The World News In Brief

Turkey : The impending conflict between Turkish military and PKK (Kurdish) militants in Northern Iraq has been boiling away for months. News report today state that Turkey has begun bombarding Northern Iraq, launching attacks with warplanes on PKK held positions in the mountains of Northern Iraq, and blasting more than 250 shells into the region. A new front in Iraq War, this time pitting 'terrorists' against the military of Turkey, appears ready to break open. The Iraqi government, and the United States, would be expected to force Turkish forces back over the border if they tried to root out the PKK militants they believe are responsible for terror attacks inside Turkey. The United States has been forced to repeatedly deny that it is funding and arming Kurdish militants in the north, who dream of a breakaway nation, taking in chunks of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Another report claims the Kurdish militant leader wants more power in political circles, rather than greater independence.


Mexico : So who is claiming responsibility for the bomb attacks that have crippled key gas pipeline in Central Mexico? No group most people have heard of. The attacks are being written off as a bit of a mystery. But energy industry experts are warning that American and Mexican officials should take the threat posed by one revolutionary group in particular very seriously. Mexico exports more than 1.4 million barrels of oil across the border into the United States every day, making its America's second largest oil supplier. Mexico has been described as "a dangerously soft target since it has more than 17,000 miles of oil pipelines and 8,235 miles of natural gas pipelines to protect."


Pakistan : As chaos reigns across Pakistan's north west border regions, with anti-Musharraf militants launching new attacks and ambushes on soldiers, the most recent killing more than 16 troops, the United States has threatened to intervene militarily. It's just an unofficial threat at this stage. A rally supporting an opposition alternative leader to Musharraf has been hit by bombings, killing at least twelve people. Another report says the attack on Pakistani soldiers happened in Northern Waziristan, close to the border with Afghanistan, and the ambush involved bombings and militants raking the military vehicles with gunfire, leaving 17 soldiers dead.


The Philippines : Trouble brewing. The Philippines is said to moving closer and closer to all out war between Islamist forces, Abu Sayyaf, and the government marines, dozens of whom have been killed in recent weeks in a series of spectacular, and shocking, attacks. 10 Filipino marines were beheaded by Islamists during an ambush last week in the south of the country. The Philippines government is believed to be preparing to launch an all-out military offensive against Aby Sayyaf and its supporters. More than 100,000 people have been killed during years of clashes between Muslims and Christians, with tit-for-tat revenge and retribution killings continuing a cycle of violence that rarely hits the headlines, or is mentioned by the coalition of the willing leaders when they discuss the 'War on Terror'.


Sri Lanka : Battles continue to rage between government forces and Tamil Tigers in the country's north. Government forces are trying to take back more guerrilla-controlled territory, forcing separatist Tamils into more isolated and less resourced country. Four government special forces soldiers were killed in the most recent fighting, along with one Tamil Tiger guerrilla. The most recent clashes assassinations of government officials in the north east.
The Tamils recently lost key territory in the east and have vowed to take it back from government forces. Government forces regard the seizure of previously Tamil-held territory as a great victory, worth celebrating. But the threats of Tamils to take revenge on the army and return to guerrilla warfare in the east has caused great concern in the capital Colombo, as people believe it will see a return of the car bombs and suicide attacks that made the Tamil Tigers infamous as more prolific suicide bombers than even Al Qaeda, or elements of the Iraqi resistance. More than 5000 people have been killed in the past 19 months of fighting in the north and east.


Russia : The UK Independent has a good story on The Plot To Kill Boris Berezovsky. Russia has now booted out four British diplomats in retaliation over the UK's expelling of four Russian diplomats from London in response to Russia's refusal to cooperate in the British investigation into the murder of a former KGB, and possible double, agent by radioactive poisoning. In other news, Russia has rejected the final version of the Kosovo resolution. The resolution now faces a veto. Russia doesn't want Kosovo to be independent, and become a bastion of Islamic extremism. So does the UK and the US want that reality?


We'll have a round-up of recent Iraq-related news in the coming days.

Sri Lanka : The War That Never Ends

4800 Killed In Since Late 2005

More Than 1000 Tamil Civilians Kidnapped, Killed, In 18 Months

While the Tamil Tigers independence movement continues to unleash its bloody, explosive war against Sri Lankan government forces, more than 1000 mainly Tamil civilians have been kidnapped, many killed, in the past 18 months.

Mano Ganesan, a Tamil MP, is in a potentially dangerous situation. He believes the Sri Lankan government is at least indirectly responsible for the waves of kidnappings, but while in Colombo, at least, he is sometimes reluctant to raise the issue.

Like many prominent Tamils, Ganesan is afraid of being kidnapped and killed himself. In a bizarre irony, he is 'protected' from becoming a victim of the shadowy forces he believes operates within the Sri Lankan government by a security detail.

But the security guards are provided by the very same government he believes is responsible for the terrorising kidnappings.

Excerpts from a story in the New York Times follow, giving an overview of the Sri Lankan conflict, if you haven't been keeping track of what's going on over.

While the battle between the Tamil Tigers independence movement and Sri Lankan government military and special forces rarely gets the media coverage devoted to the conflicts in the Middle East, the fighting in Sri Lanka is certainly serious, and deadly enough.

At least 4800 fighters and civilians have been reportedly killed in less than two years, and today more than 15,000 people are waiting to flee their homeland by boat.

Excerpts from a report filed from Jaffna, featured in the New York Times :

At least 15,000 are waiting to get on government ships to the relative safety of Colombo, the capital.

This is Jaffna, the picturesque prize of Sri Lanka’s ethnic civil war, girding for a new storm. The army commander for the area, Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, said he expected a major battle for Jaffna before the August monsoon.

No other place in Sri Lanka is so scarred because no place carries Jaffna’s special curse: it is the heart of the homeland that the Tamil Tigers have fought to carve out, and the trophy that soldiers and rebels have fought over for nearly 25 years.

A 2002 cease-fire, which had stanched the bloodshed for a time, has collapsed. For a year, fighting has spread across the island between the Sri Lankan military, dominated by the ethnic Sinhalese majority, and the separatist force called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

According to the Defense Ministry, more than 4,800 people, civilians and fighters, have been killed since December 2005. Though the number is not entirely reliable, it points to a significantly lethal period even by the standards of this long, ugly war.

It is likely to continue. Peace talks are nowhere on the horizon. Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Sri Lanka’s influential defense secretary, says the military is under instructions to eliminate the rebel leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and eradicate his organization once and for all.

“That’s our main aim, to destroy the leadership,” Mr. Rajapakse said in an interview in May. The job, he said, would take two to three years.

Pressure from abroad has done little to temper either side’s ambitions. The Tamil Tigers, banned in many countries, including the United States, upped the ante this spring by carrying out air raids with modified two-seater propeller planes. Britain and the United States, which extended a hand after the devastating tsunami of December 2004, have suspended aid.

The Tamil Tigers regularly deploy suicide bombers. Journalists, diplomats and aid workers face hostile scrutiny for any criticism of the security forces. On a Sunday morning in April, a young reporter for a Tamil-language newspaper in Jaffna was shot and killed as he rode his bicycle to work. In May, fliers appeared at Jaffna University, containing a hit list of people accused of being rebel sympathizers.

A new fear also stalks Jaffna, more ominous than any its people recall from the past: mysterious abductions usually carried out during the curfew hours. No one is quite sure who is being taken, for what reason, by whom. Sometimes, bodies turn up on the street. More often, they do not turn up at all.

The Human Rights Commission, a government agency, said it received 805 complaints of abductions in Jaffna from December 2005 to April 2007; the army says it is aware of 230 abductions.

June 4 : Tamil Tigers Attack Army Bases, 82 Killed

Tamil Tiger Propaganda Is Terrorism?

Heavy Fighting Continues In North And East Of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Navy Accused Of Killing Aid Worker

September 2006 : Dozens Of Soldiers Die In Sri Lanka Fighting, 200,000 Civilians Flee To Refugee Camps

World News In Brief


Iran is now effectively surrounded by US bases and troop deployments totalling more than 300,000 military personnel.

IRAQ : Four British soldiers and their translator were killed yesterday in Basra, when their vehicle was destroyed by a massive roadside bomb. Five American soldiers were killed in bombings and attacks in Baghdad. At least 41 Iraqis were executed, found dead or killed in fighting. More than 40 Iraqis were mass-kidnapped in the past two days.

President Bush clearly acknowledged yesterday, for the first time, that most Americans had "grown weary of this war". 57% of Americans want the majority of US troops out of Iraq by September, 2008.

WAZIRISTAN : More than 60 people have been killed in heavy fighting between Pakistani soldiers and foreign militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south, close to the Afghan border. Southern tribes began fighting the foreigners on March 19. More than 50 of the dead from yesterday's fighting are believed to be Uzbeks. Last Monday, a council of tribal elders declared war on the foreign fighters hiding out in the region.

The Pakistan government said the death toll was proof that it was actively, and successfully, fighting the 'War on Terror', after months of international pressure to stop Islamists and militants crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, via the Waziristan region.

RUSSIA : President Vladimir Putin is ramping up the rhetoric against the United States' plans to position bases for its 'missile defence shield' close to Russian borders. Poland and the Czech Republic are said to have informally agreed to allow the US to base some of its missiles within their borders.

Russia has warned the US again about the "consequences" of attacking Iran, and is growing nervous about increased US military activity close to Iranian border.

CHAD : 65 people were reported to have been killed, and more than 8000 driven from their homes in East Chad, after attacks by Sudanese Junjawid fighters. Chad military forces killed 25 of the attackers after the raids. The attacks are reported as "the latest spillover" from the war in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed in four years of fighting between Sudanese military and government-backed militias and local rebels.

IRAQ : US Senator John McCain, and presidential hopeful, along with other Republican lawmakers, made a much publicised visit to a Baghdad marketplace to show that it was safe to "walk the streets" in the war zone, and this was a sign that the security crackdown was working.
McCain was accompanied by 100 Iraqi and American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters and two gunships. Yesterday, 21 workers at the same market visited by McCain were abducted and executed.

The market stall owners, background extras to McCain's incredibly irresponsible publicity stunt, were furious that the senator went home and made claims about how "safe and secure" the Baghdad markets were, and how pleased stall owners were by the "increasing security". But stall owners in the market did not tell McCain this. They told the senator their situation was "bad" and "everybody complained (to McCain)". Now some of the very same stall market stall owners McCain visited are likely to be amongst the dead.

IRAN : The United States is actively backing and supporting terrorist attacks inside Iran, conducted by an Al Qaeda-linked Pakistani tribal militant group. 'Jundullah' has claimed responsibility for killing dozens of Iranians, and executing military personnel on video. The group is said to be funded by the US via Iranian exiles.

The capture and detention of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran caused near panic on world oil markets, seeing prices rise to six month records. One estimate claims that Iran has made more than $US80 million off the rise in oil prices. Iran exports more than 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. 25% of the world's oil passes through the Persian Gulf.

SOMALIA : More than 400 people were killed in four days of fighting between the Islamist insurgency and the combined military forces of the Ethiopian and Somali governments, most of the dead were civilians. Another 600 people were wounded.

ETHIOPIA : Human Rights Watch claim that the US, via the CIA and FBI, is involved in running rendition programs and secret prisons in Ethiopia, where Somalis fleeing the fighting are being held. Another report claims that hundreds 'terrorist suspects' from 19 countries, including women and children, are being held in Ethiopian prisons and are denied access to lawyers.

ISRAEL : Intelligence sources are claiming that thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters are now undergoing military training in Iran, Yemen and Syria.

An influential Israeli military intelligence major claims that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are preparing for war against the United States; war-drumming propaganda dismissed by most of the world's media.

KASHMIR : The nuclear-armed nations of Pakistan and India are getting closer to a formal deal over the future of Kashmir. Pakistan's President Musharraf has all but given up on Pakistan's territorial claim to India Kashmir, allowing the deal to move forward. India and Pakistan are expected to share responsibility for the governing of all of the disputed territory, which has been a rallying propaganda tool for Islamists for decades.

SYRIA : Syria and Turkey are working together to round up key leaders of the Syrian Kurdistan independence group PKK.

American Democrat Nancy Pelosi visited the Syrian president yesterday, much to the annoyance of the Bush White House, and announced that Syria was ready to negotiate peace with Israel, and talks between Syria and Israel should begin soon.

PALESTINE : The Arab summit in Riyadh two weeks ago finished with an offer of 'land for peace' to Israel. The Saudis were blunt after leading the talks and Arab nation negotiations and said Israel had to accept the offer or face further violence. Israel welcomed most of the plan, but now wants to invite Arab leaders to Israel for further talks. The Palestinian foreign minister said Israel is now stalling, and wants to negotiate peace offering nothing in return.

The capture and detention of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran caused near panic on world oil markets, seeing prices rise to six month records. One estimate claims that Iran has made more than $US80 million off the rise in oil prices. Iran exports more than 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. 25% of the world's oil passes through the Persian Gulf.

INDONESIA : A joint mission by Indonesian and Australian anti-terror forces has uncovered a massive stash of explosives held by suspected terrorists. Indonesia and Australia are claiming they have disrupted a terrorist bombing plot that would have killed hundreds. The volume of explosives seized was said to be (via an Australian radio news report) four times the amount used in the Bali bombings of 2002, that killed more than 200 people.

THAILAND : 14 Muslim worshippers were wounded after a bomb was thrown into a mosque in the south of the country. More than 2000 people have been killed in three years of Islamist insurgency in the country's far south districts. The government is now considering recruiting women into its military to help fight the insurgency.

SRI LANKA : Fighting last night saw the Sri Lankan military kill 23 'rebels' and seizing four Tamil Tiger bases, according to claims made by the government.

The government also claims it has effectively destroyed the Tamil Tigers "sea base" during bombing raids. The 'Sea Tigers' have waged a damaging series of "spectacular" boat-based suicide attacks against the Sri Lankan Navy.

Recently a bus at a military checkpoint was bombed by Tamil Tigers, killing 16. This followed the Tamil Tigers first air strike against a Sri Lankan air force base.

Tamil Tigers have been fighting government forces for more than 24 years, trying to get an independent homeland. Some 65,000 people were killed during the insurgency before a cease fire was negotiated in 2002. More than 4000 have died since fighting reignited in late 2005.

AFGHANISTAN : The United States now has more than 40,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, and one unit is feelig a unique kind of dejavu. They spent years playing the role of Afghan insurgents and Taliban in war games, now they are fighting the people they once pretended to be. Pakistan is claiming that attacks In bad news for the United States and NATO, old friends and former foes of President Hamid Karzai have announced they are uniting to form a new political party to "improve democracy in our society", and look likely to successfully undermine Karzai's power and influence.

Pakistan is claiming that harsh measures it took to contain militant raids and attacks launched from inside its borders into Afghanistan have been a major success - "no reports of any cross border movement."