Community | January 19, 2009 | 55 comments

Deadly weapon: Striking al Qaeda, 40 dead

source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2146286.ece

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sinlung
The Plague is doing What US and Its Allies Could Not...

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH.

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

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One security source said: “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

“It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”

Black Death comes in various forms.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.

Deadly ... the plague bacteria causes horrific symptoms

Deadly ... the plague bacteria causes horrific symptoms

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces — hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”

AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.
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55 comments // Deadly weapon: Striking al Qaeda, 40 dead

  • whitewater
    • 0
      whitewater  

    • I remember that the cult in Japan was growing tons of it and wanted to use it but it is hard to spred and use. Maybe they were as good as the Jap group ...dumb as rocks....They tried to use antrax and had poor results .....maybe a vial was spred on one and he took it back to the others....anyone who cares that these hate'rs are dead needs to have been with them,,,,,,,these people kill young,old, women, and do not have the guts to stand and fight a man , they have no honor at all.
      anyone can blow up unarmed civilians , they just want the OTHERS dead , I am an infedel in there eyes and they are cowards in mine....

    • 3 years ago
  • kennymotown
    • 0
      kennymotown  

    • If this is true, one way they could have contracted it is by caring it around in some vile for weapons use and somehow it got released and infected these guys. A person with bad intensions could easily got into an airport or subway knowing they were infected and spread it through the air.

    • 3 years ago
  • clownpuncher
  • barkway
    • 0
      barkway  

    • I sure hope this is a hoax since if true, it means it is only a matter of time before it reaches US soil. The plague is never static and in this world of constant migrations of people (legally and illegally), we can expect one who has been exposed to carry this death sentence to our door.

    • 3 years ago
  • mram49
    • 0
      mram49  

    • I don't buy the story, but even if true it's very likely a result of our never ending lust for death and destruction and we DO stockpile many forms of these diseases to be used in case biological war is chosen as the alternative to bombs, etc.
      I would come as no great shock to learn either the US or Britain has used biological warfare and if that leaks out the you can bet even more terrorist will spring up in protest to our inhumanity to Arabs in general.
      There are just a few methods of war we have banned since World War I and with very good reason. I hope they haven't abandoned those tenets as well as torture and so on.

    • 3 years ago
  • ruebezahl
    • 0
      ruebezahl  

    • if it would be true, al Qaeda would not be the only people affected by plaque.. You would see an increase of death in many regions of the world and the black death will not asked who are you or what your nationality it kills fast and indiscrimlnantely.

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  
    • ruebezahl:

      Considering their location and that they were held up in a cave with dead bodies and they were living there doing everything else there. I don't know how big the cave system was... but sounds bad.

      The Black Death, or the Black Plague or Bubonic Plague, is widely thought to be caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis.

      Once they knew they were sick, they were all dead very quickly and they may have been familiar with it enough to have chosen not to infect the population outside of the cave.

      On the flip side....
      If they had it as a BW agent and something went wrong, they probably wouldn't want to kill all the population around them (where they get more for the Jihad). But they were concerned that someone was infected before they knew that they had the bacteria and left for another camp.

    • 3 years ago
  • RepressThis
    • 0
      RepressThis  

    • well i sure hope they dont start spreading the plague as a form of terriorism. Stupid terriorist all caughing up in all the books at my public library.

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  
    • RepressThis:

      Terrorists do use that as one of the easiest forms of BW. It's easy to culture and simple to spread and easy to control.

      SAD.
      Can only hope it was natural or they slipped up with one of their soviet toys and are reaping the rewards.

    • 3 years ago
  • barkway
  • damnneargenius
  • whitewater
    • 0
      whitewater  

    • LOL >>>>HA HA >> and you think about this.......close the prison.....no torture ....and a plauge ,,,,,just happens .....you do not relise that this is the wepon of choice now and will be as the bleeding hearts can not stand to inprison a killer.....so let the bugs do it and no hands get dirty and no one is blamed ........somtimes the stupidity of the public is amazing......there are ways to slove a problem without fireing a shot and you now of one......HOW MANY DID YOU MISS BEFORE THIS>>>>?????

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  
    • whitewater:

      Well, the USA and NATO don't use BW.. but a number of terrorists do, so if they were careless with their stuff they might have made themselves sick.. and that would be ironic. But here is what I learned about that stuff...

      Weapon of war

      There are concerns that governments or terrorists could spread plague again. Scientists defecting from the former Soviet Union claimed to have developed an antibiotic-resistant strain of Y. pestis, for example.

      It would be a complex challenge for a terrorist group to release it into the air Rick Titball, UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

      Plague still kills about 3000 people each year. (naturally)

      This has led to a debate about whether releasing genomic information for virulent diseases, such as plague or smallpox, might aid malicious science. Titball believes in openness. "The information available is of much greater advantage to people defending against biological warfare than to those intending to use it," he says.

      Besides, Titball adds, "it's not a difficult organism to culture, but it would be a complex challenge for a terrorist group to release it into the air".

      "These are pretty dreadful diseases already," Titball points out. "We should focus on fighting them in the form they're already in, rather than worrying about theoretical future threats."

      Source: http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE3/Bubonic-Plague-Sequenced.htm

    • 3 years ago
  • whitewater
  • yuki12
  • vnprado
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Arcticspirit is correct on the plaque facts.
      It can spread rapidly without treatment and it takes only one case of pnuemonic plaque to kill hundreds.

      If the Sun has a legitimate report, it will surely be seen elsewhere.

      If true, I can't say I am disappointed.

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  
    • Image

    • Alright it would be very ironic if they gave it to themselves.. and there is a chance that they got it the old fashioned way... Considering their location and that they were held up in a cave with dead bodies and they were living there doing everything else there. I don't know how big the cave system was... but sounds bad.

      This is some of what happens with Black Death naturally ...

      The Black Death, or the Black Plague or Bubonic Plague, is widely thought to be caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis.

      Treatable with common antibiotics such as streptomycin, plague still sickens about 3,000 people a year world-wide.

      Lying low

      These days, bubonic plague - cause of the characteristic underarm swellings - can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early enough. Public hygiene can prevent its flea-borne spread.

      But the disease still kills about 2,000 people each year, mostly in Africa and Asia, and the incidence is rising. A recent case in Madagascar was resistant to multiple antibiotics. "It's a worrying trend,".

      In a small percentage of cases, bubonic plague reaches the lungs, becoming pneumonic plague, with mortality close to 100%. No one knows what causes this transition.

      Pneumonic plague also spreads through the air; it is thought to have caused the major historical pandemics. Today an unsuspecting carrier on a plane from an infected area could trigger a severe outbreak.

    • 3 years ago
  • barbara3d
    • 0
      barbara3d  
    • arcticspirit:

      Remember, only 40 of 1,000 died and the virus is fragile outside the body. If they burned the bodies as they used to do in the Plague, that would help. I can't imagine any bio person went out into the jungle of Africa in total isolation and tossed in some Plague to kill 40 people.

    • 3 years ago
  • Uelthomas
    • 0
      Uelthomas  

    • So we know where the terrorists are, where theyre training and we know theyre feeling a bit under the weather? The Suns full of crap, not to be taken seriously

    • 3 years ago
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  

    • it really makes me sick the way people derive so much pleasure out of human suffering, even if those suffering are complete pricks.

      people don't resort to this sort of violence unless they're suffering to begin with. all that we condemn stems from suffering. suffering is what deranges people to respond violently.

      think of a rabid dog. obviously he has to be stopped, but there's no reason to wish suffering on him simply because he's lost control of his mind.

    • 3 years ago
  • keithponder
  • justright
  • barbara3d
    • 0
      barbara3d  
    • numinant:

      I am sorry Numy but that won't fly.

      your statement:
      people don't resort to this sort of violence unless they're suffering to begin with. all that we condemn stems from suffering. suffering is what deranges people to respond violently.

      If we subscribe to that, then do you believe that serial killers like Ted Bundy (who had a lovely life) killed all those girls because he was suffering? Well, I hate to burst your bubble but he said before he was executed: "I was hooked on Porn and wanted total power over women, the only way to have total power was to kill them during or after sex".

      How about Hitler? Oh did he have a bad childhood? His mother adored him.

      Feels good to think that then you don't have to acknowledge that some people are just EVIL ....I guess Jeffrey Dahmer was hungry as a child so he cannabalized a whole lot of people and saved their bones as a hobby.

    • 3 years ago
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  
    • numinant:

      so people are just inherently evil then?

      let's assume that's true for a moment. if a person is born evil, then they can hardly be held responsible for their crimes. they're merely acting in accordance with their nature. so, yes, they definitely need to be stopped, but wishing for them to suffer for something that's outside of their control is absurd.

      however, i don't believe that people are born evil (although they may have certain genetic predispositions in their lack of empathy or whatever, who knows). i think hitler, as one example, was a very bitter a miserable man. he had one testicle, suffered from chronic constipation, felt rejected by the art world, was obviously paranoid about the supposed international jewish conspiracy, and was full of genocidal rage. not a happy man. and not a sane one.

    • 3 years ago
  • SamuraiDave
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  

    • The plague is an unlikely biological weapon as there is no way to contain it in one area. It could easily spread to all combatants and non combatants on a Global scale.

    • 3 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  
    • MoonLoon:

      The plaque virus is actually very weak, and does not survive long outside of its host. It was discarded years ago as an effective bio-weapon, as it disappears quickly and may not even infect enough people to make a difference.

      RS57 is correct about the assessment about bio-weapons, though.

    • 3 years ago
  • MoonLoon
  • clownpuncher
  • neocongo
  • Liberal_Extinction
  • numinant
  • wierdobeardo
    • 0
      wierdobeardo  
    • Liberal_Extinction:

      Christian? That has nothing to do with the fact that people living in caves planning to kill our innocent civilians for whatver reason...

      Are you implying that terrorism justified unless you're christian?

      They got what they deserved. I'm not christian but i'm sick of the terrorist bs.

    • 3 years ago
  • Nicklas
  • numinant
  • Liberal_Extinction
    • 0
      Liberal_Extinction  
    • Liberal_Extinction:

      If you have to ask then it's obvious I don't wear my religious beliefs on my sleeve. I think you can look back through hundreds of posts that I've made and you still wouldn't be able to determine my religious beliefs. The fact that you would bring my religious views into question on a thread regarding al qaeda does bring to light your ignorance though since you're quicker to bash a Christian (based on your assumption) than some islamo fascist radical muslims twisting and contorting religious views to wage their "jihad" (proven fact). I guess luckily for you ignorance is bliss...

    • 3 years ago
  • justright
  • numinant
  • blacksix
    • 0
      blacksix  

    • this is what happens when you shit where you eat. it is popular thought that these cave-dwelling fundamentalist assholes are stuck in the middle-ages mentally, and now we have some insight that they are also living in the dark, uncivilized disgusting filth physically as well.

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
  • barkway
  • SamuraiDave
  • daveguy
    • 0
      daveguy  

    • Am i the only one who immediately thought this sounded like bio-warfare? They've got UAVs in the skies, why not drop some plague while they're up there.

    • 3 years ago
  • abbym0308
  • SamuraiDave
    • 0
      SamuraiDave  
    • daveguy:

      could be or it could have been something they were cooking up - either way if this story is on the up&up (and given the SUN that's not so likely) it could be big trouble ahead

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  
    • daveguy:

      Well, the USA and NATO don't use BW.. but a number of terrorists do, so if they were careless with their stuff they might have made themselves sick.. and that would be ironic. But here is what I learned about that stuff...

      Weapon of war

      There are concerns that governments or terrorists could spread plague again. Scientists defecting from the former Soviet Union claimed to have developed an antibiotic-resistant strain of Y. pestis, for example.

      It would be a complex challenge for a terrorist group to release it into the air Rick Titball, UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

      Plague still kills about 3000 people each year. (naturally)

      This has led to a debate about whether releasing genomic information for virulent diseases, such as plague or smallpox, might aid malicious science. Titball believes in openness. "The information available is of much greater advantage to people defending against biological warfare than to those intending to use it," he says.

      Besides, Titball adds, "it's not a difficult organism to culture, but it would be a complex challenge for a terrorist group to release it into the air".

      "These are pretty dreadful diseases already," Titball points out. "We should focus on fighting them in the form they're already in, rather than worrying about theoretical future threats."

      Source: http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE3/Bubonic-Plague-Sequenced.htm

    • 3 years ago
  • justright
  • clownpuncher
  • petarro
  • foebea
  • CalgarC
  • blacksix
    • 0
      blacksix  
    • CalgarC:

      yes because bush is obviously the tactician behind military operations. i find it interesting how all of your neural passages are in a nice tight spiraling web towards the center of your brain that does nothing but relate all external influences and situations to bush. he's really the center of your life, huh?

    • 3 years ago
  • barbara3d
    • 0
      barbara3d  
    • CalgarC:

      You nailed it Calgar! Actually, I think we have a new syndrome/disease here in the USA. It attacks your brain cells and ignites your "hate" glands...and then, and then....boom. Nothing in your life matters anymore except hating Bush and buying into conspiracy theories! Poor people. I hope there is a cure soon. Maybe tomorrow will help.

    • 3 years ago
  • abbym0308
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