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Qaida targets Israeli interests in E. Africa
Fawzal Abdullah Mohammed, a senior activist in al-Qaida who is believed responsible for attacks against Israeli and American targets in Kenya and Tanzania recently arrived in east Africa and is plotting an attack with a light aircraft against an Israeli or American target, say Israeli security sources. He is on the FBIâs list of most wanted terrorists. He is said to be directly responsibility for the two attacks in Mombassa, Kenya last November â a booby trapped car blew up at the Paradise Hotel, killing three Israelis and 11 Kenyans and a shoulder-launched missile was fired at an Arkia plane. Fawzal Abudllah Mohammed is is also tied to the plots to blow up the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, where some 250 people were killed. Fawzal is one of their most active and sucessful boys. He must be feeling his oats and planning another operation about now. Kenyan authorities recently arrested five suspect Islamic activists but freed them after interrogation, and there is a direct link between the five and the al Qaida infrastructure in Kenya, say the sources. The five were questioned about al Qaida intentions regarding a double attack on the new American embassy in Nairobi, from land and from the air: the investigation led to suspicions that the plotters intended to have a kamikaze pilot crash a light aircraft at the embassy and at the same time to send in an explosives-laden truck. Among the arrested was a director of a mosque and an Islamic girlsâ school. Tap, tap, no suprise registers on the meter. Al Qaidaâs infrastructure in Kenya clearly was not damaged after the attacks in Mombassa. Though two suicide bombers were killed at the Paradise Hotel, other al Qaida activists in Kenya, including Fawzal Mohammed, continued their plotting. Went off and found himself some more cannon fodder. As far as al Qaida is concerned, there are preferred targets for attack â in Africa and in general â American and Israeli targets, and not only official institutions but tourist sites that are frequented by citizens of both countries and tend to be less strictly guarded. Either there will be an arrest soon or another hotel goes boom.
Posted by: Steve 2003-07-29 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=17054 |