Posted on 01/01/2006 4:52:00 PM PST by jmc1969
An alleged al-Qaeda operative accused of serving as a key link between the group's leaders and suicide bombers hid his tracks so well that even fellow militants thought he was dead.
Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa, wanted by Turkey for 2003 bombings in Istanbul that killed 58 people, is said to have eluded intelligence services by using an array of fake IDs, employing aliases even with his al-Qaeda contacts and finally faking his death in Fallujah, Iraq, in late 2004.
The Syrian radical didn't surface until last August, when an accidental explosion forced him to flee his safehouse in the Turkish resort of Antalya, police say. Officers reported finding bomb-making materials meant for an attack on an Israeli cruise ship as well as fake IDs and passports from several countries.
Police eventually cornered al-Saqa in southeastern Turkey and he is awaiting trial on terrorism charges.
Until recent years, al-Saqa was not well-known to international intelligence agencies despite his conviction in absentia in 2002 – along with al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – for a failed plot to attack Americans and Israelis in Jordan with poison gas during millennium celebrations. He and al-Zarqawi were each sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In Istanbul, Al-Saqa played host to Hijazi and two other militants, including a cousin of al-Zarqawi, helping to arrange their travel to Pakistan for training in neighboring Afghanistan, court documents said.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Well, they could invade Iraq... other than that, I don't know what they could do.
oops wrong thread
The next time this guy fakes death, they should give him two in the hat just to make sure.
Gosh, I really hope his prison conditions are comfortable. Maybe the EU can look in on him and suggest improvements to his captors.
Behead him this time.
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