Open Source INTSUM: Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005

[Airbornelawyer]

From various sources:

Recent Operations on the Euphrates (http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/10/recent_operatio.php). An overview of recent Marine, Army and Iraqi Army operations along the Euphrates to "drive al Qaeda, the most dangerous and violent element of the insurgency from the region; establish the security conditions to allow elections on the constitution [October 15] and the parliament [December 15]; and establish a permanent presence of Iraqi Army and police forces." (from Bill Roggio's blog, The Fourth Rail (http://billroggio.com/))

The Mortar War in Iraq (http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htart/articles/20051011.aspx) (from StrategyPage (http://www.strategypage.com))

Philippines denies Australia has joined JI hunt (http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/philippines-denies-australia-has-joined-ji-hunt/2005/10/11/1128796507682.html): The Philippines has denied that elite Australian troops have joined Filipino soldiers in hunting for Jemaah Islamiah militants. Philippines military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual said Australian security forces have only been involved in investigations into recent bomb attacks in the country, and the Philippine constitution bars any foreign troops from engaging in military operations. He was responding to reports in News Ltd newspapers, citing an unnamed former agent as saying that Australian agents and Special Air Service Regiment troops were cooperating with Filipino soldiers in the hunt for senior terrorist figures.

M1126 Strykers in Combat: Experiences & Lessons (http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2005/10/m1126-strykers-in-combat-experiences-lessons/index.php#orison_mc)

From the daily reports of Strategie & Technik, a German defense affairs journal: (with my rough translations)

Dagestan: Fünf islamische Extremisten getötet. Bei einem Feuergefecht in der dagestanischen Hauptstadt Machatschkala in Südrussland hat die Polizei fünf mutmaßliche islamische Extremisten erschossen. Bei dem Gefecht starb auch ein Polizist. In Dagestan, das neben Tschetschenien liegt, ist es seit einigen Monaten immer wieder zu Gefechten zwischen Sicherheitskräften und islamistischen Rebellen gekommen. (Dagestan: Five Islamist extremists killed. The police have shot five alleged Islamist extremists in a firefight in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala in south Russia. One policeman was also killed in the fight. In the past few months more fighting has occurred between security forces and Islamist rebels in Dagestan, which lies next to Chechnya.)

Dänemark: Irak-Einsatz fortsetzen. Dänemark will auch nach dem Tod eines Soldaten an seinem Einsatz im Irak festhalten. Wer nach einem Anschlag zu Zweifeln Anlass finde, stärke nur die Terroristen, sagte Dänemarks Regierungschef Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Dänemark hat im Südirak rund um Basra etwa 500 Soldaten stationiert. (Denmark: Iraq Mission to Continue. Denmark will hold fast to its mission in Iraq after the detah of a soldier. Whoever finds reason for doubt after an attack only strengthens the terrorists, stated Denmark's prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Denmark has some 500 soldiers stationed in south Iraq around Basra.)

Türkei: PKK kündigt Waffenstillstand. Die kurdische Untergrundorganisation PKK hat ihren einseitigen Waffenstillstand mit der Türkei aufgekündigt. Die Kurdenfrage hat die PKK zu einem Problem der gesamten EU erklärt. Mit dem Beginn der Beitrittsverhandlungen der Türkei zur EU sei das kurdische Problem nicht mehr ein türkisches, sondern ein grundsätzliches Problem der EU, hieß es aus PKK-Kreisen. (Turkey: PKK Announces Ceasefire. The Kurdish underground organization PKK has announced a unilateral ceasefire with Turkey. The PKK has declared the Kurdish question to be a problem for the entire EU. With the Turkey-EU accession talks, the Kurdish problem is no longer a Turkish, but a fundamental problem for the EU, it is said in PKK circles.)

[Airbornelawyer]

From the RFE/RL Newsline:

Russia

RUSSIA, INDIA BEGIN JOINT MILITARY EXERCISES. Russian Air Forces Commander General Vladimir Mikhailov announced on 9 October that three transport aircraft with soldiers from the Pskov-based 76th Airborne Division arrived in India for joint antiterrorist military exercises, which started on 10 October and will last until 20 October, ITAR-TASS reported. The exercises, which are being held in the Bay of Bengal, will also involve ships from Russia's Pacific Fleet. Meanwhile, speaking to journalists in Lisbon, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the recent South Asia earthquake has not affected the area where the exercises will take place and they will be held as planned, RIA-Novosti reported.

FOREIGN MINISTER: MOSCOW NOT OPPOSED TO U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE'S CENTRAL ASIA VISIT. Foreign Minister Lavrov said on 11 October that Moscow does not object to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's tour of Central Asia, Russian news agencies reported the same day. "There is no conflict of interests," Lavrov said in remarks reported by RIA-Novosti. He also said Russia favors cooperation with the United States and the West to fight terrorism in the former Soviet region, which Moscow has long viewed as its sphere of influence. Lavrov added, however, that these relations should be transparent. Rice's tour of Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan began on 10 October.

TRIAL OF SLAIN CHECHEN LEADER'S COMRADES-IN-ARMS OPENS, ADJOURNS. The trial began on 10 October in Chechnya's Supreme Court, and was immediately adjourned until 18 October, of four men apprehended in the house in Tolstoi-Yurt where the Russian military claims Chechen resistance leader and President Aslan Maskhadov was killed on 8 March, gazeta.ru reported. The four men include the owner of the house, Skanderbek Yusupov, and Maskhadov's nephew and bodyguard, Viskhan Khadjimuradov. They face charges ranging from unlawful possession of weapons and membership in illegal armed formations to organizing an armed insurrection. In a statement posted on 10 October on chechenpress.org, Isa Akhyadov, who is coordinator of the World Chechen Congress, linked Maskhadov's murder to his renewed offer several weeks earlier to begin negotiations on ending the war peacefully. Akhyadov further predicted that the trial is intended to substantiate official claims that Maskhadov was shot by his bodyguards rather than risk capture and trial. He implied that, broken by torture, the four defendants will confirm that scenario.

Transcaucasia And Central Asia

POLICE AGAIN USE FORCE TO DISPERSE AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS. Riot police intervened on 9 October to prevent supporters of the opposition Azadlyq bloc, the Liberal Party of Azerbaijan, and the National Unity movement gathering for pre-election rallies at several venues in Baku, Reuters and Azerbaijani media reported. The Baku municipal authorities withheld permission for the rallies, proposing that the opposition gather instead at alternative venues farther from the city center. Observers say the police acted with greater brutality on 9 October than when dispersing earlier opposition attempts to assemble on 25 September and 1 October. Dozens of people were injured, including up to 10 journalists; the online daily zerkalo.az noted on 11 October that police violated the Law on Police, which expressly prohibits hitting people on the head. The U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a statement deploring the police violence and appealed to Azadlyq members to "show restraint," zerkalo.az reported. The statement also called on opposition and authorities to resume the dialogue that began earlier this summer. Veteran human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov told day.az on 10 October the absence of such a dialogue contributes to further destabilization of the political situation in the runup to the 6 November parliamentary elections.

More here: http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav101005.shtml

AZERBAIJANIS DESERT FROM GEORGIAN ARMY. Georgian military police are investigating the circumstances that impelled 10 Azerbaijanis to desert from a Georgian military base at Dedoplistsqaro on 9 October, Georgian media reported on 10 October. The Azerbaijanis demanded a meeting with ombudsman Sozar Subar, and told him that they were routinely insulted by senior officers because they do not speak either Georgian or Russian. The Azerbaijanis further complained of poor food and said they have not been issued with warm winter uniforms. An army spokesman denied that the 10 men were subjected to physical violence.

KYRGYZ OFFICIAL DENIES UZBEK CLAIMS OF INSURGENT TRAINING. In a televised interview, senior Kyrgyz National Security Service official Azamat Shopokov strongly denied on 7 October recent Uzbek reports that "insurgents" responsible for the violent clashes in Andijon in May were trained in Kyrgyzstan, Osh TV reported. Shopokov also refuted allegations that arms were sent to the eastern Uzbek town of Andijon from Kyrgyzstan.

[Airbornelawyer]

More from the RFE/RL Newsline:

Southeastern Europe

EU LAUNCHES MONITORING MISSION ON MOLDOVAN-UKRAINIAN BORDER. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrey Stratan, and EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner signed a memorandum on 7 October on the launch of a two-year mission by European Commission monitors on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border beginning on 1 December, RFE/RL and Ukrainian and Moldovan news agencies reported. "What we will do is deploy a number of mobile teams, consisting of approximately 50 border guards and customs officials from EU member states, to the most relevant locations along the entire border, including the Transdniestrian segment," Ferrero-Waldner said at the Palanca checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border on 7 October. The EU teams will not operate on Transdniestrian territory. "We are sure this will make it possible to stop all smuggling activities, including trafficking in human beings, drugs, and arms, which take place along the Transdniestrian segment of the Moldova-Ukraine border," Stratan commented on the mission. Brussels will support the mission with 7 million euros ($8.4 million).

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East

18 AFGHAN POLICEMEN AMBUSHED, KILLED IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE. An Afghan National Police convoy was ambushed by unidentified attackers in Helmand Province on 10 October, resulting in the death of 18 officers, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammad Yosuf Astanikzai told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on 11 October. Helmand's deputy police chief, Amanullah Khan, was among those killed, Astanikzai added. Helmand is a hotbed of neo-Taliban activity.

ATTACK ON PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE INJURES MORE THAN A DOZEN IN WESTERN AFGHANISTAN. An explosive device injured 13 people in a private clinic of Saleh Mohammad Saljuqi in Herat city on 10 October, AFP reported. Saljuqi, who is a candidate for the lower house of the Afghan parliament, the People's Council, escaped unhurt. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

SUICIDE BOMBER WOUNDS FOUR BRITONS IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN. Four British customs officials were injured when a suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into theirs in Kandahar Province, AFP reported on 9 October. Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khaled told AFP that the attack was "the work of the enemies of Afghanistan." The neo-Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the British workers, AIP reported on 9 October. Neo-Taliban spokesman Mojahed told AIP that Mawlawi Akramuddin, a resident of the Arghandab district of Kandahar, carried out the suicide attack on behalf of the neo-Taliban.

PRO-GOVERNMENT COMMANDER AMONG FOUR KILLED IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN. Aqil Shah and three others died in an explosion in Kandahar on 10 October, AIP reported. Aqil Shah was an ally of the former Kandahar Governor Gol Agha Sherzai, who is currently the governor of Nangarhar Province. The neo-Taliban claimed responsibility for having killed Aqil Shah, AIP reported on 10 October. Mojahed told AIP that the "Taliban carried out" the explosion in Kandahar in order to kill Aqil Shah because he "was a pro-government commander."

SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS TWO IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN. A man blew himself up on 10 October in Kandahar, killing at least two other people, AFP reported. The bomber "who had explosives on his body exploded himself when police ordered him to stop," Kandahar Governor Khaled told reporters. According to Khaled, the remains of the attacker have indicated that he was not an Afghan.

IRAQI GOVERNMENT ISSUES SLEW OF WARRANTS FOR ALLEGED CORRUPTION. The Iraqi government issued arrest warrants for 27 high-level members of the former interim administration of Iyad Allawi -- including former Defense Minister Hazim al-Sha'lan -- for suspected involvement in the embezzlement of more than $1 billion, bbc.co.uk reported on 11 October. Adil al-Lami, who chairs the current government's transparency commission, said warrants have also been issued for the former ministers of transportation, electricity, labor, and housing, Al-Jazeera reported on 11 October. The National Assembly met on 10 October to discuss the lifting of al-Sha'lan's immunity from prosecution so that he might be extradited from Jordan, but no decision was reached, according to Al-Jazeera. London's "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" reported on 10 October that Jordanian authorities have banned al-Sha'lan from any political or media activities on Jordanian territory in light of the corruption scandal. Al-Sha'lan was expected to announce the establishment of a new political party this week, which he has reportedly named "The Parliament." Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher told the daily that Jordan has not yet received an official Iraqi request for al-Sha'lan's extradition.

GOVERNMENT DECLARES NATIONAL HOLIDAY. The Iraqi government declared a national holiday from 13-16 October as part of a security lockdown in connection with the constitutional referendum, RFI reported on 10 October. The holiday will be much like that imposed during the January elections; border crossings will be shut down, and airports will be closed to commercial passenger flights. Ministries and government offices will be closed, and extended curfew hours will be in place.