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November 23, 2005 PM Anti-Terrorism News

Indictment: Padilla Recruited by Terrorists
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/E/ENEMY_COMBATANT?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
Jose Padilla was recruited into an Islamic terrorist support cell that
sought money and fighters for violent struggles abroad, the government
says in its indictment

3 Police Officers Killed in Afghanistan
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_VIOLENCE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL
Suspected Taliban militants shot to death three Afghan police Wednesday

France 'singled out' as enemy: intelligence chief
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=25595&name=France+%27singled+out%27+as+enemy%3A+intelligence+chief
France is viewed as a target by a number of terrorist organisations,
with several groups known to be planning attacks against the country,
France's head of domestic intelligence warned on Wednesday.

Could Montreal be terrorist target?
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/montreal_home&articleID=2099036
Montrealers are asking whether their city could be the next target for
terrorists. Spanish daily newspaper El Pais is reporting police in
Madrid, Spain have found maps of the Montreal metro system on the computer
of Abdelhak Chergui, 32.

(Update) Spanish Police Arrest 11 in Terror Sweep
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPAIN_TERROR_ARRESTS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL
The suspects were detained in and around the Spanish cities of
Alicante, Murcia and Granada.

German Police Search Mosque, Homes
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GERMANY_MOSQUE_RAID?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL
Police and prosecutors searched a mosque and 22 homes Wednesday in
southern Germany as part of an investigation into an outlawed Islamic group
accused of spawning terrorists.

US forges trail-blazing UN condemnation of Hizbullah
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475610755&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Saddam trial set to resume on Monday
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10173884/

Israel drops anti-Hezbollah tracts in Lebanon
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/November/middleeast_November652.xml&section=middleeast

(Australia) New terror raids target Tamils
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17346475%255E601,00.html

British government defends IRA clemencies
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051123.wireland1123/BNStory/International/

Al-Qaida in Iraq denies al-Zarqawi is dead
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/11/23/build/world/27-zarqawi.inc

Egyptian Accused of Terror Ties Released
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RESTAURATEUR_TERRORISM?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Viewing sites set for Moussaoui sentencing
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/23/moussaoui.survivors.ap/index.html
A federal judge has selected six sites for survivors and relatives of
victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks to watch the death penalty
phase in the case against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged
in the United States in the 2001 assaults on Washington and New York.

al-Qaida Offers Details of Bomb Mastermind
http://www.620ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=13488
Biography of al-Qaida planner Thamir Mubarak Atrouz of the August 2003
bombings of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and the main Shiite shrine
in Iraq.

(Israeli) Paraglider crash in Lebanon sparks gunbattle (with Hezbollah)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/23/mideast.glider/index.html

(Canada) Call for Air India bomb inquiry
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4464578.stm

Hamas site now hosted in Michigan
http://internet-haganah.co.il/harchives/005289.html

Syria "secretly" releases five Lebanese
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/November/middleeast_November628.xml&section=middleeast&col=
Five of 200 Lebanese people presumed missing or imprisoned in Syria
were released in â€œtotal secrecyâ€ by the Syrian government, a
non-governmental organisation announced yesterday.

It's no secret: CIA scouting for recruits
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-22-cia-recruit_x.htm

Abdelhak Chergui and his 2 brothers arrested today in Spain, play a part in the Madrid 2004 bombing, also a bit on the planned Checical attack in Jordan, from an interesting site, with small reports on many bombings.....
granny...........

From page 2 of this search:

http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=Abdelhak%20Chergui

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:e9JTSn1cjVsJ:www.ajc.org/site/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.1074853/k.3551/Updates_on_Major_Bombing_Cases.htm+Abdelhak+Chergui&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet

Madrid Bombings (March 2004): In May 2005, Spanish authorities charged nine
additional suspects with collaboration with a terrorist group in connection with the Madrid
train bombings that killed 191 people. One of the nine, Moroccan-born Driss Chebli, 33,
is already on trial in Madrid for belonging to a Spanish Al-Qa'ida cell that helped plan
September 11. The eight other suspects are Mohamed El Ouazzani, Daniel Fernandez
Fernandez, Mohamed Mohamed Ali, Mouad Benkhalafa, Said Tlidni, Jose Angel Moran
Suarez, Manuel Javier Gonzalez Garcia and Sanel Sjekirka. Moroccan-born Ouazzani was
arrested in December 2004 on suspicion of involvement in a failed plot to bomb the
National Court headquarters in Madrid. Authorities also arrested three Moroccans
suspected of helping fund the train bombings: Mourad Bhar, 20, and brothers
Abdelkhalak Chergui, 29, and Abdelhak Chergui, 32, are also suspected of having
supplied weapons to the train bombers.

Several weeks later, in June 2005, authorities arrested five more people in connection
with the train bombings, including Moroccan native Mohamed Larbi Ben Sellam, 28, also
linked to the foiled National Court plot. He was charged with belonging to a terrorist
organization while the other four were charged with the lesser offense of collaborating
with a terrorist organization. The four others, Mohamed el Idrissi, Abdenneri Essebbar,
Hassan Amrani Boukhorza and Driss Belhadi, are accused of helping key suspects in the
bombings flee Spain. One of those who fled, Mohamed Afalah, reportedly killed himself
in a suicide attack in Iraq in May 2005. (expatica, 5/24/05, cnn.com, 6/15/05, 6/20/05)

Sami Al-Arian/Islamic Jihad: The trial of former University of South Florida (USF)
computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian, 47, opened in Tampa in June 2005.
Al-Arian, along with former USF instructor Sameeh Hamoudeh, 45, former Chicago-area
Muslim leader Hatim Naji Fariz, 32, and Chicago businessman Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 43,
face a fifty-three-count indictment that includes charges of providing material support to
terrorists, conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering. They are accused of using
WISE, an Islamic academic think tank and a Palestinian charity founded by Al-Arian, as
centers of fundraising and communications for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a
U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization responsible for terrorist attacks in Israel,
the West Bank and Gaza. Also charged but still at large are Islamic Jihad head Ramadan
Shallah, Abdul Aziz Odeh, Muhammad Tasir al-Khatib, Mazen al-Najjar and Bashir Nafi.
According to federal prosecutors, the government's case against the men is built around
wiretapped telephone calls and faxes that would link the defendants to IJ and terror
attacks.

Al-Qa'ida Cell/Madrid: In Europe's biggest court case against terror cells with alleged ties
to Usama bin Ladin, a group of 24 Al-Qa'ida suspects went on trial in Madrid in April
2005. Three of the twenty-four are charged with helping plan the September 11 attack
and providing logistical support to the hijackers: Alleged cell leader and alleged leader of
Al -Qa'ida in Spain, Syrian-born Spaniard Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a.k.a. Abu
Dahdah, 42, Jose Luis Galan, 39 and Driss Chebli, 33. The other twenty-one suspects
face charges related to membership or association with a terrorist group, weapons
possession, document falsification and fraud. One of the suspects, Spanish citizen of
Syrian descent Tayseer Alouni, 50, is a television reporter for the Arab network Al
Jazeera. The trial ended and a verdict is expected in mid-September 2005.

Al -Qa'ida Cell/Yemen: Eight suspected Al-Qa'ida militants are on trial in Yemen for
plotting attacks on Western targets in Gulf Arab states, planning to attack government
sites and foreign interests in Yemen and to assassinate the country's prime minister and
ministers of defense and interior. The suspects are Iraqi Anwar al-Jilani, 20, Syrian
Mohammad Abdelwahhab Bakri, 24, Syrian Ahmad Bakri, 22 and Yemenis Khaled
al-Batati, 23, Salah Othman, 33, Omran al-Faqih, 31, Abderrahman Basira, 25, and
Majed Mizan, 21.

Chemical Weapons Plot/Jordan: Thirteen people are currently on trial in Jordan on
charges of planning to bomb the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence in Amman with
chemical weapons. Nine are in custody and four are being tried in absentia, including Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi and Suleiman Khaled Darweesh, a.k.a. Abu Ghadiya, an Al-Qa'ida
operative and senior Zarqawi aide reportedly killed by Iraqi forces near the Iraqi-Syrian
border in June 2005. According to the indictment, Al-Zarqawi intended that suicide
bombers would detonate vehicles filled with chemicals outside the intelligence
headquarters. A Jordanian chemical expert, Colonel Najeh al-Azam, reportedly testified
at the trial that a large quantity of plastic containers seized from the defendants
contained hydrogen peroxide. Azam said the suspects planned to add ground black
cumin to the solution, which would have made a powerful toxic explosive substance that
would have caused death, illnesses and blindness. One of the suspects, Azmi al-Jayousi,
confessed that his group had plotted the chemical attack under instruction from
al-Zarqawi; he later told the court that his confession was coerced. In July 2005, media
reported that the nine suspects in custody admitted in court that they planned to target
"infidel collaborators of the Americans and Israelis in the Jordanian kingdom." Defendant
Hussein Sharif reportedly told the court: "Our Sheikh Abu Musab Al Zarqawi said that if
we had chemical weapons we would have hit Tel Aviv and the traitor collaborator
(Jordanian) regime." Two other defendants named were Hassan Omar al-Samik and
Anas Samir.

Istanbul Bombings: A Turkish cell of Al-Qa'ida claimed responsibility for the November
2003 bombings of two synagogues, a London-based bank and the British Consulate, in
Istanbul that killed fifty-seven people. Seventy-one suspected Islamic militants are on
trial for the bombings. In June 2005, prosecutors asked for life sentences for the four
alleged ringleaders in custody-Fevzi Yitiz, Adnan Ersoz, Yusuf Polat and Harun Ilhan-all
suspected members of a local Al-Qa'ida cell in Turkey. Yitiz is accused of helping make
the bombs used in the attacks; Ersoz reportedly confessed to undergoing explosives
training at Al-Qa'ida camps in Afghanistan and to arranging a meeting between another
alleged ringleader, Habib Akdas, and senior Al-Qa'ida leader Abu Hafs al-Masri; Polat
allegedly surveyed the site of one of the synagogues and gave the final go-ahead for
the attack and Ilhan is a suspected top leader of Al-Qa'ida in Turkey. The prosecutor
demanded shorter prison sentences for thirty-six other defendants and asked for the
acquittal of the remaining thirty-one defendants. The trial is adjourned until August 25.
In July 2005, Turkey asked Iraq to extradite two Turkish militants-Burhan Kus and
Sadettin Aktas-suspected of involvement in the Istanbul bombings and reportedly being
held in Abu Ghraib prison.

Australian Embassy Bombing/Jakarta: Three separate trials of Islamic militants
suspected of involvement in the September 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in
Jakarta opened in May 2005 in Jakarta. Heri Sigu Samboja, 23, is accused of
transporting explosive materials and making them into a bomb later used in the
embassy blast that killed 10 people. Ahmad Hasan is accused of having helped build the
bomb and having driven the explosive-Ladin van from a West Jakarta hideout to the
South Jakarta area where the embassy is located. Iwan Darmawan Mutho, a.k.a. Rois,
29, is standing trial for allegedly working with fugitive Jemaah Islamiyah leaders Azahari
Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top to plan the attack and is accused of recruiting one of
his fellow militant friends, Heri Kurniawan, a.k.a. Heri Golun, to become the suicide
bomber in the attack. Prosecutors said Rois was also a deputy commander of a militant
group called the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) and underwent training in a Muslim
camp in the southern Philippines.

There were developments in July 2005 related to the trials of two other embassy
bombing suspects. Prosecutors dropped their main terrorism charge against Irun
Hidayet, 33, the first suspect brought to trial, saying there was not enough evidence to
prove that he planned and executed acts of terrorism in the bombing. Instead,
prosecutors asked that Hidayet receive a sentence of five years in jail "because he has
been proven to have helped terror perpetrators in the bombing." The defendant
allegedly drove suicide bomber Heri Kurniawan to Jakarta. On July 21, Hidayet was
sentenced to three and a half years in jail for assisting the bombers. In the case of Agus
Ahmad, 31, prosecutors dropped the charge of hiding a terror suspect and asked that
Ahmad be jailed for five years for helping transport and hide explosive materials used in
the blast. On July 26, Ahmad was found guilty of helping alleged bombing mastermind
Azahari Husin prepare for the blast and was sentenced to four years in jail.

Sinai Resort Bombings/Egypt: The trial of three Egyptians suspected of involvement in
the October 2004 Sinai resort bombings opened in Ismailiya in July 2005. Three almost
simultaneous explosions occurred at the Taba Hilton and two nearby beach camping
sites killing thirty-two people, including twelve Israeli tourists, and injuring 157.
Mohammed Gaiez Al Sabah and Mohammed Rubaa Addallah appeared in court while the
third suspect, Mohammed Ahmed Salah Felifel is still at-large and being tried in
absentia. Six other suspects were implicated in the attacks; two died during the
bombings and four suspects were killed in subsequent clashes with Egyptian security
forces.

Ansar al-Islam/Germany: Iraqi Lokman Amin Mohammed, 31, is on trial in Munich,
Germany, on charges of being a member of the Kurdish/Arab terrorist group linked to
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Ansar al-Islam. Mohammed is accused of being the mastermind
of the group's Munich cell and a key part of its European network. He is accused of
raising funds, organizing travel to Iraq for terrorist recruits and illegally channeling Iraqis
into Germany. Mohammed was arrested in Munich in December 2003. He was the first
suspect charged under a 2002 German law that made membership in a terrorist group on
German soil a crime, even if the group is based abroad. In recent months, German
authorities have arrested several Ansar al-Islam suspects.

Theo Van Gogh/The Netherlands: Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent Mohammed Bouyeri,
27, went on trial in Amsterdam in July 2005 on charges of killing Dutch filmmaker Theo
Van Gogh in November 2004. Bouyeri reportedly told the court: "I acted out of conviction
and not out of hate. If I'm ever released, I'd do the same again." Bouyeri is also
accused of playing a leading role in the radical Islamic group code-named the Hofstad
Network, of which eleven suspected members are currently awaiting trail on terrorism
charges. The Hofstad group is said to comprise second or third generation Dutch Muslim
men in their late teens and early twenties. In May 2005, French police arrested Chechen
Bislan Ismailov, 25, in connection with the murder of Van Gogh. Dutch prosecutors are
seeking his extradition. On July 26, 2005, Mohammed Bouyeri was sentenced to life in
prison for killing Van Gogh.

Abu Hamza al-Masri/London: Radical Egyptian-born Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is
on trial in London for allegedly inciting violence against non-Muslims. He faces fifteen
counts, including nine of soliciting to murder, four counts of using threatening or abusive
language designed to stir racial hatred, one count of possessing threatening or abusive
recordings and one count of possessing a document likely to be useful in terrorism. The
murder charges include those accusing him of encouraging the murder of non-Muslims
and one charge specifically regarding his soliciting the murder of Jews. Hamza was
arrested in May 2004 after U.S. authorities charged him with trying to establish a terrorist
training camp in Oregon, involvement in hostage-taking in Yemen and funding terrorism
training in Afghanistan. British prosecutors charged Al-Masri in October 2004, preempting
an American bid to extradite him. U.S. authorities have indicated they plan to resume
the extradition case once the cleric is convicted or cleared of the British charges.

Nur-Pashi Kulayev/Beslan School Attack: The trial of Chechen carpenter Nur-Pashi
Kulayev, 24, the only surviving militant from the 2004 Russian school hostage crisis in
Beslan, opened in southern Russia. About thirty militants took 1,500 parents and
children hostage in a school in September 2004; about 330 pupils and adults died in
explosions and gun battles between the attackers and Russian security forces.

AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN - EAST ASIA (180): CHINA, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ************************************************************************ A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Sponsored in part by Elsevier, publisher of Microbiology books from Elsevier ------------------------------------------ [1] Date: Wed 23 Nov 2005 From: Christian Griot Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine, Tue 22 Nov 2005 [edited] -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- WHO Avian Influenza Expert Says 300 Dead In China ------------------------------------------------- Dr. Masato Tashiro, a Japanese WHO consultant, believes that China has had 300 human deaths from avian influenza and is hiding the true extent of the disease from the rest of the world. Dr. Masato Tashiro, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Influenza at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, and head of the Department of Virology of the National Institute of Infectious Disease (Japan), astonished colleagues with this information during a speech at a recent retirement dinner for a fellow virologist, Hans-Dieter Klenk. ------------------------------------- Having just returned from the Hunan province of China on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), [Dr. Masato Tashiro] claimed that a reliable source had provided him with details of the true nature of the H5N1 virus in China. "We are systematically deceived," he is reported to have said. ------------------------------------ Tashiro visited China on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Hunan province. His laboratory, at the National Institute for Infection Research in Tokyo, as one of the Asian points of contact for the United Nations, had been particularly entrusted with investigations into avian influenza in Asia and China. Dr. Masato gave his lecture in the University of Marburg Clinic before some the most outstanding virologists in the world and shocked the meeting with his unauthorized data [report] from inside China. -------------------------------------- The Japanese virologist [said he] firmly believes in the reliability of the source and its data. The secrecy of the Peking government is still causing concern as it was at the beginning of the SARS epidemic disease, complained Tashiro. At least 5 medical co-workers who should be reporting on the situation in the provinces were arrested, and [other] publication-willing researchers were threatened with punishments [he said]. -------------------------------------- -- Christian Griot ---------------------------------- [There have been recurrent reports of human cases of avian influenza in China. So far, none have been independently substantiated. This report has more significance than most, coming from a WHO-supported virologist. However, Dr. Tashiro's report is based on 2nd-hand information and requires independent authentication. Further information is requested. - Mod.CP] --------------------------------- [ProMED-mail acknowledges the receipt of similar information from Mary Goodman .] ******_______________________________________________________ [2] Date: Wed 23 Nov 2005 From: Christian Griot ----------------------------------- Source: Newsgroups: agen.ape.international , ---------------------------------------------- Associated Press report, Wed 23 Nov 2005 [edited] China: School Teacher Tests Negative for Avian Influenza Virus Infection ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blood tests on a Chinese schoolteacher who fell ill in an area that suffered a bird flu outbreak show that he doesn't have the virus, a World Health Organization official said on Wed 23 Nov 2005. The teacher lived in the same county in the central province of Hunan as a 9-year-old boy who was confirmed to be one of China's 1st human cases. The boy's 12-year-old sister, who died, was a suspected case. "Based on an extensive range of blood tests, [the schoolteacher] has been excluded as a case of H5N1," said Dr. Julie Hall, an infectious diseases specialist for the WHO's Beijing office. ----------------------------------- The 36-year-old teacher fell ill after chopping raw chicken, according to the government. Chinese experts initially said all 3 tested negative for the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu. But it later reopened the investigation and asked the WHO for help. -------------------------------- -- Christian Griot ------------------------------------- [This result, if confirmed independently, reduces the number of laboratory confirmed human cases of avian influenza in China to 2: a 24-year-old woman in Anhui province (who died) and a 9-year-old boy in Hunan province who recovered. - Mod.CP]