AT LEAST seven people, including several foreigners, were killed this morning when bombs ripped through two neighbouring luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
One Australian man was reportedly among the 48 people hurt in the explosions, which Indonesian police are treating as a terrorist attack.
Suspicions immediately centred on terror network Jemaah Islamiah, responsible for the attack on the Marriott hotel in 2003, when 12 people died.
The method of attack would represent a shift in strategy for JI.
Consular staff in Jakarta are urgently checking to see whether Australians are among the dead or injured.
The first explosion occurred inside the Ritz-Carlton just before 8am local time, followed by the Marriott blast minutes later. The hotels are located in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in the centre of the city.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected to a second term in the mainly Muslim country last week, was “deeply concerned over this incident,” a spokesman for his office said.
Ritz-Carlton vice-president of security Kevin Cruise said the explosion occurred inside the Airlangga Restaurant, blowing out the windows.
“I was in the restaurant immediately after the explosion,” Mr Cruise told The Australian. “It looks terrible with a lot of cosmetic damage and I was really afraid about injuries but there appears to have been no serious ones.”
However, Mr Cruise is still awaiting a final report, amid “incomplete and incorrect information”.
Tom Warden, 25, a Kiwi working in Ritz-Carlton food and beverage, said the blast occurred as he prepared to have breakfast.
“There were people in the elevator saying `we have got to get the hell out of here'.
“The doors opened and the lobby was filled with smoke and everyone was evacuated.”
Ritz-Carlton guests and staff have moved to an area in front of the hotel.
Police have sealed off the area near the Ritz-Carlton and the JW Marriott.
In a statement this morning, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was checking on whether any Australians were hurt in the explosions.
 The latest incident, just six days before a deadline for American soldiers to withdraw from the cities, towns and villages under an agreement with Iraq, killed at least 62 people when a bomb went off in a Baghdad market.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, had told Mr Obama the deadline would be kept.
“I know the president has had meetings and continues to have meetings about ensuring that we're making sufficient political progress on the ground,” Mr Gibbs said.
“General Odierno has mentioned that we have seen violence greatly decrease even in the past many months from what it was, and he feels confident in moving forward.”
Asked whether Mr Obama had any second thoughts about the pull back, or whether he had approached the Iraqi government about a change in arrangements, Mr Gibbs said: “No, No.”
Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion. But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and Mosul.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgents and militiamen were likely to step up their attacks in the coming weeks in a bid to undermine confidence in the Iraqi security forces.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. These unprecedented attacks were joined by talk in Egypt of an "axis with evil goals," made up of Iran, Syria, Qatar and Hamas, who conspired to overthrow the Mubarak government, according to a report published on Saturday by the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram. The war of rhetoric came after Cairo uncovered a plot by Hizbullah to launch a series of terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil. The attackers also planned to strike inside Israel, according to Egypt. Meanwhile, media outlets in Iran claimed Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are preparing to jointly assassinate Nasrallah. These events are all part of the new alignment which has swept the Middle East like a sandstorm, doing away with old geopolitical constellations and leaving a new reality in its wake. Under the old alignment, Israel stood alone in a trench, facing an alliance of all of its neighbors. Today, Israel is a member of a defensive 'league' of neighbors, formed to counter a common menace: a Teheran regime with imperial, hegemonic designs. Each party in the anti-Iranian bloc has its own reasons for joining; none has done so out of any fondness for the other members, but rather out of a recognition of a common threat. Iran's quest for hegemony, backed by a covert nuclear arms program, has disturbed Sunni Arab states and Israel alike. The threat from Teheran falls as much on Egypt, Jordan, Fatah and Saudi Arabia as it does on Israel. Iran pursues an openly declared plot to destroy Israel, with the aid of proxy militarized quasi-states on Israel's borders. But it also demands that Arab states take up a subservient role in the region, and uses its proxies to undermine Arab regimes such as Egypt's. The result has been the creation of an unofficial regional club, that includes Israel, to face down Iran. This development has not put an end to the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric from the clerics and media outlets within the Arab members of the anti-Iran league. The anti-Jewish demonization is designed to keep the Islamist opposition at home reasonably satisfied, and to distract the masses from their lack of civil liberties. But the realignment has seen the introduction of widespread hostile rhetoric between Arab countries and Iran. The Egypt-Hizbullah feud is merely the latest installment. Over the past few months, Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, and the Egyptian media have repeatedly condemned Iran's schemes for ascendancy in the region. Cairo has directed criticisms at Iran's proxies, Hamas and Hizbullah, for igniting two wars with Israel in the past three years. Hamas's enclave in Gaza, which is heavily dependent on Teheran, is under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Saudi Arabia, the heart of the Sunni world, has been vocal in issuing warnings about the threat emanating from its Shi'ite neighbor across the Persian Gulf. In one recent flurry of recriminations in March, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, condemned what he called Iran's "provocation." Quickly returning fire, an Iranian cleric named Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, who is closely linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, used a televised sermon to complain that Saudi hostility toward Persia (on the government level) had replaced Saudi hostility toward Israel. Khatami's complaint may be no exaggeration. In this context, the Saudi-sponsored Arab League offer being waved before Israel, promising full Arab recognition and normalization of ties with Israel, in exchange for large territorial concessions, takes on a new meaning. The offer has infuriated Iran. Everywhere across the Middle East, movements and states belonging to the two rival camps are facing off. The Palestinian nation has been torn into two distinct and hostile entities, with Iran backing Hamas, and the Sunni Arab-Israeli bloc, together with the US, backing Fatah. Any efforts at Hamas-Fatah reconciliation would need to bypass the much larger forces that are assisting each side in order to stand a chance of success. In Lebanon, too, the battle lines have been drawn. Iran's Hizbullah uses a combination of the gun and the ballot to establish dominance there, while the US and Saudi Arabia offer financial, political, and military backing to the Lebanese state, so that it can retain independence from Hizbullah. And so the Middle Eastern Cold War unfolds. Some in the Israeli Left believe Syria, officially on Iran's side of the fence, has signaled its openness to the idea of being dislodged from Teheran's sphere of influence, in exchange for the Golan Heights, though Damascus's actual readiness to dislodge itself from Teheran remains wholly untested. If we take a glance back at ancient times, we find that Israel's membership in a club with former foes is not a new development for Jewish polities. Hebrew kingdoms have, at one time or another, joined forces with former bitter enemies to try to fight off powers such as Assyria and Babylon that threatened everyone else. Persian expansionism isn't new either. King Cyrus of Persia ruled over a powerful empire that dominated the Middle East (and destroyed Babylon). From a Jewish perspective, the ancient Persian kingdom and modern day Iran play diametrically opposed roles. In 539 BCE, Cyrus issued a decree urging all Jews who had been exiled from their homeland by Babylon to return to Judah and Jerusalem, and to rebuild the Temple. Today, Iran's Khamenei dreams of throwing the Jews out of Jerusalem. Back in the 21st century, Iran's centrifuges continue to spin. US President Barack Obama prepares to give words a chance to freeze Teheran's Manhattan Project. All eyes in the region will remain fixed on Obama's efforts, and many will be skeptical of his chances of settling the issue diplomatically. In the meantime, the Middle East's rival camps continue to square off. Source: Jerusalem Post
 March 03
MASKED gunman have opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, killing at least eight people and wounding six players, officials say.
Lahore police chief Habib-ur Rehman said 12 gunmen today attacked the convoy near Lahore's Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons and were involved in a 25-minute shoot-out with the security forces.
“They appeared to be well-trained terrorists. They came on rickshaws," he told reporters.
A police official said two civilians and six police officers who were guarding the players were killed in the attack which happened as the team was heading for the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan.
Television footage of several gunmen creeping through the trees, crouching to aim their Kalashnikovs then running onto the next target were aired by Pakistan's private channel Geo.
Broken glass littered the road next to a gun cartridge and an empty rocket-propelled grenade launcher. A police motorbike was shown crashed sideways into the road at the Liberty Chowk (roundabout) in Lahore.
Bullet holes ripped through the windscreen of another vehicle and a white car was shown smashed headlong into the roundabout as nervous security officers guarded the site.
Sri Lankan authorities said six players were believed to have been wounded though earlier reports said eight had been injured.
Local police officer Mohammad Suhail told AFP that two players had bullet injuries but were "in a stable condition".
In Sri Lanka, Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera had been taken to hospital in Lahore.
Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardena was also slightly wounded in the foot, his father told a Sri Lankan local television station after speaking with his son by telephone.
Samaraweera is one of Sri Lanka's leading players. He became only the seventh batsmen in Test cricket to notch a double hundred in consecutive matches on Monday, scoring 214 after a 231 in the drawn first Test.
The shooting came as the Sri Lankan army pushed its final offensive against ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country in a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Fears of attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda have caused many teams to postpone or cancel cricket tours to Pakistan in recent years.
Australia earlier this month forced Pakistan to change the venue of a one-day series to the neutral venues of Dubai and Abu Dhabi when the two sides meet in April-May this year over security fears.
Australia, who also played Pakistan in three Tests at the neutral venues of Colombo and Dubai in 2002, have not toured Pakistan since 1998.
India also refused to send its team across the border amid heightened tensions in the wake of attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on militants based in Pakistan.
Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are due to jointly host the cricket World Cup in 2011.
Last month, Pakistan's cricket chief vowed to improve security arrangements for the 10th edition of the four-yearly event and denied there was a risk associated with staging some of the games in the troubled country.
Last month, security concerns raised by other teams forced the ICC to move the 2009 Champions Trophy out of Pakistan.
The elite eight-nation Trophy was to be held in September-October this year but the ICC was to announce a new venue in April.
The event was originally scheduled for last year but was put off after South Africa pulled out of the event and Australia, England and New Zealand showed reluctance to tour because of fears about players' safety. Source: The Australian
 January 05, 2009
INDIA handed to Pakistan what it said was evidence linking the country to the Islamic militants who attacked Mumbai in November, India's foreign minister said.
"We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th November, 2008," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.
"What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime. As far as the government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India, and practises her international obligations. These are clear," he added.
New Delhi has also shared the evidence with foreign ministers around the world, the minister said.
The Indian foreign ministry will also brief all ambassadors in New Delhi about the ongoing investigation into the Mumbai attacks and Indian ambassadors in other countries will do the same, Mukherjee said.
The November 26-29 assault on India's financial capital left 172 people dead, including nine attackers.
Pakistan's government has so far said that New Delhi has provided no proof of a Pakistani link to the strikes.
But Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said over the weekend that the proof against Pakistan was "overwhelming" and "unanswerable" and indicated that the attackers were backed by the Pakistani authorities. Source: The Australian from Agence France-Presse
 By Anita Chang MUMBAI, India Black-clad Indian commandoes raided two luxury hotels to try to free hostages Thursday, and explosions and gunshots shook India's financial capital a day after attacks by suspected Muslim militants killed at least 119 people. About 10 to 12 gunmen remain holed up inside the hotels and a Jewish center, a top Indian general said. The remaining gunmen appeared to have been killed or captured, Maj. Gen. R.K. Huda told New Delhi Television. Authorities said 119 people died and 288 were injured when suspected Islamic militants - armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives - launched a highly coordinated attack against 10 sites in the city Wednesday night. Officials said eight militants were also killed. Dozens of people were being held hostage at the hotels, as well as a nearby Jewish center, by the well-trained and heavily armed gunmen, authorities said. While hostages trickled out of the hotels throughout the day, witnesses said many bodies remained inside and the two-day siege showed few signs of ending quickly. Several bodies were carried out of the five-star Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel. The attackers had specifically targeted Britons and Americans inside the hotels, witnesses said. Dozens of people were also apparently still hiding in their hotel rooms, terrified by occasional bursts of gunfire and explosions, as well as fires burning in parts of both hotels, and waiting for authorities to get them to safety. After dusk Thursday, police brought hostages out of the Oberoi, one of the city's best-known five-star hotels. One man, a who identified himself as a Pole but did not give his name, told reporters he had seen many bodies inside, but refused to give more details, saying he had promised police not to discuss details of the rescue operation. More ...Source: APMuslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these atrocities and their loved ones.
May all the perpetrators and their accomplices receive a swift justice.
 * Paola Totaro, London
* November 10, 2008
OSAMA bin Laden is planning an attack against the United States that will "outdo by far" September 11, an Arab newspaper in London has reported.
- bin Laden 'planning US attack'
- Goal to 'outdo' September 11
- al-Qaeda reinforces training camps
And according to a former senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative, the terrorist organisation has entered a "positive phase", reinforcing specific training camps around the world that will lead the next "wave of action" against the West.
The warning, on the front page of an Arabic newspaper published in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi - and widely reported in the major Italian papers - quotes a person described as being "very close to al-Qaeda" in Yemen.
The paper is edited by Abdel al-Bari Atwan, who is said to be the last journalist to interview Osama bin Laden in 1996. According to the report, bin Laden is himself closely following preparations for an attack against the US and aims to "change the face of world politics and economics". The operative is quoted as saying that "this will be shown by the fact that we now control a major part of the south of Somalia".
The ex-operative says he remains in contact with current chiefs of the organisation in Yemen and that only six months ago bin Laden had sent a message to all jihad cells in the Arab world which asked them not to interact with their governments or local political parties and to deny any request for mediation or formal talks.
The source also said that during the next few days the terrorist organisation may send a sign of its violent intentions.
The warning has emerged at the same time as publication of a report leaked to The Telegraph newspaper which reveals that a document drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence says that thousands of extremists are active in the UK.
The document says the operatives are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30. Many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps.
Security officials, The Telegraph reports, are convinced al-Qaeda cells will attempt another "spectacular" inside the UK with major transport centres, such as airports and train stations, the most likely targets. Other targets include the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and Buckingham and St James' palaces, with the threat level described as "severe". Source: The Age
 By Marion Carroll in Denpasar | November 08, 2008
THE younger brother of Bali bombers Amrozi and Mukhlas has been ordered to wait in a room at Nusakambangan prison to receive his dead brothers bodies within hours, online news site detik.com has reported.
Ali Fauzi has been denied a final visit with the Islamic militants ahead of their executions at the prison island off Central Java, lawyer Mahendradatta said.
A lawyer for the bombers, Achmad Michdan, told media today it was a "possibility" his clients would be executed Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Prosecutors said they may make an announcement about the executions later Saturday night, but did not elaborate.
With the executions of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra imminent, authorities ordered Fauzi to wait in a room at their island prison to receive their bodies and make sure they were being handled in accordance with Islamic sharia law, Mahendradatta said.
"He (Fauzi) was told to wait in a room to see the bodies, to make sure the process complies with Islamic sharia law," Mahendradatta was quoted as saying by detik.com.
"Why is the family only allowed to see the dead bodies? Once again, they are not to see them in living condition. So it is not a family meeting as meant within the law."
Mahendradatta speculated that Fauzi was denied permission to see his brothers alive because of fears he may find that they had been mistreated.
"(Possibly) because they are worried there is something Amrozi and his friends may say that will cause their operation (executions) to be aborted. For instance if Amrozi is tortured or executed beforehand," he said.
Amid fears that the trio's supporters would seek to avenge their executions, police were reportedly worried that the bombers would order Fauzi to launch an attack if they allowed a final visit.
"Who can guarantee if he (Amrozi) won't give a message to the family to fight, we are afraid there will be mass radicalisation," a police source told local newspaper Radar Banyumas.
Protests by Islamic militants against the executions have been slowly building as the execution process has dragged on.
The Australian government today warned of reprisal attacks, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith saying the government was receiving new "credible evidence" of the threat of terrorist attacks.
Among the warnings he singled out in a travel advisory were that "the executions could prompt a strong reaction from their supporters such as demonstrations, acts of violence and reprisal attacks".
Tourists should be especially careful around beaches, bars, malls and other venues associated with tourists, the advice says.
However, Mr Smith said the travel advice to Indonesia had not changed from the second highest level of "reconsider your need to travel".
Some 1500 anti-riot police have been deployed to Amrozi and Mukhlas' home town of Lamongan, East Java, in anticipation of possible unrest following the executions, detik.com reported. Source: The Australian
 Samantha Maiden, Online political editor | October 30, 2008
KEVIN Rudd has reaffirmed Australia's opposition to the death penalty as the Bali bombers await execution, while describing the terrorists as callous murderers.
Risking the anger of victims' relatives in the lead-up to the execution, the Prime Minister has unequivocally stated the federal Government's position after backbenchers complained he needed to make it clear.
"Well, the Bali bombers are murderers,” he said today. “Many... have been affected by their murderous, cowardly and callous act. It's appalling.
“But I am not going to pretend to you that our policy on the death penalty has changed.”
The Government has also warned there may be an increased risk of terrorist activity in Indonesia as the execution looms, warning Australians to think carefully before travelling to the region.
Mr Rudd said his position remained clear - that Australia would not intervene to oppose the executions and would only make special representations on behalf of Australians facing the death penalty.
He said he was not aware that Indonesia had advised Australia of the execution date.
"We are universally opposed to the death penalty,” he told Melbourne radio 3AW.
"We make no exception to that. That's been a bipartisan policy between us and the Liberals.
“Secondly, the other part of our policy is when any individual is convicted of the death penalty anywhere in the world, we the Australian Government only intervene in the case of Australian citizens.”
The Prime Minister's comments follow pressure from anti-death-penalty Labor backbenchers for the Government to state a clear position and the recent furore over WA Labor MP Melissa Parke's warning that the execution of the Bali bombers "will only decrease our human dignity" - a claim that angered victims' families.
Last year, Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland was forced to apologise to the families of Bali victims for speaking out against the death penalty for terrorists so close to the anniversary of the attacks.
Mr McClelland said at the time he was “very conscious ... this was a mistake I made” and “I would apologise for any hurt that any of those people may justifiably feel”.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said today speculation about the execution date of the Bali bombers only added to the suffering of the bombing victims' families.
“We have the understanding, from what the Indonesians have said publicly, that that (execution) is effectively imminent,” Mr Smith told ABC Radio today.
“It's entirely a matter for the Indonesian authorities, it's a matter for their judicial and legal processes.
“Every time the matter is referred to, the families of the victims of the bombing will just relive the agony of the loss of loved ones.”
Despite Labor's opposition to the death penalty, Mr Smith said: "We don't make representations on behalf of nationals of other countries, and we certainly don't make representations on behalf of terrorists” in relation to the death penalty.
“We don't see that in any way as being contradictory,” he told Sky News.
The Government has also warned there may be an increased risk of terrorist activity in Indonesia as the execution looms, warning Australians to think carefully before travelling to the region.
Mr Rudd said his position remained clear - that Australia would not intervene to oppose the executions and would only make special representations on behalf of Australians facing the death penalty.
He said he was not aware that Indonesia had advised Australia of the execution date. Source: The Australian
 Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:11pm EDT
By Adam Entous
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian rammed his car into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Monday, hours after Foreign Minster Tzipi Livni agreed to try to form a new government that can avert an election and forge a peace deal.
The man, who neighbors said lived in Jerusalem, was shot dead after injuring 15 of the soldiers and four others, under the walls of the Old City on a road that marks the dividing "Green Line" between Arab East Jerusalem and the Jewish west.
Police described it as a "terrorist" attack, the third of its kind using vehicles against Israelis in the city since July. There was no immediately credible claim of responsibility.
It highlighted the security problems Livni faces as she seeks to build a workable government following the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a corruption scandal.
It is far from certain she will succeed in building a new coalition and failure may well mean a parliamentary election, which polls indicate would favor the right-wing opposition.
Two of those hurt were in a serious condition, medics said.
A police spokesman said a soldier and then a policeman fired at the driver. He lay dead in the road by his black BMW car.
"It was a terror attack," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that a soldier and a policeman shot the driver.
The soldiers were on a late-night educational tour of the city ahead of next week's celebration of the Jewish New Year.
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered nearby. Some chanted "Death to Arabs". Police fired tear gas to disperse them.
Twice in July, Palestinian construction workers using earthmoving equipment attacked Israelis in Jerusalem, in one case killing three. Both were shot dead.
JERUSALEM DISPUTE
In both those incidents, the drivers were Palestinians with Israeli identity documents giving them free access to Israel and Jerusalem. Residents in the Arab east of the city identified the man killed on Monday as a neighbor with similar documents.
The earlier incidents, as well as a shooting attack in March in which eight Jewish seminary students were killed, prompted calls in Israel for restrictions on Palestinians living on the Israeli side of the barrier Israel is building around the West Bank.
Those areas, in East Jerusalem and neighboring parts of the West Bank, were annexed by Israel to Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, following their occupation by Israeli forces in the Six Day War of 1967.
The future status of Jerusalem, where both Israelis and Palestinians want to have their capitals, is a key issue in U.S.-sponsored negotiations that Livni and Olmert have been conducting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
After President Shimon Peres invited her to form a new government, Livni called on her right-wing opponents to join a unity coalition that would embrace the political spectrum.
There was no indication, however, that Benjamin Netanyahu, the former premier who leads the opposition Likud party, would drop his demand for an early parliamentary election instead -- an election which opinion polls suggest he could win with ease.
Livni was elected last week to succeed Olmert as leader of the centrist Kadima party, after he said he would quit to fight accusations of corruption over which he could be indicted.
The 50-year-old commercial lawyer and one-time agent of the Mossad spy agency, faces a daunting struggle to build a workable parliamentary majority from among the 13 parties represented in the Knesset. Until she does, Olmert will remain as caretaker.
"My priorities are to try and form a national unity government and maintain the present coalition," she told a news conference after meeting Peres on Monday evening. "Otherwise I will lead the Knesset to new elections as soon as possible."
If Livni cannot win parliamentary approval within six weeks, an election is the likely outcome. If she succeeds, she will be Israel's first woman leader since Golda Meir in the 1970s.
Livni has been in consultations across the spectrum, notably with Labor party leader Ehud Barak, whose leftist party is the second biggest in the outgoing government, and with the Jewish religious parties which always play a key role in coalitions.
The political uncertainty has dimmed even further prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, which the United States had hoped Olmert and Abbas could achieve this year before President George W. Bush leaves office.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Joseph Nasr and Douglas Hamilton, writing by Alastair Macdonald) Source: Reuters
 Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 15, 2008
INDIAN police anti-terror squads were last night raiding the homes of known Islamic militants in New Delhi as they searched for those responsible for the worst terrorist bomb attacks seen in the city in years.
"We have very vital clues, positive clues. We are hopeful we will solve this case very soon," a police official said after at least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a series of bomb blasts about sunset on Saturday, in the heart of the Indian capital.
It was claimed to be the work of the al-Qa'ida-linked organisation Indian Mujahideen.
But in swooping on known pockets of Islamic militancy in the teeming city, police were following a familiar and longstanding pattern in Indian terrorism cases, which invariably involves hectic action in the first few hours after an attack and then no follow-up.
Public anger with police and their failure to deal effectively with terrorism was apparent when relatives of victims who visited them in the city's hospitals took aim at the authorities, chanting "Down with the police".
Reports last night said that at least 10 suspects had been picked up in relation to the bombings on the basis of information supplied by witnesses.
A co-ordinated series of at least five explosions struck a park and crowded shopping areas in New Delhi just after nightfall on Saturday, a prime time for weekend shoppers in the crowded, chaotic Indian city.
The bombs were timed to go off at sundown, just as shoppers were going out in the relative cool of the evening. All five bombs exploded within 30 minutes of each other.
An Islamic militant group, Indian Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the bombings in an email sent to several Indian news organisations.
Some of a series of vitriolic "catch us if you can" emails read: "Indian Mujahideen strikes back once more. This time with the Message of Death dreadfully terrorising you for your sins."
The emails charged India with "never-ending hostile hatred in your hearts against Islam and its people" and declared the group had "the potential to assault any city of India at any time".
A bomb disposal expert said the devices appeared to have been packed with steel ball bearings and nuts and bolts.
As barricades were thrown up and all cars and buses searched, the emails promised more terror attacks "to punish you even before your wounds have healed".
The number of casualties might have been much higher if at least two more live bombs that had been planted and primed had gone off - one in a children's playground adjoining India Gate, and the other at the Regal cinema complex in Connaught Place.
At India Gate, a 10-year-old street urchin known as Ravi is said to have found the bomb planted in a garbage bin, "fishing it out with his trembling hands" and called out to his uncle.
"I could see it was a bomb. It had wires dangling from it. Uncle told me to take it to a deserted side of the park and he called the constables," he said yesterday.
Scenes of desperate panic and carnage were witnessed as the bombs went off and the blood-soaked victims - many of them young shoppers visiting markets to buy fashionable clothing - were rushed to nearby hospitals.
In Connaught Place, lifeless bodies of victims were carried by rescue workers from the underground Palika Bazaar and hundreds of thousands of commuters fled in panic after the city's new subway system was closed down.
Chaos and confusion intensified as mobile phone jammers were activated to thwart further detonations and terrified shoppers and commuters found themselves unable to contact their families.
Media reports said 10 people had been detained in the overnight raids. Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat confirmed only that "several" people had been detained. He gave no further details on the suspects' identities or where they had been captured.
"We have collected vital clues and we hope to crack the case soon," Mr Bhagat said.
After deadly attacks in May and July by the Indian Mujahideen, police launched a series of raids but they made no arrests or filed charges.
Nevertheless, Indian officials vowed they would not be cowed.
"It's a very cowardly act of violence," Mayor Arti Mehra said near the scene of two of the explosions, in the M-Block market of the city's upscale Greater Kailash neighbourhood.
"They want to break the spirit of Delhi. They have tried this in other places before and they have not succeeded and they will not succeed here. They will not scare us," Mr Mehra said.
Indian Mujahideen, the militant group blamed for the weekend attacks, first appeared last November following a series of blasts in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
It is seen as an operational offshoot of the al-Qa'ida-linked banned organisation known as the Students Islamic Movement of India. Source: The Australian
 Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 12, 2008
A MAJOR escalation in fighting in Pakistan's tribal areas is feared after Taliban fighters lobbed grenades into a Sunni mosque, killing at least 25 worshippers and leaving more than 50 wounded.
The black-turbanned militants surrounded the mosque in the Dir district of the troubled North West Frontier Province as special evening prayers were being recited to mark the holy month of Ramadan. They then shot fleeing worshippers with automatic rifles.
The attack is the first time the Taliban, who are Sunni, have attacked their own on such a scale. It follows local tribal elders condemning the Taliban and vowing to counter attempts to take control of the area.
Dir is close to the Bajaur Agency, where heavy fighting has been under way for more than a month between Pakistani forces and both al-Qa'ida and the Taliban. The fighting is the most intense since 2001, and the Pakistanis claim to have killed more than 600 militants.
With an estimated 400,000 refugees fleeing the fighting in Bajaur, tensions have risen sharply in neighbouring areas, with tribal elders such as those in Dir taking a strong stand against the militants and raising local tribal armies to fight them.
"This was not a sectarian attack. It was a blatant act of terrorism," a local official in Dir, Mahmood Khan, said yesterday.
Meanwhile, further fierce fighting was reported in Bajaur, an al-Qa'ida stronghold frequently noted as the most likely refuge for Osama bin Laden and the top al-Qa'ida leadership.
Military officials said last night that at least 24 militants, including Arabs, had been killed and many more wounded in heavy clashes despite a ceasefire promised by the Government for Ramadan.
A militant spokesman in Bajaur, identified only as Abdullah, claimed an attempt by government forces to take control of the Bajaur town of Loisam had been foiled, and that a group of suicide bombers had been sent to Islamabad and was awaiting an order to attack. Source: The Australian
August 04, 2008 SIXTEEN policemen in China's Muslim-majority north-west were killed today in a suspected terrorist attack, raising security fears four days before the Beijing Olympics. In one of the deadliest reported attacks in China in years, two men drove a truck up to the police station in Kashgar city aiming for a group of officers carriying out morning fitness exercises, Xinhua news agency said. The two got off the vehicle and threw two grenades at the station, moving in to hack at police officers with knives, it said. Fourteen officers died on the spot, and two others lost their lives on the way to hospital, it said. Both attackers were arrested, one of them with a leg injury sustained during the raid, according to Xinhua. “The raid ... was suspected as a terrorist attack,” the agency said, citing local police. The incident threw a shadow over the Olympic countdown, after repeated warnings in recent months from the Chinese government that militants from the restive Xinjiang region were planning to stage attacks to wreck the Games. The Beijing Olympic organisers said they did not know yet if there was a direct connection to the showpiece sporting event, which begins on Friday. “We have to check,” spokesman Sun Weide said when asked if there was any link to the Olympics. International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the IOC had no immediate comment on the incident but expressed confidence authorities were doing all they could to provide a safe and secure Games. In line with the flow of information in China surrounding security issues, reports were released only through official channels, while local authorities denied any knowledge of the event. “We don't have any information about it. We have not heard of this matter,” a police spokesman in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi said when contacted about the initial report. He declined to give his name. “Everything has returned to normal,” an official with the Kashgar People's Armed Police said by telephone. He declined any other comment. China has warned repeatedly of a major terrorist threat emanating from Xinjiang. “The Beijing Olympics is facing a terrorist threat unsurpassed in Olympic history,” the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial last month. China's state media carry only sporadic reports about violence in Xinjiang, making it difficult to determine the extent of the threat in the region. Rights groups and members of the ethnic Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang have accused the government of exaggerating the threat as a cover to crack down on all forms of dissent. However, observers said they believed this could be the deadliest incident of its kind yet. “If 16 people died, I would think that this is the highest casualty ever reported for an incident,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher with Human Rights Watch and an expert on Xinjiang. Xinjiang, a vast area that borders Central Asia, has about 8.3 million Uighurs, and many are unhappy with what they say has been six decades of repressive Chinese rule. China has deployed more than 100,000 security personnel to provide security for the Games, which run from August 8-24. A senior official said last week the main Olympic threats were from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in Xinjiang, forces seeking Tibetan independence, the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and overseas pro-democracy forces. Source: The Australian
INSURGENT attacks in Afghanistan have hit record highs this year with hundreds of civilians killed, including 19 aid workers, and spreading insecurity hampering relief work, aid groups said today. Unrest had spread to once stable areas, and welfare agencies were forced to scale back aid delivery even as drought and food price hikes put millions of people in difficulty, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said. “So far this year the number of insurgent attacks, bombings and other violent incidents is up by approximately 50 per cent on the same period last year,” said ACBAR, a grouping of about 100 Afghan and international non-governmental organisations. There were 463 insurgent attacks in May and 569 in June, it said in a statement, citing figures from a range of sources including the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. This was “greater than the number of such attacks in any other month since the end of major hostilities following the international intervention in 2001,” it said. “This year 2,500 people have reportedly lost their lives in the conflict and whilst exact figures are not yet available, this could include up to 1,000 civilians,” the group added. Initial estimates were that more than 260 civilians were killed in July, which was higher than any other month in the past six years, it said. July saw some of the worst violence of an insurgency by Islamic extremists launched after the Taliban were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001. A suicide bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed around 60 people and other attacks left dozens more dead. Military action, mostly air strikes on insurgents, killed nearly 80 civilians, according to Afghan and military officials. ACBAR said two-thirds of reported civilian casualties could be attributed to insurgent activities especially suicide bombings and the use of civilian property to launch attacks. But the growing number of air strikes by international military forces, up by about 40 per cent on last year, had also contributed. In addition, “Aid organisations and their staff have been subject to increasing attacks, threats and intimidation, by both insurgent and criminal groups,” ACBAR said. “This year there have been over 84 such incidents, including 21 in June, more than in any other month in the last six years. “So far this year 19 NGO staff have been killed, which already exceeds the total number of NGO workers killed last year.” Violence had forced the closure of schools and health facilities in the south, it said. It was also hindering vital development projects. Drought and higher food prices meanwhile put more than four million Afghans in “extremely difficult circumstances”, especially young children and breastfeeding or pregnant woman. “Increasing and spreading insecurity is jeopardising the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance to these people and threatening their lives and livelihoods.” ACBAR called on all parties to the conflict to prioritise the safety of civilians and observe “fundamental standards of humanity” and “the established international laws of armed conflict.” This included distinguishing between civilians and combatants; never using civilians as a shield; not attacking humanitarian, development and medical personnel or supplies. ACBAR also called for an end to hostage taking and said military raids should be conducted with proportionate force, with speedy compensation for civilians who suffered as a result. Source: The Australian
 By Yadid Berman The terrorists who perpetrated Monday's suicide bombing in Dimona were glorified in three newspapers controlled by the Palestinian Authority, including the official Al-Hayat al-Jadida which is controlled by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Media Watch reported Wednesday. "The perpetrators of the operation died as shahids ... an Israeli was killed and eleven were wounded in the Dimona operation," Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on February 5. The Palestinian dailies Al-Iyam and Al-Quds also defined the bombers as glorious martyrs, or shahids. The Palestinian media's description of the terrorists as shahids, granting them Islam's highest honor, clearly contradicts Abbas's condemnation of the terror attack. According to Islam, a shahid is a person who dies a "holy death" for allah and is conceived as a hero and role model in Palestinian society, specifically for Palestinian youths. Also described as shahids in the Palestinian media were two Palestinians who attempted to murder Israelis in Kfar Etzyon's Makor Haim High School several weeks ago. Although terrorists have always been defined as shahids in Palestinian society, the latest report is particularly disturbing since it demonstrates that while Israel and the PA are attempting to renew peace negotiations, the PA is continuing to honor terrorists. Source: Jerusalem PostAl-Hayat al-Jadida, Al-Iyam and Al-Quds
Latest recipients of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 Muslims Against Sharia call on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to shut down Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Al-Iyam and Al-Quds as terrorist mouthpieces that glorify homicide bombings. Failure to do so will show that Palestinian Authority's quest for peace is nothing more than empty words.Update: PA Sees Dimona Terrorists as Holy Martyrs
 Hate preacher Omar Bakri, who is barred from Britain, is calling on Brits to boycott Christmas. Using the internet to post a rant against the festive season, Bakri claims Christmas should be "completely forbidden". In another chilling post the radical cleric said Christmas Day would be the perfect day to launch a terror attack on the UK. He said: "To have Christmas tree, visit so-called Christmas Father - that is completely forbidden. "Make sure you do not watch TV. Do not let them hear jingle bells. Do not send your children on Christmas trip." Bakri's previous vile rants included his belief that the British public and the Government were responsible for the 7/7 London bombings. In 2005 he was excluded by the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke from returning to Britain. The move came after Bakri reportedly said he had left Britain for good and intended to set up home in the Lebanon. He was duly arrested by Lebanese security forces. Bakri, 46, was the London-based spiritual leader of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun while claiming benefits from social services. Although the group had supposedly disbanded, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that its successor organisation would be outlawed. The Syrian-born preacher moved to the UK in 1985 after being deported from Saudi Arabia because of his membership of a banned group there. In 1996 he created Al-Muhajiroun (The Eyes and Ears of the Muslims), which praised the 'Magnificent 19' hijackers after September 11. In October 2004, he announced he was disbanding Al-Muhajiroun in the interests of "unity in the Muslim world". But soon afterwards he led a demonstration outside the US Embassy in London in which protesters chanted the name of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and torched an American flag. Bakri has seven children who were born in the UK and relied on benefits for the past 19 years. He has been told he will almost certainyl never be able to re-enter the UK, despite his wife and six of his children still living in north London. Source: Daily MailH/T: Dhimmi Watch
By Patrick Poole The establishment media is seemingly obsessed with “grim milestones” in the War on Terror, as the Associated Press reminds us this past weekend. But in the next week those same establishment media outlets will probably stand mute when yet another “grim milestone” is reached – the 10,000th attack by Islamic terrorists and militants since 9/11, which is responsible for approximately 60,000 dead and 90,000 injured. The chronicler of this bloody tally is Glen Reinsford, editor of TheReligionofPeace.com, who began compiling and updating daily a detailed list of reported incidents of violence and terrorism around the world targeting non-Muslims and Muslims alike. Because of space limitations he only posts the past two months worth of attacks on his websites main page, though he has archived all of the incidents from past years (2001-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). He also maintains a banner graphic with the updated number of attacks, which people can post on their own websites. When asked what prompted him to begin such a labor-intensive undertaking, Reinsford identifies the tepid response to Islamic terrorism by otherwise outspoken Muslim groups, with one organization particularly in mind: The Council on American-Islamic Relations. After 9/11, I kept an eye on them and was quite disgusted by their lack of moral perspective. They complain about issues that affect Muslims which are quite trivial, on average, compared to what is happening in the name of their religion. They do occasionally denounce terror in a general, somewhat ambiguous, sense but there is an obvious lack of passion. Their real interest is themselves. Reviewing the list of recent incidents, it is surprising how many “smaller” attacks occur daily, which the establishment media pass with only a casual mention. While high profile attacks, like the one last week in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan that killed 75 and wounded at least 100 (many of them school children), receive plenty of attention, smaller incidents, such as the attack last week on a hotel in Baramulla, India that killed one, rarely register with the Western media. Because Reinsford relies on the establishment media for his numbers, the true number of attacks and their victims are underreported: In my case, I use published media reports from reputable sources on the Internet, such as the Associated Press. None of the information comes from rumor or word of mouth. Every bit of it can be verified through publicly-available sources. If anything, I undercount the attacks. In his explanation of his methodology, he notes that he doesn’t include combat-related statistics, and acknowledges that the death toll may increase in the days and months following the attack as victims die from their injuries, which almost never get reported. The list also doesn’t account for the genocide in Darfur committed by the Islamist government in Sudan and their Janjaweed marauding militias, which the UN estimated last year had resulted in 400,000 dead and 2 million displaced. With such seemingly incomprehensible carnage, I ask Reinsford if there were any particular incidents that stand out, and he identified three (qualifying that he could easily identify 15 more): • Nadimarg, India (3/23/03), dozens of Hindu villagers roused out of their beds and machine-gunned by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) Islamists. • Beslan, Russia (9/3/04), some 350 people slaughtered by Islamic militants - half of them children. • Malatya, Turkey (4/18/07), three Christian Bible distributors are tied up, tortured for hours then gruesomely murdered by men who acted explicitly in the name of Islam. For me, a September 2006 Washington Post article stands out concerning an attack targeting Shi’ite women and children stands out, when a Sunni suicide bomber detonated a kerosene fuel bomb filled with ball bearings (for added effect) ripped through a crowd waiting in line to buy fuel. The Post described the horrific scene: The horrific blast sent women engulfed in flames screaming through the streets. Two preteen girls embraced each other as they burned to death, witnesses said. Later, wailing mourners thronged the scene of the blast, which was strewn with the shoes of victims and a woman's bloodied cloak, and voiced doubt that the reprisal violence would ever end. While many Muslim organizations in the West expend considerable effort portraying themselves as victims of Western “Islamophobia”, very little is said by those groups about the fact that many of the countless victims of Islamic terrorism are Muslims themselves. There are certainly no public protests by organizations like CAIR in recognition of those Muslims murdered and maimed by Muslims, though they are quick to cite the number of civilians accidentally killed by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan (though Reinsford notes that while 225 Iraqis were killed in collateral damage incidents in 2006, there were 16,791 Iraqi civilians killed by Islamic terrorists that same year). Reinsford says that the skewed perspective of ignoring the toll Islamic terrorism takes on Muslims stems from a failure by Muslim leaders to recognize the glaring problems that are resident in the heart of their own community: Yes, most of the victims of Islamic terror are Muslim, yet there is very little outrage on the part of the Islamic world to terror, relative to, say, a Muhammad cartoon or an "insult to Islam" by a public figure. What does this tell us about the priorities of Islam? In fact, sympathies for terrorists run much higher than many people realize. Even those that do truly disagree with violence (and there are many) somehow avoid taking any sort of responsibility for ending it by convincing themselves that it has nothing to do with Islam. Obviously it has everything to do with Islam, and the unwillingness on the part of Muslims in the West to provide moral leadership against Islamic extremism will ensure that the terror continues for a long time. With some of the biggest figures in the Islamic religious establishment preaching jihad beamed around the globe on Islamic satellite networks, and countless websites offering jihadist tracts, YouTube hosting a veritable smorgasbord of videos documenting terrorist incidents, and Internet forums dedicated to networking would-be jihadists and encouraging violence, it might be that Islamic extremists are a minority, but they clearly have dominated the conversation. And it is doubtful that the situation will change as long as that remains the case. Fortunately, there are some Islamic leaders willing to speak out consistently and forcefully against Islamic extremism and the non-stop acts of terrorism, but the establishment media rarely gives them notice, let alone a hearing, preferring instead the cacophony of CAIR and those extremists who offer weak condemnations of terrorism, yet defending its justification and denying its true causes. Meanwhile, the deadly toll continues to roll unnoticed by the establishment media. But Glen Reinsford is still there continuing his grim task keeping us all aware of how pervasive and unrelenting the problem of Islamic terrorism really is. Source: FrontPage MagazineH/T: The Intelligence Summit
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