Sunday, February 12, 2012

7 insurgents killed in Afghan and NATO operations

Officials in the ministry of interior affairs following a press release announced, at least 7 militants were killed and 18 others were detained following a joint military operation by Afghan and NATO-led International coalition security forces during the past 24 hours.

The source further added, the militants were killed and detained during 9 joint military operations which were conducted at Kabul, Helmand, Ghazni, Khost, Uruzgan, Paktia and Herat provinces of Afghanistan.

Afghan interior ministry officials following the press release also added, Afghan and NATO forces seized some weapons and ammunitions during the military operations.

This comes as the joint military forces have recently doubled their military operations to crackdown militants across the country.

Taliban militants group fighting the Afghan government and international coalition security forces yet to comment regarding the military operations.

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2 Afghan police killed in clashes with Taliban at Jowzjan

Districts of Jowzjan.
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According to local authorities in northern Afghanistan, at least 2 Afghan police service members were killed following armed clashes with the Taliban militants in northern Jowzjan province.

The officials further added, the incident took place while Taliban militants were forcing the residents of Qoyandi Turkmeniye village at Menga Jek district of northern Jowzjan province to collect money from them.

Heavy clashes were reported between the Taliban militants and Afghan police after the local residents complained of the Taliban militants action to provincial police forces.

According to reports at least 2 Afghan police service members were reported killed during the clashes.

A spokesman for the Taliban militants group confirming the clashes said 2 Afghan police members were killed during the clashes.

However local security officials did not provide further details regarding the exact number of the militants and Afghan police casualties.

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Al-Qaida's Yemen wing executes three members for "spying"

العربية: خريطة اليمن. Dansk: Adens beliggenhed...
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ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three members of the al-Qaida wing in Yemen, including two Saudis and one Yemeni, were "executed " publicly in south Yemen for collaborating with the Yemeni army and providing information for intelligence agencies, sources and local residents said Sunday.

Al-Qaida militants accused the three of collaborating with the Yemeni army forces and providing intelligence agencies of the United States and Saudi Arabia with information, and shot them dead publicly at dawn in Jaar city of Yemen's southern province of Abyan, a stronghold of the terrorists, a source close to the militants told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"The implementation of the penalty came after they had confessed of attaching espionage devices to a number of vehicles of the terrorist group leaders, who were killed early this month in air strikes," the source said.

"The espionage cards played an important role and helped the U. S. drones in determining the positions of the al-Qaida leaders," he added.

Since late January 2011, when protests erupted against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, the militants of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have been working to bolster their presence in the country's remote regions.

The AQAP group has taken control of several cities and towns across the restive southern provinces, as the Yemeni government forces engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists during the past months, leaving hundreds of people killed.

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Would-be child suicide bomber released in Kabul, re-captured in Kandahar

Three detained terrorists and two young would-be suicide bombers stand with their explosive material after they were captured in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Feb. 12, 2012. Security forces have arrested five Taliban insurgents including a woule-be child suicide bomber who was set free in Kabul months ago, the department of National Directorate for Security (NDS) said in Kandahar on Sunday. (Xinhua/Arghand)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Security forces have arrested five Taliban insurgents including a would-be suicide bomber child who was set free in Kabul months ago, the department of National Directorate for Security (NDS) said in Kandahar on Sunday.

"We have arrested five rebels including three armed Taliban rebels and two suicide bomber children," an official with the NDS department or intelligence agency told newsmen here.

He also showed the arrested men including the two would-be suicide bomber teens to the journalists. However, he did not reveal his name nor the exact date of the arrest of the insurgents.

"Taliban recruited me last year to target foreign troops but police arrested me and President Karzai set me free and sent to an orphanage in Kabul. After passing sometimes there, I managed to flee and tried to target foreign forces again but again I was captured," 10-year-old Azizullah told newsmen.

He also said that he is from Paktia's provincial capital Gardez city. Talking about his relations with Taliban, the boy said, "Some Taliban last year, one day strapped a vest with some electric wires around my body and told me to press the button when you meet foreign soldiers on the streets or bazaar."

"By pressing the button several soldiers will be killed and then you return home," Azizullah further said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had ordered the release of some 20 would-be suicide bomber children ranging between 8 to 17 years old in August 2011.

Another child who introduced himself Nasibullah also in talks with journalists said that Taliban militants had recruited him to target American forces.

"I along my family used to live in Pishin area of Balouchistan, Pakistan and used to study in a Madressa (religious school) there. One day Taliban recruited me and took me to Afghanistan. They provided training to me in Band-e-Timor area of Miwand district and after few days they took me to a road and told me to detonate whenever the foreign soldiers passing the road and then return home," Nasibullah, 11 told newsmen.

Taliban militants who staged a violent comeback in 2006 and fighting Afghan and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan have been largely relying on suicide attacks and roadside bombings.

The remaining three adult captured men also in talks with the journalists confirmed to their link with Taliban outfit.



Three detained terrorists and two young would-be suicide bombers stand with their explosive material after they were captured in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Feb. 12, 2012. Security forces have arrested five Taliban insurgents including a woule-be child suicide bomber who was set free in Kabul months ago, the department of National Directorate for Security (NDS) said in Kandahar on Sunday. (Xinhua/Arghand)
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Four killed in Afghanistan chopper crash

Map of Afghanistan with Zabol highlighted
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Four people were killed in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province Sunday after their contract helicopter for NATO-led forces crashed, a senior official said.

"A contract helicopter, which was transporting goods for international forces, crashed Sunday morning in Shinkay district of Zabul province," Xinhua quoted deputy provincial governor Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar as saying.

All four crew were killed in the incident, he said

All the victims were foreign nationals, possibly from Tajikistan, the provincial governor said citing initial reports.

Rasoulyar said the chopper crashed near a foreign military base in the province, 340 km south of capital city of Kabul.

He said that a technical failure could be the reason for the crash since the weather was poor in the area when the incident happened.
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Wanted IMU leader urges attacks in Germany


Mounir-Chouka-Abu-Adam.jpg
Abu Adam (a.k.a. Mounir Chouka), a German citizen who fights with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Photo from the SITE Intelligence Group.


A German citizen who serves as a leader in the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and is linked to al Qaeda has urged jihadists to conduct attacks in Germany.

Mounir Chouka, who is also known as Abu Adam al Almani ("the German"), said that "jihad in Germany is only a matter of time," in a video released on jihadist web forums on Feb. 9 by Jundallah Studio, the propaganda arm of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The video, which supposedly was created on Dec. 13, 2011 in Waziristan, was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

In the video, Mounir claimed that Germany has publicly criticized the US while secretly supporting rendition of al Qaeda operatives to foreign governments for interrogations and "torture."
"It is in the interest of the Americans to have the German media display them as the big criminal, because the Germans can continue their secret work," he claimed.

Mounir claimed that the German government was deceiving its citizens on the scale of Nazi Germany's extermination of the Jews in World War II.

"After the fall of Hitler's regime, many, or rather, most of the German people, were shocked how that [the Holocaust] could happen in such a short period of time. It is a shock that is still visible until this day, and it is shown in the memorials erected for the Jews in every large city," he said.

He also accused the Germans of working with the Uzbek government to interrogate the "mujahideen."

"As the German mujahideen, along with their Uzbek brothers here in Afghanistan and Pakistan, raise high the flag of jihad, the Germans cooperate with the tyrannical dictators like Karimov in Uzbekistan and sit together at a table, and the German secret service interrogate the mujahideen of the IMU in Uzbek prisons and forget about human rights under the tyranny," he said.

Mounir then accused the Germans of aiding the US to kill Germans in drone strikes, and said the German Army is in Afghanistan to kill Muslims. He cited the Sept. 2008 airstrike in Kunduz that killed scores of Taliban fighters and civilians.

"Let me ask you something else: what would you do if someone followed the example of the military attack in Kunduz on 14 September 2008, and came to German soil and killed dozens of people? What would you do?! For us, Islam doesn't allow that. The question of jihad in Germany is only a matter of time."

He said that "the target is the German politicians and the executives who work for the Jews in the background. Allah willing, there must also be a series of attacks against the people also, because attacks in Germany are a type of revenge and reaction."

Mounir is not the first German citizen to use jihadist media outlets to issue propaganda threatening to carry out attacks in Germany. In 2009, Bekkay Harrach, who was also known as Al Hafidh Abu Talha al Almani, warned that Germany would suffer an attack if Chancellor Angela Merkel was reelected. Harrach worked with both al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan along the Afghan-Pakistani border before he was killed while leading an assault on Bagram Air Base in 2010.

The Choukas, brothers in jihad

Mounir and his brother Yassin, also known as Abu Ibrahim, were added late last month to the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for serving as "fighters, recruiters, facilitators and propagandists for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," which in itself is on the list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The two brothers "carry out operations as members of the IMU along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border" and "are also senior members of Jundallah Media, the IMU's media production arm."
As senior leaders in Jundallah Media, the Chouka brothers have released numerous propaganda and martyrdom statements. According to State, Monir said the IMU was behind the deadly Oct. 29, 2011 suicide attack that targeted an armored bus in Kabul. Five Americans, a Canadian, eight ISAF civilian employees, three Afghan civilians, and a policeman were killed in the attack.

Mounir also said that the IMU was involved in the May 19, 2010 suicide assault on Bagram Air Base. One US soldier was killed in the attack. According to the IMU propaganda tape, the Bagram assault was launched "in coordination and cooperation with other jihadi groups," and the assault team included "Turks, Tajiks, Arabs, Pashtuns, and Afghans." Bekkay Harrach is thought to have been killed while leading the assault on Bagram. Harrach led a team of 20 fighters made up from the ranks of al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to a previous statement released by the IMU. The various terrorist groups carry out military operations in

Afghanistan and Pakistan under the aegis of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army [for more information, see LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army'].
Abu-Ibrahim-al-Almani.JPG
Abu Ibrahim al Almani, from an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan propaganda tape.

Yassin, Mounir's brother, has also released propaganda for the IMU. In February 2011, Yassin published a report that described his travels from Europe to Pakistan, which included a stop in Yemen and several meetings with Anwar al Awlaki, the wanted American-born terrorist who served as a senior ideologue and operational commander for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula before he was killed in a Predator strike.

In June 2011, Yassin announced the death of "Abdullah from Essen," a German citizen from Afghanistan who was known as Miqdad. The German was killed while fighting US forces in northern Afghanistan, according to Yassin.

One of the brothers was rumored to have been wounded in a US drone strike. In August 2011, the Victorious Sect, a terror group with ties to the IMU, issued a statement indicating that Mounir may have been wounded in a US Predator airstrike along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The report was never confirmed.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/02/wanted_imu_leader_ur.php#ixzz1mApUg9vC
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Two Afghan interpreters detained in Bagram airfield

English: A view of Bagram Airfield, Afghanista...
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International coalition security forces arrested two Afghan interpreters in Bagram airbase who were working for South Korean troops.

The Afghan interpreters are accused of having links with the militants groups and were detained along with the destructive equipments.

An official in Bagram airfield speaking on a condition of anonymity said, the two interpreters were the residents of Bagram district.

The officials did not disclose further information regarding the equipments but said that the seized equipments could endanger the security of Bagram airfield.

The officials also prevented to disclose the identities of the detained Afghan interpreters.

Afghan security officials in Bagram district also confirmed the reports and said, the detained suspects were working as interpreters for South Korean troops in Bagram airfield.

District police chief for Bagram Abdul Hafiz Motawakil said, the two detained Afghan interpreters are being questioned and detained by International coalition security forces.

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