July 2008

Twin Blasts in Istanbul

Turkey: 15 people killed, more than 150 wounded in two blasts...

12:06am UK, Monday July 28, 2008

Fifteen people have been killed and more than 150 wounded in two blasts in a busy shopping area in Istanbul

Secondary Explosive Device Takes Toll...

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SkyNews): The Turkish city's governor Muammer Guler told reporters at the scene: "It is certain that this is a terror attack."

TV footage showed ambulances carrying badly wounded people to hospital after the explosions at two different sites in the Gungoren district.

The victims were killed by the second explosion after a small blast in a telephone box sent people running into the street, NTV television news said.

"First a percussion bomb exploded and then a bomb in a garbage container exploded," said Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici.

Governor Guler said the "heinous attack" - which took place at around 10pm local time - was not a suicide bombing.

"The blasts occurred in a very busy district and this raised the casualties," he said.

One witness said: "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads, arms, were flying in the air."

Several groups, including Kurdish separatists, far-left groups and Islamists, have carried out bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past...

-- Source/continues:http://tinyurl.com/erri79 (SkyNews)

String Of Blasts Kill 29 in Ahmedabad, India

String Of Blasts Kill 29 in Ahmedabad, India

2nd String of bombings in India in Two Days

AHMEDABAD, INDIA (AFP/Nasdaq.com): At least 29 people were killed and over 100 wounded Saturday in a string of more than a dozen coordinated bomb attacks in the tinderbox western Indian city of Ahmedabad, officials said.

Indian television channels said a little-known Islamist group calling itself the "Indian Mujahedeen" had claimed responsibility, and the state's right-wing Hindu leader warned he "shall not spare" the culprits.

Ahmedabad is the communally-sensitive capital of the opposition Hindu nationalist-ruled state of Gujarat, where thousands were killed in Hindu attacks against Muslims in 2002.

The series of 16 bombings in the city, two of them targeting emergency hospitals trying to deal with the victims, came just a day after a similar wave of attacks in the southern technology city of Bangalore.

A police spokesman said 29 bodies had been recovered and more than 100 people admitted to hospital. Many were hit by flying nuts, bolts and ball bearings packed into bombs that were clearly designed to cause maximum casualties.

"The land of Mahatma Gandhi has been bloodied by terrorists whom we shall not spare," said Narendra Modi, the firebrand chief minister of Gujarat state - the birthplace of India's independence hero.

"Terrorists are waging a war against India. We should be prepared for a long battle against terrorism," he said.

The bombs were detonated with timer devices and all went off in the space of 36 minutes, officials said.

"We saw a blue bag near the trauma center, and before we could react we saw it explode in a shine of blinding light," said Dr. Vipul Patil at the privately-run Dhanwantari Hospital.

Reporters at two hospitals saw victims with severe injuries lying on the floor as panicked medical staff, themselves traumatized by the bombs, struggled to cope. The emergency room of another hospital was littered with broken glass and smeared with blood.

India had sounded a nationwide alert on Friday after a series of eight low- intensity bombs went off in IT capital Bangalore and left one dead and seven wounded.

Major Indian cities have been hit by a string of apparently well-planned bomb attacks in recent years, with officials in the capital regularly pointing the finger at arch-rival Pakistan or militants backed by Islamabad.

Pakistan denies backing Muslim militants, including those operating in the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir...

-- Source/continues: http://tinyurl.com/erri69

LODD: Firefighter Killed, Two Police Officers Wounded

21 July 2008 - 13:00 CDT

Neighbors Say Fire Destroys Maplewood Home
LODD: Firefighter Killed, Two Police Officers Wounded

Maplewood, Mo. -- A home where St. Louis County police believe a shooting suspect has been hiding out has been destroyed by a fire, according to neighbors.

Tracy Panus, a spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police Department, said officials did not know the status of the suspect as the home burned on Zephyr, off of Big Bend in Maplewood, eight miles west of St. Louis.

Black smoke could be seen rising above a tree line where a home was burning at 10:30 a.m.

Lamira Martin, who lives across the street from the home, said live on NewsChannel 5 that the home was an "inferno" and that she heard possible explosions around 10:30 a.m.

NewsChannel 5 crews saw an armored vehicle from the St. Louis County tactical unit heading towards the home, and then they spotted black smoke.

Media crews were kept away from the scene and television helicopters were not allowed to fly in the area.

The Maplewood Fire Department said Ryan Hummert, 22, a paramedic and firefighter was shot and killed after he got out of his fire truck at the scene of the car fire, across the street from the burning home around 5:40 a.m.

Hummert started working for the department in August 2007. He was a 2004 graduate of Rockwood Summit High School and was the son of former Maplewood Mayor Andy Hummert and his mother, Jackie Hummert.

Eric Clark from St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond Heights confirmed an injured police officer was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the emergency room. Clark would did not release the officer's agency affiliation.

The Mayor of Maplewood said a second police officer was injured in the shooting and was being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Panus said the initial call came out as a car fire to the Maplewood Fire Department around 5:40 a.m....

Story continues at: http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=150408&catid=40

Terrorist Attack Outside U.S. Consulate in Turkey Leaves 6 Dead

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Terrorist Attack Outside U.S. Consulate in Turkey Leaves 6 Dead

ISTANBUL, TURKEY: Armed men opened fire Wednesday on Turkish police guarding the front entrance to the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, killing three policemen in what Turkish and U.S. officials called a terrorist attack. Three assailants were also reported killed.

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, and Turkey's foreign ministry said security around all U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey was immediately increased after the attack, which began about 11 a.m. on the high-walled compound in the Istinye district. All U.S. consulate staff were safe and accounted for, Wilson said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Interior Minister Besir Atalay said police would not reveal the identities of the slain attackers or their possible affiliations for the sake of the investigation.

Footage from a security camera at the site showed four armed and bearded men emerging from a gray car to kill a traffic policeman, then running toward the guardpost 50 yards away as other policemen fired back, the Dogan news agency reported...

-- Source/continues: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,378346,00.html

"The Current Economic Crisis and 'Oil as a Weapon' in Asymmetric Warfare"

July 07, 2008

"The Current Economic Crisis and 'Oil as a Weapon' in Asymmetric Warfare"

Review, Chronology, and Previous Emergency.com Reference:

ERRI crisis and counter-terrorism analysts have been warning about economic warfare and the use of oil as a weapon since at least 2001. Additionally, on several occasions, we have reported about plans by terrorist non-state actors to use various kinds of asymmetric warfare to defeat their enemies in the West...

Get the whole story: http://www.emergency.com/2008/econ_warfare_oil_weapon.htm