United States/Iraq/Terrorism: Maupin’s kidnapper killed

The Iraqi insurgent responsible for Matt Maupin’s s death has been killed by US forces in a November 11 raid in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. "They told me they killed him on Veterans Day. Ain't that appropriate?" gushed his father Keith Maupin on Thursday.

The killed terrorist Hajji Hammadi, also known as Hammadi Awdah Abd Farhan and Abd-al-Salam Ahmad Abdallah al-Janabi, had been on the radar for months. Military officials believe Hammadi was the masterminded behind the April 9, 2004, convoy attack near the Baghdad airport. It resulted in the capture of Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin. The attack led to the death of two of Maupin's fellow soldiers along with six civilian truck drivers. Of the 43 men in the convoy, 25 were killed or wounded.

The military statement made it clear that the US holds Hammadi responsible for leading a group of fighters against US forces in the second battle of Fallujah as well as the mastermind of a June 26 suicide bombing against a meeting of pro-government Sunni sheiks in Karmah, west of Baghdad.

United States/Terrorism:  five Guantanamo inmates to be released
 
Five of the six Guantanamo Bay detainees were freed by a federal judge in Washington on Thursday. They were accused of supporting Al-Qaeda's military efforts against the US Army and its allies by the US government. US District Judge Richard J. Leon decided that the five Algerian terror suspects could not be held indefinitely as "enemy combatants.” He declared that the government failed to prove the classified documents used as evidence against them could be relied on.

The sixth detainee was not released as the judge decided that there was direct  evidence  that he employed false names and fake passports to help Al-Qaeda operatives travel to battle sites in Afghanistan. Judge Leon however, cautioned that the ruling in this case was unique and may not to apply most of the other about 270 Guantanamo detainees. The inmates have been held for almost seven years. They heard the decision via a telephone hookup to the US military prison in Cuba. This is the first civilian court ruling for terror suspects who are challenging their detention.

Democratic Republic of Congo/Militancy: food aid centre attacked by armed guerrillas

Around 200 armed guerrillas have looted a relief centre under FinnChurchAid (FCA) at Kayna in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday. The workers at the unit fled at the attack and there were no deaths or injuries, confirmed Jouni Hemberg, the head of FCA’s humanitarian aid unit.

Around 10 aid workers, along with 40 children and their mothers were present at the site during the attack. The aid workers who fled the attack returned on Friday. The guerrillas largely looted the food and medical supplies meant for undernourished children in the region. They have also looted blankets, mattresses and other goods. Hemberg assures the relief centre will resume operations as soon as possible. Tutsi rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda probably carried out the attack, added Hemberg.

Sri Lanka/ Insurgency:  52 LTTE militants die and airstrip captured

The Sri Lankan security forces overran rebel forward defense lines in the Jaffna peninsula and killed at least 52 LTTE militants in pitched battles. They also captured a Tamil Tigers' airstrip in nearby Kilinochchi on Friday, officials reported. "Smashing the conventional notion that the Tigers' Forward Defense Lines in Muhamale and Kilaly cannot be challenged, troops in Jaffna yesterday overran the first LTTE Forward Defense Line in the strategic bottleneck and the lagoon to the north and south of the Jaffna-Kandy Highway killing over fifty militants," the army said.

The army  claimed that in the two days of consecutive fighting,  casualties caused to the Sri Lankan troops were comparatively very low. The pro-rebel Tamilnet.Com website contradicted it by  reporting that 130 government soldiers were killed and another 450 wounded in this week's fighting.

The breach of the Tigers' Jaffna defense line indicates that the Sri Lankan forces have now mounted a two-pronged fresh offensive on the Tiger headquarters of Kilinochchi from the south and the north.

Lebanon/Insurgency: 1 killed in gun-battle between army and gunmen

One suspect involved in a shootout between army personnel and unidentified gunmen was killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday. The army was pursuing a vehicle that failed to stop at a checkpoint. One of the suspects in the vehicle opened fire, prompting the soldiers to fire back, said an official on condition of anonymity. Later, angry local residents gathered at the site of the incident and set the car and tires ablaze, he added. Along with 2 suspects, a woman passing by was also injured in the shootout.

It wasn't immediately clear if the shooting was related to any Islamic terrorists in Tripoli. Tripoli had witnessed a deadly factional violence between Sunni supporters of the government and Alawite community backed by Damascus in July and August this year. Two bus-bomb attacks in recent months targeting the army have killed 23 people, including 13 soldiers.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: Suicide bomber kills 3

Three people were killed as a suicide truck bomb exploded outside a government building in the Dowmand district of the eastern province of Khost Thursday. Two policemen guarding the district government building were killed in the blast and several others were wounded, said district chief Lutfullah Babakar Khil. One wounded civilian died in hospital where 8 policemen were being treated, said provincial chief of health department, Abdel-Majeed. NATO confirms two American soldiers among others who were injured in the blast.

Though no insurgent group made any immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the incident is similar to a series of attacks by Taleban.

In another incident, Taliban attacked a district governor of Ghazni while traveling by road, said a government spokesman. Afghan security forces went to assist him and had a head-on gun fight with the militants, killing nine of the attackers, said Ismail Jehangir.

Israel/Palestinian authority/Terrorism: a new terrorist group launched rockets 

A new Palestinian armed group named "Palestine Eagles' Brigades" has claimed responsibility for launching three missiles at Kissufim on Friday.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces executed an incursion early Friday morning into the eastern outskirts of Deir Al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks and bulldozers forcibly entered from Kissufim military site. The town's eastern orchards were destroyed in clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli Army, local radio stations reported.

Israel has refused to rescind its order of closure of all crossings to Gaza Strip for the 17th day in a row. After security consultation meetings with a number of security officials and Israeli Army commanders, the Defense Minister Ehud Barak took the strategic decision to prolong the closure on late Wednesday.

United Kingdom/ Terrorism: lengthy sentence likely for failed bomber

A failed suicide nail bomb attack in a crowded restaurant could result in a prolonged sentence for a Muslim convert. After pleading guilty to attempted murder and preparing a terrorist attack in Exeter in May, Nicky Reilly, 22, faces a lengthy jail sentence.  Originally from Plymouth, Reilly converted to Islam five years ago. He will appear in court under the name Mohammad Rashid Saeed Alim.

Reilly had planned to run out into the packed dining area clutching the caustic soda bottle bomb to his stomach, the court was told. But the would-be bomber could not open the toilet cubicle door in the few seconds available after he set the bomb to explode. The volatile nail-filled device detonated in his hands due to the delay, leaving him badly injured. Dozens of customers at the Giraffe restaurant rushed out in panic after the bomb had partially exploded in the toilets.

During investigations the Police found out that he was encouraged and helped by at least two untraced Islamic extremists. They had contacted him via his You Tube webpage.

Somalia/Insurgency:  police killed 17 Islamist rebels

Somali police ambushed and shot dead 17 fighters from the militant al Shabaab insurgent movement on Friday during an attempted attack on a senior official in Mogadishu, a police spokesman said. Heavily-armed gunmen drove to the home of the local Madina district chairman early in the morning, but found police officers lying in wait, said witnesses. “We got information before they left their hideouts and so we were able to surround them. Thirteen of the dead bodies lie in the street near the chairman's house,” said spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise.

According to residents, the Shabaab fighters wore black scarves round their heads with white Arabic script reading “God is great.”
However, Islamist spokesmen could not be reached for comment.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, has urged al Shabaab to join the process and “give up their deeds and attitude.” “The extremists among Somalia's many Islamist factions were isolated. The hardliners are not so many, they are very few. But they are utilizing young people, jobless people who are in need of their daily bread,” he said.

Nigeria/Insurgency: navy attacked by gunmen near shell oil facility

(Michael Kamber/Polaris/Photo News)

A navy houseboat guarding a Royal Dutch Shell crude oil flow station was attacked in southern Nigeria on Friday, a military spokesman said. The incident occurred around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT), Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military task force said. However, the Nembe Creek flow station of Niger Delta Shell facility in Bayelsa state was not damaged, he added.“There is no report so far of any (deaths) but we are collecting more details,” Abubakar said. Four naval personnel were injured while three more were unaccounted for, reports a security source working in the oil industry.

Militants have wreaked havoc on oil facilities in the Niger Delta by largely focusing attacks on Rivers state. A growing number of violent incidents have been reported in Bayelsa and Delta states to the west. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has warned that it will end its ceasefire and resume attacks on the oil industry if it is provoked. MEND added that the military are preparing to attack militant camps in Bayelsa and Delta.

Democratic Republic of Congo/Insurgency: UN agrees to send 3,100 troops

(Quidu Noel/Gamma/Photo News)

An extra 3,100 peacekeeping troops will be sent to Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN Security Council said on Thursday, even though rebels said they remained committed to a pullback from the front lines. British Ambassador John Sawers said the 15-nation council wants to help contributing nations “as best we can in getting troops on the ground rapidly” once they decide to help out. “Exactly how many weeks it will be, it's not clear. But this is a matter of urgency,” Sawers said.

Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity said several African nations such as Senegal, Kenya and Angola are among those that could contribute extra troops. There are currently 17,000 peacekeepers in East Congo - the world's largest UN peacekeeping mission - but they have been unable to stop the fighting.

Rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said their troops were still committed to keeping their troops pulled back from front lines further north, but warned: if the UN peacekeeping force “is not able to keep quiet in this area ... we'll go and attack these groups who are trying to take control of that area.”

United States/Security: US Intelligence says use of nuclear weapons more likely by 2025

The National Intelligence Council issued on Thursday is forth unclassified report titled “Global Trends 2025 – A Transformed World”, forecasting a tense, unstable world threaten by war. “The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons,” said the report. “In one sense, a bad sense, the pace of change that we are looking at in 2025 occurred more rapidly than we had anticipated,” said Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Thomas Fingar.

The overall conclusion of the report is that “the unipolar world is over, (or) certainly will be by 2025,” and managing crisis and avoiding conflicts will become more difficult as the potential for conflict will be greater than it has been, continued Thomas  Fingar. While entire feature of the world is expected to change, the report was uncertain about the outcome of current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan. The authors however stressed that he report is not a “prediction” as “bad outcomes are not inevitable.” “International leadership and cooperation will be necessary to solve the global challenges and to understand the complexities surrounding them,” the report concludes.

Somalia/Piracy: pirates demand 25 mln dollar ransom for Saudi supertanker

Somali pirates made a 25 million dollar ransom demand for the Saudi super tanker Sirius Star that was kidnapped on Saturday. “We are demanding twenty-five million dollars from the Saudi owners of the oil tanker. We do not want to engage in any negotiations around the subject,” claimed one of the pirates, Mohamed Said, by telephone. He added that “the Saudis have 10 days to fulfill the request,” and if they do not comply, “potentially catastrophic things could ensue.”

The Sirius Star has about 2 million barrels of oil on board worth 100 million dollars and the supertanker itself is worth approximately 150 million dollars. The tanker, overtaken off the coast of Kenya on Saturday morning, is operated by Dubai’s Vela International Marine Ltd. The company claims that all crew members aboard are unharmed.The crew is made up of 25 people: two Poles (the captain and a technician), two British citizens, a Croatian, a Saudi and 19 Filipinos.

Somali pirates have attacked at least 90 ships in recent months, at least 36 of them have been kidnapped and lead to random demands of a similar sum demanded for the Sirius Star.

Pakistan/Insurgency: deadly blast at funeral killed 7 and wounded 40

At least 7 people were killed and 40 others injured in a powerful explosion at a funeral procession on Thursday in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, in the North-West Frontier Province. The funeral was for a local Shi'ite figure shot dead in a possible factional violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. Gunfire was heard soon after the blast, creating a stampede and panic in the area, reported a local TV channel. “Seven bodies have been brought to our hospital after the blast,” senior doctor at a local hospital, Ashiq Salim said.

Clash between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims is common in Dera Ismail Khan, while the factional violence has claimed more than 4,000 lives in Pakistan since the late 1980s.

Jordan/Israel/Palestinian Authority: king Abdullah and Mahmud Abbas on “secret-talks”

Jordan’s King Abdullah II held talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday, two days after Israeli leaders made a visit to the kingdom, official said. The official confirmed the meeting took place at the kingdom’s southern Red Sea resort of Aqaba, though the place refused to comment on the Jordanian-Israeli talks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defende Minister Ehud Barak allegedly made a secret visit to Jordan on Tuesday and met the king, reported a local public radio station.It also reported, citing a senior Israeli official, the king appalled the Israeli leaders to avoid launching heavy military operations in the Gaza Strip.The king took the initiative to find a way to avoid unnecessary confrontations that might risk the safety of many Palestinians in his country, the radio further reported.

While both the countries refused to comment on the report, a senior government official in Amman confirms the king had told Olmert and Barak about “the need to stop all unilateral measures in the West Bank and in Gaza.” Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power last year.

United States/Syria/Organized Crime: Accused arms dealer not a spy

A Syrian arms dealer accused of selling weapons to Colombian rebels was not working with Spanish intelligence, prosecutors said on Tuesday.  Syria-born Monzer al-Kassar, 62, had allegedly conspired to sell weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC worth $1 million. He has been living as the "prince of Marbella" – acquiring a name for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town as a longtime Spanish resident.

During the trial, the US prosecutors have called him one of the world's most prolific arms dealers. They rejected the defense assertion that Kassar was a legitimate arms merchant who, when dealing with US informants on the FARC deal in 2007, was instead spying on them for Spanish intelligence. The defense made the allegation during the two-week trial at a federal court in Manhattan and showed video depositions from two Spanish intelligence officers. But prosecutor Boyd Johnson argued with jurors that Kassar's motivation on the $1 million FARC deal was purely financial.

Syria/United Kingdom/Defense: Damas and London share high-level intelligence

Britain is establishing high-level talks on intelligence with Syria in order to fight terrorism, said Syrian officials. With UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s visit to Damascus, a new level of co-operation is indicated. Preparatory meetings had been going on for several months in secret until the news was flashed in a UK newspaper report on Wednesday. The newspaper stated it would be beneficial for Britain, as Syria has one of the best intelligence-gathering systems, particularly in tracking the movements of Islamic extremists in Iraq. Syria could play an important role in increasing stability, said Miliband.

Meanwhile, the final report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the Syrian complex bombed by Israel 14 months ago bore features of a nuclear reactor. “Significant” amounts of man-made uranium particles were found amid the ruins. UN officials did not declare the ruined site as a nuclear reactor, but they strongly believe it resemble one. This report will be submitted in the IAEA board meeting in Vienna next week.

United States/Russia/Defense: 'The Spaniard' may have betrayed British and US secrets

Posing as a Spanish businessman, the spy known as 'The Spaniard' is feared to have betrayed British and US secrets to Russian intelligence service (KGB) for more than a decade. Herman Simm betrayed Britain and the US as a rerun of Cold War double-agents. He is believed to have formed a high profile couple with his wife. They are suspected of passing highly sensitive information to Moscow, including details of the controversial US missile shield, its cyber defence programme and all the workings of NATO operations from Kosovo to Afghanistan.

Investigators from British and the US have flown to the Estonian capital Tallinn in a bid to discover the amount of damage and the degree of intelligence compromised. Simm was arrested in September after making a series of mistakes.

Sri Lanka/Insurgency: At least 60 Killed In battle

Sri Lankan troops killed at least 50 Tamil Tiger rebels in a four-day battle on the Jaffna Peninsula where both sides have been in a standoff for years, the military said on Thursday. “Ten soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in the battle for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) forward defence line at Muhumalai,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. "Intercepted Tiger communications says about 50 terrorists were killed in the past four days," he added. However, there was no immediate comment from the rebel group and no independent confirmation was available because the military bars most journalists from the war zone.

The 8 km (5 mile) stretch the army said it captured spans the narrow thread of land linking the army-held northern Jaffna Peninsula to the rest of the Indian Ocean island nation. Earlier battles there have had high casualties rates because of the heavy concentration of artillery and land mines and close quarters the land engenders. Tens of thousands have died in Sri Lanka since the LTTE launched an armed struggle in 1972 to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the majority-Sinhalese nation.

Russia/Defense: Georgian checkpoints in Ganmukhuri assaulted

Russian military units including five armored tanks, opened fire from various weapons on two Georgian police checkpoints early on Thursday morning in Ganmukhuri. The shooting lasted for ten minutes and blasted the checkpoints and a settled territories. However, no casualties have been reported. European military monitors have rushed to the village of Ganmukhuri, where the incident occurred. Schools have been closed following the incident. Locals are apprehensive that the Russians may occupy the recently regained areas again.

Russians had already left the village of Pichori by the morning. The European monitors are awaiting sappers to secure their operation in the conflict region.

Earlier, the tensions in the Abkhazia conflict zone involving standoff between the Russian peacekeepers and Georgian interior ministry forces were defused on October 30 after the Russian troops released at least four Georgian policemen detained earlier on the same day. The incident had also taken place in the   village of Ganmukhuri.