Al-Qaeda’s Network: Iran to the Balkans, via Turkey

TERRORISM-Global Network of Islamic Fundamentalist’s – Part II -Modus operandi- | August 06, 2004 | Darko Trifunovic

[Darko]

Al-Qaeda’s Network: Iran to the Balkans, via Turkey

[Darko]

Al-Qaeda’s Network: Iran to the Balkans, via Turkey Investigation of the recent suicide attacks on British and Jewish targets in Istanbul has shown that some of the terrorists involved had been traine in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On the other hand, Iran has given a new identity to the spiritual leader of Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar. A few months ago, Iran released from prison several high-ranking Al-Qaeda members, and there are indications they were behind the terrorist attacks in Istanbul. The Iranian regime has long been known as a financier and sponsor of terrorists exported all over the world, especially in the Balkans. It is well known that Iran had sent a Republican Guard unit to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and their secret service (VEVAK) has established and helped train the Bosnian Muslim secret service (AID). One of the key assets of the Iranian intelligence in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA is Dzemal Merdan, who had undergone military and religious training and become loyal to the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini. His loyalty was reward by appointing him a liaison to foreign mujahid’din. This man is responsible for hundreds of murders of ethnic Croats. Early in the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA civil war, several dozen Islamic extremists came to BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA with the help of Iran and Merdan’s coordination. Together with the Cengic clan, Merdan controlled Central Bosnia. Iranian authorities and radical Turkish groups have worked on two fronts. The first was establishing a “green traverse” in the Balkans, and the second a similar corridor in central Asia, through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and – very importantly – the Chinese province of Xinyang. Cells of Al-Qaeda were established in all those countries and regions. Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden were involved in setting up the network in the Balkans, along with terrorists from Saudi Arabia. Even the Saudi government funded terrorism, notably through theh High Saudi Committee for Aid to Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose representatives were granted the extraordinary privilege of diplomatic license plates (and the resulting immunity) for their vehicles, in clear violation of existing law. It is assume that Bosnian authorities had also issued diplomatic passports to the same representatives, but such a contention is almost impossible to verify.

One notable link in that chain is Jusuf Halilagić, now Minister of Civil Affairs and Communications for BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, and a former high-ranking officer of the 3rd Bosnian Army Corps, home of the notorious “El-Mujahid” unit. Halilagić was the one who drove Abu Hamza, one of the most wanted Islamic terrorists in the world, from Rijeka (Croatia) into Bosnia in 1992, in his private "Zastava 101" vehicle. Halilagic and other Islamic extremists in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA had long prepared for the arrival of Islamic volunteers from the Middle East, North Africa, south Asia and even Western countries, known as the “Afghans.” After fighting in Bosnia, certain Arab intelligence agencies started calling these people “Bosnians,” claiming they were far more dangerous than mere “Afghans.” were Muslim intelligence agencies in Bosnia, such as AID, usually refer to these men as the “AA factor,” noting their African and Asian origin. Since the beginning of their involvement in Bosnia, Abu Ma'ali (originally from Algeria) was one of the leader of Islamic extremists, and the first commander of the “El-Mujahid” unit. After the Dayton Peace Accords, it was demanded from Muslim authorities in Sarajevo that Abu Ma’ ali should leave BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, because of his connections to Al-Qaeda. According to the Croatian weekly “Globus,” the celebratory farewell to Abu Ma’ali as he departed for Chechnya was attended by Bakir Izetbegovic, the son of Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic. However, there are also indications that Ma’ali has simply assumed a new identity, with the help of high-ranking Bosnian Muslim officials, and continues to live in the BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Federation. Abu Ma’ ali is considered one of the closest associates of the notorious terrorist Abu Tala’t . The fact that Halilagic is today a member of the Coordinating Task Force for combating terrorism in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA speaks volumes about the involvement of the Bosnian Muslim leadership with Al-Qaeda. Halilagic was delegated to that post by the Party of Democratic Action, whose founder is the Islamic extremist and war criminal Alija Izetbegovic. Immediately after his death in October 2003, ICTY prosecutor’s spokesperson Florence Hartmann said that it had been a matter of days before an indictment was issued against Izetbegovic. It remains a mystery why the ICTY had not indicted Izetbegovic in his lifetime, as they had not lacked evidence. There is also a suspicion that this institution is under a strong influence of Islamic nations and interest groups. Nonetheless, Izetbegovic directly participated in the cover-up and reorganization of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia. In the Dayton agreement there was a provision that all mujahid’din would leave Bosnia. That never happened, thanks to the ties between the Islamic terrorist networks and the top leadership of the Bosnian Muslims. Turkish authorities have established the link between the suspects in the Istanbul bombings and the global network of Islamic terrorists. A year before the attacks, the ICNA (Islamic Council of North America) website stated that the greatest enemies of Islam were “Jews, Crusaders” [i.e. Christians], and especially among those, “Russians and Serbs.” Consider now the sequence of the attacks – first the synagogues (Jews), then the British consulate and bank (“Crusaders”), followed soon thereafter by a train in Russian. This has all the makings of a clash of civilizations, one that Islamic extremists are trying to impose on the world’s Muslims.