15 dead in 2 attacks in Southern Thailand

The jihad continues but someone is fighting back. This is starting to sound a little like a tit for tat situation. It is very hard to tell if muslims are killing each other (again) or pissed off Buddhists are fighting back. In the end it doesn’t matter, I see no signs that anyone will get any relief.

5/21/2007 (AP)
PATTANI, Thailand- A roadside bomb killed 10 paramilitary troops Thursday in southern Thailand, while in a separate attack, gunmen fired into a mosque and killed five people, an official said, in some of the worst recent violence in the region.
The bomb went off as government-hired paramilitary rangers drove by, killing 10 of them, said Thai army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote. Two rangers were slightly wounded.
“The rangers were coming back from their mission to negotiate with Muslim protesters in another district,” he said.
The bombing took place in Bannang Sata district, part of an area that has been under a military curfew following a mosque bombing and a grenade attack on a tea shop that killed 10 people and wounded more than 20 others on March 14.
Almost immediately after Thursday’s bombing, an unknown number of assailants opened fire on a group of Muslim villagers leaving a mosque after evening prayers in nearby Sabayoi district of Songkhla province, killing five, Akara said.
“The insurgents opened fire on the Muslim villagers and put the blame on the authorities,” Akara said.
Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but Muslims are a majority in the deep south, where they have long complained of discrimination.
Buddhists living and working in southern Thailand have been the targets of Muslim insurgents. However, Muslims—mostly working for the government—have increasingly fallen victim to the violence in recent months.Thai military authorities have blamed such attacks on Muslims bent on intensifying hatred against the government and to radicalize other Muslims and push them into joining the insurgency.
Some Muslims believe the security forces or even Buddhist vigilantes might have a hand in the killings.
Since a Muslim rebellion flared in the three southernmost provinces in early 2004, near-daily bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks have killed more than 2,200 people.

Al-Qaeda Planning to Expand into Lebanon and Syria

British intelligence: Al-Qaida expanding
May 31 2007
Breitbart.com
LONDON, May 31 (UPI) — British intelligence officials said they believe that al-Qaida has a secure base in Pakistan’s Waziristan region and is planning terrorist operations.

The group is reaching out to Muslims in North Africa, The Telegraph reported. Last year, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian terrorist group, merged itself into al-Qaida, a move announced by Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a tape promising action against the “apostates” in the Algerian government and “the treacherous sons of France.”

Al-Qaida is also believed to be planning expansion into Lebanon and Syria, the newspaper report said.

For several years after al-Qaida was driven out of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, simply staying free consumed most of its leaders’ energy, The Telegraph said.

Intelligence officers told the newspaper that bin Laden and Zawahiri don’t directly control terrorist operations. Instead, the two men and other members of “core al-Qaida” decide where to expand and whom to attack, leaving the details to those closer to the action.

Christian Sentenced to Death for Deragatory Remarks about Muhammad

So much for religious tolerance from the religion of peace. This is what one has to look forward to when Sharia Law rules the day, and Muhammad usurps Allah on his throne in the eyes of his fanatical followers. After reading the following article, one is hard pressed to call Islam a monotheistic religion without vitiating one’s own credibility…

Man gets death for blasphemy after video trial

* Defence counsel says he will appeal against decision
Daily Times.PK
Staff Report
May 31, 2007
LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge on Wednesday sentenced a blasphemy accused, Younis Masih, to death after a video jail trial. The court also fined him Rs 100,000.

Factory Area police had registered a blasphemy case under Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Masih on September 10, 2005, after he had allegedly made derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at a Qawali function on September 9, 2005.

The accused challenged the whole legal process in his case and said that the investigation against him was illegal. He said that according to the law, a police officer below the rank of superintendent of police (SP) could not conduct investigation in a blasphemy case, but a sub-inspector (SI) had conducted the investigation in This case, which made the whole process illegal. He requested that the case against him be quashed.

During the proceedings, the accused was sitting in a special room at Kot Lakhpat Jail and the judge sat in a room at the Sessions Court where he recorded the evidence. The accused was seen in the court on a screen. This was the first video trial in a blasphemy case in the country.

Defence counsel Pervez Aslam Chaudhry said the trial had been arranged at the jail due to security issues, adding that all evidence in the case were also recorded through video.

The lawyer of the accused said that Christians had arranged a spiritual gathering at Chungi Ammarsidhu in September 9, 2005, at which a neighbour, Abdul Aziz, also a complainant in the case, had objected and demanded that they perform Islamic rituals instead of Christian rites. The argument turned hot during which, the complainant alleged that the accused had used the derogatory remarks.

The lawyer said that the case had not been investigated at the proper forum. He contended that the offence required investigation by an officer not below the rank of SP under section 156-A of the Criminal Procedure Code. Chaudhry said he would appeal against the decision.

The court also directed the police to provide security to the lawyer because he had been receiving threats during the trial.

Russia Uneasy About U.S. Missile Shield

Russian Diplomat: New Arms Race Starting
Thursday, May 31, 2007
NewsMax.com Wires

POTSDAM, Germany — Russia’s top diplomat accused the United States of launching a new arms race as the two nations traded barbs Wednesday over U.S. plans to erect a missile defense system in countries formerly under Moscow’s influence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained that the U.S. rationale for the shield is thin and suggested that U.S. assurances to Russia amount to a brush-off.

“All they are saying is, ‘Don’t worry it’s not aimed at you,” Lavrov said. He called the plan a threat to Russia and added, “the arms race is starting again.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States has repeatedly explained its plan to Russia in considerable detail, and stands ready to discuss the matter further. She tartly noted that Russia has said its own strategic defenses could easily overpower the U.S. system.

“We quite agree,” she said.

Lavrov made a dark joke in response.

“I hope that nobody has to actually prove that Condi is right about that,” Lavrov said.

Al Qaida Propaganda Inspires Others to, “Take that Ball and Run…”

FBI Sees ‘High Tempo of Terrorist Activity’
Thursday, May 31, 2007
NewsMax.com
The FBI increased its use of secret search warrants last year due to what a top official calls a “high tempo of terrorist activity.”

FBI Assistant Director John Miller said that 2,176 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act search warrants were approved last year, compared with 1,754 granted in 2005. Most of the warrants involved plotters inside America.

“We’re seeing a very high tempo of terrorist activity, not just based on the cases you’re seeing being brought in the United States,” Miller said in an interview Wednesday with C-SPAN. Miller believes the U.S. may have underestimated top al-Qaida leaders’ ability to oversee operations in recent years, the New York Daily News reports.

Al-Qaida is “getting more effective” at planning new strikes while using propaganda to inspire others to “take that ball and run with it,” Miller said.

“They’re better at this than they were before.”

Apparent Suicide at Guantanamo

Perhaps the humiliation he felt for failing to accomplish his task of killing all the infidels while dying in a glorious explosion was just too much for this Moon god worshiping Jihadist to live with. Those much touted 72 virgins will definitely not be awaiting his cowardly entrance into the afterlife. But, on the bright side, Guantanamo now has another vacancy. Any takers?

Saudi prisoner kills self at Guantanamo, U.S. says
Wed May 30, 2007
By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) – A Saudi Arabian prisoner died of an apparent suicide at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

“The detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards. The detainee was pronounced dead by a physician after all lifesaving measures had been exhausted,” the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said in a statement.

The military did not indicate how the prisoner died.

He is the fourth detainee to die of apparent suicide at the detention camp, which opened in January 2002 and holds about 380 foreign terrorist suspects on the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba.

Three others hanged themselves in their cells last summer, deaths that are still under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

“The remains of the deceased detainee are being treated with the utmost respect. A cultural advisor is assisting the Joint Task Force to ensure that the remains are handled in a culturally sensitive and religiously appropriate manner,” the Southern Command said.

It said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service had begun an investigation.

Lawyer for Hashmi Vehemently Denies Terrorist Connection

“He is not a terrorist. He is an academic. He’s been a political activist.”

Let me contemplate that statement a moment… An academic AND a political activist… Hmm, by definition, those two concepts are mutually exclusive…

The label, “academic,” often implies that one is concerned only with theoretical or speculative matters without a practical purpose or intention. While the label, “political activist,” implies the use of direct, often confrontational action in opposition to or support of a political cause.

Yup, with his lawyer making statements like that, Syed Hashmi is in BIG Trouble!

NYC lawyer: Suspect is an academic, not a terrorist
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer

May 30, 2007

NEW YORK — An American student accused of providing al-Qaida fighters with equipment to attack U.S. soldiers smiled at a dozen family members and friends as he was led out of a courtroom.

Days before, former Queens resident Syed Hashmi had become the first terrorism suspect extradited to the United States by British authorities. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and his lawyer said the 27-year-old Hashmi was an academic and a political activist, not a terrorist.

“These charges are unfounded,” the lawyer, Sean Maher, told reporters outside court. Hashmi was ordered detained until a bail hearing scheduled for Friday.

“He is not a terrorist. He is an academic. He’s been a political activist,” Maher said.

WWIII Technology Update

New Technology Could Thwart Terrorist Attacks and Biohazard Events

WASHINGTON and SAXONBURG, Pa., May 30 /PRNewswire/ — Two US technology companies have combined forces to create personal environmental threat detectors out of cell phones and PDAs. Combined with a nationwide sensor network and GPS, the cell-phone-detector system could save millions of lives by identifying major threats very quickly, even before they occur. Deployment is close to fruition because many of the sensors are already in place. The cell-phone system being developed closes the loop.

Gentag, Inc. and eV PRODUCTS are working together on the development and deployment of low-cost threat-detection cell phones that could form the basis of a low-cost nationwide network of defense mechanisms against terrorist strikes and/or accidental biohazard events.

“Our patented technology provides the components to address the US Department of Homeland Security’s recently announced vision of creating a low- cost, nationwide, wireless, sensor-network blanket based on cell phones,” announced Dr. John Peeters, the founder of Gentag.

Rick Smith, Manager of Global Marketing & Sales at eV PRODUCTS, concurred, saying that “Our line of miniature, mobile sensors is enabling the mass deployment of ubiquitous, smart, radiation-sensor systems in devices like cell phones.”

Taliban Attack WFP Food Trucks in Afghanistan

Attacking unarmed WFP food aid trucks is a sure sign that the Taliban are severely weakened and having difficulties maintaining their own food supply lines… 

AFGHANISTAN: Food aid trucks come under increasing attacks
30 May 2007 11:25:32 GMT
Source: IRIN

KABUL, 30 May 2007 (IRIN) – Dozens of commercial trucks carrying World Food Programme (WFP) food aid to vulnerable communities in different locations in Afghanistan have been attacked by armed men over the past few months, the UN agency said on Wednesday.

Over 500 tonnes of food aid worth about US$350,000 has been lost in some 20 attacks to date, according to WFP.

“The increasing frequency of these attacks has become a huge concern for us,” Rick Corsino, WFP’s representative for Afghanistan, told IRIN in Kabul.

The most recent incident took place on 24 May when four commercial trucks loaded with 52 tonnes of wheat were looted in the Bala Murgab District of southwestern Badghis Province, WFP said.

The looted aid was intended for the department of education in Bala Murgab to be distributed to local students through an incentive programme called Come to School and Take Home Rations.

Unharmed truck drivers delivered a letter ostensibly issued and stamped by Taliban insurgents and showing a satellite telephone number for the Taliban in which they claimed responsibility for the relief looting.

20 Members of Fatah Al-Islam Charged with With Terrorism

Lebanon charges 20 jihadists with terrorism
30 May 2007
Source: Reuters
By Nazih Siddiq

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, May 30 (Reuters) – Lebanon charged 20 members of Fatah al-Islam with terrorism on Wednesday and Lebanese troops battled jihadists from the militant group at a Palestinian refugee camp in the north for an 11th day.

Judiciary sources said the charges against the 19 Lebanese and one Syrian, all in custody, carried the death penalty and were linked to fighting around the Nahr al-Bared camp that has killed 79 people — 34 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.

The Lebanese authorities blame the group for starting the confrontations by attacking army positions at the camp and near the northern city of Tripoli on May 20.

The fighting, the worst in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war, has continued sporadically.