Madrid Bombers Trained at Bosnia-Based Al Qaeda Camps

NOVINITE (BULGARIA) ^ | 10 May 2005

[Doctor13]

The terrorists that carried out the Madrid bombings in March 2004 have been trained at special Al Qaeda based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The news was broken Tuesday by the chief of the local police department Dragomir Andan at a special press conference. RIA Novosti cited the top police chief as saying that all 11 terrorists left for Spain passing through Sarajevo.

It was also reported that the explosives used in the terror acts were produced in Bosnia.

A total of 192 people were killed and over 1,500 others were injured in the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid.

[Hoplite]

Sorry dj, I can't speak Serbo-Croatian.

Perhaps you'd care to tranlate your passage, so we can compare it against Dani's original article?

I took the trouble of having someone translate that article back in 2003, so if you could discern the name of the individual making the allegations, and upon what grounds they were made, more power to you.

[Diocletian]

Can you guys plz flag me to Balkan articles? No one does.

[getoffmylawn]

I just save this link to favorites to keep updated. If you post an article, make sure to make "balkans" one of the keywords and everyone that's interested should see the article. That way we don't all have to ping each other unless there's a specific post that you don't want someone to miss.

Lately I spend most of my time on my Chicago White Sox fan site. All life can't always be Balkans doom and gloom, especially for us Balkan type characters ;-)

BTW, I don't know about you, but this no NHL playoffs crap is really starting to get to me. They're not even showing the World Championships here in Chicago. My last hockey fix was watching North Dakota get its guzi handed to them in the NCAA finals.

[montyspython]

You got it.

[Hoplite]

18.05.2005 (14:55)

MORATINOS: NO INDICES THAT ANDAN’S ALLEGATIONS ARE CORRECT

SARAJEVO, May 18 (FENA) – Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Wednesday said that the allegations made by the RS Police Director, Dragomir Andan, that the preparations for the March 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid had been carried out in BiH, are currently being investigated, but added that all the reports so far indicate that these allegations are not correct.

Moratinos said that the Spanish authorities were recently informed about this statement, and that the Spanish Embassy in BiH has contacted the BiH authorities, and its security and police services.

“These allegations are currently being investigated, but it seems that there are no indices that support those allegations”,said Spanish Minister Moratinos after meeting with BiH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic.

Unless Andan can produce some evidence to back up his claims, not only will he have made an ass of himself, but he will have given further justification to the OHR's drive to eliminate the RS's separate police force.

Just another day in the Balkans.

[ma bell]

more forthcoming are the reports with mounting credible evidence pointing to the BiH area being the focal point for muslim jihad training.

What more do you want, even the 3 Major non-cable news networks are reporting the same as Fox and CNN? It is quite obvious your denial lacks the or Rather denies the plausible known - BiH claims by the RS are credible.

lawnman, F.Thomas is washed up! :)

[ma bell]

Connections with Attacks in Spain

On April 8 2004, the police in Serbia was in a state of alert due to indications that the followers of Naser Oric, who is currently in custody unit in The Hague where he is waiting on a trial for war crimes, were getting ready to carry out a bigger terrorist act in Belgrade or somewhere else in Serbia.

Oric, a hardcore Islamic fighter, was in charge of Islamic fighters in Srebrenica during the war in BiH and often attacked the Serb villages during the war that ended in 1995. According to the sources, Amer Al-Aziz, Sanel Sjekirica and Rabei Ousmane Ahmed were involved in planning the suggested attacks. Sanel Sjekirica is a Bosnian Muslim, born in Mostar, and was the member of the 7th brigade along with Amer Al-Aziz that fought in the BiH civil war until 1995. It is important to say that in the beginning of April 2004 the Spanish Government issued three additional arrest warrants for Amer Al-Aziz, Sanel Sjekirica and Rabei Ousmane Ahmed.

In the beginning of April 2004 the Spanish Police concluded that those three gathered most of those, who are responsible for the attack in Madrid on March 11 2004, and identified most of the others. A total of five Madrid terrorists are dead now, and 17 of them are in custody, including five bombers under names – Yougam, Chaoui, Bekkali, Zbakh (who made bombs) and Ghazoun. The other 12 in custody are charged with having cooperated with them. Nine arrestees were released due to lack of evidence. (GIS sources report that Sanel Sjekirica, who was born in 1980, resides in the Splitska Street #62/11 in Mostar, BiH. It is known that he was taken as a child to the training to the Mujahedeen camp.)

Despite frequent claims of media, which emphasized the Moroccan nature of Madrid attack, the latest arrest warrants showed the permanent Bosnian connection with terrorist activities in a wide spectrum. Terrorist roads through BiH A group that calls itself Abu Najaf Al-Afghani Group Ansar Al-Qaida claimed it was responsible for the attacks in Madrid on April 11 2004 (probably a misprint – interpreter’s note), and a bomb, which was planted later and was not activated on the tracks of a train between Madrid and Seville. This implicated a connection between this group and Moroccans Islamic Battle Group (GICM – Groupe Islamique Combatant Marocain), or pointed that they had some overlaps or similar nature.

A videotape, found in the remains of the apartment that was destroyed in a clash between the Spanish group for special ops and bombers on April 3 2004 in Legano, a suburb of Madrid, shows three masked men wearing traditional Arabic clothes and reading an ultimatum in Arabic language stating, “Al-Mufti and Ansar Al-Qaida brigades decided to follow the road of jihad and demand an urgent withdrawal of Spanish troops from Muslim countries (for example – Iraq).”

Also, in the beginning of April 2004, the police from the area of the Gorazde Municipality in the RS – a state of Bosnian Serbs within BiH – arrested several Kosovo Albanians, who tried to buy explosive. The Gorazde corridor in the RS territory is the main area through which the Islamites must go coming from the Bosnian Islamic territories to the Islamic area of Raska in southern Serbia towards Kosovo and Albania.

The GIS sources also quote that there is information that a very highly ranked member of Al Qaeda was arrested somewhere in the Balkans for some minor crime but under a false name. The GIS sources also say they believe that this was Omar Alavadi. Al Qaeda’s coordinator in the Balkans Omar Alavadi from Saudi Arabia is Al Qaeda’s official, directly in charge of Al Qaeda’s coordination in the Balkans. It is known that he is a very close associate of Osama Bin Laden and that he is closely affiliated with Fatah Ali Hasanin, one more Saudi who is in charge of extreme jihad in the SE Europe.

During the crisis in Kosovo, Hasanin was in Macedonia (Skopje, Tetovo and Gostivar). He would go to Kosovo from there from time to time in a vehicle that belongs to KFOR (NATO’s forces for protection in Kosovo) with the French license plates. At that time he had meetings with Hasim Taci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) – a terrorist and guerilla organization. Taci is presently the leader of the Kosovo Democratic Party.

It is believed that Taci conducted necessary preparations for a military training of Albanian terrorists in Macedonia, and that he is in contact with extremists in Tetovo, Gostivar, Skopje and Kicevo. In the meantime, the GIS sources in the region identified the key Iranian officials, responsible for terrorist operations in the Balkans. They were named as Ismet Kryeziu, who is considered to be the key Iranian that controls the paramilitary formations belonging to Albanian ethnic groups, which are active in the Balkans; and Asllan Hudut, a close associate to Ismet Kryeziu, who is considered to be in charge of Islamisation and radicalization of Albanians in the Balkans. –sd (Gregory Copley – pg 12&13 of 52)

[ma bell]

one post up, fyi

[Hoplite]

Gregory Copley?

Serbian dupe.

No credibility whatsoever.

[ma bell]

from our own puplication, the tuzla owl.

[Hoplite]

Perhaps if you had actually read anything from the Night Owl when it was active, you'd have remembered the following:

The Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Cell, ACofS G2 MND(N) prepares this publication as an information service to elements of SFOR. Articles have been derived and translated from open source periodicals, TV, and radio broadcasts. They reflect the opinion of the particular media or the media’s sources. Use of these articles does not reflect official endorsement by SFOR.

The article you cited was culled from "Patriot", a weekly from Banja Luka, and therefore you objection as to Copley's being endorsed by SFOR is about as well informed and thought out as any of the rest of your posts.

[ma bell]

It was published and thereby making his legitimacy factual. Your inability to fathom his Kosovo writings being fairly accurate.

[Hoplite]

Like I said...

[ma bell]

like i said, i am right as i always have been these last four years or so.

[Hoplite]

EUPM: NO EVIDENCE TO CORROBORATE DRAGOMIR ANDAN’S CLAIMS>

SARAJEVO, June 2 (FENA) – RS Police Director Dragomir Andan has not offered any evidence to support his claims that 11 persons, who perpetrated in the terrorist attack in Madrid, were preparing in BiH and that fuses used in the attacks were produced in BiH.

This is the conclusion from the report of the European Union Police Mission (EUPM), which was created following the investigation into the said allegations of the RS Police Director.

- Our report notes that Andan was not either misquoted, or misinterpreted, and that he actually made clear allegations that the fuses used in the explosive devices in the attacks in Madrid were produced in BiH. Moreover, he did not corroborate his claims with any evidence whatsoever, said the EUPM Commissioner, Kevin Carty.

Additionally, Andan failed to deny his claims despite the given opportunity, is said in the EUPM announcement.

The full report has been forwarded to the OHR.

Just another day in the Balkans - Andan has merely reinforced the need for police reform.

[Hoplite]

RS: ANDAN APOLOGISES TO BiH CITIZENS

BANJA LUKA, June 5 (FENA) – RS Police Director Dragomir Andan expressed regret with the possibility that his statements concerning activities of Islamic groups in BiH have caused apprehension among BiH and RS citizens. He especially expressed regret with any possible damage that his comments on connections between BiH and the terrorist attacks in Madrid could have created.

Andan delivered a letter to EUPM Commissioner Kevin Carty concerning the investigation and correspondence with the EUPM Commissioner and High Representative Paddy Ashdown regarding comments on the presence of Islamic groups in BiH made at a press conference on May 10 2005.

“I wish to use this opportunity to explain those comments as a presentation of intelligence and operational information, which as such have not been corroborated, and therefore cannot be accepted as ‘firm evidence’, as was mentioned in the High Representative’s letter”, Andan said.

He said that “rushing with the presentation of operational information is not useful, from a professional standpoint, and in that context can be viewed as wrong and politically motivated, as suggested in Carty’s report to the High Representative, which I accept in general”.

“Naturally, I need to underline that my statements were not politically motivated and in that context I wish to retract my comment, but at the same time I accept the possibility that such a comment could be interpreted as police interference in political matters, that it is inappropriate for the Police Director to make such allegations, attuned to the political moment and requirements and so forth”, was stated in the letter.

Also in the letter the RS Police Director underlined his absolute personal commitment to professional conduct and common work on security issues.

“A high degree of sensitivity in the preventive work, intelligence and operational activities must be a top priority of all security agencies, including the RS Police, both in relation to the broad global movement in the fight against terrorism and in relation to the legal, professional, but also the moral commitment of protecting citizens, the society and institutions in the RS and BiH from this global scourge”, Andan said.

Andan said that such an approach of the RS police and the Police Director would be imperative in accordance with professional standards of police work, which will be given special attention in public comments in order to avoid the repeat of such problems in the future.

(Fena) jc

It looks as if the RS Police Director gets his "intelligence" and "operational information" from some of our Balkan Freepers.

Sucker.

[Hoplite]

EUPM: COMMISSIONER CARTY PLEASED WITH ANDAN'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT

SARAJEVO, June 7 (FENA) - The European Union Police Mission (EUPM) Commissioner Kevin Carty received the letter from Dragomir Andan, RS Police Director, dated 4 June 2005. After having carefully looked at Mr. Andan’s letter, Commissioner Carty is pleased to note that Director Andan finally acknowledged that he had no intelligence or evidence to support the claims he made on 10 May 2005, in reference to the Madrid terrorist bombing, EUPM spokesperson Zinaida Ilaria told a press conference in Sarajevo on Tuesday.

“Furthermore, the Commissioner finds it satisfying that Mr. Andan publicly recognized that his statement was unprofessional and misleading”, Ilaria said.

(Fena) jc