Cult leader and 200 others killed: Iraqi officials

 

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - The leader of a messianic Muslim cult was killed with 200 or more followers during a day-long onslaught by U.S. and Iraqi forces on their camp near the holy city of Najaf, Iraqi officials said on Monday.

They accused him of making a claiming to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, and said his uniformed “Soldiers of Heaven” had planned to massacre top Shi’ite clerics during a major religious holiday on Monday and had to be stopped.

No account was available from the group targeted in one of the strangest episodes in four years of conflict.

Read more here: today.reuters.com

Israel should bomb Gaza quickly, Palestinian blogger says

Eilat suicide bombing prompts journalist Fadi Abu Sada to publish blog on Palestinian News Network; Abu Sada says, ‘If Israel attacks houses in Gaza and attempts to target the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, this would be the only solution to stop the fighting’

Following the suicide bombing in Eilat Monday, Palestinian journalist Fadi Abu Sada offered his two cents on the attack and the infighting in Gaza through his blog on Palestinian News Network :

“Israel poising to respond on Eilat attack, it could be by the aerial bombardment and artillery, or perhaps they will try to assassinate Palestinian resistance leaders, what a ironically, we really want that to happen quickly, it might be the only solution to stop the bloody fighting between brothers in the Gaza Strip.

“They said that the shedding of Palestinian blood is a red line, which has happened to them, the Red waldem become everywhere in the streets, hospitals and houses of Gaza, what remains of taboos that they talked about!

Read more here: ynetnews.com

Suicide bomber kills 3 in Israel’s Eilat resort

EILAT, Israel (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed three people in a bakery in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, one of Israel’s most popular holiday spots, in the first such attack in the Jewish state in nine months, police said.

Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the previously unknown “Army of Believers” claimed joint responsibility for the bombing.

The attack — the first time Eilat has been hit by a suicide bombing — came four days before the so-called Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators was to meet in Washington as part of a renewed effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Read more here: today.reuters.com

U.S., Iraqi forces kill 300 militants in Najaf

(Special Police commandos patrol a road in Baghdad January 29, 2007. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen)NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters)

- U.S. and Iraqi forces killed some 300 gunmen from an apocalyptic Muslim cult in a day-long battle involving U.S. tanks and aircraft near the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, Iraqi police, army and political sources said.

The U.S. military said on Monday it was an ongoing operation so it could not provide any details.

An Iraqi army source said U.S. forces took control of the operation on Sunday and bombing continued in the area until well after dawn on Monday, which was the climax of Ashura, the highpoint of the Shi’ite religious calendar.

Two Americans were killed, the U.S. military said on Sunday, when an attack helicopter went down during the battle that was one of the strangest incidents of the 4-year conflict. Iraqi officials said the helicopter seemed to have been shot down.

Police Colonel Ali Nomas said 300 to 350 gunmen had been killed in the operation and dozens more arrested. Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and six more missing, and five policemen were killed. Another 40 Iraqi police and soldiers were wounded.

According to one Iraqi political source, hundreds of fighters, drawn from both Sunni and Shi’ite communities, fought throughout Sunday and late into the night.

Read more Here: today.reuters.com

U.S., Afghan Forces Nab Five Terrorists Near Khost

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 28, 2007 – Coalition and Afghan forces arrested five individuals connected with a known terrorist sub-commander and weapons transporter during a raid at a compound near Khost city today, officials said.

Read more here: defenselink.mil

14 Enemy Fighters Killed, Dozens Nabbed in Recent Iraq Operations

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 14 terrorists and captured dozens of suspected insurgents during operations conducted in Iraq today and over the past week, officials said.

– Coalition troops nabbed 21 suspected terrorists, including a senior al Qaeda in Iraq courier, an improvised-explosive- device cell leader, and a foreign-fighter facilitator during operations across Iraq today.

– In Baghdad, coalition forces captured three individuals with ties to senior al Qaeda in Iraq leadership.

– During operations in Karmah, coalition troops captured 11 suspected terrorists, including a high-level al Qaeda courier who is a known associate of several senior al Qaeda in Iraq personnel. He also is known for assisting in the movement of senior al Qaeda agents in the region.

– Three suspected terrorists were detained in Ramadi, including the leader of an IED producing and emplacement cell.

Read more here: defenselink.mil

Report: Carter says too many Jews on Holocaust council

Former US president also rejected Christian historian because name sounds ‘too Jewish,’ council’s former executive director tells WND

Former US President Jimmy Carter once complained there were “too many Jews” on the government’s Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman, the council’s former executive director, told WND in an exclusive interview.

Freedman, who served on the council during Carter’s term as president, also revealed a noted Holocaust scholar who was a Presbyterian Christian was rejected from the council’s board by Carter’s office because the scholar’s name “sounded too Jewish.”

Read More here: ynetnews.com

Who Cares About The Military?

Camp Lejeune, N.C. — The Marines and their families here at this sprawling base on the Carolina coast didn’t have much to say about the president’s State of the Union address.

For many of them, his address the week before had been more important. It was then that they had learned that many more of them would be heading for Iraq — and that the “tour of duty” for those already there would be extended. But amazingly enough not one of them — despite Democrat bombast and mainstream media remonstrations to the contrary — expressed any anger at the commander in chief for the added sacrifice.

Read more By Lt. Col. Oliver North here

America Supports You: Group Plans Second ‘I Love America Day’

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2007 – With the help of an America Supports You member organization, Charlotte, N.C., will observe its second annual “I Love America Day” on March 19.

“Flags Across the Nation,” which promotes patriotism through the arts, is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program highlighting the ways Americans are supporting the nation’s servicemembers.

Eileen Schwartz, Flags Across the Nation’s founder, said she started the “I Love America Day” movement because more than two months pass before Memorial Day without a patriotic holiday and to start a tradition of honoring America and its troops in that period.

“Part of the reason for doing it was to see if there’s a way we can build our own history, … which honors the troops (and shows) appreciation for America,” Schwartz said. “Here’s a holiday that gives people the opportunity to make a significant difference.”

Read more here: defenselink.mil

Progress Quietly Proceeds in Afghanistan, General Says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2007 – More Afghan adults are employed; more of their children are attending school; and the Afghan government is expanding, the senior U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said today.

“The Taliban have not achieved any of their objectives in the last year,” Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76 and commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division, told reporters in the Pentagon via satellite connection from Afghanistan.

“By contrast, over the past year, U.S. forces and coalition partners have made great progress in the creation of a stable, secure and viable nation state in Afghanistan despite the Taliban’s attempt to impede that progress,” he said.

During a briefing on Afghanistan operations, Freakley discussed recent changes in the organizational structure of security operations. “In the past few months, we’ve experienced significant changes in Afghanistan,” he said. “On Oct. 6, Afghanistan completed its transition from the U.S.-led coalition to a NATO-led coalition headed by the International Security Assistance Force.

Read more here: defenselink.mil