*** Sufi's were always known to be both pious as well as law-abiding. They are the total opposite of the barbarians crusading around in the name of Islam. There WAS no Islamic terrorism before the early 1950's - it is a recent scourge that plagues the world through the darkness of its philosophy; to kill, maim and otherwise be mean-faced and scowling.
Sufi's - as they are sometimes termed - have been around for CENTURIES and are among the most loving, kind and peaceful people - so good that people visit their graves LONG, LONG after they've left this earth.
These extremist dogs are just jealous. MS ***
FROM: LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three suicide bombers struck a Sufi shrine in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding 45, officials said.
A large number of devotees were visiting the shrine of the Persian Sufi saint, Syed Ali Hajwairi, in the heart of the city when the attacks occurred.
"One attack took place at the gate of the shrine and two were in the basement," Sajjad Bhutta, the top city administrator, told Reuters.
The shrine at Data Darbar is one of the most famous in Pakistan, attracting hundreds of devotees every night, with Thursdays being the most popular nights. The complex includes a mosque and a police station in the basement.
Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, has suffered from frequent violence in recent weeks. More than 80 people were killed in twin attacks on the mosques of the minority Ahmadi sect in May.
Showing posts with label Taliban killing Muslims. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taliban killing Muslims. Show all posts
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
JIHADI MARKET BOMBINGS - LEGIT OR NOT?
*** According to the Jihadi Shaykh himself, these attacks are NOT legitimate. As for the skepticism expressed on mass-casualty attacks killing Muslims, these "havoc-wreaking criminals" have taken credit for many of them already. It is for this very reason the Americans and company came in the first place, remember? MS ***
FROM: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/ (Briefs - Feb.12, 2010)
AL-QAEDA IDEOLOGUE RULES ON PERMISSIBILITY OF MASS-CASUALTY MARKET BOMBINGS
Al-Qaeda’s al-Fajr Media Center has released a religious ruling on the permissibility of mass-casualty attacks in public places like markets. Written by Shaykh Atiyatullah, the ruling came in response to an inquiry into the October 28, 2009 market bombing in Peshawar. The bombing was carried out through the detonation of 150 kg of explosives hidden in a parked car, and it devastated the Mina Bazaar of Peshawar, reserved for the use of women and children. Over 100 people were killed and 200 wounded, mostly women. At the time, both the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda denied involvement in the attack, which sparked widespread outrage (The News [Islamabad], October 29, 2009; Dawn [Karachi], October 30).
In the format typical of such rulings, a questioner asked whether it was permissible in Islam to celebrate the deaths of “shoppers, merchants and the general populace,” given what the questioner asserted to be the victim’s “serious shortcomings in matters of religion, thinking only about their worldly life and sustenance, refraining from jihad, deserting the mujahideen, and living under the authority of an apostate government?”
Shaykh Atiyatullah’s ruling starts out in a promising fashion with a strong condemnation of such attacks, saying that Muslims are obliged to object to them as means of spreading corruption, falsehood, oppression and transgression. In short, they are “contrary to the pure religion of Islam.” According to the shaykh, “It is a religious fact known to all that it is forbidden to transgress against a Muslim’s life… It is considered one of the greatest of sins after shirk [polytheism].”
Based on these considerations, Shaykh Atiyatullah draws the conclusion that these types of bombings could not have been carried out by the mujahideen, whose activities never transgress the laws of Islam. “We firmly believe that they are carried out by the enemies of Allah, either through criminal security contractors such as Blackwater [Xe Services LLC] and their likes, or other filthy groups working under Pakistani intelligence [Inter-Services Intelligence – ISI] or some criminal impure generals in the army.” The Shaykh alleges that the purpose of these bombings is to discredit the mujahideen and destroy their image in the Islamic world while scaring Muslims away from participating in jihad.
Shaykh Atiyatullah provides a lengthy quotation from an earlier statement by al-Qaeda’s commander in Afghanistan, Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. Shaykh Saeed al-Masri) on the Peshawar bombing (ansarnet.info, November 11, 2009). Part of the passage cited by Atiyatullah similarly claims the bombing and all those like it to be the work of Blackwater and Western intelligence agencies in league with the apostate rulers of Muslim nations:
"We believe that such bombings are the work of the Crusaders, the enemies of God, and their allies in the government and intelligence. It is part of the dirty war that they practice. How could that not be when they are the ones who mean harm to Muslims? They do not have any consideration for any sanctity and Muslim blood is worthless to them. Today, everyone knows that Blackwater and other criminal groups have violated Pakistan with support from [Pakistan’s] corrupt and criminal government and its security agencies. They commit these ugly actions and blame them on the mujahideen through their media outlets in order to tarnish the image of the mujahideen and Muslims."
Shaykh Atiyatullah pauses to consider the possibility that some of these mass-casualty attacks on civilians may have been committed by the mujahideen, noting that if this is so, the culprits “are not mujahideen, but rather havoc-wreaking criminals… But in reality the probability of this is negligible, and all praise is due to Allah, the mujahideen can certainly not do this.”
FROM: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/ (Briefs - Feb.12, 2010)
AL-QAEDA IDEOLOGUE RULES ON PERMISSIBILITY OF MASS-CASUALTY MARKET BOMBINGS
Al-Qaeda’s al-Fajr Media Center has released a religious ruling on the permissibility of mass-casualty attacks in public places like markets. Written by Shaykh Atiyatullah, the ruling came in response to an inquiry into the October 28, 2009 market bombing in Peshawar. The bombing was carried out through the detonation of 150 kg of explosives hidden in a parked car, and it devastated the Mina Bazaar of Peshawar, reserved for the use of women and children. Over 100 people were killed and 200 wounded, mostly women. At the time, both the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda denied involvement in the attack, which sparked widespread outrage (The News [Islamabad], October 29, 2009; Dawn [Karachi], October 30).
In the format typical of such rulings, a questioner asked whether it was permissible in Islam to celebrate the deaths of “shoppers, merchants and the general populace,” given what the questioner asserted to be the victim’s “serious shortcomings in matters of religion, thinking only about their worldly life and sustenance, refraining from jihad, deserting the mujahideen, and living under the authority of an apostate government?”
Shaykh Atiyatullah’s ruling starts out in a promising fashion with a strong condemnation of such attacks, saying that Muslims are obliged to object to them as means of spreading corruption, falsehood, oppression and transgression. In short, they are “contrary to the pure religion of Islam.” According to the shaykh, “It is a religious fact known to all that it is forbidden to transgress against a Muslim’s life… It is considered one of the greatest of sins after shirk [polytheism].”
Based on these considerations, Shaykh Atiyatullah draws the conclusion that these types of bombings could not have been carried out by the mujahideen, whose activities never transgress the laws of Islam. “We firmly believe that they are carried out by the enemies of Allah, either through criminal security contractors such as Blackwater [Xe Services LLC] and their likes, or other filthy groups working under Pakistani intelligence [Inter-Services Intelligence – ISI] or some criminal impure generals in the army.” The Shaykh alleges that the purpose of these bombings is to discredit the mujahideen and destroy their image in the Islamic world while scaring Muslims away from participating in jihad.
Shaykh Atiyatullah provides a lengthy quotation from an earlier statement by al-Qaeda’s commander in Afghanistan, Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. Shaykh Saeed al-Masri) on the Peshawar bombing (ansarnet.info, November 11, 2009). Part of the passage cited by Atiyatullah similarly claims the bombing and all those like it to be the work of Blackwater and Western intelligence agencies in league with the apostate rulers of Muslim nations:
"We believe that such bombings are the work of the Crusaders, the enemies of God, and their allies in the government and intelligence. It is part of the dirty war that they practice. How could that not be when they are the ones who mean harm to Muslims? They do not have any consideration for any sanctity and Muslim blood is worthless to them. Today, everyone knows that Blackwater and other criminal groups have violated Pakistan with support from [Pakistan’s] corrupt and criminal government and its security agencies. They commit these ugly actions and blame them on the mujahideen through their media outlets in order to tarnish the image of the mujahideen and Muslims."
Shaykh Atiyatullah pauses to consider the possibility that some of these mass-casualty attacks on civilians may have been committed by the mujahideen, noting that if this is so, the culprits “are not mujahideen, but rather havoc-wreaking criminals… But in reality the probability of this is negligible, and all praise is due to Allah, the mujahideen can certainly not do this.”
Thursday, February 11, 2010
TALIBAN : NOW HIRING
*** Deal with the conditions that give rise to such desperation and you will win. Bomb the land of its insurgents, walk away and leave those conditions remaining --- and you'll have no choice but to come back to fight again. MS ***
FROM: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/pakistan/article/763739--taliban-target-jobless-youth
Pakistan–Since Tajamal Hussain lost his job in a textiles factory two months ago, the 19-year-old has walked the streets of this gritty city searching for work.
Trouble is, the Taliban seem to be the only ones hiring nowadays.
"Yes, I will consider joining," Hussain said, sipping tea in a shanty in Faisalabad's factory district.
"I have to eat."
International attention for months has been focused on South Waziristan, a remote, mountainous region up against the Afghan border where Pakistan's army is battling Taliban fundamentalists. Yet a storm is also brewing in Faisalabad, some 270 kilometres south of the capital, Islamabad, and Pakistan's third largest city with a population of 5 million.
A booming textiles trade once attracted young, unskilled labourers from across the country, but these days, with an energy crisis crippling Pakistan, factories are closing and an estimated 200,000 textile workers have lost their jobs.
That has left Hussain and others like him stewing in the back alleys of a city with a history of close ties to extremism. Several Islamic militants – including Abu Zubaydah, Al Qaeda's purported No. 3 operative – have been captured here.
"Pakistan is a country of 170 million people, where half of them are under age 21 with poor prospects for their future," said South Asia specialist Daniel Markey, formerly with the U.S. State Department.
"This is a hard story to tell. I don't think the West realizes how huge it is. These problems are not going to end when Bin Laden's head is on a platter."
On a recent morning, another group of laid-off textile workers helped illustrate why the Taliban may draw more recruits from this city.
Muhammad Shafique is 37 and has worked the looms of Faisalabad since he was 12. His wife and two children live in rural Samundri, while Shafique shares a room with three other labourers.
Over cups of chai and countless cigarettes, Shafique spent an hour explaining to a visitor how disastrous it would be to support the Taliban. "We already have a crisis and joining hands with terrorists would only make it worse," he said.
But as the morning wore on and, perhaps, his sugary tea took effect, Shafique's tone changed. "I will join any fight against America," he said in a loud voice, his stare flinty.
Already, Faisalabad's unemployed are growing desperate.
In the space of a week, a bank was robbed and a man taking his two daughters to school was stopped by armed gunmen.
"They pointed the gun at him and his daughters and told him to get off his motorcycle," said Wazir Ahmad Wato, who works for a community organization on water and sanitation issues. "This is becoming usual here and there's no doubt the Taliban are watching and can take advantage. They have agents everywhere."
Wato said it's unclear how much the Taliban pays new recruits, but recent rumours suggest a payout of 500,000 rupees, ($6,275 Canadian) to would-be suicide bombers.
Police superintendent Yousaf Ali Houral doesn't doubt the Taliban are combing the streets of Faisalabad for supporters. "They will exploit the situation," he said.
Gareth Price, head of the Asia program at London research centre Chatham House, said it may be just a matter of time before the textile industry's woes add to Pakistan's security misery.
"Tens and hundreds of thousands of young men are losing their jobs," he said. "The next question for Pakistan is what do they do? Do they blame the government and go and get linked up with extremists? The answer to that question will determine what happens to the country."
FROM: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/pakistan/article/763739--taliban-target-jobless-youth
Pakistan–Since Tajamal Hussain lost his job in a textiles factory two months ago, the 19-year-old has walked the streets of this gritty city searching for work.
Trouble is, the Taliban seem to be the only ones hiring nowadays.
"Yes, I will consider joining," Hussain said, sipping tea in a shanty in Faisalabad's factory district.
"I have to eat."
International attention for months has been focused on South Waziristan, a remote, mountainous region up against the Afghan border where Pakistan's army is battling Taliban fundamentalists. Yet a storm is also brewing in Faisalabad, some 270 kilometres south of the capital, Islamabad, and Pakistan's third largest city with a population of 5 million.
A booming textiles trade once attracted young, unskilled labourers from across the country, but these days, with an energy crisis crippling Pakistan, factories are closing and an estimated 200,000 textile workers have lost their jobs.
That has left Hussain and others like him stewing in the back alleys of a city with a history of close ties to extremism. Several Islamic militants – including Abu Zubaydah, Al Qaeda's purported No. 3 operative – have been captured here.
"Pakistan is a country of 170 million people, where half of them are under age 21 with poor prospects for their future," said South Asia specialist Daniel Markey, formerly with the U.S. State Department.
"This is a hard story to tell. I don't think the West realizes how huge it is. These problems are not going to end when Bin Laden's head is on a platter."
On a recent morning, another group of laid-off textile workers helped illustrate why the Taliban may draw more recruits from this city.
Muhammad Shafique is 37 and has worked the looms of Faisalabad since he was 12. His wife and two children live in rural Samundri, while Shafique shares a room with three other labourers.
Over cups of chai and countless cigarettes, Shafique spent an hour explaining to a visitor how disastrous it would be to support the Taliban. "We already have a crisis and joining hands with terrorists would only make it worse," he said.
But as the morning wore on and, perhaps, his sugary tea took effect, Shafique's tone changed. "I will join any fight against America," he said in a loud voice, his stare flinty.
Already, Faisalabad's unemployed are growing desperate.
In the space of a week, a bank was robbed and a man taking his two daughters to school was stopped by armed gunmen.
"They pointed the gun at him and his daughters and told him to get off his motorcycle," said Wazir Ahmad Wato, who works for a community organization on water and sanitation issues. "This is becoming usual here and there's no doubt the Taliban are watching and can take advantage. They have agents everywhere."
Wato said it's unclear how much the Taliban pays new recruits, but recent rumours suggest a payout of 500,000 rupees, ($6,275 Canadian) to would-be suicide bombers.
Police superintendent Yousaf Ali Houral doesn't doubt the Taliban are combing the streets of Faisalabad for supporters. "They will exploit the situation," he said.
Gareth Price, head of the Asia program at London research centre Chatham House, said it may be just a matter of time before the textile industry's woes add to Pakistan's security misery.
"Tens and hundreds of thousands of young men are losing their jobs," he said. "The next question for Pakistan is what do they do? Do they blame the government and go and get linked up with extremists? The answer to that question will determine what happens to the country."
Sunday, January 24, 2010
TALIBAN PSYOPS
FROM: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/asia/21taliban.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have embarked on a sophisticated information war, using modern media tools as well as some old-fashioned ones, to soften their image and win favor with local Afghans as they try to counter the Americans’ new campaign to win Afghan hearts and minds.
Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith questions how much control the Taliban leadership has.
The Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, issued a lengthy directive late last spring outlining a new code of conduct for the Taliban. The dictates include bans on suicide bombings against civilians, burning down schools, or cutting off ears, lips and tongues.
The code, which has been spottily enforced, does not necessarily mean a gentler insurgency. Although the Taliban warned some civilians away before the assault on the heart of Kabul on Monday, they were still responsible for three-quarters of civilian casualties last year, according to the United Nations.
Now, as the Taliban deepen their presence in more of Afghanistan, they are in greater need of popular support and are recasting themselves increasingly as a local liberation movement, independent of Al Qaeda, capitalizing on the mounting frustration of Afghans with their own government and the presence of foreign troops. The effect has been to make them a more potent insurgency, some NATO officials said.
Afghan villagers and some NATO officials added that the code had begun to change the way some midlevel Taliban commanders and their followers behaved on the ground. A couple of the most brutal commanders have even been removed by Mullah Omar.
The Taliban’s public relations operation is also increasingly efficient at putting out its message and often works faster than NATO’s. “The Afghan adaptation to counterinsurgency makes them much more dangerous,” said a senior NATO intelligence official here. “Their overarching goals probably haven’t changed much since 2001, but when we arrived with a new counterinsurgency strategy, they responded with one of their own.”
The American strategy includes limiting airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians and concentrating troops closer to population centers so that Afghans will feel protected from the Taliban.
American and Afghan analysts see the Taliban’s effort as part of a broad initiative that employs every tool they can muster, including the Internet technology they once denounced as un-Islamic. Now they use word of mouth, messages to cellphones and Internet videos to get their message out.
“The Taliban are trying to win the favor of the people,” said Wahid Mujda, a former Taliban official who now tracks the insurgency on the Internet and frequently comments on Afghan television. “The reason they changed their tactics is that they want to prepare for a long-term fight, and for that they need support from the people; they need local sources of income,” he said. “So, they learned not to repeat their previous mistakes.”
The Taliban can shape the narrative about attacks sometimes before NATO public affairs even puts out a statement. Unlike the NATO press machine, the Taliban are willing to give details, and while some are patently exaggerated or wrong, others have just enough elements of truth that they cannot be entirely ignored.
Bruce Riedel, who led President Obama’s review of the administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy, described the information war as critical. “You have to respond in the propaganda war in a very quick time cycle; you can’t put out a statement saying, ‘We’re looking for all the facts before we comment,’ ”Mr. Riedel said.
The new public relations campaign combined with relatively less cruel behavior may have stemmed some of the anger at the insurgency, which tribal leaders in the south said had begun to rally people against the Taliban.
But the most important factor in their growing reach is the ineffectiveness of the central government and Afghans’ resentment of foreign troops. Military intelligence analysts now estimate that there are 25,000 to 30,000 committed Taliban fighters and perhaps as many as 500,000 others who would fight either for pay or if they felt attacked by the Western coalition.
The effort to change the Taliban’s image began in earnest last May when Mullah Omar disseminated his new code of conduct. The New York Times obtained a copy of the document through a Taliban spokesman. A version of the new code was authenticated last summer by NATO intelligence after a copy was seized during a raid and its contents corroborated using human intelligence, according to a senior NATO intelligence official.
The version sent to The Times is a 69-point document ranging from how to treat local people, how to treat prisoners, what to do with captured enemy equipment and when to execute captives. Much of the document deals with the Taliban chain of command and limits the decisions that field commanders can make on their own. The document exhorts insurgents to live and work in harmony with local people.
In an eerie echo of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the photographing of prisoners, one edict states: “If someone is sentenced to death, he must be killed with a gun, and photographing the execution is forbidden.”
Creating a code of behavior is one thing, enforcing it another. The Taliban have survived in part because they are an atomized movement and it is difficult to persuade local commanders, who operate in mountain or desert redoubts, to follow directives from leaders living hundreds of miles away in Pakistan.
There are doubts as well about the Taliban’s recent assertions that they are independent from Al Qaeda. Leaders of both groups live in the same areas of Pakistan, and Al Qaeda remains a source of financing and training for the Afghan movement.
“If you compare the document to actual behavior, Mullah Omar only has marginal control over his forces,” said Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the director of communications for NATO.
“A portion of it may stick in some parts of the country, but not in other places,” he said. Despite an edict that says in suicide attacks “to try your best to avoid killing local people,” a suicide bombing in Oruzgan Province last Thursday killed 16 civilians. But in most places, the civilian casualties from suicide bombers have been in the single digits. The Kabul attack on Monday killed five people, two of them civilians, and wounded 32.
That contrasts sharply with Pakistan, where the insurgency routinely fields suicide bombers who kill scores of civilians.
Admiral Smith and others say that according to a recent Defense Intelligence Agency survey, the Taliban’s new strategy has failed to win over Afghans and that even though the insurgency may be carrying out fewer mutilations and beheadings, it still relies on intimidation through night letters, threatening conversations and even assassinations.
Interviews with tribal elders in areas where the Taliban are active suggest a complex picture. Several interviewed in rural Kandahar Province praised the Taliban’s new, less threatening approach, but said that did not translate into enthusiasm for the Taliban movement. At the same time, there is not much liking for either the Afghan government or NATO troops.
“There is a tremendous change in the Taliban’s behavior,” said Haji-Khan Muhammad Khan, a tribal elder from Shawalikot, a rural district of Kandahar Province. “They don’t behead people or detain those they suspect of spying without an investigation. But sometimes they still make mistakes, people still fear them, but now generally they behave well with people. They had to change because the leadership of the Taliban did not want to lose the support of the grass roots.”
The latest refrain of Taliban commanders, their Internet magazine and from surrogates is that the insurgency represents Afghanistan’s Pashtuns, who are portrayed as persecuted by the Afghan government. “Pashtuns are suffering everywhere; if you go and check the prisons, you won’t find any prisoners except Pashtuns; when you hear about bombings, it is Pashtuns’ homes that have been bombed,” said a Taliban commander from Kandahar Province who goes by the name Sangar Yar.
While Pashtuns have been disproportionately affected by the Western military offensive, the insurgency is active predominantly in Pashtun areas where it is difficult to separate civilians and fighters.
At the moment, the dueling propaganda wars seem to have reached a stalemate.
“People have no choices; they are in a dilemma,” said Abdul Rahman, a tribal elder and businessman in Kandahar. “In places where the Taliban are active, the people are compelled to support them, they are afraid of the Taliban. And, in those places where government has a presence, the people are supporting the government,” he said.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have embarked on a sophisticated information war, using modern media tools as well as some old-fashioned ones, to soften their image and win favor with local Afghans as they try to counter the Americans’ new campaign to win Afghan hearts and minds.
Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith questions how much control the Taliban leadership has.
The Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, issued a lengthy directive late last spring outlining a new code of conduct for the Taliban. The dictates include bans on suicide bombings against civilians, burning down schools, or cutting off ears, lips and tongues.
The code, which has been spottily enforced, does not necessarily mean a gentler insurgency. Although the Taliban warned some civilians away before the assault on the heart of Kabul on Monday, they were still responsible for three-quarters of civilian casualties last year, according to the United Nations.
Now, as the Taliban deepen their presence in more of Afghanistan, they are in greater need of popular support and are recasting themselves increasingly as a local liberation movement, independent of Al Qaeda, capitalizing on the mounting frustration of Afghans with their own government and the presence of foreign troops. The effect has been to make them a more potent insurgency, some NATO officials said.
Afghan villagers and some NATO officials added that the code had begun to change the way some midlevel Taliban commanders and their followers behaved on the ground. A couple of the most brutal commanders have even been removed by Mullah Omar.
The Taliban’s public relations operation is also increasingly efficient at putting out its message and often works faster than NATO’s. “The Afghan adaptation to counterinsurgency makes them much more dangerous,” said a senior NATO intelligence official here. “Their overarching goals probably haven’t changed much since 2001, but when we arrived with a new counterinsurgency strategy, they responded with one of their own.”
The American strategy includes limiting airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians and concentrating troops closer to population centers so that Afghans will feel protected from the Taliban.
American and Afghan analysts see the Taliban’s effort as part of a broad initiative that employs every tool they can muster, including the Internet technology they once denounced as un-Islamic. Now they use word of mouth, messages to cellphones and Internet videos to get their message out.
“The Taliban are trying to win the favor of the people,” said Wahid Mujda, a former Taliban official who now tracks the insurgency on the Internet and frequently comments on Afghan television. “The reason they changed their tactics is that they want to prepare for a long-term fight, and for that they need support from the people; they need local sources of income,” he said. “So, they learned not to repeat their previous mistakes.”
The Taliban can shape the narrative about attacks sometimes before NATO public affairs even puts out a statement. Unlike the NATO press machine, the Taliban are willing to give details, and while some are patently exaggerated or wrong, others have just enough elements of truth that they cannot be entirely ignored.
Bruce Riedel, who led President Obama’s review of the administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy, described the information war as critical. “You have to respond in the propaganda war in a very quick time cycle; you can’t put out a statement saying, ‘We’re looking for all the facts before we comment,’ ”Mr. Riedel said.
The new public relations campaign combined with relatively less cruel behavior may have stemmed some of the anger at the insurgency, which tribal leaders in the south said had begun to rally people against the Taliban.
But the most important factor in their growing reach is the ineffectiveness of the central government and Afghans’ resentment of foreign troops. Military intelligence analysts now estimate that there are 25,000 to 30,000 committed Taliban fighters and perhaps as many as 500,000 others who would fight either for pay or if they felt attacked by the Western coalition.
The effort to change the Taliban’s image began in earnest last May when Mullah Omar disseminated his new code of conduct. The New York Times obtained a copy of the document through a Taliban spokesman. A version of the new code was authenticated last summer by NATO intelligence after a copy was seized during a raid and its contents corroborated using human intelligence, according to a senior NATO intelligence official.
The version sent to The Times is a 69-point document ranging from how to treat local people, how to treat prisoners, what to do with captured enemy equipment and when to execute captives. Much of the document deals with the Taliban chain of command and limits the decisions that field commanders can make on their own. The document exhorts insurgents to live and work in harmony with local people.
In an eerie echo of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the photographing of prisoners, one edict states: “If someone is sentenced to death, he must be killed with a gun, and photographing the execution is forbidden.”
Creating a code of behavior is one thing, enforcing it another. The Taliban have survived in part because they are an atomized movement and it is difficult to persuade local commanders, who operate in mountain or desert redoubts, to follow directives from leaders living hundreds of miles away in Pakistan.
There are doubts as well about the Taliban’s recent assertions that they are independent from Al Qaeda. Leaders of both groups live in the same areas of Pakistan, and Al Qaeda remains a source of financing and training for the Afghan movement.
“If you compare the document to actual behavior, Mullah Omar only has marginal control over his forces,” said Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the director of communications for NATO.
“A portion of it may stick in some parts of the country, but not in other places,” he said. Despite an edict that says in suicide attacks “to try your best to avoid killing local people,” a suicide bombing in Oruzgan Province last Thursday killed 16 civilians. But in most places, the civilian casualties from suicide bombers have been in the single digits. The Kabul attack on Monday killed five people, two of them civilians, and wounded 32.
That contrasts sharply with Pakistan, where the insurgency routinely fields suicide bombers who kill scores of civilians.
Admiral Smith and others say that according to a recent Defense Intelligence Agency survey, the Taliban’s new strategy has failed to win over Afghans and that even though the insurgency may be carrying out fewer mutilations and beheadings, it still relies on intimidation through night letters, threatening conversations and even assassinations.
Interviews with tribal elders in areas where the Taliban are active suggest a complex picture. Several interviewed in rural Kandahar Province praised the Taliban’s new, less threatening approach, but said that did not translate into enthusiasm for the Taliban movement. At the same time, there is not much liking for either the Afghan government or NATO troops.
“There is a tremendous change in the Taliban’s behavior,” said Haji-Khan Muhammad Khan, a tribal elder from Shawalikot, a rural district of Kandahar Province. “They don’t behead people or detain those they suspect of spying without an investigation. But sometimes they still make mistakes, people still fear them, but now generally they behave well with people. They had to change because the leadership of the Taliban did not want to lose the support of the grass roots.”
The latest refrain of Taliban commanders, their Internet magazine and from surrogates is that the insurgency represents Afghanistan’s Pashtuns, who are portrayed as persecuted by the Afghan government. “Pashtuns are suffering everywhere; if you go and check the prisons, you won’t find any prisoners except Pashtuns; when you hear about bombings, it is Pashtuns’ homes that have been bombed,” said a Taliban commander from Kandahar Province who goes by the name Sangar Yar.
While Pashtuns have been disproportionately affected by the Western military offensive, the insurgency is active predominantly in Pashtun areas where it is difficult to separate civilians and fighters.
At the moment, the dueling propaganda wars seem to have reached a stalemate.
“People have no choices; they are in a dilemma,” said Abdul Rahman, a tribal elder and businessman in Kandahar. “In places where the Taliban are active, the people are compelled to support them, they are afraid of the Taliban. And, in those places where government has a presence, the people are supporting the government,” he said.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
ANOTHER TALIBAN MARKET BOMBING
*** A bankrupt philosophy that offers only death, chaos and anarchy for its own people. Protest when half this number are killed by Western forces, do nothing when twice as many die by Taliban/AQ hands? Totally bankrupt. MS ***
FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100114/world/as_afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber apparently planning to attack a meeting of NATO and tribal officials blew himself up in a busy market district Thursday in central Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people, officials said, making it the deadliest attack against civilians in more than three months.
The attack came a day after the U.N. released a report showing that the number of Afghan civilians killed in war-related violence was at its highest level last year, and suicide bombings and other attacks blamed on insurgents were the leading cause of death.
The blast tore through shops in the town of Dihrawud, in Uruzgan province, as the area was packed with people gathered for the weekly bazaar.
Police said they believed the attacker's target was a meeting for NATO and local officials to discuss security with dozens of tribal elders. It was unclear why he detonated his explosives before reaching the heavily guarded building where the meeting was being held.
District police chief Omar Khan, who was at the meeting, said NATO forces had surrounded the building for the meeting, which is held on a regular basis.
Lt. Nico Melendez, a NATO spokesman in Kabul, said he had no indication of a NATO connection to the blast.
The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
NATO forces responded to the blast, which occurred near the Forward Operating Base Hadrian, and said initial reports indicated at least 20 Afghan civilians had been killed and 13 wounded.
Those killed included three children, according to provincial police chief Gen. Juma Gul Himat said. Several shops were destroyed.
It was the deadliest attack since Sept. 29, when a bomb struck a crowded bus on the outskirts of the city of Kandahar.
Uruzgan is a mostly Pashtun province that saw major fighting in 2007. It also was the scene of a June 2002 incident in which U.S. aircraft mistakenly attacked a wedding party, killing more than 30 people.
Another suicide bomber targeted a police patrol Thursday in the southern town of Musa Qala, killing an Afghan national police officer and wounding four civilians, according to officials and NATO.
Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said the bomber was on foot but NATO said the attacker was in an explosives-laden vehicle.
Musa Qala is in the province of Helmand, which is expected to be a major focus for NATO forces as they step up efforts to rout the Taliban.
Underscoring the dangers, police also said Thursday that four would-be suicide bombers were killed in a premature explosion the night before near the city of Kandahar.
The suspects were travelling from the Panjway district to Kandahar when the blast occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday, deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sharzad said.
He said the men were planning an attack in Kandahar but explosives in the car detonated before they reached the city. He didn't say what the target may have been.
The U.N. report said that more than half the 2,412 civilian deaths last year were the result of suicide bombings and other attacks despite an order by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to avoid endangering noncombatants.
The attacks typically target government or international forces but civilians have increasingly been caught in the middle.
FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100114/world/as_afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber apparently planning to attack a meeting of NATO and tribal officials blew himself up in a busy market district Thursday in central Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people, officials said, making it the deadliest attack against civilians in more than three months.
The attack came a day after the U.N. released a report showing that the number of Afghan civilians killed in war-related violence was at its highest level last year, and suicide bombings and other attacks blamed on insurgents were the leading cause of death.
The blast tore through shops in the town of Dihrawud, in Uruzgan province, as the area was packed with people gathered for the weekly bazaar.
Police said they believed the attacker's target was a meeting for NATO and local officials to discuss security with dozens of tribal elders. It was unclear why he detonated his explosives before reaching the heavily guarded building where the meeting was being held.
District police chief Omar Khan, who was at the meeting, said NATO forces had surrounded the building for the meeting, which is held on a regular basis.
Lt. Nico Melendez, a NATO spokesman in Kabul, said he had no indication of a NATO connection to the blast.
The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
NATO forces responded to the blast, which occurred near the Forward Operating Base Hadrian, and said initial reports indicated at least 20 Afghan civilians had been killed and 13 wounded.
Those killed included three children, according to provincial police chief Gen. Juma Gul Himat said. Several shops were destroyed.
It was the deadliest attack since Sept. 29, when a bomb struck a crowded bus on the outskirts of the city of Kandahar.
Uruzgan is a mostly Pashtun province that saw major fighting in 2007. It also was the scene of a June 2002 incident in which U.S. aircraft mistakenly attacked a wedding party, killing more than 30 people.
Another suicide bomber targeted a police patrol Thursday in the southern town of Musa Qala, killing an Afghan national police officer and wounding four civilians, according to officials and NATO.
Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said the bomber was on foot but NATO said the attacker was in an explosives-laden vehicle.
Musa Qala is in the province of Helmand, which is expected to be a major focus for NATO forces as they step up efforts to rout the Taliban.
Underscoring the dangers, police also said Thursday that four would-be suicide bombers were killed in a premature explosion the night before near the city of Kandahar.
The suspects were travelling from the Panjway district to Kandahar when the blast occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday, deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sharzad said.
He said the men were planning an attack in Kandahar but explosives in the car detonated before they reached the city. He didn't say what the target may have been.
The U.N. report said that more than half the 2,412 civilian deaths last year were the result of suicide bombings and other attacks despite an order by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to avoid endangering noncombatants.
The attacks typically target government or international forces but civilians have increasingly been caught in the middle.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
PAKISTANI TALIBAN BURN DOWN VILLAGE - ALLAH BE PRAISED!
FROM: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/taliban_torch_villag.php
The Taliban burned down an entire village in the lawless tribal agency of Arakzai after villagers refused to back them against the military.
Sixty-three homes were torched by the Taliban in the town of Tori Mela in the Feroze Khel region of Arakzai after the residents were ordered to leave.
"Local people said the Tehrik-i-Taliban [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] had ‘punished’ tribesmen because of their refusal to stay on in the village and support them in their fight against security forces," Dawn reported. Most of the residents had fled the region once fighting broke out between the Taliban and security forces in November.
The Feroze Khel region has been the scene of intense fighting between the Taliban and the government and tribal groups that back the Pakistani military. The Taliban have kidnapped seven tribal elders in Feroze Khel since mid-December 2009, and beheaded two "spies" there in November. The military has conducted multiple airstrikes against Taliban training camps, safe houses, and storage depots in the Feroze Khel region.
The military launched a limited offensive in mid-November against the Taliban groups operating in Arakzai after it could no longer ignore that Taliban fighters and leaders were regrouping there from the fighting in South Waziristan. The military has claimed it killed more than 80 Taliban fighters since Dec. 26, 2009.
The most intense clashes were reported in the Anjani region on Dec. 30, when 37 Taliban fighters, five tribal fighters, and four Levies security personnel were killed.
Among those reported killed was a Taliban commander known as Maulana Yar Mohammad. He was reportedly killed along with 38 of his fighters after they were gathering to attack a tribal militia.
Maulana Yar Mohammad was a commander under Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui, the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency as well as in neighboring Kurram. On Dec. 23, the military also claimed it killed a commander named Ehsanullah, who was identified as Farooqui's brother.
Farooqui took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in the northwest. Farooqui was described as the "patron-in-chief" of the Taliban in Arakzai and a "close friend of Mullah Mohammad Omar" back in 2001. At the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom, Farooqui promised to have 12,000 tribesmen to battle US forces in Afghanistan and offered support such as sanctuary and weapons and ammunition. He claimed to lead 7,000 Taliban fighters.
The Taliban are actively working to target the tribes who back the military and government in the tribal areas and in the northwest. Anti-Taliban tribal leaders are being slaughtered in Bajaur, while most recently a suicide bomber killed more than 100 people in a suicide attack on a volleyball game in a town in Lakki Marwat that had attempted to break free of Taliban's grip.
The Taliban have responded aggressively to efforts by tribal leaders to oppose the spread of extremism in the tribal areas. Tribal opposition has been violently attacked and defeated in Peshawar, Dir, Arakzai, Khyber, and Swat. Suicide bombers have struck at tribal meetings held at mosques, schools, hotels, and homes [see LWJ report, "Anti-Taliban tribal militia leader assassinated in Pakistan's northwest", for more information on the difficulties of raising tribal lashkars in Pakistan's northwest].
The Taliban perfected this strategy in North and South Waziristan. Tribal leaders who opposed the Taliban were brutally liquidated. The Taliban would execute the leaders and dump their bodies on the roadside with notes pinned to their chests branding them as "US spies" and traitors. The bodies were often mutilated and beheaded.
The Taliban have made very public examples of local leaders who have dared to resist. In December 2008, the Swat Taliban executed a local tribal leader named Pir Samiullah, then returned to the village to dig up his body and hang it in the town square. The villagers were warned not to remove his body or they would face the same fate [see LWJ report, "Video: Taliban execute Swat tribal leader"].
Major Taliban groups based in Arakzai:
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan: Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui is the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency as well as in neighboring Kurram. He took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in the northwest. He is a close friend of Mullah Omar and has claimed in the past to lead more than 7,000 Taliban fighters.
Fedayeen-e-Islam: Led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the Fedayeen-e-Islam has taken credit for multiple terror assaults and suicide attacks throughout Pakistan. The group is made up members of the Pakistani Taliban, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other Islamist terrorists from Pakistan. It is based in Arakzai and South Waziristan. Senior leaders of the Fedayeen-e-Islam include Qari Hussain Mehsud, a former senior deputy to Baitullah who trains child suicide bombers; Qari Mohammed Zafar, the operational commander of the September 2008 attack on the Islamabad Marriott; Asmatullah Moaviya, another senior aide to Baitullah who was reportedly arrested in Mianwali in Punjab province; and Rana Afzal.
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi: An anti-Shia terror group that has integrated with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has an extensive network in Pakistan and serves as the muscle for terror attacks.
Commander Tariq Group: This group is considered the most powerful outfit in Arakzai. Led by Commander Tariq Afridi and based in Darra Adam Khel, the group conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, Peshawar, and Hangu. The Commander Tariq Group took credit for murdering Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak earlier this year.
Omar Group: Another major Taliban group based in Darra Adam Khel. It has conducted attacks in the regions around Peshawar.
Ghazi Force: This group is named after Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the brother of former Red Mosque leader Maulana Abdullah Aziz. Ghazi was killed when Pakistani troops assaulted the Red Mosque in July 2007. The Ghazi force runs a terror training camp in Guljo in Hangu and has conducted suicide attacks in Islamabad. The group is led by Maulana Niaz Raheem, a former student of the Red Mosque.
Abdullah Azzam Brigade: This shadowy group appears to be made up of Taliban members from the Commander Tariq Group who merged with some Arakzai-based elements of Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya, who is also a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, said the Abdullah Azzam Brigade was behind a terror assault in Peshawar.
Clashes in Arakzai in late December 2009 and early January 2010:
Jan. 2, 2009: Security forces killed five Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Jan. 1, 2009: The military killed five Taliban fighters in Arakzai and two more in neighboring Hangu.
Dec. 31, 2009: The Pakistani military killed four more Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Dec. 30, 2009: Thirty-seven Taliban fighters, five tribal fighters and four security personnel were killed in clashes in Arakzai.
Dec. 28, 2009: Nine tribal fighters, including a tribal leader, and six Taliban fighters were killed in clashes in Arakzai.
Dec. 27, 2009: Security forces killed four Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Dec. 26, 2009: Security forces killed 10 Taliban fighters in Arakzai, but locals claimed that 10 civilians were killed.
Dec. 23, 2009: Security forces killed 18 Taliban fighters in Arakzai
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/taliban_torch_villag.php#ixzz0brBQX0TE
*** O Allah would be so proud of you so-called Muslim fighters - you are nothing but murderers of Muslims and destroyers of homes. Muhammad (Allah's Grace and Peace Be Upon Him) said (to the effect), "It is better to break the Ka'abah stone by stone than to break the heart of a Muslim" - here you have burned an entire village and this is somehow the Sunnah of the Prophet of Allah (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) ?! MS ***
The Taliban burned down an entire village in the lawless tribal agency of Arakzai after villagers refused to back them against the military.
Sixty-three homes were torched by the Taliban in the town of Tori Mela in the Feroze Khel region of Arakzai after the residents were ordered to leave.
"Local people said the Tehrik-i-Taliban [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] had ‘punished’ tribesmen because of their refusal to stay on in the village and support them in their fight against security forces," Dawn reported. Most of the residents had fled the region once fighting broke out between the Taliban and security forces in November.
The Feroze Khel region has been the scene of intense fighting between the Taliban and the government and tribal groups that back the Pakistani military. The Taliban have kidnapped seven tribal elders in Feroze Khel since mid-December 2009, and beheaded two "spies" there in November. The military has conducted multiple airstrikes against Taliban training camps, safe houses, and storage depots in the Feroze Khel region.
The military launched a limited offensive in mid-November against the Taliban groups operating in Arakzai after it could no longer ignore that Taliban fighters and leaders were regrouping there from the fighting in South Waziristan. The military has claimed it killed more than 80 Taliban fighters since Dec. 26, 2009.
The most intense clashes were reported in the Anjani region on Dec. 30, when 37 Taliban fighters, five tribal fighters, and four Levies security personnel were killed.
Among those reported killed was a Taliban commander known as Maulana Yar Mohammad. He was reportedly killed along with 38 of his fighters after they were gathering to attack a tribal militia.
Maulana Yar Mohammad was a commander under Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui, the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency as well as in neighboring Kurram. On Dec. 23, the military also claimed it killed a commander named Ehsanullah, who was identified as Farooqui's brother.
Farooqui took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in the northwest. Farooqui was described as the "patron-in-chief" of the Taliban in Arakzai and a "close friend of Mullah Mohammad Omar" back in 2001. At the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom, Farooqui promised to have 12,000 tribesmen to battle US forces in Afghanistan and offered support such as sanctuary and weapons and ammunition. He claimed to lead 7,000 Taliban fighters.
The Taliban are actively working to target the tribes who back the military and government in the tribal areas and in the northwest. Anti-Taliban tribal leaders are being slaughtered in Bajaur, while most recently a suicide bomber killed more than 100 people in a suicide attack on a volleyball game in a town in Lakki Marwat that had attempted to break free of Taliban's grip.
The Taliban have responded aggressively to efforts by tribal leaders to oppose the spread of extremism in the tribal areas. Tribal opposition has been violently attacked and defeated in Peshawar, Dir, Arakzai, Khyber, and Swat. Suicide bombers have struck at tribal meetings held at mosques, schools, hotels, and homes [see LWJ report, "Anti-Taliban tribal militia leader assassinated in Pakistan's northwest", for more information on the difficulties of raising tribal lashkars in Pakistan's northwest].
The Taliban perfected this strategy in North and South Waziristan. Tribal leaders who opposed the Taliban were brutally liquidated. The Taliban would execute the leaders and dump their bodies on the roadside with notes pinned to their chests branding them as "US spies" and traitors. The bodies were often mutilated and beheaded.
The Taliban have made very public examples of local leaders who have dared to resist. In December 2008, the Swat Taliban executed a local tribal leader named Pir Samiullah, then returned to the village to dig up his body and hang it in the town square. The villagers were warned not to remove his body or they would face the same fate [see LWJ report, "Video: Taliban execute Swat tribal leader"].
Major Taliban groups based in Arakzai:
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan: Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui is the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency as well as in neighboring Kurram. He took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in the northwest. He is a close friend of Mullah Omar and has claimed in the past to lead more than 7,000 Taliban fighters.
Fedayeen-e-Islam: Led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the Fedayeen-e-Islam has taken credit for multiple terror assaults and suicide attacks throughout Pakistan. The group is made up members of the Pakistani Taliban, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other Islamist terrorists from Pakistan. It is based in Arakzai and South Waziristan. Senior leaders of the Fedayeen-e-Islam include Qari Hussain Mehsud, a former senior deputy to Baitullah who trains child suicide bombers; Qari Mohammed Zafar, the operational commander of the September 2008 attack on the Islamabad Marriott; Asmatullah Moaviya, another senior aide to Baitullah who was reportedly arrested in Mianwali in Punjab province; and Rana Afzal.
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi: An anti-Shia terror group that has integrated with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has an extensive network in Pakistan and serves as the muscle for terror attacks.
Commander Tariq Group: This group is considered the most powerful outfit in Arakzai. Led by Commander Tariq Afridi and based in Darra Adam Khel, the group conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, Peshawar, and Hangu. The Commander Tariq Group took credit for murdering Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak earlier this year.
Omar Group: Another major Taliban group based in Darra Adam Khel. It has conducted attacks in the regions around Peshawar.
Ghazi Force: This group is named after Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the brother of former Red Mosque leader Maulana Abdullah Aziz. Ghazi was killed when Pakistani troops assaulted the Red Mosque in July 2007. The Ghazi force runs a terror training camp in Guljo in Hangu and has conducted suicide attacks in Islamabad. The group is led by Maulana Niaz Raheem, a former student of the Red Mosque.
Abdullah Azzam Brigade: This shadowy group appears to be made up of Taliban members from the Commander Tariq Group who merged with some Arakzai-based elements of Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya, who is also a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, said the Abdullah Azzam Brigade was behind a terror assault in Peshawar.
Clashes in Arakzai in late December 2009 and early January 2010:
Jan. 2, 2009: Security forces killed five Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Jan. 1, 2009: The military killed five Taliban fighters in Arakzai and two more in neighboring Hangu.
Dec. 31, 2009: The Pakistani military killed four more Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Dec. 30, 2009: Thirty-seven Taliban fighters, five tribal fighters and four security personnel were killed in clashes in Arakzai.
Dec. 28, 2009: Nine tribal fighters, including a tribal leader, and six Taliban fighters were killed in clashes in Arakzai.
Dec. 27, 2009: Security forces killed four Taliban fighters in Arakzai.
Dec. 26, 2009: Security forces killed 10 Taliban fighters in Arakzai, but locals claimed that 10 civilians were killed.
Dec. 23, 2009: Security forces killed 18 Taliban fighters in Arakzai
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/taliban_torch_villag.php#ixzz0brBQX0TE
*** O Allah would be so proud of you so-called Muslim fighters - you are nothing but murderers of Muslims and destroyers of homes. Muhammad (Allah's Grace and Peace Be Upon Him) said (to the effect), "It is better to break the Ka'abah stone by stone than to break the heart of a Muslim" - here you have burned an entire village and this is somehow the Sunnah of the Prophet of Allah (SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) ?! MS ***
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