Archive for September 21st, 2008
Pakistan gets ‘a message’ against closer co-operation with U.S.
A suicide bomber detonated a dump truck packed with a ton of explosives outside the Marriott in Pakistan’s capital Saturday, setting off a fiery blast that shattered the luxury hotel, killed at least 42 people and wounded hundreds, officials and witnesses said.
The targeting of the American hotel chain was one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan and came at a time of growing anger in Pakistan over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. At least one American was killed and several were wounded.
The five-storey Marriott had been a favourite spot for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks on it. The bomb went off close to 8 p.m., when four restaurants inside would have been packed with diners at the hour that Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
(…) Analysts said the attack is a warning from Islamic extremists to the new civilian leadership of Pakistan that it should end already-strained co-operation with the United States to pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban militants entrenched in the lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.
“The attack on the hotel is a message to the Pakistani leadership: End all co-operation with the Americans or pay the price,” said Brian Glyn Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts. “Both sides see Pakistan as a vital battlefield in their global struggle and clearly Pakistani civilians are paying the price for being in the middle of this struggle,” he said.
globeandmail.com: Pakistan gets ‘a message’ against closer co-operation with U.S..
The death toll has risen to 53:
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the Czech ambassador to Pakistan was among the dead.
One American citizen has also been confirmed dead.
The blast has also left 250 people wounded, including 21 foreigners.
Pakistani President Zardari vows to fight terrorism. That would be great, but I am not very confident that with the present situation, he is going to do anymore than he actually does…
(I) Gateway Pundit has the video of the explosion, released by the Pakistani Government:
Related links: Marriott Hotel, Pakistan – Several killed, injured after Huge Explosion.
Related posts:
Police ban anti-Islam meet in German city
German police Saturday banned an extreme-right “anti-Islamification” rally in Cologne just as it was about to begin, following clashes with thousands of opponents, a spokesman said.
The spokesman said public safety was at stake, after police battled with leftists who flooded into the city centre to protest against the rally called by a local group following municipal approval for one of Europe’s biggest mosques.
The police spokesman said officers had been attacked by demonstrators who threw stones and tried to steal their weapons. Police had responded with batons.
Some 3,000 police had been drafted in and part of the old city sealed off as authorities appealed for peaceful protests against a two-day congress called by the far-right group Pro-Koeln (For Cologne).
Pro-Koeln had hoped 1,500 people would attend Saturday’s rally in the city center to oppose the mosque and an “immigrant invasion” of Europe, due to start at midday (1000 GMT) Saturday.
Those attending the congress, including far-right leaders from Belgium, Austria and Italy, were protesting against “Islamification,” and voicing support for Europe’s “shared, thousand-year history” and “Western values and Christian traditions”.
Mayor Fritz Schramma, whose city council gave the green light for the construction of the huge mosques, slammed Pro Koeln as “arsonists and racists” hiding under the cloak of a “citizens’ movement” in a speech earlier Saturday.
Saudi Gazette – Police ban anti-Islam meet in German city.
Well, it’s very sad that anti-islamification has this kind of publicity in the press, because far-rightists want to fulfill their own agendas and have began supporting anti-Islamification when they have seen it suited them. I really don’t think this is good for the anti-Islamism movement.
BUT it’s curious that the “public safety” was not risked by far-rightists, but by leftists who “flooded into the city center to protest against their rally“. The curious thing is that freedom of expression must be accepted from all sides. So why if there is a leftist rally, no one disputes they are putting into effect their own freedom of expression, but if this people go to a rally, it is not tolerated?
And then there is the conspiracy theories: their supporters will begin claiming they are not allowed to rally, because the powers-that-be are conspiring to transform Europe into Eurabia. And after that, they consider themselves as martyrs on the altar of freedom of expression.
If European authorities (and citizens) would be a little more intelligent, they would see their behaviour is, at least, ridiculous. Specially when this same measures (and citizens’ rallies to defend Europeans against racism) are not held when Islamists call for the beheading of Europeans or for new 9-11 to be held…
Read also what Michael has posted over at Poligazzette.
Related posts:
Terrorism Financing Case Gets 2nd Trial
The government’s largest terrorism financing case returned to a courtroom in Dallas this week as prosecutors once again try to secure criminal convictions against five men for allegedly raising more than $12 million in what investigators call “blood money” to support overseas suicide bombings.
The case against former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas charity that authorities shuttered seven years ago because of its alleged links to the militant Palestinian group Hamas, comes nearly a year after a previous trial ended in disappointment for the government. Jurors acquitted one man outright on 31 charges and deadlocked on charges against the others. Senior U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish declared a mistrial in October 2007.
Terrorism Financing Case Gets 2nd Trial – washingtonpost.com.
We will see how this ends.
Related links: Co-Conspirators of Hate, by FrontPage Magazine.
Mauritania seeks support against terrorism after AQIM claimed soldiers’ kidnapping
Mauritania has asked for international support to confront what it called a serious threat of terrorism to West Africa following an attack in the north of the country claimed by al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda’s North Africa wing, which has claimed previous attacks in the Islamic Saharan state, said in a statement this week it had captured twelve Mauritanian soldiers after ambushing their patrol on Monday in a northern iron ore mining zone.
The attack in the Zouerate region posed the first major security challenge to Mauritania’s ruling generals, who last month toppled and detained elected civilian president, President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
The United States and the European Union, which had backed Abdallahi as an ally in the U.S.-led global war on terror, have strongly condemned the coup and suspended some non-humanitarian aid, which had included U.S. training for Mauritanian troops
Background here.
EU Counterterrorism Coordinator: Hezbollah is not on terror list
The European Union’s counterterrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerckhove says Lebanon’s Hezbollah is not on the list of terror groups. Gilles de Kerckhove said the EU would not put Hezbollah on the list of terror groups because several member states, including France, oppose such a move (¡!).
The EU official made the comment in a seminar on ‘Terrorism and Europe’ organized at the European Parliament in Brussels. Some of the members of the European Union’s Parliament launched a campaign this week to have Hezbollah listed as a terrorist organization by the 27-member bloc. A coalition of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) circulated a “written declaration” on Tuesday seeking to have Hezbollah added to the EU terror list.
De Kerckhove asserted that Hezbollah is represented in the government of Lebanon and it has representatives in Parliament and holds one seat in the Cabinet.“It plays a role on the Lebanese political scene and several countries think that this could bring them closer to the democratic process,” he added.
THE OUTRAGED SPLEEN OF ZION: EU Counterterrorism Coordinator: Hezbollah is not on terror list.
I’m shocked (ehh, well, really?). If the EU anti-terrorist chief cannot recognise a terrorist, how on earth is he doing his work? How is he fighting terrorism, going against terrorism (counter-terrorism…)?
So, what would happen if Algerian terrorist would have won seats in French Parliament? Would that have them made less terrorists?
French soldiers unprepared for Taliban ambush: report
A NATO report on the incident obtained by The Globe and Mail provides the most in-depth account so far of an attack on Aug. 18 that shook the countries involved in the increasingly bloody campaign. The NATO report, marked “secret,” reveals woefully unprepared French troops surprised by well-armed insurgents in a valley east of Kabul. Ten soldiers were killed, the report concludes, but the other soldiers were lucky to escape without more deaths.
The French did not have enough bullets, radios and other equipment, the report said. The troops were forced to abandon a counterattack when the weapons on their vehicles ran out of ammunition only 90 minutes into a battle that stretched over two days. One French platoon had only a single radio and it was quickly disabled, leaving them unable to call for help. Chillingly, in an indication that the French troopers may have been at the mercy of their attackers, the dead soldiers from that platoon “showed signs of being killed at close range,” the report said.
By contrast, the insurgents were dangerously well prepared. The investigation found evidence of well-trained snipers among the guerrillas – highly unusual, because the Taliban are frequently mocked for their poor marksmanship – and indications they were supplied with incendiary bullets designed to punch holes in armour.
globeandmail.com: French soldiers unprepared for Taliban ambush: report.
h/t Michael Yon.
This is worrying indeed. If the Taliban are well prepared (God knows who is giving them weapons now…) and by contrast, the NATO forces are not (they don’t have even bullets, for God’s sake!!), we are in deep shit.
Related posts: Paris Match Taliban photoshoot shocks France.
