An onslaught of grisly and sophisticated attacks since parliamentary elections in September has left Afghan and international officials concerned that Taliban guerrillas are obtaining support from abroad to carry out strikes that increasingly mimic insurgent tactics in Iraq.
The recent attacks -- including at least nine suicide bombings -- have shown unusual levels of coordination, technological knowledge and blood lust, according to officials. Although military forces and facilities have been the most common targets, religious leaders, judges, police officers and foreign reconstruction workers have also fallen prey to the violence.
The success of the September vote, which was relatively peaceful despite Taliban threats of sabotage, initially raised hopes that the insurgency was losing strength. But after two of the bloodiest months since U.S. forces entered Kabul in 2001, officials now say the Taliban might have been using that time to marshal foreign support and plot new ways to undermine the Western-backed government.
The attacks have been particularly noteworthy for their use of suicide bombers. Some have struck in waves, with one explosive-laden car following the next in an effort to maximize casualties. That sort of attack has been a hallmark of al Qaeda and a regular occurrence in Iraq. But in Afghanistan, suicide attacks of any kind have been relatively rare, despite a quarter-century of warfare.
Attackers have also shown a growing appetite for strikes in cities, particularly Kabul, setting residents' nerves on edge and leading them to take new security precautions at work, home and social events.
At a wedding Saturday, armed Afghan police officers meticulously searched guests before they were allowed to enter -- a practice unknown here until recent months. "Maybe somebody will bring a bomb and explode it at the wedding," said Nasrullah, a guest in his fifties who, like many Afghans, uses only one name. "It used to be that we could trust people. But right now, we cannot trust."
Col. Jim Yonts, spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said the Taliban is resorting to suicide attacks and remote-controlled bombings in urban areas "out of desperation" as it continues to lose ground -- and men -- to international forces in the mountains and other rural areas. "They only lose one person in a suicide attack, not 10 or 15," as they would in battle, he said.
But Yonts acknowledged "grave concern" among U.S. officials over the idea that the Taliban might be taking a page from Iraqi insurgents' playbook by attacking with explosives in cities.
Afghan officials said the recent attacks demonstrate that the Taliban fighters are continuing to receive considerable outside assistance, such as advanced explosives and computerized timing devices that are being used to build more devastating bombs.
"There has been . . . more money and more weapons flowing into their hands in recent months," Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "We see similarities between the type of attacks here and in Iraq."
In the past two weeks, Afghanistan has experienced near-daily attacks. Among the incidents:
Eight civilians and a German soldier were killed when two cars -- one coming minutes after the other -- plowed into crowds in Kabul. Soldiers thwarted a suspected third attack when they shot and killed the driver of a car speeding toward the scene.
An Indian truck driver was taken hostage while working on a road reconstruction project in Nimruz province in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban later asserted it had killed him when a deadline passed for the worker's company to agree to abandon its operations in Afghanistan. Villagers found his nearly decapitated body the following day.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed by separate roadside bombs, bringing the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan this year close to 90 -- double the total in 2004. A Portuguese soldier and a Swedish soldier were also killed in bombings.
Insurgents burned down a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan and took five Afghan officers hostage. Dozens more Afghans across the country were killed by bombs planted in homes, or in suicide attacks and ambushes.
The level of violence in Afghanistan is still nowhere near that in Iraq. The insurgency here is generally considered to have far less public support and to be less capable of pulling off attacks that cause mass casualties. Reconstruction projects are ongoing in most parts of the country, and Westerners can move freely in many areas with little fear of violence.
"Compared to Iraq, where the suicide bomber is such a cheap commodity they could throw them at almost any target, that's not where we are here," said U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann, noting that the bombers have been a mix of Afghans and foreigners.
Neumann said he did not believe the stepped-up attacks were a sign of widening Taliban support, but rather represented "a change in tactics and in targets, which makes the violence more evident."
But the increased violence has added another obstacle to the country's reconstruction effort, still struggling nearly four years after the overthrow of Taliban rule and the conference of international officials and Afghan leaders in Bonn that charted Afghanistan's democratization process.
"We've seen a deterioration in the security situation. And that's something that all of us who work here are worried about," said Adrian Edwards, the Kabul-based U.N. spokesman. "I don't think any of us [at Bonn] would have expected that this kind of security environment is something we would be faced with four years down the road," he said.
Gen. Zaher Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said he believes one reason the Taliban has become especially active is that the road map to democracy outlined in Bonn is nearly complete, with the new parliament set to convene in December. "That makes the enemies of Afghanistan upset," he said.
The enemies of Afghanistan, according to government officials, include not just the Taliban, but also militant Islamic groups worldwide -- especially al Qaeda -- that have had a reciprocal relationship with the Taliban for the past decade. Taliban authorities used foreign financial and military support in the 1990s to defeat their domestic opponents; in turn, international terrorists, Osama bin Laden among them, received sanctuary here.
The recent spate of urban violence has alarmed Afghans, even after years of exposure to civil strife and warfare.
"This is the worst security that we've had," said Abdul Karim, 26, who drives a construction crane and used to work at a job site on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad. He has refused to return to the site since nine people were killed in an attack there two weeks ago. "I'm too worried about suicide bombers," he said.
Nafisa Faqirzada, a 43-year-old high school teacher, said she believes the suicide attacks are the work of foreigners who follow the teachings of bin Laden, because "Afghans know that a suicide attack is forbidden in Islam."
Faqirzada said she wants U.S. soldiers to stay in Afghanistan and help keep the peace, but she also blames them -- both for failing to catch bin Laden and for exposing her to risk through their presence. "The suicide bombers won't do anything to me because I'm a common woman," she said. "But if I see the American military, I worry because maybe someone will try to blow them up, and I will get hurt."
But other Kabul residents said they had other, more immediate concerns. Abdul Rauf, 41, said he had heard about the recent suicide bombings, but was far more worried about how he would buy firewood and food for his six children this winter on the $120 a month he makes repairing shoes.
"What will I do with security if I don't have food to eat, and don't have work to do?" Rauf said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 01:33 ||
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Al-Qaeda has appointed two Arabs as field commanders for southeast and southwest areas of Afghanistan, Pajhwak Afghan News reported based on video that the news agency acquired from Peshawar, Pakistan. According to the report, Khaled Habib has been put in charge of southeastern provinces while Abd al-Hadi Iraqi has been assigned to the southwestern provinces of Afghanistan. During the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iraqi was commander of foreign fighters in the country and he later commanded Arab fighters in northern Afghanistanâs Takhar Province against the United Front (Northern Alliance). Habib, who is reportedly from Morocco, also commanded Arab fighters during the Talibanâs rule.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:27 ||
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"During the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iraqi was commander of foreign fighters in the country "
Explain to me again how there was no connection between Al Quaeda and Iraq until we invaded Iraq.
Doesn't Abd Hadi 'Al-Iraqi' mean Aub Hadi 'the Iraqi'?
#2
Yes, it does mean "the Iraqi." I took apart the whole idea that there were no Iraqis serving in al-Qaeda pre-invasion in here a little while ago.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 1:14 Comments ||
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Explain to me again how there was no connection between Al Quaeda and Iraq until we invaded Iraq.
Well, strictly in the case of Afghanistan, there were Egyptians, Saudis, Pakistanis and Uzbeks who held important positions and had the run of the country, so Abd al-Hadi Iraqi is not unique in that regard
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/01/2005 1:20 Comments ||
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Kenyan Police in Nairobi are holding three terror suspects allegedly found in possession of explosives, the daily Standard said. The three Ethiopians were arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi last Tuesday 22 November on arrival from Addis Ababa. Detectives said they were headed for South Africa. The detectives were investigating the three, who also had shoes that had switches and dry cells. "We suspect they are suicide bombers and we are interrogating them to establish their motive for having such shoes," said a policeman.
The first suspect was seized at the screening point at the airport before his suspected accomplices were also caught. A team of detectives sent to Ethiopia to investigate the wired shoes, switches and dry cells returned at the weekend. They established that a number of people from the suspectsâ locality had similar shoes but insisted on interrogating the three. The first suspect was arrested on Tuesday morning while the other two were arrested on Thursday.
Police said yesterday that they expect to make more arrests. Last month, four men were picked in Nairobiâs Eastleigh estate for allegedly funding terror activities. Three of the suspects operated a forex bureau while the fourth was a businessman importing second-hand goods from Dubai. Anti-terror police boss Ireri Kamwende said they were still investigating. The four had Kenyan passports and were later released without charges after several Muslim groups protested at their arrests.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:14 ||
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They established that a number of people from the suspectsâ locality had similar shoes
Must be a fashion statement. Same as Western kids want to look like Gangstas, moslem kids want to look like boomers.
SANDOUB, Egypt Dec 1, 2005 â Riot police battled voters Thursday, killing one person and blocking entry to polling stations in opposition strongholds in the third and final round of Egypt's legislative elections. Police fired into a crowd in the Balteem district of Kafr el-Sheik, killing Gomaa el-Zeftawi, a fisherman, and wounding 60 other people, said Mohammed el-Ashqar, a campaign worker for a Nasserite opposition candidate.
Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Ibrahim Hamad confirmed the killing of el-Zeftawi, the second fatality since the elections began Nov. 9, but he did not give a figure for the wounded. Minutes earlier Hamad had issued a statement saying polling had "unfolded in a smooth and peaceful manner."
In one village, men and women determined to vote resorted to sneaking into the polling station, putting up ladders to climb over back walls out of sight of police barring the entrance and slipping through bathroom windows to get in. Voting proceeded normally in some towns, but in two villages visited by an Associated Press reporter one the hometown of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, the other of an independent candidate police were blocking voters. In some southern towns, voters were intimidated by lines of police outside stations.
"I'm calling on his excellency, the president, to appoint the members of parliament because no one has been allowed to vote. ⊠It would save the money wasted on elections," Sameer Fikri, a would-be voter in the village of Sandoub, said sarcastically.
Under U.S. pressure to bring democratic reforms, President Hosni Mubarak's government gave the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic movement, considerable leeway to campaign in the early stages of the three-part elections. But police interference has intensified in the later rounds, after the Brotherhood scored unexpectedly large gains, increasing its representation in parliament more than fivefold.
In some towns, such as the Delta city of Zagazig, where a Brotherhood candidate was favored, voting proceeded without violence or intimidation. But in several constituencies, The Associated Press saw that voters had been barred.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 12:42 ||
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The Egyptian government demonstrates that it realizes that its' true enemy is the voting citizenry of Egypt.
Posted by: Scott R ||
12/01/2005 19:50 Comments ||
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A wave of arrests that took place in early November in Morocco is illuminating for two reasons: the expansion of al-Zarqawi's influence outside Iraq, and the interconnection between jihadist activities on both shores of the Mediterranean.
Zark had influence outside Iraq before the Iraq war, when al-Tawhid was active in Europe and probably North Africa. We've known the jihadist activities were connected, as demonstrated by the Madrid bombings, but also by the movement of the Takfiri back and forth.
The series of arrests, beginning on November 11 in the cities of Rabat and Casablanca, has netted 17 Islamists suspected of links to al-Qaeda. Official sources claim that they have "dismantled a terrorist structure as it was being formed." According to the Moroccan Arabic daily al-Alam, the terrorist network uncovered by the 17 arrests, Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad fil-Maghrib (âthe Monotheism and Jihad group in Morocco'), has connections with small groups operating near the Iraqi border that maintain close ties with senior members of the al-Qaeda.
I don't believe al-Tawhid has actually gone out of business. It's an al-Qaeda affiliate, but it looks like it still has its own independent organization, with interlocking directorates. Like al-Qaeda, it's organized by country, so there's probably an al-Tawhid wal-Jihad for Europe, another for Britain, another for Turkey, another for Egypt, etc, paralleling the al-Qaeda organizations and/or affiliates in the same areas. Tawhid is Zark's creation, in the same manner as Qaeda is Binny's, which means it probably also has its own sources of funding and a slightly different, Takfir-based, ideology. If we were to catch and kill Binny, Ayman, and Seif al-Adel tomorrow, the WoT would go on, with al-Tawhid as the primary enemy. You heard read it here first.
A security source quoted by the paper indicated the existence of a secret organization outside Morocco headed by an Iraqi and made up of 20 members, which entertained a plan to attack a Dutch intelligence HQ. Their plans were subsequently altered by the addition of a new Moroccan member to the group who planned a larger operation in his home country: the targeting of a casino in Tangiers, the U.S. consulate in Casablanca and a number of Jewish synagogues. Others arrestees spoke of the production of poisons and explosives for subsequent use in Morocco.
An interesting detail from the arrests was the indication of the al-Qaeda "radicalization course" undertaken by the new members, which included viewing jihadi films such as Jahim al-Rus, Badr al-Riyadh and Jahim al-Murtaddeen ("The Russian Inferno" the "Battle of Badr at Riyadh" and "the Apostates' Inferno"), as well as the productions of Iraqi networks on the Internet, such as Ansar al-Sunna, the Islamic Army and (al-Zarqawi's) al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (www.alalam.ma).
One of the fundamental activists behind the group's planned campaign in Morocco, according to al-Alam, is an Algerian national named Abu Baseer. He is considered to be an âemir' (commander) of al-Qaeda in Europe working under the authority of al-Zarqawi. One of the 17 arrestees is believed to have handed over letters addressed to Osama bin Laden "focusing on the mujahideen in Saudi Arabia and Algeria and on the creation of an al-Qaeda organization in the North African states." (www.alalam.ma).
Funding and logistical support comes from Europe, as the Moroccan arrests demonstrated, mostly from channels in Spain and the United Kingdom, which funnel money acquired through voluntary contributions or petty crime. The current Moroccan investigations focused in particular on the role of Belgium. One of the leaders of the arrested group is considered to be Mohamed Rha, a Belgian national of Moroccan ancestry, one of the operatives who had returned from ideological training in Syria to recruit members. On November 17 the trial in Brussels opened of Belgian and Moroccan nationals accused of belonging to a terrorist organization and providing logistical support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (Groupe islamique combattant marocainâGICM). This group was founded in 1997 by Moroccan veterans of the jihad training camps in Afghanistan and is held responsible for recruiting the dozen suicide bombers who carried out the multiple bombings at Casablanca in May 2003, which left 44 dead. The GICM is also suspected of carrying out the Madrid train explosions that killed 191 people in March 2004.
This second atrocity prompted Belgian police to close in on a GICM network based in the provincial town of Maaseik, which served as a logistics center and meeting place for the group's European leadership, where, according to the Flemish daily Het Nieuwsblad, discussions on the GICM organization took place on three occasions [www.nieuwsblad.be]. According to the prosecution case, as reported by De Standaard, one of the prominent members of this group, the Moroccan Abdelkader Hakimi, was designated by a fellow member imprisoned in France as the leader of the GICM. The 19-year old Hakimi is believed to have spent half his life on the run, spending ten years in Algeria, journeying with false papers to Libya, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, producing false identity papers for himself and for Afghan militant veterans and to have fought in Bosnia during the civil war [www.standaard.be].
Ummm... He's only 19? He spent half his life on the run? That means he started at 8 1/2...
The activities of Hakimi illustrate the skills and strengths of North African militant groups in Europe. The GICM is believed to number some few hundred committed radicals, supported by 1,000 to 2,000 sympathizers operating on both shores of the Mediterranean. Cells have operated in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain, the last of which announced on November 23 the arrest of 10 Moroccans and Algerians suspected of financing and giving logistical support to counterparts from the Algerian GSPC resident in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Belgium and Denmark.
The revelation of the ideological training of Moroccans taking place on the borders with Iraq has added urgency to Moroccan security concerns since the November 9 bombings in the Jordanian capital Amman. Following the arrests of the 17 Moroccans, one Abu Musab al-Iraqi (styling himself as the "al-Qaeda correspondent") denounced on November 23 the events on the al-Firdaws jihadi forum and at the same time deplored the activities of Morocco's "secular" Channel Two TV broadcaster. His objection was to the vox pop interviews in the wake of the Amman bombings, addressed to "the ignorant, weak and base people ⊠who spoke of Zarqawi inventing a new religion, and referred to his âbankrupt mind' " [http://alfirdaws.org/forums]. According to al-Alam, Moroccan intelligence is convinced that their country lies third on al-Qaeda's list of targets, after Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and remain on the lookout for al-Qaeda operatives crossing over from Algeria, and for senior members entering the country from Belgium [www.alalam.ma].
Coincidentally, both Morocco and Jordan have relatively liberal regimes that have charted course toward democracy. Also coincidentally, the kings of both countries claim descent from the Profit, and in the event of the establishment of a caliphate could lay claim to the Seat of All Power and its attendant dancing girls, &c.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 01:14 ||
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You just know that the seat-of-all-power is gonna have gawd's own remote control.
Indeed as the Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al Awsat recently reported citing Yemeni sources along with Western intelligence services, two AK 47 were used during the Al Qaedaâs attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah last December. The Kalashnikovâs serial numbers proved that these weapons belong to the Yemeni Defense Ministry. According to the same sources, US authorities have complained to the Yemeni government about this and asked for further explanation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 01:21 ||
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Jeddah Consulate again?
I often passed the Consulate compound back in 1991-1992 during may stay in Jeddah and noticed how sloppy the Soddy guards were. They walked around with FALs slung over their shoulders, barrel and bayonet facing downward. These Saudi "National Guardsman" had an expression on their faces that could only convey one message: "Man I'm bored as shit."
At least 16 Yemenis have been killed in two days of fighting with security forces in the restive northern province of Saada. The violence came as President Ali Abdullah Saleh charged that the rebels, followers of a slain cleric, were not abiding by the terms of an amnesty.
Apparently not, unless the amnesty had a provision that they could shoot people up...
A police official said at least six rebels were killed late on Tuesday and another 10 on Wednesday around the Jabal al-Nusf area in Saada. More than 500 soldiers and policemen, using tanks and armoured vehicles, sealed off parts of Saada and prevented journalists from entering, an AFP correspondent reported.
"Youse don't wanna see it!"
The renewed fighting between government forces and followers of slain Zaidi leader Hussain Badr Eddin al-Houthi comes after rebels killed eight policemen in Saada on Monday, tribal sources said. Saleh accused the rebels of not respecting the terms of a September pardon after Houthi's death at the hands of the army and nearly three months of deadly fighting last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2005 00:00 ||
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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A powerful blast ripped through a town near the Bangladeshi capital Thursday, wounding about 30 people, officials said, just two days after suspected Islamic suicide bombers killed seven people there. The blast occurred outside a sprawling complex that houses the chief government administrator's office and a courthouse in the town of Gazipur, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Among the injured were four policemen, seven lawyers and three journalists, said a doctor at a local hospital, who also asked not to named in line with the official policy. The attack comes two days after suicide bombers killed seven people in Gazipur and three more when a series of bombs went off outside a courthouse in the port city of Chittagong.
Officials blamed Tuesday's blasts on Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned militant group that seeks to establish harsh Islamic rule in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is governed by secular laws. The group has targeted judges and lawyers, accusing them of following secular laws instead of Islamic Sharia rule. Police detained nearly 50 suspects for questioning Tuesday and Wednesday in several districts, including two in Gazipur.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 09:41 ||
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ROP strikes again! But remember, it's Bush's fault 'cause he invaded Iraq.
Manik Hossain, a self-proclaimed Al Qaeda operative who reportedly issued a threat to the British High Commission to blow up American and European missions in Dhaka, was arrested, police said yesterday. Police sources said Manik was run in from Dhaka cityâs Badda area. But they would not confirm whether this is the same Manik who threatened to attack the Western missions. During interrogation, Manik denied threatening to blow up the foreign missions and said his employee might have sent the threat to harass him, a top police official said. âIntelligence agencies are still quizzing him,â the official, who asked not to be named, said.
Earlier reports said intelligence agencies launched scouring the Internet Protocol (IP) device to detect the original source of the e-mail message that had threatened to blow up US, UK and other western missions in the name of Islamic militant Al Qaeda network of Asia. Security was beefed up in the diplomatic enclaves of Gulshan and Baridhara following the bombing threat. The British High Commission received the threat through e-mail and fax. W M Stevelson, first secretary to the British High Commission, filed general diary (GD) with Gulshan police station.
Earlier in the day, police arrested three youths, all named Manik, in Chandpur in a frantic manhunt, as someone under the name Manik Hossain sent the threat to the British High Commission. However, all the three Maniks denied their involvement in waging the cyber-war against the westerners. Residents of Khajuria informed police that there are two more youths named Manik in their village, but both now stay in Dhaka.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:28 ||
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"Manik", what an appropriate name for this kind of guy - even if mis-spelled.
An Algerian man suspected of involvement in a bomb attack on the Paris Metro a decade ago was extradited from Britain to France on Thursday, the French Justice Ministry said. Rachid Ramda, who has spent 10 years in jail in Britain, allegedly provided funds for the bombers of the July 1995 attack, which killed eight people and injured 87 on the Paris Metro system.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 12:35 ||
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Ten Years. This is insane. But I am repeating myself.
#2
That's two, Tony, if you count Bakri who fled and this criminal. Let's see some teeth in your talk. The Departures lounge at Heathrow still has plenty of room.
British police said on Wednesday they have arrested a man as part of an investigation into suspected plans to buy weapons for international terrorist attacks.
The 28-year-old was detained on Tuesday morning near a service station off the M25 motorway in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, north west of London.
âThe man has been arrested in connection with an ongoing enquiry into the suspected attempted procurement of weapons linked to international terrorism,â Londonâs Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
âThe arrest was made following an intelligence-led investigation involving police and the security service,â it added.
Armed officers challenged the man as he climbed out of a parked car on a road near to the South Mimms service station. No shots were fired, police said.
The suspect was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and taken to a central London police station for questioning.
Officers are also searching residential addresses in the Waltham Forest and Newham areas of east London but have so far not found any weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:21 ||
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Republicans have never admitted responsibility, mainly because the bombings exacted such an appalling civilian death toll by attacking a peaceful village which contained nothing that could be described as a "military target". Warnings about the car bombs were reportedly made, but received too late.
The arrests were welcomed by the parents of nine-year-old Kathryn Eakin, the youngest victim. Her mother, Merle Eakin, said: "It is early days yet and we have to see what comes of it. It is obviously a relief after all these years, but we will have to wait and see."
Good, better late than never. It's good to know that there are dedicated police
and other agencys who have resolutely pursued these killers of innocents.
More court work left to be done..may the perps rot in hell.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/01/2005 1:15 Comments ||
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A Tashkent city court delivered a guilty verdict against members of the Akromiylar movement who took part in the Andizhan events (May, 12-13, 2005). The authorities allege that militants from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) were also involved. Shukhrat Masirokhunov, 34, a former chief of the IMU counterintelligence service who was extradited from Pakistan several months ago, is now awaiting trial in Tashkent. He faces 20 years in prison.
It is widely believed that people join the militants out of despair. Do you come from a poor family?
Well, my father was a CPSU regional committee functionary in the city of Andizhan. I never walked to or from school but went in a car. When I finished Grade 10, my father gave me a Model 6 Zhiguli sedan. I have a degree in history from the local university.
I worked at the Russian Communist Youth League (Komsomol) regional committee and then at the regional administration. I engaged in privatization programs and controlled an investment fund. Operations with securities brought as much money in a single day as an ordinary person might not even earn in 10 years.
So how did a Komsomol activist end up in the IMU?
Very easy. An ideological vacuum [that came with the breakup of the Soviet Union] was soon filled. First, they talked at the highest possible level about the need to restore Islamic values and then Muslims were made into enemies. I probably had more money than was good for me â drinking, playing around with girls, you know, leading an unhealthy lifestyle. Then I got sick: a stomach ulcer. One day a friend advised me to live like a good Muslim â stop drinking, start praying. I joined a Koran study group. We met and talked. Someone said there was a madrasa in Chechnya that was open to all those willing to join. I went there in 1998.
There was a training center called Kavkaz (Caucasus), near the village of Avtury, and I was accepted. At first, we studied religion and then took a course of combat training. There were about 50 Uzbeks there. The teachers were Arabs who spoke fluent Russian. It was there that I met Khattab. He was a real soldier and a cheerful guy who liked a good joke. Basayev was just a politician, but a very smart one. After a year of studies, I decided to leave: the local climate was humid and I caught pneumonia. Before leaving, I received instructions to send money to Chechnya to support the Uzbek jamaat. It was also planned to abduct a number of children from rich families in Tashkent, mainly Jewish. They were to be held in Kazakhstan, while ransom would be paid to people based in Chechnya. But after a series of bomb attacks in Tashkent in the winter of 1999, I had to run away. The abductions were carried out by the brothers Yuldashev and Murad Kaziev: We had trained in Chechnya together.
Eventually, I and several other men got to Afghanistan â via Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Iran, to the Char Asyab camp near Jalalabad.
Did you take part in the Andizhan events?
No, it was probably the work of the Islamic Jihad of Uzbekistan: they pulled out of the IMU. They are even more radical and intransigent. They are mostly young men.
But are events of this type not coordinated, for example, by al-Qaeda?
Al-Qaeda translates as âfoundation,â âbaseâ. So we also began with a base, but now everyone is on his own. Information and instructions are issued via the Internet. There was an al-Qaeda camp adjacent to ours in Chechnya, but the two kept entirely separate from each other. We had mainly Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Kyrgyz, while they had Arabs and Europeans, but some recruits occasionally moved from one camp to the other. There was no rigid structure.
For example, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. He is portrayed as a bin Laden representative, but this is not so; he is on his own. We got in touch with him not very long ago, offering to help, but he refused. I met with Zarqawi two years ago. He did not stand out in any special way. At that time, I was higher within our hierarchy.
Are you acquainted with bin Laden?
Would not say acquainted, but I have met him on several occasions. He addressed us in Afghanistan in 2000. He said that he was pleased to see representatives from 56 countries there and that we should unite. Some people proposed a series of attacks in a number of countries, for example, blow up a dam near Tashkent or explode a âdirty bombâ. But he said that âwe will have time to do that yet.â He asked whether there were any physicists among us.
There was also talk to the effect that the raw materials for a âdirty bombâ had been bought in Russia and Ukraine, specifically from a scrap-yard for decommissioned nuclear submarines.
Are you saying that al-Qaeda has a âdirty bombâ?
Yes, I think it does. At least Takhir (Takhir Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who is now in Pakistan or Afghanistan. â Editor.) told me that bomb material had been acquired from Dr. Abdul Kadyr Khan in Pakistan, who, as is known, met with bin Laden in Kandahar. I also know that the Americans found two nuclear research laboratories in Kandahar, but for some reason the fact was suppressed.
In 2000, I took a 20-day training course in making chemical agents and explosives. A poison can be made literally from any material â cigarettes, honey, and even bread. We worked at a special laboratory near Jalalabad. Our instructor was Abu Habbob Misriy, a former chemistry teacher from Egypt. There were about 200 men taking that course, including 14 or 15 from the North Caucasus who returned to Russia a year later.
There was a similar laboratory in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia, where chemical agents were synthesized by a hired scientist, apparently a Russian. That laboratory was then supposed to be moved from Georgia to Pakistan. There were plans to start using bacteriological and chemical weapons. The first targets for attack were to be in Italy and Moscow â why, I do not know.
Who funds all these camps?
I do not know about all of them, but we received money and weapons from the Taliban. There were no limitations: we got as much as we asked for. For their part, their funds purportedly came from donations, but there was too much money to have come from donations. Generally, money was not a problem. I spent seven years in Afghanistan and I regularly sent money home â often quite large amounts, up to $10,000. To do that, I had to travel to Iran since Western Union did not operate in Afghanistan. I often went there on business trips. We had no problem crossing the border: A vehicle from the other side would come and take us there.
What were your duties in Afghanistan?
I was to expose enemy agents, test and run background checks on our people, and recruit our own agents. The last task was by far the easiest. If a police officer gets $150 to $200 a month, hates his boss and distrusts his state, it is very easy to buy him.
Each new arrival was placed under a one-month quarantine. He was tested and studied very closely. For example, at lunch somebody knocks his plate out of his hands. How will a person behave in this situation? Or he is given psychotropic drugs before going to bed, and we listen to everything he says in his sleep.
Did you expose many enemy agents?
Yes, we did. Once we even caught a Federal Security Service agent. He was called Khashim, from the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. He confessed everything. I even spoke with his mother on the telephone from Afghanistan and tried to get in touch with his FSB minder but unfortunately did not get through. I turned him over to the Taliban. Subsequently, he ended up with the Americans who took him to Guantanamo.
The enemy agents that we caught were, as a general rule, used to disseminate false or misleading information. We did not kill them but used them for our own interests.
Do intelligence and security services from other countries also help you?
Do you know how special operations against militants are conducted in Pakistan? They will pin us down in some place and the situation seems to be hopeless, but then the Pakistani soldiers show us an escape route.
If Pakistan goes to war with us, the country will explode because the people sympathize with us. So they pretend to be helping the United States, while in fact they are helping us.
Where is bin Laden? In Pakistan. They cannot catch him? Thatâs because they do not really want to catch him.
But you were detained in Pakistan, right?
Yes, in Peshawar. I was certain that the Pakistanis would let me go. They promised not to extradite me to Uzbekistan. When I was in a local jail, U.S. intelligence officers talked to me on several occasions. I was blindfolded and taken somewhere. I did not see their faces, but they spoke Farsi with me.
Did they interrogate you?
No, they tried to recruit me. I was offered cooperation. I was to take part in some operations in the Caucasus, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and in return for that they promised to get me into Europe or some Arab country. They also said that it was senseless to fight against the Americans in Afghanistan and that our common enemy was the Karimov regime: it had to be brought down for democracy to be established there.
I refused since I thought that the Pakistanis would release me. I also thought that Takhir would bail me out. It turned out that he had ditched me.
Have there been other contacts between the Americans and your men?
They tried to get in touch with Takhir Yuldashev. They met last winter in Kabul. In addition to Takhir, there was also Mawlawi Sayyed (the leader of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan. â Ed.), as well as other field commanders. They promised to help us.
The Americans are also playing a double game: They are fighting us but also trying to set us against others.
What is happening in Afghanistan? Who is in control?
The Americans control Kabul (but only in the daytime) and several bases, but they are afraid to stick their noses out of them. As a matter of fact, it is not a case of them looking for us but us searching them out. We will mine an area around their base and then fire a missile and wait. First, helicopters arrive and then people â Afghans: they are always sent in first; they are paid $100 to do that. The Afghans are followed by Americans aboard Hummer vehicles, and we blow them up.
Or do you know how they run that weapons buy-back program? An old Afghan man will bring an old Soviet-era assault rifle and they will pay him $300 in compensation. Then he will go and buy a brand new rifle for just $100. Weapons are easily available. In Tajikistan, it is your Russian servicemen who sell them.
The Americans will pull out of Afghanistan: there is no way they can hold on there. And they will also have to leave Iraq.
What is the IMU like today?
An Islamic movement, party or organization â whichever you like best. Except that it is not IMU but IMT â the Islamic Movement of Turkestan. This is what it is called now because it is comprised of representatives of all Central Asian republics plus Uyghurs.
Once our organization had a dozen members, but now there are hundreds of members and thousands of supporters in various republics. The movement is led by Takhir Yuldashev, but he is not a real leader. He is, rather, a politician inclined to compromise. The late Namangani was an entirely different matter: People were ready to follow him to the end.
Where are the militant training camps based?
Where they have always been based â in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those that I know of are located on the border between these two countries â in the Khanta Thal gorge and near the village of Wana. Each has about 100 men â from Central Asia and Russia, and there are also Arabs. There are camps in Tajikistan and there are plans to set them up in Kyrgyzstan.
But surely this is impossible without high-level support?
It is there all right. In Kyrgyzstan, we are supported by a local drug baron, Erkinbayev, as well as a member of parliament. I do not know his name, but he went to Iran to meet with Makhmud Rustamov, who was in charge of external relations. They discussed Kyrgyz POWs who we had taken during the Batken events.
One route from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan lies through Tajikistan and then on to Kyrgyzstan. Our men were carried there in vehicles from the Tajik Emergency Situations Ministry. This ministry helped many of our men to get jobs and housing. For example, Rasul Okhunov, a member of our movement, worked for the ministry.
Incidentally, U.S. instructors â specialists in explosive demolition and commando operations â trained government servicemen at the Ministryâs bases in Kairakkum, Taboshar and Shurabe.
Have you been subjected to âenhanced interrogation techniquesâ in Uzbekistan?
There was no need. We are all professionals. I know that today there is no problem getting any information from a person so I cooperated voluntarily.
Where is your family now?
My mother and brother are in jail here in Uzbekistan. My wife and children are in Pakistan. I hope that they will be taken care of.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 14:19 ||
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Umm Dan, by "Revealing", do you mean the direction of Russian propaganda to create more animosity between Uzbekistan and the US by stating that the US is league with the islamists to sponsor terrorist attacks? That Kyrgystan and Tajikistan are also in cahoots with America against Uzbekistan (and of course Mother Russia)?
Does "Revealing" mean attempts to asuage hurt Russian feelings because of their poor performance in Chechnya and bolster Russian manhood by falsely accusing the American military of being too cowardly to leave the wire and patrol, that they don't go where and when they want, that the US military doesn't own the night? That they are easy targets getting slaughtered by the wiley turbans? All the other stuff seem pretty well known (e.g. Pakistan's double dealing, Iran, terrorists and drug lords), though I believe he is lying about the radioative material.
Anyway, sigh. The Russians haven't forgotten, nor learned, anything since the fall of communism. They won't enter the ranks of the civilized nations because they refuse to leave behind their barbarian, zero sum mentality.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2005 15:21 Comments ||
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#2
Do you know how special operations against militants are conducted in Pakistan? They will pin us down in some place and the situation seems to be hopeless, but then the Pakistani soldiers show us an escape route.
If Pakistan goes to war with us, the country will explode because the people sympathize with us. So they pretend to be helping the United States, while in fact they are helping us.
Where is bin Laden? In Pakistan. They cannot catch him? Thatâs because they do not really want to catch him.
Something seems to be wrong with my surprise meter.
#3
This guy is saying his little movement (the IMU) is strategically and tactically successful, defeating the American army at will, that Pakistan is really on their side, and that America wanted him to fight Kamirov instead, but the end result of all of this is he was captured, and he was sent to Tashkent for trial.
I find it doubtful that the CIA would have tried to recruit him to fight Karimov but then turn around and hand him over or have the Pakistanis hand him over.
I also find it doubtful that someone who was "former chief of the IMU counterintelligence service" would be so casually abandoned, especially if it were just a matter of making bail. (?)
#4
Quite simply it doesn't sound right. Look at the part about how he converted, about his preislamist life (I was in operations of privaization, I made too much money fo my own good). Plus the simple fact that he is talking and talking so easily (funny for fanatic isn't it?). At ten miles upwind the text still smells of having been written by someone who is neither Uzbek or Islamist but Russian and mounting an operation of propaganda.
#5
There was also talk to the effect that the raw materials for a âdirty bombâ had been bought in Russia and Ukraine, specifically from a scrap-yard for decommissioned nuclear submarines.
I wonder if he is talking about crud traps, which would make great dirty bombs.
ANd I bet some of those old ruski bookmers have some hellacious crud traps.
Re-read the article - it says that the ISI tried to redirect the IMU's attention towards Uzbekistan, which is consistent with what we know about how Pakistan handles its jihadi groups. The part about Americans trying to meet with IMU leadership is also consistent with other info we've seen about the US trying to create an ethnic rift within al-Qaeda along Arab/Uzbek lines - recall that it was an IMU member that sold out Abu Faraj al-Libbi.
That Masirokhunov parrots Ayman and other al-Qaeda bigs about the situation in Afghanistan also makes perfect sense - that's probably what the Taliban and al-Qaeda guys are telling him.
Abdominal Snowman:
He said he was blindfolded and some guys spoke to him in Farsi. It's his inference that they were Americans, but it's far more likely that it was actually members of the ISI.
JFM:
From the looks of things, he floated from one totalitarian movement to another until he got established in the IMU. This is actually real phenomenon, as can be seen from Arafat who started out as sort of an Arab Marxist and then turned Islamist when it became the cool thing to do.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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Was Arafat ever an Islamist? I thought he was a Nasserite (non-Marxist but lefty secular pan-Arab nationalist, not as intent on a single arab state as the Ba'ath) Of course he talked about the mosques on the Temple Mount, and all that, cause thats what you do to trumpet Pal claims in Jerusalem, and he worked with Hamas and IJ out of convenience, but I dont think he was ever interested in say, Sharia (unless as a sop to Hamas)
#8
"We got in touch with him not very long ago, offering to help, but he refused. I met with Zarqawi two years ago. He did not stand out in any special way. At that time, I was higher within our hierarchy."
I doubt this very much.
For all the items here I would ask the following. Why does he want us to know/beleive them? Alternatively, why might the Uzbek authorties (hostile to the US, and to Pakistan) now holding him, want us to believe them?
Note that he attribute the Andijon protests to radical Islamists - that fits the Uzbek govt line very well.
#9
Dan, I can see how you interpreted as the ISI tried to recruit Masirokhunov against Uzbekistan, especially in light of your suspicion that the Farsi speakers were from the ISI.
However, from my reading of the text, he claims it was Americans trying to recruit him for an operation against Ukbekistan, et al. That makes no sense to me as the US and Uzbekistan found mutual benefit against the the Islamists, and the US did quite a number on the IMU. Though it is very possible the US tried to recruit him to infiltrate the IMU or Al Qaeda.
Our difference is that you interpret it as the ISI recruiting him to destabilize Uzbekistan, while I interpret it as the FSB pulling Masirokhunov's puppet strings to make sure US-Uzbek relations stay poisoned.
When I was in a local jail, U.S. intelligence officers talked to me on several occasions. I was blindfolded and taken somewhere. I did not see their faces, but they spoke Farsi with me.
>>Did they interrogate you?
No, they tried to recruit me. I was offered cooperation. I was to take part in some operations in the Caucasus, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and in return for that they promised to get me into Europe or some Arab country. They also said that it was senseless to fight against the Americans in Afghanistan and that our common enemy was the Karimov regime: it had to be brought down for democracy to be established there.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2005 17:13 Comments ||
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#10
liberalhawk:
Arafat used quite a bit of Islamist rhetoric (I recall one speech about a million martyrs marching to reclaim Jerusalem or something along that line) later in life. He didn't have any use for sha'riah or taking orders from holy men, but he was definitely more than willing to adapt the style his authoritarianism to suit of ideology of the day.
As for Zarqawi, recall that when Masirokhunov was in Afghanistan, Zarqawi was just a camp commander while he was the IMU intelligence chief. He only became a big name in the world of international terrorism when he emerged as the leader of first al-Tawhid and then al-Qaeda in Iraq. The ironic thing is, from what we know now as far as the chemical plots that Masirokhunov referenced are concerned, those were in fact launched at the impetus of Zarqawi and Khabab.
As for attributing Andijon to the Uzbek Islamic Jihad splinter group, that isn't exactly the Uzbek government line (that it was Hizb-ut-Tahrir) so there are probably two possibilities - they're coercing him into saying this or he's just going off what he heard in the Uzbek media, which toes the government line.
ed:
He says he was blindfolded and that somebody was trying to convince him in Farsi redirect his attention away from Pakistan to the Caucasus or Central Asia, with a promise that after that he could take refuge in Europe or the Middle East. That sounds a lot like something the ISI would do based on their past behavior, especially if it kept him out of trouble in Pakistan or Afghanistan (since fighting in Afghanistan would lead to more US pressure on Pakistan).
Now I don't doubt for a minute that he's toeing somebody's line here (whether it's Karimov or somebody else's), but I still think that there's a lot of useful info to be noted here, especially on Pakistan, Iran, and who's backing the IMU these days.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 17:28 Comments ||
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One serviceman has been injured in an operation being conducted in Chechnya's Vedeno district to hunt down a militant group discovered by federal forces near Eshil-Khotoi.
The local police told Interfax on Wednesday that the militants opened fire wounding one serviceman. He was rushed to hospital and given medical assistance.
Operational reports indicate there are killed and wounded on the militant side. The effort to track them continues.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:52 ||
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Head of administration in Avtury, Chechnya and his son were murdered Tuesday evening, a source at the regional headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Unidentified gunmen in camouflage and masks entered the house of administration head Ibragim Umpashayev at about 7 p.m. on Tuesday and shot him dead. When they saw his son Isa in the yard, they opened automatic fire at him. Isa Umpashayev, born in 1979, died of mortal wounds in hospital," the source said.
The gunmen also opened fire at the police offices who arrived at the scene wounding two of them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:52 ||
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Norwegian security police believe that several people linked to major terrorist networks use the country as a base between operations abroad.
The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has other persons linked to the 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid and recent terrorism arrests in Italy under surveillance.
The PST believes that Norway is used by 'freelance' terrorists as a place to lie low and plan activities, newspaper VG reports.
By using false identities and convincing cover stories these persons can stay hidden in Norway for long periods, posing as asylum seekers, tourists, or by arranging unfounded family reunions.
The PST considers their major challenge to be the discovery and hindrance of efforts to make Norway a haven for financing or equipping terrorists.
VG quoted an anonymous security source as saying that the PST strives to keep on top of dangers to Europe that stem from Norway, but that the task was extremely difficult due to the large number of "potentially dangerous persons residing in Norway".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:22 ||
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gawd dern Norwegian Mormons, we need a congresscritter investigation.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/01/2005 1:24 Comments ||
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Police in Belgium and France arrested 15 people on Wednesday in a roundup of suspected Islamist militants believed to be linked to a Belgian woman who carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq this month. The 38-year-old convert to Islam blew herself up on November 9 on the outskirts of Baghdad in what security sources believe was the first suicide attack in Iraq involving a European woman.
Belgian police arrested 14 people and seized documents in raids centered on Brussels and Antwerp. They arrested two Tunisians, three Moroccans and the rest were Belgian nationals, Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor, told Reuters. The fifteenth suspect was arrested close to Paris.
The group had been under surveillance for four months after Belgium received intelligence about a suspected terrorist cell operating on its soil, but the suicide bomber had slipped out of the country unnoticed.
"It was through this organization that the lady went to Iraq with her husband, but we only knew about her presence ... once she was already there," said Glenn Audernaert, a senior law enforcement official. Police brought forward the raids by a couple of weeks after leaks in the French media about the investigation, but Audernaert said the raids had netted all the suspects. They were detained under Belgium's new anti-terrorist law, which defined terrorism as a crime for the first time.
The woman's identity was not disclosed, but officials said she was born in Belgium of European origin and converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim. One of the chief suspects arrested on Wednesday was a male Belgian convert to Islam, a police spokesman said. "We know these groups are always planning attacks ... What we can say is there were no attacks planned in Europe," he said. No explosives or weapons were found in the raids but police found evidence linking the suspects to what he called a terrorist organization focused on Iraq. He would not name the group but said it was not the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) which is held responsible for the 2004 Madrid attacks on commuter trains that killed 191 people.
De Standaard newspaper earlier quoted a U.S. official in Iraq as saying the November 9 attack targeted a U.S. military convoy south of Baghdad. No one was killed apart from the woman herself, it reported. It added a Belgian passport was found on her body, with papers which showed she had entered Iraq via Turkey. Belgium, home to European Union institutions and NATO, has suffered no attacks but is thought to have been used as a rear base for Islamic militants active elsewhere.
Earlier this month, 13 men accused of belonging to the GICM, which is also blamed for bombings in Casablanca where 45 people were killed, went on trial in Brussels. They face charges of providing false papers, safe houses and logistical help to members of the GICM in the Madrid attacks. German federal police chief Joerg Ziercke referred earlier this month to estimates that "perhaps 200 young people are fighting in Iraq from European countries." A French intelligence chief said in May that five young men from a Paris suburb had died in Iraq, one in a suicide attack.
Spain arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants in June including 11 alleged followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. It said many of the Zarqawi supporters had expressed the will to become "martyrs for Islam" there.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:19 ||
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More than 300 CIA flights have landed at European airports, a British newspaper said, adding a new element to claims that Washington has been transporting terrorist suspects to secret prisons in Europe. The Guardian daily said it had seen flight logs documenting the flights by 26 planes operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Guardian said the flight logs were obtained from Federal Aviation Administration data and sources in the aviation industry. The information showed an "unprecedented" amount of travel by the agency but did not reveal which planes took part in alleged prison transfers, it said.
"Candygram."
No doubt the WaPo revelation on CIA chartered air freight businesses made it easier for them.
Outrage over the reports mounted in all the correct circles in Europe this week as EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini threatened sanctions on Monday for any member nation hosting CIA prison camps on their soil. The Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly has announced a probe into reports of the clandestine prisons, including one that may be in Romania. Poland and Romania have denied hosting CIA prisons. The United States has promised a timely and forthright reply to a EU letter demanding answers following the reports. The issue threatens to dominate a five-day swing through the continent next week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after European Union chiefs warned member states involved in the alleged scheme could face sanctions. Rice received the two paragraph letter from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. Germany and nearly a dozen other European countries have launched their own investigations into alleged CIA flights transporting detainees via their territories. The United States has defended the use of methods outside normal legal procedures for terror suspects by arguing it is fighting a "different kind of war" against terrorism which renders traditional methods obsolete. But it contends correctly that it has not broken international law, or infringed its own constitution.
#1
CIA: Al Guardian financial doucuments, cell phone records, and secret safe house locations reveal thousands of Al Guardian business transactions with Islamic extremist groups.
AL Guardian caught red handed...
1) "unprecedented propaganda agents"
2) "Provided Fake EU ID for Islamic Bombers"
3) "free bus tokens for splodydopes"
4) "unlimited access to AL Gurdian Goats"
5) "European Union chiefs warned of [sic]'tit in in the wringer for the United States.'"
6) "Al Guardian secrete memo states """"we are a "different kind of neus bizness"""""."
/Rapporteur is easy work
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/01/2005 0:32 Comments ||
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Too bad the Britts have not rolled up a muzzie safe house and captured a Guardian operative with them. That would make great press and allow for the govt to shut them down. Time to take them down as a sponsor of terrorism. It would be nice if the Britts could link them to the subway bombings and out them for what they are.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/01/2005 7:58 Comments ||
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A prosecutor asked a court in Rotterdam on Wednesday to impose an eight-year sentence on an interpreter accused of leaking information to suspected terrorists. Outman Ben A. was employed by the Dutch security service AIVD and transcribed tapped telephone conversations. He is accused of leaking details of the investigation into the Hofstadgroep to members of the group in 2004.
The authorities say several young Dutch Muslims arrested on terrorist charges in recent years are members of the Hofstadgroep. Mohammed B., the man who shot and killed filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was said to be a member. Ben A. is also accused of sending an email to Said Bellari of the Dutch-Moroccan education group UMAH to warn that the phone of a person Bellari had been in contact with was bugged. Bellari is seen as a supporter of the legal Arab European League (AEL). The prosecution claimed that the information allegedly leaked by Ben A. was widely circulated among people viewed by the AIVD as suspects. The interpreter denies the charges.
Nope. Wadn't me. Sumboddy else typed that stuff on my PC ... um ... an' used my voice on the phone an' all ...
Karachi, 1 Dec. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Struggling with an enormous task after the 8 October earthquake, the Pakistani government has been more than happy to allow banned Islamic groups, even those considered terrorist organisations by Washington, to take over much of the aid effort in remote areas. Without the help of groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba - now renamed as Jamaatut Dawa - the relief operation would simply collapse. However a quiet crackdown is underway, with the arrests of leading figures associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LT), a Salafite group in the al-Qaeda galaxy which is supportive of the former Taliban regime.
Arif Qasmani is a veteran jihadi, having fought against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and been associated with the armed struggle in Indian-held Kashmir. He was picked up by Pakistani security forces last October but released a few days later. Now Qasmani is once again missing. According to his family, he was in Karachi and departed for Lahore two days ago but since he left home his whereabouts are unknown.
The former commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Sindh province, Dawood Qasmi, resigned from the hardline group soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks and has since been associated with a medical research institute. Intelligence agents have raided his house in Karachi and threatened his wife that if Qasmi did not surrender within 24 hours the whole family would be rounded up, Dr Qasmiâs wife Hania told Adnkronos International (AKI). High level intelligence sources has confirmed that dozens of other suspected militants - mainly from Lashkar-e-Toiba- have been secretly rounded up across the country.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, along with four other Islamic groups, in January 2002 amid pressure that followed the 11 September attacks in the US. Until then LT, with its reputation for being purely Kashmir-focused, was able to operate openly inside Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting members. LT has close ties with Arab-Afghans, who came from their native countries to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviets or in the late 1990s, either for Al-Qaeda training or to boost the Taliban government.
After the Taliban retreated from Kabul and Kandahar in 2001, and many Arab-Afghan families moved to Pakistan, LT members gave them refuge and arranged their safe exit from Afghanistan. High level sources said that so far the operation against LT is highly secret and selective but massive lists have been drawn up all across the country and a major arrest sweep is expected. They said that the operation, currently very low-key, would expand to the whole country including North and South Waziristan.
If true, this is very good news
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 10:06 ||
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... the Pakistani government has been more than happy to allow banned Islamic groups, even those considered terrorist organisations by Washington, to take over much of the aid effort in remote areas.
While the round-ups are, indeed, good news, the Pakistani government is permitting these Islamist groups to gain further prestige and recruit more terrorists via their relief efforts. F%&k knows what drivel they are pumping into the ears of youngsters as they hand out this aid. One can just imagine the following:
"Here, please accept this aid from Allah's jihadis who are fighting the infidel. Did you know that this entire disaster is the result of bombs that were placed in our mountains by the crusaders? It is time for you to place a bomb in the land of the crusaders, yourself. Here, strap on this vest of glory ..."
Five suspected militants have been killed in an explosion in the tribal area of North Waziristan, close to the Afghan border, Pakistani officials say. The blast occurred in a house in Miran Shah town when explosives being handled by the militants went off, local authorities said. But some residents said a helicopter fired rockets at the house, the Reuters news agency reports.
"We seen um! It wuz a black helicopter firing depleted uranium naplam cluster bombs! Honest!"
Local officials said three of those killed are believed to be Uzbeks. The other two are reported to be local tribesmen.
"I think that's Bob's ear over there"
Thousands of troops have been deployed in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan to tackle al-Qaeda and Taleban militants who slipped into Pakistan after the US-led war in Afghanistan in 2001.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 09:34 ||
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Oh shit! Another Islamist f#$%^%$$!! workplace accident!
#2
I hear LLoyd's of Waziristan has stopped issuing worker's compensation policies due to the high costs and the excessive number of insurees who are colorblind.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/01/2005 15:46 Comments ||
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Crime Investigation Department (CID) police Peshawar and secret agencies personnel arrested two suspect Al-Qaeda leaders from Orakzai Camp during wee hours of Wednesday.
Report said that Al-Qaeda suspects were tracked down after the joint raid of CID police and secret agencies.
It noted that suspects were shifted to undisclosed site.
According to eyewitnesses, the arrested persons were foreign nationals.
When âOnlineâ contacted local police to know about the details of operation, they expressed ignorance about the raid.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:26 ||
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Four Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq were kidnapped at the same place where an Italian journalist was abducted, raising the possibility one group carried out both attacks, police said Thursday.
The style of the abduction also was similar: The activists were seized Saturday in the vicinity of a mosque near Baghdad University. A car blocked their car, gunmen got out, threw the driver and translator out and drove away with the four captives, security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, was seized Feb. 4 and held for a month by a group calling itself Mujahedeen Without Borders. That previously unknown group has not been heard from since, but may now be using a different name... (cough, cough) SOCOM (cough).
December 1, 2005: In Iraq, and to a lesser extent Afghanistan, rewards for information have proved very useful. Oddly enough, getting money for the rewards has never been a problem. No, the major problems have been communications, and keeping the identity of the informants secret, as the terrorists and anti-groups often carry out reprisals against those who inform on their murderous activities. Communications, letting people know about the program, and actually getting the information in time for it to be useful, has been the big show-stopper. With millions of cell phone users in Iraq (Saddam did not allow any), the communications problem has finally been solved there. Over the last two years, American intelligence troops have developed workable methods to get informants paid quickly and safely. Speed is important, and the troops try to get their tipsters paid within 24 hours (of the information proving useful.) Rewards range from $100 (for reporting a corrupt Iraqi cop, which may mean he is working for the terrorists as well as himself) to a thousand dollars or more for the capture of a terrorist (the fee goes up with the importance of the guy caught.) Your average weapons cache will bring a few hundred bucks. This is the average monthly wage for an Iraqi, and what the terrorists often pay people to help them out with their attacks.
In true Middle Eastern fashion, there is often a round of bargaining, to determine how much a tip is worth. This is because there is rarely a price list for everything. You can put a specific price on the head of an individual, or offer a fixed amount for finding a roadside bomb, or where a suicide bomber is hanging out. But the haggle factor becomes more of a problem when it comes to safe houses (which could hold anything from a few low level people, to a major leader), bomb workshops (some are quite large) and weapons and bomb material caches (the same.) The solution is mainly one of gaining experience.
While there is basic information, on how to run an informant network, in training manuals, itâs difficult to train for this. The army is trying to solve this problem with interactive computer simulations (much like the best video games now available), but these things take a while to develop.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 09:57 ||
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#1
The army is trying to solve this problem with interactive computer simulations
#4
Free market capitalism at work. Gotta love it. I truly hope we can simply buy enough information to crush these maggots in short order. It beats the living he|| out of any more combat casualties.
#5
"Free market capitalism at work. Gotta love it"
Arabs haggling and trading is as natural as cats having kittens. Cultually, they are primed for capitalism.
Posted by: Dave ||
12/01/2005 19:54 Comments ||
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#6
The army is trying to solve this problem with interactive computer simulations (much like the best video games now available), but these things take a while to develop.
Modeling and Symulations (M&S) dollars might as well be spent on S&M for all the good it is doing our GWOT. Pet rock programs and contractor havens where hundreds of millions are pissed away each year. Just my humble opinion as a taxpayer and former participant.
December 1, 2005: The terrorists are getting desperate. They have resumed political kidnappings, something that fell out of favor after a flurry of it last year. Normally, nearly all the hundred or so kidnappings each week are criminal operations, often yielding as little as a few hundred dollars. But in the last week, four Western peace activists and a German academic were taken by a new terror group. Shia pilgrims were also seized. Since last year, when 41 Westerners were killed by kidnappers, people who are choice targets (foreign reconstruction workers, diplomats) improved their security to the point where the seizures stopped. So now the terrorists are going after "soft" targets. That is, people who support the terrorists (in the case of the peace activists, who want coalition troops out, which is the main goal of the Sunni Arab terrorist groups). Taking Shia pilgrims just inflames the passions of Shia gangs and militias, bringing more attacks on Sunni Arabs.
Grabbing the peace activists actually helps the government, as it forces many Sunni Arab leaders to assist in negotiating to get the Westerners freed. This gives more Sunni Arab leaders more reasons to break with the terrorists, and make a deal with the government. These deals involve extensive discussions on who will get amnesty for crimes committed during Saddam's rule. Some Sunni Arabs even want to keep property they stole from Shia Arabs or Kurds during that time. In Iraq, you can't just say no, you have to discuss it at length. A lot of these discussions are going on right now, just judging from the mentions, in the Iraqi media, of various Sunni Arab leaders who are now negotiating. In the next two weeks, before the December 15th parliamentary elections, a lot more of these amnesty discussions are expected to get started.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 09:49 ||
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December 1, 2005: The terrorists are getting desperate.
Oh! I thought this was going to be something about the MSM.....
Insurgents have attacked US bases and government offices in Ramadi, in western Iraq, and then dispersed throughout the city, residents say. Scores of heavily-armed insurgents fired mortars and rockets at the buildings and then occupied several main streets.
The attack came as local leaders and US military officials were meeting at the al-Anbar provincial governor's office. Ramadi has been a rebel stronghold for many months. Residents in Ramadi told the Reuters news agency that hundreds of heavily armed men in masks were patrolling the main streets of the city and had set up checkpoints. Citizens said leaflets distributed by the men declared that al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group run by Abu Musab Zarqawi, was now in control of the city.
More wishful thunking from The Beeb. Ramadi delenda est? Here's hoping...
#1
Not just the Beeb. SeeBS also lead with this and minimized the several thousand marines and Iraqi army closing in on Ramadi. Just as advertised when Baghdad gave Ramadi 30 days to get its shit together.
Its good for us when the idjits appear and shoot up the street and leave. Just remember to wave at the eyes in the sky as they track you to your hiding place. Expect a knock on the door from Mr. Marine and Mr. Laser Guided Bomb.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2005 9:15 Comments ||
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This may be bad for the terrorists since they have, in effect, flushed themselves out.
#3
USMC spokesmen report these accounts are pure BS. Only one RPG fired at a fortified post. Seems one of those Al-Jerkoff sites started the Arab urban legend and our MSM, holed up in Baghdad hotels, reported "massive" attacks as true!
#5
USMC spokesmen report these accounts are pure BS. Only one RPG fired at a fortified post. Seems one of those Al-Jerkoff sites started the Arab urban legend and our MSM, holed up in Baghdad hotels, reported "massive" attacks as true!
Does it strike anyone else that the MSM is doing this more often? I mean, running with a story without any attempt to check its accuracy?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/01/2005 10:07 Comments ||
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The BBC make me embarressed to be British! sad bunch of lefty Saddam lovin peaceniks. Anyway these fools really beleive this was true or was it infact a complete fabrication by the BBC and other like minded 'journalist' organizations to undermine everything Bush said in yesterdays speech??? And if it were true where the hell are all the pictures and video taken by the Al-rooters 'journalists' who are always imbedded with these Jihadi fckwits???? The BBC would be wanking with deleight over some video or pics of this thuggish terrorist behaviour.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
12/01/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents attacked several U.S. bases and government offices with mortars and rockets Thursday before dispersing in the capital of western Iraq's Anbar province, residents and police said. The attacks in Ramadi occurred as local tribal leaders and U.S. military officials were to hold their second meeting in a week at the governor's office in the city center. The insurgents apparently tried to shell the building, but reporters inside said there was no damage or injuries.
Police Lt. Mohammed Al-Obaidi said at least four mortar rounds fell near the U.S. base on the eastern edge of the city, but that there were no reports of casualties. Insurgents also launched mortar rounds at an auditorium in Ramadi where U.S. and Sunni Arab leaders met on Monday, The Washington Post reported earlier this week.
Residents said that scores of masked gunmen, believed to be members of Jordan-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq group, ran into the city's streets Thursday but dispersed after launching attacks with mortars and Russian-made Katyusha rockets.
Life in Ramadi quickly returned to normal after the shooting. The U.S. military said that only one rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an observation post and that there were no injuries or significant damage. The insurgents did leave behind posters and graffiti saying they were members of al-Qaida in Iraq and claiming responsibility for shooting down a U.S. drone. There were no reports of any U.S. drones being shot down, though.
Ran out, fired a few shots, slapped up some posters and ran away. Quagmire! Doom! Gloom!
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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Does it strike anyone else that the MSM is doing this more often? I mean, running with a story without any attempt to check its accuracy?
No it strikes me that people are noticing that the MSM does it as much as they ever have but that the MSM is less able to stifle the story when it gets out. Walter Duranty wannabes they are.
#9
"Offensive" and "heavily-armed" are a bit generous. I'd picture a few thousand folks armed and fully supplied with rpg's, ak's, assorted grenades (no WP please .. oh god no), sidearms, some form of indirect fire support available on call, a few atgm's and shoulder sam's, and a full assortment of light and heavy mg's. Wonder what they'd call a motorized rifle regiment with all it's support conducting multiple assaults throughout a city? WWIII?
#10
For and then dispersed throughout the city read bravely ran away
Posted by: Howard UK ||
12/01/2005 11:06 Comments ||
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What pisses me off is that when the US military Cyops gives stories to Arab media maybe even some money the Media here cry wolf and that their should be disclosures and blah blah blah free speech violatoin blah blah I would like to know is the Media here now going to honor this standard and have a disclosure on the bottom of every report like this one that says taken from terrorist insiders. The Media sit in the green zone paying locals that can get photos and stories do they really believe common fair or even western leaning Iraqi's can do what the US cant get to the site of terrorist attacks and get inside info?? common these independent agents are either in with the terrrorist or at least taking info from them. I reall feel for the military they are fighting a up hill battle against the media who refuse to allow them to get their point out after all it destroys their own personal agenda. I am more and more coming to the conclusion the only way out is going to be Sedition Laws, it is sad that that is what we have come to but their is people who's goal is either anti-american or so determined to be proven right they are sacrifising a active war effort and doing what they can to undermind it. We must fight back and the if the military cant seed stories with their point of view into the media even foreign media the otherside is openly faught, discredited, and hell in this case even criminalized for trying the is only one rebutal Sedition Laws.
#12
The MSM seems to be searching for the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet Offensive. Something they can so distort as to change public opinion. I just hope this time they get caught doing it.
#15
Seems like the Beeb is paying someone to plant false or inflated stories to improve the image of the terrorists. Tell me, how is this different than what the US Military is being accused of. I heard this on the TV this morning and just laughed. I knew it was crock. If they were massing in any numbers, they would be killed in similar numbers. That is the pattern over there. It has not changed since we arrived.
U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a joint operation Wednesday in an area west of Baghdad used to rig car bombs, while American soldiers rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in a sweep of southern parts of the capital.
About 500 Iraqi troops joined 2,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in a move to clear insurgents from an area on the eastern side of the Euphrates river near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement.
In Saadah, eight miles from the Syrian border, Iraqi soldiers were seen questioning a man as he knelt on a carpet in his home, while U.S. Marines led blindfolded and handcuffed detainees along a dirt road to a waiting vehicle.
In a statement, the military said the Hai Al Becker region "is suspected to be an al-Qaida in
Iraq safe area and base of operations for the manufacture of vehicle car bombs, roadside bombs." It described the area as a transit point for foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgents infiltrating from
Syria into Iraq.
There were no reports of casualties during the first day of the operation, part of a series of sweeps through Sunni Arab towns along the Euphrates believed to be major insurgent strongholds.
Residents reached by telephone said U.S. forces warned townspeople by loudspeakers to stay in their homes for the next three days.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military said American and Iraqi forces rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in a sweep Tuesday night through southern parts of the capital. Clashes broke out late Wednesday between insurgents and Iraqi forces in the Mansour area of western Baghdad, police said.
Elsewhere, a
U.S. Navy F/A-18 jet fired a missile at an insurgent position in the Baghdad area, and Air Force F-16s were in action in support of U.S. and Iraqi units northwest of the capital, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.
U.S. commanders have been using Iraqi forces in the recent Euphrates Valley operations, although American forces continue to bear the brunt of the fighting.
In Baghdad, presidential Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samaraei told the U.S.-run Alhurra television that as Iraqi forces improve, the Americans would be able to draw down their troop levels.
"If America is defeated in Iraq, it will be defeated in the whole world," he said. "It is not a question of supporting America but of the interests and well-being of Iraq."
On Wednesday, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., joined Iraqi officials in a ceremony placing Iraqi troops in control of a major border crossing point into Syria. U.S. and Iraqi troops cleared al-Qaida-led insurgents from the area this month.
Casey said the ceremony "commemorates the restoration of Iraqi control" of the area "from the northern border with Turkey down to Jordan."
Also Wednesday, a group of influential Sunni clerics called for the release of five Westerners taken hostage last week, saying they should be granted their freedom as a humanitarian gesture.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, believed to have contacts with some Sunni insurgent groups, has helped mediate the release of other Western captives in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera broadcast video of the four men held by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The group claimed they were spies working under the cover of Christian peace activists.
The Sunni association said releasing Osthoff would recognize Germany's "positive" stand toward Iraq. Germany strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
In Berlin, Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, vowed that her government will "not let ourselves be blackmailed" by militants who kidnapped Osthoff and her driver.
Kidnappers have threatened to kill Osthoff and her driver, who were kidnapped Friday, unless Germany halts all contacts with the Iraqi government. German TV station ARD showed images of what appeared to be Osthoff and her driver blindfolded on the floor beside armed and masked militants.
Six Iranian pilgrims were seized Tuesday near a Shiite religious shrine north of Baghdad, police said. Iranian state TV said Tuesday that all six were released but it contradicted that report on Wednesday, saying that only two of the six Iranians were freed. Both of the freed hostages were women, while four men remain captive.
Elsewhere, gunmen opened fire on a minibus early Wednesday in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing nine construction workers and wounding two, police said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:11 ||
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Four Iranian pilgrims abducted by an armed group in Iraq have been released, an Iranian diplomat says.
"The four have arrived at our consulate in Karbala" in southern Iraq, from where they will be returned home, the diplomat said on Wednesday. The four men were seized, along with two Iranian women, on Monday as they travelled in a minibus near Balad, 75km north of the capital Baghdad. The two women were released unharmed on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Jordanian prosecutors say four alleged Islamists will stand trial for plotting to kill Americans who train Iraqi police recruits in the kingdom. The men are charged with conspiracy to commit terror acts and the illegal possession of firearms. They are alleged to have originally plotted to target Western tourists. However, they are later said to have changed their plan to target American instructors working at a police centre on the outskirts of the capital Amman. The conspiracy charge alone carries a death sentence. The suspects had been tracking the movements of the Americans and were planning a drive-by shooting operation, officials believe.
Investigators say they have detained hundreds of Jordanian Islamists since the start of the year for plotting attacks, far more than in previous years. Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah called for a relentless war on Muslim extremists in the wake of the suicide bombings in Amman on 9 November.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 09:30 ||
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The political leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas on Wednesday said it would not renew a truce with Israel when it expires at the end of the year and accused the Jewish state of violating the agreement that reduced violence. "All circumstances on the ground, the regional political atmosphere and the Palestinian situation are not encouraging to renew the truce," Khaled Mashaal told The Associated Press in a telephone interview in Damascus. "Hamas is not going to renew the truce because Israel did not abide by the conditions of the truce."
"Israel is still there, filled with Jooos. That's not what we signed on for. End of story. "
Among the violations were, Mashaal claimed, Israel's failure to release Palestinian prisoners, to end attacks on Palestinian areas and targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders and the continued confiscation of Palestinian lands.
The Egyptian government had brokered an informal truce between Israel and Palestinian factions that expires at the end of the year. The government of President Hosni Mubarak has invited all groups to Cairo to talk about extending the cease-fire for another year. Hamas last week asked Egypt to delay talks on renewing the truce until after Palestinian parliamentary elections in January. Mashaal said Hamas "will never abandon any Palestinian right and will not recognize the legitimacy of occupation whatsoever. This is a fundamental principle of the group." His response was to a question about Hamas accepting a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in autonomous countries. Mashaal rejected US calls for Hamas to disarm and join the political process, saying this was not possible while Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory continued. "The resistance must go hand in hand with political work," he said. "It is not accepted to pressure the resistance to choose between resistance and politics."
Sometimes I wish Western politicians would speak up for our interests as forcefully.
Hamas, meanwhile, published its list for the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections. The list includes senior leaders Mahmoud A-Zahar, Ismail Haniya and Hassan Youssuf. Among the candidates, according to the group, are prisoners [incarcerated in Israel], Christians and women, including the widow of former group leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was gunned by an Israeli helicopter gun ship in April, 2004.
Just like that. Gunned down for no reason at all, without so much as a by-your-leave. Didn't even care that he was delivering a much-needed bag of baby duck chow to the local orphanage.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:16 ||
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Good. Now the next time HAMAS does ANYTHING remotely resembling an attack on Israel, Israel should level ALL of the GAZA to bare rock and rubble, and then continue to bounce the rubble for a few days. Let HAMAS learn what WAR REALLY means - death and destruction of "palestinians" and their "homeland". Those they don't kill, force to flee to Cairo.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/01/2005 16:41 Comments ||
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This moron needs to look closely at the picture behind him. See those guys, Khaled? They're both struggling desperately to remain dead. Something you'll have a chance to do in short order.
What this jerk means when he says "truce" is what Bill Gates means when he says "open source."
#4
Yea, I like the way the IDF oft'd the old fellow on the right...suspect they'll both stay gone a good long while. Khaled hase suffered from a pronounced and very aggrevated case of the dumb ass, as have most of his deceased colleagues.
#5
Is it just me or does the grinning visage of Yassin make you want to slam a clenched fist into his leering face? If there truly is a Devil, he wears that smile.
Israel's defence minister has threatened to shut down crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel if the Palestinians do not improve operations at the Gaza-Egypt border. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz spoke a day after a senior Hamas activist returned to Gaza after 15 years of exile, using the Palestinian-operated crossing. It was not clear whether Mofaz's threat was linked to the return of Fadel Zahar, brother of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar. Fadel Zahar had been deported by Israel to Lebanon in 1991. On Tuesday, he entered Gaza through the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border, which is operated by Palestinians under the supervision of European monitors.
That seems to be working well...
Israel has expressed concern that Palestinian resistance fighters and weapons would enter Gaza once the Palestinians are in charge of the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Two Jamaah Islamiyah leaders have cut their ties with the Indonesian-based terrorist group and established a base in the southern Philippines to continue waging attacks in both countries, according to a captured Indonesian militant. My guess is that this is another aspect of the internal politicking within JI over whether or not to carry out attacks in Indonesia. It may also relate to the reported funding crisis that Azahari and Top were experiencing since all the JI cash is relayed via Soddies to the Philippines and from there to Indonesia. The question now is whether Top is going to join them or remain his own player, in which case there's a 3-way schism going on in JI. Somebody bring me the popcorn.
The Indonesian militants - Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek - have trained recruits and plotted attacks in their southern Philippine base, but their efforts have been hampered by several arrests and army offensives, according to a report on the interrogation of Abdullah Sunata, an alleged rebel leader captured in Indonesia in June.
A copy of the confidential report on Sunata's interrogation in Indonesia was seen by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Dulmatin, an electronics specialist known for his bomb-making expertise, and Patek, who has focused on recruitment and training, are key suspects in the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people in Indonesia's Bali island. The attacks are blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah.
Last October, Washington announced rewards of up to US$10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Dulmatin, and up to US$1 million for the capture of Patek, citing their alleged role in the 2002 Bali attack and involvement in Jamaah Islamiyah.
But Sunata said the two men told him in 2003 that they had cut their ties with Jamaah Islamiyah amid an intense manhunt for them by Indonesian police for their alleged roles in the Bali attacks.He said the two fled separately to the southern Philippines sometime in March and April of that year, according to the report.
He was quoted as saying in the report that the two men "already cut their ties with the JI."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:30 ||
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Al-Qaeda's network in Southeast Asia poses little threat as it was weakened with the capture of its key leader in Thailand three years ago, an army intelligence source said yesterday.
The source was commenting on a website posting claimed by a militant group calling itself al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian Division, warning Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines to expect attacks on government, military and economic targets.
The source said al-Qaeda's network in the region had been all but destroyed after the capture in Ayutthaya of Hambali, an Indonesian believed to be Osama bin Laden's key link man in Southeast Asia, in 2003.
The remaining members were unable to set up an effective network, he said.
Intelligence units thought the group was probably an offshoot of the insurgency movement in southern Thailand which wanted to fabricate news that al-Qaeda groups were operating in the region.
However, the website posting served as a warning to step up security measures at important locations.
Intelligence passed from friendly countries had earlier warned Thailand there could be a terrorist attack on Khao San road in Bangkok.
"In fact, Khao San road is already an important target as there are plenty of foreign tourists there. Authorities have already paid close attention to it," said the source.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Chidchai Wannasathit said the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) was studying the possibility of seizing the assets of people for whom arrest warrants had been issued on terrorism charges.
Amlo secretary-general Pol Maj-Gen Peeraphan Prempooti said seizing the assets of terror suspects became government policy after some organisations were found to have been involved in the drug trade, avoided paying customs duties or provided financial support for insurgents operating in the deep South.
Violence continued in the deep South yesterday.
An elderly man was shot dead by suspected militants in Muang district of Yala, police said.
Manoon Sangkul, 71, was gunned down by the pillion rider of another motorcycle when he left his house in tambon Tha Sap to go a tea shop along Phetkasem highway.
About three months ago Manoon's nephew, Puang Sangkul, 51, was shot dead near near the same location.
No arrests have been made in that case.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:25 ||
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BEIRUT, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis was quoted on Thursday as saying his investigation into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister had not been undermined by a Syrian witness who recanted his testimony. German prosecutor Mehlis, quoted by a number of Lebanese and Arab newspapers, accused Syrian authorities of using the witness, Hosam Taher Hosam, as a Communist-like propaganda tool.
Hosam appeared on Syrian television this week to accuse Lebanese officials of an elaborate scheme of threats, bribery and torture to induce him to testify falsely against Syria and said the inquiry's initial findings rested largely on his lies. "I'm used to this kind of propaganda," Mehlis was quoted by Beirut's as-Safir daily as saying. "I've spent 40 years in Germany and we used to see such things in former eastern European countries."
Mehlis' interim report in October into the Feb. 14 killing of Rafik al-Hariri cast suspicion on senior Syrian officials and suggested the assassination was planned by top security officials in Damascus and their Lebanese allies. Syria has denied the accusations and called the Mehlis report politically motivated, saying Hosam's testimony was the main source implicating Syrians.
"There is no main witness. There is a witness who might give information to the (investigation) commission. What Hosam said in Syria is different to what he told us," Mehlis said. He said his team would ask to question Hosam again because he was trying to hamper the investigation. Other newspapers gave a similar account of Mehlis' briefing.
The German was also quoted as saying he might seek to question more Syrian officials after his team quiz five of them in Vienna next week, denying there was a deal with Damascus over whom he could summon. The city was a compromise after Syria balked at Mehlis' request to question them in Lebanon. "Everyone we ask to question, we will question... Cooperation is either total or there is no cooperation," he said. "If the investigations result in a request for arrests, the commission would recommend their arrests and the Syrian authorities would have to do it."
His October report slammed Syria for failing to cooperate with the investigation. The U.N. Security Council, which authorised the probe, subsequently warned Syria to cooperate or face the prospect of further action. Mehlis is scheduled to submit his final report on Dec. 15. Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs, said on Wednesday he expected the investigation to continue but that Mehlis may hand over the work to someone else.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/01/2005 10:35 ||
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Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is an irresponsible radical who is digging a hole for himself, a senior US official declared on Wednesday. Nicholas "Monty" Burns, the State Department's number three official, launched a particularly personal attack in a speech that focused on Iran's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for "terrorist" groups, including Hamas and al-Qaeda, and its poor human rights record. "Through his statements and actions, President Ahmadinejad is digging a hole for himself and he appears determined to keep on digging," Mr Burns told the School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University.
Mr Burns, who liaises with the European Union in its nuclear talks with Iran, said the Bush administration would spend more dollars on supporting the pro-democracy efforts of the Iranian people in the hope they would change their own government. But Iranians and others in the audience said that behind the tough rhetoric, the Bush administration was adopting a more pragmatic approach towards Iran that has upset neoconservatives and pro-Israel groups in Washington. Analysts say recent shifts in policy have been driven by a realization that neoconservative promises of an implosion within the Iranian regime were premature at best, and that the US could ill afford another serious confrontation abroad, especially on the edge of Iraq where Iran exercises considerable influence.
It doesn't look like the "analysts" are paying attention, since they're not looking at Syria and somehow missed its connection to Iran. Iran is on hold, and while they're on hold, Ahmadinejad can dig his hole a little deeper while he puts additional tensions on Iran's internal political fabric.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), one of the most influential lobby groups in the US, on Wednesday expressed its displeasure with the Bush administration, issuing a statement criticising what it called a disturbing shift in US policy towards Iran on the nuclear issue. It said Iran had won a "critical round in its game of cat and mouse with the international community" last week, when the US decided not to refer Iran to the UN Security Council at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Aipac also condemned the recent decision by the US to back a Russian-European proposal that would allow Iran to master the initial stages of the nuclear fuel cycle by converting uranium into gas at its Isfahan facility.
Iran-watchers in Washington also see further evidence of a more pragmatic policy in the recent decision to get Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Baghdad, to engage his Iranian counterpart there. Mr Burns said that despite the absence of diplomatic relations since 1979, the US had not sought to impose a "complete diplomatic silence" in its dealings with Iran and would act in its national interests. The policy statement delivered by Mr Burns differed little from his testimony to Congress in May â except for the tough attack on Mr Ahmadinejad who took office in August after a surprise election victory.
Mr Burns attacked what he called "a highly ideological and confrontational foreign policy" pursued by the president since then, including Iran's decision to end its voluntary suspension of nuclear fuel cycle development, a "combative" speech to the UN, his sacking of some 40 "experienced" ambassadors, and his latest call for Israel to be wiped off the map. Mr Burns' speech appeared designed to highlight what the US hopes are the new battle-lines being drawn in Iran â between people and government, rather than within the regime between reformists under the former president, Mohammad Karensky Khatami, and hardliners. "There is a clear struggle underway between the reactionary Iranian government and the moderate majority," Mr Burns said.
Although he promised more funding for pro-democracy activities, observers in Washington said the Bush administration was faced with a paucity of worthy recipients in the US, and considerable hurdles in overtly funding such groups inside Iran. On the nuclear issue, Mr Burns said the US was "working closely with the Europeans, Russia, India, China and other countries with the hope of forming one increasingly united and purposeful coalition to deter Iran's efforts." He again threatened that if Iran did not cooperate then it would face a UN Security Council debate "at a time of our choosing". But he made no mention of sanctions, which China, Russia and India oppose.
Mr Burns said it was time for the world to react "to this radical shift in Iran's behavior' and consider an alternative to the past policy of engagement. He suggested the international community had constructive "leverage" through diplomatic contacts, trade and investment. But he made no specific recommendations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:37 ||
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#1
"The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)...on Wednesday expressed its displeasure with the Bush administration..."
I guess after your spies get caught the next best thing is to bitch.
#2
"There is a clear struggle underway between the reactionary Iranian government and the moderate majority," Mr Burns said.
Keen assessment Monty. Most of us beltway outsiders have kinda been thinking that'r way for bout 25 years or better now. You or any of your John Hopkins pipe smokers got any nifty solutions to the current problem set?
After March Israel must be prepared to use means other than diplomacy to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program, warned the head of the military intelligence Wednesday. Military Intelligence Chief Aharon Zeevi Farkash would not detail other options, but sources on the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which Farkash was addressing, said it was clear that Israel would have to consider taking military action against Iran. "In my years here, seeing the data I have seen, I feel it is clear that Iran has passed the point of no return," said committee chairman Yuval Steinitz (Likud). "It is accurate to say that unless Iran encounters a major interference, it will have a functioning nuclear arsenal within one or two years."
Iran has produced 45 tons of UF- 6 gas that is used in the centrifuge process for producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, said Steinitz. "If by the end of March 2006 the international community will have failed to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program, diplomatic efforts will be pointless," said Farkash. "Iran has the upper hand in negotiations with the international community.
In order to deflect international attention from its weapons program, Iran has been encouraging Hizbullah to step up attacks on Israel, said Farkash, noting that the recent Hizbullah attacks along Israel's northern border were instigated by Syria and Iran. "The latest flare up in the north was a strategic plan by Hizbullah," Farkash said. "They hoped we would retaliate by firing rockets and hitting civilians. We have seen evidence of them preparing for this type of attack along the border." Farkash added that the IDF had responded 'appropriately' and not given Hizbullah a pretext to escalate the violence.
Continued on Page 49
#2
"Iran has the upper hand in negotiations with the international community."
The simple fact that this statement is truthful indicates a catastrophic breakdown of reason, logic and the justifiable use of military force by America and all others who are put at risk by the Iranian nuclear program.
#3
Wonder how that unmanned semi-autonomous long range bomber that Israel is working on, is coming along?
I think Iran should be more worried about the "Massada" mirved IRBM Israel supposedly developed in the late 1980's, early 1990's, or the "Sword" nuke-tipped cruise missle they can fire from their Dolphin submarines. I remember reading a big article in Aviation Leak on both of them. Both are head and shoulders above anything the Arabs or Persians have. Israel is also reported to have a nuke arsenal of between 200 and 400 weapons. That would mean a LOT of destruction in the Middle East, from Syria to Sudan, from Pakistan to Algeria. I don't think it's a wise idea for the mullahs to stir that nest too violently.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/01/2005 17:21 Comments ||
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#4
"Farkash...said it was clear that Israel would have to consider taking military action against Iran."
Consider it? Sure why not.
Actually do it? Yeah right.
#6
I remember reading a big article in Aviation Leak on both of them.
Old Patriot, were you one of the Old Crows or sumptin'? That particular monicker for Aviation Week was typically used by the Soviets, who (according to legend) so highly esteemed that rag as to have a warmed up plane on the tarmack ready to carry the latest issue back home for careful analysis.
And, yes, I hope that Israel has a boatload of (conventionally armed) "Swords" to parry Iran's imminent threat.
An Islamist website "confirmed" on Wednesday the arrest in Pakistan of Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a man with joint Syrian and Spanish nationality wanted as a suspected Al-Qaeda militant. On November 3, Pakistani officials said their forces killed an Arab Al-Qaeda suspect and seized another in a shootout. But a top-level intelligence official played down reports that Setmariam, who has reported links to the Madrid and London bombings, had been nabbed. The Internet statement Wednesday said "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Suri was arrested three months ago ... and not recently, as the media have reported, as if it were news."
The statement was signed by a previously unknown figure, Abdul al-Tawab al-Shami, and its authenticity could not be verified. On the day of the Pakistani announcement, Spanish judicial authorities said they wanted to question Nasar and that the high court would press for his extradition if he had actually be arrested. The Spanish sources added that there were no "objective elements" linking Nasar to the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid, although some newspapers have tagged him as involved. But the US Justice Department said "recent unconfirmed press reports suggest he may have had a role" in the bombings," which killed 191 people in Spain's worst terrorist attack.
Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon charged Nasar in September 2003 with belonging to a Spanish-based Al-Qaeda cell later taken over by fellow Syrian Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas. In September, Yarkas was jailed for 27 years for conspiring to carry out the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Media reports have also quoted intelligence officials in Britain as saying Nasar is wanted in connection with the July 7 London bombings, which killed 56 people including four suicide bombers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/01/2005 00:42 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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