Iraq: Suicide bomber kills 2 Shiite pilgrims

Another suicide terrorist in Iraq. While the former was against government buildings, this was against Shiite pilgrims.

An Iraqi official says a suicide bomber has killed two Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect.Mohammed Maarouf, the mayor of Balad Ruz town in the northern Diyala province, says the bomber detonated an explosives belt during a body check and killed the policeman searching him and a woman standing nearby. Thirteen people were injured, Maarouf said.

More information here.

Second Moscow bomber was widow of Al Qaida militant

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This is un update on this story (more here, here and here):

The 28-year-old Daghestani school teacher, who blew herself up at the Moscow Metro last week, was the widow of an Al-Qaida militant active in Russia‘s Caucasian region, a report said on Thursday…. (She) was identified as an IT school teacher Mariyam Sharipova, the widow of Caucasian militant “Doctor Mohammad”.

…The Jordanian national known among the militants as ‘Doctor Mohammad’, had come to North Caucasus in mid-1990s along with another famous Jordanian militant Khattab and was lately representing Al-Qaida’s interests in Russia’s volatile, predominant Muslim regions.

He was killed on August 30, 2009 in a special operation in a remote village in Khasavyurt district of Daghestan, the daily reported quoting FSB security service sources.

Suicide Blasts Target Embassies in Baghdad

Suicide bombers in Iraq since 2003 have kiled thousands of people, mostly Iraqi civilians. Image via Wikipedia

Suicide attackers detonated car bombs near three embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 32 people and wounding more than 100, authorities said.

The attacks outside the German, Egyptian and Iranian embassies deepened fears that insurgents will seize on the political turmoil after last month’s parliamentary elections to sow further instability.

The blasts went off within minutes of each other, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the city’s operations command center.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone from the embassies was among the dead or wounded.

via Suicide Blasts Target Embassies in Baghdad – CBS News.

According to NYT, there were four suicide bombers: three detonated their explosives near the Iranian embassy and the residences of the Egyptian chargé des affaires and of the German ambassador in Baghdad and another one near the Iraqi intelligence agency, but in that case the suicide bomber was shot dead before the bomb was detonated.

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Russia: Dozens killed in Moscow subway blasts

Explosions rocked a pair of central Moscow subway stations during morning rush hour Monday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 10 others, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said.

The first blast occurred about 8 a.m. at Lubyanka subway station. That explosion killed 14 people aboard the train and 11 on the platform.

The Lubyanka station is near the Kremlin and the nation's intelligence service, the Federal Security Bureau.

Another blast happened about 30 minutes later at Park Kultury station, on the same train line. The Emergency Situations Ministry reported 12 dead in the second explosion. Russian TV said the blast killed 15 people.

via Russia: Dozens killed in Moscow subway blasts – CNN.com.

According to Moscow’s Major, there had been two female suicide bombers (skynews.com).

Russia Today:

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Balawi: How Suicide Bomber Lured CIA Agents to Their Deaths

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So this was the way it was done:

In December, Balawi sent a coded message to his handlers that suggested he was getting close to a key CIA target: al Qaeda‘s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The message said that Zawahiri needed a change in the dosage of his medication, and that Balawi would be providing Zawahiri with the medicine through a courier. Officials briefed on the case said Balawi did not specify which illness Zawahiri was allegedly suffering, or what medication he was providing. The message made the agents think that Balawi might soon lead them to Osama bin Laden‘s chief lieutenant. The CIA agents wanted to meet their supposed mole in person for the first time.

Prior to the meeting, said the current and former intelligence officials, the Jordanian intelligence agent who was “running” Balawi told the CIA agents that the day of the proposed meeting was Balawi’s birthday and that they should have a cake ready. Balawi passed through three rings of security into a CIA’s base near Khost, Afghanistan without being checked. A group of as many as a dozen Americans waited with the birthday cake for Balawi to exit his car. Survivors of the blast, including the CIA’s second-highest ranking officer in Afghanistan, have told CIA officials that Balawi kept one hand in his pocket as he got out of the vehicle and began to recite a martyrdom prayer just before he triggered his suicide belt.

via Balawi: How Suicide Bomber Lured CIA Agents to Their Deaths – ABC News.

Of course, I am no one in the intelligence world. But isn’t it somewhat strange that an informant says someone has an illness and is not asked about what illness he is speaking about?

Before:

• CIA director confirms that 7 agents died in suicide bombing by Taliban at US base.
• Bomber at CIA was Jordanian national working for intelligence.
• The Blotter publishes face of CIA agents’ killer.
• An interview with Defne Bayrak, CIA agents killer’s widow.
• CIA Base Bomber: From Jihadist Blogger to Suicide Bomber.

Afghanistan: Drone kills suspect of CIA suicide bombing

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A Central Intelligence Agency drone strike last week killed a top al Qaeda trainer suspected of being involved in December’s suicide bombing that killed seven CIA officers at a base in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say.

The March 8 strike on a suspected bomb-making facility in Miran Shah, Pakistan, killed as many as 15 people, including Hussein al-Yemeni, a rising star in the al Qaeda network led by Osama bin Laden, according to people familiar with the strike.

via Drone Kills Suspect in CIA Suicide Bombing – WSJ.com.

Before:

• CIA director confirms that 7 agents died in suicide bombing by Taliban at US base.
• Bomber at CIA was Jordanian national working for intelligence.
• The Blotter publishes face of CIA agents’ killer.
• An interview with Defne Bayrak, CIA agents killer’s widow.
• CIA Base Bomber: From Jihadist Blogger to Suicide Bomber.

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• Key al-Qaeda man ‘died in strike’ (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Drone Attack Is Said to Kill a Senior Qaeda Leader (nytimes.com)
• Senior official: Al-Qaida leader believed killed (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• US ‘kills’ al-Qaeda leader involved in CIA bombing (telegraph.co.uk)

Afghanistan: ‘Nine killed’ in suspected suicide bombing

A suspected suicide bomber has attacked a market in the eastern Afghan city of Gardez, killing at least nine people.The dead included four young children. Police say 28 others were wounded, some seriously.

A BBC correspondent in Kabul says the target appears to have been the commander of a private security firm working for American forces.The man, his brother, and two bodyguards were killed.

Many civilians were also caught in the blast.

via BBC News – ‘Nine killed’ in suspected Afghanistan suicide bombing.

Bastards.

Pakistan: Car Bomber Kills at Least 5 in Swat Valley

More violence after Mehsud’s death (is he dead or not?):

A suicide bomber killed at least five people in Pakistan’s Swat Valley on Saturday in the first major act of violence in that region since the military offensive against the Taliban there this spring, security officials said.

The bomber steered a small truck loaded with explosives into a military checkpoint shortly after 10 a.m., a security official said, killing three soldiers and two civilians.

Swat, a strategic valley north of the capital, had been overrun by Taliban militants when the military began its operation this spring. The military is still fighting in remote reaches of the valley, but had announced last month that it was safe for most of the displaced to return, including to the central area where the attack took place.

Car Bomber Kills at Least 5 in Pakistan’s Swat Valley – NYTimes.com

The bodies of 18 terrorists “suspected militants” have been found in Swat valley and the Army killed another 8 in Deari area.

Talibans need to increase the violence in the area, if they want really to desestabilize it and fulfill AQ’s plans.

BREAKING: Suicide bombers in Somalia strike UN compound (and other targets)!! (Updated)

Suicide bombers struck targets across northern Somalia on Wednesday, including a U.N. compound, officials said. There were deaths and dozens of injuries, but an exact figure was still unclear.

“We are still counting the bodies,” said Ismail Adani, a spokesman for the government of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, where bombers hit the U.N. compound, the Ethiopian Consulate and the presidential palace.

Suicide bombers also attacked two intelligence facilities in the northern Somali region of Puntland on Wednesday. The two suicide bombers died in the attack and six security officials were wounded, said Muse Gelle Yusuf, governor of Somalia’s northern port city of Bossaso. The region is a hotbed of abductions and piracy.

via Suicide bombers in Somalia strike UN compound – Yahoo! News

UPDATE: 19  killed in 3 terrorist attacks.