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US military aircraft video feeds compromised
This morning, The Wall Street Journal broke the deeply disturbing news that insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan have the capability to monitor the video feeds from unmanned US observation and strike aircraft – the Predators and Reapers – using software that costs just $26. U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year when they apprehended a Shiite militant whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds. In July, the U.S. military found pirated drone video feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to conclude that militant groups trained and funded by Iran were regularly…
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Iraq
Insurgents killed a Christian and a store owner, and wounded a child during separate attacks in Mosul. A cleric in Fallujah averted an assassination attempted after security forces found a ‘sticky bomb’ attached his car. Iraqi troops arrested the leader of an al Qaeda cell known as the Aisha Battalion and three other terrorists during separate raids in Baghdad.
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Iraq
US reconstruction coming to an end
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Somalia
Two beheaded bodies were found in the central town of Galkayo. Shabaab issued an edict that suspended operations of the United Nations Agency Mine Action in Somalia. African Union peacekeepers arrested two government officials suspected of selling weapons to insurgents.
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Value of opium exports slumps says UN
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Afghanistan
McChrystal praises Canada™s Afghanistan contributions
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Al Qaeda Shadow Army commander killed in US strike
Zuhaib al Zahibi, “a well-known commander” in the Lashkar al Zil, was among the seven Arabs reportedly killed in the strike.
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Afghanistan
Security Council to tweak al Qaeda, Taliban sanctions
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Afghanistan
The Taliban killed five civilians in an IED attack in Kandahar, and wounded four civilians and four soldiers in a suicide attack in Uruzgan and four soldiers in an IED attack in Khost. US and Afghan forces detained several Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders, facilitators, and fighters in Paktia, Nangarhar, and Wardak. Afghanistan’s Attorney General released the list of the 15 most corrupt ministers.
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Yemen
Security forces claimed to have killed 34 al Qaeda fighters and detained 17 more during operations in Abyan in the South and in Arhab, north of the capital Sanaa. The Yemeni Air Force and ground forces struck training camps and hideouts after receiving intelligence that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula planned on carrying out eight suicide attacks.
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What Taliban ‘constructive proposal’?
Mainstream media (here and here) and some bloggers are looking at a new question: why is US President Obama ignoring the Taliban’s latest offer of a “legal guarantee if the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan”? For now, I’m staying with the “I’m not buying it” crowd. Why? Although the Dec. 8 statement on the Voice of Jihad’s English site looked at here suggests an offer has been made: Washington turns down the constructive proposal of the leadership of the Mujhideen…. and the Dec. 4 statement covered briefly here mentions this: The Afghans, particularly the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has no…
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Afghanistan
UN officials say American offered plan to replace Karzai
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Iraq
Insurgents hack US drones
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US kills 18 terrorists in two airstrikes in North Waziristan
Two insurgents were killed in Datta Khel and 16 more were killed in Degan and Ambor Shaga.
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Iran
Western nations condemned Iran’s latest ballistic missile test. President Ahmadinejad arrived in Denmark for the Copenhagen climate talks. An Iranian official called on Pakistan to detain the leader of Jundallah and extradite him to Iran.
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Al Qaeda
Qaeda, Taliban leaders in Pakistan: Mullen
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Iran
Iran’s missile test angers the West
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Pakistan
Security forces killed 27 Taliban fighters in Kurram, 22 in Arakzai, and six more in South Waziristan. One soldier was also killed in South Waziristan. The Taliban killed four concertgoers in Khyber, torched two fuel tankers in Dera Bugti, and fired rockets on Peshawar.
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Pakistan
Pakistan turmoil deepens as President Zardari faces corruption charges
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Al Qaeda
As thousands flee regime, Eritrea goes it alone
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Pakistan
Mullen tours reclaimed Pakistani province
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Thailand
Thais investigate destination of weapons cache
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan – Surge focus is roads, police
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Pakistani military continues offensives in Kurram, Arakzai
The Frontier Corps claimed 49 Taliban fighters were killed during battles in the tribal agencies where the Taliban regrouped after the South Waziristan operation.
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Lebanon
A military prosecutor charged 15 troops with plotting attacks against Lebanese soldiers and having links to al Qaeda-linked Fateh al Islam. “We suspect they were coordinating their acts with a Fatah al Islam ring based in the Ein al Hilwah Palestinian refugee camp,” the prosecutor said.
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Iran test fires upgraded Sajjil-2 missile
In “Surat al-Fil” (“The Elephant”)–one of the Holy Qur’an’s shortest chapters–God sends a flock of birds to destroy the followers of Sultan Abraha, because of their plot to destroy the Kaaba, a holy monument in the center of Mecca that was built by Father Abraham himself. God equips the birds with baked clay stones, which they hurled at the Elephants of Sultan Abraha, stopping his advance toward the city. On Wednesday the Iranian Defense Ministry successfully conducted a third test of Iran’s solid-state, medium-range, ballistic missile called the Sajjil-2. In Persian, Sajji is translated as “baked clay,” serving as a…
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Taliban to release video of captured US soldier
] Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, from the July 2009 propaganda tape. The Taliban will release a new video of captive US soldier Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, according to a trusted source. The video is reportedly titled “One of Their People Testified.” Bergdahl was captured by the Haqqani Network on June 30 after leaving his small combat outpost in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika. The Haqqani Network is the most lethal of the Taliban groups operating in Afghanistan. My sources believe Bergdahl is currently being held in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan in Pakistan. The Pakistani…
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Iraq
Two Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in a bus bombing in Baghdad. Security forces detained 13 wanted men in Basrah, 10 insurgents in Kirkuk, eight members a sleeper cell in Karbala, and two Hezbollah Brigades members in Baghdad.
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Afghanistan
Marines take on training role in Afghanistan
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Afghanistan
The Taliban killed five policemen in Herat, six civilians in Nangarhar, and an Estonian soldier in Helmand. Coalition and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander in Kunduz and detained two Taliban commanders and a fighter during operations in Wardak and Kandahar.
