5. januar 2007

Anti-Hamas preacher shot dead A mosque preacher in the Gaza strip, known for his anti-Hamas sermons, has been shot dead. There was no claim of responsibility for Friday's shooting of Adel Nasar, a mosque preacher who was shot as he got into a car in the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, according to witnesses. But Fatah accused Hamas. "Sheik Nasar was killed after he came out of the mosque where he criticized Hamas after the crime committed by some of its gunmen yesterday," the group said in a statement. Salem Salama, a lawmaker and top Hamas official in central Gaza, denied any involvement by his group. "Hamas condemns this cowardly assassination," he said. "We will work with all the honorable people here to find the killers and bring them to justice." It appears difficult to find many of those on the Gaza strip. On Thursday, top Fatah official Col. Mohammed Ghayeb was killed along with several bodyguards in his home by attackers. Quite dramatically, he was begging for an ambulance for injured children in a phone call to a TV programme as the battle raged. Nine people were killed in total, and many were injured, including eight children and Ghayeb's wife. Definitely a civil war I hope both sides lose. 10:13:25 PM    comment []  trackback []

Al-Zawahiri begging for Jihad in Somalia Al-Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri is urging, some would say begging, Jihadis everywhere to come to the aid of the Islamic courts militia in Somalia, and he is urging the militants there to stop running and start fighting. Here is a part of his latest audio message: I also appeal to my Muslim brethren everywhere to respond to the call for jihad in Somalia. I appeal to the lions of Islam in Yemen, the state of faith and wisdom, I appeal to my brothers the lions of Islam in the Arab Peninsula, the cradle of conquests, and I also appeal to my brothers the lions of Islam in Egypt, Sudan, the Arab Maghreb, and everywhere in the Muslim world to rise up to aid their Muslim brethren in Somalia through offering sacrifices, money, opinion, and expertise so as to defeat the slaves of America that it sends to death on its behalf. I appeal to the Muslims everywhere to rush to support their brother mujahidin who are being encroached upon and are being fought by America and its slaves for they chose the law of Islam instead of the law of looting, plundering, theft, bribery, corruption, and treachery. God says: And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise! Him to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is Witness to all things. [Koranic verses ] I urge them not to listen to any defeatist calls that would prevent them from taking part in supporting their brothers who are being attacked. It is quite obvious that the Jihadists are shocked and dismayed at the sudden collapse of the Islamist forces in Somalia. They may well run out of places to run: In Somalia itself, Ethiopian troops say they have trapped hundreds of fleeing Islamists in the southern tip of Somalia on the Kenyan border. The US has deployed ships off the coast to hunt those trying to escape by sea.  Obviously, what everybody fears is a long-term insurgency, and that is what the al-Qaeda boss is urging. Then again, the Ethiopian forces are unlikely to try any nation-building.  Unfortunately, the Somalians themselves haven't been doing too much of that, either. 10:04:06 PM    comment []  trackback []

Shelled out of my shell In my programming section, I recently wrote about playing around with the game development system Torque. I just checked out a new free game, developed in Torque by Red Thumb Games: Shelled. You can dowload and play it right away (not sure if will be released for other platforms than Windows later). It's great fun, both single play, and, I assume even though I haven't tried that option, with some friends. It's along the same lines as Scorched Earth or Worms, for those who remember those classics. How can you fault a flying turtle with nukes? Shelled made top 10 indie games for December. There's a lot of fun games out there apart from the blockbuster megabudget releases. I like games that I can just start up and play for half an hour or so; my life doesn't exactly permit me to immense myself into a game for months or years (that's for you, WoW fans!). 7:42:02 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.02.2007; 06:21:49.