May 2008

Report: Land mine kills 3 in Turkey

A land mine explosion in southeast Turkey killed three people and injured three others on Friday, state-run media said. Land mine explosions are common in southeast Turkey, where Kurdish rebels plant explosives near roads to attack military targets. The Anatolia report did not say if the victims were civilians or government-paid village guards fighting Kurdish rebels…..(AP, 9 May 08)

Four killed in Baghdad militia bastion

Battles between Shiite fighters and US forces in Baghdad's militia stronghold of Sadr City killed four people and wounded 51 others overnight, Iraqi security and medical officials said on Friday. A security official said the clashes erupted before midnight and continued until Friday morning. A medic at Al-Sadr hospital confirmed his facility had received four bodies of people killed and admitted 51 others who had been wounded……(AFP, 9 May 08)

Iraqi Shiite militants fire rockets at Green Zone

Shiite extremists have fired several rockets toward the heavily protected Green Zone and some of them fell short. A sudden sandstorm has blanketed the capital, enabling the extremists to shell the Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government on the west side of the Tigris River….(AP, 9 May 08)

Rocket attack kills Pakistani police: official

Suspected Islamic militants killed a policeman and injured two of his colleagues in a rocket attack Friday in northwestern Pakistan, an official said. The attack occurred in Kabbal town in the picturesque Swat valley where security forces have been engaged for months in operations against militants led by pro-Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah……(AFP, 9 May 08)

Suicide bomber in car blows himself up and wouneds 3 in Kabul

A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up close to a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, but instead wounded three civilians, officials said. The bomber in a white Toyota Corolla vehicle died in the blast, which happened in the capital's western outskirts shortly after a convoy carrying foreign troops passed by….(AP, 8 May 08)

Islamist fighters reportedly seize police headquarters in Mogadishu

Witnesses say Islamist fighters have seized police headquarters in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. They say the insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine-guns in fighting that killed two soldiers and two police officers…..(AP, 8 May 08)

Somalia fighting leaves 23 dead

Heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamist insurgents in central Somalia left at least 23 people dead, witnesses and officials said Thursday. The fighting broke out after insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy late Wednesday near the village of Garsani, some 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of Mogadishu. Witnesses said at least 13 civilians and eight Ethiopian soldiers were killed in the fighting…..(AFP, 8 May 08)

Sri Lanka clashes kill 43

Sri Lankan officials say their forces killed 43 Tamil Tiger rebels in separate clashes in the northern region of the Indian Ocean island nation. The media center for national security denied the Tigers had overrun an army camp in the region's Sattaru district, one of the places where fighting took place Wednesday…..(UPI, 8 May 08)

Taleban return to attacking girls' schools in Afghanistan

…After they had terrorized the caretaker for doing the work of foreigners, they collected floor mats and desks to light bonfires inside the classrooms. Then they gathered all the dog-eared exercise books and school textbooks that they could find and threw them into the flames. After a year's respite the Taleban has returned to attacking schools and intimidating teachers across much of the south and east of the country. Schoolbooks, regarded as a threat to the Taleban's grip on the minds of young Afghans, are a particular target. Since the beginning of the new school year on March 23 there have been 36 attacks. Empty buildings have been set on fire or had grenades thrown into them. Teachers have been kidnapped, and later released. In one grisly case a caretaker was mutilated by having his ears and nose cut off, a common punishment for those accused of collaborating with the Afghan Government…..(Times Online, 7 May 08)

Twelve dead in Afghanistan violence

Twelve people including three foreign soldiers were killed in a spate of bombings and gun battles in Afghanistan, including one firefight between police and opium growers, officials said Wednesday. The worst gun battle erupted when farmers, whom police said were linked to "armed opposition groups" -- a reference to Taliban and other rebels -- resisted anti-drugs forces trying to destroy their illegal but lucrative crop. A policeman and four locals were killed in the fight in Laghman province's Alishing area, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Kabul…..(AFP, 7 May 08)

Congo factions still recruiting child fighters: U.N.

Armed groups in Congo's violence-torn east have ignored pledges made this year to stop recruiting children to fight and to free minors already in their ranks, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Dozens of rebel movements and local militias signed up to a January 23 peace accord with Congo's government meant to end a lingering decade-old conflict in North and South Kivu provinces. However, daily ceasefire violations have rocked the plan and U.N. officials say armed groups have flouted their obligations to respect human rights and stop using child soldiers……(Reuters, 7 May 08)

Kuwait envoy's son behind Jewish abduction

The son of the Kuwaiti ambassador has been charged with briefly abducting three Jewish teenagers at a hotel and claiming he had a bomb, press reports said Tuesday. The 23-year-old son of Ambassador Khaled Al-Shaibani, identified only as Mohammad A., was charged with holding the teenagers against their will…..(al Arabiya, 7 May 08)

ISAF soldier, police officer killed in fresh Afghan violence

A soldier of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a police officer and a civilian were killed in fresh incidents of violence in southern and southeastern Afghanistan…In the first incident that occurred in southern Afghanistan, one ISAF soldier died of wounds and another injured in an engagement with militants…..(KUNA, 7 May 08)

5 Narathiwat districts blacked out by militants

Five districts in southernmost Narathiwat province have been left without electricity after militants sabotaged power poles and cut power lines in the restive south.People in Tak Bai, Sungai Kolok, Sungai Padi, Waeng and Sukhirin have been in the dark since Monday after militants launched their attacks at several locations. The insurgents loosened screws at the base of electricity poles causing them to collapse - and cut power lines in the area…..(Nation, 7 May 08)

Insurgents kill worker in South

Insurgents shot dead a villager in the Muang district of Yala province on Wednesday morning.
The victim was identified as Wichai Sri-ngarm, 36, a worker at a wood factory. According to police, he was shot on the back and body and was found dead next to his motorcycle…..(Bangkok Post, 7 May 08)

Islamic teacher shot dead in Yala

An Islamic teacher was shot dead in this southern border province Tuesday morning.
Police said Abdulmana Masae, 55, was killed in Taloh village in Tambon Talid of Muang district shortly after he left his house on a motorcycle…..(Nation, 7 May 08)

UN teacher by day … Islamists' chief bomb-maker at night

By day, Awad al-Qiq was a respected teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip. By night, he built rockets for Islamic Jihad. The Israeli air strike that killed the 33-year-old last week also laid bare his apparent double life and embarrassed a UN agency that has long had to reject Israeli accusations that it has aided and abetted guerrillas fighting the Jewish state.  Students and colleagues, as well as UN officials, denied any knowledge of Qiq's work with explosives. And his family denied he had any militant links, despite a profusion of Islamic Jihad posters at his home.....(Scotsman, 6 May 08)

Dead teacher was a Gaza bomb-maker   (Independent, 6 May 08))

Bomb injures Afghan police trainers, militants killed

A bomb struck a minivan taking Afghan police trainers to work in Afghanistan Tuesday wounding five people, police said, as the US military announced it had killed several militants. Authorities said meanwhile they had discovered a cache of new and mostly Chinese weapons on the Iranian border. Military officials have alleged that Taliban fighters are being rearmed through channels in Iran……(AFP, 6 May 08)

Ten Iraqi soldiers slain in checkpoint attack

Suspected al Qaeda militants killed 10 Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in Iraq's restive Diyala province north of Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said. The military said 13 soldiers were also wounded in the attack. It gave no details of the incident, but an Iraqi army source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the victims were decapitated after being shot. The account could not be independently confirmed……(Reuters, 6 May 08)

Indonesian terror suspect paraded in front of cameras as sign of war on terorism success

Aslam, who was arrested last month, has denied police accusations that he helped plan triple suicide attacks on restaurants on the resort island of Bali that killed 20 people in 2005. The one-word name Aslam is among several aliases police said the man went by. The 27-year-old said he met several times with Malaysian militant leader Noordin Mohammad Top, who asked him to translate militant tracts from Arabic into Indonesian and to post them on the Internet. Top is accused of playing a key role in the Bali bombings and in three earlier attacks on Western targets that killed 220 people......(AP, 5 May 08)

Israelis taken hostage in Poland

Polish  police have arrested a 23-year-old man identified as Mohammed A. after he took three young Israelis hostage in a hotel in central Warsaw today. The man took the three hostages into a hotel room at the Holiday Inn shortly after 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and threatened to blow up an explosive device before policemen overpowered him, a police spokesman said.  Police evacuated the hotel and searched it but the spokesman said no bomb had been found…..(Reuters, 5 May 08)

Muslim rebels in the Philippines withdraw from village, allow Christians to return

Muslim separatist rebels withdrew from a southern Philippine village and allowed about 1,000 Christian farmers to return after tensions flared over a land dispute, a military official said Monday. The standoff in the coastal village of Sangay highlighted the fragile situation in the southern Philippines, where mediator Malaysia announced it was pulling out cease-fire monitors amid a lack of progress in settling a decades-long Muslim insurgency……(AP, 5 May 08)

12 injured in explosion in Narathiwat's Red Crescent fair
Twelve civilians were injured when a time bomb planted by insurgents in the annual Red Crescent fair exploded Sunday night. The bomb, which was hidden in a garbage bin, near a concert stage, exploded at 10 pm, injuring 12 people……(Nation Multi-media, 5 May 08)

Indonesian terror suspect paraded in front of cameras as sign of war on terrorism success

A militant accused of planning suicide bombings on Bali island was paraded in front of the media Monday in an apparent attempt to trumpet Indonesia's successes in the war on terrorism. Aslam, who was arrested last month, denied police allegations he was involved in the 2005 attacks on three crowded restaurants on the resort island that killed at least 20 people.  Aslam, 27, who reportedly used several aliases, said he met several times with one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects, Noordin Mohammad Top, who asked him to translate militant tracts from Arabic into Indonesian and to post them on the Internet…..(AP, 5 May 08)

Militant group orders Baitullah’s Taliban to leave Khyber Agency

Conflict has arisen between anti-United States jihadi groups, as Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker chief Haji Namdar has ordered all Baitullah Mehsud-led militants to leave the Khyber Agency, following claims of responsibility for the suicide attack on him on Thursday.  “All militants belonging to Baitullah Mehsud’s group have been ordered to leave the Khyber Agency following the confirmation that the suicide attack on Namdar was ordered by Baitullah,”….(Daily Times, 4 May 08)

17 shops blown up in Swat

Unidentified militants blew up a music CD centre, along with 16 other shops, in the Kabal tehsil of Swat late on Friday, while police defused a separate bomb. The bomb, which went off in the Kala Kilay area and destroyed the music centre, caused millions of rupees worth of lost property. The remote-controlled device detonated at 2am, APP reported. Separately, police said that a bomb disposal squad had defused a 20-kilogramme bomb and that cases had been registered against unidentified militants and investigations had started.….(Daily Times, 4 May 08)

Gunmen kill Iraqi journalist

Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi reporter on Sunday after hauling her out of a taxi in Mosul, a notoriously violent city in northern Iraq where journalists are often targeted and live in fear of their lives. Police said Serwa Abdul-Wahab, in her mid-30s, was on her way to work when gunmen forced her out of the taxi in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, and shot her once in the head……(Reuters, 4 May 08)

Four dead, 41 injured in fighting in east Baghdad

The ongoing fighting in east Baghdad's Shia-dominated Sadr City area left at least four people dead and 41 injured in the past 24 hours, medical officials said on Sunday.  US and Iraqi troops have been battling members of the Shia Mahdi Army militia in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people and a stronghold for the militia…..(DPA, 4 May 08)

Afghan Kidnapper Admits Killing German Engineer

…The Afghan kidnapper who took two German engineers hostage (more...) has admitted for the first time that his men shot and killed Rüdiger Diedrich, who had been sick with heart disease, during a march into the mountains last summer.  Nissam Udin, the head of the band of criminals that kidnapped the men, described the killing of the German as the product of a misunderstanding. “He collapsed every time he walked for 10 minutes. We didn’t understand his situation,” Nissam said in an interview with SPIEGEL. Two of his fighters, he said, “two inexperienced friends,” misunderstood Diedrich, who he claims spoke several times of his suffering. “Our friends thought he was begging them to ‘shoot me,’ ‘shoot me’.”….(Spiegel, 3 May 08)

Extremist violence rocks Hamburg

Street battles lasting several hours have gripped the German port city of Hamburg, in what police describe as the worst riots there for years. Left-wing demonstrators angered by a neo-Nazi rally hurled bottles at police and set cars and rubbish bins ablaze. Police responded with water cannon.  The violence erupted on Thursday evening, after thousands of protesters had gathered in the city for May Day.  About 250 rioters were detained and about 20 police officers reported hurt…..(BBC, 2 May 08)

Double Bombings in an Iraqi Town Kill 35

…Two thunderous blasts set off by suicide bombers ripped through a crowded shopping street in the town of Balad Ruz in Diyala Province on Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 62 others, many of them seriously. The first bomb was aimed at a wedding caravan that was driving through the neighborhood, said a security official in Balad Ruz, known for its restaurants and stores. The second bomb went off after the police and medical teams arrived. One bomber was a woman who wore an explosives-filled vest and was pretending to be pregnant…..(New York Times, 2 May 08)

Deadly blast strikes Yemen mosque

At least 15 people have been killed and 55 hurt in a bombing at a mosque in north Yemen, security sources say. The blast occurred as Friday prayers ended at the Ben Salman mosque, often used by members of the security services, in Saada city. Local officials have been cited as saying the bomb was hidden in a car or a motorcycle. Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the leader of a Shia rebellion in the area, denied responsibility for the blast…..(BBC, 2 May 08)

Muslim rebels occupy Philippine village, sending Christian settlers fleeing

More than a thousand mostly Christian settlers fled their southern Philippine farming village after about 300 armed Muslim rebels occupied their land, the guerrillas and a mayor said Friday. Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas entered the coastal village of Sangay in Kalamansig township on Wednesday, demanding food and confiscating rice recently harvested by the villagers, Kalamansig Mayor Rolando Garcia said. The rebels told the frightened villagers to leave….(AP, 2 May 08)

Military: 6 troops, 15 rebels killed in Sri Lanka fighting

Suspected Tamil rebels detonated a roadside bomb in government-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday, killing two police officers and sparking a clash that left two rebels dead, the military said. Other battles in the north killed 13 rebels and four soldiers, the military said in a statement. Two officers from the elite police Special Task Force unit were inspecting an area in the northern Anuradhapura district just south of the war zone when Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a buried mine…..(AP, 1 May 08)

Afghan blasts kill 8, including 2 children

Two minors were among eight civilians who lost their lives in two roadside bomb blasts in southern Afghanistan, police said on Thursday.
The first bomb struck a civilian vehicle in the border town of Spin Boldak of Kandahar province late Wednesday. There was another blast near the site of the first and it hit another civilian vehicle, said provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib…..(KUNA, 1 May 08)

30 injured in Pakistan suicide attack

A suicide bomber attacked the offices of a pro-Taliban group at a madrassa in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, local officials said, wounding 30 people. Only the bomber was killed in the attack at the Islamic seminary in the Khyber tribal district, local official Rafaqat Gul said, revising an earlier toll of 10 dead given by senior security officials based in nearby Peshawar. It was the second attack in a week in Pakistan…..(AFP, 1 May 08)

Car bomb kills at least 9 in Baghdad; US troops kill 17 militants

A parked car bomb aimed at a U.S. patrol Thursday in Baghdad killed at least nine Iraqi civilians and wounded 26, police said. American troops killed 17 militants amid escalating fighting in Sadr City, and another U.S. soldier was killed as the military death toll increased to a seven-month high of 50. The explosion occurred about 9:15 a.m. in a crowded commercial area in eastern Baghdad…..(AP, 1 May 08)

April 2008

Syrian Culture Minister Justifies Persecution of Syrian Intellectuals, Says He's Optimistic that Israel Will Come to an End Within 10 Years

Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian Culture Minister Riyad Na'san Al-Agha, which aired on Al-Hiwar TV on April 19, 2008……(MEMRI, 30 Apr 08)

Some 500 killed in ongoing Sadr City clashes

A Sadrist leader said on Wednesday that at least 500 people have been killed, most of them women and children, and 2,000 wounded in the ongoing intense clashes between militants and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City since March 25. Fatah al-Sheikh, a Sadrist leader, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the situation in Sadr City is "dramatic." He added: "A crisis is widely anticipated in the city amid a governmental total silence"….(DPA, 30 Apr 08)

Militants kill ministry spokesman's nephew, hang body from electric pole

Militants killed the nephew of the Interior Ministry spokesman and hung his body from an electric pole in Baghdad, the prime minister said Wednesday. The attack Tuesday was in apparent retaliation for the spokesman's role in a government crackdown against Shiite militias……(AP, 30 Apr 08)

7 killed in Kabul gunbattle

Afghan security forces raided a Kabul hideout of militants with suspected links to the weekend attack on President Hamid Karzai, sparking a clash Wednesday that killed seven people, officials said. Two militants, a woman and a child were among those killed during the clash when the two sides traded rocket-propelled grenade and automatic gunfire for several hours……(AP, 30 Apr 08)

3 govt officials kidnapped in Mohmand

Unidentified armed men kidnapped three government employees in Mohmand Agency on Tuesday, the local administration said. The government employees – two drivers and a clerk – were commuting to work from Yaka Ghund to Ghallanai when their vehicle was ambushed. The gunmen kidnapped the officials…..(Daily Times, 30 Apr 08)

New bout of Sri Lanka jungle fighting kills 34 Tamil rebels, 1 soldier

Fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger separatists across Sri Lanka's embattled north killed 34 rebels and one soldier, the military said Wednesday. In the latest fighting, the military said army troops pushed into rebel-held territory in the Mannar district early Wednesday, triggering a battle that killed 11 guerrillas…..(AP, 30 Apr 08)

Philippine troops seize militant camp

Troops captured a camp that housed a bomb-making factory of al-Qaida-linked militants Wednesday after heavy fighting in the southern Philippines, a military commander said.

Troops bombarded the Abu Sayyaf camp on Jolo island before dawn with artillery and mortar fire…..(AP, 30 Apr 08)

Suicide Bombing Kills at Least 18 in Afghanistan

At least 18 people were killed in a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the second high-profile attack in the country this week, according to Afghan officials. Around the same time that the blast was set off in the district of Khogiani, near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, assailants fired small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, killing an unspecified number of Afghan police officers….(Washington Post, 30 Apr 08)

Shells land near Italian embassy in Yemen: official

Unidentified attackers fired two shells at a government office near the Italian embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa early on Wednesday, but there were no casualties, a security source said. The shells hit the parking lot of the customs authority, which is adjacent to the Italian embassy….(Reuters, 30 Apr 08)

Gunmen kill two intelligence agents in SW Pakistan

Gunmen killed two Pakistani intelligence agents in a drive-by shooting in the southwestern town of Khuzdar on Tuesday, police said. The pair, who worked for the Military Intelligence (MI), were on their way home from their office when they were sprayed with bullets in a bazaar by attackers riding on a motorbike. Khuzdar is located in Baluchistan, the country's largest but poorest province…..(Reuters, 29 Apr 08)

Female suicide bomber attacks Iraqi officials

A female suicide bomber blew herself up Tuesday, injuring a local official and five people in Iraq's restive Diyala province, while four US soldiers were killed in rocket or mortar attacks in Baghdad. The woman wearing an explosive belt targeted the motorcade of the head of the Sadiyah municipality…..(DPA, 29 Apr 08)

Suicide attack kills 15 in eastern Afghanistan

A NATO spokesman says a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed 15 local people and wounded 25….(AP, 29 Apr 08)

Islamist Militias Capture Two Towns

Militias loyal to Somalia's Islamist movement have captured two towns in the southern regions of Middle Shabelle and Bay, locals reported.  On Sunday, senior Islamic Courts officials publicly addressed a crowd in Jowhar, the provincial capital of Middle Shabelle region.  According to locals, the Islamist officials who addressed Jowhar residents included Sheikh Yusuf Turhume, who was the governor of Middle Shabelle in 2006 when the Islamic Courts militia controlled much of south-central Somalia….(Garowe, 28 Apr 08)

Officials: Suspected Rebels Blow Up Gas Pipeline In Pakistan

Suspected tribal rebels blew up a gas pipeline in insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan suspending supplies to several districts in central Pakistan, officials said Sunday. A main gas pipeline transporting natural gas from Sui plant in Dera Bugti district was damaged by planting explosives at two places overnight, gas company spokesman Mohammad Inayatullah said. Another pipeline was also blown up in a separate pre-dawn attack in the nearby Naseerabad district….(AFP, 28 Apr 08)

Blasts at LeT ammo depot nail Pak lies

Exposing Pakistan’s claims of dismantling terrorist infrastructure in PoK as hollow, an ammunition depot of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terrorist camp caught fire, leading to several blasts in Muzaffarabad on Sunday evening. "Panic gripped the residents as the blasts, which began around 6pm IST, continued for about two hours," the president of Jammu & Kashmir National Students Federation, Mehmood Beigh, told TOI from Muzaffarabad over phone…..(Times of India, 28 Apr 08)

Indonesians torch Muslim sect's mosque

Hundreds of protesters chanting "Kill, kill" set fire Monday to an Indonesian mosque belonging to a Muslim sect they claim is heretical, police said. A policeman was wounded in the head when the crowd stoned the mosque in West Java province before setting it ablaze, said police spokesman Col. Dade Ahmad. Several suspects were taken in for questioning. The attack was the latest targeting the Ahmadiyah sect in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation……(Bakersfield, 28 Apr 08)

Mass graves containing over 100 decomposed corpses uncovered by Iraqi forces

Iraqi security forces have found more than 100 bodies in two mass graves, it emerged yesterday. Fifty bodies were found in one grave in central Iraq yesterday, a military source in the area said, and another team discovered more than 50 bodies in a grave south of Baghdad on 17 April……(Scotsman, 27 Apr 08)

Sri Lanka Blames Rebels After Bomb Kills 24 on Rush-Hour Bus

A bomb hidden on the baggage rack of a packed rush-hour bus exploded Friday evening outside Colombo, killing 24 people. The military blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack. Ambulances with sirens wailing flooded a nearby hospital, where off-duty doctors and nurses ran in to help the 40 people who were wounded……(AP, 26 Apr 08)

Taliban claims responsibility for car bomb in Pakistan

At least five people were killed and nearly 30 others were wounded in a car bomb explosion in a northern Pakistani district on Friday. Taliban have claimed responsibility for the explosion. A powerful time-bomb weighing 40-50 kg planted in a car exploded with a huge bang in Mardan district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), a local senior police officer Tahir Khan told KUNA in a telephone call…..(KUNA, 25 Apr 08)

Nigerian militants report another oil pipeline bombing

Nigerian militants report another oil pipeline bombing -- fourth in past week. The militant group behind a string of recent attacks in Nigeria's southern oil region said Friday it had sabotaged another pipeline. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said its fighters hit a pipeline late Thursday in the southern Rivers State -- bringing to four the number of pipelines the group has reportedly blown up in the past week…..(AP, 25 Apr 08)

S.Lanka ex-rebel faction releases 28 child soldiers

A Sri Lankan state-backed former Tamil Tiger rebel group, accused of abductions and killings, has freed 28 child soldiers, UNICEF said on Friday, welcoming the second major release in two weeks.  The TMVP, made up of fighters who defected from the mainstream Tamil Tigers in 2004 and helped the government evict their former comrades from the island's east, released 11 children in early April…..(Reuters, 25 Apr 08)

Sri Lanka lost 185 soldiers in Jaffna battle

At least 165 government soldiers were killed and 20 more went missing in a major battle against Tamil rebels this week, military sources told AFP on Friday. The figures were far higher than official defense ministry casualties which gave 43 soldiers dead and 33 missing from Wednesday’s fighting in the north…..(AFP, 25 Apr 08)

Eleven people killed in Baghdad suburban fighting

At least 11 people lost their lives in latest round of fighting between militiamen and Iraqi and allied forces in the suburban district of Al-Sadr City, security sources said on Friday. The sources said among the dead were women and children and that there were 32 injury cases…..(KUNA, 25 Apr 08)

Mosul blasts leave three Iraqis killed, wounded

Three Iraqis were killed and injured in two separate incidents in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, police sources said. The sources told KUNA that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated as a civilian car was passing in Al-Arabi district in Mosul…..(KUNA, 24 Apr 08)

Taliban militants deny kidnapping two foreigners

Afghanistan's insurgent Taliban movement said Wednesday it was not responsible for the kidnapping two days ago of an Indian and Nepalese national, as police continued to search for the men. Police had suggested Tuesday that the militant group may have been involved in the abduction of the two men in the western province of Herat late Monday….(AFP, 24 Apr 08)

Thailand: Five construction workers killed by militants

Five construction workers were shot and killed by Muslim insurgents on Thursday while they were entering a school in southern Thailand.
The victims "had to construct a fence for a school and were killed as they were getting off a truck," said Acra Tiproch, a Thai army spokesperson. The school, which was closed for a break, is in the southern Thai province of Pattani. In a separate attack also on Thursday morning, two soldiers were injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded close to a school building that they were guarding in the Cho Airong district of Narathiwat province…..(AKI, 24 Apr 08)

Gunmen shoot dead Pakistani university professor: police

Gunmen shot dead a senior university professor in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said. Safdar Kiyani, 59, was gunned down near the campus when he was returning to Baluchistan University after his routine evening walk in the provincial capital Quetta….(AFP, 24 Apr 08)

Suicide bombings, attacks in Afghanistan kill 13, wound 24

A spate of suicide bombings and other attacks on security forces in southern Afghanistan Wednesday left 13 people dead and 24 others wounded, officials said. In Kandahar province, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a vehicle carrying intelligence agents in the border town of Spin Boldak, killing three civilians….(AP, 23 Apr 08)

Pakistan: Militants holding envoy hostage drop key demand

Militants holding Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, have dropped their demand for the release of a detained Taliban leader, but insist that the Pakistani government should free at least five of their colleagues before they will release Azizuddin…“The demand for the release of Taliban leader Mullah Obaidullah had figured earlier also during negotiations for the release of over 200 army hostages. But they realised that this was something that was not open to negotiations and they relented,”….(AKI, 22 Apr 08)

Somalia Death - Toll Up to 85, Islamists Take Towns

Somali rebels seized two more towns on Monday and corpses lay outside a Mogadishu mosque as the death-toll from battles between Islamist-led insurgents and allied Ethiopian-Somali troops rose to at least 85. After mortars and machine-gun fire rocked the capital over the weekend in the worst fighting for months, Islamist fighters seized the southern coastal town of Guda, killing four Somali soldiers and wounding at least seven more, locals said……(Reuters, 21 Apr 08)

Uighur rejects terror claims

A leading activist for ethnic Uighurs denied Chinese accusations the Muslim minority group is planning terrorist attacks tied to the Beijing Olympics, saying Monday that Chinese leaders are trying to distract attention from their problems with Tibet. China has made at least two claims of a terrorist conspiracy centered on the August games, both of them linked to Uighur separatists in China's far-western Xinjiang region……(AP, 21 Apr 08)

Pakistan recovers 2 UN employees after gunbattle near Afghan

Pakistani security forces recovered two U.N. employees after a gunbattle Monday with their captors in a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, an official said. One paramilitary soldier was killed and four were wounded in the clash in Khyber tribal region, said Mohammed Iqbal, a local government official. The two employees of the World Food Program, both Pakistanis, escaped unharmed, he said.  Unidentified gunmen captured the U.N. workers earlier Monday as they traveled by road to Torkham, U.N. spokeswoman Amina Kamal said. Torkham is the main international border checkpoint linking northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan…..(AP)

Spanish fishing boat with 26 crew hijacked off Somalia

Pirates armed with grenade launchers have hijacked a Spanish fishing trawler and its crew of 26 off the coast of Somalia. The Playa de Bakio was attacked 250 miles from the shoreline yesterday, and is headed back to Somalia. A Spanish navy frigate has been diverted to the scene of the hijacking. The attack comes just a week after a luxury French yacht with 30 crew on board was released by Somali pirates following payment of a £1m ransom. French special forces troops later chased the pirates as they fled inland, arresting six men and recovering £100,000 in cash…..(Guardian, 21 Apr 08)

Female suicide bomber kills three in Iraq city

A female suicide bomber blew herself up near the office of a group fighting Al-Qaeda in the Iraqi city of Baquba on Monday, killing three of its members, police and a doctor said. The bomber detonated her explosives-filled vest in the central Al-Mafraq neighbourhood of the city, north of Baghdad, a police officer said. Doctor Ahmed Alwan of Baquba hospital said three members of an anti-Qaeda group were killed and four other people wounded in the attack…..(AFP, 21 Apr 08)

3 Policemen injured in ambush terrorists set in Constantine eastern province

A terrorist group last Friday night has attacked a car owned by security services in Constantine eastern province, the attack has taken place at Ain El Bey region. 3 policemen have resulted injured, while the terrorists have fled.  According to a reliable source, the 4 terrorists have set up an ambush last Friday night around 10 pm, targeting a security services car transporting 3 policemen to the province airport….(Elkhabar, 20 Apr 08)

Clashes Intensify Between Shiite Militia, U.S. Forces

Heavy fighting broke out in Baghdad on Sunday following a particularly deadly night in the eastern part of the city. The clashes came a day after Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to wage an open war against U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces. U.S. troops killed at least 18 suspected militia members Sunday in airstrikes and other attacks, the military said…..(Washington Post, 21 Apr 08)

Seven more paramilitary troopers kidnapped in Pakistan

While the forces are launching an operation to free three kidnapped UN workers and a local political official from kidnappers, at least seven paramilitary troopers have also been reportedly kidnapped by local militants in Khyber tribal agency….(KUNA, 21 Apr 08)

Explosion damages parts of luxurious Gaza Hotel

A bomb exploded here early Monday and damaged Al-Derah Hotel, a luxurious hotel on the shore of Gaza highly sought by foreign tourists. Eyewitnesses said that ambulances and civil defense teams, as well as a number of Gaza police forces, rushed to the area where they imposed a security closure and started investigations into the incident….(KUNA, 21 Apr 08)

Nigerian militants report two attacks on oil pipelines

Militants said they blew up two more oil pipelines Monday in restive southern Nigeria and called for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to help mediate an end to the crisis. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said in a statement that fighters hit two pipelines it believes are operated by Chevron Corp. and a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture in southern Rivers state…..(AP, 21 Apr 08)

Japan oil tanker attacked off Yemen

An unidentified ship fired on a Japanese oil tanker Monday off the eastern coast of Yemen, leaving a hole from which hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked, the ship's operator said. No one was injured.

The 150,000-ton tanker Takayama was attacked about 270 miles off the coast of Aden in southwestern Yemen while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator….(AP, 21 Apr 08)

Two UN workers kidnapped in Pakistan

Gunmwn have kidnapped two UN workers while they were travelling in a lawless Pakistani region near the Afghan border. The two workers for the UN World Food Program were abducted on their way to the Afghan border, traveling through the Khyber region where Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped in February. He is still being held…..(Australian, 21 Apr 08)

Pakistan recovers 2 UN employees after gunbattle near Afghan

Pakistani security forces recovered two U.N. employees after a gunbattle Monday with their captors in a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, an official said. One paramilitary soldier was killed and four were wounded in the clash in Khyber tribal region, said Mohammed Iqbal, a local government official. The two employees of the World Food Program, both Pakistanis, escaped unharmed, he said. Unidentified gunmen captured the U.N. workers earlier Monday as they traveled by road to Torkham, U.N. spokeswoman Amina Kamal said. Torkham is the main international border checkpoint linking northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan…..(AP, 21 Apr 08)

Pakistan's ambassador held by Taliban: TV

…Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing. "We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban," the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks which were translated from Urdu into Arabic. "I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains," said the bespectacled and grey-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region…..(Reuters, 19 Apr 08)

Family of contractor: Another body found in Iraq

The family of a contractor kidnapped in Iraq said Sunday that U.S. officials have notified them they've found a body that could be his.

The family of Jonathon Cote said on the Web site Free Cote that an unidentified sixth body has been recovered near Basra, in southern Iraq.

Cote was one of six Western contractors kidnapped in two separate incidents. The Getzville, N.Y., resident was working in Kuwait for Crescent Security Group when he and four colleagues were abducted in November 2006. …..(AP, 20 Apr 08)

Suicide Bombers Attack at Gaza Border Crossing

Hamas suicide bombers detonated two explosives-laden vehicles at a key crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, wounding 13 Israeli soldiers in an attack the army described as unusually sophisticated.

The bombing, under the cover of morning fog and just hours before the start of the Passover holiday, was the fifth strike at a Gaza border crossing in recent weeks. A Hamas spokesman vowed that there would be "worse to come" as the group released video apparently showing the faces of three attackers before the assault…..(Washington Post, 20 Apr 08)

Students abducted in Iraq

Gunmen abducted nine university students and their driver Sunday in a an area believed to be controlled by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, security officials said…..(M&C, 20 Apr 08)

Bodies found in mass grave in Iraq

Iraqi army and policemen have discovered 30 decomposed bodies in a mass grave north of Baghdad.
The bodies were found near the town of Muqdadiya, 90 km northeast of Baghdad, in the restive province of Diyala where al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants have regrouped after being driven out of other areas. "The bodies were decomposed and dumped in a mass grave,"…..(Reuters, 20 Apr 08)

Hezbollah kidnaps policeman in southern Beirut

Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah partisans on Thursday attacked and kidnapped a police officer in south Beirut in the second such development in as many days, security sources reported. The sources said the police officer was investigating an illegal construction site in the suburb of Ghadir when he was beaten up by two local residents…..(DPA, 18 Apr 08)

Suicide bomb kills 24 in southwest Afghanistan

A suicide attack in front of a mosque in southwestern Afghanistan killed 24 people and wounded more than 30 others on Thursday, a provincial governor said. The attack took place as men were getting ready for the evening prayer at the central mosque in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said. Azad said there may have been more than one bomber…..(AP, 18 Apr 08)

Two children, two police officials shot in Swat

Two children, a sub-inspector and constable of the Kanju police station were injured on Thursday when unidentified assailants opened fire on them. The assailants ambushed the police officials’ car as they headed home from the police station…..(Daily Times, 18 Apr 08)

Bombing Kills 55 At Funeral in Iraq
A suicide bombing killed 55 people at a funeral service Thursday in a village 90 miles north of Baghdad, police said, the latest in a string of deadly attacks this week attributed to Sunni insurgents. Witnesses said an assailant wearing traditional Arab robes detonated an explosives vest while mourners were gathering for lunch in the village of Albu Mohammed in Diyala province…..(Washington Post, 18 Apr 08)

Militants kill female health worker in Pakistan

Suspected militants shot dead a female health worker overnight in a Taliban-infested district in northwest Pakistan, residents and officials said Friday. An unknown number of assailants raided a health facility late Thursday and gunned down 35-year-old Nihar Begum in the village of Baotha in the Mohmand tribal district which borders Afghanistan……(AFP, 18 Apr 08)

Nigerian militants report sabotage on pipeline in oil-rich south

The main militant group in Nigeria's restive southern region said Friday it had sabotaged a major oil pipeline and promised further attacks on the petroleum industry in Africa's biggest crude producer. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said its fighters hit the pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture in southern Rivers state overnight……(AP, 18 Apr 08)

Yemen lawmaker 'killed by gunmen'

A member of Yemen's governing party is reported to have been shot dead in the volatile north of the country. Witnesses say gunmen opened fire on a car carrying the MP, Saleh Hendi, and several of his bodyguards…..(BBC, 18 Apr 08)

District police chief abducted, killed in Chechnya, law enforcement officials say

A district police chief in Russia's war-scarred Chechnya region has been found dead after being abducted by gunmen, law enforcement officials said Friday. Witnesses reported seeing three men with automatic weapons force police Capt. Ali Gaidamurov into a car Thursday evening in the town of Assinovskaya, the Chechen Interior Ministry said. His body was found several hours later by a roadside with multiple gunshot wounds…..(AP, 18 Apr 08)

Waziristan jirga gets Taliban commanders released on bail

A jirga of Zakhakhel and Qambarkhel elders and Taliban leaders from Waziristan succeeded in arranging the release of four detained Taliban commanders on bail, participants said. The Taliban commanders from the South Waziristan Agency had been held for destroying tankers carrying oil for coalition troops in Afghanistan, and abducting their drivers. In exchange, the Taliban commanders handed back 50,000 gallons of petrol and two oil tankers to complainants in Landi Kotal (Khyber Agency) and released two abducted drivers……(Daily Times, 17 Apr 08)

Afghan suicide blast kills 17: governor

A suicide bomb blast ripped through a popular market outside a mosque in southwest Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 17 people and injuring 35, the provincial governor said. Two senior police officers were among those killed in the attack in Zaranj, capital of Nimroz province which borders Iran…..(AFP, 17 Apr 08)

Fighting Breaks Out in Gaza Strip

Eighteen Palestinians -- many of them civilians -- and three Israeli soldiers were killed Wednesday during fierce clashes in the Gaza Strip, marking the deadliest day of fighting in more than a month. The violence erupted Wednesday morning after Palestinian gunmen approached the fence that divides Israel from Gaza, and Israeli forces were sent in to confront them. In attacks that continued into the evening, Israel used tank fire and airstrikes to target the fighters. Palestinian health officials, however, said 13 of the dead were civilians, including 12 people killed in an airstrike near the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza just before dusk. Among the dead was a cameraman for the Reuters news agency, 23-year-old Fadel Shana……(Washington Post, 17 Apr 08)

50 killed in Iraq suicide bombing

A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two anti-al-Qaida Sunni tribesmen in a town north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, police said. The blast was the latest attack in Iraq's Sunni areas after a period of relative calm that was broken this week, raising concerns that Sunni insurgents are reorganizing……(AP, 17 Apr 08)

Two FC men among four killed in Balochistan

Two security personnel were gunned down in Quetta and two other people were killed in landmine explosions near Dera Bugti on Tuesday… In another incident, one person was killed and three other people suffered injuries when a landmine exploded in the Patokh area of Dera Bugti…..(Dawn, 16 Apr 08)

20 killed as fighting erupts in Jamrud

Fighting erupted between loyalists of militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and men of the Kooki Khel tribe of the Khyber Agency on Wednesday, following three days of tension. At least 20 people had been killed in the clashes, Geo News reported. “The two sides have started an exchange of fire…..(Daily Times, 17 Apr 08)

Killing in the West Bank Exposes a Furtive War

When the preacher's body arrived at the hospital, his back was scarlet where he had been whipped with pipes. His legs were black with bruises. His wrists were sliced open and bloodied. The Palestinian Authority, which had been holding Majd Barghouti in an intelligence-service prison for the previous week, soon declared that the popular Hamas imam, or prayer leader, had died of a heart attack. But eyewitness accounts, photographs, video and an independent Palestinian investigation released this month suggested that he was tortured to death during his February detention……(Washington Post, 17 Apr 08)

Al-Qaeda’s New Hardliners in Yemen Strike Western Interests

A series of dramatic, message-laden explosions rocked Yemen’s capital of Sana’a last week, targeting foreigners and highlighting new and potentially ruinous trouble in this ancient city. The first blasts on April 6 came from three mortar shells that targeted a complex housing American soldiers, including pilots (Al Ra’y, April 7). This came shortly after a mortar attack on the U.S. Embassy, which missed its presumed target but hit a nearby school for girls. The first attack prompted warnings from State Department officials; the latest caused evacuations of non-essential personnel……(Jamestown, 16 Apr 08)

Islamic insurgents bomb Somali theatre screening Indian movie

Suspected Islamic insurgents killed four civilians when they hurled a grenade on a cinema screening an Indian movie in a Somali town. The incident occurred last evening in the port city of Merka, around 100 kilometres south of Mogadishu…..(AFP, 16 Apr 08)

Iraq bombings, clashes kill 62

A spate of bombings across Iraq and a fresh surge of fighting between Shiite militiamen and US forces in eastern Baghdad killed at least 62 people on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said. A car bomb outside a courthouse in the central city of Baquba, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda, killed at least 40 people and wounded 80 in the most devastating attack in the violence-wracked country in a month, police said. Medical officials said many of the victims were charred beyond recognition and people were crowding the local hospital trying to identify the remains of relatives…..(AFP, 15 Apr 08)

Al Qaeda has new sanctuaries in Pakistan, says FBI chief

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Robert S Mueller told a meeting in London last week that Al Qaeda would not “go quietly into the night,” having established “new sanctuaries” in “ungoverned spaces, Tribal Areas, and the Frontier province of Pakistan.” Addressing a meeting at Chatham House, Mueller said Al Qaeda is resilient and “its network is now diffuse. And it continues to adjust its strategies and tactics. We now confront a three-tiered threat.” He said the top tier is the core Al Qaeda organization, which has “established new sanctuaries in Pakistan”, which means that it can “reconstitute its leadership, recruit new operatives, and regenerate its capability to attack.”……..(Daily Times, 15 Apr 08)

Two policemen killed in Afghan blast: police

Two policemen were killed and three others wounded in a roadside bomb attack in restive southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said.

The bomb, detonated by remote control, blew up a police vehicle near the border town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, said highway police official Saheb Jan. "Two policemen passing by were martyred and three others were injured,"….(AFP, 15 Apr 08)

Pakistan: Pro-Taliban militants vow to 'hang Musharraf to death'

Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan have threatened to avenge the deaths of their comrades and kill the country's president Pervez Musharraf.
A report in the Asian Age newspaper quoted a Taliban spokesman who said the militants were not ready to forgive Musharraf and will "hang him to death shortly". "He cannot be forgiven as he has ruthlessly bombed thousands of innocent Pakistanis and mujahideen (holy warriors) at the behest of America," said the spokesman of the group known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi Umer…..(AKI, 15 Apr 08)

4 Teachers Are Killed in Raid by Islamists on Somali School

 …A spokesman for the Shabab militant Islamist group said the teachers were killed by accident after they were caught in cross-fire. But several residents of Beledweyne, the town where the attack happened, said Mr. Daud and the other teachers might have been singled out because they were suspected of preaching Christianity. Another attack occurred about 200 miles away in Merka, where insurgents tossed a grenade into a crowded movie theater and killed four people on Sunday night, apparently in an attempt to shut it down……(New York Times, 15 Apr 08)

India, Afghanistan: Price of Reconstruction

Two Indian engineers were killed and at least five others injured in April 12 suicide attack in Nimroz province, located in southwestern Afghanistan when Taliban militants targeted the convoy of road construction workers involved in 218 km strategic Zaranj-Delaram highway project. The slain engineers were working for the Border Road Organization of India (BRO). Saturday’s blatant terror act came immediately after Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak visited India seeking counterterrorism assistance and training for its armed forces. This might have fuelled the already existing Taliban anger against India and its endeavours in Afghanistan……(Counterterrorism Blog, 14 Apr 08)

Two Indians killed in Afghan suicide attack

Two Border Roads Organization (BRO) personnel were killed and five others injured in a suicide-bomber attack in Afghanistan’s Nimroz province on Saturday morning. The BRO team was working on a highway project, when the vehicle-borne attacker struck, the Foreign Office said here.

Despite the deaths, the government said it was determined to complete the project in one of the most infrastructure-deprived areas of Afghanistan. India would not pull out of the project, which was aimed at the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan…..(Hindu, 13 Apr 08)

Mass grave found north of Baghdad: U.S. military

U.S. forces have found 20 to 30 bodies in a mass grave north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Monday. The bodies were found on Sunday in the town of Muqdadiya, 55 miles north east of Baghdad, in the restive province of Diyala where al-Qaeda Sunni Arab militants regrouped after being driven out of other areas. "All the bodies were badly decomposed and appear to have been at the site nearly eight months,"…..(Reuters, 14 Apr 08)

Two Britons killed in Somali raid

Islamist gunmen have shot dead two Somalia-born Britons in an attack at a school in the east African country. Insurgents loyal to Al Shabaab, a terrorist group with ties to al-Qa’eda, killed the Britons and two Kenyans at a school in the central Somali town of Baladwayne on Sunday night, local residents said…..(Telegraph, 14 Apr 08)

11 Policemen Killed in Afghanistan

Taliban militants attacked a group of police officers sleeping on the mud floor of an isolated roadside checkpoint early Monday in southern Afghanistan, killing 11 in the latest assault against the nation's vulnerable police force. Meanwhile, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said two of its soldiers were killed and two wounded in a separate explosion Sunday in the south. The British Defense Ministry confirmed that two Royal Air Force servicemen were killed in when their vehicle hit an explosive device……(AP, 14 Apr 08)

Roadside bomb targets U.S. convoy in Baghdad

Iraqi troops rescued on Monday a British journalist captured two months ago in the southern port city of Basra, the Iraqi military said. Richard Butler, who worked for the U.S. television network CBS News, was found with a sack over his head and his hands tied inside a house in Basra, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji said. He said Butler was in good