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| Europe |
| French hard boyz have indirect links to Zarqawi, al-Qaeda leadership |
| 2005-12-15 |
| A group of Islamic militants detained on Monday in the Paris region have indirect contact with al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said. Four hundred police detained 25 people in a string of dawn raids. They were suspected of financing Islamist militancy by staging armed robberies. ''This group had links with a number of dangerous groups,'' Sarkozy told the National Assembly lower house of parliament yesterday during questions to the government. ''We also know that this group, 25 people, have indirect links to important al Qaeda leaders and al-Zarqawi,'' he said, without elaborating. Anti-terrorism magistrates have until Friday to decide whether to place the group arrested on Monday under formal investigation on suspicion of terrorism charges. In July, the head of the French police service said the radical Algerian Islamist group the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat had been in contact with Zarqawi about launching attacks in North Africa and probably France. France has been on red alert, the second highest security level, since suicide bombers killed more than 50 people in attacks on London's transport network on July 7. Sarkozy's anti-terrorism bill, which includes increasing closed circuit television surveillance, monitoring of mobile phone and Internet cafe connections is being debated in parliament. It also extends to up to six days the period for which terrorism suspects can be held before being placed under official investigation. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 I hope that Australia is paying attention. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-12-15 12:35 |