The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Bosnian Army Gen. Rasim Delic to three years in prison Sept. 15 for crimes committed by foreign Islamic fighters against captive Bosnian Serb soldiers during the 1992-1995 war. Gen. Delic's defense team pledges to appeal the verdict, arguing that he did not have control over the Bosnian Army's El Mujahid Detachment—but that they received their orders directly from al-Qaeda.

Seven Russian soldiers were killed when a car exploded at their headquarters in separatist South Ossetia Oct. 3—the Russian army's first casualties in the region since the end of a five-day war with Georgia in August. "The latest terrorist acts in South Ossetia prove that Georgia has not renounced its policy of state terrorism," South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity told Russia's Vesti-24. "We have no doubt that these terrorist acts are the work of Georgian special forces." The blast came two days before Russian troops began withdrawing from the "buffer zone" in northern Georgia under EU supervision. (AP, Oct. 5; Bloomberg, Oct. 3)

A suicide bomber struck the offices of the opposition United National Party (UNP) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, Oct. 6, killing at least 27. Authorities blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The attack came as the military announced it is on the verge of capturing the Tigers' headquarters at Kilinochchi. The blast killed local UNP head and retired army general Janaka Perera, who was attending an opening ceremony at the office. Perera, whose wife was also killed, was credited with major victories over the Tigers—including a 1996 battle in which 200 rebels were killed with the loss of just one soldier. But the UNP supports a negotiated settlement with the Tigers and says the current offensive is being used by the government for political ends. (AFP, Oct. 6)

Suicide bombers targeting Shi'ite worshippers killed at least 20 people and injured dozens more at two Baghdad mosques Oct. 2. They attacks came as Shi'ites marked the first day of Eid, a three-day celebration that follows Ramadan, Islam’s holy month. A man strapped with explosives killed at least 12 worshipers as they left al-Rasoul mosque in Jadida, a largely Shi'ite district. Another struck a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Zafaraniyah, also in southern Baghdad. (McClatchy, Oct. 3; Bloomberg, Oct. 2)

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York Oct. 2 overturned the convictions of Yemeni cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and assistant Mohammed Zayed because of evidentiary errors that deprived the defendants of a fair trial. Al-Moayad and Zayed were convicted in March 2005 on charges that they lead a terror-funding network based in Brooklyn. At their convictions, both maintained that additional evidence on government surveillance recordings would have showed they were not guilty. During their appeal, Al-Moayad and Zayed argued that they had been entrapped by government informants and presented character witnesses who said neither of the two condoned violence and that they had spoken out against terrorist acts. (Jurist, Oct. 3)

Sarah Palin went on the offensive this weekend, accusing Barack Obama of "paling around with terrorists." (LAT, Oct. 5) When Obama's tenuous ties to ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers were brought up a few months back, we pointed out that some of those making hay out of it were themselves far cozier with "terrorists"—such as Pat Buchanan, whose 1996 presidential campaign advisor Larry Pratt "pals around" with Klan and Aryan Nations types. Buchanan now enthuses that "of the four debaters we’ve seen, she [Palin] was the most interesting, attractive of them all." (NYT, Oct. 3) Indeed, there's much evidence that Palin and Buchanan—and his vile sidekick Pratt—are the proverbial birds of a feather...

With bodies still emerging daily throughout the city, the toll of residents killed narco-violence in Tijuana over the past week is approaching 50. Five bodies turned up in an alley between two shopping centers and nine on a vacant lot outside a daycare center—where a message nearby read: "Here are your people." The bodies in the lot were found face down with their hands tied behind their backs, and the ground was littered with shell casings. Another five were discovered in a van with US license plates. Two more were found beheaded, wrapped in blankets on a roadside, with the severed heads in plastic bags. Outside a popular seafood restaurant, the remains of two people were found stuffed in a barrel and dissolved with acid.

Ramiro Guillén Tapia, a campesino leader from Mexico's Sierra de Soetapan, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire Sept. 30 in front of the Veracruz state government headquarters in Xalapa, saying it was an act of protest against failure of officials to respond to his demands for titling of indigenous and campesino lands in the mountain region. He survived 21 hours in the city's hospital before succumbing.