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Agenda 21: Arizona close to passing anti-UN-sustainability bill

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:42:40 +0000

Arizona lawmakers appear close to sending to Gov. Jan Brewer a tea party-backed bill that proponents say would stop a United Nations takeover conspiracy but that critics claim could end state and cities’ pollution-fighting efforts and even dismantle the state unemployment office.

A final legislative vote is expected Monday on a bill that would outlaw government support of any of the 27 principles contained in the 1992 United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, also sometimes referred to as Agenda 21.

Senate Bill 1507 was passed by the state Senate last month and received an initial House affirmation Wednesday. It is sponsored by state Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City West, who also sponsored a state birther bill that Brewer vetoed last year.

“The bill is designed to protect the rights of Arizona citizens and prevent encroachment on those rights by international institutions,” Burges told msnbc.com in an email. ”We have three branches of government and when one branch preempts the process through executive orders, the balance of power is lost in the process. It is that simple — no more, no less.”

At a March 15 hearing on the bill, Burges said an executive order signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993 started the implementation of Agenda 21 after the Senate refused to pass a treaty ratifying it.

“Any way you want to describe it, Agenda 21 is a direct attack on the middle class and working poor” through “social engineering of our citizens” in “every aspect” of their lives,” she told the hearing.

But House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, has a different view.

“It’s the most poorly crafted bill in this state,” Campbell told msnbc.com. “It’s so broad and overreaching, we’re not sure what it could impact.”

Among the U.N. declaration’s non-binding principles are calls for sustainable development, environmental protection, eradicating poverty, eliminating unsustainable production and consumption patterns, economic growth and the participation of women in government decisions.

“We wouldn’t be able to use CFL light bulbs in state buildings because that would be considered energy efficiency,” Campbell said.

Campbell also said that the state’s Economic Security Department, which handles unemployment and welfare benefits, could be outlawed because it has to do with eradicating poverty.

Also, Arizona universities have sustainability programs that could be banned if the bill becomes law, Campbell warned.

Arizona State University has a School of Sustainability, Northern Arizona University offers a master’s in sustainable communities, and the University of Arizona has an environment and sustainability portal.

Brewer, who last spring vetoed Burges’ bill to require presidential candidates to prove their U.S. citizenship, typically does not comment on legislation until it reaches her desk, her spokesperson told msnbc.com Thursday.

About the Rio declaration, SB1507 says “the United Nations has enlisted the support of numerous independent, shadow organizations to surreptitiously implement this agenda around the world.”

Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, told supporters in an email that the U.N. declaration “will take away our rights as Americans by allowing the United Nations to mandate laws on our soil,” the AzCapitolTimes.com reported. “It’s very real and it is happening.”

The Times also reported that during House debate Wednesday, Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said the declaration is connected to the “occult” of sustainability.

“The tea party and conspiracy theorists run the state now, Campbell told msnbc.com.

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Sudan vows to teach South Sudan ‘a final lesson’

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:40:00 +0000

The African rivals slide closer to war over their contested border. U.N. chief urges them to avoid a ruinous conflict.

By Alsanosi Ahmed, David Lukan and Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles TimesApril 20, 2012

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan and its southern rival slid toward a ruinous war Thursday, with fighting continuing along their contested border and Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir threatening to teach the world’s newest country “a final lesson by force.”

A protracted war between Sudan and South Sudan, which separated peacefully in July, would almost certainly have a devastating civilian toll and seriously damage the oil sector on which both economies depend.

But diplomacy has gotten nowhere, and civilians on both sides were urging their governments not to back down. The two sides fought a civil war for more than two decades, which killed an estimated 2 million people. Analysts said that unless they can be pressed to return to the negotiating table now, the chances for them to coexist peacefully may be lost for years or even decades.

South Sudan seized Heglig, Sudan’s most important oil-producing area, last week, after which Sudan’s parliament declared that the new country was an enemy that must be defeated. Bashir has called South Sudan’s military “insects” and vowed to “liberate” its territory.

“These people don’t understand, and we will give them a final lesson by force,” news reports quoted him as telling a rally Thursday. “We will not give them an inch of our country, and whoever extends his hand over Sudan, we will cut it.”

South Sudanese military spokesman Philip Aguer said the South had repelled four attacks in the previous 24 hours. But a spokesman for South Sudan’s government, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said his country was not at war with Sudan. “The republic of South Sudan considers Sudan as a neighbor and friendly nation, not an enemy,” he said.

He insisted that Heglig was southern territory, but said his country was committed to peacefully resolving all disputes.

The peace deal signed by the two sides in 2005 ended 22 years of civil war. But South Sudan seceded before the most intractable differences between the two were settled.

The exact border is still in dispute. In the split, South Sudan got about 80% of the country’s oil, which accounts for 98% of its revenue. The most serious disagreement, over oil revenue and landlocked South Sudan’s oil transit payments, escalated when Sudan seized several cargoes of South Sudanese oil in January, prompting South Sudan to abruptly shut down oil production.

Efforts to mediate a solution through the African Union have failed.

The United Nations Security Council has demanded that South Sudan withdraw from Heglig.U.N. Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon called on both sides Thursday to avoid a war “that could claim countless lives, destroy hope and ruin the prospects of peace and stability and prosperity of all Sudanese people.”

He called on South Sudan to withdraw from Heglig, calling its occupation illegal. He said Sudan should withdraw from another disputed area, Abyei, and stop a bombing campaign against South Sudan.

The United States, which is generally supportive of South Sudan, has condemned its seizure of Heglig, as well as Sudan’s bomb attacks in South Sudan. China, the major investor in Sudan’s oil fields, has urged a halt to the fighting and called for both sides to show calm and restraint.

In a development that would further complicate efforts to halt the slide toward war, rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region, who have fought government-sponsored militias for years, were reported to have joined the fight against the Sudanese army. News reports quoted a spokesman as saying they had overrun two army positions near Heglig.

Bashir, the Sudanese president, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges related to the actions of the militias in Darfur.

Peter Lasu Ladu, chairman of the Juba Civic Engagement Center in South Sudan, said war seemed likely. He said it would hurt his country economically and create a flood of refugees, and called for international pressure to prevent it.

Many in the northern capital, Khartoum, and the south’s capital, Juba, said war seemed all but certain and urged their governments not to back down.

“We do not want war,” said Beyanka Peter, 24, a volunteer collecting food and soap to send to soldiers at the front. “We want stability and peace. We spent more than 20 years of war and instability and destruction. We thought this was a time for us to rest, but if they force it on us we can’t stand with our arms folded.”

Another volunteer, William Gatkouth, 26, said South Sudan was defending its sovereignty: “We are not going to back off and we are also sending a message to our soldiers that it will be against our future if they pull out of Heglig.”

In the north, Sudan’s state news agency claimed that 2,300 people had volunteered to fight against South Sudan. Mahmud Ali, 30, an unemployed father of five, said he wanted to join the army.

“Heglig is part of the north and should be recaptured at all costs,” he said. “I don’t know why the South Sudanese are doing this to us. They wanted to secede and we said OK. But this time we will not forgive.”

Ishraqa Ahmed, a tea seller on the streets of Khartoum with six children, said she hoped any war would end quickly. “I am not sure if Heglig is part of the north or south, but I hope they end this war as soon as possible, because many died in previous wars, and war has always been bad.”

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Special correspondent Ahmed reported from Khartoum, special correspondent Lukan from Juba and Times staff writer Dixon from Johannesburg.

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Truce eroding as first UN monitors head to Syria

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:45:46 +0000

CBS News BEIRUT — Syria’s 4-day-old cease-fire appeared to be quickly eroding Sunday, with regime forces firing dozens of tank shells and mortar rounds at neighborhoods in the opposition stronghold of Homs, hours before the arrival of a first team of U.N. truce monitors.

Even though the overall level of violence has dropped, escalating regime attacks over the weekend raised new doubts about President Bashar Assad’s commitment to a plan by special envoy Kofi Annan to end 13 months of violence and launch talks on Syria’s political future.

Assad accepted the truce deal at the prodding of his main ally, Russia, but his compliance has been limited. He has halted shelling of rebel-held neighborhoods, with the exception of Homs, but ignored calls to pull troops out of urban centers, apparently for fear of losing control over a country his family has ruled for four decades. Rebel fighters have also kept up attacks, including shooting ambushes.

The international community hopes U.N. observers will be able to stabilize the cease-fire, which formally took effect Thursday. A six-member advance team of U.N. observers headed to Damascus on Sunday, a day after an unanimous U.N. Security Council approved such a mission. A larger team of 250 observers requires more negotiations between the U.N. and the Syrian government next week.

With Assad seen as a reluctant participant in Annan’s plan, the observers’ success will depend on how much access they can negotiate in Syria and how quickly the team can grow to a full contingent, analysts said.

The Security Council demanded freedom of movement for the U.N. team, but the regime could try to create obstacles; the failure of an Arab League observer mission earlier this year was blamed in part on regime restrictions imposed on the visitors.

“This will be a serious cat-and-mouse game between the government and the U.N. for weeks to come,” George Lopez, a professor of peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana said of the new observer mission. Buying time is in Assad’s interest, he said.

However, a reassuring presence of monitors could also enable Syria’s opposition to return to staging mass marches, common in the early days of the anti-Assad uprising that erupted in March 2011. In response to a violent regime crackdown on such protests, the turnout for weekly anti-regime marches has decreased. The opposition resorted more and more to armed attacks in recent months. By returning to peaceful protests, it would be able to regain some of the moral high ground it lost as the conflict became increasingly violent.

Since the cease-fire began, each side has accused the other of violations.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA has reported rebel attacks targeting checkpoints and army officers, while opposition activists said regime troops and their allied Shabiha militiamen continued arrest raids and mistreatment of those in detention.

The city of Homs, Syria’s third-largest, was the main flashpoint of violence again Sunday. The city had been battered by daily regime shelling for three weeks before the cease-fire, and shelling resumed late Friday, less than 48 hours after the truce took effect, residents said.

“What cease-fire? There’s an explosion every five to six minutes,” a Homs-based activist, identified only as Yazan, said via Skype.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two men and a woman were killed by shelling in Homs on Sunday, and that three more bodies were found in the city. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the group, said Sunday’s shelling was more intense than the attacks of the previous day.

Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, put the death toll in Homs at 11. It said the day started with a barrage of shells that fell at the rate of six each minute, shaking the neighborhood of Khaldiyeh for the second consecutive day.

In amateur videos posted by activists Sunday, explosions and gunfire could be heard as parts of Khaldiyeh were engulfed in gray smoke. Shells could be heard whistling overhead before crashing near residential buildings. A tree burst into flames after a shell exploded.

“Intense shelling on the neighborhood since early hours of the morning,” said a man narrating the video. “Where are the Muslims and Arabs?” he said, referring to the decision of the international community, including the Arab world, not to intervene directly in Syria as it did last year in Libya. “See the columns of fire rising from the district,” he wailed. “Mortar shells are falling on us while you watch.”

“If you saw Homs right now, you wouldn’t recognize it,” added Yazan, the activist, who only gave his first name for fear of regime retribution. “You walk around, and it’s not unusual to find dead people in cars on the street,” he said, describing rubble-strewn streets and badly damaged buildings.

Overall, the Observatory reported the deaths of 10 civilians Sunday, including the three killed in Homs, a shooting death near Damascus and the discovery of six bodies. The LCC put the death toll on the opposition side at 23. Since the start of the cease-fire, the daily death toll has been significantly lower than in the preceding weeks, when dozens were reported killed every day.

The regime has portrayed the uprising as a foreign-led conspiracy of criminals and Islamic militants, denying it has widespread popular support.

On Sunday, Syria’s official news agency reported several bombings and shootings by “armed terrorists” that it said killed a member of the security forces in the province of Idlib, two civilians in the central Hama region and a security guard in the southern Daraa district.

The U.N. observers are to arrive in Damascus late Sunday and will be “on the ground in blue helmets tomorrow,” said Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi. He said the team will quickly grow to between 25-30, drawn from the region and elsewhere. However, the terms of deployment of the larger contingent of 250 still have to be negotiated, he said.

Annan’s peace plan says a truce and the deployment of observers must be followed by talks between the regime and the opposition about Syria’s political future. It’s the first peace initiative to have broad backing, including from Russia and China which shielded the regime from Security Council condemnation in the past.

Syrian officials said Foreign Minister Walid Moallem would arrive in China on Tuesday for a two-day visit. Last week, Moallem met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.

Many remain skeptical about Assad’s intentions and said he’d like try to sabotage the peace plan whenever possible. Opposition leaders argue that if Assad were to comply fully, including by withdrawing troops and allowing peaceful political protests, he could quickly lose control and speed up his political demise.

“It appears that Assad will be able to finesse the situation by agreeing to cease-fires, using the period before the cease-fire takes effect to pummel the opposition strongholds, and then stonewall on negotiations once they begin,” said William Keylor of Boston University.

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Marie Colvin killed in Homs: tributes to Sunday Times journalist

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:29:14 +0000

Tributes have been paid to Marie Colvin, a Sunday Times journalist, who was killed alongside a French photographer in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

The Telegraph

Colvin, an American reporter for the British newspaper, and photographer Remi Ochlik both died in the attack.

Shells hit the house in which the two veteran war correspondents were staying, then they were killed by a rocket as they tried to make their escape.

John Witherow, Editor of The Sunday Times:

” Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of The Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered. She believed profoundly that reporting could curtail the excesses of brutal regimes and make the international community take notice. Above all, as we saw in her powerful report last weekend, her thoughts were with the victims of violence.”

Throughout her long career she took risks to fulfil this goal, including being badly injured in Sri Lanka. Nothing seemed to deter her. But she was much more than a war reporter. She was a woman with a tremendous joie de vivre, full of humour and mischief and surrounded by a large circle of friends, all of whom feared the consequences of her bravery.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation founder, Chairman and CEO:

“It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of Marie Colvin, one of the most outstanding foreign correspondents of her generation, who was killed in Homs in Syria today while reporting for The Sunday Times.

She was a victim of a shell attack by the Syrian army on a building that had been turned into an impromptu press centre by the rebels. Our photographer, Paul Conroy, was with her and is believed to have been injured. We are doing all we can in the face of shelling and sniper fire to get him to safety and to recover Marie’s body.

Marie had fearlessly covered wars across the Middle East and south Asia for 25 years for The Sunday Times. She put her life in danger on many occasions because she was driven by a determination that the misdeeds of tyrants and the suffering of the victims did not go unreported. This was at great personal cost, including the loss of the sight in one eye while covering the civil war in Sri Lanka. This injury did not stop her from returning to even more dangerous assignments.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister:

“This is a desperately sad reminder of the risks that journalists take to inform the world of what is happening and the dreadful events in Syria and our thoughts should be with her family and with her friends.”

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary:

“Marie Colvin embodied the highest values of journalism throughout her long and distinguished career as a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times. For years she shined a light on stories that others could not and placed herself in the most dangerous environments to do so, including suffering injuries while reporting in Sri Lanka. She was utterly dedicated to her work, admired by all of us who encountered her, and respected and revered by her peers. Her tragic death is a terrible reminder of the risks that journalists take to report the truth.

<noframe>Twitter: William Hague – Saddened by terrible news about Marie Colvin. She died helping people of Syria share their plight with the world. A great loss for us all”

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France:

“This shows that enough is enough, this regime must go. There is no reason why Syrians should not have the right to live their lives, to freely choose their destiny”

Jon Snow, Channel 4 News anchorman :

<noframe>Twitter: Jon Snow – Assad’s assassination of Marie Colvin:Utterly devastating: the bmost couragious journalist I ever knew and a wonderful reporter and writer</noframe>

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch:

“She was one of the most fearless and dedicated reporters I have ever met in my 14 years covering war, and someone I looked up to as a hero and an inspiration.

For Marie, covering war wasn’t about doing a few quick interviews and writing up a quick story: she experienced war alongside those who suffered in war, and her writings had a particular vividness because of what she had dared to see and experience. But despite everything she had seen and experienced, first and foremost she remained a wonderful human being, and it always put a smile on my face to run into her in one of the world’s rough spots.”

Bill Neely, ITV News international editor:

“She took the deep breath over and over and plunged herself in, as deep as she could, to scoop out the nuggets we all need to know. And we were all, as a people, better for her. At a time when journalists are being examined as never before, it’s time to acknowledge someone who made a difference, a moral difference, to our country and our lives.”

Ed Miliband, Labour Party leader:

“The journalistic community have lost one of their finest and their most fearless. Marie Colvin was not only a brave and tireless reporter across many continents and in many difficult situations she was also an inspiration to women in her profession.”

_{Ed Miliband}

Helen Fielding, the author and a close friend of Ms Colvin’s:

“She said in a statement: “Marie Colvin was the bravest and best of women, the most fearless and committed of journalists, and the dearest, most loyal and wildest fun of friends. I am so sad and so proud of her. Marie’s life’s work was to expose the excesses and brutalities of war with accuracy, without prejudice and in the hope of curtailing those excesses. It’s to be hoped that there will be action to end the Syrian brutality which has cost Marie’s life and that of countless others.”

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK:

“Marie Colvin was a truly brilliant journalist who fearlessly reported on terrible abuses of human rights around the world. We are shocked and saddened at her death, which is a terrible loss to journalism in this country.”

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Massive Earthquake Hits Japan, Followed by Devastating Tsunami

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:40:01 +0000

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan early today. The quake — one of the largest in recorded history — triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan’s coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats. Editors note: we’ll post more as the story develops..

See photos at Boston.com

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Shabaab Calls on Al Qaeda to ‘Expand the East Africa Jihad’

admin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:12:16 +0000

By Bill Roggio

December 26, 2010

Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, has called for the global terror group to send more fighters to “expand the East Africa jihad.”

Shabaab’s top spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, who is also known as Ali Dheere, issued a call for al Qaeda fighters to come to Somalia. Rage made the statement during a joint press conference held in Mogadishu on Friday with Sheikh Abdifatah Mohamed Ali, Hizbul Islam’s spokesman.

“We call on our brothers [Al Qaeda] to come to Somalia and to help us expand the East Africa jihad,” Rage told reporters, according to Garowe Online.

Rage and Ali held the press conference to formally announce Hizbul Islam’s merger with Shabaab. On Dec. 19, Hizbul Islam’s top leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, announced he had joined forces with Shabaab after his forces lost control over much of their traditional strongholds south of Mogadishu during a Shabaab onslaught and the subsequent defection of local Hizbul Islam leaders.

On Dec. 23, Rage also held a press conference to “inform our brothers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Uganda” of the Shabaab/Hizbul Islam merger, and he threatened the eastern African nations of Uganda and Burundi, which make up the African Union forces fighting in Mogadishu.

“We, al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have united and we warn Uganda and Burundi forces and their people that we shall redouble our attacks,” Rage said, according to Reuters. “We also inform our brothers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Uganda, that we have united in one name — al Shabaab.”

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Female Suicide Bomber Kills 42 People in Pakistan’s Northwest

admin — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 16:22:30 +0000

By Bill Roggio

December 25, 2010

A female Taliban suicide bomber killed 42 Pakistani civilians in an attack today at a World Food Program ration distribution point in Pakistan’s tribal agency of Bajaur.

The female suicide bomber detonated her vest in the midst of a crowd of more than 300 people waiting at an outside checkpoint for handouts from the World Food Program in Khar, the main town in Bajaur. Those waiting for food were among the internally displaced people who had fled the fighting between the military and the Taliban over the past three years.

Pakistani officials said that 42 people were killed and 72 more were wounded, some critically.

Today’s attack takes place just one day after the Taliban launched a series of assaults on Pakistani Frontier Corps checkpoints in Mohmand, which borders Bajaur to the south. In those clashes, 11 Frontier Corps troops and 24 Taliban fighters were reported killed.

This summer, the Bajaur Taliban vowed to continue to attack security forces and pro-government tribes. On July 8, the Taliban issued pamphlets in Bajaur announcing their return and threatening to kill tribesmen who support the government.

In the pamphlets, the Taliban “threatened the people, particularly the government employees and security forces, not to support the agenda of the US and its allies,” The News reported. “The militants said that they would continue their ‘jihad’ against the US and its supporters. They also urged the Taliban fighters not to surrender to the government and warned them and security forces of stern action.”

Over the past two years, the Pakistani military has twice declared victory in Bajaur.

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Suicide bomber kills 50 in attack on tribal leaders in northwestern Pakistan

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:36:51 +0000

By Bill Roggio

December 6, 2010

Taliban suicide bombers killed 50 people and wounded more than 100 in an attack today on a government official’s office in northwestern Pakistan.

A pair of suicide bombers dressed as tribal policemen detonated at the compound of the senior government representative in Ghalalnai, the administrative seat of the tribal agency of Mohmand in Pakistan’s northwest. The first bomber detonated his vest at the gate of the compound, and the second detonated his vest inside the building shortly afterward.

The Taliban bombers targeted a meeting of local administration officials and tribal leaders who have organized in an attempt to raise militias and oppose Taliban rule. Policemen, government officials, tribal leaders, and two journalists were among those killed.

Omar Khalid, the leader of the Taliban in Mohmand, took credit for the attack and warned anyone working with the government would meet the same fate.

“We will continue to attack all pro-government officials and their supporters who try to join any peace committees or Lashkars,” Khalid said, according to CNN.

“There was a meeting underway between the local administration chief and tribal elders, members of the peace committee (anti-Taliban militia) when the blast took place,” a local official in Mohmand said.

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Taliban Kill 18 in Suicide Assault on Police Headquarters in Karachi

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:59:49 +0000

By Bill Roggio November 11, 2010

The Taliban took credit for a deadly suicide assault on a police headquarters in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi today. Eighteen people were killed in the attack and more than 100 were wounded.

A Taliban assault team attacked the Crime Investigation Department headquarters in a secured area of Karachi. Taliban fighters armed with assault rifles attacked the building and battled with police before a massive truck bomb was detonated inside the CID compound. The truck bomb, which is estimated to have carried more than 2,000 pounds of explosives, destroyed the building.

Police have confirmed that 18 people have been killed and 115 have been wounded. The death toll may rise as others may be trapped in the rubble of the building.

In a telephone call to news organizations, Azam Tariq, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said: “We will continue such attacks as long as military operations continue against us.”

While the specific reasons for today’s attack in Karachi attack are not known, the Taliban may have been trying to free a senior commander, a local Taliban leader, and several allied Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters who are thought to have been in custody at the CID building. On Nov. 3, police arrested a Taliban commander named Yousuf, who is also known as Qari. Yousuf was described as “a senior member of the TTP [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] and was in contact with the top leadership of the banned outfit.” He is said to have planned a suicide attack on a police training center in Mingora earlier this year, and is thought to have been plotting to carry out attacks in Karachi.

Also, yesterday, police arrested six Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters from the Asif Ramzi group and a Taliban commander known as Iqbal. The Taliban leader is said to be a “a close aide” to Faqir Mohammad, the Taliban’s leader in the tribal agency of Bajaur. All seven terrorists were being interrogated by the CID in Karachi.

Pakistani military and police forces have been a major target of the Taliban over the past several years. The Taliban have conducted numerous attacks against heavily secured military, police, and intelligence compounds, as well as against other secured targets housing foreigners in Pakistan’s major cities. The most brazen was the assault on the Pakistani Army General Headquarters complex in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in October 2009.

The Taliban have been targeting the counterterrorism sections of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, the Pakistani Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Investigation Agency. The ISI counterterrorism branch is responsible for targeting the Taliban and is supported by the US. The Taliban destroyed an ISI counterterrorism section building in Peshawar on Nov. 13, 2009, as well as the Pakistani Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Lahore on Oct. 16, 2009. Also, on March 8, 2010, a suicide bomber rammed his car packed with explosives into a Federal Investigation Agency building in Lahore, killing 11 people. Four days later, on March 12, a pair of suicide bombers attacked Pakistani Army vehicles at a bazaar in a military cantonment in Lahore, killing more than 50 people.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/11/taliban_kill_18_in_s.php#ixzz17jWs9C6e

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Al Qaeda in Iraq Claims Massacre at Christian Church in Baghdad

admin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:29:46 +0000

By Bill Roggio

November 1, 2010

The Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda’s front organization, claimed credit for last night’s massacre at a Baghdad church that killed 52 Iraqis. Al Qaeda stated that the attack at the church was launched to avenge the treatment of Muslim women in Egypt.

Al Qaeda fighters armed with suicide vests, assault rifles, and hand grenades, and wearing uniforms of a local security company, attacked the nearby stock exchange, wounding two security guards. The attack on the exchange appeared to be a feint designed to lure security forces to the area while a squad estimated at between five to eight terrorists stormed the Our Lady of Deliverance church and took 120 Christians hostage, according to the Associated Press.

Two hours later, after cordoning off the church, Iraqi security forces stormed the church, sparking a gunbattle that resulted in 52 Iraqis killed and 67 wounded. Two priests,10 Iraqi policemen, and the entire suicide squad were killed during the battle, according to reports. At least 30 of the people were killed when one of the al Qaeda terrorists either detonated his vest or lobbed hand grenades at the Christian hostages being held in the basement.

Five terrorists, including one with “an Arab nationality,” or a non-Iraqi, were captured, the spokesman of the Baghdad Operational Command told Voice of Iraq.

Investigators later found “three Yemeni and two Egyptian passports thought to have belonged to the suicide bombers” at the church, an Iraqi official told The Washington Post.

Al Qaeda released a statement on the Internet claiming the attack.

“Upon guidance issued by the Ministry of War in the Islamic State of Iraq in support for our downtrodden Muslim sisters that are held captive in the Muslim land of Egypt and after accurate planning and selection, an angry group of righteous jihadists attacked a filthy den of polytheism,” according to the statement, which was obtained by The Long War Journal. “This den has been frequently used by the Christians of Iraq to fight Islam and support those who are fighting it. With the grace of God, the group was able to hold captive all those in the den and take over all its entrances.”

Based on the statement, it appears that al Qaeda in Iraq had hoped to hold the Christians in Baghdad hostage for at least two days, as a deadline for “the release” of Egyptian women supposedly being held in Coptic churches in Egypt was issued.

“The mujahidin in the Islamic State of Iraq give Egypt’s Christian and belligerent Church as well as its chief of infidelity a 48-hour ultimatum to disclose the status of our sisters in religion, who are held captive in Egypt’s monasteries of infidelity and churches of polytheism,” al Qaeda demanded. “The mujahidin further demand the release of all of them together with an announcement of the release via a media outlet that the mujahidin can access within the deadline.”

Al Qaeda said that if the demands were not met, “the lions of monotheism [al Qaeda's fighters], who wore their explosive belts, will not hesitate to kill the militant Iraqi Christian captives.”

Al Qaeda in Iraq also threatened to carry out attacks against Christian churches across the globe.

“Afterwards, various attacks will be launched against them inside and outside this country, in which their lands will be destroyed, their strength will be undermined, and they will be afflicted by the humiliation that God ordained for them,” al Qaeda said.

The attack in Baghdad took place just three days after an al Qaeda in Iraq suicide bomber killed 21 people and wounded 65 more in an attack on a cafe in the town of Balad Ruz in Diyala province. Shia Kurds were the target of the attack, which was the first major attack in Iraq more than a month.

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