Merchant sailors fight back: Pirate killed off Somalia

A pirate was killed and several others were detained after a security team thwarted an attack in waters off Somalia. The incident happened Tuesday as a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the MV Almezaan, was headed to Mogadishu, said the European Union Naval Force. A private security team that was on board the ship returned fire when pirates tried to attack the vessel. The security team was able to repel two attack attempts.

The EU naval force was called in, boarded the three pirate ships and detained six suspects. They also found one pirate who had died of a gunshot wound, the naval force said. No further details were immediately available about his death. The waters off the Somali coast -- the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean -- have been plagued by Somali pirates. The international community has adopted measures such as escorts and monitoring to crack down on piracy. Two cargo ships were seized in the area on Tuesday.

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Three held over Sahil Saeed ransom demand

Spanish police have arrested two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman in connection with a ransom demanded for kidnapped British boy Sahil Saeed. Sahil, five, from Oldham, was taken from his grandmother's home in Pakistan on 3 March, then freed 13 days later. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid said officers in Tarragona, Catalonia, had confirmed the arrests, but said the investigation was still open. He was taken when robbers broke into the house while he and his father Raja Saeed were on holiday visiting relatives in Jhelum, in the Punjab region. Mr Saeed returned to the UK last week against the wishes of Pakistan's police.

Family members were said to have been beaten by the intruders during a six-hour ordeal, which ended with the robbers looting the house and fleeing with the boy. The gang had apparently demanded a £100,000 ransom for Sahil's return, but his family had said there was "no way" they could afford any such payment. Kidnapping has become truly an international enterprise, and the tactics used by one group that seem to work or innovative are used by others soon after.

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Terrorists change target, modus: Police chief

Indonesian National Police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said today that the terrorist network in Indonesia has changed its target and modus operandi. “They are aiming at particular parties such as the National Police, the Indonesian Military and other law enforcement personnel,” Bambang said as quoted by Antara news agency. Previously, terrorists mainly attacked Westerners or parties with opposing ideologies. Meanwhile in terms of their modus, terrorists have been said to be changing from their previous bombing methods to using firing weapons, he added. The paramilitary training activities also show that terrorists have further developed their violent patterns. This just goes to prove how adaptive the terrorists are as individuals and how their organizations are learning organizations and this helps them to adjust to law enforcement and counter terror operations.

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North African states meet on al-Qaeda terror threat

Cooperation, coordination and the sharing of information and resources are all at the heart of intelligence-led policing and counter-insurgency operations, whether at interagency or international levels. Threats shared and fought together make the battle much easier. It is therefore heartening to see seven North African countries holding talks today in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the Sahara-Sahel region (shown above in yellow and orange, map courtesy of Wikipedia). The conference "indicates our shared will to take adequate and suitable steps in a coordinated manner" in response to the terror threat, "which has seen dangerous developments", said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.

An al-Qaeda offshoot in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), along with other criminal groups, has exploited the vast spaces of the Sahara and Sahel to hide from authorities after launching attacks or kidnapping foreigners. "Obviously, putting into place effective and multifaceted border cooperation between our countries is crucial," Medelci said before he and his counterparts or their deputies from Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger began talks behind closed doors. Medelci also condemned growing links between terror and criminal groups in the region that has seen a rise in weapons and drug smuggling.

• "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)", Anti-Defamation League, 2010.
• "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb", Council on Foreign Relations, 7/21/09.
• "Islamist Terrorism in the Sahel: Fact or Fiction?", International Crisis Group, 3/31/05.
• "Maghreb" overview, LookLex Encyclopedia, 2010.
  
• "Sahara" overview, PBS, 2010.
  
• "Sahel" overview, PBS, 2010.

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Kidnapped British boy found safe in Pakistan

The five-year-old British boy kidnapped while on holiday in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago was today found wandering in a field after being released alone at 9am, police said. Sahil Saeed, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, was snatched from a house in the Punjab region of the country on 4 March, after robbers held his family hostage at gunpoint.

The assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police, Dave Thompson, said Sahil was released by his hostages in Kharian, about 25 miles (40km) from Jhelum, the town in Punjab where he was kidnapped."It's with some delight and considerable relief that Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, was released at 4.10am GMT this morning in Kharian city in Pakistan by his hostage takers," Thompson said.

"The release was made as a result of a phone call made to his family. He was released nearby to a school, alone, wandered into a local field and was found by some local residents who looked after him until such time his family found him with the police. "At this time, I believe he is well, considering the terrible ordeal he would have been through."

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Dictators and democracies

Colombia and Venezuela are both Latino nations in the South American continent, in fact, they are next-door neighbours. But that's about where the similarities end, at least politically. One, Venezuela, is led by a populist madman with delusions of grandeur, who is taking his country on the path to great hurt, for his own sake. The other, Colombia, is ruled by an imperfect but capable man who has gracefully accepted the Colombian Constitutional Court's rejection of a referendum that would have allowed him to pursue a third term in power. Alvaro Uribe's actions give me great hope for the future of this beautiful country. The two men could not be more unlike in their attitudes, performance and behaviour.

Colombia is possibly the most democratic country in the region while Venezuela seems to be plunging back into the dark ages, propelled there by a dictator who has too much in common with the likes of Saddam Hussein. Venezuela is not a place I would like to do business, feel safe from corruption, or have any confidence that my civil rights would be protected. Colombia, on the other hand, has problems of it's own with drug cartels and Marxist-Leninist terror organizations within it's borders. But I know where I would be more likely to enjoy a good life and have the opportunity to prosper. It wouldn't be where Hugo Chavez was the boss of anything.

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Why the Jihad Jane Case Is a Win for the Patriot Act Read

The Justice Department won't say whether provisions of the Patriot Act were used to investigate and charge Colleen LaRose. But the FBI and U.S. prosecutors who charged the 46-year-old woman from Pennsburg, Pa., on Tuesday with conspiring with terrorists and pledging to commit murder in the name of jihad could well have used the Patriot Act's fast access to her cell-phone records, hotel bills and rental-car contracts as they tracked her movements and contacts last year. But even if the law's provisions weren't directly used against her, the arrest of the woman who allegedly used the moniker "Jihad Jane" is a boost for the Patriot Act, Administration officials and Capitol Hill Democrats say. That's because revelations of her alleged plot may give credibility to calls for even greater investigative powers for the FBI and law enforcement, including Republican proposals to expand certain surveillance techniques that are currently limited to targeting foreigners.

Despite having repeatedly called for greater restrictions on the Patriot Act since its inception, Democrats punted late last month when presented with their best opportunity to roll back the law. After spending months working up a revised bill that would have moderately limited the broad powers created by the existing one, Democrats opted instead to extend the act as is for one year. President Obama signed the extension days before the expiration of the law's most controversial provisions.

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Internet aids terrorist recruiting, radicalization, Pentagon says

Militant groups can radicalize individuals and train them to carry out terrorist acts much more quickly today, in part thanks to the Internet, according to military and counter terrorism experts. Militant groups and some individuals have “maximized” the use of technologies such as the Internet. Government officials say the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly attempted to blow up an American airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day, points to just how fast groups can radicalize an individual.

Mr. Abdulmutallab was identified, contacted, recruited, and trained all within six weeks, according to a Pentagon counterterrorism official. That’s much faster than the two and a half years it took for Osama bin Laden to hatch the plan to attack the US nine years ago. While the two plans vary widely in scope, the faster time frame indicates how adaptive radicalized groups and individuals have become, say experts. “They have really improved their ability to radicalize people and bring them into the fight, which of course severely hampers our ability to disrupt and get ourselves involved in the process,” said Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of Defense, in testimony before a Senate panel Wednesday.

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Somali pirates, security personnel in 4 shootouts

Signaling a new offensive mindset, international military officials vowed Friday to fight the pirates as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa. Four shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season. Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre Giulia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

A French military detachment onboard a nearby ship fired warning shots at the pirates. The ship then approached the skiff and collided with it, sinking the skiff and throwing the pirates into the water. Four were rescued, but two others were missing, Harbour said. A spike in attacks is likely in the coming weeks, said Harbour. This season, though, ship owners and sailors are more prepared to evade pirates, fight back, or they have armed security onboard, raising the likelihood of violence. "We know the monsoon is over. We know they're coming. We're taking the fight to the pirates."

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Al Qaeda's Pakistan Lair Captured

In what is being hailed as a major victory against al Qaeda and its allies, Pakistani forces announced the capture of caves described as the nerve centre of militant activity on the Afghan-Pakistan border. An elaborate network of over 150 caves, believed to have once housed Al Qaeda's number two Ayman al Zawahiri, was revealed to journalists by the Pakitani military

"The location of Bajaur, especially Damadola, is very significant. The militants controlled their operations from this place," Maj. Gen. Attar Abbas, Pakistani army spokesman, said. The caves are impossible to spot from the air, but inside the tunnels carved into the moutains was a warehouse of military supplies including stockpiles of guns and ammunition, bazookas, artillery shells, rocket propelled grenades, mines and stolen U.S. army uniforms. Some of the material was from Iraq, others from Iran.

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