Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Eighteen

BBC ^ | 8/25/04

[nwctwx]

Late Pakistan train escapes bomb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3598504.stm

...excerpt...

A Pakistani express train narrowly escaped disaster in a bombing because it was running late, police say.

The blast near the north-western town of Nowshera destroyed some 200m of track and left a crater a metre deep.

Police say the unidentified attackers timed the device to go off at 1930 local time (1430 GMT) on Tuesday.

The packed Peshawar-bound passenger train from Quetta in the south-west should have been passing by just then, but was 10 minutes behind schedule.

The train, with capacity for 350 people, was full.

Trains in Pakistan have a habit of running late, which this time proved lucky for the passengers, a BBC correspondent in the region says.

[freeperfromnj]

TERROR LINK RULED OUT

Do they realize how ridiculous this sounds to anyone with half a brain?

[drymans wife]

This looks awsome nwc, thanks for taking over we appreciate
everything you do here.

[nwctwx]

Italy island sees wave of migrants
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/25/italy.immigration.reut/

...excerpt...

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Two-hundred and seventy-five illegal immigrants have landed on the small southern Italian island of Lampedusa, police said, the largest ever to arrive there on a single vessel.

The latest in a wave of summer arrivals reached shore on Tuesday a day before Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi flies to Libya to discuss ways of stemming illegal migration and cracking down on human trafficking with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

It was not immediately clear from where the latest batch of immigrants had come but in the past many of them have left on boats from north Africa.

Police on the island south of Sicily said the immigrants arrived on a 20-meter-long (yard) fishing boat and were taken to a processing center there.

About 250 other illegal immigrants are already at the center waiting to be transferred to the mainland while their cases are reviewed. Most are sent back home.

Italy believes many illegal immigrants set sail from Libya and is seeking a deal with Tripoli to try to stem the flow.

[nwctwx]

8 remanded over U.S. 'terror plot'
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/25/uk.terrorism.court/

...excerpt...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Eight British terror suspects charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a plot linked to financial targets in the United States have been remanded in custody by Britain's top criminal court.

The men, aged between 20 and 32 -- all accused of planning terrorist attacks using radioactive or chemical materials -- were not brought to London's historic Old Bailey but were linked to it by video for the first formal hearing.

The eight were remanded in custody until September 3.

Dressed in casual clothing, each acknowledged his name when the court clerk called them, the UK's Press Association reported.

She asked whether they could all hear clearly and they answered: "Yes."

The defendants were each introduced to their legal representatives, who were sitting in the packed courtroom.

The men are accused of taking part in two conspiracies.

The first alleges a plot to murder unspecified people between January 2000 and August 4 this year.

The second alleges plotting to commit a public nuisance by using radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury over the same period.

The men are: Dhiren Barot, 32, Qaisar Shaffi, 25, and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, all of Willesden, northwest London; Mohammed Zia ul Haq, 25, of Paddington, west London; Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24, of Harrow, northwest London; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31, of Luton, near London; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20, of Bushey, near London; and Junade Feroze, 29, of Blackburn, northwest England.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Crown Prince departs for the US

Amman, Aug. 25 (Petra)--His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hamzah Bin Al Hussein left Amman for the United States to take part in celebrations held by the Arab American and Chaldean Council in Detroit on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the council's establishment.

The participation comes upon an invitation extended by the
council to Prince Hamzah. The council, which was established in 1979, works to enhance the role of Arab immigrants in the United States, present their
causes, extend social and health services to them and establish bridges of understanding, cooperation and love between the Arab world and the United States.

//Petra//

251433 Local AUG 2004

http://www.petra.gov.jo/nepras/2004/Aug/25/21047200.htm

[freeperfromnj]

And just how do they plan on explaining away the hijack code picked up by the tower? How are we ever going to fight global terrorism if we can't get a straight answer when two planes crash simultaneously in a fashion eerily reminiscent of 9/11? Just because it didn't happen in the U.S. doesn't mean we ought to dismiss it. If they managed to pull it off with two planes in Russia who's to say they can't do it here.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Hmmmm, here is a companion article to the one you posted about Italy. This one is about Spain (all male migrants...)

______________________

***

Police stop more than 200 migrants off Spain

swissinfo August 25, 2004 4:00 PM

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish security forces have arrested more than 200 Moroccans illegally trying to enter Spain from its south coast, officials say.

Civil Guards picked up 134 migrants packed in two inflatable boats overnight, a government spokesman in the southern province of Almeria said.

Another 100 people were stopped in three boats off the coast of the neighbouring province of Granada.

"There are 100 people, all male and all Moroccan, including several minors, in police custody in Motril waiting to be repatriated," said a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, which attended the would-be immigrants in Granada.

Good weather has encouraged waves of Moroccans and Africans from south of the Sahara to attempt to reach the coast of mainland Spain and the Spanish Canary Islands [DLN Note to TMers: the Islands where a few volcanoes are...) off the west coast of Morocco in recent weeks.

The Red Cross spokeswoman said her organisation had attended 575 people in August in the province of Granada alone, and more than 1,500 so far this year.

"That's double the numbers at the same time last year," she said.

The Socialist government said recently it was considering granting residence permits to thousands of immigrants already in Spain illegally if they could prove they had jobs.

The main opposition party says such a move would serve as an incentive for many more people to enter Spain illegally.

Unions estimate at least half a million people now working in Spain illegally could be eligible for legalisation if the new measures take effect.


http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5170333

[flutters]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/25/judge_frees_2_suspects_and_blasts_terror_case/

Judge frees 2 suspects and blasts terror case
Prosecutors concede a translation error
By Ellen Wulfhorst, Reuters | August 25, 2004

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two Islamic men accused of supporting terrorism after their arrest in an FBI sting operation were ordered released from jail yesterday by a judge who blasted the government's case by saying there is no evidence they have any links to terrorists.

US Magistrate David Homer ruled Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain should be released on $250,000 bond each and held in home detention under electronic surveillance while they await trial. He said that could take up to two years, so the men will be allowed to work and attend mosque until the trial.

The pair had been ordered held without bail earlier this month -- a ruling largely based on an address book that prosecutors said was found in an Iraqi terrorist training camp. The book referred to Aref as ''the commander" in Arabic.

The government now says that translation was an error and the word is ''brother" in Kurdish.

Aref, 34, the leader of an Albany mosque, and Hossain, 49, a pizzeria owner, were arrested in a sting operation in which authorities said they agreed to help an FBI informant launder $50,000 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile as part of a fake plan to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat.

They pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, supporting terrorism, and conspiracy on Aug. 10.

The judge chided the government, saying the case is much weaker now than it first appeared. He said the two were not plotting violence and are not a danger to the community. ''The evidence in this case appears less strong today," Homer said. ''There is no evidence . . . to support the claim that Mr. Aref has any contact with any terrorist organization."

Defense attorney Terence Kindlon said the government was not merely overzealous but had presented false information.

''We've gone from something that sounded sinister and ominous and scary and terrible to zero in less than two weeks," he told the judge.

Prosecutors argued that whether the word was ''commander" or ''brother" was irrelevant and does not affect the criminal charges the two men face. They say the pair were willing participants in the sting operation set up by the FBI.

Under terms of their release, which is likely in one to two days, neither man may leave the area without permission.

[BurbankKarl]

Russian Emergencies Ministry personnel inspect the crash site of a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger plane near Zelenovka village, some 140 km from Russia's southern town of Rostov-on-Don, August 25, 2004. The plane, carrying 46 people including eight crew, crashed soon after it sent out a hijack alert message late Tuesday evening. Two Russian passenger planes crashed almost simultaneously late on Tuesday, killing all 89 people on board in what investigators said was either a terrorist attack or simply a mysterious coincidence.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Agreed. I look forward to hearing their explanations about the plane code signal. The authorities should probably say nothing at all rather than that nonsense about everything never being terrorism right off the bat. They probably prefer saying nothing and are peeved that info gets out to the media anyway.

We can all understand that they are trying to prevent panic and keep airliners solvent. But what they sometimes say -- especially in this Russian case -- is silly.

And while it is true that saying "no comment" for awhile would not dampen the panic factor as much as ruling out terrorism almost from the get-go, at least people could better decide for themselves the risks they want to take and at least we would respect the authorities' pronouncements following such events. I really do not believe anyone buys what they say anymore...even the sleepiest Sheeple.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I am wondering if some nasty wake turbulance created by a third unknown plane downed the first plane that crashed, and if that first plane's own wake turbulance downed the second plane that crashed as well.

***KIDDING.***

[Rutles4Ever]

File under "Terrorist Tactics": Plant bomb. Get drunk and rowdy. Get tossed from plane before takeoff.

FSB Searching for Six Drunks Removed From Crashed Plane Mosnews.com ^ | 8/25/2004 | MosNews

Posted on 08/25/2004 8:52:08 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever

The Federal Security Service (FSB) is searching for six passengers removed from one of the two planes that crashed for being intoxicated.

Six young people were not allowed to board the Tu-154 plane that was flying to the Caucasus resort of Sochi. It is not yet clear whether their names are in the list of the dead, RosBusinessConsulting news agency reported.

Information that the plane had been hijacked by terrorist is being checked.

A source in the aviation industry quoted by the agency said that the security officials were checking reports of several people flying in the other crashed plane, the Tu-134 that went from Moscow to Volgograd, instead of two passengers that were late.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Glad you posted that here; I was in the process of doing that myself since I just finished reading your thread. So it is possible the casualty count will be lowered.

[Rutles4Ever]

So it is possible the casualty count will be lowered.

Um... I'm considering the diversion angle, not the body count. Read the italicized first line of my post....

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I know. My post was half mocking that the article was good news, i.e., if the youth are currently on the body count roster, then the number will drop.

The report raises many other questions...

[Rutles4Ever]

Gotcha. :-D

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Here you go, freeperfromnj. Excerpts of an article from this morning:

***

"Officials made conflicting statements about whether the signal from the other jet indicated a hijacking or another severe problem on the aircraft.

The Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies later quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying that the signal was an SOS and that no other signals were sent.

Oleg Yermolov, deputy director of the Interstate Aviation Committee, said that it is impossible to judge what is behind the signal, which merely indicates "a dangerous situation onboard" and can be triggered by the crew during a hijacking or a potentially catastrophic technical problem.

Sibir airlines, however, seemed to hint at foul play, saying on its Web site that it "does not rule out the theory of a terrorist attack."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040825/D84M9S800.html

[freeperfromnj]

Thanks.

[hummingbird]

Terrorist will paralyze Internet on August 26, a Russian expert in antivirus programs said on Tuesday.

Does anyone know when the 26th begins....international date line, Iraq, US time, etc?