Religion of "piece" Explodes In Pakistan

A suicide attack on Peshawar's Pearl Continental, popular among foreigners, killed at least five people and wounded 70.

Peshawar, Pakistan - A suicide bombing Tuesday at Peshawar's only five-star hotel is the latest of several recent attacks in this northwestern Pakistani city.
It comes after the Taliban threatened to launch periodic attacks in retaliation for an ongoing Army offensive against militants in the Swat Valley. As the town closest to the battle zone and to Pakistan's tribal areas, a militant stronghold, Peshawar makes for a prime target.

Although the Taliban are unlikely to take over the city, say analysts, the attacks have stirred up fear among residents and disrupted routine life. Schools have closed by order of the government, and business has slowed. Normally bustling markets have emptied. Some families have left town.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0610/p06s01-wosc.html

Commandos Raid Mambai Hotel; Looking for Gunmen and Hostages

MUMBAI, India

Indian commandoes have killed the last three gunmen at one luxury hotel in Mumbai, and are sweeping another in search of hostages and people trapped after suspected Muslim militants stormed 10 sites across the city.

There are conflicting reports about the besieged headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group. An Indian official had said that eight hostages from the center were freed, but a diplomat monitoring the situation says that's not the case. He says the eight people likely had been hiding in a nearby building, and no hostages have been released.

Gunfire and explosions could be heard well into the night from the two hotels and the Jewish group's center. Commandoes have been bringing hostages, trapped guests and corpses from the hotels throughout the day.

The death toll from the attacks is now at least 119 people. The gunmen's main targets appear to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seem to be Indians and tourists caught in random gunfire.

An official with the company that owns the Taj Mahal hotel says the attackers appeared to have scouted their targets in advance.
kptm

An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cyanide

Denver Police have closed their investigation into the mysterious death of an indigent man in a suite of a luxury Denver hotel. They announced that his death was suicide, and that there was no link to terrorism. An FBI spokesman has also stated that the incident has no apparent terrorism connection.

The man was Saleman Abdirahman Dirie and, the coroner’s verdict notwithstanding, his death raises far more questions than have been answered by the Denver police, who seemed quite happy to wash their hands of the whole affair. But the story surrounding Dirie’s death is bizarre, and needs to be unraveled.

The facts, as far as they have been released, are these: Saleman Abdirahman Dirie was a 29-year-old Canadian citizen, a Muslim, and a former refugee from Somalia with no visible means of support and no money. He came to Denver from Ottawa by bus and checked into an upscale hotel (where the least expensive rooms rent for nearly $250 a night) for which he paid cash. There are reports that several thousand dollars in cash were also found in his room. He was not seen again until his body was found six days later next to a one pound jar of sodium cyanide crystals.

If you consider that this all took place in the city where the Democratic National Convention was about to take place, suspicion becomes alarm.

The questions themselves are disquieting. Why was he in Denver? Where did he get the cash to pay for his room? Where did he get a full pound of sodium cyanide crystals, enough to poison hundreds of people, and what was he planning to do with it?

canadafreepress