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| Europe |
| Terrorist training in Bosnia-Herzegovina |
| 2005-08-29 |
| A group of terrorists who are planning attacks on the US are currently stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Cybercast News Service (CNS) reports. The agency has released video footage showing terrorists training at what appears to be a sports complex and practicing kidnapping hostages. Experts believe that this is a training camp. Terrorism expert Ivan Coleman told Cybercast News that most of the main camps that were used in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war have been closed, but that new ones have sprung up under the guise of youth camps. Coleman claims that these camps are led by older Muslim extremists with military experience. âThey take young people there into the hills and begin their jihad training. Even if it sounds crazy, they believe that it is hard to find and uncover such camps.â Coleman said. He stated that instead of forming a permanent camp, terrorists aim to establish a network of cells, which fact âappeals to many young Bosnians.â Hudson Institute researcher Christopher Brown claims that many of the camps are very mobile. âThe cells of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia were formed in the 1990s by Ladenâs top aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri. CNS claims that terrorists who have served their term of imprisonment and have been set free go to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they have access to jihad training camps, weapons, and illegal Islamist âcharity funds.â Terrorist Karim Said Atmani went to Bosnia after he was released from a French prison, Coleman stated. Atmani is a Moroccan linked to the Islamist organization GIA, which is responsible for hijacking and setting explosives at the subway in France. Another terrorist, who found a safe refuge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is Abu el-Maali. He participated in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So did Atmani. France accused el-Maali of an attempt at smuggling explosives in 1998 intended for an Egyptian terrorist group, which aimed to destroy the US military objects in Germany. He was also convicted of controlling terrorist cells in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Cambridge University researcher Marko Attila Hoare said that these stories are being blown out of proportion. âNo Bosnian Muslims have been involved in terrorist acts. Al Qaeda tried but failed in turning Bosnia into a jihad base,â Hoare said. He added, âThe light version of Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not appropriate for Islamists.â CNS announces that the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, a charity foundation that is considered by the USA to support terrorist organizations, has closed its offices in Bosnia, but later it resumed its activities there under another name, Vazir. The new organization was registered as âan association for sports, culture and education.â CNS said it received the video footage from Gregory Copley, President of the International Strategic Studies Association. Copley stated that the video was made in the fall of 2004 and was shown for the first time in May 2005 at a meeting of army representatives during the Global Strategic Forum in Washington in 2005. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |