Security Intelligence Chatter

Airport bombing Philippines

suretyinternational — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:21:12 +0000

Security has been tightened in airports and other key locations in the Philippines after a bomb blast at Zamboanga International Airport. Two people died and more than 20 others were injured in the explosion.

Police checkpoints have been set up in the city.

Ivory Coast election

suretyinternational — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:16:49 +0000

Ivory Coast will hold overdue presidential elections on Oct. 31.
Since a failed coup in 2002, the Ivory Coast has been divided between a rebel-controlled north and government-control in the south. The elections in 2005 were cancelled, because of the civil war and the incumbent Gbagbo remained in power. Peace accords in 2007 brought rebels into a power-sharing government.
Disagreements over voter registration brought the peace process to a standstill and elections dates could not be agreed and enforced.
There remains a significant risk that this new date may also fall by the wayside.
The peace process faltered in February, when the President unilaterally dissolved the government and electoral commission, amid allegations hundreds of thousands of foreigners had been included on voter rolls. This led to three weeks of violent opposition demonstrations which left at least five people dead.

Kenya sends extra police in case of election violence

suretyinternational — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:00:28 +0000

Kenya is dispatching 18,000 additional police officers to the Rift Valley ahead of its first national vote since the 2007-08 political violence which left more than 1,000 people dead,

At least 200 people in the volatile Rift Valley already have fled their homes before the vote, fearing a flare-up. Some of the worse attacks in 2007 occurred there. Tribesmen used bows and arrows, gangs hacked opponents to death and police were accused of shooting sprees.

At a rally against the constitution in downtown Nairobi in mid-June, grenade attacks killed six people. Leaflets threatening violence have been distributed elsewhere and three politicians were charged with hate speech for inciting crowds.

Karachi Violence

suretyinternational — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:24:01 +0000

Police claim 45 people have been killed in Karachi since the assassination of a senior leader of the city’s dominant political party. Raza Haider belonged to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) political party. He was killed by unknown gunmen riding motorcycles.

There has been an outbreak of violence, protesters have set fire to a number of vehicles and private and government properties across Karachi.

Paramilitary forces have been deployed to assist police bring the situation under control, but there was no let-up in the violence. Traffic was thin as schools closed and business activity halted.
The Federal Interior told lawmakers the assassination could be the work of Taliban-linked militants, including Sunni militant Sipah-e-Sahab Pakistan, and are trying to fuel political tensions by carrying out such attacks.
Leaders of MQM, which represent the majority Urdu-speaking community, blamed the attack on a rival political force, the Awami National Party (ANP) which is a representative of Karachi ‘s ethnic Pashtun population. The two political forces have routinely blamed each other for deadly attacks on their activists. Both MQM and ANP are part of the ruling coalition in the federal government.

Pakistani officials also blame drug lords for the unrest in Karachi, saying these elements take advantage of the political tension in the city, making it difficult for the police to go after the real culprits

German aid workers released in Darfur

suretyinternational — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:40:55 +0000

Two German aid workers kidnapped in Darfur were released on Tuesday.
The two men are now in Nyalla and are reported to be in good health.

The men were working for Technisches Hilfswerk when they were taken from their compound on June 22.

Shiite rebels capture Yemen army post

suretyinternational — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:19:55 +0000

Shiite rebels seized a strategic army post in north Yemen and captured 70 soldiers. The attack followed reports of six soldiers being killed in fighting between Zaidi Shiite rebels (Huthis) and a government-backed tribe in northern Yemen.
The fighting comes a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he did not want another war with the Huthis.
At least 70 people were reportedly killed in clashes earlier this month with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.
Monday’s fighting, in which automatic weapons and cannons were used, erupted after a truce negotiated on Saturday foundered over differences “about control of a position held by men of the Bin Aziz tribe,” The government claims a tribal chief, Sheikh Saghir Aziz, rejected rebel demands to pull out his men from Al-Zaala but without handing over the position to the army.
The Zaidi rebels complain of political, social and religious marginalisation, and have repeatedly fought with government forces in a conflict that killed thousands and displaced some 250,000 people.

Nigerian police arrest four over kidnap of journalists

suretyinternational — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:29:16 +0000

Police arrested four suspects in connection with the kidnapping of four Nigerian journalists freed after being held for a week in the coil-rich south. The gunmen released them, dumping them unhurt in a remote forest area of southeastern Abia state.
The abduction of the newsmen, the second involving journalists this year, sparked outrage in Nigeria, where there are regular kidnappings in the south but mostly of oil workers. The Nigerian Union of Journalists and officials said no ransom had been paid — though the gang had initially demanded 250 million naira before reducing the amount to 30 million naira (USD200,000).
In the other kidnapping involving journalists this year, three M-Net Supersport crew members — a South African and two Nigerians — were seized in March in Imo state, which neighbours the oil hub of Rivers State. They were also freed about a week later.
President Goodluck Jonathan met a high-level delegation from five eastern states, who had come to express their concern over the spate of kidnappings that had hit their territories. They expressed concern over the insecurity in the region.

Possible threat to Colombia’s National Day

suretyinternational — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:34:12 +0000

Colombian intelligence claim to have uncovered plans by FARC to “infiltrate” the national bicentenary celebrations on July 20. The evidence was reportedly found on the computer of a deceased guerrilla (the head of the bodyguard for the leader). In the memo, Alfonso Cano ordered the commanders in the departments of Choco, Cauca, Huila, Putumayo, Cesar, Bolivar, Norte de Santander, Boyaca and Antioquia to mobilise their troops. He is quoted as saying “this is the opportunity to promote the people’s current struggle for a second independence against the world’s most powerful empire.”

German hotel executive 95th foreigner killed since 2009

suretyinternational — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:16:47 +0000

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has reported a German hotel executive shot dead in Makati City last June is the 95th foreigner killed in the country since January 2009. Sergio Mazza, 38 was killed as he was walking to work.
A task force was created in 2006 to investigate the killings of journalists, and it has been expanded to include fatal attacks on foreigners. Of the 95 cases of slain foreigners, 30 cases are pending with the prosecutor’s office or with appropriate courts and 65 cases are still under investigation. The Chief Superintendent of the Task Force Usig said Indian nationals topped the list with 29 victims followed by Korean nationals with 15 victims.
American nationals ranked third with 14 victims. The PNP also recorded the killing of nine Germans, eight Japanese nationals, six British, four Chinese, three Canadian, three Australian, two French, two Finnish, and one Norwegian, Dutch, Taiwanese, Pakistan, Iranian, Malaysian, Spanish, Slovenian and Swiss national. Task Force Usig said Region 3 and Metro Manila registered the highest number of foreigners killed while there were no foreigners reported killed in Regions 8, 9, 12 and Cordillera.

Gunmen kill 4 commuters in Philippines

suretyinternational — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:58:50 +0000

About 30 hooded attackers, believed to be Abu Sayyaf militants, shot and hacked commuters returning from Isabela City in the southern Philippines. Four were killed and six wounded in the attack.
The militants may have been trying to divert government troops from an offensive in a nearby town.
The mid-afternoon attack in sparsely-populated Maluso village is the latest violence blamed on Abu Sayyaf and its allied armed groups on Basilan, a predominantly Muslim island about 880 kilometers south of Manila. Two weeks ago, Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded three loggers in a rain forest near Maluso.
Despite years of U.S.-backed offensives, nearly 400 Abu Sayyaf fighters have survived in Basilan and on nearby Jolo island and the Zamboanga peninsula. They remain a major security concern as part of a decades-long Muslim insurgency.