Note that it was the Iraqis who caught these Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi aides with the aid of the local population. Zarqawi's organization, previously known as Tawhid and Jihad, is now al Qaeda in Iraq. Zarqawi's terrorist group is behind many of the beheading murders in Iraq. Yesterday another Zarqawi aid was arrested in Tikrit on suspicion of being involved in beheadings. Very good news indeed. Via the Reliapundit this article: more...

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More...Still More.....Yet more.....

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File under good news. When more of this starts happening, we'll know we have won. Via Paul at Wizbang this ABC (Aus) article:

The Iraqi police have investigated a case in the village of al-Mudhariya, which is just south of Baghdad. The villagers there say that before the election insurgents came and warned them that if they voted in last weekend's election, they would pay.

Now the people of this mixed village of Sunni and Shia Muslims, they ignored the threat and they did turn out to vote.

We understand that last night the insurgents came back to punish the people of al-Mudhariya, but instead of metering out that punishment the villagers fought back and they killed five of the insurgents and wounded eight. They then burnt the insurgents' car. So the people of that village have certainly had enough of the insurgents.

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As part of a cease-fire deal in preparation for the upcomig summit between Prime Minister Arial Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel promised to Release 900 Palestinian Prisoners and withdraw from Jericho and five other West Bank towns.

Exactly how releasing 900 suspected terrorists and their sympathizers could possibly help a cease-fire was not explained by either the PA or the Israeli cabinet which approved the deal. more...

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This is an archive page. For the latest news about communiques and videos coming from terrorists in Iraq, please go to the MAIN PAGE HERE.
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First, the Jawa report debunked Ansar al-Islam's claim to have downed a British plane yesterday. Then, we help the blogosphere debunk the claim that the Mujahideen Squadrons captured a US soldier in Iraq today. (Incidentally, both claims were made on the same Islamist bulletin board, meaning whoever is behind the claims speaks Arabic.) Today, there is word that the video released by the 1920 Revolution's Brigade and shown on al Jazeera, of the British C-130 being shot down is also a hoax.

AFP in Turkish Press:

Francis Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis, said the footage contained numerous discrepancies, noting that it was taped in broad daylight while the crash took place early evening.

There was also no direct image of the supposed attack, simply three different clips edited together. One showed a finger pressing a button to launch a rocket, followed by a fireball and finally the wreckage of what was alleged to be the British plane.

"At the moment there is no evidence they have shown that shows that is the RAF aircraft," Tusa told AFP.

If the militants had really put all the camera gear in place, you would have expected to see more of the action, he said.

"The other thing is that it took them over a day to get that video out, which we think was because they were taking time to try to edit footage to make it look right."

The wreckage of an engine shown in the film could have come from a Hercules but "it also bears some similarity to a large helicopter engine," said Tusa, referring to a Sea Stallion such as the one that crashed in Iraq last month, killing all 31 US marines aboard.

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UPDATE: This is an archive page. If you are looking for more recent news about terrorist communiques or videos, please go to our MAIN PAGE HERE. Updated daily.

UPDATE: I knew it! 1920 Revolution Brigade claims downing of British Plane on Video. This is the same group responsible for the kidnapping of American Dean Sadek. (ht: Michelle Malkin)

10 are believed dead in the crash. Via Jeff Quinton this Times article:

The Ansar al-Islam group said in a statement on an Islamic website that its fighters tracked the Hercules aircraft, "which was flying at a low altitude, and fired an anti-tank missile at it".

The statement said: "Thanks be to God, the plane was downed and a huge fire and black clouds of smoke were seen rising from the location of the crash."

Established after the 9/11 attacks, Ansar al-Islam is one of IraqÂ’s older extremist groups and has been linked to al-Qaida.

First, Ansar al Islam has not been active in over a year. Unless the report is wrong and they mean Ansar al Sunna, which happens from time to time. The fighting remnants of Ansar al Islam seemed to have joined Ansar al Sunna. The only Ansar al Islam related activities in the past year have been fundraising and planning by a cell in Germany.

Second, wrong area. Ansar al Islam's base of operation was in Kurdistan. Ansar al Sunna has been operating in areas that were formerly Kurdish but which were 'Arabized' under the Saddam Hussein regime. The plane was apparantly shot down only 20 miles north-west of Baghdad which is in the Sunni triange but nowhere near al Sunna's normal base of operations.

Unless of course the terrorists were referring to this.... more...

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1 Two readings on this: 1. The Lockheed C-130 can be equiped with CM technology (Chafe, Flares), and most of the times is for heat, and radar guided ground-to-air munitions. The lack of any countermeasures "signatures" on the video recording could be: A. The weapon was not a autonomous ground-to-air weapon, but an non-autonomous weapon used in an un-orthodox fashion (anti-personal, or anti-tank wepaon). B. Lack of countermeasures onboard C. Crew / CM system failure to acknowledge launch of an autonomous munitions. 2. Footage shot of mutitions being expended, then footage of crashed aircraft being added on to get required PR. If a munition of that size would hit a C-130 in mid-flight there would be smoke and fire in the air as well as noticable debres falling ... even if it was a 1-1,000,000 chance hit on a fuel cell.

Posted by: Salamander at January 31, 2005 12:04 PM (V40IZ)

2 As a former C-130 pilot, I would say the options A + C above would be the root causes as to why the plane was shot down. If it was an optically guided anti-tank missile, then reactive flares would be ineffective. But such an anti-tank missile would have a short range only useful against low-flying aircraft, which unfortunately the Brits were this day. If the crew didn't see the launch, then any reactive maneuvering wouldn't have been performed, thus the absence of any flares. The damage an anti-tank missile would do to the C-130 would be devastating, probably many times more than the standard MANPAD. Remember, an anti-tank missile is normally used against heavily armored vehicles, which the C-130 is not. Hitting a fuel cell isn't the only way to take the Herc out, a lucky strike at the wing root could structurally weaken the airframe and take off the wing or a lucky shot into the cockpit, and that is all she wrote. Either way, these terrorist bastards got lucky.

Posted by: Craig D. at January 31, 2005 09:47 PM (f3XV4)

3 12,657 Ansar Al-Islam militants killed so far, and only 1,598 American Forces killed - haha!!! AMERICAN FORCES KILLS THE PRIMITIVES SUNNI's LIKE SMOOSHING LITTLE ANTS !!

Posted by: Brian Moreno at May 30, 2005 06:37 AM (RATdR)

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Via Matt Cardens this WaPo report:

"A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site," al-Naqib said. "This is an indication of what horrific actions they are carrying out."

He gave no other details about the attack, but police at the scene of one the Baghdad blasts said the bomber appeared to have Down's Syndrome.

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The 'spiritual leader' of an al Qaeda linked jihadi group in Kuwait, Amer Khlaif al-Enezi, was captured in a 9 hour running gunbattle between the terror suspects and Kuwaiti security forces. Four suspected terrorists were killed in the battle. One of those killed was a Saudi national. The former imam's brother was taken into custody yesterday.

One civilian was also killed in the clashes.

Thousands of rounds were said to have been exchanged in the shootout.

This is the fourth clash in the past month between suspected terrorists and Kuwaiti security forces this month. Many of the suspected terrorists are believed to have been in transit from other Arab states to Iraq. Hundreds of foreign terrorists have been reported fighting the U.S. in Iraq.

More: AFP, The Scotsman.

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Two must reads: Professor Chaos and James Joyner.

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This MEMRI translation of the taped confession of Jaish Muhammed leader Muayed Al-Nasseri, who was captured last month.

Highlights:

The Army of Muhammad was founded by Saddam Hussein after the fall of the regime

We got aid primarily from Iran. The truth is that Iran has played a significant role in supporting the Army of Muhammad and many factions of the resistance. I have some units, especially in southern Iraq, which receive Iranian aid in the form of arms and equipment." more...

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Catholic World News:

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul, Iraq, was released on Tuesday morning, January 18, less than a day after being kidnapped.

Details of the archbishop's abduction and release were incomplete, as of Tuesday morning. But the Vatican was notified promptly that Archbishop Casmoussa had been freed, and papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls expressed "great satisfaction" with the news.

"The Pope was informed immediately, and thanked God" for the Iraqi prelate's release, Navarro-Valls added. He said that no ransom had been paid.

Earlier, Church officials in Iraq had been quoted as saying that they had received a ransom demand. Father Tetrus Mosei, the vicar general of the Mosul diocese, reportedly received a phone call on Tuesday morning demanding payment of $200,000 for the archbishop's release. Catholics in Mosul were collecting funds for the ransom payment when they heard that Archbishop Casmoussa was already free.

In Rome, Navarro-Valls said that the archbishop's abduction came as a surprise, in part because he is "very well liked by both Christians and Muslims."

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, who heads the Chaldean Catholic diocese of Mosul (Archbishop Casmoussa is the Syrian-rite leader), suggested that the kidnapping was probably not motivated by religious issues. He told reporters that criminals in Mosul, taking advantage of the unrest in the city, have begun kidnapping prominent people to generate quick profits from ransoms.

I may be going out on a limb here, but it remains a distinct possibility that whoever took Casmoussa might not have realized what kind of press this would receive--even in the Arab world. After all, the Catholic church opposed the war making itself the darling of terrorist media such as al Jazeera. An ignoble ally for such a great institution.

Having said that it does remain a distinct possibility that simple extortion was the only motive. Wherever we go human greed seems to remain the same. However, in my own experience I find that one is rarely motivated by a single factor. It is then also possible that extortion and religion played motivating factors.

Hat tip Digger and Interested Participant

Expect an update later.....

Let's not forget that at least four (possibly five) Americans are still being held hostage in Iraq. Roy Hallums, Dean Sadek, Tim Bell, and Bill Bradley.

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Mosul is a base of operation for The Army of Ansar al Sunnah, and I suspect that this is their handiwork. Right: Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa at the UCIP World Congress 2004.

Critical update 1/18/05: Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa freed! No ransom paid. Details at this post.

Reuters:

The Catholic archbishop of the Iraqi city of Mosul was kidnapped Monday in what the Vatican called an "act of terrorism."

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told Reuters the Holy See had received news of the kidnapping of Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa in Mosul. The spokesman demanded his immediate release but gave no details of the abduction.

A Catholic archbishop in the northern Iraq city of Mosul has been kidnapped by insurgents, the Vatican says. Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, was abducted from outside his church in the east of the city.

The Vatican said in a statement that it deplored "in the firmest way such a terrorist act", and asked that the archbishop be freed immediately.

There have been a number of attacks on Iraq's Christian minority. Two churches were bombed in Mosul in December.

More on Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa,a Syrian by birth, he was Archbishop of the Catholic Syrian Church--which is affilated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Recently quoted as saying, "The terrorist groups that carry out the attacks “hope that many, many more Christians will go. Their strategy is to create fear among the Christians and push them out of Iraq,”

UPDATE I: No claims of responsibility aired yet on al Jazeera, but only this story:

Casmusa, 66, leader of the city's Syrian Catholic community, was seized at around 5pm local time (1400 GMT) as he was about to enter his car, Father Faraj told AFP.

The armed men tossed him into the trunk of their vehicle before speeding away, according to the priest, who follows the rival Chaldean rite.

The Chaldean patriarch in Baghdad, Emmanuel Delly, said Casmusa "was abducted outside his home as he was returning from a pastoral visit in the diocese of Mosul".

"He was abducted and taken off in a car. We don't know who took him, nor the reason why," Delly told the missionary news agency Misna by telephone.

However, one need look no farther than a recent communique from Abu Musab al Zarqawi to see why Christians in general have a great deal to fear in the Middle East. Al Qaeda in Iraq justified the recent murder of Amer Nayef saying he was "the deputy police chief of the Jews and Christians" and that Nayef's son was murdered because he "serves the pagan guard."

The terrorists really believe that the liberation of Iraq was a reenactment of the Crusades. Iraq is just another chapter in the Crusades and who better to symbolize Christianity's victory than Archbishop Casmoussa?

The deep paranoia of Muslims in the Middle East plays out in such a way that all Christians should now consider themselves targets. Jews who once lived in Arab countries can tell you what I am talking about. All Jews in Muslim lands are considered potential spies for the "Zionist entity."

I suspect the same suspicions and paranoia will now scapegoat Christians as responsible for the ills of Iraqi society and as possible collaborators with the "Crusader forces."

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Evan Kohlman is now blogging over at The Counterterrorism Blog and links a number of his original translations of recent al Qaeda in Iraq communiques. His analysis?

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--has dramatically increased its targeting of influential Iraqi government officials, potential candidates in the election, and anyone else associated with the electoral process.

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Via Chad at In the Bullpen the news that 15 Iraqi National Guardsman have been captured by the terrorists. Sadly, their fate is already sealed.

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....al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claims responsibility.

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AP via Globe and Mail:

Gunmen killed a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, along with the aide's son and four bodyguards in a town south of Baghdad, an official in the cleric's office said Thursday...

Sheik Mahmoud Finjan, Mr. al-Sistani's representative in the town of Salman Pak, 20 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, was shot dead Wednesday night as he was returning home from a mosque where he performed the evening prayers, the official said on condition of anonymity. His son and four bodyguards were also killed, the official at Mr. al-Sistani's office in this Shiite holy city said.

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Speaking of Ansar al-Sunnah, this is surely their work.....Turkish Press:

Twin car bombs killed at least two Iraqi soldiers in Mosul...

In the troubled city of Mosul, a white van tried to swerve inside a joint convoy of US and Iraqi military vehicles, but exploded prematurely, killing an unknown number of civilians, US army Sergeant Chris Schaeffer told AFP.

A second car parked on a street, not far away from the first blast, exploded and killed two Iraqi soldiers, Schaeffer said.

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I wasn't around when the governor was killed, but Chad guest posted on it here. Via Chad at In the Bullpen this Reuters story:

U.S. troops have arrested six suspects in the assassination of Baghdad's provincial governor, the highest-ranking official hit so far in attacks to sabotage Iraq's Jan. 30 election, the military said on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip from residents, soldiers seized the suspected insurgents on Tuesday in a house in western Baghdad, U.S. officials said....

"We were able to act on this intelligence and detain these guys without firing a shot," said Major Web Wright, an army spokesman. The military said the men were being held for questioning.

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The Commissar, who I hear has gone into semi-retirement, republishes this SPI article on Ansar al-Islam.

Because large portions of this site have been devoted to exposing the Ansar al Sunnah, I thought I'd republish it also below. I would correct the SPI article only in stating that Ansar al-Islam is now defunct. Ansar al-Islam bases of operation were heavily bombed during the Iraq invasion and Kurdish forces have completely suppressed the groups activities in the area. All terrorist activity in Northern Iraq has been by Ansar al-Sunnah, an offshoot and now replacement of Ansar al-Islam. Further, it was the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah themselves that have claimed allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq group. The article makes it sound as if there is some question about the relationship. There is none. more...

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UPDATE 9/07/05: Roy Hallums is FREE!!!! Information and updates here.

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UPDATE 1/25/05: Terrorists Release Video of Roy Hallums, click here for update.

A page dedicated to American hostage Roy Hallums by his daughter Carrie. Right: Roy Hallums pictured with Carrie as a child

As close followers of this site know, a minor controversy was started when we published the name of an American civillian being held hostage in Iraq. His name first appeared as 'Roy Hallun' in a Fillipino newspaper and we republished that account here. In response to that initial post a friend of Roy contacted us and clarified that Roy's last name was actually 'Hallums'.

We published several posts about Roy Hallums, shocked that not a single mainstream media outlet had picked up on the story. Roy had been kidnapped with six other foreigners on November 1st. For weeks the State Department would only confirm that an American had been kidnapped but would not release his name. This seemed odd to us and we felt that the word should get out.

Members of Roy's family soon contacted us with words of encouragement. They too were perplexed that an American citizen could be held hostage in Iraq and yet no media would cover the story.

However, as some of you know, we took down several posts dedicated to Roy Hallums. A person close to Roy Hallums' contacted me with the concern that publicizing his account might jeopardize ongoing negotiations for his release. I was conflicted. On the one hand I felt a great deal of sympathy for this person. If I were in their shoes I would do everything possible, including paying a ransom to terrorists, for the release of my loved one. On the other hand, I wanted the whole world to know the depths of Islamofascist perfidy. As a matter of fact, my entire site is dedicated to that very goal.

In the end, the personal nature of the request won me over and I removed the posts as requested.

In the past few weeks, Roy's immediate family has been trying to get the word out about his plight and it seems the media is catching on. Just prior to my vacation I was contacted by a producer at CBS news who was trying to reach the Hallums family--I assume they ran the story although I've been out of the loop. Carrie and her mother Susan Hallums have also appeared on Good Morning America trying to get the word out about their loved one.

Carrie e-mailed me over my holiday letting me know that she had set up a web page dedicated to her father. If you have a minute I'd encourage you to go over there and look around. You can leave words of encouragement at this guest page. Also, please include Roy Hallums and his family in your prayers.

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