Colombian National Police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao, held hostage by the FARC guerillas for nearly nine years, escaped his captors and spent 17 days lost in the jungle of Vaupes department before he was found by an army patrol on… Read moreColombia: FARC hostage escapes
Thirteen of the 19 suspects on trial for the 2004 Madrid rail bombings that killed 191 have gone on hunger strike in protest of what they call unfounded accusations against them. Javier Gómez Bermúdez, the presiding justice, warned the men… Read moreSpain: 3-11 suspects on hunger strike
Two radio reporters covering a provincial governor in south-central Somalia were gunned down May 16 when the official’s motorcade was ambushed by clan militia. News editor Abshir Ali Gabre and reporter Ahmed Hassan Mahad of Radio Jowhar were killed when… Read moreSomalia: road ambushes target officials, kill journalists
Taliban leader Mullah Omar has formally confirmed the death of top commander Mullah Dadullah, through a spokesman, and nominated Mullah Bakht Mohammad as his replacement. The elusive Mullah Omar also claimed there are thousands of fighters ready to avenge Dadullah’s… Read moreAfghanistan: Taliban leadership shake-up, more border clashes with Pakistan
During the May 15 Republican presidential debate at the University of South Carolina, Libertarian gadly Rep. Ron Paul (TX) dared to speak logic about the reasons behind 9-11—and made clear that he, at least, has actually read al-Qaeda’s communiqués. “Have… Read moreRon Paul was right!
Two years ago, following rumors that Osama bin Laden had taken refuge in Nuristan, we warned that the remote mountain region immortalized as “Kafiristan” in Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King would be drawn into Afghanistan’s war. Now,… Read moreAfghanistan: war comes to Kipling’s “Kafiristan”
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has brought in trainers from Colombia to prepare a new Afghan anti-narcotics force. Opium cultivation has steadily grown in Afghanistan since the US invasion of 2001, leaping from 183,000 acres in 2002 to 408,000… Read moreAfghanistan: opium booming
An interesting report from IraqSlogger, May 15: An unknown left-wing group calling itself the Iraqi Armed Revolutionary Resistance distributed leaflets in the Mid-Euphrates area around Najaf, Hilla and Karbala calling for “resistance against American, British and Zionist occupiers in order… Read moreMarxist insurgents emerge in Iraq?
With all the paranoia about al-Qaeda and ETA, it seems the latest bomb scare in Spain may be the work of radical urban preservationists. Police say they deactivated an explosive device May 15 found outside an industrial warehouse in Lugo,… Read moreSpain: preservationist terror in Galicia?
From the Times of India, May 16: NEW DELHI — The government on Tuesday informed Parliament that naxalites were working in close coordination with some terrorist outfits operating in J&K and were also in touch with the Liberation Tigers of… Read moreIndia: Naxalite-Tamil Tiger convergence?
Turkey’s Supreme Court May 16 overturned a 40-year prison term imposed on two paramilitary officers for overseeing the bombing of a bookstore in the eastern town of Semdinli two years ago. The blast, which killed one person, sparked angry protests… Read moreTurkey: impunity for anti-Kurdish paramilitaries?
Thousands of Afghans protested outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul May 16, chanting “Death to Pakistan, Death to Musharraf!” The rally comes days after the bloodiest clash in decades on the disputed border between the two countries. Pakistani forces crossed… Read moreAfghans rally against Pakistan
