Sunday, July 27, 2008

Will Manufactured Terrorism Shift Eastward?

Terror Threats to Olympic Games
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5455443&page=1

A terrorist group based in western China threatens to attack the upcoming Beijing Olympics, and claims responsibility for last week's deadly bus bombings in China in a new propaganda video released July 25.

The Turkistan Islamic Party video, entitled "Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan," warns spectators and athletes, "particularly the Muslims," not to attend the Beijing Games, which are scheduled to begin in two weeks on Aug. 8.
"Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely using the tactics that have never been employed," the group's leader, Commander Seyfullah said, according to a translation of the video provided by IntelCenter, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that monitors terrorism.
The Turkistan Islamic Party is fighting to gain autonomy for the native Muslim population in the Xinjiang Province of China, which shares a border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. The group has been linked to al Qaeda and has been monitored by U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies. ...

S'pore warship makes mark in 10-nation drill
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_261912.html

OFF the Hawaiian coast, Singapore's largest strike ship fired a Harpoon missile, which whizzed more than 40km over the sea before smashing into a decommissioned American warship.
The salvo from the frigate RSS Steadfast on July 14 was part of a naval exercise involving 10 nations - one of the largest in the world.
It marked Singapore's maiden entry into Exercise RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific), and brought together ships, submarines, planes and about 20,000 personnel from countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
The exercise, which started on June 27, demonstrated that the 114m-long frigate was able to hold its own during long, complex operations at sea....

International Computerized Antiterror Drills End in Kyrgyzstan
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2439805&title=International.html
Bishkek, 26 July: The international staff exercises Regional Cooperation-2008 ended in Kyrgyzstan.
"The exercises, which were held in the republic between 15 and 24 July, were organized in accordance with a plan of bilateral cooperation between the Kyrgyz armed forces and the US Central Command," the [Kyrgyz] Defence Ministry's press service has reported.
It said that the exercises were held using computer technology and involving servicemen from Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
Under the plan of the drills, the military practised their skills on a scenario in which a crisis, connected with livestock contracting a disease and terrorists attacking a dairy in the country's largest regional centre, the town of Osh, breaks out. The scenario of the drills also envisaged that "at the same time, there will be several terrorist attacks in Bishkek, in which extremists attack vital facilities. They attack waterworks and contaminate the water, use mustard gas in public transport and blow up a chemicals plant".
"The servicemen practised mechanisms of collectively counteracting terrorist activities and ways of dealing with their consequences," the press service said.
It also said, "the first international exercises Regional Cooperation with the support of the US Central Command were held in 1997 and they were codenamed Tsentrazbat
In e-mail, Islamic group claims India blasts

AHMADABAD, India (AP) - An obscure Islamic group claimed responsibility for a series of synchronized explosions that killed at least 45 people in western India, warning of "the terror of Death" in an e-mail sent to several television stations minutes before the blasts.
Another unexploded bomb was found and defused early Sunday, said the city's police commissioner, O.P. Mathur. He said police had detained 30 people.
"In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!" said an e-mail from the group sent to several Indian television stations minutes before the blasts began.
The e-mail's subject line said "Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat," an apparent reference to 2002 riots in the western state which left 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.

(AP) A cow lies dead, killed in a bomb explosion, in Ahmadabad, India, Saturday, July 26, 2008. A series...Full ImageSaturday's e-mail, sent from a Yahoo account and written in English, was made available to AP by CNN-IBN, one of the TV stations that received the warning.

TV: Istanbul twin explosions are "terror attack"
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/28/content_8783725.htm

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