Posted on 03/16/2005 2:09:30 PM PST by Straight Vermonter
Six in France are guilty in plot to bomb U.S. Embassy Excerpted
By Sebastian Rotella
Los Angeles Times
PARIS - A French court convicted six Islamic militants Tuesday of conspiring to bomb the U.S. Embassy here, culminating a lengthy and labyrinthine case involving a European terror network linked to key al-Qaida members.
The three-judge panel sentenced the French Algerian ringleader of the Paris-based cell, Djamel Beghal, to the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for terrorist conspiracy. His lieutenant, computer expert Kamel Daoudi, received a nine-year sentence. Two suspects were sentenced to six-year terms and the others received three and one-year terms.
The verdict was a victory for Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the dean of France's anti-terror magistrates, who opened the investigation of the embassy plot on Sept. 10, 2001, amid increasing concern here about the threat of Islamic terrorists. Al-Qaida's attacks the next day on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon sent European investigators into high gear: Police in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain quickly rounded up suspects in the embassy plot, aborting longtime surveillances in hopes of preventing new attacks.
Six militants neutralized in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia
GROZNY, March 15 (Itar-Tass) - Police in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia have detained five militants and killed one in the course of security sweeps carried out on Monday, a source at the headquarters of the federal forces in the North Caucasus region told Tass on Tuesday.
He said one of the militants was detained in the village of Engel-Yurt, Chechnya’s Gudermes district. According to police information, the man had taken part in the armed attack on police and civilians in the village of Ishkhoi-Yurt.
“A local resident detained in the Dagestani town of Khasavyurt was a member of a bandit formation and participated in raids in the Novolakskaya district and in neighboring Chechnya,” he said.
A joint group of Chechen and Ingush police on Monday detained two residents of Grozny in the village of Nesterovskaya on suspicion of robberies of residents in the Chechen capital’s Staropromyslovski district.
In the course of a sweep carried out in the village Assinovskaya, Chechnya’s Sunzha district, police killed a militant who earlier participated in the attack on the Sunzha district police headquarters on March 4. One policeman was killed and 18 others wounded in that attack.
“During the detention attempt the militant put up armed resistance and was killed,” the source said.
Pakistan detains another Musharraf plot suspect
Source: al-Reuters
ISLAMABAD, March 15 (Reuters) - Pakistani security agencies have arrested a member of an outlawed militant group suspected of involvement in a December 2003 attempt to kill President Pervez Musharraf, an intelligence official said on Tuesday.
Mufti Eid Muhammad, a member of the banned Sunni Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was arrested in Lahore about three weeks ago, said the official, who asked not to be named.
He said Muhammad was a bomb expert believed to have helped plant explosives under a bridge in the garrison city of Rawalpindi which were detonated on Dec. 14, 2003, seconds after Musharraf's motorcade passed over it.
Musharraf, a key ally of Washington in its war on terrorism, survived another attack in Rawalpindi, this time by suicide bombers, just 11 days later.
The intelligence official said that under interrogation Muhammad had also confessed to bombing a bridge on Jan. 3, 1999, which then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been due to cross.
Pakistani authorities have arrested scores of people in connection with the attacks on Musharraf, including members of the armed forces. Musharraf has blamed the attacks on al Qaeda.
Last December, a military court convicted an army non-commissioned officer and a private of involvement in the first attempt.
The military has said up to four low-ranking army personnel and six low-rank air force personnel were on trial in connection with this bombing, but details have not been made public.
In January, a junior-rank member of the air force escaped from military detention after being convicted of involvement in the bridge bombing.
Among those held in connection with the second attempt on Musharraf's life were several members of another al Qaeda-linked militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Al Qaeda-linked militants, angered at Musharraf's support for the war on terror and moves towards peace with India, have carried out a spate of attacks on Pakistani leaders as well as Western targets and minorities in the past three years.
Two militants among 3 killed, 27 injured in J&K
Srinagar, Mar 16 (UNI) Three people, including two militants, were killed and 27 others wounded, while security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including RDX, in Jammu and Kashmir overnight.
An official spokesman said a blast ripped through a sweet shop at city chowk Rajouri this afternoon injuring 28 people.
The injured were admitted to hospital where a persons -- Munawar Hussain -- died.
He said security forces killed a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant in an encounter at Balhama village in Bandipora area of north Kashmir late last night.
The encounter ensued after a search party was attack by the militants. An AK rifle, five UBGL grenades, four hand grenades, one magazine and some rounds were recovered from the slain militant.
Body of another militant was recovered at Nar Gall area in Udhampur district last night.
In another incident, police recovered a live grenade near a crowded bus stand at Iqbal Park last evening.
Security forces raided the house of one Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh at Serigufwara in Anantnag district last night and recovered 2.5 kg RDX, two hand grenade, three detonators, two magazines and 27 rounds.
Sayyaf victims shed no tears
By Jose Katigbak (STAR Washington Bureau)
The Philippine Star 03/17/2005
WASHINGTON — Victims of the Abu Sayyaf are happy that some of its most notorious leaders have been put out of business.
The family of former Abu Sayyaf hostage Gracia Burnham expressed relief yesterday at the outcome of the standoff between Philippine government forces and rioting detainees at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City that led to the killing of three notorious bandit leaders.
"We’re glad these people have been put out of business so no others will suffer what Gracia went through," Paul Burnham told The STAR in a phone interview from Kansas early yesterday.
Burnham, father of Gracia’s late husband Martin, spoke for the family. He said Gracia did not want to make a direct comment "because she does not want to relive those days" at the hands of the Abu Sayyaf.
"We are sad for those killed and the families that loved them but they needed to be brought to justice. We’re glad the Philippine government is doing what it can to rid itself of these terrorists," Paul Burnham said.
American missionary Martin Burnham was killed as government forces battled the Abu Sayyaf hostage takers during a rescue operation in Zamboanga Sibugay on July 2002. Gracia was rescued after almost a year in captivity.
Aside from Martin, among those killed during the rescue mission was Edibora Yap, a nurse who was taken hostage by the bandits in Lamitan town in Basilan.
A South African man held hostage with his wife for four months by the group said the death of the bandit leaders was richly deserved.
In particular, former hostage Callie Strydom referred to Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, who was among those killed by lawmen during the assault last Tuesday.
"He (Andang) probably got the death he was seeking. I suppose in the end he got what was coming to him," said Strydom, who was abducted with his wife on their honeymoon in Sipadan, Malaysia and held for 127 days in 2000.
In Germany, former hostage Renate Wallert recalled that Andang had been "relatively human" toward his captives — "even though he flipped out a few times during the kidnapping."
"I’m too much of a Christian to have wished him death," she said.
Her husband, Werner Wallert, said he felt no pity for Andang.
"Whether he is in prison or dead makes no difference to me anymore," he said.
The Abu Sayyaf had taken the town of Lamitan in Basilan by snatching other residents and using them as human shields against pursuing government troops.
The group was forced to lay siege to the town in an effort to prevent the rescue of the Burnham couple and Guillermo Sobero, another American taken hostage by the bandits along with other tourists from a plush resort in Palawan. Sobero was later beheaded by the bandits.
Yap, on the other hand, was among the locals taken hostage by the bandits.
In Manila, Yap’s elder brother David Pamaran said he had been bitter over the death of her sister ever since.
He said the government should now have a clear and consistent policy in dealing against terror groups like the Abu Sayyaf following the Taguig standoff.
"I cannot give any personal reaction to that because I am one of the complainants (in the death of his sister)," Pamaran said.
"We have experienced many hard things already," he said.
Joel Guillo was also taken hostage by the bandit group during the Lamitan siege on June 2001. He was working as an accounting clerk of the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital when he was taken hostage.
Like other former hostages of the Abu Sayyaf, Guillo has been "relocated" by the government and their whereabouts kept secret under the Witness Protection Program.
Guillo, for his part, expressed his jubilation over the killing of the bandits.
"Masaya din ako dahil sa ginawa nila sa aming mga biktima at nawala na sila. At saka nabawasan na ang mga Abu Sayyaf members," he told The STAR.
Like Guillo, most of the former hostages and relatives of the victims of the Abu Sayyaf felt no remorse about the 22 suspected bandits who were killed by policemen last Tuesday.
Their reactions to the incident were varied even as officials led by Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes said a seven-man fact-finding team is being formed to investigate the incident over possible security lapses.
For one thing, according to Sandra Umali, justice ultimately comes to the bandits in whatever form.
Umali, the mother of a child victim in the bombing of a mall in General Santos City last Dec. 12, 2004, said justice "that comes from heaven is one which is just, fair and equal."
Bong Adam, a Maguindanao businessman whose wife, Ruchma, also died in the bombing felt no remorse for the fate that befell the 22 bandits.
"Mabuti nga ang nangyari sa kanila. At least matatapos na rin ang mga kasamaan nilang ginagawa," Adam told The STAR.
Adam claimed he is even seeking revenge against the Abu Sayyaf for the death of his wife.
"Napakasakit ang sinapit ng asawa ko, magpa-Pasko pa naman. At that time, gusto ko na sanang ipaghiganti pero nag-iisa lang ako," he said.
Gary Canlas, 37-year-old engineer who was among the wounded in the Valentine’s Day bombing attack in General Santos last month, said justice had been meted for the 22 Abu Sayyaf bandits.
"The government only reacted to what the criminals wanted," his wife Belinda told The STAR.
Canlas noted that the bandits had demanded the speedy litigation of their cases while in incarceration.
"They were already given due process as their cases were already litigated but it seems pinaminamadali nila ang kaso. (And so) justice is rendered to (their) innocent victims," she said.
Canlas was all praises for the police in ending the 30-hour siege that began Monday. She quoted her husband as saying the police "did something exceptional for a change" in storming the bandits to end the hostage drama.
A Dominican nun whose convent was ransacked by the Abu Sayyaf during the Lamitan siege said "we can only pray for the forgiveness of their sins and the repose of their souls."
She declined to identify herself since she is involved in community projects in Tuburan and Tipo-Tipo towns, the erstwhile stronghold areas of the Abu Sayyaf. — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, John Unson, Roel Pareño, John Paul Jubelag, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy, AFP
Yep it really says "terrorists convicted in France." I'm shocked!
Six in France are guilty in plot to bomb U.S. Embassy
There's an interesting little book I ran across a while ago about Islamic terrorist in France called
"Inside Al Qaeda"
How I infiltrated the worlds deadliest terrorist orginization
By Mohamed Sifaoui
REVIEW: INSIDE AL QAEDA: How I infiltrated the World’s deadliest terrorist organisation.
By Mohamed Sifaoui. Granta Books, London. 2003. Published in France as Mes “Freres” Assassins by Le Cherche Midi 2003.
http://www.ci-ce-ct.com/Feature%20articles/22-09-2003.asp
Background: February 1996. A sun- drenched spring day in Algiers. A van packed with 300 kg of TNT weaves slowly through the downtown traffic and stops outside Soir d’Algerie newspaper office as Mohamed Sifaoui steps onto the pavement outside the building. His colleague wants to share a joke.
In a flash the office explodes into flames and the air plumes with black smoke and is reduced to a pile of rubble, ashes and dust. Thirty passers-by are dead and in the debris are the bodies of two of his colleagues. Pausing to hear the joke saved his life.
February 2000. Sifaoui is now living in Paris working as a journalist, writer and documentary maker. Covering the trial of two Islamic fundamentalists in Paris he meets Islamic terrorist Karim Bouta [Bourti] a member of the Algerian terrorist group, the GSPC, The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which has pledged to Al Qaeda. Bouta is also ‘covering’ the trials-for operational reasons.
Inside Al Qaeda revolves from that simple twist of fate. In diary form it describes Sifaoiu’s successful penetration of an Al Qaeda cell in Paris from October 2002 to January 2003. The author, an Algerian born Muslim with a common linguistic and cultural background to the terrorists, was able to create a successful ‘legend’ and developed the operational skills to recruit Bouta the key Paris-based Islamic recruiter, fund raiser for international jihad and the keeper of the safe house keys, as an access agent.
What do we learn? From an operational perspective the book offers valuable insights into Islamic terrorist tradecraft but the real value of the book is the author’s phenomenological insights into the terrorist’s consciousness - a consciousness formed by taqiya.
(snip)
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