Daily Terrorist Round-Up 4/19/05 (AQ Linked Group in Algeria to Surrender en masse)

'Militants want amnesty' (AQ linked group in Algeria)

Algiers - Some 400 armed Islamist militants in Algeria are prepared to lay down their weapons if the government passes an amnesty to end 13 years of civil strife, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday.

"Around 400 armed militants, or more than 95% of the terrorist elements still present in the field," are ready to give themselves up, the head of the National Commission for a General Amnesty (CNAG), Abderrezak Smail, told the Expression newspaper.

The CNAG, a prominent lobby group, has been "in direct contact with terrorist groups, who have ceased all subversive activity for several months, while they wait for the president to decree a general amnesty," Smail said.

Any militants who refused to surrender under such an amnesty would be viewed as "bandits" and would be dealt with accordingly by the security forces in the troubled north African country, he added.

Last month, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika raised the possibility of a national referendum on a general amnesty, but the idea has met with strong resistance in some quarters of Algerian society.

The CNAG, whose president of honour is former head of state Ahmed Ben Bella, campaigns in a semi-official capacity to back Bouteflika's amnesty proposal, which would extend to both sides in the low-level war against armed Islamic fundamentalists that has claimed 150 000 lives in Algeria since 1992.

The insurgents rose up in arms soon after the army intervened, in January 1992, to call off the second round of a parliamentary election the subsequently outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.

The war reached its murderous heights in the 1990s when bomb attacks and massacres of civilians were frequent.

A movement called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) is the only insurgent group still active, with an estimated 300 to 500 members.

About 50 people, including about 15 security force members, have been killed in violence involving armed Islamist groups since the beginning of last month, according to a toll compiled using official figures and media reports.

SV-This is a huge win in a country that, along with Morocco has supplied many, if not most, of the terrorists that have been active in Europe.

Suspected Taliban Rebels Killed in Afghanistan

A firefight between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban rebels left at least eight militants dead in a remote mountain region of southern Afghanistan today, officials said.

Eleven other Taliban fighters were captured in the fighting in Zabul province, including Chechens and Arabs, said a spokesman for the governor.

The spokesman, Ali Khail, said the US military provided air support for the Afghan forces, and that some of the captured militants were turned over to US custody. He said a local Taliban commander named Mullah Abdullah may have been among those killed, but that there was no confirmation of his death.

A spokeswoman for the American military, Lt. Cindy Moore, said she had received no reports of fighting in the area involving US forces. The region is extremely remote, and there was no way to immediately reconcile the two stories.

In another incident, suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers in southwestern Oruzgan province, sparking a one-hour firefight, Governor Jan Mohammed Khan told The Associated Press.

Two Taliban were killed in the fighting yesterday, and Afghan soldiers arrested a regional Taliban commander named Mullah Allah Noor. The other militants escaped into the mountains.

Meanwhile, the US military said today one of its CH-47 helicopters operating in the south made a “precautionary landing” near Kandahar after developing a mechanical problem. Moore said there were no injuries in the incident, which occurred early yesterday, and that the helicopter was repaired on site.

A rapid reaction force was sent out to bring the soldiers on board safely back to base. Moore had no details on how many soldiers were on the helicopter when it was forced to land.

The military today also said an investigation into a weekend explosion that destroyed five fuel tankers parked outside its main base in southern Afghanistan has found it was an accident, not the result of a Taliban attack.

At least three drivers were injured in the incident early yesterday, and Afghan officials were quick to blame Taliban rebels.

Moore said the blast, which sent plumes of black smoke billowing over Kandahar, was caused by “faulty fuel tanks.”

She said military investigators determined that the blast originated inside one of the trucks, not outside.

“More than likely it was some type of problem with the tank,” she said.

Maj. Michael Hicks, an explosive ordnance control team commander, said that transporting fuel is “a risky business.”

“No evidence of any kind has been found that indicates the incident was the result of an attack or an improvised explosive device,” he said in a statement. “There are no components or items that we would associate with such things.”

The explosion took place while Pakistani and Afghan drivers were waiting to deliver fuel to the US base at Kandahar airport.

Tight security measures mean long waits for drivers delivering fuel to US bases in Afghanistan.

Seven gunmen of Basayev gang destroyed in Chechnya

GROZNY, April 15(Itar-Tass) - - Seven gunmen from the Shamil Basayev gang have been destroyed in Chechnya’s Vedeno region.

As Major-General Ilya Shabalkin, a representative of the Regional Operational Headquarters for directing the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, told Itar-Tass, a major base of gunmen was discovered in the Vedeno region four kilometres to the east of the village Dyshne-Vedeno. While approaching it, a unit of federal forces was fired on from small arms.

“An artillery strike was delivered on the gathering of bandits. According to preliminary data, seven bandits were killed, some of them, including those who got injuries, managed to escape,” Shabalkin said.

Two Insurgents Detained (Excerpted)

U.S. soldiers on patrol today located an insurgent observation point in the Abu Ghraib market area and discovered two improvised-explosive-device initiators during a search of the site.

Also today, Task Force Liberty soldiers found two artillery rounds and additional fuel in the trunk of an abandoned vehicle along a highway northwest of Jalula, in eastern Diyala province. The vehicle was destroyed in place.

In operations over the weekend, Task Force Baghdad soldiers operating on a tip from an Iraqi teenager April 16 discovered a safe house used by anti-Iraqi forces in western Baghdad. The soldiers took one alleged terrorist into custody.

Inside the safe house, soldiers also found two sets of U.S. desert camouflage uniforms, one rocket-propelled-grenade sight and terrorist propaganda. The suspected terrorist was detained and questioned at the site before being taken to an internment facility for further questioning.

"It has taken six months to develop a rapport with the people in our area. This is just an example of how people are starting to feel safe and secure enough to provide us with information,” Army Capt. Aaron Duplechin, commander of Company A, 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat Team, said in discussing the tip that led to the capture.

Later the same day, another terrorist suspect was apprehended when Task Force Baghdad soldiers at a checkpoint observed a hand-grenade explosion. Upon investigating the incident, the soldiers found an Iraqi man who first tried to flee, then later became violent when apprehended. The man tested positive for explosives residue and was taken to an internment facility.

RP, MILF open peace talks

FORT DICKSON, Malaysia: Peace talks on ending a three-decade-old Muslim separatist insurgency in Mindanao opened Monday in Malaysia, with the rebels and the Philippine government saying they are hopeful of progress despite the tough agenda.

The three-day talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are being held behind closed doors in Port Dickson, a town south of Kuala Lumpur. Host Malaysia, which is brokering the talks, has barred journalists from entering the venue.

Officials have said the talks deal with ancestral domain, which refers to the cultural rights and property of ethnic Muslim tribes and management of natural resources—some of the thorniest issues to be addressed by the two sides.

“This is the first of many meetings on the question of ancestral domain. These talks are still exploratory in nature,” said a joint written statement by Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief peace negotiator, and Silvestere Afable, the government representative.

“We are exploring each others’ positions. This is a very tough agenda but we are very hopeful of progress,” said the statement, released through the Malaysian hosts.

The MILF, which has been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the mostly Roman Catholic Philippines for about 30 years, signed a July 2003 cease-fire ahead of Malaysia-brokered peace talks.

The 20-month-old truce has largely held despite isolated clashes, and the two sides have held informal talks in the past, culminating in the first formal talks that began Monday.

The MILF, which the Philippine military says has about 11,500 guerrillas with about 8,700 firearms, has been dogged by accusations that it is sheltering operatives of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah.

The rebels, however, have condemned terrorism, denied any links to the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah and offered one of their camps for inspection by the military. The group has also pledged to help the government hunt down foreign extremists.

Malaysia has a huge stake in a peaceful settlement of the rebellion in Mindanao because tens of thousands of Filipinos have been fleeing into Sabah, Malaysia, for years to escape the fighting.

TERRORIST GROUP HEAD SURRENDERS IN CHECHNYA

GROZNY, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - A head of one of the terrorist groups under the command of Shamil Basayev has given himself up to the Chechen law enforcement authorities. This was disclosed in a message by the region HQ for the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.

Refraining from disclosing the name of the terrorist, law enforcers, however, reported that born in 1975, he was the so-called emir of the Vedensky district's Kharachoi village.

The terrorist said that his group totaling nine people is also ready to surrender. However, the militants are waiting for a decision to be taken with regard to their commander. Although all of them realize that criminal proceedings can be initiated against them for participation in illegal armed formations, they decided to go out of Basayev's control.

Another terrorist, who was a member of the terrorist group that operated in Grozny's Oktyabrsky district from December 1999 through March 2000, has surrendered to law enforcers.

Both terrorists are being questioned, the HQ's message says. (SV-I'll bet they wish they were only getting the "panties on the head" torture.)

In the course of a special operation a terrorist base has been destroyed in the Vedensky district, with seven terrorists killed, according to preliminary information.

The base, consisting of several dug-outs, tents and first-aid rooms, was spotted four kilometers to the east of the Dyshne-Vedeno village. On the approaches to the village the unit of federal forces came under fire from small arms. The federal forces unit responded with shellfire. Some of the terrorist, including several wounded ones, managed to escape.

The federal forces have detained a terrorist contact, resident of Dyshne-Vedeno, in the Vedensky district, the regional HQ reports.

The contact was identified as a member of Rizvan Bachagayev's (killed in 2003) terrorist group and supplied fighters with food and informed them about federal forces' movement.

The detainee has been confined in a temporary detention center. Investigation is under way.

ANSAR AL-ISLAM FOUNDER FACES EXTRADICTION TO IRAQ (Norway)

Oslo, 19 April (AKI) - Norway's judiciary has indicated that it intends to hand over the founder of the terror group Ansar al-Islam - who currently lives in Norway - to magistrates in Baghdad, provided they receive guarantees he will not be executed. Najeddin Faraj Ahmad, an Iraqi Kurd, also known as Mullah Krekar, obtained political asylum in Norway in 1991, but the Iraqi authorities claim he has continued to lead Ansar al-Islam.

"Once this obstacle [of Ahmad's possible execution] has been removed by guarantees from Iraq's new government, his extradition will be immediate," a source within the Oslo magistrates' court told Adnkronos International (AKI). In a recent interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Iraq's interim justice minister Mailk Duhan al-Hasan said: "There is no proof of Mullah Krekar's involvement in terrorism." "The Iraqi judiciary is independent, and will not punish somebody solely because they show solidarity with an armed organisation, or because they oppose the occupation," al-Hasan added.

The Iraqi government has requested Ahmad's extradition on the basis of a warrant from magistrates in the Kurdish-held province of Suleymaniya, who accuse him of human rights abuses in several villages along the border with Iran.

Ansar al-Islam, founded in 2001, is one of a number of Sunni Islamist groups based in the Kurdish-controlled northern provinces of Iraq. It was initially formed under the name Jund al-Islam by a break-away group from the Islamist Movement of Kurdistan. Subsequently renamed Ansar al-Islam (the faithful of Islam), its bases are in and around the villages of Biyara and Tawela, which lie northeast of the town of Halabja in the Hawraman region of of Suleymaniya.

Ansar al-Islam is characterised by its aversion to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), party of the new Iraqi president, the Kurd Jalal Talabani. According to some observers, it is no coincidence that the new extradition request for Ahmad comes on the heels of Talabani's appointment earlier this month.

The PUK and and security services from a number of countries around the world have long stressed the connection between Ansar al-Islam and groups headed by Al-Qaeda's number one operative in Iraq, the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. When Ahmad became head of Ansar al-Islam in 2001, he had just returned from Afghanistan, where he had trained in several al-Qaeda camps.

According to a 2003 study carried out by Washington's Middle East Institute, al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden tasked Ahmad in 2001 with creating a base for the terror network in northern Iraq. Ansar al-Islam combatants arrested by the PUK have provided credible information on al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, according to Human Rights Watch.

Documents found at Kurdish bases in Tawila would seem to confirm the existence of links between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda. Ansar al-Islam is on the US government's list of terrorist organisations, as well as the European Union's. Ahmad travelled widely in the 1990s, and is well-known to many European countries' security services, including those of Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Italy - which he visited many times during the decade.

Italian investigators claim to have proof of the links between al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam, and claim the latter enabled bin Laden to gain a foothold in Iraq. "We have found documents that confirm the links between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda," the Italian magistrate Stefano Dambruoso told an Australian TV network. In May, 2004, Italian police said they dismantled an Ansar al-Islam cell suspected of planning suicide attacks against Western targets in Iraq. They arrested an Algerian imam and four Tunisians following a series of raids in Florence and the province of Liguria.

Ansar Al-Isam first made headlines in September 2001 when it ambushed and killed 42 PUK fighters. In February 2002, the group assassinated Franso Hariri, a Kurdish Christian politician. In July 2002, it killed nine more PUK fighters and destroyed several Sufi shrines, a move reminiscent of the Taliban. Ansar al-Islam claimed to have killed a further 103 PUK fighters and wounded 117 in December 2002.

Some Bush administration and PUK officials claimed that Ansar al-Islam has established chemical weapons facilities in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran supports the group by allowing it to operate along its borders, and may also provide it with logistical support, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Terror suspect loses appeal against extradition

BERLIN - A Syrian-born German who is accused of being Osama bin Laden's business associate in Germany lost a second appeal on Monday against extradition to Spain to face grave terrorism charges.

Mamoun Darkazanli, a Hamburg trader who was accused of dealings with al-Qaeda soon after the 11 September 2001 attacks but was not detained because of a lack of evidence, was arrested last October at Spain's request.

Judges in Hamburg have said that his business dealings since 1997 in Spain, Germany and Britain helped the terror network. He is alleged for example to have helped bin Laden purchase a freighter.

In a three-pronged legal challenge, Darkanzali's lawyers have now
lost their case before a Hamburg appeals court and an appeal to an administrative tribunal in Berlin. They went to the capital to argue that the federal government broke the law with an extradition order.

Darkanzali has argued that his constitutional rights as a German citizen bar his extradition. But the tribunal disagreed on Monday.

A court spokesman said Darkanzali still cannot be extradited until an appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe is decided. Darkanzali's lawyers may also decide to appeal the Berlin decision to a higher administrative tribunal.

Spain accuses Darkanzali, who married a German woman and reportedly traded goods by telephone from his apartment in an inner- city district of Hamburg, of being a member of a terrorist organisation, a charge with a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.

Moussaoui Will Plead Guilty To Role In 9/11
By Sher Zieve

It was announced Tuesday that French-Moroccan al-Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui will plead guilty to his role in the 9/11 attacks. Two weeks ago, Moussaoui sent a one-page letter to the judge and prosecutors handling his case that he plans to plead guilty to the charges against him.

Moussaoui’s lawyers have requested that their client’s latest pleading attempt be thrown out, as was his attempt to plead guilty in 2002, arguing that this is a “naïve” attempt by Moussaoui to gain a Supreme Court hearing. However, SCOTUS declined to hear Moussaoui’s case in March. The Washington Post reports that if the judge finds Moussaoui mentally competent, he could enter his latest plea by next week.

Iraqi Kurd goes on trial in Germany for supporting insurgents

MUNICH, Germany, April 19 (AFP) - 12h47 - The trial of an Iraqi Kurd charged with supporting Islamic insurgents and helping a leading extremist to get medical treatment in Britain was adjourned for six weeks shortly after opening here on Tuesday.

The trial of Lokman Amin Mohammed, 31, is the first in Germany of a suspect accused of terrorist activities in a foreign country.

Mohammed faces charges of providing financial and logistical support to the extremist group Ansar al-Islam.

He is also accused of helping at least seven insurgents from Iraq to come to Europe, including a badly injured high-ranking Ansar al-Islam official for whom he managed to arrange treatment in Britain.

Prosecutors say Mohammed also arranged medical supplies for insurgents fighting in Iraq.

He was arrested in the southern city of Munich in December 2003 on a people smuggling charge before investigators began to look deeper into his alleged activities.

He had come to Germany in 2000, had valid residency papers and was employed on the production line of carmaker BMW.

The defence asked the judges in the Munich court to adjourn to allow them more time to study documents which had recently come to light in a separate investigation.

The trial will not resume before May 31.

8 Suspected Taliban Killed in Afghanistan
The Guardian / AP ^ | 4/19/05 | PAUL HAVEN

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1386599/posts
Posted on 04/19/2005 8:48:57 AM CDT by Valin

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. and Afghan forces conducting a sweep in a mountainous area south of the capital exchanged fierce fire with suspected Taliban rebels, killing eight and capturing 16 in some of the heaviest fighting in months, officials said Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the American military, Lt. Cindy Moore, confirmed that American air and ground forces were involved in the battle Monday in the mountains of southern Zabul province, and that a U.S. helicopter that developed mechanical problems was forced to make a ``precautionary landing.'' She said there were no American casualties and the helicopter quickly returned to base.

A spokesman in the Zabul governor's office, Ali Khail, said Chechens and Arabs were among the eight people killed and 16 captured. Khail also said the U.S. military provided air support for the Afghan forces, and that some of the captured militants were turned over to U.S. custody. Khail said a local Taliban commander named Mullah Abdullah may have been among those killed, but that there was no confirmation of his death.

In another clash, suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers in southwestern Oruzgan province, sparking a one-hour firefight, Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan told The Associated Press. Two Taliban were killed in the fighting Sunday, and Afghan soldiers arrested a regional Taliban commander named Mullah Allah Noor. The other militants escaped into the mountains.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Monday that one of its CH-47 helicopters operating in the south made a ``precautionary landing'' near Kandahar after developing a mechanical problem. Moore said there were no injuries in the incident, which occurred early Sunday, and that the helicopter was repaired on site. A rapid reaction force was sent out to bring the soldiers on board safely back to base. Moore had no details on how many soldiers were on the helicopter when it was forced to land.

I'm not sure if this is the same guy but if it is than indeed it is a big catch.

In addition to Nek Mohammad and four tribesmen, three foreign suspects also died in the Thursday night attack near Wana, military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. "Eight people were killed in the attack, including Nek (Mohammad) and three foreigners," Maj-Gen Sultan told AFP. Intelligence officials said a satellite phone conversation involving Nek Mohammad had helped pinpoint the house where the militants were staying, which was then struck by a laser-guided missile. The situation in South Waziristan "is fully under control of the security forces," Maj-Gen Sultan said when asked if there were any fears of a tribal backlash over the killing.
Our correspondent adds from Wana: A relative calm prevailed over the South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday as local militants debated over who would suceed Nek Mohammad.
Sources here said that the people likely to suceed Nek Mohammad, included his first cousin, Allah Noor, and another of his relative, Khan Mohammad Yargulkhel. Both men are in their early 40s and have been associated with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

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