Free Republic

The police in Queensland are investigating what appears to be terrorist training camps in bushland near Brisbane, after a chance discovery by a family on a bush walk. Several 20-litre drums full of suspected bomb-making ingredients and photos of men in paramilitary uniforms were found buried at the edge of the Enoggera Reservoir, in Brisbane's north-western suburbs. The drums also contained canisters of white powder, weapons, videotapes, maps and food. A Queensland Police task force and bomb-sniffing dogs were called in and police are now analysing the contents of the drums and the powder.

Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, posed as a businessman selling leather goods during trips to New Zealand to raise support for the Al Qaeda terror network, according to media reports. Dr Al-Zawahiri, currently the subject of a manhunt in Pakistan, claimed to have visited New Zealand twice between 1992 and 1996, investigating the country as a safe haven, local media reported. The claims were made public by bin Laden's biographer Hamid Mir in interviews with newspapers in New Zealand and Australia's ABC Enough Rope television, but police said they had no record of the visits. "He came to New...

New Zealand has formally outlawed as terrorists an organisation and 25 individuals with alleged links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, including Indian gangster Dawood Ibrahim. While neither the group nor the individuals had current links to New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark says the move "will serve to deter New Zealanders from becoming inadvertently involved in their activities". The organisation named was Djamat Houmat Daawa Salafia, which Ms Clark described as a splinter group from the Armed Islamic Group with links to Al Qaeda. She said it was "well organised and equipped with military material, having engaged in...