Is it a war on Mumbai?

Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades targeted at least seven sites in Mumbai late on Nov. 26 night, opening fire indiscriminately on crowds at a major railway station, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels, the Jewish centre, a hospital and an up-market restaurant frequented by foreigners.

Some foreign tourists were reported to be among the dead. Witnesses said the gunmen were very young, like boys, wearing jeans and T-shirts had specifically chosen US and British citizens to take hostage.

The attacks are the worst in India's commercial capital since nearly 200 people were killed in a series of bombings in 2006.

A group calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen", previously unknown, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Maharashtra state’s Director General of Police A N Roy said around 100 people were killed in the precisely targeted assaults by small groups of gunmen armed with AK-47s and grenades that began around 10:30pm (1700 GMT). The latest causalities figure is at least 160 people were killed and more than 300 were wounded.

Hemant Karkare, chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad, was among the fatalities at the Hotel Oberoi, in addition, 11 other police were killed.

The death and destruction in Mumbai has upset and unsettled local Indians as well as foreigners about the safety in India's biggest city.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the perpetrators of coordinated attacks on the financial capital Mumbai were likely based outside the country. He said he will tell "neighbors" that the use of their territory for launching terrorist attacks will not be tolerated.

For years, India blamed Pakistan's intelligence services for terror attacks. If a link between the two can be proved, then the tension between the India and its neighbor will increase sharply and deep into a crisis.

Some analysis refer as local attacks with a global impact and assuming that the attackers are militant groups operating in India, possibly with some level of outside support from Pakistan and were a carefully planned, well-executed attack.

Since the attacks, a number of people have been arrested, but the Indian authorities have still released no information about the identity or the background of the attackers.

EUROPE TARGETS BLOGGERS AS TERRORISTS

UK, EU crackdown on "spreading propaganda," mirrors U.S. assault on Internet freedom. The article written by Paul Joseph Watson October 2006 is interesting. Read More………

Bush administration efforts to infiltrate, misdirect, regulate and pollute the Internet with Neo-Con propaganda, as well as their openly stated agenda to target American bloggers as terrorists, is now being aped by the British government across the pond as well as other major European countries.

Home Secretary John Reid met with ministers from the six largest European Union countries and, according to a BBC report "agreed to work together to make the Internet a "more hostile" place for terrorists."

How will they accomplish this? By initiating a crackdown on people who use the Internet to "spread propaganda." The very website you are now reading would be considered propaganda by these neo-fascists- no matter the fact that the criminal syndicates Bush and Blair front for are the most deceitful progenitors of lurid propaganda since the third reich.

The purge also aims to use the Internet and other media to target young audiences with state approved indoctrination PR spin on how the war on terror is really not about imperial hegemony and crushing liberties at home.

The British government's paranoid fear of anyone "spreading propaganda" that could compete with their own is perhaps one of the reasons why they outlawed the right to protest under the 2005 Serius and Organised Crimes Actt. Now Brits are only allowed to protest against the government with the government's permission - in other countries they would call that a police state and in others besides - like Zimbabwe or China - it's the de rigueur of tyranny.

Similarly, the Glorification of Terror Legislation is so broadly defined that disagreeing with the government's "official explanation" of a terrorist event could be seen as enemy propaganda.

The only remaining outlet for the groundswell of dissent in opposition to the Neo-Fascist takeover of the west is the Internet, and it keeps these jack-booted bastards awake at night to think you can sit in front of your computer and broadcast your outrage to the four corners of the earth on a whim.

The fact that the US government demanded access to Google search queries of around 150 million Internet active Americans under the umbrella of the NSA eavesdropping program (recall the surveillance trucks in V For Vendetta that tuned into home conversations) proves that the elite are deliriously nervous about the last remaining outpost of freedom and its potential to influence change.

In addition, the European Union has moved to completely regulate Internet freedom. The first step is the introduction of licensing laws where you would be required to register, pay tax and only receive permission to operate a website if your material didn't violate the broad ranging "hate speech" laws legislated by the EU - win hich criticizing the EU itself is deemed "hate speech."

The development of "Internet 2" is also designed to create an online caste system whereby the old Internet hubs would be allowed to break down and die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide web. If you're struggling to comprehend exactly what the Internet will look like in five years unless we resist this, just look at China and their latest efforts to completely eliminate dissent and anonymity on the web.

Last week we highlighted similar efforts in the U.S. to mobilize resources in the war on terror to target bloggers as terrorist sympathizers and propagandists.

The White House has made it perfectly clear that it will target American citizens for propagating information harmful to the interests of the U.S. government and classify them as enemy combatants. This is codified in sub-section 27 of section 950v. of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Bush's own strategy document for winning the war on terror identifies "conspiracy theorists," meaning anyone who exposes government corruption and its lies about major domestic and world events, as "terrorists recruiters," and vows to eliminate their influence in society.

In a speech given last Monday, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills."

Chertoff has pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a political tool.

A program on behalf of CENTCOM is also underway to infiltrate blogs and message boards to ensure people, "have the opportunity to read positive stories,"presumably about how Iraq is a wonderful liberated democracy and the war on terror really is about protecting Americans from Al-CIAda.

WAR ON TERROR

Bush argued that fighting Islamic militants in Iraq helped to prevent attacks on targets in the US.

"The terrorists who murder the innocent in the streets of Baghdad want to murder the innocent in the streets of American cities," he said.

"Defeating this enemy in Iraq will make it less likely we will face this enemy here at home."

Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama said the decision to invade was made on ideological grounds, instead of "reason and facts".

Bush spoke as anti-war protests were held in several US cities amid mounting opposition to the war and its costs.

In his speech, Mr Bush dismissed what he called "exaggerated estimates" of the war's price tag.

"The costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq," he said.

He said recent troop reinforcements had brought about "a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror".

He also made the case that by working with Sunni Arabs from so-called Awakening Councils to defeat al-Qaeda, the US was successfully driving a wedge between militants and the Arab mainstream.

"In Iraq," he said, "we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama Bin Laden. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated."

MIC Krishnasamy shot dead in JB office

Tenggaroh state assemblyman and Johor MIC deputy chairman Datuk S. Krishnasamy was murdered gangland-style Jan 11, 2008 at the MIC headquarters here.

Krishnasamy, 61, was shot once in the neck at point-blank range by an unknown gunman just as he entered the lift on the ground floor of the building at 2pm.

He had been dropped off by his driver and was on his way up to the second floor for a meeting.

Witnesses in the building in Jalan Segget heard a shot that sounded like a firecracker but thought nothing of it.

Two party members waiting for the lift were shocked to discover Krishnasamy lying face down in a pool of blood as the doors opened.

V. Kamala, a secretary, was on the fifth floor with Johor MIC Puteri chief R. Vitiya Mohan. They were on their way down to the second floor for the meeting.

“The doors opened and Vitiya almost fainted when we saw a man lying in blood. We did not know who he was as we could not see his face. We did not dare go near the body.

“The doors closed and we took the stairs down,” said Kamala at the crime scene.

On its way down, the lift stopped on the second floor where Sri Gading division chairman V. Murugan also saw the body.

“I thought it was Datuk (Krishnasamy) because I recognised his shirt. But I was not sure. I was in shock and before I could do anything, the lift doors closed and I took the stairs down.”

By this time, a small group of people had gathered around the lift as it had reached the ground floor. Krishnasamy’s driver confirmed that it was him and an ambulance was called.
Another witness, Taman Datuk Chellam MIC branch chairman Arumugam Suppiah, said he could see a bleeding wound in Krishnasamy’s neck.

Krishnasamy’s body was brought to the Sultanah Aminah Hospital for a post-mortem. His body was later taken to his home in Segamat.

Bhutto killed in suicide attack at political rally

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi, and then blew himself up.

The suicide attack also killed at least 20 others at the end of a campaign rally. Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Ms Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up.

The attack occurred close to an entrance gate of the city park where Ms Bhutto had been speaking.

Benazir Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

The death of the 54-year-old charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 election into chaos and created fears of mass protests and an eruption of violence across the volatile south Asian nation. "The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up," police officer Mohammad Shahid said.

Ms Bhutto - the first woman PM in an Islamic state - was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.

Security forces have been placed on a state of "red alert" nationwide.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.

Ms Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), had served as prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, and had been campaigning ahead of elections due on 8 January.

It was the second suicide attack against her in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials.

Police confirmed reports Ms Bhutto had been shot in the neck and chest before the gunman blew himself up.

Ms Bhutto's coffin was removed from hospital in Rawalpindi and has now arrived by plane in Sukkur in Sindh province for burial in her home town, Larkana.

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has arrived in Pakistan from Dubai to escort the coffin to its final resting-place.

Photos - Benazir Bhutto's coffin has now been taken from the hospital.

MI5: Children Being Groomed for Terror

LONDON – Extremists are grooming children and teenagers to plot terrorist attacks against Britain, the director of the domestic spy agency said Monday.

But Jonathan Evans, making his first public speech since becoming director-general of Britain's MI5 agency in April, said vital resources needed to tackle terrorism are being diverted to counter the espionage threat from Russia and China.

“Terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country,” Evans said, according to a text of his speech in Manchester, England. “They are radicalizing, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism.”

Testimony from a U.S. terrorist-turned-witness in British court cases has revealed how young Britons are trained for attacks at terrorist camps in tribal areas of Pakistan.

Evans said though Pakistan remains a key training ground for Britons, similar centers are emerging elsewhere. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is attempting to stage attacks outside Iraq and parts of East Africa, particularly Somalia, have become a key area for training and planning of attacks on Britain, he said.

Evans said thwarting plots alone is not enough to stop the threat of extremist terrorism, and urged the government and society to counter the message of radical preachers.

“If we only react tactically while our enemies plan strategically, we shall be hard put to win this. A key part of our strategy must be perseverance,” Evans said at a newspaper editors' conference. “It starts with rejection of the violent extremist ideology across society.”

He said al-Qaeda “has a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks against the United Kingdom.”

But Evans warned that efforts to tackle terrorism are being stalled by work to halt foreign intelligence agents from stealing sensitive information on civilian and military technology. He singled out agents from Russia and China.

“So, despite the Cold War ending nearly two decades ago, my service is still expending resources to defend the U.K. against unreconstructed attempts by Russia, China and others, to spy on us,” he said.

Officials at the Russian Embassy in London were not immediately available for comment.-AP

Extremists stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives?

Two explosions occurred a few feet away from former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's convoy in Karachi early on Friday, (October 19, 2007) morning, killing at least 135 people and injuring over 545 others, dispel the notion contemporary international community is immune to such serious and ever-present threat of terrifying activity in challenging the democracy. Is it the indication that the extremists try to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process?

Ms Bhutto left the country shortly before Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup, but returned under a power-sharing deal that could see her becoming prime minister again. She had been planning to make a speech at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

After the blasts, a dazed Ms Bhutto was immediately rushed from the scene to her Karachi home. The terrifying incident draws the world attention but no one quickly claimed responsibility for the were suicide attacks bombings that devastated Benazir Bhutto's festive return to the southern city of Karachi on Thursday.

However, militants inked to al-Qaida and the Taliban had threatened to meet her with attacks. Government officials also had warned that intelligence reports suggested at least three groups sympathetic to Osama bin Laden's terror movement and the hard-line Taliban religious militias were plotting attacks on Bhutto.

The former prime minister's strong criticism of Islamic extremists who control swaths of Pakistan's northern border with Afghanistan made her many enemies, as did her openness to working with the U.S. and even allying with the Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.