This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Terror War

  • Corporal Joseph Maciel killed in green-on-blue attack

    Corporal Joseph Maciel killed in green-on-blue attack

    The Department of Defense announced that Corporal Joseph Maciel was killed Saturday while involved in operations supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel;

    Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, California, died July 7, 2018, in Tarin Kowt District, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan from wounds sustained during an apparent insider attack. The incident is under investigation.

    Maciel was assigned to 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Georgia. Task Force 1-28 Infantry is currently deployed in support of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade.

    From Stars & Stripes;

    Maciel’s decorations include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

    The incident is under investigation, officials said. Maciel’s death marks the third U.S. fatality in Afghanistan this year.

    The 1st SFAB arrived in Afghanistan earlier this year to advise Afghan forces below the corps level as part of the Trump administration’s strategy for ending the longest war in U.S. history. Their work puts them closer to the front lines than most U.S. troops have been in years, which has sparked concern that more U.S. causalities could result.

  • US & Afghan troops capture ISIS capital

    Stars & Stripes reports that US and Afghan special forces troops have captured an ISIS stronghold that Daesh has claimed as their local capital, Gurgoray in Deh Bala district in Nangarhar province. The announcement came after months of fighting.

    The U.S. and Afghan offensive involved five Special Forces teams and three Afghan commando companies. In total, 600 members of the U.S. Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets, participated in the mission, which began in April and continued into June, a U.S. military officer said.

    Checkpoints manned by U.S. Special Forces, Afghan commandos and police now rise high above the valleys of Deh Bala, while American fighter-bombers continue to blast the Gurgoray Valley to stifle movements there by ISIS remnants.

    Nangarhar province is one of the few places Americans continue to fight alongside Afghan forces in battle, and it has also been the deadliest spot for U.S. servicemembers, with a third of American combat deaths occurring there last year.

    ISIS has fled the area and taken up residence in the caves of Tora Bora.

    “We know that our security forces have always showed bravery to capture areas from Daesh or Taliban, but after a while these areas go back in their hands again,” Israrullah Murad, a member of Nangarhar’s provincial council, said.

    The district’s Afghan Local Police commander, Sakhi, said the operations against ISIS in the region now means locals – including the Taliban – can return.

    “All the people feel very happy about the elimination of ISIS,“ Sakhi said through an interpreter. “As soon as ISIS is finished, the Taliban will come back. They were scared of ISIS.”

  • Japan executes Aum Shinrikyo terrorists

    Japan executes Aum Shinrikyo terrorists

    AW1Ed sends us the news that Japan hanged seven members of the cult terrorists of Aum Shinrikyo, including their leader Shoko Asahara. The group was blamed for the nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system in 1995 which killed 13 and injured more than 6,000.

    The hanging of Asahara has in some ways closed the curtain on the shocking crimes and dramatic events staged by Aum. But it also leaves several critical questions unanswered, because even during his trial, Asahara never explained the actual motivations for the crimes.

    In particular, the 1995 sarin attack in Tokyo is remembered as a watershed event that deeply damaged a long-held sense of security felt by many in postwar Japan.

    […]

    In addition to Asahara, 191 Aum members were indicted over a number of criminal acts — including murders, attempted murders, abductions and the production of deadly nerve gases and illegal automatic rifles. Twelve had their death penalty sentences finalized.

    There are rumors in the Japanese media that at least one of the folks who were executed was awaiting retrial. But not now, I guess. He’s in Hell’s waiting room.

  • Demetrius Pitts; July 4th plot foiled in Cleveland

    Demetrius Pitts; July 4th plot foiled in Cleveland

    Mick sends us a link to Fox News which reports that Demetrius Pitts also known as Abdur Raheem Rahfeeq, was arrested by a joint terrorism task force in Cleveland, Ohio for a terrorist plot scheduled to take place on July 4th.

    A man who pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda sought to kill members of the military and conducted reconnaissance in downtown Cleveland for a planned attack on July 4 — but the Independence Day plot was foiled after a months-long investigation, federal officials said Monday.

    Cincinnati.com reports that Pitts intended to park a van with explosives and park along the 4th of July parade route.

    He also told the agent he wanted to kill military personnel and their families and wanted to conduct a future attack in Philadelphia, a place he previously lived, federal officials said.

    Pitts allegedly talked about targeting St. John’s Cathedral and giving remote control cars packed with explosives to the children of members of the military.

    From the Fox News link;

    In the last week, Pitts then went downtown to conduct reconnaissance at Voinovich Bicentennial Park and the Coast Guard station, among other locations, according to officials. He also continued to voice hatred for the military, saying he wanted to “chop off heads and hands.”

    Good luck, coward.

    Cleveland.com has the affidavit from the arresting agent.

  • US resumes airstrikes after Eid al-Fitr ceasefire

    US aircraft in Afghanistan resumed airstrikes against Taliban emplacements when the ten-day ceasefire during Eid al-Fitr ended today, according to Stars & Stripes;

    U.S. forces in Afghanistan conducted more than 20 airstrikes against the Taliban on Saturday after an unprecedented unilateral cease-fire ended.

    The strikes took place in Ghazni, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, according to Army Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. The Afghan Air Force also conducted at least two independent strikes since the midnight end of the cease-fire, he said.

    Afghan and U.S. forces had no choice but to resume fighting after the Taliban chose not to extend a short cease-fire it declared earlier this month, said Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, acting spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

    The ceasefire was not without incidences. US forces conducted five self-defense strikes during the ceasefire. The Afghan government forces were forced to defend themselves more often;

    Speaking to Pentagon reporters from Kabul earlier this week, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lance Bunch, assistant deputy air commander for USFOR-A said the Afghans carried out 38 self-defense strikes of their own against Taliban targets during the cease-fire.

  • Syrian rebels destroy ISIS drug stash

    Stars & Stripes reports that US-trained Syrian rebels have destroyed a cache of Captagon or fenethylline also known as the “jihadi’s drug”.

    The highly addictive amphetamine-based substance was seized at the end of May during an operation against ISIS in southern Syria.

    “Despite Daesh’s facade of Islamic purity, its criminal terrorists are known drug users and traffickers,” the task force said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

    Drugs sales have become a significant source of revenue for the group since it lost control of oil wells and refineries across Iraq and Syria, according to the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, which fight the militants…Captagon is said to make fighters alert in battle, keeping them awake for longer periods and making them feel happy and energetic.

    Why do you think it’s called “dope”?

  • Germans foil ricin attack

    Mick sends us a ink to Fox News which reports that German police were able to interrupt a chemical attack by 29-year-old Tunisian, Sief Allah H. in Cologne.

    Sief had purchased 1,000 castor beans to grind down into the powder which would be used as a chemical weapon.

    Prosecutors have not commented on a report by Bild newspaper that American intelligence tipped off Germany investigators. The newspaper also reported the suspect bought bomb-making material and chemicals used in the production of ricin.

    If inhaled, ricin causes difficulty breathing and other symptoms. If ingested, symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, hallucinations and seizures. Initial symptoms of ricin poisoning are most likely to occur within four to 10 hours of exposure.

    But, don’t worry, Sief doesn’t have any connection to terrorist organizations.

  • Taliban continues attacks during cease-fire

    Stars & Stripes reports that the Taliban in Afghanistan is ignoring the cease-fire during the Eid holiday. At least 20 government troops have paid the price with their lives;

    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced last week that the eight-day truce would begin Tuesday and stretch through the Eid holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    The gesture aimed at bringing the Taliban into peace talks halted Afghan, U.S. and coalition offensives against the Taliban, but not against other militants.

    However, the Taliban said it would only maintain a holiday cease-fire with Afghan troops for three days of Eid, and that foreign troops remain targets.

    Over the weekend, attacks killed scores of Afghan troops, and Tuesday saw no ebb in Taliban violence.

    Despite the failure of the cease-fire, Ghani wants to extend it.

    The last Afghan administration wanted a peace option with the Taliban – however the Taliban considers negotiations to be a sign of weakness. The only language that the Taliban understands is MOABs stuck right up their aft-orifice.