Archive for the ‘Attacks’ Category
U.S. terrorism report finds Al Qaeda attacks rose in Pakistan – Los Angeles Times
Posted on: May 1, 2008
The State Department’s annual report says the group killed four times as many people last year from its haven in a tribal area.
Al Qaeda used a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas to double the number of attacks in that country and kill four times as many people there in 2007, says a State Department report to Congress released Wednesday.
At a news briefing, Ambassador Dell L. Dailey, the State Department’s top counter-terrorism official, stopped short of blaming Pakistan for the increase and said the terrorist network was “weaker now than it was at the 9/11 time frame.”
The annual terrorism report itself, however, says that a primary reason for the terrorist network’s resurgence is a much-criticized cease-fire last year between the Pakistani federal government and tribal leaders beyond its authority near the border with Afghanistan. The agreement enabled Al Qaeda to more freely travel, train and plan attacks around the world, the report says.
Overall, there were nearly the same number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2007 as the year before — about 14,500. But many more people were killed, especially as the number of suicide bombers rose, says the 312-page report, which is required by Congress and compiled using statistics from the National Counterterrorism Center.
Suicide bombings worldwide were up about 50%. Attackers have shifted their tactics, more often traveling on foot and using explosives-laden backpacks to strike in crowded areas rather than relying on vehicles that could be deterred by heightened security.
“I think it’s a fair statement that around the globe people are getting increasingly efficient at killing other people,” said Russell E. Travers, deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, at the news briefing.
One such attack in December in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, killed at least 20 people, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as she campaigned for elections.
Overall, an estimated 22,685 people were killed in terrorist attacks around the world in 2007, a 9% increase from 2006. The number of injured increased 15%, to 44,310, the report says. The numbers do not include military personnel on active duty or anyone working in an official capacity on behalf of the U.S. government.
As in previous years, the majority of terrorist attacks chronicled in the report occurred in Iraq. The number there dipped slightly in the last year, but still accounted for 60% of worldwide terrorism fatalities, including 17 of the 19 Americans killed, the report says. Two other Americans were killed in Afghanistan.
The report is considered to be the U.S. government’s benchmark in objective data on terrorist attacks, with some analysis on trends included to inform Congress and other policymakers, the American public and U.S. allies.
Attacks mark Baghdad anniversary
Posted on: April 9, 2008
- In: American | anniversary | Attacks | Baghdad | children | Iraq' | Petraeus
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At least six people have been killed in mortar attacks in Baghdad on the fifth anniversary of the city’s capture by American forces. The attacks, in the Sadr City district of the city, came as the capital observed a vehicle curfew. Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr had called for a mass anti-American rally, but cancelled it amid security concerns. It is five years since US troops pulled down a large statue of the late Saddam Hussein in the city centre. Witnesses and officials told the BBC that one mortar exploded at a funeral wake, killing one person and wounding unknown others. A second mortar landed on a building, killing five. Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and much of Iraq’s government, also came under mortar fire but there are no reports of injuries. Cars and motorcycles have been banned from the streets until midnight (2100 GMT), the Iraqi government said. People have been mostly staying at home, reports say. Clashes overnight in Sadr City between Iraqi and US forces and militiamen loyal to the cleric left at least 12 people dead, medical workers said. Fragile truce Moqtada Sadr had said that a one-million-strong protest was planned to mark the anniversary, but he called it off, saying he feared there could be bloodshed.
He also threatened to suspend a truce – credited with helping curb violence levels in Iraq since last year – by his powerful Mehdi Army militia. “If necessary the ceasefire will be lifted in order to implement our aims, ideology, religion, principles, nationhood,” a statement said. On Monday, Iraq’s prime minister threatened to exclude the radical Shia cleric’s movement from politics unless he disbanded the Mehdi Army. In recent weeks, Moqtada Sadr’s followers have clashed with Iraqi government troops and US forces in southern Iraq and Baghdad, as the government tried to crack down on militias. On Tuesday, the top US military leader in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, told US Congress that any progress recently made in Iraq were “fragile and is reversible”. He recommended a suspension of US troop withdrawals after July to protect security gains made during the Iraq “surge”, which saw an increase in US forces. After the planned “drawdown” of about 20,000 troops, there should be a 45-day “period of consolidation and evaluation”, Gen Petraeus said. |
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- In: Attacks | Boing boing | china | Civil Liberties | Civil Rights | Copyleft | Copyright | Eclectic | EFF | Mark | Planning | Suicide | Tibetans | Weird
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China on Tuesday accused “Tibet independence forces” of planning to use suicide squads to trigger bloody attacks — the lastest in a string of accusations that have taken aim at supporters of the Dalai Lama.
The prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile denied the claims, saying Tibetans are committed to a “nonviolent path.”
“To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks,” Public Security Bureau spokesman Wu Heping said Tuesday.
“They claimed that they fear neither bloodshed nor sacrifice,” Wu told a news conference.
Wu offered no firm evidence to support his claims.
Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama and his supporters of orchestrating anti-government riots in Lhasa last month as part of a campaign to sabotage the August Beijing Olympics and promote Tibetan independence.
The 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has denied the charge, condemning the violence and urging an independent international investigation into the unrest and its underlying causes.
Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche of Tibet’s exiled government reiterated that position Tuesday.
“There is no question of suicide attacks,” said Rinpoche. “There is absolutely no doubt in our mind that we want to follow the nonviolent path.”
Rinpoche said the Tibetan exile community fears the Chinese might “masquerade as Tibetans” and plan attacks to discredit the activists.
China’s campaign against the Dalai Lama has been underscored in recent days with showings of decades-old propaganda films on state television portraying Tibetan society as cruel and primitive before the 1950 invasion by communist troops.
The government has sought to portray life as fast returning to normal in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa — the scene of the deadliest violence — although its landmark Buddhist monasteries of Jokhang, Drepung and Sera were closed and surrounded by troops, tour operators said.
Monks from the three temples backed peaceful protests that broke out March 10 on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. The protests turned violent four days later and spread across a wide area of western China inhabited by Tibetans.
Beijing claims Tibet has been Chinese territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were essentially independent for much of that time.
China has ignored international calls for mediation and refuses to discuss accusations of discrimination, repression and economic disenfranchisement raised by the Dalai Lama and overseas supporters — as well as complaints over alleged shooting and other excesses in the ensuing crackdown.
Chinese state media has focused overwhelmingly on the victims of the violence in Tibet, releasing the names of 14 of the 18 civilians and one police officer it says were killed in the Lhasa riots. All but one were migrants from other parts of China, among the many who have flooded into the region in recent decades.
Xinhua has reported 12 were killed in arson attacks. The causes of death in two other cases were undetermined, and four bodies had yet to be identified.
Authorities earlier said three other people presumably jumped from windows to escape police.
Tibetan exiles say the toll from the violence plus the harsh crackdown afterward was much higher, leaving nearly 140 people dead.
A total of 414 suspects were in custody in connection with the March 14 riots, and another 298 people had voluntarily surrendered, state media quoted officials as saying.
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