Category Archives: al-Qaeda

British intelligence service mistakenly recruited Al-Qaeda sympathizers

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I believe it was in the 1960s that the British Secret Service had as it’s head, an actual KGB agent. As I recall, after he was busted, it was noticed that he had a picture of the Ural mountains on his office wall,, but taken from the other side. A sort of private joke of his I suppose.

This begs the question,

Are the British not capable of having an intelligence service without actually staffing it with the enemy? Or are they so anxious to put a Muslim face on England that they recruit recklessly.

From Jihad Watch: H/T A Millar

No surprise here. Given the dogmatic insistence at the highest levels that Islam is a Religion of Peace, MI5 probably wouldn’t even have known the proper questions to ask in order to try to determine if recruits had such sympathies, and if they did know those questions, political correctness would have made them not dream of asking them.

“Al-Qaeda supporters ‘joined MI5,'” from the BBC, August 1 (thanks to Stday):

A senior Tory MP has asked the home secretary whether al-Qaeda sympathisers were mistakenly recruited by MI5.Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Home Affairs counter-terror sub-committee, said he was told six recruits were ejected after worries about their past.

Two allegedly attended al-Qaeda training camps while the others had unexplained gaps in their CVs, Mr Mercer told the Daily Telegraph.

A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims.

‘Took advantage’

Mr Mercer said he had learned that MI5 had dismissed the six recruits some time between 2005 and 2007.

The MP said he feared that, in the aftermath of the bombings on London’s transport network in July 2005, the security services had rushed to try and take on Muslim recruits, and that had potentially allowed al-Qaeda sympathisers to infiltrate the security service.

He has written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson asking for further details….

Toronto 18 ringleader pleads guilty

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I think the sentences of other Toronto 18 members [time served and 2 more years in jail] has more to do with these admissions of guilt than say, actual remorse and shame for the crimes of wholesale slaughter they wished for the people of Toronto.

Zakaria Amara, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group. (Stringer/Reuters)

Zakaria Amara, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group. (Stringer/Reuters)

CBCNEWS…Zakaria Amara pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to the Toronto 18 terrorist plot to set off three fertilizer bombs, two in Toronto and one at an unnamed Ontario military base.

Amara, 24, has been alleged to be one of the ringleaders in the plot to recruit and train extremists to carry out the attacks, which never transpired. He is the fourth adult to admit guilt in the affair.

In a Brampton, Ont., courtroom, Amara pleaded guilty to two counts: knowingly participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Justice Bruce Durno entered convictions against Amara on those counts before proceeding to sentencing. An agreed statement of facts is being read into the court record.

In all, 17 men and youths were arrested in the Toronto area in June 2006 and detained following an investigation by CSIS. An 18th person was arrested in August 2006.

The suspects faced charges including participating in a terrorist group, receiving training from a terrorist group, providing training and intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

CN Tower among targets

The offences allegedly took place between March and June 2006 in Mississauga and a rural township near Orillia, Ont.

The Crown alleges that the group’s potential targets were the CN Tower, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Toronto CSIS office.

Seven of the 18 people arrested have since had their charges dropped or stayed. Another six are in custody awaiting trial.

Last Friday, Ali Dirie was sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty to taking part in the homegrown terrorist group.

The 26-year-old’s sentence amounts to two years after time served is factored.

In September, Saad Gaya, 21, pleaded guilty to intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group and is to be sentenced next month.

Gaya and Saad Khalid were arrested while unloading bags labelled “ammonium nitrate” from a truck driven by an undercover police officer.

Khalid, 23, pleaded guilty in May and was handed a 14-year prison sentence. He was given seven years’ credit for pre-trial custody and can apply for parole after less than 2½ years.

Last year, a judge found Nishanthan Yogakrishnan, 21, guilty of participating in, and contributing to, a terrorist group.

Although 17 at the time of the offences, he was tried as a youth but received an adult sentence of 2½ years before being released in May in consideration of time served before trial.

Barack Obama: Taleban can be involved in Afghanistan future

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ATTACK PAKISTAN ENVOY OMARTIMESONLINE…President Obama is prepared to accept some Taleban involvement in Afghanistan’s political future and is unlikely to favour a large influx of new US troops being demanded by his ground commander, a senior official said tonight.

Mr Obama appears to have been swayed in recent days by arguments from some advisers, led by Vice-President Joe Biden, that the Taleban do not pose a direct threat to the US and that there should be greater focus on tackling al-Qaeda inside Pakistan.

The official, speaking anonymously to the press about Mr Obama’s internal discussions – a tactic that is causing dismay among some senior military officials – said the president’s final decision on his war strategy and troop levels is still at least two weeks away.

Yet if Mr Obama fails to dispatch at least a significant number of the 40,000 troops requested by General Stanley McChystal, he will have ignored the wishes of his own ground commander and will face fierce attacks from Republicans back home.

After two days of discussions on the critical role Pakistan must play if the US is to succeed in Afghanistan and the region, Mr Obama has been presented with conflicting arguments over whether Afghanistan would again become a safe haven for al-Qaeda if it fell to the Taleban.

Mr Biden has argued for months that with the cooperation of Pakistan, which in recent months has shown a far greater willingness to take on militants in the lawless border regions, al-Qaeda can be contained and even destroyed inside Afghanistan.

He is also arguing that the Taleban pose no direct threat to the US and therefore no more troops should be dispatched there and that, even if large swathes of the country fall under Taleban control, they will not provide an already weakened al-Qaeda with safe havens, as they did before the September 11 attacks. Continue Reading →

Butt Bomb Bears Bitter Berries

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“This one scares the crap out of me” – Tundra Tabloids

“What a shitty situation” – Vlad Tepes

H/T AA

From Der Spiegel:

Airport Security Concerns

France Warns of New Terror Threat From ‘Body Bombs’

A German police officer armed with a submachine gun at Frankfurt Airport.

Zoom
AP

A German police officer armed with a submachine gun at Frankfurt Airport.

The French intelligence service has warned of a new terrorism threat from suicide bombers carrying in-body explosives that can’t be detected by standard airport screening. The method was used in a failed attempt to kill the Saudi anti-terrorism chief in August.

French anti-terrorism experts have warned that suicide bombers carrying explosives inside their bodies pose a new threat to air traffic, French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Monday.

Standard metal detectors at airports can’t detect in-body explosives and full X-ray screening would be needed to spot them — a costly measure that would entail health risks for frequent flyers. The fear is that terrorists could detonate explosives on board a pressurized plane, when only a small explosion would suffice to bring it down.

The method was first used in an al-Qaida attack on the Saudi anti-terrorism chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in late August. The 23-year-old terrorist, Abdullah Hassan al-Asiri, got through security checks with explosives in his rectum and detonated them during a meeting with the prince. A mobile phone was used to trigger the bomb. The prince was only slightly injured because al-Asiri’s body absorbed most of the detonation and was ripped apart. Continue Reading →

Al-Qaeda inspired groups still active in Canada: report

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0603pic7The National Post… A secret government list of the country’s top terrorist threats says al-Qaeda-inspired extremists remain active in Canada and are willing and able to carry out attacks.

“AQ’s Islamist extremist ideology continues to inspire individuals in Canada,” says the classified Intelligence Assessment. “AQ-inspired groups and individuals present a threat of terrorist attack in Canada.”

The report indicates that, long after police arrested 18 suspects around Toronto for allegedly plotting “al-Qaeda-inspired” shootings and bombings, such extremists remain a central security concern.

Three terrorist groups are named in the report, titled “Canada: Bi-Annual Update on the Threat from Terrorists and Extremists.” Dated last November, the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre report was only recently released under the Access to Information Act.

Aside from al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda inspired groups, the document names Hezbollah and notes its leader Hassan Nasrallah has threatened to avenge last year’s assassination of its military chief Imad Mugniyah. But the report says Hezbollah “has never attacked a target in Canada” and that “Hezbollah in Canada is primarily structured for fundraising.” Continue Reading →

Taliban Claims Pakistan U.N. Agency Attack

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Militants Say Suicide Bomber Hit World Food Program Because Relief Work Not in “the Interest of Muslims”

In other words if Muslims see the kuffar, the infidel, doing good works it makes them question their hatred for all things Western or American.

CBS NEWS…Taliban militants claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. food agency’s heavily fortified compound in Islamabad, saying international relief work in Pakistan was not in “the interest of Muslims.”

The attack, which killed five workers for the World Food Program on Monday, pushed the U.N. to temporarily close its offices in the country and exposed the vulnerability of many international relief agencies working to provide aid to millions of civilians affected by the fight between the government and Islamic militant groups.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik accused the Taliban of carrying out the attack to avenge the Aug. 5 slaying of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. drone attack.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the bombing in a phone conversation with The Associated Press and lashed out at foreign aid workers here.

“We proudly claim the responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N. office in Islamabad. We will send more bombers for such attacks,” he said. “The U.N. and other foreign (aid groups) are not working for the interest of Muslims. We are watching their activities. They are infidels.”

He added that the Taliban would not target Muslim relief groups. Continue Reading →

‘A grenade launcher in every house’

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Khadr says “basic weapons training, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and how to detonate explosives, were part of the “Muslim culture”

A 2005 file photo of Abdullah Khadr and his mother Maha Elsamnah Khadr

A 2005 file photo of Abdullah Khadr and his mother Maha Elsamnah Khadr

Toronto Star… An Ontario court heard this morning about how Abdullah Khadr, who is fighting extradition to the United States on terrorism charges, attended a training camp as a teenager where he learned to use a rocket launcher and detonate explosive material.

The 28-year-old member of the infamous Khadr family took the stand for the first time to testify in his own defence, recounting his years spent living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Crown Howard Piafsky tried to link Khadr to his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, a reputed Canadian Al Qaeda financier and friend of Osama bin Laden. The patriarch moved his family overseas to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was involved in charitable projects.

Khadr, who admitted having a close relationship with his father before he was killed by Pakistani forces in 2003, denied any knowledge of his father’s ideologies. He also told Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer that he had no knowledge about allegations that his father diverted funds from charitable projects toward Al Qaeda.

When testifying about a three-month camp he attended when he was about 13 or 14, Khadr explained that learning about basic weapons training, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and how to detonate explosives, were part of the “Muslim culture” and part of growing up in Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan is not Canada, it’s a country that’s been going through war,” said the Canadian-born Khadr, who grew up moving between Canada, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“When you go fishing, you fish with a bomb, you don’t fish with a fishing rod.”

Learning how to use a grenade or rocket launcher is part of growing up there, he said, adding, “if you live in Afghanistan or Pakistan, a grenade launcher is in every house… It’s something everyone has.” Continue Reading →

Yemen the “New Big Magnet” for al Qaeda

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Saeed Sankar and others inside a court cage react as a state security court in San’a, Yemen handed down death sentences to six al Qaeda militants convicted for a number of deadly attacks on Western targets last year, on Monday, July 13, 2009

Saeed Sankar and others inside a court cage react as a state security court in San’a, Yemen handed down death sentences to six al Qaeda militants convicted for a number of deadly attacks on Western targets last year, on Monday, July 13, 2009

CBS News… Hundreds of hardcore Arab fighters loyal to al Qaeda have fled the Afghanistan-Pakistan region this year, heading mainly to Yemen to bolster an Islamist insurgency targeting oil-rich Saudi Arabia, according to Arab, Pakistani and Western officials who spoke to CBS News.

The implications of such a buildup in Yemen are profound not only for the stability of Saudi Arabia — the birthplace of Islam and home to the holiest of Islamic shrines — but for the world’s dependence upon a continued flow of petroleum from the largest known oil reserves.

For years, Western intelligence officials have believed that Osama bin Laden would eventually aim to destabilize Saudi Arabia, his own birth place. Bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan in the 1980s to join the U.S.-led and Saudi-supported “jihad” (or holy war) against the Soviet occupation. While Soviet troops withdrew in 1989, large numbers of Arab volunteer fighters remained in Afghanistan.

“The trend is very, very clear,” one Western diplomat based in Islamabad told CBS News on condition of anonymity. “There is no question about Arab members of al Qaeda increasingly seeking ways to travel to Yemen.

“Some have been arrested along this route,” said the official, who refused to name the countries in which arrests have taken place, or the number of people arrested.

A senior Pakistani official who spoke to CBS News confirmed that Arab militants linked to al Qaeda were heading to Yemen in growing numbers. The Pakistani official claimed the militants had traveled to Yemen via Iran, using remote locations along the southern Iranian coast to discretely board fishing vessels. Continue Reading →

Billions in U.S. Aid Never Reached Pakistan Army

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FOX NEWS… ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —  The United States has long suspected that much of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes, such as fighting India.

Now the scope and longevity of the misuse is becoming clear: Between 2002 and 2008, while Al Qaeda regrouped, only $500 million of the $6.6 billion in American aid actually made it to the Pakistani military, two army generals tell The Associated Press.

The account of the generals, who asked to remain anonymous because military rules forbid them from speaking publicly, was backed up by other retired and active generals, former bureaucrats and government ministers.

At the time of the siphoning, Pervez Musharraf, a Washington ally, served as both chief of staff and president, making it easier to divert money intended for the military to bolster his sagging image at home through economic subsidies.

“The army itself got very little,” said retired Gen. Mahmud Durrani, who was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. under Musharraf. “It went to things like subsidies, which is why everything looked hunky-dory. The military was financing the war on terror out of its own budget.” 

Generals and ministers say the diversion of the money hurt the military in very real ways:

—Helicopters critical to the battle in rugged border regions were not available. At one point in 2007, more than 200 soldiers were trapped by insurgents in the tribal regions without a helicopter lift to rescue them.

—The limited night vision equipment given to the army was taken away every three months for inventory and returned three weeks later.

—Equipment was broken, and training was lacking. It was not until 2007 that money was given to the Frontier Corps, the front-line force, for training.

The details on misuse of American aid come as Washington again promises Pakistan money. Legislation to triple general aid to Pakistan cleared Congress last week. The legislation also authorizes “such sums as are necessary” for military assistance to Pakistan, upon several conditions. The conditions include certification that Pakistan is cooperating in stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, that Pakistan is making a sustained commitment to combating terrorist groups and that Pakistan security forces are not subverting the country’s political or judicial processes. Continue Reading →

Thirty ‘high-risk’ terrorists to be released early

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British court thinks punishing Muslim terrorists might make them more dangerous.

TIMESONLINE… UP to 30 “high-risk” terrorists — including some of the most dangerous men in Britain — are due to be released from jail in the next year.

More are being freed in the wake of a ruling by Britain’s most senior judges that long sentences for terrorist crimes could “inflame” rather than deter extremism.

An analysis of appeal court cases shows that of the 26 terrorism cases it has heard, 25 have led to men with terrorism convictions having their sentences reduced.

Others are being released because they serve only part of their term. In response, Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said the Tories were considering longer sentences for terrorists.

The leniency of the British appeal court to some convicted terrorists contrasts with America where they can be locked up for their whole lives.One man designated “high risk” and due to be freed soon is Andrew Rowe, a Muslim convert who was found guilty of having notes on how to fire mortar bombs.

Rowe was sentenced to 15 years in 2005. He is due to be freed next April after his sentence was reduced to 10 years. Others who have had their sentences cut include some of those who helped the failed suicide bombers of July 21, 2005 and two of those convicted of soliciting murder during the Danish cartoons protest.

The sentences were reduced after a key ruling in July 2008 by Lord Phillips, then the lord chief justice, and two other senior judges, who reduced Abdul Rahman’s sentence from six to 5½ years following his guilty plea for disseminating a terrorist publication.

Rahman, a key Al-Qaeda player, recruited disaffected Muslims from northern England to fight British troops in Afghanistan.

The judges stated: “Care has to be taken to ensure that the sentence was not disproportionate to the facts of the particular offences. If sentences were imposed which were more severe than the circumstances of the particular case warranted, that would be likely to inflame rather than deter extremism.” This was the green light for further sentence reductions in subsequent terrorist appeals.

Harry Fletcher, of the probation service union Napo, said: “Due to the extraordinary number of successful appeals, scores more terrorists will be released. Every single one that comes out will have to be supervised until their full sentence expires.”

Germany arrests al-Qaeda suspect

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BBC News… A German-Turkish citizen is being held in Germany on suspicion of preparing explosive devices and posting al-Qaeda propaganda on the internet, police say.

They said the 24-year-old, named only as Adnan V, was arrested on Thursday.

A small amount of explosives and a suspected detonator were also seized in two police raids in the Frankfurt area.

The suspect was not immediately linked to videos that emerged ahead of last Sunday’s elections threatening al-Qaeda attacks within Germany.

Those videos, made by al-Qaeda’s media production arm, warned of an impending attack within two weeks of the elections if German troops were not withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Germany has some 4,000 troops based in northern Afghanistan.

Some 35 have died and a recent poll showed 55% of Germans wanted a pullout.

The videos prompted heightened security measures in Germany’s tourist spots, airports and main train stations.

Another slap on the wrist for terrorist in Canada

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 Ali Mohamed Dirie [far left in court art picture] and his family [masked gang] are allowed to hide amongst us because they are Muslim.

mohamed1220Ali Mohamed Dirie's family. Masked gangToronto Star… A Scarborough man whose role in the so-called Toronto 18 was to supply it with firepower so the group could launch a deadly terror attack in downtown Toronto was sentenced in a Brampton court on Friday to seven years.

Ali Mohamed Dirie was given credit of five years in pre-trial custody, meaning he will have to serve an additional two years. The Somali-born man will be eligible for parole in one year.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty last week to participating in the activities of a terrorist group and confessed he had obtained handguns and ammunition knowing they were for the group’s alleged ringleader.

While delivering his sentence, Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno said he believed Dirie’s “moral culpability is high.”

“Terrorism offences strike at the heart of Canadian values and society,” Durno told the court, as Dirie’s mother, brother and cousin sat expressionless.

Durno also ordered Dirie submit a DNA sample, and be prohibited from handling firearms for life.

In a joint submission, the Crown and defence had suggested a seven-year sentence. However, they disagreed on how much credit he deserved for the time he has already spent behind bars. Crown prosecutor Clyde Bond proposed Dirie serve two more years, while defence lawyer Robert Nuttall suggested that he be released.

After the sentencing, Nuttall told reporters that he and his client’s family were satisfied with the judge’s ruling.

“Mr Dirie, I can say, profoundly regrets and is extremely remorseful for the means adopted in advancing his beliefs,” said Nuttall, explaining that “maturity” had helped his client see the errors of his ways.

The terror plot first surfaced in 2005, when Dirie and a co-accused were stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in a rented vehicle while attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into the country.

Officers found two loaded handguns on Dirie and bullets in his socks, court heard.

While Dirie was serving a two-year sentence for gun smuggling, other members of the alleged homegrown terror cell pushed forward with their plot, which they hoped would prompt the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan.

Some in the group attended a so-called terrorist training camp in December 2005 and others pushed ahead with an explosives plot targeting the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto offices of Canada’s spy agency and an unidentified military base off Highway 401.

In June 2006, police busted up the alleged homegrown terror cell after members purchased three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer destined for truck bombs.

Dirie, who was already in jail, was charged with terror-related offences in 2006, along with 13 other adults and four youths.

Court heard that even after he was incarcerated on gun smuggling charges, he continued to play an important role in the group.

During a March 2006 intercepted telephone conversation from jail with the alleged ringleader, whose name is covered by a publication ban, Dirie was described as “a major asset to the circle.”

According to wiretapped calls, Dirie was trying to find jailhouse connections who could supply fake passports guns for the group.

During their phone conversations, Dirie and the alleged ringleader used code words such as “wives” and “girls” and “black chicks” for firearms, and “food” for ammunition.

Court heard that while in jail, Dirie received a package of books and CDs dubbed a “Qur’an kit,” which contained hidden violent videos of attacks and bombings of military personnel. He was also actively recruiting inmates to adopt hardcore jihadist beliefs.

Although specific details such as terrorism targets were not revealed in these conversations, the calls formed the basis of the Crown’s case against Dirie and prompted his guilty plea, the court was told.

Bond said it was clear Dirie intended to play a role once he was released on parole in May 2006, after serving time on his gun smuggling conviction.

Bond argued that Dirie continued to foster terrorism behind bars by trying to recruit other inmates to his extremist views, which Dirie admitted to doing.

However, Nuttall argued that his client had changed his extremist views and while he was still opposed to the military presence in Afghnaistan, he understood that using violence to bring about change was wrong.

Dirie was the second person to plead guilty. Saad Khalid and Saad Gaya also pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause an explosion. Last year, Nishanthan Yogakrishan was found guilty.

Seven more await trial.

Saudi Arabia, Funding jihad

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Link: Funding Jihad - Saudi Arabia

I love the $350,000,000 bottle opener prince Aloweed built in Riyadh. Someone should really tell him about the invention of the twist top though.