USN Ship used for suspected terrorist

Somali Pirate questioned aboard USNS Lewis and Clark earlier





Warsame was turned over to the FBI after extensive "humane" interrogation aboard ship by a unit known as a High-Value Interrogation Group, made up of FBI, CIA and Defense Department personnel, the officials said. But a U.S. official said CIA officers did not directly question Warsame. After the controversy surrounding George W. Bush-era interrogations of detainees, the CIA has consistently said it has kept its agents away from direct questioning.

Adm. William H. McRaven, who is taking over as head of U.S. Special Operations Command, was asked last week during his confirmation hearings what the U.S. did with militants captured outside Afghanistan.

"In many cases, we will put them on a naval vessel and we will hold them until we can either get a case to prosecute them in U.S. court," send them to a third country or release them, McRaven said, without providing specifics. Shipboard detentions had been alleged by human rights groups but never confirmed.

M. Star: 23 m.-wide dent 16 m. BELOW waterline

MT M. Star entered Tokyo Bay Aug. 24. The mysterious impact left one 11-meter-wide, one-meter-deep dent in the aft starboard hull about six meters above the waterline, and another 23-meter-wide dent about 16 meters below the waterline, and damage to the ship's mess. more here

M. Star: terrorist scenario in doubt: So it goes

If it were a suicide bomber, the explosive device would have pierced the hull or at least caused visible damage from shrapnel. The terrorist theory is the favoured scenario because the United Arab Emirates state news agency quoted an unnamed coast guard official as saying they found the remnants of handmade explosives on the hull and that terrorists were to blame. The Japanese government, meanwhile, is still carrying out its investigations into the cause of the blast on board the M Star, a government official said. The Straits are far outside of the operational radius that one would expect for a group that was operating in the Sinai to be able to then launch an attack in the Persian Gulf - that's showing quite a transnational operational reach. The damage to the M Star's hull was probably caused by a collision?

M. Star: Ayyub Al Tayshan?

Privately, U.S. officials have expressed skepticism about the al Qaeda-affiliated group's claim of responsibility. They say that while the investigation isn't finished, the visible damage to the tanker hull is more consistent with a collision than a terrorist attack.
a Dolphin class submarine have passed through Suez. here A report in the London Sunday Times 30 May said that Israel was placing submarines off the coast of Iran. According to the report, three submarines have already arrived in the Persian Gulf, and one will be permanently stationed there. The deployment is Israel's response to Iran's development of ballistic missiles, the report said.
"After midnight last Wednesday, the martyr hero Ayyub Al Tayshan blew himself up in the Japanese oil tanker M. Star in the Strait of Hormuz between the U.A.E. and Oman,"In a statement posted on a militant website and dated Aug. 2, by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

Rubber dinghies found in Mumbai harbor

There were 10 men aboard the boat who appeared to be in their early 20s, and eight of them disembarked carrying backpacks. all the 10 gunmen were Pakistani because they spoke Punjabi or Punjabi-accented Urdu. Measuring about 3 meters long, the boat had a new Yamaha 40-horsepower outboard engine. The vessel bore Arabic characters used in writing Urdu. Fuel cans and life jackets were found in the boat.

Pakistani vessel sought in Mumbai attack

An American counterterrorism official said there was strong evidence that Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistani militants who have fought Indian troops in Kashmir, had a “maritime capability” and would have been able to mount the sophisticated operation in Mumbai. The Mumbai terrorists, says a prisoner, set off on November 21 from an isolated creek near Karachi without the arms and ammunition they were to use in Mumbai. The group received arms and ammunition from a large Pakistani vessel which picked them up the following day. The vessel, whose ownership is now the subject of an international probe, had four Pakistanis apart from the crew.

A day later, they came across an Indian-owned trawler, Kuber, which was promptly commandeered on the seas. Four of the fishermen who were on the trawler were killed, but its skipper, or tandel in fishermen lingo, Amarjit Singh, was forced to proceed towards India. Amarjit was killed the next day, and Ismail the terrorist who was killed at Girgaum Chowpaty took the wheel.

A trained sailor, Ismail used the GPS to reach Mumbai coast on November 26. The group, however, slowed down its advance as they had reached during the day time while the landing was planned after dusk. The group shifted to inflatable boats, before disembarking at Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade.

The Kuber had set sail for Jakhau in Kutch near India-Pakistan border for fishing on November 14. Usually these boats return from fishing within 10 days but this one did not. The fisheries department was alerted about this on November 24. Kuber, with a 118 HP marine engine, had five crew members on board.