Official: Nine US Troops Killed in Afghanistan,

War on Terror

Official: Nine US Troops Killed in Afghanistan

Monday 14 July 2008

By: Jason Straziuso, The Associated Press

The attack on the U.S. outpost came the same day a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol killed 24 people, while U.S. coalition and Afghan soldiers killed 40 militants elsewhere in the south.

The militant assault on the American troops began around 4:30 a.m. in a dangerous region close to the Pakistan border and lasted throughout the day.

Militants fired machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from homes and a mosque in the village of Wanat in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

Nine U.S. troops were killed in the attack, a Western official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the troops' nationalities.

NATO confirmed nine of its soldiers had been killed and 15 wounded. Four Afghan soldiers also were wounded, NATO said.

"Although no final assessment has been made, it is believed insurgents suffered heavy casualties during several hours of fighting," NATO said in a statement.

Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, the top U.S. military spokeswoman in Afghanistan, said she could not comment because the fight was ongoing.

http://newageislam.com/official--nine-us-troops-killed-in-afghanistan/war-on-terror/d/222

Jihadist cells urged to target Canadians: Al-Qa'ida; Website calls for attacks on oil, economic sites, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Jihadist cells urged to target Canadians: Al-Qa'ida; Website calls for attacks on oil, economic sites

By IAN MACLEOD, Canwest News Service

29 July 2008

A virulent Al-Qa'ida website has issued a new call for followers to kill Canadians and other westerners and attack oil and economic targets.

The message on the password-protected al-Ekhlaas.net forum was posted July 7, the third anniversary of the London transit massacre. The website is a favoured site of hardcore jihadists.

Experts are debating the significance of the latest al-Ekhlaas threat calling for the targeting of Christians, especially those from Canada the U.S., Britain, Spain, Australia and Italy.

Most unsettling, perhaps, is the instructional nature of the posting. Details of the Arabic-language posting, titled "Clandestine work inside the city," were recently translated and reported by the Jamestown Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank.

Under the nom de guerre Abu Hajar Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin (the former leader of Al-Qa'ida's Saudi wing killed in 2004), the posting explains how a four-unit jihadist cell should be properly trained in urban terror warfare before activation.

Further, the intelligence cell that collects information on a target must not know the purpose of the information. Al-Moqrin warns jihadists not to attack religious figures because it harms the cause. Instead, urban cells should seek economic targets, such as Jewish investments in Muslim countries, international companies, international economic experts, exports from "Crusader countries" and raw materials being "stolen from Muslim countries by the enemies," with al-Moqrin calling for attacks on oil wells, pipelines and oil tankers.

http://newageislam.com/jihadist-cells-urged-to-target-canadians--al-qa-ida;-website-calls-for-attacks-on-oil,-economic-sites/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/345