Internet Café Raid After Terror Arrests

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Police seize computers from Internet café in Oslo, Norway - Feb 28

From 'Aftenposten' (Norway): Police were scouring an Internet café in downtown Oslo on Thursday, in a raid believed to be tied to the arrests earlier in the day of three persons charged with financing terrorist activities. As many as 10 investigators were inside the café early Thursday afternoon, reported Aftenposten. They carried out large quantities of computer equipment. Norway's national security police PST, the state crime unit Kripos, Norway's white-collar crime unit Økokrim, and the tax authority for eastern Norway all took part in the arrests.

The three arrested for alleged terrorist financing are tied to the Somalian community in Oslo, reported Aftenposten. The three suspects face a court hearing on remand custody either Friday or Saturday, said PST spokesman Martin Bernsen. The PST also confirmed that it had coordinated its arrests in Oslo with Swedish police, who arrested three other men in Stockholm Thursday morning, also on charges of financing terrorism and planning terrorist activities. The three arrested in Stockholm are all Swedish citizens, but come from Somalia as well and are charged with having financed terrorist activities in their homeland.

Six Terror Suspects Arrested In Scandinavia

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From 'Euro News': A total of six people have been taken into police custody in Norway and Sweden on terrorism- related charges. Norwegian security services arrested three men at different addresses in Oslo on Thursday on suspicion of planning acts of terror and financing terrorism. A Norwegian Police Security Service spokesperson said a terror-paragraph in the law makes it a crime to finance acts of terror, either foreign or domestic. In this case it's foreign, she said. The three men, all of Somali origin, are suspected of collecting and transferring money to a terrorist group in Somalia.

In a coordinated move with authorities in Oslo, Swedish police arrested another three men in Stockholm. They have Swedish citizenship but come originally from Somalia. They are suspected of financing acts of terror by the Somali opposition group Al-Shabab, the Somalian Islamists' military wing. Earlier this month the Swedish government presented for the first time a "national strategy" aimed at combatting the threat of terrorism.

Centcom News Feed - Feb 29

IP FIND MORE THAN 500 MUNITIONS IN CACHE
Iraqi police manning a checkpoint near Jurf as Sakhr, Iraq, discovered a large munitions cache approximately 250 meters from the checkpoint on February 22nd. Included in the cache were (240) 60 mm mortar rounds, (189) 100 mm mortar rounds, (107) fuses, (3) 82 mm rockets and (2) 88 mm mortar rounds.


Iraqi Police discover large cache - Feb 22

The IPs spotted three masked individuals digging approximately 250 meters from the checkpoint. The policemen yelled at the men and moved toward the location. By the time they arrived at the site, the individuals had fled. Further investigation yielded discovery of three cache sites. Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Company A, and an explosive ordnance disposal team worked with the IPs to prepare the site for disposal. After the initial blast, about 60 more rounds of miscellaneous ordnance were unearthed.

'Fanatic' Guilty of Terror Training

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From 'MSN-UK': A Muslim fanatic who boasted of being "Osama bin London" has been found guilty of leading his own al Qaida-style terrorist cell. Mohammed Hamid, 50, organised terrorist training camps and encouraged others to murder non-believers from his home in east London. He was joined by Abu Hamza's former right hand man Atilla Ahmet at the head of a loose-knit gang of followers. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Hamid guilty of organising terrorist training and soliciting murder. Ahmet, the self-styled "emir" of the gang, admitted three counts of soliciting murder at the start of the trial.

Three of their followers, Kibley da Costa, 25, Mohammed Al-Figari, 45, and Kader Ahmed, 20, were found guilty of attending terror camps in the New Forest and at a Berkshire paintballing centre. Two further members of the gang, Mohammed Kyriacou, 19, and Yassin Mutegombwa, 23, admitted attending terrorist training camps. The five followers were each jailed for up to four years and 11 months. Hamid and Ahmet will be sentenced on March 7. Trial judge Mr Justice Pitchers said Hamid and Ahmet were in very different ways "charismatic and powerful figures". Sentencing the men, he said other unknown recruits had been sent to Afghanistan for further training by Hamid.

University of Maryland Launches Counter-Terror Portal

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From 'Computer World': Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a portal that policy analysts and counter-terrorism groups can use to forecast terrorist behavior based on past actions. "This is intended as a platform and an environment [that] Department of Defense (DoD) analysts and others involved in counter-terrorism can use as a way to learn how these groups are operating based on real data," said V.S. Subrahmanian, computer science professor and director of the University of Maryland's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS).

The SOMA Terror Organization Portal (STOP) uses publicly available data on more than 110 terror groups from around the world. It uses a real-time data extraction tool called T-REX to scour and extract data from more than 128,000 articles a day on average from 180 news sites in 93 countries. That data is then organized into tables with multiple rows and columns. SOMA, or Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents, then uses the information to create rules about the various terrorist groups -- and what they're likely to do -- in its database. SOMA has generated tens of thousands of such rules about the likely behavior of about 30 groups, including organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Hezb-I-Islami in Afghanistan. A built-in prediction engine allows policy analysts and other users to run various queries and what-if scenarios against the data.

In tests conducted by the University, SOMA proved to be accurate in predicting an outcome about 90% of the time. For the tests, university researchers considered each group with at least 10 years worth of data in the database. For instance, the data proved useful in predicting events such as a spike in attacks against government targets, or attacks against civilians inside or outside the country. What was not possible were predictions that pinned down specific targets or timelines. The SOMA portal is partly funded by the DoD and is currently being used by analysts from four different defense agencies.

Muslim Conclave Says Terrorism Is Anti-Islam

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From 'Reuters-India': Darool-Uloom Deoband, a radical Muslim seminary said to have inspired the Taliban has denounced terrorism as against Islam, calling it an unpardonable sin, in an effort to distance itself from religious violence. Tens of thousands of clerics and students from around India attended a meeting at the 150-year-old Deoband, north of New Delhi, on Monday, and agreed to take a stand against acts of terrorism. "There is no place for terrorism in Islam," Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, the aging rector of Deoband, told Reuters on Tuesday. "Terrorism, killing of the innocent is against Islam. It is a faith of love and peace, not violence."

Thousands of smaller Islamic seminaries, or madrasas, are affiliated to the Deoband school in India alone, and Indian security services say some have provided recruits for radical Islamist groups in India and neighbouring Pakistan. Its teachings, and its strict interpretation of Islamic law, have spread to many other countries, including Britain and Afghanistan, where they are said to have inspired the Taliban.

Rahman's comments are seen as significant as they betray a deep sense of anxiety among India's 140 million Muslims that a violent interpretation of Islam was finding root in the country and tarnishing the reputation of the entire community. Indian Muslims were implicated in bomb attacks on packed commuter trains in Mumbai in 2006 and in a failed attack in Britain last year. But Rahman said it was unjust to equate Islam with terrorism, to see every Muslim as a suspect or for governments to use this to harass innocent Muslims.

The meeting defined terrorism as any action targeting innocent people, whether committed by an individual, an institution or a government. Rahman's sermon will be circulated to all madrasas affiliated to his seminary. Muslims make up about 13 percent of India's officially secular but predominantly Hindu population -- giving it the third largest Islamic population after Indonesia and Pakistan.

One More Terror Suspect Held in Karnataka

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From 'The Hindu News Update Service': Syed Sameer, another activist of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), has been picked up by Karnataka police after keeping him under surveillance for a long time, a Corps of Detectives (CoD) official said. "We have been keeping track of Sameer's activities," the official said on Tuesday after the dealer in aluminium and scrap business was picked up on Monday from his home at Gurappanapalya here. The CoD had been on the look out for Sameer following interrogations of Yahya Kammakutty, suspected to be his close associate, who was arrested recently. Sameer has been an "active SIMI activist" and he had come under a shadow of doubt, which prompted the police to monitor him. On why the city police had not arrested him earlier, the CoD official said, "At that time it was not required". The police kept a close watch on him, and arrested him now when there were strong reasons to suspect his involvement with, and possible links to, a terror network, he said.

Bangalore 'Geek' Arrested

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From 'Hindustan Times': A graduate engineer of the Regional Engineering College (REC), Calicut, has been arrested on charges of being a member of a terror network, police said on Friday. Yahya Iyas Kammukutty, arrested late on Thursday, is the seventh young professional held in Karnataka on similar grounds, marking the emergence of a 'new' face of terror. Kammukutty, 32, an activist of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was born and educated in Kerala. He worked for two IT companies in Bangalore before he quit.

"He's an important link in the (terror) module. We are probing the circumstances under which he left the IT firms. The hard disc of his personal computer has been seized. He will be produced before a Hubli court today," an officer of the Corps of Detectives said. He said Yahya graduated from REC, Calicut, in 1996 with a degree in Electrical and Communications Technology. "He said he joined SIMI while he was studying engineering in Calicut." The arrest followed information given by another SIMI activist, Mohammad Asif, a medical student arrested in Hubli on January 30. Among the other young professionals arrested are Mohammed Ghouse, a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative from Hyderabad, and Shakeel Mohammed Muli, an electrical contractor who supported SIMI.

Centcom Press Release - Feb 21

COALITION FORCES ID TERRORIST KILLED IN FEB. 17 OP
A terrorist killed during an operation on Sunday has been positively identified as Abu Karrar. Karrar, also known as Arkan Khalaf Khudayyir, was a senior intelligence leader involved in the al-Qaeda in Iraq network in Baqouba. He was also a terrorist facilitator for the suicide bombing network in the Diyala River Valley region, which conducts attacks in Baghdad, including attacks by female suicide bombers. Reports indicate the network has been disrupted by recent successful Coalition operations in the area.

Karrar was killed when Coalition Forces conducted an operation near Khan Bani Sad Sunday afternoon. As Coalition Forces arrived in the target area, they observed Karrar and another suspect fleeing their vehicle. Karrar brandished a weapon with the perceived intent to fire on the Coalition. The assault force engaged, killing both men. They later discovered an AK-47 and ammunition in the vehicle. The vehicle was destroyed to prevent further use for terrorist activity.

SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS TARGET TOP TALIBAN LEADER
ISAF soldiers in support of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan conducted successful operations that killed two Taliban leaders, Mullah Abdul Matin and his associate Mullah Karim Agha on February 18th in Helmand Province. "As a result of this successful attack, the Taliban's networks have suffered another severe setback," said Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, ISAF spokesperson. "Each successful operation ensures insurgent disruption that gives way for stability operations to take place." There was no evidence of any civilian casualties after this operation. Matin and his followers were responsible for crimes in and around Helmand Province and attacks against ANSF and ISAF troops. He was the mastermind behind several suicide bombing missions in Helmand Province that resulted in the deaths of many innocent Afghan citizens.

Moroccan Terror Network Planned To Kill Ministers

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From AFP: A group linked to Al-Qaeda was broken up in Morocco this week that planned to assassinate government officials and had carried out crimes internationally, Morocco's interior minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa's comments came as Moroccan authorities on Wednesday banned a small Islamist party over its alleged ties to Al-Qaeda. The network, allegedly headed by Abdelkader Belliraj, planned to assassinate Moroccan ministers, military members and Jewish citizens, Benmoussa said. It also had links with an organisation called the Moroccan Islamic Combattant Group (GICM) and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria, which has become Al-Qaeda's North African branch, the minister said. According to Benmoussa, the network had contacts with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.

"The Belliraj terrorist network planned to carry out terrorist attacks with the help of firearms and explosives, and to assassinate high-profile Moroccan figures," he said. It also sought to organise training in cooperation with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2005, Benmoussa said, and some members of the network had access to training in manufacturing explosives. Benmoussa added that Belliraj had allegedly committed six murders in Belgium between 1986 and 1989.

The party banned on Wednesday was the Al Badil Al Hadari. Its leader, Mustapha Moatassim, had already been arrested on Monday as part of a sweep this week that resulted in the arrests of 32 people. Fassi said in a statement the decision to ban the party, which means Alternative Civilisation, was taken "on account of the proven links between the (dismantled) network and the creation of this party."

According to a security source, a large consignment of weapons had also been found, which had been financed by hold-ups abroad -- notably a heist at a security firm in Luxembourg in 2000. The arsenal included nine Kalashnikov assault rifles, two machine-guns with six magazines and a silencer, seven sub-machine guns, 16 automatic pistols and various munitions and detonators.

Members of the alleged network smuggled 30 million dirhams (2.7 million euros) into Morocco in 2001 following a robbery at the headquarters of the Brinks company in Luxembourg, according to the same source. The money was laundered by the network by investments in tourism projects, real estate and businesses across Morocco. Jewelry stolen in Belgium was smuggled into Morocco and turned into ingots by a goldsmith, who had also been arrested, according to the source.

The 32 people detained so far include a police officer and a journalist, as well as Moatassim. The Moroccan journalist, Abdelhafid Sriti, is the Rabat correspondent of the Lebanese television station Al Manar, belonging to the radical Islamist Hezbollah organisation. Three Moroccans resident in Belgium, including suspected leader Belliraj, are among those indicted. The arrests of some reputedly moderate Islamists have sparked astonishment in Morocco, according to local newspapers.

Following a suicide attack in Casablanca in May 2003 that left 45 dead, Morocco adopted a new law aimed at tackling extremist movements. But the independent Le Soir paper noted it was the first time since then that leaders of Islamist parties had been arrested for suspected terrorist links in Morocco. Two further bomb attacks in Casablanca followed in 2007, whilst there was an attempted suicide attack against foreign tourists in Meknes, east of Rabat, in August last year.

Tanzania Police Claim Terror Plot Stopped

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From 'Kenya Today': Tanzania police on Wednesday said terrorists planned to conduct major attacks in Dar es Salaam and Arusha during the visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, who was in the country for a four day official tour. One of the suspects is on the wanted list of terrorists who coordinated and executed the 2002 Mombassa terrorism attacks that targeted an Israel-owned hotel where ten people were killed. The news about the terrorism attack plot broke out on Tuesday just a few hours after the U.S. President left for Rwanda.

In the "foiled mission," top detectives from the CID department in collaboration with Tanzanian Intelligence agents arrested nine suspects including one of the most wanted terrorism suspects from Kenya. The suspects were arrested in their hotels in Dar es Salaam and Arusha just two days before the arrival of President Bush who jetted into the country last Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Said Mwema, said police were still interrogating the suspects in order to get more details before taking further action. Five out of the nine suspects are of Tanzanian origin, while one is Asian and three are Arabs, according to the police chief. The intelligence report shared between Tanzania and international security agents have confirmed that the all suspects have been blacklisted by 20 embassies around the globe as terror suspects.

"We are digging in to establish who their ringleader is since we have them in our custody; hopefully they will cooperate with us." The Police Chief said. But Police declined to disclose the names of the suspects fearing that the move could interfere with ongoing investigations. The suspects, according to police, were trailed by the intelligence agents through their telephone communication and other daily movements.

Philippine Army Arrests Indonesian Terror Suspect

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From 'Inquirer.net': Philippine government forces arrested an Indonesian suspected to be a Jemaah Islamiya (JI) operative in Banaybanay town in Davao Oriental on Sunday. Mohamad Baehaqi, alias Salman and Latif Tatoh, was bagged by military intelligence agents in the house of Indarat Generoso in the village of Piso, Colonel Benito de Leon, spokesperson of the Army's 10th Infantry Division based in Davao City, said. They also recovered several firearms, bomb-making modules and materials, such as detonating cord, blasting caps and explosives, Inspector De Quincio Pante, town police chief, said.

Baehaqi was traced after authorities received a tip on his whereabouts, said Pante, reading from an Army report. "Based on reports by some residents, the Indonesian has already been a visitor in the area two or three times." De Leon said the Indonesian was a member of the terror network blamed for a string of deadly terror attacks in the region, including the 2003 Bali bombing that killed over 200 tourists, mostly Australians. He said the suspect's hosts, Indarat and his son Mohar, were likewise charged on Tuesday with illegal possession of firearms and explosives at the regional state prosecutor's office in Davao City. The Generoso family denied allegations that they were harboring a terrorist. They said Baehaqi, whom they only knew as Salman, only sought shelter on Saturday night.

Man Arrested Over Suicide Bomber DVD For Children

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From Yorkshire Evening Post: A Leeds man has been arrested by anti-terror police investigating a children's DVD which appears to glorify suicide bombings. The 33-year-old, from Weetwood, was arrested at Manchester Airport yesterday as he arrived back in this country. He was detained by officers from the Counter Terrorism Unit in Leeds on suspicion of distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred. He was taken to police station in the city for questioning and was later bailed.

The DVD was handed in to West Yorkshire Police in December last year. The disc shows a dramatisation of a girl vowing to follow in the steps of her suicide-bomber mother, set to music featuring children singing in Arabic. All three of the DVD's tracks are sung by children in Arabic with English subtitles.

The first video shows an Arab woman playing with her two children before leaving her home with dynamite tucked into her dress. She is approached by uniformed soldiers and the camera pauses on her thoughtful expression before a large explosion blazes across the screen. After finding out about the suicide on television, her small daughter finds a stick of dynamite in her mother's wardrobe and turns to the camera with the subtitles: "My love will not be by words. I will follow my mother's steps."

Centcom News Feed - Feb 15

ADWANIYAH RESIDENTS SEE BRIGHTER FUTURE

Coalition troops and leaders of Adwaniyah, Iraq, have worked hard to establish trust and confidence within the community to improve the security and economic situation for the town. (U.S. Army photo)

Last year, the community of Adwaniyah witnessed the worst of what the insurgency brought to the people of Iraq. There were reports of kidnappings and murders. Members of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) were said to have forced residents out of their homes. Soon, Adwaniyah residents realized that life under AQI would be a step backward and they began to work with Coalition Forces to rid their community of AQI. Adwaniyah citizens Hazim Shaker Ahmen and Riyah Yas Khudayr, both former Iraqi army officers, began working with the Coalition and started Sons of Iraq (SoI) programs (formerly known as Concerned Local Citizen programs) last October.

In mid-November AQI mounted an offensive against U.S. Soldiers, the Iraqi Army, and the Sons of Iraq. At the time, Troop B, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division was the Army unit patrolling Adwaniyah. Troop B and the SoI repelled the offensive and since then AQI members have either been detained or fled the community. Now, Troop B, 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. controls the battle space and the future of Adwaniyah is bright.

Iraqi PM: 'Victory in Baghdad'

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From AP: Iraq's Prime Minister said Friday that U.S. and Iraqi troops have chased al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) out of Baghdad in the year since a security crackdown began, and he promised to pursue insurgents who have fled northward. In remarks broadcast on state television, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed what he called a "victory in Baghdad" (emphasis added) and thanked the U.S. military and its allies for "standing with us in defeating terrorism."

"Today our forces are locked in battle against outlaws in Nineveh and we are chasing them," he added, referring to the northwestern province where Iraqi officials say AQI has regrouped. The Shiite leader has promised a "decisive battle" in that region, although U.S. commanders have said it will be more a protracted fight.

The Bush administration launched its so-called surge to clear Baghdad and surrounding areas on February 14, 2007, with the 82nd Airborne Division as the vanguard of an American troop buildup that climbed to 30,000 extra U.S. soldiers by the summer. Violence has declined sharply, particularly in Baghdad. Still, U.S. military commanders have been cautious in describing the successes and stress that al-Qaida remains a serious threat. "We should keep our hands on our weapons to maintain the victories," al-Maliki said. "Therefore we shouldn't lose focus or the enemy might regroup."

7 Militants Killed in Iraq Raids

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From AP: Raids on al-Qaida forces in northern Iraq have left seven insurgents dead, the U.S. military said. But local police said Friday that two women and two U.S.-allied fighters were among those killed. The U.S. military said in a statement that one target of the raids late Wednesday and early Thursday was an alleged al-Qaida leader in the Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad. It wasn't clear if he was killed or captured. According to the military account released Thursday, troops killed two insurgents during a gunbattle in one area, then called in air support, which killed another four fighters. One civilian was wounded and evacuated for further care, while troops detained 15 suspected insurgents. All those killed were "terrorists associated" with al-Qaida in Iraq, said Lt. Michael Street, a military spokesman. Separately, in an operation Wednesday in southeast Mosul, the U.S. military said it killed an insurgent wearing a suicide belt who shot at troops as they were targeting the building of an alleged al-Qaida supporter.

Man Guilty of Helping to Supply Terror Equipment

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From The Guardian (UK): On Friday, a man was convicted of being part of a cell whose leader planned to kidnap and behead a British soldier. Zahoor Iqbal, 30, of Perry Barr, Birmingham, was found guilty at Leicester Crown Court on one count of helping Parviz Khan supply equipment to terrorists in Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, to aid attacks on Coalition Forces. He was cleared of possessing a document or record likely to be useful to a terrorist: a computer disk entitled 'Encyclopaedia Jihad'. Khan has admitted to four charges linked to the kidnapping plot and other offences. He was the only defendant charged over the plan to murder a soldier.

During the trial, Iqbal denied prosecution claims that he helped Khan send the illegal cargoes to terrorists, saying he thought their trips to wholesalers were to buy relief aid for the victims of the Kashmir earthquake in October 2005. The defendant, a school attendance and mentoring officer, told jurors he believed the invasion of Iraq "was the right thing to do". He did not subscribe to Khan's extremist views, he said, and had no sympathy with the July 7 London bombers. He was remanded in custody for sentencing.

Another man, Amjad Mahmood, 32, of Alum Rock, Birmingham, was cleared of a charge of helping to supply equipment for terrorist activities. The jury is still considering another charge, that Mahmood knew about Khan's plan to film the beheading of a soldier but failed to inform the authorities. Three other Birmingham men have admitted related offences. Hamid Elasmar, 44, of Edgbaston, and Mohammed Irfan, 31, of Ward End, pleaded guilty before the trial to helping Khan send the shipments to the subcontinent. A third man, Basiru Gassama, 30, of Hodge Hill, admitted knowing about Khan's kidnap plot and failing to tell the authorities.

Appeals Court Rejects Bail For Terror Supporter

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From Mercury News (San Jose): An appeals court has refused to release on bail a San Jose man accused of aiding his terrorist brother with money and military gear because he "poses a grave danger" to his native Philippines.
Rahmat Abd Hir, 43, was arrested in August and charged with aiding his brother Zukifli (zoo-KEE-flee) Abd Hir, who is wanted in the United States because of his alleged membership in Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a secessionist group in the Philippines. Zukifli Abd Hir is also allegedly a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Al Qeada affiliate operating in Indonesia and Malaysia. Rahmat is charged with sending his brother $10,000 and military gear including two-way radios, some which the government charges were turned into bombs that killed five and injured 29 people in the Philippines.

17 Convicted on Terror Charges in Russia

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From AP: A court in central Russia has convicted 17 people on charges of planning a series of terrorist attacks, a Russian news agency reported Friday. The Supreme Court in Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim province, on Thursday sentenced group leader Khafiz Rezakov to life in prison, the Interfax news agency said. Other defendants received prison terms ranging from 3 to 12 years. The 17 defendants were accused of planning a series of attacks in the Volga River province during the millennial celebration of its central city of Kazan in 2006, but no attacks took place. Among the other charges the defendants faced were membership in an illegal militant group and illegal weapons possession.

Centcom Press Release - Feb 14

COALITION FORCES DISRUPT CRIMINAL NETWORK, DETAIN 2 SUSPECTS
Coalition Forces detained two suspected Special Groups criminals early today during operations in the Suwayrah area, south of Baghdad. They were targeting an individual who reportedly facilitated paramilitary training for Special Groups members in preparation for attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces. Reports also indicate he was an associate of several senior-level criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces. Intelligence led ground forces to the target location where they detained the two suspected criminals without incident. The identity of the suspects is still being determined. "Al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire pledge has helped increase stability," said Lt. Michael Street, MNF-I spokesman. "We welcome that stability, but we will continue to dismantle the criminal networks of those who choose not to honor that pledge."

Terror Chief Killed in Syria

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From The Press Association: One of the world's most-wanted terrorists has been killed in a car bomb explosion in the Syrian capital Damascus. Imad Mughniyeh, who had a US bounty of 25 million dollars (£12.2 million) on his head, is suspected in the killings of hundreds of Americans as well as a series of attacks against US, Israeli and Jewish targets. Mughniyeh, a top figure in the Iranian and Syrian-backed Shiite Hezbollah militant group, was one of the most notorious terror figures of the 1980s and 1990s but had virtually vanished in the past 15 years.

He was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut that killed more than 300 people, the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight in which an American Navy diver was killed and the kidnappings of numerous Americans in Lebanon.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for his death but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said it "rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in this incident". The blast was the first major attack against a leader of Hezbollah since a 1992 helicopter strike that killed the organisation's secretary-general Sheik Abbas Mussawi in southern Lebanon. A prominent Shiite Muslim cleric close to Hezbollah called for the group's military wing to retaliate.

And more on this story...

Source Article HERE.

From Haaretz: If anyone deserved the title of "the serpent's head," it was Imad Mughniyah, who was killed Tuesday evening in a mysterious bomb blast in a residential neighborhood of Damascus. He was on the list of terrorists most wanted by Western intelligence services - primarily Washington and Jerusalem. Mughniyah, who was 45 years old when he died, was one of Israel's most dangerous enemies. He was to Israel what Osama Bin Laden is to the United States.

If Israel is behind this incident, as suggested by most world experts, it can be seen as the most significant intelligence accomplishment in the war on terror - even more significant than the assassination of Fathi Shikaki, leader of the Islamic Jihad, in 1995.

Mughniyah, who hailed from a poor Shi'ite family from southern Lebanon, started his career as a terrorist with Fatah, where he served as a low-ranking militant. He helped found Hezbollah when the Shi'ite organization was first formed, as early as 1983. He was generally recognized as a determined operative, ruthless, ambitious and persistent. Mughniyah, more than anyone else, can be credited with bringing Hezbollah's military wing to the level of performance the organization demonstrated during the Second Lebanon War. In fact, Mughniyah has been described by leading experts on Hezbollah as the man responsible for the attack on July 12, 2006, which resulted in the death of eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and the abduction of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - the event that sparked the war.

His greatest achievements included forming Hezbollah's wing for carrying out terrorist attacks abroad, as well as forging Hezbollah's special relationship with the Iranian intelligence establishment. At the time of his death, Mughniyah was believed to have had strong ties with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' military wing, the "Al-Quds" force. It was through this cooperation that Mughniyah was able to carry out the terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires. In 1992, Hezbollah struck the Israeli embassy in Argentina, and in 1994 it bombed Buenos Aires' Jewish community center. The attacks killed more than 100 people.

Ron Arad, an Israel Air Force navigator went missing in action over Lebanese territory in 1988, and is believed to have been abducted by Hezbollah after abandoning his plane. Mughniyah is believed to have been responsible for transferring Arad to the Iranians.

Mughniyah has lived most of his life in the secret world of intelligence and terrorism. According to various reports, the international hunt drove Mughniyah to frequently change identities, and he even underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance. These procedures, along with a collection of fake passports, reportedly allowed Mughniyah to travel with relative ease throughout the Arab world.

Imad Mughniyah was high on the FBI's wanted list as well, for his involvement in the kidnapping of a TWA airliner to Beirut in 1985, where an American Navy diver, Robert Stethem, was beaten, shot in the right temple, and dumped out of the plane onto the tarmac. Mughniyah also was involved in planning and carrying out several kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon at that time. He is believed to be behind a 1983 bombing at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people.

Terror Suspect Nabbed in India

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From SifyNews (India): Another terror suspect, who had been actively associated with the banned outfit 'Students Islamic Movement of India', and even floated his own organisation, has been arrested. Shakeel Mohammad Muli was nabbed on Tuesday night at Gulagangi Koppa on the outskirts of Dharwad city on the basis of information provided by a terror suspect named Mohammed Asif arrested earlier, police sources said. Shakeel, an electrical contractor, had organised meetings of SIMI at Kalaghatgi, Hallikeri, Savadatti and Castle Rock, besides establishing his own outfit, 'Young Islamic Organisation,' the sources said. The activities Shakeel undertook under the Young Islamic Organisation are being probed, the sources said.

Terror Suspect Confesses in Germany

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From AP: A Jordanian confessed in a plea agreement to co-founding a terrorist group, telling a court as his trial opened Wednesday that he participated in online discussions about setting up a training camp in Sudan. Thaer Alhalah, 33, told the Schleswig-Holstein state court he had contact with other group members through online chat groups and telephone calls starting in April 2006. Asked when the plans to start a camp in Sudan took form, Alhalah said: "They just developed." Speaking in Arabic through a translator, he told the court that jihad, or holy war, "for a Muslim is self defense... If someone attacks my country or my belongings with violence, I am ready to defend my country and my belongings with weapons," he said.

The confession to charges of founding a terrorist organization abroad was part of a plea deal that means Alhalah will be sentenced at most to two years in prison, compared to the legal maximum of up to 10 years. With the time he has already served while awaiting trial and German laws requiring only a percentage of a sentence be served, he will most likely be freed and sent back to Jordan in April, prosecutors said.

Born in Kuwait in 1974, Alhalah moved to Jordan in 1990, then to Iraq in 1994 to attend university in Baghdad. He spent time living in Australia and went back and forth to Jordan before moving in 2005 to Sweden, where he was arrested last year on a warrant from Germany for his alleged involvement in forming the terrorist group. Prosecutors claim he founded the group in June or July of 2006 along with four other people.

Among them was the group's alleged ringleader, 38-year-old Redouane El Habhab, a German of Moroccan heritage who was convicted by the same court in January. El Habhab was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison; he is expected to testify Thursday in Alhalah's trial. A third suspected member, identified only as Abdelali M., 25, is also in detention pending trial. The other two suspects remain at large.

Federal prosecutors said the group's aim was to "build up a front against the 'crusaders' in Sudan and to carry out jihad by committing serious crimes in accordance with a call by Osama bin Laden." Alhalah is accused of being responsible for handling the group's finances and recruiting new members. He told the court he never had a specific task but admitted later that he did end up handling finances. "I said that I would try to take care of financial matters," Alhalah said. The group aimed to set up a camp in Sudan to train volunteers "and thus to be prepared for a guerrilla war expected by the group," prosecutors said, without specifying a potential target.

Iraq Parliament Making Progress

Source Article HERE.

From Christian Science Monitor: Iraq's parliamentarians passed three laws on Wednesday - including the highly significant 2008 budget. The move comes days after the visit of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and amid tremendous pressures on Iraqi politicians to pass key legislation to bolster security gains by contributing to stability, reconciliation among feuding factions, and economic growth. "The most important thing is that we passed the budget," says Jawad Ridha Taqi, a deputy from the main Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) of which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member. "Now the government can begin spending on much-needed projects."

Passing the budget and other legislation offers some reprieve to the struggling government of Prime Minister Maliki. It was a victory for Kurds, who have been pushing hard to get 17 percent of this year's $48 billion budget because of their "historic deprivation." But this quota applies only for this year; after that, the share of the national budget going to Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region, will have to be based on its population, as is the case now with other provinces, says Mr. Taqi. This will be tied to holding a national census, he adds. That is needed because the Kurds are adamant about putting the fate of the contested city of Kirkuk to a referendum by June.

Deputies also agreed before adjourning for a month-long recess on a law to regulate the powers of provincial and local governments. Taqi says this law does not meet the aspirations of his party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), which wants greater powers for the provinces and the creation of a Shiite region in the south similar to what Kurds have in the north. He says it was always possible that this law might be amended in the future. The bloc of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a rival of ISCI, scored a victory by having an article in the law stipulating that provincial elections be held before October 1st. Qusay Abdul-Wahab, a Sadrist deputy, says early elections are favorable to both Sadrists and the "awakening" movement of Sunni tribes in Anbar Province, who feel they are not properly represented. "This will redraw the political map and restore balance," he says.

The last piece of legislation was a limited amnesty for those in Iraqi prisons, who number about 24,000 according to the Ministry of Human Rights. The Sunni bloc of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi is demanding this, among 11 demands, in exchange for the return of Sunnis to Maliki's government, which they have boycotted since August. The law does not cover the nearly equal number of prisoners held at US-run facilities in Iraq.

Hospital Official in Iraq Arrested

Source Article HERE.

From VOA: An official at a psychiatric hospital in the Iraqi capital has been detained on suspicion of supplying information about mentally ill patients to al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI). A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, says the acting administrator of the al-Rasheed psychiatric hospital in Baghdad was arrested on Sunday by U.S. and Iraqi forces. He says the troops also did a thorough search of the hospital. Smith did not identify the administrator, but the Iraq Health Ministry named him as Sahi Abub al-Maliki. "Iraqi and Coalition Forces detained a hospital administrator in connection with the possible exploitation of mentally impaired women by al-Qaida. On February 1st, two women were used to deliver a backpack filled with explosives and a suicide vest into the crowded pet markets in Baghdad," he said.

At the two pet markets, the explosives were detonated by remote control, indicating the women may not have been willing attackers. Almost 100 people were killed in the attacks. Smith says the hospital official is being held by Coalition Forces. He says the man is being questioned to determine whether he provided information about patients at al-Rasheed hospital or any other medical facility in Baghdad. The U.S. military has expressed concern that AQI is increasingly turning to women and children as suicide bombers to get around stepped up security measures.

Centcom News Feed - Feb 13

LARGE CACHE DISCOVERED IN SOUTHERN ARAB JABOUR
A local citizen led Coalition Forces conducting a foot patrol near the village of Minori in southern Arab Jabour, to a large weapons cache on February 8th. The cache, recovered by Soldiers from Troop B, 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, consisted of (59) rocket-propelled grenades, (8) rockets, (128) propellant charges, (32) ammunition canisters with a variety of rounds, and (5) 57 mm mortar illumination rounds.

Soldiers discover large cache while on patrol near Minori Village in southern Arab Jabour, Iraq on February 8th (U.S. Army photo)

First Lt. Levi Lenon said Coalition Forces are working with citizens to make the community safe and secure. Specialist Kevin Sands, from Irrigon, Oregon, said results are beginning to show. "Hard work pays off; this is a big find for us," Sands said. The 5-7th Cavalry Regiment is conducting operations under 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division during Operation Marne Thunderbolt, which began in early January and is aimed at disrupting al-Qaida in Iraq activity in the area.

Terrorist Finance Network Discovered

Source Article HERE.

From Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) arrested five money changers and confiscated money, documents and magnetic media. A total of NIS 3 million was confiscated and transferred to the legal authority of the Bank of Israel. In addition, three handguns and other gun parts were discovered in the possession of four of the money changers. During a joint IDF, ISA, Civil Administration and Israeli Police operation overnight, the forces searched homes and offices belonging to 14 Palestinian money changers suspected of being involved in transferring money for the financing of terrorist activity in Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm, Hebron and Ramallah.

Israel Police and IDF confiscate terror funds from money changers (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

In recent years, terror organizations have raised millions of dollars and distributed the funds in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. The money is transferred in various ways, mainly via money changers. During 2007 there was a marked increase in the sums of money transferred to Palestinian terror organizations. These funds enable terrorist organizations to maintain and expand their infrastructure, to finance and train terror operatives and to purchase and manufacture weapons for the perpetration of terrorist attacks against Israel. These finances "fuel the wheels of terrorism," and motivate the terror organizations to develop various conduits to allow the transfer of the funds from abroad.

Regional money changers maintain direct relations with foreign money changers, located in Arab countries, who are connected to various global terrorist organizations. The transfer process occurs in the following manner: Money changers abroad deliver funds to money changers in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, who then deliver them to terror operatives. It is important to emphasize that there is no supervision of money changers by the Palestinians Authority, which means that the money changers can take part in terrorist activity without restrictions or fear of sanctions.

Today's operation is part of ongoing operations carried out in recent years by the IDF, the ISA, the Israel Police and other authorities, against the sources financing terror organizations, including:

-- In 2007, a Hamas financing operation was discovered in Jerusalem. This discovery revealed the Hamas fundraising routes from abroad, in addition to evidence of intensive Hamas activity in Jerusalem financed by the sources abroad. In the third quarter of 2007, a sum of approximately 12 million NIS was transferred to terror organizations. Most of the finances, approximately 8 million NIS, were transferred to the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.

-- In December 2005, the "Abu Akar" Company from Gaza was declared illegal by the Minister of Defense due to its assistance in funding terror organizations.

-- In February 2004, 37 million NIS belonging to terror organizations were confiscated from main bank branches in Ramallah. These terror organizations provide "rewards for terror" - financial support to the families of terrorists injured, killed or imprisoned as a result of terrorist activity. These incentives encourage Palestinians to conduct terror attacks. Due to the provision of these funds, terrorists need not worry about the future of their families after a terror attack.

Danish Police Say Death Plot Foiled

Source Article HERE.

From Bloomberg: Danish police arrested three suspects in an alleged plot to murder one of 12 cartoonists whose caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 sparked riots in Muslim communities around the world. Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service, PET, detained two Tunisians and a 40-year-old Dane with a Moroccan background at 4:30 a.m. local time today in Aarhus, where Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that commissioned the cartoons, is based. "The purpose of the clampdown was to prevent a terror-related homicide," PET chief Jakob Scharf said in an e-mailed statement. "The clampdown occurred after a long period of surveillance."

The detainees are suspected of planning to kill Kurt Westergaard, 73, who provided the newspaper with a cartoon of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. The cartoons, and the efforts of a Danish Muslim delegation in the Middle East to draw attention to their publication, led to consumer boycotts of Danish goods and the torching of Danish embassies. "I fear for my life, when the police tell me there are certain people who are working with concrete plans to kill me," Jyllands-Posten cited Westergaard as saying today. "I think the aftermath of this insane reaction will last as long as I live. It's sad, but those are the terms under which I now live."

"This case unfortunately shows that in Denmark also there are groups of extremists who don't recognize or respect the basic principles the Danish society is built on," Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an e-mailed statement. "The government takes very seriously all attacks on freedom of speech," Rasmussen added. "In Denmark, one not only has the freedom to think and speak, but also to draw what one chooses."

Westergaard has been under police protection since receiving death threats after the drawings were published, according to Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, Carsten Juste. The newspaper has received bomb threats and its journalists have been subjected to "countless death threats," Juste told broadcaster TV2 today. "This doesn't change in any way my perception that we need to work against dark forces that want to fight against freedom of speech," Juste said.

The Tunisians will face deportation "because they must be seen as posing danger to the security of the state," Scharf said. The two will remain in custody until they leave Denmark, he said. Because PET made the arrests "in an early phase" of the alleged plot, to avoid "unnecessary risks," the service expects to release the Danish citizen after a first court hearing, Scharf said. PET would seek to have the Dane jailed to await trial if evidence emerges that indicates the investigation should continue, he said.

The suspects planned to kill Westergaard in his home, Jyllands-Posten said. Westergaard told TV2 in a telephone interview that he was first informed of the plot by PET in November and has since moved several times, including to addresses outside Denmark. "We have warned that the situation could get out of control," Kasem Said Ahmad, a spokesman for a Muslim organization, the Islamic Community in Denmark, told TV2. "We want a decent tone between Muslims and Danes. But we maintain our view that the cartoons were provocative."

Denmark's Royal Library on January 30th said it was in talks to acquire the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The library said it would treat the cartoons as it does the books in its collection, and would allow patrons to sign to view them. "It would be natural for us to have them at the Royal Library," Jytte Kjaergaard, a spokeswoman for the Copenhagen-based institution, said. "We don't perceive them as works of art. We don't have any view on their substance or content. Our view is that they hold a place in our cultural heritage. The cartoons have become a part of Danish history."

Centcom Press Release - Feb 12

COALITION TARGETS AQI; 2 TERRORISTS KILLED, 2 DETAINED
Coalition Forces killed two terrorists and detained two suspects on Monday and Tuesday during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) networks operating in central Iraq. Coalition Forces conducted an operation northeast of Samarra Monday near the Hamrin Mountains targeting alleged AQI associates involved in the suicide bombing network in the Diyala River Valley. Intelligence reports led Coalition Forces to a location where the targeted individuals were believed to be operating. As they arrived in the target area, Coalition Forces were engaged by enemy fire. Responding in self-defense, the assault force engaged, killing 2 terrorists, who were both armed with suicide vests. Once the area was secure, the ground force recovered two AK-47s and destroyed the suicide vests inside a vehicle on site to prevent further use for terrorist activity.

Southwest of Samarra today, Coalition Forces captured an alleged AQI member involved in the facilitation of weapons and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The suspect is believed to be responsible for a car-bomb factory located in the area and several weapons caches on another property. Reports indicate the suspect is associated with numerous AQI members involved in car-bomb facilitation networks, to include individuals detained last fall for their alleged involvement in terrorist attacks and foreign terrorist facilitation. An additional suspected terrorist was also detained.

"Iraqi and Coalition Forces are committed to ending the terror al-Qaeda in Iraq has brought," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman. "Al-Qaeda's war on innocent Iraqi civilians is the result of a twisted and morally bankrupt philosophy that runs contrary to the values of Iraqi citizens. These terrorists are unwelcome in Iraq."

COALITION FORCES DISRUPT CRIMINAL NETWORK, DETAIN 2
Coalition Forces detained two suspected Special Groups criminals early today during operations in the Suwayrah area, south of Baghdad. Coalition Forces were targeting an individual who reportedly facilitated paramilitary training for Special Groups members in preparation for attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces. Reports also indicate he was an associate of several senior-level criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi and Coalition Forces.

Intelligence led ground forces to the target location where they detained the two suspected criminals without incident. The identity of the suspects is still being determined. "Al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire pledge has helped increase stability," said Lt. Michael Street, MNF-I spokesman. "We welcome that stability, but we will continue to dismantle the criminal networks of those who choose not to honor that pledge."

U.S. Forces Detain 25 "Rogue" Iraq Shi'ite Militiamen

Source Article HERE.

From Reuters: U.S. forces said they had detained 25 suspected Shi'ite militiamen during raids in Baghdad on Monday in the latest operation against groups it says are defying a ceasefire by Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. The U.S. military has been aggressively targeting what it calls rogue elements of the cleric's militia who are ignoring the six-month freeze in attacks Sadr announced last August. The U.S. military said troops had detained the 25 militiamen in an area near Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad, and one of Sadr's power bases. "We knew exactly who we wanted to pick up," Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Stover, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad, said in a statement.

Attacks in Iraq are down by 60 percent since last June on the back of a boost of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, a decision by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn against al Qaeda and the ceasefire ordered by Sadr last year. The Pentagon used to describe the Mehdi Army as the greatest threat to peace in Iraq, a term it now reserves for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

Last week, Sadr issued an order to his militia to maintain the ceasefire, amid rumors it was about to come to an end. Some members of the Mehdi Army have voiced discontent, saying U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have taken advantage of the ceasefire to target them.

Poll: Pakistanis Turn Against Bin Laden

Source Article HERE.

From AP: Sympathy for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and the Taliban has dropped sharply in Pakistan amid a wave of deadly violence, according to the results of a recent opinion poll. The survey, conducted last month for the U.S.-based Terror Free Tomorrow organization, also identified the party of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as the country's most popular ahead of February 18th elections, and said most Pakistanis want President Pervez Musharraf to quit. The poll suggests Pakistanis are looking to peaceful opposition groups after months of political turmoil and a wave of suicide attacks. In the latest bloodshed, a bomber blew himself up at an opposition rally in the northwestern town of Charsadda on Saturday, killing 27 people and injuring 50.

According to the poll results only 24 percent of Pakistanis approved of bin Laden when the survey was conducted last month, compared with 46 percent during a similar survey in August. Backing for al-Qaida, whose senior leaders are believed to be hiding along the Pakistani-Afghan border, fell to 18 percent from 33 percent. Support for the Taliban, whose Pakistani offshoots have seized control of much of the lawless border area and have been engaged in a growing war against security forces, dropped by half to 19 percent from 38 percent, the results said. Also, in a sharp rebuke to Musharraf - who seized power in a 1999 coup and whose standing has slumped since he tried to fire Pakistan's chief justice last March - 70 percent of voters think he should quit immediately.

Terror Free Tomorrow is a bipartisan group seeking to reduce support for international terrorism. Its advisory board includes likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman who helped lead a study of White House Iraq policy last year. The group's president, Ken Ballen, says the advisory board plays no role in individual polls. The survey, based on interviews with 1,157 people across Pakistan from January 19-29, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Only one percent of Pakistani voters would cast their ballots in favor of al-Qaida if it was running in parliamentary elections, the survey results said, adding that the Taliban would get 3 percent. In contrast the moderate and secular Pakistan People's Party, led by Bhutto until her death in a suicide attack on December 27th, polled 36.7 percent. The party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, scored 25.3 percent, pushing the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q into third place with just 12 percent.

Taliban Commander Is Captured

Source Article HERE.

From NY Times: A senior Taliban commander was wounded and arrested by Pakistani forces as he tried to slip across the Afghan border into Pakistan with a small band of men, Pakistani military authorities said Monday. The commander, Mansoor Dadullah, is the brother of one of the Taliban's most prominent and brutal operational leaders, Mullah Dadullah, who was killed last year. The state news agency, The Associated Press of Pakistan, said Mr. Dadullah was critically wounded in an exchange of fire with a unit of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force deployed along the Afghan border. His capture may indicate greater vigilance by such border units.

The arrest may be more of a propaganda blow to the Taliban than a practical one. In December, the Taliban announced through a spokesman that Mr. Dadullah had been removed from his post as commander of the south because he had been ignoring the movement's rules and regulations. Mr. Dadullah denied he had been removed at the time.

The clash with Mr. Dadullah happened at Gaddal Post in the district of Qila Saifullah, which runs along the Afghan border near the town of Quetta, which the Taliban leadership has long used as a base and sanctuary. Pakistani forces have appeared to be doing more to track Afghan Taliban figures in the last year, and have cooperated in capturing or killing several senior commanders, including Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Osmani, who was tracked crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan in December 2006 and killed in an American airstrike. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, a former Taliban defense minister, was arrested in Pakistan in March 2007.

Mullah Dadullah was killed in a special forces operation in Helmand Province of Afghanistan in May 2007. In July, a Pakistani militant, Abdullah Mehsud, who led a large number of fighters into Helmand Province to fight NATO forces, was killed when Pakistani forces surrounded a house in Zhob, a district south of the tribal areas in the province of Baluchistan in Pakistan.

Al-Qaeda Leaders Admit: 'We are in crisis. There is panic and fear'

Source Article HERE.

From Times Online (UK): Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an "extraordinary crisis". Last year's mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military "created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight". The terrorist group's security structure suffered "total collapse". These are the words not of al-Qaeda's enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province - once the group's stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November. The US military released extracts from that letter yesterday along with a second seized in another November raid that is almost as startling.

That second document is a bitter 16-page testament written last October by a local al-Qaeda leader near Balad, north of Baghdad. "I am Abu-Tariq, emir of the al-Layin and al-Mashahdah sector," the author begins. He goes on to describe how his force of 600 shrank to fewer than 20. "We were mistreated, cheated and betrayed by some of our brothers," he says. "Those people were nothing but hypocrites, liars and traitors and were waiting for the right moment to switch sides with whoever pays them most."

Assuming the two documents are authentic - and the US military insists that they are - they provide a rare insight into an organisation thrown into turmoil by the rise of the Awakening movement. More than 80,000 Sunnis have joined the tribal groups of "concerned local citizens" [CLCs] that have helped to eject al-Qaeda from swaths of western and northern Iraq, including much of Baghdad. US intelligence officials cautioned, however, that the documents were snapshots of two small areas and that al-Qaeda was far from a spent force. They said that while the number of car bombs had fallen over the past year, the organisation had doubled its attacks on CLC members since October. More than 20 people were killed last night when a suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint near Balad. Al-Qaeda gunmen stormed a compound of an "Awakening" group in Iraq's northern Nineveh province yesterday, the US military said. Among those killed in the fighting were 10 suspected Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters.

The Anbar letter conceded that the "crusaders" - Americans - had gained the upper hand by persuading ordinary Sunnis that al-Qaeda was responsible for their suffering and by exploiting their poverty to entice them into the security forces. Al-Qaeda's "Islamic State of Iraq is faced with an extraordinary crisis, especially in al-Anbar", the unnamed emir admitted. In an apparent reference to al-Qaeda's brutal tactics, he said of the Americans and their Sunni allies: "We helped them to unite against us... The Americans and the apostates launched their campaigns against us and we found ourselves in a circle not being able to move, organise or conduct our operations."

He said of the loss of Anbar province: "This created weakness and psychological defeat. This also created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight. The morale of the fighters went down... There was a total collapse in the security structure of the organisation." The emir complained that the supply of foreign fighters had dwindled and that they found it increasingly hard to operate inside Iraq because they could not blend in. Foreign suicide bombers determined to kill "not less than 20 or 30 infidels" grew disillusioned because they were kept hanging about and only given small operations. Some gave up and went home.

Finally the emir recommended rewards for killing apostates, using doctors to kill infidels and offering gifts to tribal leaders. He said al-Qaeda's fighters should be sent to more promising areas such as Diyala province or Baghdad - which is exactly what happened. Rear-Admiral Gregory Smith, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, called Abu-Tariq's testament a "woe-is-me kind of document". It calls the Sunnis who switched sides a "cancer in the body of al-Jihad movement", and declares: "We should have no mercy on them."

The author lists those who have made off with al-Qaeda weapons or money, describes the group's arsenal, including C5 rockets, which are used against helicopters, and records the fate of the battalions under his command. Most of the first battalion's fighters "betrayed us and joined al-Sahwah [the Awakening]", he says. The leader of the second ran away and all but two of its 300 fighters joined the Awakening. The activities of the third were "frozen due to their present conditions". Of the fourth he writes: "Most of its members are scoundrels, sectarians, non-believers".

He lists 38 people still working for him but beside five names he has written comments like "We have not seen him for twenty days" or "left us a week ago". He concludes, wistfully: "And that is the number of fighters left in my sector."

US Seeks Death Penalty for 6 Guantanamo 9/11 Suspects

Source Article HERE.

From VOA: The U.S. Defense Department has charged six detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay detention center with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The six include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks. All six face the death penalty. VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon today, Air Force Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann announced the first sweeping charges brought against suspected conspirators in the September 11th attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

General Hartmann, the legal adviser to the U.S. military tribunal system identified the six men facing charges. The accused are Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Mohammed al Kahtani. Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects and terrorism, among other charges. The military is recommending that the six men be tried together before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is seeking the death penalty for all six defendants. Hartmann says the charges lay out a long-term, sophisticated plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States, coordinated by Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

"The charges allege that Khalid Sheik Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks by proposing the operational concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996, obtaining approval and funding from Osama bin Laden for the attacks, overseeing the entire operation and training the hijackers in all aspects of the operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. The charges are now being translated into all the defendants' native languages and served. The charges will then go to convening authority Judge Susan Crawford who will have sole discretion on whether to proceed with them and whether or not to seek the death penalty.

If the cases go to to trial, it will bring increased scrutiny to the military commission system, which has been criticized by civil rights groups for not providing the same legal protection as American civilian courts. Another issue is whether prosecutors will be able to use confessions or other information obtained during controversial interrogation techniques. Last week, CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed publicly for the first time that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and two other terror suspects were subjected to a procedure called "waterboarding", which simulates drowning.

Today, General Hartmann said the court will decide what evidence will be admissible. "Let me be clear," he said. "We are a nation of law and not of men, and the question of what evidence, will be admitted, whether waterboarding or otherwise will be decided in the courts, in front of a judge, after it is fought out between the defense and the prosecution in these cases." Hartmann stressed that the accused will receive a fair trial and said they will have virtually the same rights as U.S. military personnel, including the right to be represented in court, the right to examine all evidence used against them, and the right to call witnesses on their own behalf.

Local Al-Qaeda Leader Killed: Iraq Police

Source Article HERE.

From NDTV (New Dehli) & AP: Iraqi police said that a local Al-Qaeda leader was killed early on Saturday. He was killed in a police raid on his home north of Baghdad. Abu Omar al-Douri resisted police for about an hour before he was killed at around 4 am in his house in downtown Samarra, a police officer said. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to media. Samarra is mostly a Sunni Muslim town, about 95 kilometre north of the Baghdad. Al-Douri was assigned to lead al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) operations in Samarra just one week ago, said the police. It was unclear whether his predecessor was killed or captured. The US military has not given any comment on the incident.

And more...

Source Article HERE.

From CNN: Mahmoud al-Douri, who also went by the name Abu Omar, was killed during a raid on a Samarra house, a police official said. Police said al-Douri shot at them and they fired back, killing him. Weapons, explosives and a car bomb were found at the house, the Samarra police official said. Samarra is in Salaheddin province, one of four northern Iraq provinces where Iraqi and U.S. forces have been conducting a stepped-up campaign against militants.

Centcom News Feed - Feb 8

AFGHAN DOCTORS, COALITION TROOPS ASSIST VILLAGERS
Afghan national army medics, pharmacists and nutritionists from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, assisted by Coalition Forces, provide free medical care to more than 400 villagers a week at a clinic near a combined military outpost in Farah province. "We heard good things about this clinic and the ANA medics here," said Rosia Hakimi, a local woman who came to the clinic to receive treatment for digestive problems. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, the gates outside the Farah clinic are crowded with men, women and children seeking medical attention from ANA medics.

An Afghan National Police officer collects information from villagers outside a medical clinic in Farah province, Afghanistan.

"I do things to make them feel better. I give them a human touch," said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kelly A. Newman, a physician's assistant with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Farah. "I just want to show the people here that we really care about them." Villagers see that caring attitude as soon as they arrive at the clinic, where they are greeted by Afghan National Police officers who direct them to specific areas of the clinic according to their needs. For most visitors to the clinic, the first stop is the triage station. There, ANA and Coalition medics meet with each patient to determine the level of care they need or set up an appointment with the Ministry of Public Health nutritionist for education, dietary advice or supplements. Patients who need more extensive medical care are transported to the Farah Hospital.

"These people travel a long distance, sometimes from other districts, to receive care," explained Dr. Nasurllah Noori, a Ministry of Public Health pharmacist who volunteers at the clinic twice a week. "We are making their lives better." Many of the patients at the clinic are women and children from around the province. Before leaving the clinic, they visit the provincial nutritionist, Abdul Ghani, who also volunteers at the clinic twice a week. "I provide them with dry milk, baby formula, baby food and nutritional supplements," Ghani said. Ghani said he is proud of the service he is providing at the clinic. "A woman brought her two babies in to the clinic last week. She didn't have any milk for her babies. Because she was poor, she could not feed both of her children," he said. By providing food and baby formula, he said he felt he made a difference in the family's life.

Newman told a similar story about a malnourished baby and mother who visited the clinic several months ago. The physician's assistant ensured the mother and baby were nursed back to health and provided enriched food and medicine for the mother to take home. A few months later, the young family returned to the Farah clinic. Newman said she did not recognize the mother or the baby. "It was a fat, healthy baby," Newman said. "I was surprised because I was very concerned about her condition."

"Most of what we do here is teach Afghans the basics of good hygiene and nutrition," said U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer James J. Cartier, a hospital corpsman who volunteers at the clinic and runs the ANA medic training program here. Cartier teaches Afghan farmers how to avoid injuries and take care of themselves during long, arduous workdays. He also teaches the men about the importance of personal hygiene in preventing the common skin ailments he said he sees so often at the clinic. While the clinic mostly treats minor illnesses, the ANA and coalition doctors and medics are prepared for more extensive treatment. Abdul Wodood, a 50-year-old day worker brought his two sons to the clinic after they were injured during an accident in their home. Both boys were burned when a propane tank at their house exploded. Wodood took his sons to the Farah Hospital for initial treatment, but brought them to this clinic for follow-up care. "I appreciate the medics here. They are very honest and kind to my children," said Wodood.

"The ANA medic's primary role is combat casualty care in the field," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Michael Meier, the senior medical officer assigned to the PRT. "ANA improve their outpatient skills at the clinic so they will be able to help their own troops better, as well as help villagers in the outlying areas they visit."

Centcom Press Release - Feb 8

COALITION CAPTURES SPECIAL GROUPS LEADER & 3 SUSPECTS
Coalition Forces captured a suspected Special Groups leader and detained three other suspects late Thursday during operations to disrupt criminal networks in the Mashru area of Iraq, south of Baghdad. The targeted individual was reportedly a deputy for Special Groups criminal elements in Wasit Province. Reports also indicate he was an associate of several senior-level criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces. Intelligence led ground forces to the target area where they captured the wanted individual and the three other suspected criminals without incident. "Coalition forces will continue to apply pressure on the criminal networks that are not honoring al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's ceasefire pledge," said Lt. Michael Street, MNF-I spokesman. "Those who honor his pledge are contributing to a safer Iraq."

Iraqi Forces Rescue Kidnapped Boy

Iraqi commandos rescued an 11-year-old Iraqi boy on January 29th near Baghdad. Three days earlier, the youth had been taken for ransom by al-Qaeda agents. The kidnappers had first demanded $100,000 and then $80,000 from the boy's parents to secure his release. The kidnappers had threatened to behead the youth if they weren't paid. The boy's father (a mechanic) couldn't afford to pay the kidnappers. The al-Qaeda kidnapping cell is linked to 26 previous abductions.

To see a video of the rescue, click HERE.

The video first shows commandos breaking through the door, lots of shouting, a man raising his hands in surrender, and someone grabbing the boy. Then the boy is seen in a vehicle making a call on a cell phone to his mother. Finally, the boy is re-united with relatives who rush to him and kiss him.

Sadr Warns His Militia Not To Break Ceasefire

Source Article HERE.

From AFP: Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday warned members of his Mahdi Army militia not to break a six-month ceasefire as some of his fighters clashed with US and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad. "Any member of the Mahdi Army who conducts violent acts during the ceasefire will no longer be part of the Mahdi Army," Sadr's spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi told AFP in Najaf, a shrine city in central Iraq. Sadr ordered the freeze in attacks, which is due to expire at the end of February, after allegations that his fighters were involved in bloody clashes in Karbala, another shrine city near Najaf. The suspension of the militia's activities is cited by US commanders as one of the main reasons for a 62 percent reduction in violent attacks across the country since June.

Iraqi security officials and the US military said Mahdi Army militiamen clashed with US and Iraqi soldiers on Thursday in Sadr City, a sprawling slum in northeastern Baghdad. The US military said in a statement the clashes occurred when Iraqi and US forces raided "special group criminal elements" -- a term it uses for rogue Mahdi Army militiamen -- in Sadr City. "Sixteen criminals were initially detained. One died later from wounds received during the operation," the statement said. "As ground forces approached the target house they came under attack by small arms fire. Iraqi and coalition forces returned fire in self-defense, mortally wounding one terrorist," it added. Those targeted were believed to be behind kidnappings, mortar fire, and attacks by explosively formed penetrators (EFPs).

Centcom Press Release - Feb 7

MULTI-NATIONAL SOLDIERS RECOVER LARGE CACHE
Multi-National forces seized a large weapon and bomb-making cache in Abu Ghraib, west of the Iraq Capital on February 4th. Soldiers from 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment were conducting search operations in the area as part of an ongoing operation when the unit recovered (13) 120 mm mortar rounds, (132) 82 mm mortar rounds, (51) 60 mm mortar rounds, (3) cans of 120 mm mortar fuses, (23) boxes of mortar fuses, (3) mortar sights, (35) 82 mm mortar primers, (6) 60 mm mortar primers, (22) 40 mm mortar primers, a 120 mm tube, (130) blasting caps, (30) rifle rocket-propelled grenades, (24) RPG warheads, an RPG sight, (2) bags of RPG propellant, (12) RPG propellants, (4) artillery fuses, (4) anti-personnel mines, (2) 57 mm rockets, (126) fragmentation grenades, (3) Russian grenades, (600) yards of detonation cord, a variety of machine guns, (7) cell phones, (4) IED switches, (26) 30 mm anti-aircraft rounds and (17) .50 cal rounds. An explosive ordnance disposal unit destroyed the cache with a controlled detonation. "This was significant cache find," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, MND-B spokesman. "The recovery and destruction of these items does contribute to the overall security of the Iraqi people - our number one priority."


COALITION FORCES KILL 2 TERRORISTS; WOMAN KILLED
Coalition Forces conducted an intelligence-driven operation on Tuesday in Ad Dawr, Iraq, in pursuit of an al-Qaeda terrorist. The forces approached the target house and, upon attempting entry, were confronted by a man who fired at the soldiers. The ground force returned fire, and the individual continued to fire at Coalition Forces through a window, slightly wounding one soldier. The ground force called for the occupants of the house to come out multiple times, but were ignored. Ground forces then entered the house and cleared the first two rooms without encountering any enemy. As forces entered a third room, an armed man was holding a woman as a human shield and aiming his weapon at the soldiers. Disregarding his personal safety, a soldier was able to push the woman aside and engage and kill the terrorist.

Seeing another armed man in the room and perceiving hostile intent, the soldier engaged and killed the individual. Once the enemy was neutralized, the soldiers swept the house and found a woman and young girl who appeared to have been shot during the initial engagement. The woman was dead, and the girl had been shot in the legs. A military medic began treating the child prior to evacuating her to a military medical facility. Three other women were also found unharmed in the house.

Three al-Qaeda Leaders Killed In U.S. Strike

Source Article HERE.

From AKI (Pakistan): The US air raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Layth al-Libi in Pakistan is reported to have also killed three other leaders from the terrorist network. According to the Kuwaiti daily, al-Watan, two Kuwaitis and a Libyan also died in the missile attack conducted by a Predator aircraft on January 25 in Mir Ali, in North Waziristan on the border of Afghanistan. The daily said the attack was aimed at what was believed to have been an al-Qaeda summit meeting. Abu Obeida Tawari al-Obeidi and Abu Adel al-Kuwaiti were reportedly there with al-Libi.

Abu Adel al-Kuwaiti came from Saudi Arabia but always lived in Kuwait. Mubarak al-Badhali, a Kuwaiti supporter of Islamic fundamentalism, remembers him well. "In 2003 he asked me how he could reach Iraq, but I did not want to help him to get to Afghanistan so first he had to go to Iran where he stayed around a month," said Badhali. "Then he went to Syria where he stayed two weeks and from there he tried unsuccessfully to enter Iraq," he said. "After that he decided to go to Afghanistan. "He was welcomed on the border by the imam of a mosque that took him to Waziristan (in northern Pakistan)."

According to well-informed sources, quoted in the Arab newpaper, al Hayat, al-Libi was the leader of an al-Qaeda delegation that reportedly met the Pakistani Taliban leader, Beitallah Mehsoud, whom intelligence services blame for the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He was accompanied at the meeting by a senior Libyan al-Qaeda leader, Abdel Ghaffar al-Darnawi. He was said to be responsible for establishing a link with Iran and moved to Afghanistan only eight months before the air raid to fight on the front line against the Americans.

The Pakistan government has said very little about the US attack which was widely regarded as a strategic victory against al-Qaeda.

The 'Sons of Iraq' Keep the Peace

Source Article HERE.

From US News & World Report: Throughout Iraq, one of the good news stories has been the so-called 'Sunni Awakening', in which groups of primarily Sunni citizens have been joining up with U.S. military forces to fight against insurgents and al Qaeda in Iraq. They tip off U.S. troops to arms caches and guard their neighborhoods. But just what to call these groups has been another matter. For months, they have been refered to as volunteer security workers, neighborhood watch, or "Concerned Local Citizens" (that's CLCs if you're on a forward operating base). True, they are not official government security forces - they often wear the sorts of orange vests that you might see during an intramural sports club practice. The problem with those monikers, though, is that they tend to obscure the fact that these groups are also armed militia on the U.S. payroll. An estimated 80,000 of them are paid $10 a day (or $300 a month) by the U.S. military - a good wage in Iraq these days.

While journalists are trying to settle on just what to call these groups, the U.S. military has offered up a new contender: Yesterday in a briefing, Col. Wayne Grigsby, the commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, referred to the "Sons of Iraq" in a video briefing from Baghdad. It was a new term for many Pentagon reporters. "So can I infer that you will no longer be calling the local Iraqis who assist U.S. forces 'concerned local citizens'?" asked one journalist. "That's correct," Grigsby answered, explaining that in his area of operation, they are now called the Sons of Iraq. "This term, Sons of Iraq, I think, came from the government of Iraq. And it just shows - from my perspective - it just shows that these individuals who are providing security, that are standing up for their country, are exactly what the government of Iraq wants for their country."

Baltimore Police Discover Weapons Cache & Chemicals

Source Article HERE.

From National Terror Alert: Police officers serving an arrest warrant on a Hampden man Thursday stumbled across several weapons and suspicious chemicals that prompted authorities to close a city block and evacuate several houses. The incident began about 7:45 a.m. when Howard County police officers, accompanied by city police, attempted to serve an arrest warrant charging a man with felony theft. The officers entered a rowhouse in the 3400 block of Roland Ave. and discovered items in the house that concerned them, according to a county police spokeswoman.

The Baltimore Police Department's bomb squad and the Fire Department's hazardous materials task force were called to the scene, which was two blocks south of 36th Street, a shopping area known as "The Avenue." Through the morning and afternoon, police and fire officials could be seen carrying objects from the house while some firefighters donned chemical suits before they entered the dwelling.

Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city Fire Department spokesman, said police removed several firearms, including a machine gun, an inert hand grenade and material that may have been an inert explosive. Five rowhouses on either side of the house were evacuated as a safety precaution, he said. The warrant was issued for stolen household items, Cartwright said. Sherry Llewellyn, a Howard County police spokeswoman, said the man was detained by Howard County police and was taken to the county detention center. He was identified as Jonathan S. Hollands, 39, of the 3400 block of Roland Ave.

Pakistan: U.S. Agents 'Uncover Bin Laden Letters'

Source Article HERE.

From AKI (Pakistan): U.S. Secret Service agents operating in the remote border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan claim to have found five letters signed by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Saudi daily Al-Watan said on Thursday. Citing unnamed local security sources, the newspaper said that the letters are allegedly handwritten in Arabic and bear Bin Laden's apparent signature and seal. They appear to have been sent last December to some of Bin Laden's followers in the region. Western intelligence agents are currently analyzing the letters.

One of the letters is addressed to the Taliban leader in Afghanistan's volatile southern province of Helmand, Mansoor Dadallah. In the letter, Bin Laden reportedly offers condolences to Dadallah, the brother of Mullah Dadallah, late Taliban leader in Helmand, who was killed last year in a U.S. air strike. After his brother's death, Mansoor Dadullah claimed he had received a letter from Bin Laden in an interview with satellite Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera. The letter addressed to Dadullah also urges the Taliban to step up its attacks on NATO troops deployed in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Al-Watan reported.

Bangalore Terror Suspect Wanted To Target U.S.

Source Article HERE.

From The Times of India: Suspected terrorist Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse wanted to visit the United States and spread terror there, he has told interrogators. Since it was difficult to gain entry into the US, Ghouse had twice pleaded with terrorist leaders to at least send him to Iraq to work as a fidayeen - an extremist who equips himself with arms and ammunition and strikes a target, causing mass destruction. However, the terrorist leaders persuaded him to drop the idea as they thought "there is so much to do in India". Ghouse, who was well informed about post-9/11 incidents, grudged the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Investigations have revealed that Ghouse visited Mecca three times for umrah (a pilgrimage undertaken during the non-Haj season), on a family passport that had a validity of 10 years up to December 2006. He first visited Mecca as a child in 1996. In 2005, during his second trip, he met Abdul Samad, brother of South India's most wanted terrorist, Shahid Bilal, and reportedly expressed his willingness to go to Iraq as a fidayeen to fight American forces.

However, his plan did not materialize. In 2006, Samad got Ghouse a fake passport and sent him to Pakistan. While undergoing training there, Ghouse again expressed his keenness to go to Iraq. But Bilal stopped him. After Ghouse completed his training in Pakistan (from May 2006 to January 2007) he was sent to India through the Nepal border with a mission: indulge in subversion and disturb peace. Besides the use of arms and explosives, Ghouse was trained in operating computers, reading and drawing maps, sketching and horse riding. "He has a graphic memory and is very quick in drawing maps," a police officer says. Ghouse had planned to blast the Andhra Pradesh police headquarters in Hyderabad. The arrest of his father and brother, and the case booked against him by the Hyderabad police, made a teenage Ghouse drop out of college and take the path of jihad.

Eastern range IGP H N Satyanaraya Rao says the local police have had a tough time extracting information from him. "He is a good catch, but a tough nut to crack. To question a terrorist, we need specialized agencies. The limited expertise of the local police has become a limitation. To extract one bit of information from him, we have to ask him 100 questions." A senior IPS officer narrates an argument he had with Ghouse on jihad. When the officer pointed out that Islam shuns violence, Ghouse is supposed to have said: "Jihad is a holy struggle in the name of Allah." The officer says: "After half an hour, I gave up because I realized it would be impossible to convince him."

11 Militants Dead In Iraq Raids

Source Article HERE.

From Press Association: US and Iraqi forces killed 11 suspected militants and captured 64 others in two days of raids across central and northern Iraq, officials said. Iraqi troops killed eight suspects and arrested 28 overnight in Salman Pak, about 15 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. They also seized weapons, explosives and some vehicles in the raid, including a Humvee that was apparently stolen from the Iraqi army. Meanwhile, US forces killed three suspects and detained 36 others in operations targeting al Qaida in Iraq (AQI), the military said. One of those killed was an AQI leader involved in car bombings in western Baghdad. He was killed on Saturday by US troops who were working in support of Iraqi soldiers. The military did not identify him.

Near Hawijah, 150 miles north of Baghdad, US troops launched a raid targeting an alleged AQI member responsible for financing terrorist attacks in Kirkuk, the statement said. As American soldiers approached a building where the man was believed to be hiding, they came under enemy fire and responded, killing two suspects and wounding another. The wounded man was treated on site and then arrested. US troops then destroyed the building. The statement did not say whether the al Qaida suspect was one of those killed. US soldiers also detained 24 suspects in a raid against AQI media and propaganda operations. Another four men were captured separately nearby. Another seven suspected militants were detained during operations in Mosul.

Iraq's Civilian Toll Falls Again In January

Source Article HERE.

From Reuters: Violent civilian deaths in Iraq fell again in January, and were significantly lower than a year ago after nationwide security crackdowns. According to figures compiled by the Interior, Defense and Health ministries, 466 civilians died violently during January, down 15 from the previous month. The January 2008 figure was more than 76 percent lower than the 1,971 civilians killed in January 2007 when Iraq was on the brink of sectarian civil war. The data showed that 55 policemen and 22 Iraqi soldiers had been killed, while 229 insurgents had been killed and 1,220 detained.

The sharp decline in violence has been attributed to a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. soldiers, who became fully deployed last June, the growth of mainly Sunni Arab neighbourhood police units and the adoption of new counter-insurgency tactics. The neighborhood police, who number about 80,000 men paid a monthly wage of about $300, grew out of Sunni Arab tribes who turned against al Qaeda in western Anbar province last year because of the Sunni Islamist group's indiscriminate violence. Another factor behind declining violence was a six-month ceasefire announced in August by the Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr. Attacks across Iraq have fallen 60 percent since June.

Northern Iraq remains a security concern because al Qaeda militants, ousted from their former strongholds in Anbar and from around Baghdad last year, have regrouped there. Iraqi and U.S. forces are massing for an offensive which Iraq says will "cleanse" the northern city of Mosul of al Qaeda fighters, still the biggest threat to peace in Iraq according to General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Petraeus has also said the improvement in security could be reversed.