….(BBC, 28 sep 07)

Russian Neo-Nazis follow tactics of Al-Qaeda

The scene is depressingly familiar in the post-9/11 era. Two terrified victims kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs as a masked thug menaces them with a sword. The hostages are forced to spout propaganda, which in the end doesn’t save them from a grisly, on-camera death. But in a video released last month, the killers are not the followers of Al-Qaida, but Russian neo-Nazis taking a page out of the terrorists' handbook. Entitled 'The Execution of a Tajik and a Dagestani,' the video shows neo-Nazis decapitating one man and shooting the other in the back of the head against the backdrop of a large swastika flag. Both victims belong to traditionally Muslim ethnic minority groups from the southern region of what used to be the Soviet Union……(Haaretz, 28 Sep 07)

Blackwater Faced Bedlam, Embassy Finds
…The two-page report, described by a State Department official as a "first blush" account from the scene, raises new questions about what transpired in the intersection. According to the report, the events that led to the shooting involved three Blackwater units…..(Washington Post, 28 Sep 07)

Blast hits Pak convoy; 1 dead, 19 wounded

A bomb blew up as a Pakistani security convoy was passing near a northwestern town on Friday killing one member of the force and wounding 19, police said. It was the latest in a wave of attacks on the security forces by Islamist militants, most in the northwest of the country near the border with Afghanistan…..(Reuters, 28 Sep 07)

Red Cross staff seized, Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Four Red Cross staff, two of them foreigners, were held by unknown kidnappers Thursday as military officials announced two Danish soldiers were killed in a new attack by extremist Taliban fighters. An overnight operation near the border with Pakistan, meanwhile, killed 18 Taliban, a provincial official said, adding there were some civilian casualties although he could not confirm claims that eight were killed…..(AFP, 28 Sep 07)

NATO's Afghanistan gains could be lost: commander

Hard-fought gains by NATO troops this year could be lost in coming months if Afghan forces fail to hold ground seized from the Taliban…U.S. General Dan McNeill, who commands the alliance's 35,000-strong force, said NATO had scored successes this year in driving Taliban fighters from mountain valleys in the southern Helmand province, an opium-producing Taliban heartland. The NATO forces in the area are mostly British troops who arrived in large numbers only last year…..(Reuters, 28 Sep 07)

Report: Defecting Iranian official gave info before alleged Syrian foray

Iranian former deputy defense minister Ali Rheze Asgari supplied intelligence sources in the West with information regarding the sites that Israeli jets allegedly attacked on September 6, the Kuweiti Al Jareeda reported Friday. Asgari defected from Iran several months ago and moved to an undisclosed location in the West……(Jerusalem Post, 28 Sep 07)

Iran Leader Visits Venezuela, Bolivia

Iran's president opened his nation's wallet to Bolivia on Thursday and then visited Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, declaring "no one can defeat us" during a trip aimed at strengthening ties with Latin American leftists and countering U.S. influence. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged to invest $1 billion in Bolivia over the next five years to help the poor Andean nation tap its vast natural gas reserves, extract minerals, generate more electricity and fund agricultural and construction projects…..(AP, 28 Sep 07)

Official Calls Kurd Oil Deal at Odds With Baghdad

A senior State Department official in Baghdad acknowledged Thursday that the first American oil contract in Iraq, that of the Hunt Oil Company of Dallas with the Kurdistan Regional Government, was at cross purposes with the stated United States foreign policy of strengthening the country’s central government. “We believe these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the K.R.G. and the national government of Iraq,” the official said, referring to the Kurdistan Regional Government…..(New York Times, 28 Sep 07)

Iraq: Muslim Ulema slam decision by US senate to divide Iraq

The Council of the Muslim Ulema, Iraq's most important Sunni Muslim authority, has strongly condemned the decision by the US senate to decentralize Iraq, divide it in federal states and thus give the ethnically divided regions more power…The Muslim Ulema has cried foul of these proposed divisions, and has appealed to the Islamic world and the international community to "adopt a strong stance against it." A statement released by the Ulema casts doubts and suspicions over the intention of the US senate to pass such a resolution. "Isn't it strange that the US congress adopted this decree, although non-binding, which is aimed at creating federal entities with the excuse that this will end the violence that is affecting the country. But its real aim is division, or to put it better, to realise one of the main objectives of the Iraqi invasion."….(AKI, 28 Sep 07)

Pakistani Court Says Musharraf Can Run

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday dismissed legal challenges to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's bid for a new five-year term, allowing the military leader to run in the Oct. 6 election while retaining his role as army chief. "These petitions are held to be non-maintainable," presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas told the court, drawing howls of protests from lawyers in the gallery……(AP, 28 Sep 07)

Increasing Talibanization in Pakistan's Seven Tribal Agencies

The government of President Pervez Musharraf is facing policy failure in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Taliban forces and their sympathizers are becoming entrenched in the region and are aggressively expanding their influence and operations (especially in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province). A lethal combination of Musharraf's political predicament and declining public support, a significant rise in suicide attacks targeting the army and the reluctance of soldiers deputed in the area to engage tribal gangs militarily further exacerbates this impasse……(Global Terrorism Analysis, 27 Sep 07)

Origins of the Niger Delta's Deewell and Deebam Militias

Since January 2006, violence in Nigeria's delta region escalated dramatically as various militant groups and violent confraternities kidnapped Western energy workers in order to call attention to their political grievances. Most recently, kidnappings have begun to take on a more criminal nature, with kidnap-for-ransom schemes plaguing the delta region. While there are many groups involved in these activities, two of the delta's most notorious cult groups are suspected of engaging in the acts: Deebam and Deewell. These two rival cult groups originated in the 1990s when established confraternities in the Niger Delta created street and creek wings to consolidate their territorial control……(Global Terrorism Analysis, 27 Sep 07)

Tracking Yemen's 23 Escaped Jihadi Operatives – Part 1

In mid-September, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued a stern warning to the Wa'ilah tribe in northern Yemen: turn over the six al-Qaeda suspects you are sheltering or face serious repercussions (al-Wasat, September 12). The six men that Saleh believes have found refuge with the tribe near the Saudi border are the remnants of a group of 23 prisoners that escaped from a Yemeni political security prison on February 3, 2006. The prisoners escaped by tunneling out of their cell and into a neighboring mosque, which has since been detailed in a lengthy narrative written by one of the escapees and published by the Yemeni paper al-Ghad……(Global Terrorism Analysis, 27 Sep 07)

Blasts Kill at Least 30 Across Iraq In Growing Campaign of Violence

Insurgents are stepping up a campaign of violence across Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan, staging six car bomb attacks on Wednesday that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens, U.S. and Iraqi officials said… In Internet postings two weeks ago, the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group believed to have been founded by the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, vowed to mount a new offensive during Ramadan that would target among others tribal leaders and officials who have allied themselves with U.S. forces. On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden belt at a reconciliation gathering of Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province, killing 24 people, including the city's police chief…..(Washington Post, 27 Sep 07)

Taliban kidnap Red Cross staff in Afghanistan

Taliban insurgents have kidnapped four staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) southwest of the Afghan capital Kabul, but will release them soon, a Taliban spokesman said on Thursday. The Taliban have kidnapped dozens of Afghans and foreigners in recent months as part of their campaign to create an atmosphere of insecurity and undermine the government and its Western backers…..(Reuters, 27 Sep 07)

U.S. troops open fire on Afghan civilians: witness

U.S. troops opened fire on civilians near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Thursday after a failed suicide car bomb attack on their convoy, a Reuters witness said. There was no immediate comment on the reported incident either from U.S.-led coalition forces or from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)…..(Reuters, 27 Sep 07)