DEFENSE NEWS: Dec 20, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

Asian Defense News: Indonesia police say aged cleric was terror chief

Defense News: Asian Defense News: Indonesia police say aged cleric was terror chief

Indonesia police say aged cleric was terror chief

SOLO, Indonesia - Dec. 20, 2010 (AFP) - – Indonesian police on Tuesday revealed fresh details of the terrorism allegations against radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, saying he was the figurehead of a new Al-Qaeda-style terror network.

National Anti-Terror Agency (BNPT) director Petrus Golose said the grizzled 72-year-old preacher was assembling a new network featuring some of the region's most wanted militants when their plans were discovered in February.

"Abu Bakar Bashir is their leader," he said at a press conference in Solo city, Central Java province, where police arrested Abu Tholut, seen as one of the most dangerous alleged extremists in the mainly Muslim country, last week.

Bashir was arrested in August and remains in custody awaiting trial on charges including inciting terrorist acts, which carries the death penalty.

It is the third time the bespectacled cleric has been arrested on terror-related charges since 2002 but police have failed to make any of the allegations stick.

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, second left, accompanied by his lawyer Achmad Midhan, third left, is escorted by police officers as he arrives to sign his dossier at the district prosecutor's office in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 13, 2010. Bashir was arrested in August this year for allegedly helping set up and fund a new terror cell that was plotting high-pro.

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, second left, accompanied by his lawyer Achmad Midhan, third left, is escorted by police officers as he arrives to sign his dossier at the district prosecutor's office in Jakarta,Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 13, 2010. Bashir was arrested in August this year for allegedly helping set up and fund a new terror cell that was plotting high-pro.

He served almost 26 months for conspiracy over the 2002 bombings of tourist nightspots in Bali that killed more than 200 people, before being cleared and released in 2006.

Golose showed a hierarchical chart with Bashir on top of a tree featuring extremists such as Tholut, Abdullah Sonata, who was arrested in June, and slain Al-Qaeda-trained bomb-maker Dulmatin.

Dulmatin had a 10-million-dollar US bounty on his head when he was killed by Indonesian police in March, and allegedly masterminded the Bali bombings for regional terror outfit Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

"These main figures reported directly to Abu Bakar Bashir in terms of funding, operational and arms supplies," Golose said.

Bashir is outspoken in his praise for Islamic "holy warriors" -- or terrorists in the eyes of the authorities -- but has always denied being the spiritual leader of JI.

In recent years he formed the equally radical but supposedly legitimate Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) to push for an Islamic state in Indonesia, a country of 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslims.

Police say Bashir and other senior members of JAT were involved in financing and organising a secret extremist network dubbed "Al-Qaeda in Aceh" which was discovered running a training camp in Aceh province in February.

Hundreds of alleged militants have been arrested or killed in police operations since the Aceh network was discovered.

National police spokesman Iskandar Hasan said Bashir provided finance and leadership for the Aceh group.

"On November 2009, Abu Tholut, Abdullah Sonata and Dulmatin decided to carry out military training in Aceh and they asked Abu Bakar Bashir to be the leader, while Sonata and Dulmatin's role was to provide weapons," he said.

Police have said the group was training to carry out Mumbai-style attacks by small groups of suicide gunmen on Western targets and political figures in Jakarta.

Asian Defense News: Philippines to adopt US strategy in counter-insurgency starting

Defense News: Asian Defense News: Philippines to adopt US strategy in counter-insurgency starting

Left-leaning Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano said Oplan Bayanihan was patterned after the US Counter-Insurgency (COIN) Guide in January 2009, which shifts the strategy of combating insurgency toward a "whole of nation and people-centered" approach.

This file photo taken on July 2, 2010 shows Philippine soldiers marching during a parade at the handover ceremony for the new military's chief of staff, attended by President Aquino (not pictured) at the military headquarters in Manila. The Philippines said Decmber 7, 2010 it was set to sign a 'substantial' deal to buy military equipment from China, but insisted it should not impact on its close ties with the United States.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said Oplan Bayanihan, which will be implemented starting Jan. 1, 2011, will shift to the "whole of nation approach," which means that "even ordinary people should be involved."

Mabanta had said that it will also be a "people-centered approach which gives primordial consideration to human security."

The direction of the new counter-insurgency strategy, which replaces Oplan Bantay Laya of the Arroyo administration, takes after the US COIN's "population-centric (focused on securing and controlling a given population or populations) than enemy-centric (focused on defeating a particular enemy group)," according to the COIN Guide furnished by Mariano.

"Note that this does not mean that COIN is less violent than any other conflict: on the contrary, like any other form of warfare it always involves loss of life," the COIN Guide added.

Mariano said that "in reality, COIN campaigns will rarely be purely enemy-centric or population-centric, but will generally include elements of both, with the relative balance changing over time."

"This means that Oplan Bayanihan will be a combination of grand psy-war operations and violent armed suppression," Mariano said. "The Aquino administration is set to mobilize all security and civilian agencies for counter-insurgency."

He added that there is no guarantee that the AFP's new operation plan will do away with the human-rights abuses committed by military and police forces.

The party-list lawmaker said Oplan Bayanihan is bound to fail if it fails to address the root causes of irsurgency.

"It promises so-called development while maintaining the status quo... the monopoly and control of the few of the country's resources," he said.

Asian Defense News: Five killed in restive Thai south: police

Defense News: Asian Defense News: Five killed in restive Thai south: police

Five killed in restive Thai south: police

YALA, Thailand (AFP) - – Five people, including at least two soldiers, were killed in the latest wave of violence in Thailand's insurgency-plagued far south, police said.

Unknown gunmen travelling in a pick-up truck on Saturday shot dead two government troops providing security for Buddhist monks receiving alms in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces under a state of emergency.

Soon afterwards in a nearby town, police found the bodies of two unidentified men who had apparently been slashed to death.

One was found with a T-shirt that suggested he might have been a soldier from an army camp in the region. The other had a uniform from a religious school.

Police said they were investigating a possible link between the two incidents.

The deaths came a day after a 29-year-old suspected militant was reported to have been killed in a shoot-out with security forces in neighbouring Pattani province.

Southern Thailand's southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala have been plagued by a largely home-grown insurgency that has claimed approximately 4500 lives since 2001. Thailand. File Photos 08/2008

One police officer was wounded in the standoff, while a 13-year-old was injured by a stray bullet, the authorities said.

Suspected Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in Thailand's deep south near the border with Malaysia for about seven years, targeting Muslims and Buddhists, civilians and security personnel.

More than 4,400 people have died since January 2004, while over 7,000 have been injured, according to the non-governmental organisation Deep South Watch, which monitors the conflict.

Asian Defense News: China PM vows to boost ties with Pakistan

Defense News: Asian Defense News: China PM vows to boost ties with Pakistan

China PM vows to boost ties with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AFP) AFP - Monday, December 20 - – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed Sunday to boost strategic cooperation with Pakistan as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Islamabad that concluded deals worth around 35 billion dollars.

"It is our collective objective to strengthen strategic ties between our two countries," he told a joint session of Pakistan's parliament before returning to China Sunday afternoon.

Boosting trade and investment with Pakistan was the focus of the first visit by a Chinese premier in five years to the country, which is battling a Taliban insurgency and is at the forefront of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda.

Business leaders and cabinet ministers formalised around 35 billion dollars' worth of trade deals during the visit, signing a raft of agreements designed to prop up Pakistan's ailing economy and ease its crippling energy crisis.

Wen, who arrived in Pakistan straight from a visit to arch-rival India, Sunday predicted "sustained growth of our economic and trade ties" as the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Islamabad approached.

He welcomed Pakistani efforts to increase exports to China and said the two countries would explore the possibility of a currency swap agreement.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani (R) arrive with Pakistani girls dressed in traditional attire for a tree plantation at the Pakistan-China Friendship Center inIslamabad on December 18, 2010. China and Pakistan are set to conclude another 10 billion dollars' worth of deals on December 18, 2010 the latest signings on a trade-focused trip toSouth Asia by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Pakistani children wave the Pakistani and Chinese national flags on a street of Karachi on December 19, 2010. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to boost strategic cooperation with Pakistan as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Islamabad that concluded deals worth around 35 billion dollars.

Pakistani children wave the Pakistani and Chinese national flags on a street of Karachi on December 19, 2010. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabaovowed to boost strategic cooperation with Pakistan as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Islamabad that concluded deals worth around 35 billion dollars

"The future of economic cooperation between the two countries is very bright," Wen said. "China is Pakistan's all-weather strategic partner."

Pakistan regards China as its closest ally and views the deals as extremely important to its moribund economy, which was dealt a huge blow by catastrophic flooding this year and suffers from sluggish Western investment.

The poverty-stricken country is reliant on China's clout to offset the perceived threat from rival India and rescue its economy.

But the fresh trade deals with Pakistan were dwarfed by those signed on Wen's trip to India, where he and his 400-strong delegation signed deals to double trade to 100 billion dollars a year by 2015.

Wen pledged Sunday that "China will remain steadfast in its support to Pakistan and will expect the same from the international community".

"The people of Pakistan will surely overcome (their) difficulties," he added.

Though not specifically mentioned, behind-the-scenes talks had been expected on China's help in building a nuclear power plant as part of Pakistani plans to produce 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 2025 to make up its energy shortfall.

The nuclear-armed Muslim nation, with a population of 167 million, produces only 80 percent of its electricity needs, starving industry that has slumped in the face of recession and three years of Taliban-linked bombings.

Pakistan imposed blanket security for Wen's visit, which coincided with a public holiday and the weekend, determined that suicide attacks and bombings that have killed 4,000 people since 2007 would not mar the occasion.

"Pakistan has rendered invaluable sacrifices in the war against terror," Wen said, urging the international community to respect Islamabad's efforts after leaked diplomatic cables showed US officials doubt the commitment of Pakistani politicians to fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

"We should not link terrorism to any specific religion or nation, and avoid pursuing double standards while dealing with the issue. We should rather focus on the root causes of terrorism and ways to eliminate them," he added.

The two countries reaffirmed their resolve to "undertake substantive cooperation and jointly fight terrorism, separatism and extremism," said a joint statement issued after Wen's visit had concluded.

"The Chinese side reiterated that it respects the counter-terrorism strategy constituted and implemented by Pakistan in light of its own national conditions," the statement added.

"The two countries voiced support for the unity and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, the efforts of the Afghan government to advance peace, reconstruction and national reconciliation", it said.

Wen inaugurated a 35-million-dollar cultural centre built as a monument to Pakistani-Chinese friendship and met opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and senior figures in the military, which depends on China for hardware.

Local analysts say China's support for Pakistan comes at a price, which could increase as Beijing edges closer to superpower status.

"China will expect Pakistan to be more forthright in counter-terrorism," said political analyst Hasan Askari.

"It has worries about militancy in western China," where it wants to develop Kashgar city into a major industrial and economic centre, he added

Asian Defense News: Rebels hold Afghan army centre after deadly attack

Defense News: Asian Defense News: Rebels hold Afghan army centre after deadly attack

AFP -

Rebels hold Afghan army centre after deadly attack

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan - Dec 20, 20100 (AFP) - – Militants were occupying an army recruitment centre in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said, in one of two attacks against Afghan military personnel that killed 13 people.

The building in Kunduz was being held by two rebels who survived an attack on the centre that had been carried out by four militants armed with suicide vests and automatic rifles, an official said.

The attackers killed four Afghan soldiers and four police officers in a gunfight before two of them were killed, deputy provincial governor Hamidullah Danishi told AFP. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Two of the attackers were shot dead by our security forces and two others are still in the building and are resisting from there," Danishi said, referring to the military facility attacked by the insurgents.

An Afghan soldier, apparently dead, is carried away by his colleagues during a gunbattle in Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010. Teams of Taliban militants assaulted the Afghan army in the north of the country and in the capital, killing at least 10 members of the security forces, officials said.

He said the rebels had access to some military ammunition in the building, but refused to give details.

"They have taken control of a part of the building and from there they are resisting our security forces," Danishi said.

An AFP reporter on the site said hundreds of Afghan security forces and US and German troops, based in Kunduz as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, had sealed off the area.

Military helicopters were hovering overhead, the AFP reporter said.

In the capital, Kabul, two suicide bombers targeted an army bus, killing five military personal, defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP separately.

Nine other people were injured in the Kabul bombing, he said.

The vehicle was on its daily run, driving staff from the Kabul military training centre to work, when two suicide attackers armed with automatic rifles opened fire, Azimi said.

"One of the suicide attackers was shot dead but the second managed to detonate his explosives strapped to his body, and martyred five of our personnel and wounded another nine," he said.

The incident took place on Pul-e-charkhi road, which links the capital Kabul to Afghanistan's eastern provinces and runs on to the Pakistani border.

Azimi also confirmed the attack in Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province, one of the most volatile areas in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Muhahid, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Meanwhile, one civilian was killed Sunday morning and four children were wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Panjwayi district, in the troubled province of Kandahar.

"The driver of the civilian vehicle was killed and four children were wounded," Baran Khaksar, the district chief, told AFP.

Improvised bombs are the weapons of choice for the Taliban insurgents who have been waging an increasingly deadly insurgency against the Western-backed government and its allies since they were ousted from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion.

The south and east of the war-torn country suffer the brunt of the violence.

Last week NATO said it would battle hard through the bitter Afghan winter, which usually signals a lull in fighting, keeping up pressure on the insurgency until spring.

US military leaders back the government's plan for the Afghan police and army to assume responsibility for security by 2014, with the timetable agreed at a major NATO summit in Lisbon last month.

Asian Defense News: NKorea says won't hit back over SKorean drills

Defense News: Asian Defense News: NKorea says won't hit back over SKorean drills

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and AHN YOUNG-JOON, Associated Press

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea – South Korea's military staged live-fire drills from an island just miles (kilometers) from rival NorthKorea's shores Monday, despite Pyongyang's threats of catastrophic retaliation for the maneuvers.

Seoul launched fighter jets, evacuated hundreds of residents near its tense land border with the North and sent residents of islands near disputed waters into underground bunkers in case of attack, but the North finally said it would hold its own fire.

South Koreans watch a live TV breaking news about South Korea's live fire artillery at Seoul train station in Seoul on December 20, 2010. South Korea held a live-fire military drill on a border island and scrambled fighter jets, despite North Korean threats of deadly retaliation, as UN diplomacy on the crisis broke down.

The 90-minute exercise came nearly a month after the North responded to earlier maneuvers by shelling Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines and two construction workers in its first attack targeting civilian areas since the 1950-53 Korean War. That clash sent tensions soaring between the two countries — which are still technically at war.

In an emergency meeting Sunday, U.N. diplomats meeting in New York failed to find any solution to the crisis, but there was some sign of diplomacy Monday, as a high-profile American governor announced what he said were two nuclear concessions from the North.

North Korea called Monday's drills a "reckless military provocation" but said after they ended that it was holding its fire because Seoul had changed its firing zones.

The official Korean Central News Agency carried a military statement that suggested that the North viewed Monday's drills differently from the ones that provoked it last month because South Korean shells landed farther south of the North's shores.

The North claims the waters around Yeonpyeong as its territory, and during last month's artillery exchange, the North accused the South of firing artillery into its waters; the South said it fired shells southward, not toward the North.

The North on Monday, however, kept its rhetoric heated, saying it will use its powerful military to blow up South Korean and U.S. bases.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its artillery was fired in the same direction as during last month's maneuvers: toward waters southwest of the island, not toward the North.

"North Korea appeared to have issued this statement because it was afraid" of a full-blown war with South Korea, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

He noted that North Korea has always resorted to surprise attacks on South Korea rather than launching a straightforward attack.

During the drills on Yeonpyeong, a tiny enclave of fishing communities and military bases about seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores, South Korean marines fired about 1,500 artillery shells into the island's water, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified military sources.

About 20 U.S. intelligence and communications personnel took part in the drills, and nine representatives from the American-led U.N. Command observed the maneuvers, another Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said, on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. troops were to stay on the island to monitor North Korea's moves, he said.

Before the drills Monday, South Korea's military said that it would "immediately and sternly" deal with any provocation by the North. Fighter jets flew over South Korean airspace on a mission to deter North Korean attacks, a Defense Ministry official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Hundreds of South Koreans living near the tense land border with North Korea were either evacuated to bomb shelters or taken to areas farther south ahead of the drills, local officials said.

Residents, local officials and journalists on Yeonpyeong and four other islands moved to underground shelters, Ongjin County government spokesman Won Ji-young said.

On Yeonpyeong, residents in an underground shelter huddled on the floor as a South Korean soldier showed them how to use a gas mask, according to footage shot by Associated Press Television News.

"I feel the same as last Nov. 23, when North Korea fired artillery at us," said Oh Gui-nam, a 70-year-old island resident. "My emotions are all tangled up."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ordered preparations to cope with any possible attack by North Korea, even after the drills were over.

The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, failed Sunday to agree on a statement to address rising tensions.

The United States and others had wanted the council to condemn North Korea for attacks that have helped send relations between the Koreas to their lowest point in decades. But diplomats said China, the North's major ally, strongly objected.

Several bloody naval skirmishes have occurred along the disputed western sea border between the two Koreas in recent years. The North does not recognize the U.N.-drawn sea border in the area.

In a diplomatic push, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a frequent unofficial envoy to North Korea and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., held meetings with top leaders in the foreign ministry and military during a four-day visit to Pyongyang. He called for maximum restraint.

Richardson said the North agreed to let U.N. inspectors visit the North's main nuclear complex to make sure it's not producing enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, The New York Times, which accompanied Richardson to Pyongyang, reported.

The North expelled U.N. inspectors last year and recently showed a visiting American scientist a new, highly advanced uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second way to make atomic bombs, in addition to its plutonium programs. Richardson also said Pyongyang was willing to sell South Korea 12,000 plutonium fuel rods, the Times said.

Richardson had been set to brief reporters Monday night in Beijing, but his flight was delayed. He told Associated Press Television News at the Pyongyang airport, "We had positive results."

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Boeing-Built C-17 Fleet Surpasses 2 Million Flight Hours

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Boeing-Built C-17 Fleet Surpasses 2 Million Flight Hours

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing

(NSI News Source Info) LONG BEACH, Calif.,- December 20, 2010: The worldwide fleet of C-17 Globemaster III airlifters built by The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] surpassed 2 million flying hours during an airdrop mission over Afghanistan on Dec. 10. Reaching 2 million flight hours equates to 1.13 billion nautical miles – the equivalent of a C-17 flying to the moon and back 2,360 times.

The representative mission, flown by a U.S. Air Force C-17, airdropped 74,000 pounds of jet fuel in support of U.S. and coalition troops just south of Kabul.

The C-17 has a mission readiness rate of more than 85 percent. It is the world's only strategic airlifter with tactical capabilities that allow it to fly between continents, land on short, austere runways, and airdrop supplies precisely where they are needed.

"There's tremendous satisfaction in knowing that in those 2 million hours, the C-17 fleet has saved countless lives around the world," said Bob Ciesla, Boeing C-17 program manager. "Boeing congratulates the U.S. Air Force and our international C-17 customers on reaching this milestone. We’re very proud that the C-17 continues to exceed expectations for performance and reliability."

The C-17 fleet, now in its 17th year of service, has supported humanitarian and disaster-relief missions worldwide. With 226 airlifters in service around the world, the C-17 fleet continues to operate at an accelerated rate due to the recent troop surge in Afghanistan, reaching the 2 million flight-hours milestone less than five years after reaching 1 million flight hours in March 2006, when 152 C-17s were in service. This year, lifesaving aeromedical evacuations of wounded troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, along with relief missions for natural disasters such as earthquakes in Pakistan, Chile and Haiti, have intensified the C-17's normal workload.

Boeing helps keep the C-17 flying through a worldwide support and sustainment program. "Boeing has had the honor of supporting the entire C-17 fleet since the delivery of the first aircraft to Charleston Air Force Base in 1993," said Gus Urzua, program manager for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership. "Through innovative Performance-Based Logistics contracting and partnering with the Air Force, we have maintained the highest level of aircraft readiness while continuously reducing the cost of ownership."

While providing relief to Haiti in January and February, C-17s delivered nearly 14,000 short tons of cargo and transported some 25,000 passengers and 280 patients. C-17s also played a key role in a record year for airdrops in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. As of Oct. 31, C-17s and other airlifters have airdropped more than 45 million pounds of cargo to troops in remote locations.

Boeing has delivered 20 C-17s to international customers. The U.S. Air Force -- including active duty, National Guard, and Air Force Reserve units -- has taken delivery of 206. Other customers include the U.K. Royal Air Force, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Australian Air Force, the United Arab Emirates Air Force, the Qatar Emiri Air Force, and the 12-member Strategic Airlift Capability initiative of NATO and Partnership for Peace nations. India is expected to be the next C-17 customer.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com