SENIOR commander in the al-Qa'ida-linked Haqqani network wanted over this week's deadly attack on a leading hotel in the Afghan capital has been killed in an air strike, NATO says.

The International Security Assistance Force identified Ismail Jan as deputy to the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan and said he was killed in the eastern province of Paktya yesterday.

It was not possible to confirm Jan's death or position independently and ISAF provided no immediate details on how they knew he had been killed.

It said security forces tracked his location based on intelligence reports from Afghan government officials, citizens and “disenfranchised insurgents” before calling in the air strike.

The US-led force accused Jan of providing material support for Tuesday's attack on the Intercontinental in Kabul, frequented by Westerners and Afghan government officials.




Heavily armed militants stormed the hilltop hotel late on Tuesday, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a NATO helicopter gunship that left at least 21 dead, including the nine attackers.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but NATO said it was carried out in conjunction with the Haqqani network, blamed for a string of high-profile attacks in Kabul and considered the most potent enemy in the east.

A judge, a Spaniard - reportedly a pilot for a Turkish airline - police and hotel staff were among those killed in the attack, which has renewed questions about security as US forces prepare to start withdrawing this year.

NATO said Jan was killed with “several” other Haqqani fighters the day after the attack in Paktya, which borders Pakistan's semi-autonomous district of North Waziristan, where the Haqqani leadership is based.

NATO said Jan had also led 25 to 35 fighters in attacks on troops in the Khost-Gardez area along the border after moving from Pakistan into Afghanistan in late 2010, one of the deadliest fighting grounds in the decade-long war.

The military said “initial reports” indicated that no civilians were hurt in yesterday's air strike, although air attacks have brought the US-led military into sharp opposition with the Afghan government over civilian casualties.

US President Barack Obama announced last week that he would be withdrawing 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of summer 2012 and Washington has voiced hope about reaching a peace deal to end a decade of fighting.

The Haqqanis, estimated to have 3,000 to 4,000 fighters, has been blamed for some of the most spectacular attacks of the insurgency, including an al-Qa'ida double agent suicide attack that killed seven CIA operatives in 2009.

It was founded by the now-ageing Jalaluddin Haqqani, a warlord who made his name during the 1980s jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, when he received funding from Pakistan and the CIA.

He allegedly helped Osama bin Laden elude American capture after the US invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, but his ruthless son Sirajuddin now effectively runs the network.

The Haqqanis are seen as operationally independent from the Taliban but part of a broad coalition of groups operating under its aegis.

 Salah was scheduled to visit a conference entitled '' Palestine Day", which is held by the Palestinian Forum on July 2nd in London.

 Adnan Humaidan, a Palestinian media official, stated to Aljazeera channel from London that Sheikh Raed Salah delivered a lecture two days ago in London, and he was scheduled to deliver another key one on Wednesday in the British Parliament.

 However, it seemed that some parties supporting Israel worked to prevent Salah to lecture in the British parliament and got succeeded.

 Humaidan denounced the way in which Sheikh Salah got arrested, whereas British police detained him in a non-human brutal way. the police stormed his room at midnight , handcuffed him violently and took him to  prison

Eight suicide bombers attacked Kabul's Hotel Inter-Continental in a brazen, carefully orchestrated operation that began Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, ending with their deaths and those of 10 others, officials said.
Two police officers are among the dead, according to the Interior Ministry.
"As a result of Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army and Coalition force's fast reaction and by air support of the NATO forces, eight suicide bombers were killed," the ministry said in a statement.
Mohammad Zahir, chief of criminal investigations for Kabul police, said Wednesday morning that casualty figures could rise.
"We are still searching the hotel; the death number may increase," Zahir said. Twelve people were injured, he added.
Interior Minister Bismullah Khan said "the situation is secure."
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in an e-mail that the suicide attackers entered the hotel after killing security guards at the entrance.
NATO puts end to Kabul hotel siege Kabul hotel guest describes attack Gunmen, suicide bombers attack hotel Witness: NATO troops at Kabul hotel
"One of the suicide attackers told us on the phone that they are in the lobby and chasing guests into their rooms by smashing the doors of the rooms," Mujahid told CNN in an e-mail he sent as the incident was unfolding.
The top of the hotel was ablaze, but flames were gone within a few hours. Smoke continued to rise from the building Wednesday morning.
By dawn, security forces were allowing reporters to approach the hotel, and some guests were seen departing.
Saiz Ahmed, a U.S. citizen in Kabul for a Ph.D. project, was among them. "I'm sure none of us thought we were going to make it," he said after having stayed on the floor of his darkened bedroom for more than five hours listening to gunfire and occasional bomb blasts. "I wrote my little will -- just in case."
The Taliban penetrated the hotel's typically heavy security in the attack, and one of them detonated an explosion on the second floor, said Erin Cunningham, a journalist for The Daily in Kabul.
Rocket-propelled grenades were launched from the roof of the hotel toward the first vice president's house. A few moments later, the hotel was rocked by three explosions, one of which knocked her off her feet, Cunningham said. U.S. forces were on the scene, she added.

The Gaddafi war crimes charges include torturing and killing civilians and opponents. Arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court cover both Muammar Gaddafi, pictured, and his son Saif al-Islam. Photograph: Xinhua/Getty Images/Xinhua
The international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi over crimes against humanity committed against opponents of his regime.

The court, based in The Hague, also issued warrants for Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and the Libyan intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi — at the request of the ICC's chief prosecutor.

Gaddafi, in power since 1969, is only the world's second serving head of state to be issued with an arrest warrant. A warrant for the arrest of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, was issued in March 2009 over alleged crimes in Darfur.

Arrests were necessary to prevent a cover-up and more crimes, said the ICC presiding judge, Sanji Mmasenono Monageng.

The investigation launched by the court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, follows a referral on 26 February by the UN security council. Resolution 1970 was supported by all members of the council, including Russia and China, which are unhappy with the Nato bombing campaign.

The ICC has been attacked by some for pursuing legal avenues at the expense of a possible political solution. Critics argue that Gaddafi and his closest associates will have no incentive to relinquish power or go into voluntary exile if they know they are certain to end up in the dock in The Hague.

In Britain, which is playing a leading role in Nato's military campaign, some officials have said privately that the ICC case could be left "on the back burner" in the hope this would encourage Gaddafi to seek sanctuary in a friendly African country.

The Libyan leader has rejected any suggestion that he will stand down or leave the country. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who is well connected in the UK, has also vowed to "live or die" in Libya.

The Benghazi-based Libyan rebels have strongly supported the ICC case and submitted evidence to the prosecutor.

Monageng told the court there were "reasonable grounds to believe" the regime had killed or injured and arrested hundreds of civilians and that Muammar Gaddafi exercised full control over the security forces. His son was described as his father's "unspoken successor" and the most influential person in his inner circle, with the powers of a de facto prime minister.

In his submission to the court last month Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing "a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular".

"Gaddafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents.

"Methods used to torture alleged dissidents have included tying electric wires around victims' genitals and shocking them with electricity and whipping victims with an electric wire after tying them upside down with a rope connected to a stick."

The Libyan leader ordered snipers to shoot at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers. His forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents.

The judges of the ICC's pre-trial chamber could have declined the prosecutor's request or asked for further information before issuing the warrants.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said he welcomed the ICC's decision. "The warrants further demonstrate why Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately. His forces continue to attack Libyans without mercy and this must stop." 

The ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent court to try those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the accused's own country cannot or will not do so.

Pakistani militants have used women bombers in the past but this is believed to be the first time a couple has launched an attack together.
The pair, armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, raided a police station and took a dozen policemen hostage for several hours in Kolachi, a town near the region of South Waziristan, a major al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary on the Afghan border.
The attack will be a further embarrassment for Pakistan's security establishment which has suffered one humiliation after another since Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces last month.
The couple shot dead five policemen and blew themselves up after being attacked by commandos, killing seven more policemen who died of their wounds overnight, police said.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, said the assault was carried out in retaliation for bin Laden's killing and government attacks against militants.

Militants attacked Iraqi police with guns and explosives and lobbed a mortar round at a security headquarters Wednesday, killing four people and wounding dozens in the latest assault on security forces.

Insurgents deployed roadside bombs, a car bomb and a hand grenade as they launched at least eight attacks on police in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and northern Mosul, an al Qaeda stronghold, where three people were killed.

Militants are testing Iraq's army, police and fragile governing coalition as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by a year-end deadline, more than eight years after the invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

"I think political instability is the main reason why violence has escalated recently," said Abdul Rahim al-Shimmari, head of the Nineveh provincial council's security committee.

"Some political parties own armed militias and huge funding and they use the worsening security situation as a pretext to create the legitimacy for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq."

Violence has fallen sharply in recent years after the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07 but a tenacious Sunni Islamist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and rival Shi'ite militias still carry out scores of bombings and other attacks every month.

Iraqi government officials and security forces are under attack as the remaining American troops, about 47,000, prepare to leave the OPEC oil producer by the end of December.

Wednesday's spate of attacks killed at least one policeman and three civilians, and more than a dozen police were among 32 people wounded.

The mortar shell fired at the Nineveh security center, a headquarters used by the army and police, missed the target and hit a house, killing one person and wounding another in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Attackers threw a grenade at a police patrol in Mosul, wounding four people, and killed an officer at a security checkpoint, while a roadside bomb near a patrol killed a bystander and wounded two people, including a policeman.

In the capital, a local police chief and five officers were wounded when two roadside bombs struck their convoy in the western Amiriya district, an interior ministry source said.

In the western Ghazaliya district, a parked car bomb exploded near a police patrol, the source said, killing a bystander and wounding nine people, including three police.

Bombs targeting police wounded three officers and five civilians in the Zayouna and Jadiriya areas, the source said.

A senior Iraqi security official who asked not to be named said the recent escalation of attacks was expected.

"I think our security forces are still unfit to have complete control of the security situation," the official said. "More combat training and more expertise are needed."

Near Iraq's southern oil hub, Basra, a U.S. military convoy was struck by a bomb blast, police said. A U.S. military official said no one was hurt.

More than 60 Al-Qaeda prisoners escaped from a south Yemen jail on Wednesday after they clashed with guards, killing one and wounding two others, security and medical officials told AFP.
The prisoners fled the central jail in al-Mukalla, capital of the Hadramawt province, into the nearby mountains after they overpowered the guards and seized some of their arms, a security official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, had initially said that the prisoners fled after heavily-armed Al-Qaeda fighters raided the prison to free them.
The jail is believed to house more than 100 Al-Qaeda militants, 58 of whom have been tried in court and have received jail sentences, the official said.
Spokesman for the civil society organisations in Hadramawt, Nasser Bakazzuz, however accused authorities of assisting the Al-Qaeda prisoners to escape.
"The regime is living its last days and wants to create chaos in Hadramawt province ... there was no attack by Al-Qaeda on the jail to free prisoners," Bakazzuz said.
Another security official told AFP that of the 62 prisoners who escaped, two were rearrested.
A medic at Iben Seena hospital in the city said a security force member was killed and two others wounded, while an Al-Qaeda militant arrived at the hospital in critical condition.
Yemen's army has been fighting heavy gunbattles with Al-Qaeda militants in several parts of the Arab nation that has also been witnessing a massive uprising against the 32-year-old rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Battles are also raging between Yemen's army and suspected Al-Qaeda militants for control of the southern city of Zinjibar.
At least 100 soldiers have been killed since the violence in Zinjibar erupted more than three weeks ago, and 260 have been wounded, according to a military official.
Alleged Al-Qaeda militants, who have named themselves Ansar al-Sharia (Supporters of Islamic Sharia law), have been controlling most of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, since late May.
Fighting between government forces and suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in southern Yemen have displaced 45,000 people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday.
"OCHA is concerned about this conflict situation in southern Yemen in Abyan province," Elisabeth Byrs, an OCHA spokeswoman, told reporters here. "We are concerned about the resulting displacement of people."
She said humanitarian agencies estimate that roughly 10,000 people have been displaced in Lahj province, 15,000 in Aden province and more than 15,000 around Abyan.

US officials painted the 59-year-old long-time number two as an "armchair general" with no combat experience, saying he not only lacked charisma and leadership skills but was also a divisive figure who could fracture al-Qaeda.
Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen told Zawahiri to expect the same treatment meted out to bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in the dead of night in a May 2 raid on his hideout in Pakistan.
"As we did both seek to capture and kill – and succeed in killing – bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahiri," said Mullen, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, giving his valedictory press briefing at the Pentagon, could barely disguise his scorn, but warned that the announcement should serve as a reminder of the continuing al-Qaeda threat.
"First of all I think we should be mindful that this announcement by al-Qaeda reminds us that despite having suffered a huge loss ... al-Qaeda seeks to perpetuate itself, seeks to find replacements for those who have been killed, and remains committed to the agenda that bin Laden put before them."

Prince Harry - as he is better known of course - had his last trip cut short in 2008 when news he was there leaked out.

This time, assuming he completes his helicopter pilot's training, he could be flying apache gunships there before the end of next year.

An Indonesian court has sentenced radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to 15 years in prison for planning and funding a terrorist training camp where dozens of militants plotted attacks.

The ruling on Thursday marked the culmination of a decade of efforts by Indonesian authorities to link Mr Bashir, 72, to terrorist activities that cost hundreds of lives.


He had previously been acquitted of working with al-Qaeda in the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, mostly western tourists, and a 2003 suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. Bashir’s defence lawyer said his client would appeal the decision.

The conviction is a significant victory for moderate Islam in Indonesia, a nation of 240m with the single largest population of Muslims in the world, where a tradition of religious tolerance has come under threat by a radical fringe of hardliners.

The International Crisis Group said Mr Bashir had through his teaching at Indonesian schools helped establish an “Ivy League” for recruits for regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah. It labelled him the “elder statesman of Indonesia’s radical movement”.

The presiding judge said prosecutors had proven Mr Bashir “willingly planned and encouraged people to use violence and threats to create terror and fear”. He was acquitted of more serious charges of possession of firearms and explosives.

Ana Lestari, a 43-year-old Bashir supporter wept when she heard the verdict outside the courthouse. “Our teacher has nothing to do with any terrorism act. As a real Muslim one should be ready for jihad, both in heart and deeds.”

Hundreds of militants, including leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, have been detained or killed in recent years, dealing a virtual death blow to the organisation. The risk of terrorist attacks is believed to have diminished, but recruitment for violent jihad continues among emerging radical groups seeking to create an Islamic state.

In delivering the ruling, Judge Herri Swantoro and the other justices took several hours to read the verdict, which was broadcast live to the nation. Thousands of security personnel, including counter terrorism forces and snipers, were deployed outside the court. Foreigners were warned by their governments to stay away from the proceedings.

Several hundred supporters of Mr Bashir chanted “Allah Akbar”, or “God is great”. Mr Bashir looked relaxed, sitting alone in a flowing white robe and cap in front of the tribunal.

In comments before the verdict, Mr Bashir, who has denied an active role in terrorist activity, denounced the case as an anti-Islamic, western conspiracy.

“My trial is not a regular trial. It is a battle against Islam. It is a battle between defenders of Islam and defenders of evil”, he said.

During months of hearings, prosecutors sought to prove seven charges relating to the funding and recruiting of members of an Aceh-based terror cell, carrying a maximum life sentence. The group, calling itself al-Qaeda of Aceh, was allegedly planning Mumbai-style gun attacks on foreigners and the assassination of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Mr Bashir has been arrested three times, most recently in August of 2010 by the counterterrorism unit. Jamah Ansharut Tauhid, an organisation with ties to known militants, issued a statement saying, “the verdict against Bashir is not the end of fight to uphold Islamic law. JAT and all the united Muslim communities will keep on fighting consistently to uphold sharia in this country”.

Indonesia suffered a series of deadly attacks between 2002 and 2009, but it has been two years since the last bombing, when suicide attackers blew themselves up at the Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels in downtown Jakarta, killing seven people.

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Adm Sir Mark Stanhope was summoned to Downing Street after he said the government would face ‘challenging decisions’ on force levels if the mission lasted more than six months.
The first sea lord now ‘agreed we can sustain’ the intervention, the prime minister told MPs yesterday.
It was vital Britain sent a consistent message that ‘time is on our side’, Mr Cameron added.
A Whitehall source confirmed that Adm Stanhope was called in on Tuesday to explain his remarks.
‘I think you can assume there was no coffee or biscuits,’ added the insider.
During yesterday’s prime minister’s questions, Mr Cameron said: ‘I had a meeting with the first sea lord and he agreed we can sustain this mission as long as we need to.’
He said action in support of Libyan rebels was ‘the right thing’ and added: ‘We have got Nato, we have got the United Nations, we have got the Arab League, we have right on our side.
‘The pressure is building militarily, diplomatically and politically and time is running out for [Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi.’
On Tuesday night, Nato warplanes struck targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, while aircraft dropped leaflets warning Gaddafi’s forces to abandon their posts near the rebel-held  city of Misrata.

25-year-old man is due to appear in court later charged with four offences under the Terrorism Act.

Asim Kauser has been charged with possession of records of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Mr Kauser was arrested at his Bolton home on 6 June in an operation by the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit.

He will appear at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between January 2009 and June 2011, a Greater Manchester Police spokesman said.

where they train Lybian rebels on behalf of security agencies and provide information for the Nato air raids. The British paper states that former Sas, without weapons and with the assistance of Nato soldiers are in Misrata, with the approval of France, Great Britain and the other Nato countries. Their task is to gather information about position and movements of Gaddafi troops and send them to Nato Headquarters in Naples. According to The Guardian, French and British pilots use the information in their air raids