Black Death 'kills al-Qaeda operatives in Algeria'

[vortexring 0]

'The Black Death has reportedly killed at least 40 al-Qaeda operatives in North Africa.

The disease, which struck Europe in the Middle Ages killing more than 25 million people, has swept through a training camp for insurgents in Algeria.

The arrival of the plague was discovered when security forces found the body of a dead terrorist by a roadside, the Sun reports.

The victim belonged to the large al-Qaeda network AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb).

A security source told the paper: "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 It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."

Black Death comes in various forms and was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history when it struck in the 1340s killing 75 million people across North Africa, Asia and Europe.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include painful boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu. Without medication it can be deadly.'

The new epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers, the Sun reports.

The group, led by wanted terror figure Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The group now fears the highly-infectious disease could have spread to other al-Qaeda training camps or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the paper said.

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

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41.

Source: The Telegraph

Quite interesting. Was it from the intention of weaponisation? Or just through living in shit hole?

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[shropshire 0]

Did they just catch it or are they 'playing' with it for weapons purposes?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[wmw999 2,130]

Quote

Was it from the intention of weaponisation? Or just through living in shit hole?

I honestly hope it's the second. Much as I can't imagine a more deserving group for it, I sure don't want to think that governments are getting back into that business. It's despicable.

Or maybe I misunderstood -- I was hoping that no one against them deliberately infected them. If they are playing with fire and got burnt, again, I can't imagine a more deserving group.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 2,406]

Occam's Razor would seem to apply here. Is it more likely that a bunch of terrorists hiding in a pestilential hovel dropped a vial of weaponized biological agents that they had carefully incubated, and were loading onto a UAV - or is it more likely that the pestilential hovel had flea-ridden rats in it?

[vortexring 0]

That's what I'm wondering - although I reckon it's more likely they caught it off ground squirrels which inhabit the area, or even rats. I think there are around 40 cases a year in some of the US states, such as Arizona.

All the same, if you're not vaccinated, might be worth having some antibiotics such as doxycycline handy!

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[shropshire 0]

Interesting ... but I guess at the later (The shite hole theory).

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[shropshire 0]

....but even though it was probably a natural cause, someone, somewhere will be thinking ... "Um ..... we can use this!!"

Even after all this time, the mere thought of a Black-Death out break in the west would be a worry (or worrisome as our Murkin friends say).

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Andrewwhyte 1]

The plague exists in US now. I think an attack would be of limit value as the drugs are available and effective,...for now.

[shropshire 0]

I guess that instances of the illness exists, but I doubt it's a plague or it would be on the news every night

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[vortexring 0]

Quote

....but even though it was probably a natural cause, someone, somewhere will be thinking ... "Um ..... we can use this!!"

Question is; have they the intent? The capability? The opportunity?

I'd imagine the threat's very real.

Fuckers.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[shropshire 0]

Bus Rattie into down-town NoPlaceLikeHome and see what happens....... low tech = KISS.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[vortexring 0]

Quote

Quote

Was it from the intention of weaponisation? Or just through living in shit hole?

I honestly hope it's the second. Much as I can't imagine a more deserving group for it, I sure don't want to think that governments are getting back into that business. It's despicable.

I think it's more likely from naturally occuring sources rather than through attempted weaponisation, but you asked a question of governments getting into despicable businesses - when did 'despicable' ever come in the way of a decision which might swing a vote? A bit like the Israeli's actions in Gaza recently?

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[FreeflyChile 0]

Quote

'The Black Death has reportedly killed at least 40 al-Qaeda operatives in North Africa.

The disease, which struck Europe in the Middle Ages killing more than 25 million people, has swept through a training camp for insurgents in Algeria.

The arrival of the plague was discovered when security forces found the body of a dead terrorist by a roadside, the Sun reports.

The victim belonged to the large al-Qaeda network AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb).

A security source told the paper: "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 It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."

Black Death comes in various forms and was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history when it struck in the 1340s killing 75 million people across North Africa, Asia and Europe.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include painful boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu. Without medication it can be deadly.'

The new epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers, the Sun reports.

The group, led by wanted terror figure Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The group now fears the highly-infectious disease could have spread to other al-Qaeda training camps or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the paper said.

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

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41.

Source: The Telegraph

Quite interesting. Was it from the intention of weaponisation? Or just through living in shit hole?

And here the title had me thinking this meant that an al qaeda was swooping a canopy much too small for his skill level....

[vortexring 0]

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Quote

Quote

Was it from the intention of weaponisation? Or just through living in shit hole?

I honestly hope it's the second. Much as I can't imagine a more deserving group for it, I sure don't want to think that governments are getting back into that business. It's despicable.

I think it's more likely from naturally occuring sources rather than through attempted weaponisation, but you asked a question of governments getting into despicable businesses - when did 'despicable' ever come in the way of a decision which might swing a vote? A bit like the Israeli's actions in Gaza recently?

how immoral would it be to start air dropping crates full of rats?

[billvon 2,406]

It's been done. (Also with corpses and dead cows.)

Or do what we did to the american indians - give the terrorists "gifts" of blankets inoculated with smallpox.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

It's been done. (Also with corpses and dead cows.)

Or do what we did to the american indians - give the terrorists "gifts" of blankets inoculated with smallpox.

well, that's actual germ warfare.

But if you supply more of the carriers, that's not quite the same.

[auburnguy 0]

Quote

It's been done. (Also with corpses and dead cows.)

Or do what we did to the american indians - give the terrorists "gifts" of blankets inoculated with smallpox.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

"If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way."
- Homer Simpson

[SpeedRacer 1]

North Africa, and Uganda, is one of the few areas where the Plague is still endemic.

If it kills "within hours" it is probably not the Bubonic version which killed 1/3 of Europe in the 1340s. It is probably the Septeceamic version.

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[nerdgirl 0]

The plague (Y. pestis) is endemic and has been epidemic in Algeria. Remember Camus' La Peste?

The plague-causing bacteria is fairly easy to culture but difficult to weaponize. The former US offensive weapons program had great difficulty weaponizing it. It ends up being more of an engineering problem than microbiology. The Soviets weaponized and produced lots.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

The plague (Y. pestis) is endemic and has been epidemic in Algeria. Remember Camus' La Peste?

The plague-causing bacteria is fairly easy to culture but difficult to weaponize. The former US offensive weapons program had great difficulty weaponizing it. It ends up being more of an engineering problem than microbiology. The Soviets weaponized and produced lots.

/Marg

Hmmm, I wonder if the Russians can account for their stockpile of such weapons? That would be interesting.

But I'd still agree with the natural causes in this case. Fuck 'em.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

It's been done. (Also with corpses and dead cows.)

Or do what we did to the american indians - give the terrorists "gifts" of blankets inoculated with smallpox.

That was the British. Churchill's 'smallpox blanket' claim was a hoax.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Skyrad 0]

Quote

Quote

The plague (Y. pestis) is endemic and has been epidemic in Algeria. Remember Camus' La Peste?

The plague-causing bacteria is fairly easy to culture but difficult to weaponize. The former US offensive weapons program had great difficulty weaponizing it. It ends up being more of an engineering problem than microbiology. The Soviets weaponized and produced lots.

/Marg

Hmmm, I wonder if the Russians can account for their stockpile of such weapons? That would be interesting.

Why, are you in the market?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

Occam's Razor would seem to apply here. Is it more likely that a bunch of terrorists hiding in a pestilential hovel dropped a vial of weaponized biological agents that they had carefully incubated, and were loading onto a UAV - or is it more likely that the pestilential hovel had flea-ridden rats in it?

No, silly, it's most likely that the evil Bush-Cheney-CIA triumvirate intentionally dropped plague on them, and to hell with the consequences of it spreading to other populations.

You gotta get with the program here. Occam don't know squat.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

Or do what we did to the american indians - give the terrorists "gifts" of blankets inoculated with smallpox.

That are serious studies which indicate that this never actually happened, and is just a popular myth.

But hey, at least you're now getting with the anti-America program here!