June 2008
17 posts
2 tags
Channel 4 pays £150,000 to free film maker from... →
Sunday Times By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul and Dipesh Gadher Channel 4 paid a £150,000 ransom to secure the release of a documentary film maker who was held hostage for three months after trying to make contact with Al-Qaeda’s second in command. Sean Langan, 43, was held by criminals linked to the Taliban at a terrorist training camp in a lawless border region of Pakistan. His kidnappers...
Jun 28th
2 tags
Just a finger's width away from death →
The Scotsman By Jerome Starkey WARRANT Officer Gary O’Donnell was crouched over a Taleban bomb in Afghanistan’s Helmand pro-vince when he spotted the crude wooden trigger, based on a clothespeg, beginning to shut. The bomb disposal expert had only milliseconds to react, jamming his fingers into the gap to stop it detonating. “It happened almost straight away,” he...
Jun 22nd
2 tags
Bomb hero puts finger in trigger →
The Sun By Jerome Starkey, in Helmand AN Army bomb disposal hero escaped being blown to bits by a landmine — by quickly jamming his fingers into a CLOTHES PEG. The crude wooden peg had been used as a makeshift trigger to set off the deadly device. Two electrical contacts were fixed to the gripping parts of the peg — which were held open by rubber wrapped around the opposite end. Warrant...
Jun 22nd
2 tags
Sarah Bryant was on secret mission in Afghanistan →
Sunday Times By Michael Smith and Jerome Starkey in Kabul THE woman soldier killed in a bomb attack last week was an intelligence officer on a secret mission to meet an Afghan agent, a military source has revealed. Corporal Sarah Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, was meeting the agent for the second time deep inside Taliban territory on the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces....
Jun 21st
1 tag
First female soldier killed in Afghanistan →
The Independent By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul, Kim Sengupta and Colin Brown A 26-year-old female soldier became the first British servicewoman to be killed in Afghanistan when she and three SAS men died in a roadside bomb attack yesterday. Nine Britons have now lost their lives in the country in just 10 days. Sarah Bryant, a member of the Intelligence Corps, and her three comrades died, and a...
Jun 18th
1 tag
Families flee as Nato warns of blitz on rampant... →
The Scotsman By Jerome Starkey in Kabul THOUSANDS of people fled their homes in southern Afghanistan yesterday as Nato prepared to fight more than 600 Taleban militants threatening to attack Kandahar, the country’s second-biggest city. The insurgents seized a huge area of countryside on the outskirts of the city on Monday, just days after freeing more than 400 fighters from the jail...
Jun 17th
1 tag
I'll invade Pakistan, warns Karzai →
The Scotsman By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul AFGHANISTAN’S president, Hamid Karzai, threatened to invade nuclear-power Pakistan yesterday, in an astonishing escalation in the diplomatic feud between the two countries. Speaking just days after American forces clashed with Pakistani soldiers on the border, Mr Karzai warned Afghan troops could cross the Durrand line, which divides their...
Jun 15th
1 tag
Hundreds of Taliban prisoners freed after attack... →
The Independent By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul Taliban militants blew open one of Afghanistan’s biggest prisons last night, setting free more than 400 insurgents and 700 criminals. A suicide bomber drove a lorry packed full of explosives into the main gates of Kandahar prison, while teams of militants attacked the building with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. A Taliban...
Jun 13th
Afghan jailbreak frees 1150 →
The Sun By Jerome Starkey TALIBAN militants blew open one of Afghanistan’s biggest prisons last night, setting free more than 400 insurgents and 700 criminals. A suicide bomber drove a lorry packed with explosives into the main gates of giant Kandahar jail. Fire teams then attacked with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Officials said all 1,150 prisoners escaped in an ensuing...
Jun 13th
1 tag
£225m of drugs in coffee →
The Sun By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul SMUGGLERS planned to bring £225million of drugs to Britain, disguised as Sainsbury’s coffee. Commandos who uncovered 236 tons of cannabis in the world’s biggest bust also found the store’s “Original Blend” packets filled with hash. Official sources said it was proof that the drugs – found in the Afghan desert – were destined for Britain.
Jun 12th
RAF jet strike on world's biggest drug find →
The Scotsman By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul A DRUGS haul unearthed by Afghan commandoes, working with their British counterparts in the Special Boat Service, was so large that RAF Harrier jump jets were called in to bomb it, it emerged yesterday. The crack teams discovered 236.8 tons of cannabis buried in vast trenches in the desert. The drugs had a minimum street value of £225 million, and...
Jun 11th
1 tag
Bongs away in Afghanistan →
The Sun By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul RAF Top Guns have blown up the world’s biggest drug haul – in desert trenches in Afghanistan. Harrier jets dropped three 1,000lb bombs on almost 237 tons of cannabis unearthed by Britain’s Special Boat Service and local commandos. The haul – weighing more than 30 double-decker buses and spread over a site the size of two football fields – had a street...
Jun 11th
1 tag
Afghan commandos discover 230 tonnes of cannabis... →
The Independent By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul Afghan officials have announced a world record in the war on drugs after they unearthed more than 200 tonnes of cannabis buried in desert trenches. Two RAF Harrier jets were called in to bomb the 236.8-tonne cache, with a minimum street value of £225m. It was found by Afghan commandos who work with Britain’s Special Boat Service. Hundreds of...
Jun 11th
1 tag
A country where every passer-by is a potential... →
The Independent By Jerome Starkey, in Musa Qala For the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan life has become a lottery of roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Gone are the days of pitched battles when squads of Taliban fighters would attack en masse and fight for ground. Back then, a soldier could fire and manoeuvre to survive. Now they take their chances against an enemy they rarely see – the...
Jun 9th
Dispatches from the Afghan front →
Why I do what I do. As told to Saundra Satterlee at the Guardian Weekly
Jun 8th
2 tags
Former warlord blames UK for breakdown in security →
The Independent By Jerome Starkey, in Musa Qala A former Taliban commander who swapped sides last year has accused his British allies of jeopardising security and undermining his authority in a row that has plunged their relations to an all time low. Mullah Salam was made governor of Musa Qala, Helmand, after British, American and Afghan forces retook the town in December. His defection was...
Jun 8th
5 tags
We'll kill those who eat biscuits →
The Sun By Jerome Starkey in Helmand TALIBAN warlords have threatened to kill innocent villagers if they accept BISCUITS from British troops in Afghanistan. The insurgents say they will string up locals who take so much as a custard cream from Our Boys, who hand out treats in friendship. A message from a Taliban commander in Helmand province warned: “Nobody is allowed to go into the...
Jun 1st