Open Source Daily INTSUM: Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005

[Airbornelawyer]

From Various Sources:

Middle East

Security incidents in Iraq, Nov 29 (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29499127.htm) (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from Multi-National Force Iraq (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/).
Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from U.S. Central Command (http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp).
Up to 30,000 U.S. troops may quit Iraq in '06-Iraq official (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO953875.htm) "Iraq's national security adviser said on Tuesday that up to 30,000 U.S. troops could be withdrawn from Iraq early next year as the performance of local security forces improves.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Israeli, Palestinian forces clash in Bethlehem (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29572632.htm) "Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinian police during a raid into the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday and one bystander was wounded, Palestinian police said. Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinian police during a raid into the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday and one bystander was wounded, Palestinian police said. Most Palestinian police were banned by Israel from carrying weapons during an uprising that began in 2000, in which lines often blurred between security forces and militants. Israel has recently allowed Palestinian police to carry weapons in some occupied West Bank towns.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Two gendarmes held over bombing in Turkey (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29684701.htm) "Police have detained two members of the security forces implicated in a Nov. 9 bookshop bombing which triggered angry protests in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, their lawyer said. The two men are members of the gendarmerie, a paramilitary force responsible for security in rural areas. They were briefly detained on Nov. 9 but freed pending an investigation.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Norway withdrew soldiers from MNDCS (http://www.piomndcs.mil.pl/index.php?vhost=mndcs&akcja=news&id=539&limes=) "On 29th November 2005 Norwegian soldiers completed their mission within Multinational Division Central South in Iraq. The withdrawal of Norwegian Military Contingent from MNDCS is based on the decision taken some weeks ago by Norwegian government. The group of Norwegian officers served in MNDCS from September 2003 as logistic and CIMIC staff officers. In the meantime the total number of them changed from six on the beginning to four during last 4 months. During the farewell ceremony MNDCS Commanding general Piotr Czerwinski congratulated out coming Norwegian officers their outstanding service within MNDCS. From now MNDCS consist of 13 national contingents, including the following countries: Republic of Armenia, Republic of Bulgaria, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Mongolia, Republic of Poland, Republic of Romania, Republic of Salvador, Slovak Republic, Ukraine and the United States of America." (Source: Multinational Division Central-South (http://www.piomndcs.mil.pl/))
U.S. decimating foreign fighters (http://washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20051128-100829-2969r) "The U.S. is seeing significantly fewer foreign fighters on the battlefields of Iraq, because the coalition has killed or captured scores of terrorists in recent months and is doing a better job of securing the long border with Syria. But the U.S. military has noticed in recent weeks a willingness of young Iraqis to become suicide bombers, once the monopoly of ideologically driven foreign jihadists.…" (Source: Washington Times (http://washingtontimes.com))

South & Central Asia

Sri Lanka: Security Situation Report (http://www.army.lk/news/index.html). (Source: Sri Lanka Army (http://www.army.lk))
South Asia Terrorism Update (http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=11/29/2005) (Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (http://www.satp.org))
Bomb Blasts Hit 2 Bangladeshi Cities (http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-11-29-voa10.cfm) "In Bangladesh, bomb blasts in two cities have killed at least nine people and wounded more than 60 others. The attacks are the latest in a wave of bombings blamed on Muslim militants demanding the imposition of Islamic law in the country. Several bombs exploded outside a court in the port city of Chittagong and almost simultaneously a bomb exploded at a court library in Gazipur town, 30 kilometers north of the capital Dhaka. Police suspect suicide bombers carried out the attacks. They have stepped up security across the country.…" (Source: VOA (http://www.voanews.com))
Five tribal militants sentenced to death in Pakistan (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL126798.htm) "A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced five tribal militants to death for killing six people in an attack in southwestern Pakistan last year. The Baluch National Army (BNA), a shadowy militant group fighting for more autonomy for the resource-rich region, claimed responsibility for the attack at the time.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Suspected Taliban shoots dead policeman in Afghanistan (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\11\29\story_29-11-2005_pg4_6) "Suspected Taliban shot dead a policeman and wounded another in volatile southeastern Afghanistan, a district governor said on Monday, in the latest in a string of attacks on the country’s fledgling police force. The policemen were shot while on patrol late Sunday in Zabul province’s Mizan district, governor Mohammad Yunus said. Police detained 15 suspects afterwards. A police post in Logar province near the capital Kabul was meanwhile attacked by “terrorists” late Sunday but no one was killed in the ensuing gunfight, interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. A security sweep of the province also yielded 446 grenades for rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and 54.5 kilogrammes (nearly 120 pounds) of heroin and 45.5 kilogrammes of hashish, he said. The police in war-ravaged Afghanistan have been targets of unrest that is blamed on militants loyal to the ousted Taliban regime and other groups, some of them believed to be allied to drug lords." (Source: Daily Times, Pakistan (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk))
34 surrender in North Waziristan (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005/11/29/story_29-11-2005_pg1_7) "Thirty-four wanted “tribal militants”, including the general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman) in North Waziristan Agency, surrendered to the government on Monday after a peace deal was struck among elders, clerics and the civil administration.…" (Source: Daily Times, Pakistan (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk))

[Airbornelawyer]

East Asia & the Pacific

Communist rebels kill 5 Philippine troops, militia (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAN118993.htm) "Communist rebels launched fresh attacks in the Philippine countryside, killing five soldiers and militia members in two incidents, an army spokesman said on Tuesday. Major Gamal Hayudini said a team of militiamen was checking reports about the presence of armed men in a farming village in the town of Montevista on the southern island of Mindanao when about 30 communist guerrillas fired at them. Two militiamen were killed and two wounded in a 20-minute battle as army reinforcements arrived to pursue the rebels from the New People's Army (NPA), which is active in 69 of the country's 79 provinces.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))

The Americas

USSOUTHCOM Headline News (http://www.southcom.mil/pa/News/AOR%20News/Today's%20News.doc) (Microsoft Word format)
Venezuela, Spain Sign Billion-Dollar Military Deal (http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-11-28-voa53.cfm) "Venezuela is buying naval ships and transport aircraft worth more than $1.5 billion from Spain. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed the deal with Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono in Caracas Monday. Under the deal, Venezuela will receive ocean patrol boats, coastal patrol vessels, and maritime surveillance planes. Reuters news agency quotes a Venezuelan naval commander, Armando Laguna, as saying the equipment will delivered by 2010. Last week, the U.S. government threatened to block the transfer of U.S. parts and technology in the planes and boats included in the deal. Venezuela says it could get technology from other countries if need be. Venezuela has also signed deals this year for a Brazilian aircraft and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia to combat the drug trade along the border with Colombia." (Source: VOA (http://www.voanews.com))

Africa

ETHIOPIA: Four soldiers killed in landmine blast (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/4fa12f61d4aecf5af07d8747c568f1bc.htm) "Four Ethiopian soldiers were killed and three wounded last week when their vehicle hit a newly laid landmine near the border with Eritrea, UN officials said on Tuesday. The anti-tank mine was planted around 15 km south of the demilitarized buffer zone created to separate the two countries' armies following their 1998-2000 border dispute that has continued to cause tension between the Horn of Africa neighbours.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))

Europe

French police arrest six in terror probe (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29785213.htm) "French anti-terror police arrested six suspected radical Islamists on Tuesday, including a prison officer and a Muslim prison chaplain, the French prosecutor's office said. The police made the arrests in the port of St Malo in Brittany and in areas of western and central France as part of an inquiry launched last May.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))
Spanish court detains four Salafist suspects (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29345009.htm) "Spain's High Court has detained four people accused of financing an Algerian Islamic militant group linked to al Qaeda while the investigation continues, a court official said on Tuesday. Seven others from the group of 11 arrested last week were freed on bail during Monday's late night hearing and ordered to check in regularly with judicial authorities. The group was arrested in southern Spain and some are suspected of trying to buy explosives.…" (Source: Reuters (http://www.alertnet.org))

[Airbornelawyer]

From the RFE/RL Newsline (http://www.rferl.org/newsline/):

Russia
CHECHEN LEADER ANNOUNCES TALKS WITH UNNAMED RESISTANCE REPRESENTATIVES
Pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Alu Alkhanov told journalists in Grozny on 29 November he plans to meet "soon" in Brussels with unnamed representatives of the Chechen regime formerly headed by President Aslan Maskhadov, Russian media reported. Alkhanov affirmed that "the policy of reconciliation will be continued, and we are open [for talks with] those who want peace." But he ruled out including in the Brussels talks Akhmed Zakaev, whom he denounced as "a criminal," Interfax reported. Maskhadov's successor Abdul-Khalim Sadullaev in August named Zakaev as deputy chairman of the Chechen Council of Ministers and as his representative for peace talks. Zakaev for his part said in a statement posted 29 November on www.chechenpress.org that the legitimate Chechen leadership will not participate in any talks with those persons, including Alkhanov, whose official position in Chechnya depends on "Russian bayonets." "Alkhanov did not begin this war, he is not waging it, and it is not within his power to end it," Zakaev commented, adding that the resistance is "tirelessly seeking" to begin talks with Moscow with the aim of ending the conflict.

Transcaucasus and Central Asia
GEORGIAN PREMIER MEETS WITH NATO OFFICIALS
Zurab Noghaideli met in Brussels on 28 November with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who told him that while the alliance's doors "are open for Georgia," Georgia still has "a long, long way to go" in terms of implementing defense reforms before it will qualify for NATO membership, RFE/RL reported. De Hoop Scheffer declined to offer any specific date by which Tbilisi might receive a formal offer of NATO membership, but he said no third country (presumably Russia) would be empowered to impose a veto. Georgian Minister for European Integration Giorgi Baramidze predicted on 28 November that Georgia will be a full-fledged NATO member by late 2008, Caucasus Press reported, while President Mikheil Saakashvili similarly proclaimed on 24 November that Georgia will join NATO before his presidential term ends. Saakashvili was elected for a five-year term in January 2004.
VISITING TURKISH MILITARY DELEGATION UNVEILS AID TO KAZAKHSTAN
A visiting delegation of senior officers from the Turkish General Staff announced on 28 November a new $900,000 aid package for the Kazakh armed forces, "Kazakhstan Today" reported. In comments following a meeting in Astana with the visiting Turkish officers, senior officials from the Kazakh Defense Ministry reported that the Turkish military aid consists of unspecified "modern military equipment." The aid is the latest in a bilateral military-aid-and-training program with Turkey; it follows an earlier provision of more than $6 million in equipment to the Kazakh armed forces. The Turkish delegation also signed a similar bilateral agreement on military cooperation with neighboring Kyrgyzstan on 25 November.
UZBEK FUGITIVE ARRESTED IN SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN
A fugitive former Tashkent imam wanted in Uzbekistan on charges of Islamic extremism was arrested on 28 November in southern Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported. Ruhiddin Fakhriddinov had evaded arrest since 1998 and is accused of leading the Tashkent branch of the militant Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
AFGHAN SECURITY FORCES REPORTEDLY TO GET 'BILLIONS' IN U.S. AID
A senior U.S. military official said in Kabul on 28 November that the United States will provide "billions" of dollars in aid for reform of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) over the next two years, Xinhua News Agency reported. "As far as [the] fund issue is concerned, [the] U.S. will spend billions of U.S. dollars on the reform of ANA and ANP," the agency quoted Chief of Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan Major General John Brennan as telling reporters. "In the past one year, over $1 billion have been put in the reform of ANA and ANP, and we anticipate the process to continue for a couple of years." Coalition forces have trained more than 26,900 ANA soldiers since May 2002; another 3,250 are currently in training. "We have built a central training facility and seven regional training centers," Brennan said. "In about six to nine months, 50 to 60 percent of the police will be equipped with communication equipment and vehicles. Besides that, we also have the future five-year plan of constructing or refurbishing all the police facilities."
AFGHANISTAN PROMISES FURTHER DISARMAMENT
The Afghan government has threatened to forcibly disarm police and other officials who possess illegal arsenals, AFP reported on 28 November. "District chiefs, police commanders, and others who work in government posts still have illegal weapons," Disarmament and Reintegration Commission representative Mirzada Bakhtbeg said. The Interior Ministry's counterterrorism chief, Manan Farahi, said, according to AFP, "If they don't disarm, the government will use force to disarm them." Afghanistan this year launched the second phase of a UN-backed disarmament program called the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups, which targets militia leaders and armed bands who have so far refused to relinquish their weapons. Farahi said most of the known illegal weapons are in the hands of warlords operating in northern Afghanistan, an area that has been largely unaffected by the neo-Taliban insurgency.
SUNNI LEADERS, BODYGUARD KILLED IN BAGHDAD
Two Sunni Arab leaders were gunned down along with a bodyguard in Baghdad on 28 November, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reported on 29 November. Iyad al-Azzi and Ali Husayn were both members of the Iraqi Islamic Party; al-Azzi was a candidate in the December National Assembly election.