|
Al Qaeda is 17,000 strong: UK
report
London - August 1, 2003 - The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
has warned that 17,000 Al Qaeda members in 50 to 60 countries pose a
substantial threat to British citizens around the world. They said that
war against Saddam Hussain had hindred the fight against Al Qaeda. The MPs
called for a sustained effort to restore order in Afghanistan and Iraq
because of fears that they would again become havens for terrorists. The
report, Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, states the
war in Iraq might have "enhanced the appeal of Al Qaeda to Muslims."
Hindustan Times - August 1, 2003
'Funds for 9/11 came from Pak'
Investigators have "traced the funding for the September 11 attacks to al
Qaeda accounts in Pakistan, where high-ranking and well-known Al Qaeda
operatives played a major role in moving the money forward, eventually
into the hands of the hijackers located in the US," a top FBI
counter-terrorism official, John S. Pistole, deputy assistant director of
the FBI's counter-terrorism division, told a Senate panel. The FBI has
estimated the attacks cost between US$ 175,000 and US$ 250,000. That money
flowed to the hijackers through associates in Germany and the UAE.
Hindustan Times - August 1, 2003
New Al Qaeda threat to US
London - August 3, 2003 - An audio tape purportedly of top Al Qaeda
official Ayman al-Zawahri warned the United States on Sunday it would pay
a high price if it harmed any of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The voice on the tape also told the US that the "real battle" against it
has not started yet. "America has announced it will start putting on trial
in front of military tribunals the Muslim detainees at Guantanamo and
might sentence them to death," said the voice. "Let those who conspire
with America know that America is incapable of protecting itself….and let
every captive held by the infidels be assured that the day of liberation
is soon…." It added. The US is holding more than 600 people form 42
nations as prisoners at the special camp at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.
Hindustan Times - August 4, 2003
Chechen bomber blows up hospital,
42 killed
Mozdok - August 3, 2003 - A suicide attacker rammed a truck packed with
explosives through the gates of the four-story hospital on Friday night in
the city of Mozdok. The death toll climbed to 42 on Saturday, with 36
bodies identified. The injured included 19 military personnel, 12 local
residents and 8 hospital employees, said Boris Dzgoyev, the region's
emergency situation minister.
Times of India - August 3, 2003
Terror strikes Jakarta, 14 die
Jakarta - August 5, 2003 - A huge car bomb ripped through one of the top
hotels (JW Marriott Hotel) in Indonesia's capital on Tuesday killing 14
people and wounding about 150. It was timed as thousands of workers poured
out of offices for lunch and mosque called the faithful to prayer. The
hotel is close to the diplomatic area of Menteng where many Western
embassies and consulates are based. The national police chief, General
Da'I Bachtiar, said the blast was similar to the Bali bombings. Police
have said a Dutch banking executive was among the dead, while two
Americans, two Singaporeans, an Australian and a New Zealander were among
those wounded. The official Antara news agency said 111 people were
injured, many seriously.
Hindustan Times - August 6, 2003
Car bomb kills 12 in Baghdad -
Blast outside Jordanian Embassy
Baghdad - August 7, 2003 - A truck bomb exploded
outside the Jordanian Embassy compound in Baghdad on Thursday, killing 12,
including two children and a woman, and wounded 65 people. The blast came
a week after Jordan announced it had granted asylum to Saddam Hussein's
elder daughters Raghd and Rana and their children. No group has claimed
responsibility for the explosion. Shortly after the blast at the Jordanian
Embassy, young Iraqi men stormed the gate and began destroying pictures of
Jordanian King Abdullah II and his late father, King Hussein.
Hindustan Times - August 8, 2003
Russian convoy shot at, 6 killed
Rostov-on-don - August 8, 2003 - Unidentified gunmen ambushed a Russian
military convoy travelling near the border with Chechnya, killing six
soldiers and wounding seven, the Russian military said today. Last
October, about 200 Chechen rebels fought with Russian troops in
Ingushetia. Russia's Interfax news agency said the convoy came under
attack as it was returning to its base in Ingushetia after escorting
another convoy to the Chechen border.
The Indian Express - August 9, 2003
Aircraft missile threat is
growing: US teams checking vulnerability of world airports.
Washington - August 8, 2003 - The inspections at airports in the Iraqi
cities of Baghdad and Basra - as well as Athens, Istanbul, Manila and
several other foreign capitals where Americans air carriers have regularly
scheduled flights - are parts of the Bush administration's response to
recent intelligence reports suggesting that a terrorist attack using
small, heat-seeking missiles may be imminent, probably overseas. Teams of
aviation safety investigators have been dispatched by the Bush
Administration. The concern in Iraq is centered on anti-American forces
loyal to the former government of Saddam Hussein, while the concern
elsewhere in the world involves Al Qaeda, which has been blamed for an
attempted shooting down of an Israeli passenger jet last November. The
Department of Homeland Security has decided to open a special office to
deal with the missile threat and, in an unpublicized request to Congress
last month, sought $2 million for the new office's initial budget.
Intelligence agencies say that the Qaeda network has dozens of small
missiles, many of them Stingers made in the United States, left over from
the American-led effort to help Muslim guerrillas oust the Soviet Union
from Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The Asian Age - August 9, 2003
Militants targeting teachers
Mahore (Udhampur - J&K) - August 10, 2003 - An ambitious plan to educate
people of backward and remote hills of J&K has run into rough weather as
militants are launching attacks on the teaching community. Militants call
the shots and the teachers fear for their lives. Payment of Rs.1500/- for
the local educated youth roped in for the programme has few takers now . A
teacher was killed recently in Mahore and some time back militants entered
the premises of a school and shot dead another. The incidents have not
gone unnoticed in the neighboring areas, especially by the teaching
community.
The Hindu - August 11, 2003.
Tripura rebels blow up police
vehicle, 7 cops killed
Sidhai (Tripura) - August 11, 2003 - Seven policemen were killed when All-Tripura
Tiger Force (ATTF) militants blew up their bullet-proof vehicle at Noagaon
in West Tripura on Monday. The rebels looted the arms and ammunition the
cops were carrying. The militants are believed to have crossed into
Banglaldesh soon after. Some fuse and wires were found at the site.
Hindustan Times - August 12, 2003.
Deadly online terrorist hunter is
a woman
Washington - August 12, 2003 - One of the most effective terrorist hunters
- tracking the Al Qaeda as well as those crossing the border from Pakistan
into Kashmir - is in fact a woman, a mom, who locates them via internet.
Referred to by her spy masters only as "Mrs Gali", she is by day an
American housewife and mother. But after her children go to bed, she
plunges into a world of internet chat rooms populated by some of the most
dangerous terrorists. Burrowing into other Byzantine network of
unpublicized websites used by Al Qaeda and other terror groups for their
communications, she sweet-talks her interlocutors into revealing their
plans, often with fatal consequences for the terrorists. The Washington
Times, which conducted an e-mail interview with the online spy, reported
today. They have no idea that their supportive new "sister" is a terrorist
hunter reporting every word they say to intelligence agencies. She is so
trusted by her targets that they often send her pictures of themselves
displaying machine guns and other arms. She reports to London-based
intelligence consultant Glen Jenvey, who makes his research available to
government services, including FBI and intelligence agencies of Russia and
India. Mrs. Gali has received death threats since she went public, but is
undeterred. She is about to adopt a new guise and go back online after a
short break. "In about a week or so, I'll have another ID and start all
over again, hitting the web looking for jihad supporters," she said.
The Indian Express - August 13, 2003
18 killed in Tripura
Agartala - August 14, 2003 - The All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) shot dead
18 persons and wounded 26 in Tripura. The militants swooped on Baralunga
village in West Tripura district killing 12 persons on the spot and
injuring as many. In another attack, the extremists raided Totabari
village in the same district, firing indiscriminately and killing six
persons.
The Hindu - August 15, 2003
17 killed in Afghan bomb blast
Seventeen people were feared dead after a bomb being transported by
suspected Al Qaeda fighters exploded on a bus in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Local officials in the southern province of Helmand, where the explosion
took place, said the bomb might have been intended for use in an attack on
independence celebrations being held in the provincial capital,
Lashkargarh, next week.
Hindustan Times - August 14, 2003
Militants strike in N-E on I-Day
eve, 24 killed
Imphal - August 14, 2003 - 18 people were killed in Tripura and six in
Manipur in separate militant strikes on the eve of Indian Independence
Day, police said. Six persons were killed and 15 injured when a bus
crossing the Lilong bridge was blown by militants, who had called for a
boycott of Independence Day celebrations. The toll was likely to rise as
some of the injured were in a serious condition in hospital.
The Indian Express - August 15, 2003
Saudi fatwa against terrorism
Riyadh - August 17, 2003 - Saudi Arabia's leading clerics issued a fatwa -
a religious ruling - on Saturday condemning terrorism. It has been said,
"It is necessary under the Sharia to severely punish those carrying out
acts of sabotage and depravity, like bombings and murder and destruction
of property. These are dangerous crimes and an aggression against human
life and wealth." "And those who claim sabotage, bombings and murder are
jehad, they are ignorant and misguided because these acts have nothing to
do with jehad for the sake of God," said the council.
Hindustan Times - August 18, 2003
Attack / Assailants in Pak - 22
dead in Taliban raid on police station
Kabul - August 18, 2003 - Insurgents attacked police compound in
south-east Afghanistan, setting it ablaze and taking four policemen
hostage, officials said on Monday. Nadir Khan Zadfran, police chief in the
area, said the attackers were about 200, members of the former Taliban
regime, ousted in the US-led war in 2001. "The Taliban pose a threat
throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. We must work together," said Masood
Khan, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman. "There are remnants of the
Taliban on the Afghan side. They have large concentrations there and they
are very active there." "There may be some remnants on the Pakistan side.
So, it is a common fight and we should coordinate our strategies and work
together and not find refuge in accusations," Mr. Khan said.
The Hindu - August 19, 2003
India more likely terror target
than UK
London - August 19, 2003 - According to a study by risk assessment
analysts, India is more vulnerable to a terrorist attack than Britain. It
is ranked ninth among 186 countries as a likely target for terrorists.
Colombia tops the list and is followed by Israel, Pakistan and the US.
Britain is ranked tenth. Britain is assessed to be less vulnerable than
India despite being considered a prime target for Al Qaeda because of its
stronger counter-terror capability. Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, the Director of
the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St.
Andrews University, said the report should be treated only as a 'rough
guide."
Hindustan Times - August 20, 2003
Afghan policemen die in ambush
Kabul - August 19, 2003 - Suspected Taliban insurgents killed seven
policemen in an ambush of a police vehicle south of Afghanistan's capital,
a regional military commander said on Tuesday. About 12 gunmen opened fire
with rockets and machine-guns, destroying the vehicle.
The Hindu - August 20, 2003
20 killed in blast at U.N. office
Baghdad - August 19, 2003 - A suicide attacker today set off a truck bomb
outside a hotel housing the U.N. headquarters here. At least 20 Iraqis and
U.N. workers, including the chief U.N. official in Iraq, were killed and
100 wounded. The blast came 12 days after a car bomb attack on the
Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad had killed 11 persons.
The Hindu - August 20, 2003
Bin Laden, Mullah Omar alive:
Qaeda tape
Dubai - August18, 2003 - Al Arabiya television aired on Monday an audio
tape allegedly from an Al Qaeda spokesman saying Osama bin Laden and
Taliban chief Mullah Omar were alive and urging Muslims to fight a holy
war against US troops in Iraq. "I would like to bring the good things to
Muslims everywhere that Sheikh Osama bin Laden is well, very well and that
Mullah Omar is also alive," said the voice on the recording. Reuters could
not, however, verify the authenticity of the tape, which was aired on
Sunday and rebroadcast on Monday, or the identity of the speaker. Bin
Laden and his deputies made several video appearances in 2001. An audio
tape purportedly made by the Qaeda leader was broadcast in February 2003.
The Asian Age - August 19, 2003.
Anti-terror police to guard
Chinese flights from Oct.
Beijing - China will deploy from October 1, 2003, armed in-fight police,
most likely dressed as crew members, on commercial flights to deter
potential terror attacks, the China Daily said on Monday. "The move is
considered one of the most important measures to secure aviation safety,
especially at a time when terrorist attacks against airlines have been
increasing world-wide," the newspaper said.
The Asian Age - August 19, 2003.
Chechen blast kills nine
Moscow - Nine Russian soldiers were killed when a landmine exploded near a
column of Russian military trucks in rebel Chechnya, Russian news agencies
said on Friday. Two other soldiers were injured by the blast that hit the
convoy on Thursday near the regional capital of Grozny. "Two unidentified
men wearing military camouflage exploded a landmine" the officer said.
The Asian Age - August 23, 2003.
Blood at the Gateway - Twin blasts
kill 47 in Mumbai; Gujarat on Alert, India on edge; Sensex takes beating
Mumbai - August 25, 2003 - Two bomb blasts in Mumbai killed over 47 people
and injured another 150 on Monday afternoon, which were set off within
minutes of each other at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar. Both were
car bombs left in taxis by terrorists. The blast at Gateway was so
powerful that parts of the cab that was carrying the bomb were found half
a kilometer away, and several people were just blown into the sea. Twelve
persons were killed. The blast at Zaveri Bazaar was more lethal. It left
35 dead - most of them Gujarati traders who had just returned from the
Kumbh. As news of the blasts spread, Maharashtra and Gujarat were put on
red alert. Other states followed suit.
Hindustan Times - August 26, 2003
Maoist rebels kill four policemen
Kathmandu: Maoist rebels were suspected of ambushing policemen in separate
attacks, leaving four officers dead and three missing, reports said on
Wednesday. Suspected rebels ambushed and killed two police officers on
Tuesday near Madhubangoth, a village 160 KMs south of Kathmandu, the Space
Times newspaper said. Three officers in the group were missing and
believed abducted. Another policeman was shot on Tuesday while checking
vehicles at a security post.
The Asian Age- August 28, 2003.
82 killed in Najaf car bomb blast
Najaf - August 29, 2003 - Leading Shia politician Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer
al-Hakim, a pivotal force in post-war Iraq, was killed on Friday in a car
bomb blast that killed at least 82 people and wounded about 200 in the
holy city of Najaf. The bombing dealt a hard blow to US rebuilding efforts
in the country barely a week after a suicide bomber had attacked the UN
headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people. Hakim, head of the Iran-
backed Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolut9ion in Iraq, was killed
moments after he delivered a weekly sermon art the Tomb of Ali in Najaf.
Hindustan Times - August 30, 2003.
------------------
Food for Thoughts
Greatness is defined by someone who is not simply awesome and wonderful in
the sport they compete in but goes beyond that and is great in whatever
they do off the track or off the court. They can make a difference in the
world, whether it's by helping kids or helping people in need.
Marion Jones
***
TODAY'S INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:
The best thing to give an enemy is forgiveness;
To an opponent, tolerance;
To a friend, your ear;
To your child, a good example;
To a father, reverence;
To your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
To yourself, respect;
And to all, charity.
- Benjamin Franklin |
