the lady in the supermarket who i didn't know asked me if all my family was alright in the fires, i said yep, then bought 3 bananas and a 12 of corona as fire supplies
then she told me god bless you and an army man in a camouflage uniform behind me bought some caramel ben and jerry's and some kids outside gave me the eye but decided not to mess with me and walked on but still started shout-rapping after they passed me
then i saw some nice red outline in the black horizon driving back and went home and drank some beers
Oct 17, 2007
no deal
I'm pretty certain the contestants on "Deal or No Deal" are fake, they are actors in fake families overacting.
Not that it matters I suppose.
Not that it matters I suppose.
Oct 10, 2007
Gaza Strip Update
The Haniya Government Accuses the leaders of Fatah of being behind recent Gaza Explosions
from http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E43B59B9-2915-4D6D-9EC9-93DFE3160EEF.htm
Anxiety prevails in the Gazan streets these days as fears of a worsening security situation and a return to the conditions that existed before the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) took control in the Gaza Strip after a series of incidents at the police headquarters of the Hamas government of Ismael Haniya and following several explosions in various neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip.
Said Al-Dabbas, a driver, reflects on life in Gaza City and his concerns about it following the series of bombings targeting various places in the city in recent days and their unknown perpetrators and the predictable possibility of deteriorating security conditions and a return to the pre-Hamas level at any moment.
For Al-Dabbas the concern is that the situation in Gaza is similar to what is happening in Baghdad where explosions and their retaliatory responses are victimizing numbers of innocent civilians.
However the spokesman of the Interior of the Government Ihab Al-Ghussein says that Palestinian security services have arrested a number of those responsible for the recent bombings and that a number of these suspects belong to the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah).
These suspects have reportedly confessed during an investigation that they had received orders from their leaders in the Gaza Strip for the implementation of these blasts targeting both members of the Palestinian police and citizens alike.
And the information ministry confirms to Al-Jazeera that the suspects in custody proved that the Fatah leaders received large orders to their leadership sector in Ramallah that were intended for use in destabilizing security in the Gaza Strip region.
He points out that the authorities are competant and they will contact these leaders and interrogate them on their operations because no one is above the law regardless of their rank or political office.
Fatah Denies
These accusations are rejected by Ibrahim Abul-Naga, a leading member of Fatah in the Gaza Strip. He said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that this is unacceptable.
And he asked Hamas to reveal their evidence and any documents regarding the perpetrators to the public and to the media and to bring this evidence to court, asserting that the Fatah movement is also concerned about finding the identities of the perpetrators.
Abul-Naga also stressed that the Fatah Movement wishes to express their condemnation of these bombings and added that the Fatah Movement is not a cover for the use of these bombings because "Fatah began with the principle that the red line of Palestinian blood should never be overstepped."
from http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E43B59B9-2915-4D6D-9EC9-93DFE3160EEF.htm
Anxiety prevails in the Gazan streets these days as fears of a worsening security situation and a return to the conditions that existed before the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) took control in the Gaza Strip after a series of incidents at the police headquarters of the Hamas government of Ismael Haniya and following several explosions in various neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip.
Said Al-Dabbas, a driver, reflects on life in Gaza City and his concerns about it following the series of bombings targeting various places in the city in recent days and their unknown perpetrators and the predictable possibility of deteriorating security conditions and a return to the pre-Hamas level at any moment.
For Al-Dabbas the concern is that the situation in Gaza is similar to what is happening in Baghdad where explosions and their retaliatory responses are victimizing numbers of innocent civilians.
However the spokesman of the Interior of the Government Ihab Al-Ghussein says that Palestinian security services have arrested a number of those responsible for the recent bombings and that a number of these suspects belong to the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah).
These suspects have reportedly confessed during an investigation that they had received orders from their leaders in the Gaza Strip for the implementation of these blasts targeting both members of the Palestinian police and citizens alike.
And the information ministry confirms to Al-Jazeera that the suspects in custody proved that the Fatah leaders received large orders to their leadership sector in Ramallah that were intended for use in destabilizing security in the Gaza Strip region.
He points out that the authorities are competant and they will contact these leaders and interrogate them on their operations because no one is above the law regardless of their rank or political office.
Fatah Denies
These accusations are rejected by Ibrahim Abul-Naga, a leading member of Fatah in the Gaza Strip. He said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that this is unacceptable.
And he asked Hamas to reveal their evidence and any documents regarding the perpetrators to the public and to the media and to bring this evidence to court, asserting that the Fatah movement is also concerned about finding the identities of the perpetrators.
Abul-Naga also stressed that the Fatah Movement wishes to express their condemnation of these bombings and added that the Fatah Movement is not a cover for the use of these bombings because "Fatah began with the principle that the red line of Palestinian blood should never be overstepped."
تسود الشارع الغزاوي هذه الأيام حالة من القلق خشية تردي الأوضاع الأمنية في قطاع غزة وعودة الأحوال إلى ما كانت عليه قبل سيطرة حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس)، بعد تعرض عناصر ومقرات للشرطة التابعة لحكومة هنية المقالة لتفجيرات في مناطق متفرقة من القطاع.
ويعبر السائق سعيد الدباس من سكان مدينة غزة عن قلق يعتريه، فسلسلة التفجيرات التي استهدفت أماكن متفرقة من المدينة في الأيام الأخيرة، وعدم معرفة مرتكبيها تنبئ باحتمالية تدهور الأوضاع الأمنية وعودتها إلى سابق عهدها في أي لحظة.
ومبعث قلق الدباس هو أن يصبح الوضع في غزة على غرار ما يحدث في بغداد، من تفجيرات وردود انتقامية يقع ضحيتها عدد من المدنيين الأبرياء.
وفي هذا الصدد، يقول المتحدث باسم وزارة داخلية الحكومة المقالة إيهاب الغصين، إن الأجهزة الأمنية الفلسطينية اعتقلت عددا من المتورطين بهذه التفجيرات وعددا من المشتبه بهم ممن ينتمون لحركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني (فتح).
وذكر أنهم اعترفوا أثناء التحقيق معهم بأنهم تلقوا أوامر من قادتهم في قطاع غزة لتنفيذ هذه التفجيرات التي تستهدف أفراد الشرطة الفلسطينية والمواطنين على حد سواء.
والمعلومات التي تملكها الوزارة -يؤكد الحصين للجزيرة نت- تثبت تلقي قيادات فتحاوية كبيرة في القطاع أوامر من قياداتها في رام الله بغية العمل على زعزعة الأمن في القطاع.
ويشير إلى أن الأجهزة المختصة ستقوم باستدعاء هذه القيادات واستجوابها بشأن العمليات، لأنه لا يوجد أحد فوق القانون مهما كانت رتبته أو منصبه السياسي.
فتح تنفي هذه الاتهامات رفضها إبراهيم أبو النجا أحد قيادي فتح في قطاع غزة، معتبرا في حديث للجزيرة نت أنها غير مقبولة.
وطالب حركة حماس أن تكشف ما لديها من إثباتات ووثائق للجمهور ولوسائل الإعلام عن الفاعلين، وأن تقدمهم إلى المحاكم، مؤكدا أن حركة فتح جاهزة للمواجهة حرصا منها على معرفه من الفاعل.
وشدد أبو النجا على أن حركة فتح تعبر عن رفضها لهذه التفجيرات، وأضاف أن حركة فتح لا تشكل غطاء ولا مرجعية للذين يقومون بالتفجيرات، لأن "فتح لديها مبدأ بأن الدم الفلسطيني خط أحمر لا يمكن تجاوزه".
ويعبر السائق سعيد الدباس من سكان مدينة غزة عن قلق يعتريه، فسلسلة التفجيرات التي استهدفت أماكن متفرقة من المدينة في الأيام الأخيرة، وعدم معرفة مرتكبيها تنبئ باحتمالية تدهور الأوضاع الأمنية وعودتها إلى سابق عهدها في أي لحظة.
ومبعث قلق الدباس هو أن يصبح الوضع في غزة على غرار ما يحدث في بغداد، من تفجيرات وردود انتقامية يقع ضحيتها عدد من المدنيين الأبرياء.
وفي هذا الصدد، يقول المتحدث باسم وزارة داخلية الحكومة المقالة إيهاب الغصين، إن الأجهزة الأمنية الفلسطينية اعتقلت عددا من المتورطين بهذه التفجيرات وعددا من المشتبه بهم ممن ينتمون لحركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني (فتح).
وذكر أنهم اعترفوا أثناء التحقيق معهم بأنهم تلقوا أوامر من قادتهم في قطاع غزة لتنفيذ هذه التفجيرات التي تستهدف أفراد الشرطة الفلسطينية والمواطنين على حد سواء.
والمعلومات التي تملكها الوزارة -يؤكد الحصين للجزيرة نت- تثبت تلقي قيادات فتحاوية كبيرة في القطاع أوامر من قياداتها في رام الله بغية العمل على زعزعة الأمن في القطاع.
ويشير إلى أن الأجهزة المختصة ستقوم باستدعاء هذه القيادات واستجوابها بشأن العمليات، لأنه لا يوجد أحد فوق القانون مهما كانت رتبته أو منصبه السياسي.
فتح تنفي هذه الاتهامات رفضها إبراهيم أبو النجا أحد قيادي فتح في قطاع غزة، معتبرا في حديث للجزيرة نت أنها غير مقبولة.
وطالب حركة حماس أن تكشف ما لديها من إثباتات ووثائق للجمهور ولوسائل الإعلام عن الفاعلين، وأن تقدمهم إلى المحاكم، مؤكدا أن حركة فتح جاهزة للمواجهة حرصا منها على معرفه من الفاعل.
وشدد أبو النجا على أن حركة فتح تعبر عن رفضها لهذه التفجيرات، وأضاف أن حركة فتح لا تشكل غطاء ولا مرجعية للذين يقومون بالتفجيرات، لأن "فتح لديها مبدأ بأن الدم الفلسطيني خط أحمر لا يمكن تجاوزه".
Oct 8, 2007
all we are saying is give peace a chance
from khaleej times oct 8
‘Be nice to your maid’ say new Saudi ads(AFP)7 October 2007
RIYADH - An advertising agency in Saudi Arabia plans to air public service commercials to promote kinder treatment of domestic helpers in a country where reports of abuse of foreign workers abound.
The ads will air on Arab satellite television stations after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected to end on October 12, said Kaswara Al Khatib, founder and chief creative director of Full Stop Advertising.
The commercials were initially due to be aired during the fasting month but ‘people tend to be nice in Ramadan anyway, and we need to be nice to them (domestic staff) beyond Ramadan,’ Khatib told AFP.
Khatib said he put off the broadcasts also because he was concerned the message of mercy they are meant to send would get lost in the huge number of commercials aired during Ramadan, a month prized by advertisers as families huddle around their television sets.
The three ads cost around 100,000 dollars and were financed by a non-profit subsidiary of construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, the family-run business set up by the father of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Khatib said he was in contact with two Arab stations—Saudi-owned MBC and Lebanon’s LBC, which is partly Saudi-owned—on airing the ads.
‘We deal with helpers as if they are not humans and have no feelings,’ said the 37-year-old electrical engineer.
One of the commercials shows an employer abusing his maid and driver, both from Asian countries as are the bulk of servants in Saudi Arabia.
‘You should thank God it’s only two months,’ the employer says when the driver asks for two months of unpaid wages.
‘He who has no mercy will not receive mercy,’ says the ad, quoting the Hadeeth, or sayings of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
Another ad shows a typical gathering of women having a meal and the hostess telling her Filipina maid—named Rahma, or ‘mercy’ in Arabic—to ‘get out of my sight,’ Khatib said.
In the third ad, viewers will see the feet of a housewife who is heard ordering her maid ‘not to sleep until the house is spotless’ and the maid scrubbing the floor.
‘Show mercy to those on earth, you will receive mercy from He who is in heaven,’ goes the theme, also borrowed from the Hadeeth.
Human rights groups have slammed the alleged abuse of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around six million expatriates.
Reports of exploitation ranging from the withholding of salaries and passports to physical assault and sexual abuse are increasingly appearing in the local press as it makes use of a measure of freedom allowed by authorities in recent years.
New York-based Human Rights Watch charged in August that the beating to death of two Indonesian female workers by a Saudi family highlighted the ‘atmosphere of impunity fostered by government inaction’ toward abusive employers.
In July 2004, HRW was accused by Riyadh of exaggerating the incidence of foreign labour abuse in Saudi Arabia after it released a report alleging that foreign workers were systematically exploited, some of them living in slave-like conditions.
Riyadh police teamed up with the Sri Lankan embassy in September to rescue a Sri Lankan maid who had telephoned the Arab News newspaper to say she had been imprisoned, abused and unpaid by her woman employer for at least seven years.
Charge d’affaires at the Sri Lankan embassy W.S.M.S. Wijesundera told AFP the housemaid had reached a settlement with her employers under which they will pay more than 5,000 dollars and buy her a ticket home.
Accusations of abuse of expatriate workers have also been levelled by rights watchdogs at employers in other oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. Millions of foreign labourers, mostly from Asia, work in the region in jobs ranging from construction to domestic help.
‘Be nice to your maid’ say new Saudi ads(AFP)7 October 2007
RIYADH - An advertising agency in Saudi Arabia plans to air public service commercials to promote kinder treatment of domestic helpers in a country where reports of abuse of foreign workers abound.
The ads will air on Arab satellite television stations after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected to end on October 12, said Kaswara Al Khatib, founder and chief creative director of Full Stop Advertising.
The commercials were initially due to be aired during the fasting month but ‘people tend to be nice in Ramadan anyway, and we need to be nice to them (domestic staff) beyond Ramadan,’ Khatib told AFP.
Khatib said he put off the broadcasts also because he was concerned the message of mercy they are meant to send would get lost in the huge number of commercials aired during Ramadan, a month prized by advertisers as families huddle around their television sets.
The three ads cost around 100,000 dollars and were financed by a non-profit subsidiary of construction giant Saudi Binladin Group, the family-run business set up by the father of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Khatib said he was in contact with two Arab stations—Saudi-owned MBC and Lebanon’s LBC, which is partly Saudi-owned—on airing the ads.
‘We deal with helpers as if they are not humans and have no feelings,’ said the 37-year-old electrical engineer.
One of the commercials shows an employer abusing his maid and driver, both from Asian countries as are the bulk of servants in Saudi Arabia.
‘You should thank God it’s only two months,’ the employer says when the driver asks for two months of unpaid wages.
‘He who has no mercy will not receive mercy,’ says the ad, quoting the Hadeeth, or sayings of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
Another ad shows a typical gathering of women having a meal and the hostess telling her Filipina maid—named Rahma, or ‘mercy’ in Arabic—to ‘get out of my sight,’ Khatib said.
In the third ad, viewers will see the feet of a housewife who is heard ordering her maid ‘not to sleep until the house is spotless’ and the maid scrubbing the floor.
‘Show mercy to those on earth, you will receive mercy from He who is in heaven,’ goes the theme, also borrowed from the Hadeeth.
Human rights groups have slammed the alleged abuse of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around six million expatriates.
Reports of exploitation ranging from the withholding of salaries and passports to physical assault and sexual abuse are increasingly appearing in the local press as it makes use of a measure of freedom allowed by authorities in recent years.
New York-based Human Rights Watch charged in August that the beating to death of two Indonesian female workers by a Saudi family highlighted the ‘atmosphere of impunity fostered by government inaction’ toward abusive employers.
In July 2004, HRW was accused by Riyadh of exaggerating the incidence of foreign labour abuse in Saudi Arabia after it released a report alleging that foreign workers were systematically exploited, some of them living in slave-like conditions.
Riyadh police teamed up with the Sri Lankan embassy in September to rescue a Sri Lankan maid who had telephoned the Arab News newspaper to say she had been imprisoned, abused and unpaid by her woman employer for at least seven years.
Charge d’affaires at the Sri Lankan embassy W.S.M.S. Wijesundera told AFP the housemaid had reached a settlement with her employers under which they will pay more than 5,000 dollars and buy her a ticket home.
Accusations of abuse of expatriate workers have also been levelled by rights watchdogs at employers in other oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. Millions of foreign labourers, mostly from Asia, work in the region in jobs ranging from construction to domestic help.
Sep 11, 2007
attack at ashkelon
More from Al-Jazeera. I'm trying to do an article a day and will translate the same day that they are published.
Hamas Considers the Offensive Beach Incident and Examines Olmert's Reply
Dozens of Israeli Occupation Soldiers were injured in a rocket attack launched by the Palestinian resistance group in the northern area of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile a security meeting that was co-chaired by the President of the Israeli Government ended without an announcement of any decisions on a response to the incident.
Al-Jazeera has received a videotape that shows two rockets that were launched by Saraya Al-Quds - the military branch of the Islamic Jihad Movement - and the Nasser Saladin Brigades - the military branch of the Popular Resistance Committee - during the middle of the black darkness.
And an Israeli Military spokesperson said that the shelling was suffered by a Beach area base that was close to the city of Ashkelon at dawn and resulted in the wounding of 67 soldiers, most of whom suffered minor injuries.
A number of the injured soldiers were described as being "medium" health risk and many were transferred via helicopters and ambulances to various hospitals while a number of others were panic cases due to the missile attack on the base which is used for training new recruits.
Hamas Considers the Offensive Beach Incident and Examines Olmert's Reply
Dozens of Israeli Occupation Soldiers were injured in a rocket attack launched by the Palestinian resistance group in the northern area of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile a security meeting that was co-chaired by the President of the Israeli Government ended without an announcement of any decisions on a response to the incident.
Al-Jazeera has received a videotape that shows two rockets that were launched by Saraya Al-Quds - the military branch of the Islamic Jihad Movement - and the Nasser Saladin Brigades - the military branch of the Popular Resistance Committee - during the middle of the black darkness.
And an Israeli Military spokesperson said that the shelling was suffered by a Beach area base that was close to the city of Ashkelon at dawn and resulted in the wounding of 67 soldiers, most of whom suffered minor injuries.
A number of the injured soldiers were described as being "medium" health risk and many were transferred via helicopters and ambulances to various hospitals while a number of others were panic cases due to the missile attack on the base which is used for training new recruits.
حماس تعتبر هجوم زيكيم مشروعا وأولمرت يدرس الرد
أصيب العشرات من جنود الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في هجوم صاروخي شنته المقاومة الفلسطينية على معسكرهم شمالي قطاع غزة, بينما انتهى الاجتماع الأمني المصغر برئاسة رئيس الحكومة الإسرائيلية دون الإعلان عن قرارات بشأن الرد.
وقد حصلت الجزيرة على شريط مصور يظهر الصاروخين اللذين اطلقتهما كل من سرايا القدس -الجناح العسكري لحركةالجهاد الإسلام وألوية الناصر صلاح الدين -الجناح العسكري للجان المقاومة الشعبية- أثناء انطلاقهما وسط ظلام دامس.
وقال مصدر عسكري إسرائيلي إن القصف الذي تعرضت له قاعدة زيكيم القريبة من مدينة عسقلان فجرا ,أسفر عن جرح 67 جنديا جراح معظمهم طفيفة. وقد وُصفت حالات عدد من الجنود بأنها متوسطة الخطورة ونقلوا بالمروحيات وسيارات إسعاف إلى مستشفيات عدة، في حين أصيب عدد آخر منهم بحالات هلع جراء سقوط الصاروخ على القاعدة التي تستخدم لتدريب المجندين الجدد.
أصيب العشرات من جنود الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في هجوم صاروخي شنته المقاومة الفلسطينية على معسكرهم شمالي قطاع غزة, بينما انتهى الاجتماع الأمني المصغر برئاسة رئيس الحكومة الإسرائيلية دون الإعلان عن قرارات بشأن الرد.
وقد حصلت الجزيرة على شريط مصور يظهر الصاروخين اللذين اطلقتهما كل من سرايا القدس -الجناح العسكري لحركةالجهاد الإسلام وألوية الناصر صلاح الدين -الجناح العسكري للجان المقاومة الشعبية- أثناء انطلاقهما وسط ظلام دامس.
وقال مصدر عسكري إسرائيلي إن القصف الذي تعرضت له قاعدة زيكيم القريبة من مدينة عسقلان فجرا ,أسفر عن جرح 67 جنديا جراح معظمهم طفيفة. وقد وُصفت حالات عدد من الجنود بأنها متوسطة الخطورة ونقلوا بالمروحيات وسيارات إسعاف إلى مستشفيات عدة، في حين أصيب عدد آخر منهم بحالات هلع جراء سقوط الصاروخ على القاعدة التي تستخدم لتدريب المجندين الجدد.
Sep 1, 2007
news of the day
this in from al-jazeera in arabic only (and I couldn't find too much in the English news about the chaos that is ensuing on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, not sure why, and most suggest a much lower number of soldiers kidnapped)...
translation by myself with a lot of help from google translation (though about 50/50 really).
Arabic follows the English text:
The Taliban of Pakistan Make Conditions for the Release of Abducted Soldiers
A group by the name of "Taliban of Pakistan" presented conditions to the Pakistani government and army for the release of around 160 Pakistani soldiers being held in tribal areas of Waziristan.
The spokesman for the movement related to the Al-Jazeera correspondant that they require the release of 10 of their gunmen and the removal of checkpoints in Southern Waziristan and the cessation of military operations.
In the meantime a gathering of Sheikhs in a the tribal council (Loya Jirga) continue their mediation efforts for the release of the abducted soldiers.
The soldiers disappeared on Thursday when they were traveling in about 17 trucks. The group was about 40 km north of the main town in the territory of Southern Waziristan. Intelligence officials said that these "hardliners" took the soldiers to mountain hideouts.
But the army spokesman refused to describe the soldiers as prisoners, saying "I do not want to use the word 'prisoners' because they are hostages." He stated that there were clashes and a confrontation between the two sides as a result of misunderstandings about the reasons the soldiers were in the area.
It is noteworthy to mention also that in the tribal region of Waziristan 18 soldiers of the security forces and also some civilian officials were fired last week after being in detention for nearly three weeks. This was following an incident where soldiers killed and photographed a teenaged boy who had cut the head off of a man.
Incidents of Violence
And in the context of this daily violence witnessed in Pakistan the Al-Jazeera coorespondent reported that security sources confirmed that a bomber had blown himself up while a military convoy comprising of four vehicles belonging to the Pakistani armed forces was passing by on the road going through the city of Jandola in the Southern Waziristan Tribal State.
The spokesman for the Taliban of Pakistan contacted the Al-Jazeera correspondant and claimed responsibility for attacks this morning targeting a military convoy in the Pakistani region of "Bajaur Agency" which resulted in the deaths of eight people including four soldiers and injuring a number of others.
The Bajaur Agency is part of what defines the tribal belt along the Afghan border, a rugged mountainous region inhabited by Pashtun tribes and managed by members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border who moved there after American forces toppled the government of Afghan Taliban opposition forces in late 2001.
http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E81254E-08ED-4DFB-BB75-5D0A58BA5ADE.htm
السبت 19/8/1428 هـ - الموافق1/9/2007 م (آخر تحديث) الساعة 14:25 (مكة المكرمة)، 11:25 (غرينتش
طالبان باكستان تضع شروطا لإطلاق الجنود المختطفين
عرضت ما تعرف بـ"طالبان باكستان" على الحكومة والجيش شروطها لإطلاق نحو 160 جنديا تحتجزهم في منطقة القبائل بوزيرستان.
translation by myself with a lot of help from google translation (though about 50/50 really).
Arabic follows the English text:
The Taliban of Pakistan Make Conditions for the Release of Abducted Soldiers
A group by the name of "Taliban of Pakistan" presented conditions to the Pakistani government and army for the release of around 160 Pakistani soldiers being held in tribal areas of Waziristan.
The spokesman for the movement related to the Al-Jazeera correspondant that they require the release of 10 of their gunmen and the removal of checkpoints in Southern Waziristan and the cessation of military operations.
In the meantime a gathering of Sheikhs in a the tribal council (Loya Jirga) continue their mediation efforts for the release of the abducted soldiers.
The soldiers disappeared on Thursday when they were traveling in about 17 trucks. The group was about 40 km north of the main town in the territory of Southern Waziristan. Intelligence officials said that these "hardliners" took the soldiers to mountain hideouts.
But the army spokesman refused to describe the soldiers as prisoners, saying "I do not want to use the word 'prisoners' because they are hostages." He stated that there were clashes and a confrontation between the two sides as a result of misunderstandings about the reasons the soldiers were in the area.
It is noteworthy to mention also that in the tribal region of Waziristan 18 soldiers of the security forces and also some civilian officials were fired last week after being in detention for nearly three weeks. This was following an incident where soldiers killed and photographed a teenaged boy who had cut the head off of a man.
Incidents of Violence
And in the context of this daily violence witnessed in Pakistan the Al-Jazeera coorespondent reported that security sources confirmed that a bomber had blown himself up while a military convoy comprising of four vehicles belonging to the Pakistani armed forces was passing by on the road going through the city of Jandola in the Southern Waziristan Tribal State.
The spokesman for the Taliban of Pakistan contacted the Al-Jazeera correspondant and claimed responsibility for attacks this morning targeting a military convoy in the Pakistani region of "Bajaur Agency" which resulted in the deaths of eight people including four soldiers and injuring a number of others.
The Bajaur Agency is part of what defines the tribal belt along the Afghan border, a rugged mountainous region inhabited by Pashtun tribes and managed by members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border who moved there after American forces toppled the government of Afghan Taliban opposition forces in late 2001.
http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E81254E-08ED-4DFB-BB75-5D0A58BA5ADE.htm
السبت 19/8/1428 هـ - الموافق1/9/2007 م (آخر تحديث) الساعة 14:25 (مكة المكرمة)، 11:25 (غرينتش
طالبان باكستان تضع شروطا لإطلاق الجنود المختطفين
عرضت ما تعرف بـ"طالبان باكستان" على الحكومة والجيش شروطها لإطلاق نحو 160 جنديا تحتجزهم في منطقة القبائل بوزيرستان.
ونسب مراسل الجزيرة في باكستان إلى متحدث باسم الحركة قوله إنهم يشترطون إطلاق 10 من مسلحيهم، وإزالة نقاط التفتيش في جنوب وزيرستان ووقف العمليات العسكرية.
في الأثناء يواصل مجلس شيوخ القبائل (اللويا جيرغا) جهود الوساطة التي يبذلها للإفراج عن الجنود المختطفين.
وقد اختفى الجنود يوم الخميس بينما كانوا يسافرون في نحو 17 شاحنة من منطقة تبعد 40 كلم شمالي وانا البلدة الرئيسية في إقليم وزيرستان الجنوبي، وقال مسؤولو مخابرات إن "المتشددين" اقتادوا الجنود إلى مخابئ الجبال.
لكن المتحدث باسم الجيش وحيد أرشد رفض وصف الجنود بالأسرى، وقال "لا أريد استخدام كلمة أسرى، لكنهم مع الرهائن"، وأوضح أنه كان هناك صدام ومواجهة بين الطرفين، نتيجة سوء فهم بشأن المهمة التي كان الجنود بصددها.
يذكر أن القبليين في وزيرستان كانوا قد أطلقوا الأسبوع الماضي 18 جنديا من قوات الأمن ومسؤولا مدنيا، بعد احتجاز معظمهم لما يقرب من ثلاثة أسابيع، وفي وقت سابق قتلوا جنديا وصوروا صبيا مراهقا وهو يقطع رأس الرجل.
حوادث عنف
وفي سياق العنف اليومي الذي تشهده باكستان نقل مراسل الجزيرة هناك عن مصادر أمنية تأكيدها أن انتحاريا فجر نفسه، لدى مرور قافلة عسكرية تتكون من أربع عربات تابعة للقوات المسلحة الباكستانية على الطريق الواصل بين مدينتي جندولا وانا بمقاطعة جنوب وزيرستان القبلية.
وكان المتحدث باسم حركة طالبان باكستان قد تبنى في اتصال مع مراسل الجزيرة مسؤولية الحركة عن الهجومين اللذين استهدفا صباح قافلة عسكرية باكستانية في منطقة باجاور القبلية، وقد أسفر الهجومان عن مقتل ثمانية أشخاص، بينهم أربعة جنود وإصابة عدد آخر.
وباجور جزء مما يعرف بالحزام القبلي على الحدود الأفغانية، وهو منطقة جبلية وعرة تسكنها قبائل البشتون، ولاذ الكثير من أعضاء القاعدة وطالبان في الجانب الباكستاني من الحدود الأفغانية، بعد أن أطاحت القوات الأميركية وقوات المعارضة الأفغانية بحكومة طالبان أواخر العام 2001.
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