London Mayor Calls Blasts 'Mass Murder'
Thursday July 7, 2005 1:46 PM
AP Photo EKW103
By YEOH EN-LAI
Associated Press Writer
SINGAPORE (AP) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the blasts that ripped through his city Thursday were ``mass murder'' carried out by terrorists bent on ``indiscriminate ... slaughter.''
Livingstone, in Singapore where he supported London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, was rushing back to London after the simultaneous blasts in London's subway network and a double-decker bus, causing deaths and hundreds of injuries.
``I want to say one thing: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners,'' Livingstone told reporters.
``That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith, it's mass murder,'' Livingstone said. ``We know what the objective is. They seek to divide London.''
A group calling itself ``The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe'' claimed responsibility for the blasts in an Internet posting, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
News of the blasts sent jubilation at London's successful bid for the 2012 Games plummeting less than 24 hours after the International Olympic Committee's vote.
Livingstone said the attack was aimed at ordinary Londoners.
``Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindus and Jews, young and old,'' he said. It was an ``indiscriminate attempt to slaughter irrespective of any considerations for age, class, religion - whatever.''
Livingstone said he was being kept informed of developments in London via a communications team set up in case an emergency occurred when he was out of the city.
``I have no doubt whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack,'' he said.
Most al-Qaeda cells discovered in Europe have links to the Algerian Salafist Group for Prayer and Combat, known by its acronym GSPC, an organization suspected in several terrorist plots in Europe and the United States.
A splinter group of the Armed Islamic Groups (GIA), GSPC was created under the initiative of bin Laden by GIA emir Hassan Hattab in 1998. A year earlier, the GIA had started losing foreign support due to its massive slaughter of Algerian civilians. Bin Laden, who had previously supported the GIA, financed this new Salafist organization which would distinguish itself from the then discredited GIA in order to continue to fight the "jihad" in Algeria.
The GSPC is accused of planning attacks during the soccer World Cup held in Paris in 1998 and against the Strasbourg Christmas market and cathedral in 2000.
"GSPC remains a grave threat in Europe. There are networks linked to al-Qaeda and GSPC in England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain ... This network of North Africans will continue to be a threat to international security in the short and long term," explains researcher Jonathan Schanzer.
According to Kohlmann, the Algerian branch is "still there but not as influential" today. More recent organizations like the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), "the children of the GIA and GSPC", learned from their predecessors' mistakes and are now taking the lead of the terrorist network in the region. The GICM was involved in the terrorist attacks in Casablanca in May 2003 and Madrid in March 2004.
snip
The group is now part of the global al-Qaeda nebula. Recently, it re-expressed its ties to al-Qaeda by vowing allegiance to al-Zarqawi. In a statement on January 24, GSPC leader Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud expressed his congratulations to al-Zarqawi in response to the latter's message to international al-Qaeda "affiliate" organizations, among which the GSPC was included.
Strong statement. And true.
THANK YOU RON DOG for that post.
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Note: My prior posts on the Thtreat Matrix:
To: All
Note: The following post is an exact quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1438214/posts
NYC steps up transit security
Newsday.com ^ | July 7, 2005
Posted on 07/07/2005 5:52:11 AM PDT by AmericanMade1776
New New York City was on heightened alert Thursday morning following a series of apparent terrorist attacks on London's public transit system.
Increased police coverage of subways, buses and transit stations was ordered throughout the city.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was meeting with police officials and executed other security plans, a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
"We cannot live in fear. The greatest way to deter terrorism is to continue with our way of life," Gov. George Pataki said on WNYW-Fox 5 News. "Let the police deal with security and be alert.
Report any suspicions but continue to enjoy the greatest society the world ever created."
An executive order signed by Pataki allows Connecticut and New Jersey law enforcers to ride on New York mass transit, including Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and PATH trains, said Pataki spokesman Dave Catalfano.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
3,270 posted on 07/07/2005 6:14:49 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: freeperfromnj; Cindy
Add my thanks as well.
It was a heck of way to wake up this morning - my FI woke me from a dead sleep at 5 am because he knew I would want to know what was going on.
I know it's silly but I can't stop remembering 'it starts in London'
bastards
3,271 posted on 07/07/2005 6:15:18 AM PDT by neosgirl
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To: All
http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=251&sid=539959
"U.S. Urges Vigilance for Transit Systems"
Updated: Thursday, Jul. 7, 2005 - 8:58 AM
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON (AP) - The Homeland Security Department asked authorities in major cities Thursday for heightened vigilance of transportation systems after a series of explosions on London transit systems.
President Bush, in Scotland for a meeting of the Group of Eight leaders, conferred in a secure video conference with national security and homeland security officials in Washington.
"I instructed them to be in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place here in London," Bush told reporters from a summit of world leaders here. Bush said he urged caution "as our folks start heading to work."
In New York, Washington and several other major cities, local authorities heightened security in transit systems."
3,272 posted on 07/07/2005 6:17:47 AM PDT by Cindy
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