Pakistan Seizes Big Cache of Explosives, Holds Two
7:19 a.m. May 21, 2004 KARACHI, Pakistan – Pakistani police Friday arrested two suspected Islamic militants and seized a large quantity of explosives and bomb-making material from their hide-out in the southern port city of Karachi.
The militants – identified as Gull Rahim and Wasif – belong to the Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami group, said Imran Shaukat, a police official.
Police seized 392 pounds of plastic explosives, 330 pounds of ammonium nitrate and other bomb making material during the raid in western Karachi, Shaukat said.
Police arrested Wednesday a militant from the same group, after a shootout in which the man, Kamran Atif, was wounded. Atif is suspected of being involved in several high-profile attacks, including a failed assassination attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 and a suicide attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis in the same year. Link to Article
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Explosives, Grenades, Ball Razers Seized (Sri Lanka)
by Sarath Malalasekera Police believe a major disaster may have averted following an anonymous telephone call to Grandpass police at midnight Monday, when they discovered a large quantity of high explosives, grenades and ball razers used in the manufacture of claymore mines on the ground above the crude oil pipelines running from the Colombo harbour to the Sapugaskanda oil refinery.
The explosives were packed in two black polythene bags. Investigations are also directed at tracing the origins of the weapons to trace those responsible for placing them.
The detection was made by a special police team led by Reserve Sub Inspector Ajith Peduruarachchi attached to the Grandpass police intelligence division. Investigations directed by Colombo DIG Sirisena Herath conducted by ASP Anton Sirikumar and Chief Inspector D.S. Jayasinghe, OIC Grandpass Police revealed that the weight of the entire explosives detected was 7.650 kilos. These C-4 power high explosives were packed in a black plastic cover and placed above the underground crude oil pipe lines, investigators said.
Police also detected six high powered hand grenades. DIG Herath said with Special Task Force bomb squad assistance, Grandpass police disposed the high powered explosives. Samples of the disposed explosives were sent to the Government Analyst for further investigations, Chief Inspector Jayasinghe said. ASP Anton Sirikumar conducting investigations, said a special intelligence team had been deployed to ascertain whether the explosives were meant for any particular purpose. Link to Article
Terror talk prompts FBI to up alert level
By Dave Copeland
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, May 21, 2004
The FBI increased its internal terrorism alert level this week because of increased chatter among terrorists that has been picked up by intelligence agencies, an official said Thursday.
"We're very worried that within the next six to eight months we're going to get hit again," said FBI Special Agent Kenneth T. McCabe, who oversees the Pittsburgh office of the bureau. McCabe participated in a conference call with FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday to discuss the heightened terror alert level.
McCabe made the disclosure Thursday during a symposium on cyber crime co-sponsored by the FBI and Duquesne University Law School. McCabe said the bureau did not have specific information on whether the threats alluded to a terrorist attack on computer systems or a more traditional terrorist target.
The internal alert level does not refer to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded terror alert level, which is currently "yellow," or "elevated." The terror level was last raised to "orange," or "high," before Christmas.
But the agency has been seeing more intelligence activity, or "chatter," which harkens back to intelligence that was gathered but never acted on prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Somerset County, McCabe said.
"A lot of people were critical of us for not taking more aggressive action prior to 9/11," he said. "That will never happen again."
The time frame of six to eight months covers a period during which both major political parties' national conventions, the G8 summit in Atlanta, the U.S. presidential election and the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, will be held.
"Because of the elections coming up and because the terrorists saw what happened in Spain, our alert was heightened," FBI Special Agent William P. Shore said. "They influenced the outcome of the election. If they want Bush out, which we know they do, they might believe they could influence the outcome of the election with a terrorist attack."
McCabe said some of the information recently gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests al-Qaida "has been pleased with the results of what they saw happen in Madrid."
Investigators believe al-Qaida had links to the March 11 Madrid train bombing, which killed 191 people. Three days after the attack, the sitting Popular Party lost to the Socialist Party in Spanish elections.
Local and state law enforcement agencies contacted yesterday would not discuss specific intelligence the FBI might have shared with them in recent days.
"We are in constant contact with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, but I would not be in a position to leverage any intelligence information," said Lynette Quinn, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania State Police.
Pittsburgh police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. would neither confirm nor deny that the department had been contacted by the FBI.
"We have a very good working relationship with FBI and other law enforcement agencies across the region and the nation, and we're in constant communication with them," city police spokeswoman Tammy Ewin said.
"Part of what we have to do is get the word out," McCabe said. "We want everybody to be vigilant and looking for abnormalities in their communities. We have several significant events coming up in the next six to eight months that would make good targets for terrorists."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tri...s/s_195162.html
"But the agency has been seeing more intelligence activity, or "chatter," which harkens back to intelligence that was gathered but never acted on prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Somerset County, McCabe said."