UN warns of possible civil war in Syria
Fresh clashes erupt in Tripoli
US opens a new aggressive approach to Haqqani network: Report
Suicide attack on Afghanistan US facility kills two
Yemen police kill 12 protesters, wound dozens: medics
Yemen says local al-Qaida chief, 6 others killed
US drone kills four militants in S Waziristan: Officials
Al Qaeda official killed in Yemen, pipeline blown up
Tunisia police teargas protesters
Iran supreme leader rejects 'absurd' US plot allegations
Iran to face toughest sanctions: Obama
Security firms eye Libya from Afghan quagmire
Deadly protests erupt in Yemen capital Sanaa
Afghanistan militants attack US base in Panjshir
Joysticks transform US warfare in Afghanistan
10 years on and time for peace in Afghanistan is running out
ATC rejects appeals of Aziz, Shahzad in Benazir
Yemen protesters urge UN to put Saleh on trial
Benazir murder case: Acquittal pleas of 2 police officers dismissed
Compiled By New Age
Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/awlaqi-son-among-militants-killed/d/5699
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Awlaqi son among militants killed in Yemen strikes: Tribe
15 Oct,2011
ADEN: A son of US-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi was among seven suspected militants killed in a trio of apparent US air strikes in Yemen, a member of his tribe said on Saturday.
“Abderrahman Anwar al-Awlaqi was killed in the raid,” the tribal source told AFP, adding that he had received confirmation from the militant-controlled Yemeni hospital where the dead and wounded from Friday evening’s strikes were taken.
Apart from Abderrahman, 21, the strikes also killed a cousin of Awlaqi and three other members of the Awlaqi tribe, the source said.
He said that the other three included Sarhan al-Qussa’a, brother of Fahd al-Qussa’a, a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula he said was on a US wanted list.
Awlaqi himself was killed in a US drone stike on September 30, which US President Barack Obama hailed as a “major blow” to al Qaeda worldwide.
US intelligence officials believe that Anwar al-Awlaqi was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on December 25, 2009.
He was also believed to be the leader of external operations of al Qaeda in the Arabian Pensinsula.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/274637/awlaqi-son-among-militants-killed-in-yemen-strikes-tribe/?print=true
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UN warns of possible civil war in Syria
15 Oct,2011
United Nations's Pillay calls for international action to protect Syrian civilians, says gov't repression of protesters could lead to civil war.
GENEVA - The United Nations top human rights official called on Friday for international action to protect Syria's civilians, saying its "ruthless repression" of anti-government protesters could drive the country into full-blown civil war.
The death toll in the pro-democracy demonstrations that began in March against President Bashar Assad now exceeds 3,000, including at least 187 children, Navi Pillay said in a statement. At least 100 people had been killed in the last 10 days alone.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=241735
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Fresh clashes erupt in Tripoli
15 Oct,2011
Gunfights broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli yesterday between dozens of supporters of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi and forces of the new government.
It was the first sign of armed resistance to the NTC in the city since its rebel brigades seized the capital and ended 42 years of one-man rule in August. Though the battles were small and casualties seemed light, it raised concerns the interim government could face an insurgency by Gaddafi loyalists.
Hundreds of National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters in pick-up trucks shouting "Allahu Akbar" careered toward the Abu Salim neighborhood, a center of support for Gaddafi and the two sides exchanged automatic and heavy machinegun fire.
Local people told a Reuters correspondent at the scene that a group of up to 50 armed men had appeared in Abu Salim earlier in the day and had chanted pro-Gaddafi slogans. NTC men said fighting also broke out in three other nearby neighborhoods.
"Gaddafi told them in a message last night to rise up after Friday prayers," said one NTC fighter, Abdullah. "That's why these few people have come out and are causing this problem."
The former leader has released a number of audio recordings calling on loyalists to fight back: "I urge all Libyan people to go out and march in their millions in all the squares, in all the cities and villages and oases," he said earlier this month.
"Go peacefully ... be courageous, rise up, go to the streets, raise our green flags to the skies."
NTC fighters dragged one man out of an apartment block in Abu Salim, a traditional bastion of support for Gaddafi. As he was kicked and punched, one of the NTC men plunged a knife into the prisoner's back. It was unclear if it was a fatal blow.
The captured man had been armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, said NTC fighters, whose forces have been criticized by human rights groups for their treatment of prisoners.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=206615
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US opens a new aggressive approach to Haqqani network: Report
15 Oct,2011
While keeping the option of targeted raids on top Haqqani leaders on the table, US administration has opened a new more aggressive approach towards the Afghan insurgent group, it asserts is supported by Pakistan government.
The part of the new strategy is to carry out more dense missile attacks near the Haqqani headquarters in the North Waziristan capital of Miranshah, a city rarely targeted in the past by American drones, Washington Post reported quoting senior Obama Administration officials.
The opening salvos of the new approach have already been launched in the form of intensified drone strikes over North Waziristan. The US drones have struck the area four time in three days, claiming a toll of 19 Haqqani insurgents, including a ranking member Janbaz Zadran alias Jamil.
Zadran was a lieutenant of Badruddin Haqqani, the brother of network chief Sirajuddin Haqqani and was in-charge of communications and logistics for the Haqqani network.
The decision to strike Miran Shah was made at a National Security Council meeting chaired by President Barack Obama two weeks ago and was intended to "send a signal" that the United States would no longer tolerate a safe haven for the most lethal enemy of US forces in Afghanistan, or Pakistan's backing for it, the post said quoting several US officials.
The strikes were made possible by focusing intelligence collection to "allow us to pursue certain priorities," the official said.
The senior Haqqani figure, Zadran, was selected along with other targets to "demonstrate how seriously we take the Miran Shah" threat.
Officials said military options debated at the September 29 meeting were set aside for now, including the possibility of a ground operation against Haqqani leaders similar to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.
Although the administration has left the raid option on the table, the potential negatives of such an operation — including the possible collapse of Pakistan's military leadership and civilian government — are seen as far outweighing its benefits.
Even as it cracks down on the Haqqani network, the White House has authorised more intensive reconciliation efforts with its leaders and those of other Afghan insurgent groups, leaving open a track initiated in August when US officials met in a Persian Gulf kingdom with Ibrahim Haqqani, the brother of the group's patriarch.
The meeting was arranged by Pakistan's intelligence chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who also attended, American officials said.
The Post said along with military options, the US was also pursuing a drive to enlist South and Central Asian countries, including China, to join and support an international reconciliation effort in Afghanistan.
With major international conferences on the war scheduled for November 2 in Istanbul and December 5 in Bonn, Germany, "what we want to do is provide an international basis of support for a political outcome in Afghanistan" that will match the military timeline adopted by NATO last November, the administration official said.
There has been widespread speculation that insurgent representatives may attend on the margins of either or both meetings, although "I wouldn't hazard a prediction at this point," the official said.
An additional outcome of the NSC meeting, officials said, was an order for various players — the Defence Department, the CIA, the State Department, and the White House itself — to stop sending mixed messages to Pakistan and others about the administration's war policies.
In a series of meetings with the national security team the following week, the White House reviewed long-standing options in Pakistan, ranging from outright attack to diplomacy, along with the likely ramifications of each, a process that culminated in the September 29 NSC meeting.
Obama had gradually lost faith in Pakistan and its weak civilian leadership, officials said. But the core goal of their efforts, the president reminded his team, was the elimination of Pakistan-based al-Qaeda. It was important, he warned them, that "nobody takes their eye off the ball."
Officials were instructed to calm European partners, telling them that while there would be more "edge”" to the administration's approach toward Pakistan, there would be no dramatic policy change, a European diplomat said. The Europeans, another said, were assured that no ground attack was in the offing.
Obama's national security adviser, Thomas E Donilon, conveyed administration resolve to Pakistani military chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani at a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia. The United States wanted a relationship with Pakistan, officials said Donilon told Kayani, but it also wanted the Haqqani attacks to stop.
Pakistani officials said Donilon offered Kayani three choices: kill the Haqqani leadership, help us kill them, or persuade them to join a peaceful, democratic Afghan government.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/198058/us-opens-aggressive-approach-haqqani.html
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Suicide attack on Afghanistan US facility kills two
15 Oct,2011
Isaf spokesman Christopher Pewitt confirmed the incident but had no record of fatalities. — File photo
KABUL: Two drivers were killed in a suicide attack on a US-run development base in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said Saturday.
The top policeman in Panjshir province, Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, said four suicide attackers had targeted the US Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) facility in the district of Rokha, leaving two guards also wounded.
He said the four attackers had approached the base, one inside a four-wheel drive vehicle and the others on foot.
For Full Report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/15/suicide-attack-on-afghanistan-us-facility-kills-two.html
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Yemen police kill 12 protesters, wound dozens: medics
15 Oct,2011
SANAA — Yemeni police shot dead 12 people and injured dozens of others on Saturday as they opened fire on demonstrators in Sanaa demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's resignation, medics said.
Security forces used live rounds as well as tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse hundreds of thousands of Saleh opponents trying to march on loyalist areas of the city centre from their Change Square stronghold, witnesses said.
The death toll went up to at least 12 according to several medics as bodies were taken to four different hospitals.
Doctor Mohammed al-Qubati, the coordinator at a field hospital in the square, said two bodies were brought to the facility, and many others wounded, including at least 30 hit by gunfire, while 10 were in serious condition.
One of those killed with a bullet to the head was taken earlier to the same field hospital, along with 90 injured demonstrators, medics said, adding that the casualty toll was only preliminary.
For Full Report:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h4IAr37xWIMnEAUXYhdkoyBRPLFg?docId=CNG.df12618f0e6aa1f07c616c66485fdd46.521
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Yemen says local al-Qaida chief, 6 others killed
15 Oct,2011
Yemen's Defense Ministry says the media chief for al-Qaida's Yemeni branch has been killed along with six other people in an airstrike.
The ministry said in a statement Saturday that Egyptian-born Ibrahim al-Bana and the six others were killed in the southeastern province of Shabwa on Friday night.
Security officials said the airstrike was among five that targeted al-Qaida positions in Shabwa. They said the airstrikes were carried out by U.S. aircraft.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/10/15/yemen-says-local-al-qaida-chief-6-others-killed.html
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US drone kills four militants in S Waziristan: Officials
15 Oct,2011
SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: A US drone strike targeting a militant compound in a Pakistani tribal region killed four rebels in the fourth attack in two days near the Afghan border, security officials said Saturday.
The drones fired eight missiles Friday night at the compound in Baghar, 40 kilometres west of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan tribal district, where the military launched a ground offensive two years ago.
“The strike killed four militants and wounded three others,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said the identities of those killed in the attack could not be immediately established.
Another security official confirmed the strike and said that the targeted compound was one of the few buildings used by mujahideen during the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union.
For Full Report:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/274594/us-missile-strike-kills-four-militants-officials/?print=true
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Al Qaeda official killed in Yemen, pipeline blown up
15 Oct,2011
The head of the media department of the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was killed in an air raid on militant outposts in Yemen and gunmen responded by blowing up a pipeline used to export gas, Yemeni officials and residents said on Saturday.
The Yemeni defence ministry said Ibrahim al-Banna, an Egyptian national, died in a raid by Yemeni war planes on militant positions in Shabwa province in southern Yemen late on Friday. Residents and local officials said they believed the raids were conducted by foreign aircraft. Unidentified assailants, believed to be militants, later blew up a gas pipeline.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/757517.aspx
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Tunisia police teargas protesters
15 Oct,2011
Police in Tunisia yesterday fired tear gas at hundreds of Islamists demonstrating in the capital, Tunis, reports said.
One of the protests took place outside a private TV station which has angered Islamists by screening an animated film which critics accuse of blasphemy for including an image of God.
It was the second rally outside the Nessma TV station in a week after it broadcast "Persepolis", which deals with Iran's 1979 revolution.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=206630
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Iran supreme leader rejects 'absurd' US plot allegations
15 Oct,2011
TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed Saturday US allegations of a Tehran-sponsored assassination plot as "absurd," in his first direct reaction to the claim.
"It's a meaningless and absurd accusation regarding a number of Iranians," he told a crowd in the western city of Gilangharb in a speech carried by state television.
"But it has not stuck and it will not stick," he said.
Khamenei said of the United States: "They say that they want to isolate Iran. They are the ones who are isolated."
For Full Report:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gY6-qz72DMUHaze9S3Jd55Ajv_hw?docId=CNG.df12618f0e6aa1f07c616c66485fdd46.4d1
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Iran will face toughest sanctions: Obama
15 Oct,2011
Washington : President Obama vowed late Thursday to push for what he called the “toughest sanctions” against Iran, saying that the US had strong evidence that Iranian officials were complicit in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US.
In his first public remarks on the assassination scheme, Obama sought to counter skepticism about whether Iran’s Islamic government directed an Iranian-American car salesman to engage with a Mexican drug cartel to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US and carry out other attacks. Obama insisted that US officials “know that he had direct links, was paid by, and directed by individuals in the Iranian government.”
“Now those facts are there for all to see,” Obama said. “We would not be bringing forward a case unless we knew exactly how to support all the allegations that are contained in the indictment.”
For Full Report:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/860108/
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Security firms eye Libya from Afghan quagmire
15 Oct,2011
In this file photo dated Friday, December 17, 2004, Afghan security police officers stand guard in front of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison's gate in Kabul. — Photo by AP
KABUL: Fed up with corruption, bureaucratic nightmares and government restrictions, Western security contractors are putting the 10-year war in Afghanistan behind them for the world’s latest hotspot, Libya.
Tony Johnson, general manager for Amtex Global Services at its Afghanistan headquarters in the southern province of Kandahar, is one of those keen to move, but says his company is still looking for viable Libyan contacts.
He’s worked all over the world and been in Afghanistan for two years, coinciding with the United States dramatically escalating its military presence in the fight against the Taliban and now, as it starts to lower troop numbers.
“Afghanistan — it’s just painful,” Johnson told AFP by telephone from the company’s main base next to the sprawling US-led Kandahar Air Field.
His firm does logistics and construction. They also have a charter aircraft company, a private security company and a risk consultancy, he says.
“It’s very difficult to make things move. Obviously the corruption plays a big part — I’m not just talking about money, but the bureaucratic system is so stupid, for want of a better word,” he said.
For Full Report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/13/security-firms-eye-libya-from-afghan-quagmire.html
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Deadly protests erupt in Yemen capital Sanaa
15 Oct,2011
Violent protests against Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh have again erupted in the capital Sanaa, with at least nine demonstrators killed and dozens hurt, doctors and officials say.
Tens of thousands marching to the city centre were met with live rounds, tear gas and water canon.
President Saleh has been battling eight months of street protests.
Separately, the media chief of militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was reportedly killed in an air strike.
Witnesses in Sanaa said protesters calling for the resignation of Mr Saleh were marching from their stronghold in Change Square to an area controlled by the elite Republican Guard force, which is loyal to the president.
Dozens of wounded were being taken by ambulances to a field hospital in Sixty Street.
Anti-government protesters have been camping there for months.
Mr Saleh has so far resisted calls from many Western countries to stand down, despite saying on several occasions he was prepared to do so.
On October 8 he said in a speech broadcast on state television: "I reject power and I will continue to reject it, and I will be leaving power in the coming days."
Mr Saleh returned to Yemen unexpectedly last month from Saudi Arabia, where he had been receiving treatment after his office was shelled in June.
For Full Report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15319980?print=true
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Afghanistan militants attack US base in Panjshir
15 Oct,2011
Militants have launched a suicide attack on a US base in eastern Afghanistan but failed to breach the outside gate.
The four militants were all killed in the attack on the base in the Rakha district of the Panjshir region, officials said.
There are unconfirmed reports two Afghan drivers were also killed.
The compound serves as the base for a provincial reconstruction team - a mix of military and civilian personnel.
The Taliban said they carried out the attack.
The militants struck the gate of the base with rocket-propelled grenades and detonated a vehicle containing explosives.
Two security guards were wounded.
For Full Report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15319862?print=true
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Joysticks transform US warfare in Afghanistan
15 Oct,2011
CROWS, in place in a number of US army trucks, significantly boosts troops' safety by removing the need for a gunner poking out of the vehicle. - AFP photo
COMBAT OUTPOST MONTI: In battle they take out Taliban fighters with joystick-controlled weapons, while back at base American soldiers hook up their Xboxes and kill their way through video games.
In Afghanistan, on and off-duty activities have become strikingly similar for US troops, as 21-year-old Specialist Tyler Sandusky can attest.
Out on missions in the rugged northeastern province of Kunar, Sandusky locates distant targets — day or night — with remarkable clarity on a video screen within a giant armoured truck.
For Full Report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/09/joysticks-transform-us-warfare-in-afghanistan.html
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10 years on and time for peace in Afghanistan is running out
15 Oct,2011
By Declan Walsh
US Marines from 1st Battalion 8th Marines watch a US Marine CH-53 helicopter drop flares as it leaves Musa Qala in Helmand province on December 14, 2010. – Herald File Photo
ISLAMABAD: Ten years ago, as the first American bombs fell on Afghanistan, a Pashtun tribal leader slipped across the Pakistani border riding a motorbike. He wore a loosely tied turban, was accompanied by three companions and carried a CIA-donated satellite phone. His name was Hamid Karzai.
US-backed militias were sweeping towards Kabul from the north; Karzai’s job was to help rout the Taliban in the south. Using his CIA phone he called in a team of US special forces soldiers, who swooped in by helicopter with weapons for another 300 fighters. Together, they pushed towards the Taliban’s spiritual home of Kandahar. Victory was at hand. But first, a momentous meeting.
For Full Report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/08/10-years-on-and-time-for-peace-in-afghanistan-is-running-out.html
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ATC rejects appeals of Aziz, Shahzad in Benazir
15 Oct,2011
RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) on Saturday rejected the appeals filed by former police chief of Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and former SP Rawal Town Khurram Shahzad for their effective exoneration from the Benazir Bhutto murder case, DawnNews reported.
Justice Shahid Rafiq heard the proceedings of the case in Adiyala Jail.
Aziz and Khurrum, in their appeals, had pleaded to the court that there were no sufficient proofs against them in the case and therefore they should be exonerated.
During the previous hearing, the court had reserved its verdict after hearing the arguments of the defence and prosecution lawyers with regard to the appeals.
Aziz and Shahzad have been accused of showing negligence in security arrangements for former premier Benazir Bhutto which resulted in her assassination at Liaquat Bagh.
Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, weeks after she returned to Pakistan after years in self-imposed exile.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/15/atc-rejects-appeals-of-aziz-shahzad-in-benazir-case.html
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Yemen protesters urge UN to put Saleh on trial
15 Oct,2011
Demonstrators on Friday called for the United Nations to intervene to put Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh on trial in the wake of a crackdown on anti-regime protests that has cost hundreds of lives.
‘We want the world to pass a resolution which defends the blood of the revolutionaries,’ protesters chanted at a huge gathering near ‘Change Square’ in central Sanaa that has become the epicentre of a campaign to oust Saleh.
The demonstrators, who protest organisers said numbered in the hundreds of thousands, called for the veteran leader to go on trial.
‘There will be no immunity... Saleh and his cronies must face trial,’ chanted the protesters, gathered after weekly Muslim prayers as on every Friday since the outbreak of their campaign in late January.
For Full Report:
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/36811.html
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Benazir murder case: Acquittal pleas of 2 police officers dismissed
15 Oct,2011
RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday dismissed acquittal pleas of two police officers accused of failing to provide adequate security to the slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and destroying vital evidences.
In their applications, former City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and former Superintendent of Police (SP) Khaurram Shahzad had maintained that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had accused them of providing inadequate security to the slain prime minister and for destroying material evidences.
However, they said they were being charged of terrorism, murder, attempt to murder and being part of criminal conspiracy.
They maintained that under the law, the charge of murder and terrorism could not be levelled against them since the investigation team had not provided any evidence to prove these allegations.
Aziz and Shahzad were present in court today along with seven other accused in the case.
ATC judge Shahid Rafique dismissed the acquittal plea and said the two officials will be charged. Charges will be framed on October 22.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and bomb attacks at an election rally at Liaqat Bagh on December 27, 2007.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/274616/benazir-murder-case-acquittal-pleas-of-2-police-officers-dismissed/?print=true
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/awlaqi-son-among-militants-killed/d/5699