Pakistani forces storm Red Mosque
Pakistani security forces stormed Islamabad’s Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) on Tuesday, killing at least 50 suspected militants and detaining 50 others. At least four soldiers were killed during the operation. Yet, with still only two-thirds of the compound secured, these are early casualty figures. Commandoes leading the assault are still searching the various basements of the mosque for hundreds of women and children purported to have been holed-up in the complex.
To receive our daily security briefings, click here.The Grand Mufti of Pakistan Rafi Usmani has said that talks with the administration inside the mosque, designed to end the week-long stand-off, had been successful. Yet, after a draft agreement was sent to President Pervez Musharraf, who amended it, they “were back to square one and the talks failed”.
The Taliban in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) declared on Monday that they will avenge the deaths of those students killed in Lal Masjid, and called upon the government to stop the operation. 20,000 tribesmen are said to have taken part in a demonstration at Siddiqabad in protest at the stand-off, before which leaders condemned Musharraf’s actions. They also vowed to continue their jihad against infidels’ atrocities in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Four senior Taliban members have been captured in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan province near the Pakistani border with Afghanistan. The detainees are thought to include two senior aides to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, his chief of staff and the group’s head of communications.
The conflict over a radical mosque in Islamabad has a direct political connection to the region’s military insecurity, writes Paul Rogers on openDemocracy.
Troop withdrawal would spell civil war for Iraq
Iraq could descend into all-out civil war and face partition, and even a regional war, were the United States to withdraw troops early, national leaders from across the sectarian divide cautioned on Monday. Comments were made in response to a New York Times piece, which announced that, with US administration officials and consultants fearing that support among Senate Republicans was “collapsing around them”, scaling down troop numbers ahead of schedule was under consideration. White House spokesperson Tony Snow has refuted claims that political judgement might impinge on the military decisions.
There are reports of some 10 mortars landing in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, where the Iraqi government and parliament, along with many foreign embassy buildings, are based. Mortar and rocket attacks on the area are common.
Corruption in hot pursuit of security in Afghan afflictions
Next to security, corruption is the largest affliction facing Afghanistan, the head of the Central Bank Governor Noorullah Delawari has said. Even still, the cumulative growth for the last five years stands at around 100 percent, while Delawari also says that aid should still be channelled through the Afghan government rather than foreign non-governmental organisations.
To fight the Taliban effectively, international forces must brush up on their anthropology, writes Marcus Skinner on Terrorism.openDemocracy.
Give peace a chance
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that he is ready to sit down and “talk about peace not war” with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Olmert also said, while speaking on al-Arabiya television, that although Assad wants to negotiate through the US, the latter “do not want to sit with you”, and therefore called for direct dialogue between the two states. Negotiations collapsed in 2000 without resolving the thorny issue of the Golan Heights.
Last Thursday, Syrian troops penetrated 3km into Lebanon. On his Middle East Journal blog, Michael Totten asks why this event didn't trigger a diplomatic and media storm.
The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers are to visit Israel on behalf of the Arab League on 20 July, in an effort to revive the long-delayed talks on an Arab peace initiative.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has sought to expand the limited role that he has assumed as envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators – the United Nations, US, European Union and Russia, in order to attain a more direct peacekeeping role. Quartet officials planned to discuss the issue in London on Monday.
Hamas denies letting al-Qaida enter Gaza
Hamas has refuted allegations made by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, that al-Qaida is entering the Gaza Strip “through Hamas”.
Israel is to allow hundreds of Palestinians to cross back from the Egyptian Sinai peninsula into the Gaza Strip through the Karm Abu Salim (Kerem Shalom) border. Palestinians have been unable to cross back into Gaza since Israel closed the Rafah checkpoint upon the eruption of factional violence in the territory.
Follow events in Gaza on the International Solidarity Movement blog.
Wahhabi militants penetrate Balkans
Tensions have been mounting in the Balkans between mainstream Muslims and Wahhabis. In recent months, a radical Islamist training camp and a weapons cache were uncovered in the region, while seven suspected militants were arrested in southern Serbia; an arrest warrant has been issued for another. Serbian security officials say that Wahhabi militants are attempting to recruit potential terrorists and plot attacks, while a Wahhabi training camp in the southern Sandjak region is said to have been planning an attack on local Muslims.
Ugandans face a lonely battle in Mogadishu
The 1,600-strong contingent of Ugandan troops patrolling Mogadishu are confronted with a growing insurgency. Yet, under an African Union (AU) mandate which called for four times as many personnel, if they go beyond “the triangle” – comprising of the hilltop presidential palace, a key junction and the air and sea ports – they risk creating “security gaps”. AU forces in Somalia are meant to swell to 8,000 to help support the interim government impose authority in the troubled state, yet several African nations have backed-out of their pledge of support, while more still have failed to volunteer to deploy any troops at all. In the meantime, the Ugandans face a lonely battle to bring a degree of stability to the beleaguered capital.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, though is yet to be recognised as an independent state by the international community. Yet, in its existence is witnessed a pocket of stability adrift in a wider canvas of chaos, in which the African republic of Somalia has long been wallowing. Foreign Policy magazine looks at Somaliland, along with five other regions and territories, and asks who will be next to earn the “coveted prize” of international recognition.
Police seek more time to quiz Dr. in Australia
Australian police have until 6 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday to question an Indian doctor held in connection with the failed car bomb attacks in Britain, a Brisbane judge ruled on Monday. Police have applied for a five-day extension to Mohamed Haneef’s detention, in order to ascertain fully whether he is linked to the bomb plots in a closed hearing in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. Haneef’s lawyer is considering an appeal against his client’s detention.
Tamil Tigers under the thumb in Thoppigala
A government operation to capture the Tamil Tiger area of Thoppigala in eastern Sri Lanka will be complete within the next few days, it was announced on Monday, after troops secured the strategic “Tora Bora” plateau overnight. 444 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres are said to have been killed during the operation, launched in early February. It is suspected that a further 327 personnel have also been captured, leaving 200 combatants in the area.
A LTTE base area west of Thoppigala was reportedly shelled and destroyed by Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets on Monday.
Eleven Sea-Tigers, the sea wing of the LTTE, were killed off Pulmodai in the Trincomalee district on Sunday, when their forces clashed with those of the Sri Lanka Navy.
Trouble brewing in Nepal’s Tarai region
The International Crisis Group has urged for a more inclusive and responsive national political process in Nepal, as well as free and fair constituent assembly elections later this year, if the country is to avoid increasing levels of disquiet from the Madhesis plainspeople. The Madhesis, who constitute one third of the country’s population, have long been discriminated against, and have of late become more politically assertive and have demanded equal rights.
Separatists in India
Twenty-four Indian policemen are feared dead, after a fierce gunbattle with Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, about 440km from the state capital Raipur. The men went missing during a joint operation by 115 Indian security personnel.
Eight militants belonging to the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) were arrested in the Sibsagar and Golaghat districts of Assam, north-east India, on Monday.
Omar Abdullah, the National Conference president and a former Union minister, escaped a grenade attack at a rally in the Kupwara district of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, in an attack which left 15 civilians and five security personnel injured. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
