Damascus, 17 Jan. 2007 - Iran's national security council president, Ali Larijani, who is also the Islamic Repbublic's top nuclear negotiatior, will visit Syria in the coming days, sources in the capital Damascus said Wednesday. Larijani is expected to deliver a letter from Iranian president Mahomoud Ahmadinejad to Syrian president Bahsar al-Assad.
Teheran and Damascus have recently intensified their relations in the face of growing criticism from the United States in relation to their support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, their role in conflict in Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions which Washington opposes.
Larijani's visit is likely to anger those Arab leaders in the region such as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt who are trying to isolate non-Arab Iran in an effort to curb what is seen as its growing influence.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.377316254&par=0
Indonesia: International Forum Of Muslim MPs To Start
Jakarta, 17 Jan. 2007 - Muslim parliamentarians from 28 countries worldwide are expected in Indonesia's capital Jakarta for a four-day meeting starting Thursday, the International Forum for Islamic Parliaments.
The gathering, organised by members of the Indonesian parliament, is aimed at fostering solidarity among Muslims at a time when "Islam is under trial due to war and terrorism," organizers said.
Lawmakers from countries including the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Malaysia and Thailand will attend the gathering in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will open the forum on Thursday.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.377328653&par=0
Al-Qaeda Linked Algerian Group Resurgent Says Intelligence Expert
Casablanca, 17 Jan. 2007 - Al-Qaeda linked Algerian terror formation the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) is still active in Algeria and is setting its sights on Morocco and Tunisia in a bid to become an international network, according to an expert interviewed on Wednesday by Spanish daily El Pais, Khadija Mohsen-Finan, a Tunisian researcher at France's Institute of International Relations. Tunisian and Moroccan police also back her conclusion, El Pais said.
Tunisian and Moroccan security forces have in recent weeks carried out raids aimed at breaking up alleged terror cells, and in Morocco, smashed a cell believed to be recruiting youngsters to fight holy war in Iraq, El Pais reported.
It is also possible that the GSPC's ranks may have been swollen by Algeria's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika's amnesty last year for Islamic militants, under which the authorities have reportedly freed 2,200 jailed militants. The amnesty, approved in a 2005 referendum, was part of the reconciliation process following a civil war in which and estimated 200,000 people have died.
The Algerian authorities, after inital hesitation, sent the list of freed militants to European countries, including France and Spain. The Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla - where Muslims form a sizeable group - are Islamist militant 'hotspots', and the Spanish authorities have raised their alert levels there.
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http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.377271988&par=0
Jan. 17 -- The U.S. government will cut in half the ``no fly'' list of terror suspects banned from flights so it can better focus on people who pose the greatest threat, the head of the transportation security agency said.
The paring, to be complete in a month, will drop ``those who were feared to have presented a threat in the past but no longer do,'' said Kip Hawley, chief of the Transportation Security Administration.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aHpWQYTxWtXg
Terror plan foiled in Delhi; 2 militants arrested
January 17, 2007
Two suspected Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami militants planning to strike terror in the capital during the Republic Day celebrations were arrested with 1.6 kg of RDX, police said on Wednesday.
Lutful Rahman and Mohd Amin Wani were arrested earlier this month, but the police had kept it under wraps as an operation was on to find out their contacts in the capital on the basis of their interrogation.
Rahman, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested in Adarsh Nagar locality of North-West Delhi, while Mohd Amin was nabbed in South Delh's Nizamuddin area on January four by the Special Cell sleuths of the Delhi Police. Amin hails from Jammu and Kashmir.
"We have recovered 1.6 kg of RDX, a detonator and a timer from Mohd Amin and Rs 4.5 lakh from Lutuful Rahman," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar told PTI.
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http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/17arrest.htm
Kenya: 17 Youths Held Over Terror Link
January 17, 2007
Seventeen Kenyan youths are held by police in Nairobi and Mombasa over possible links to terrorism or Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
Also in custody are 42 Somalis. The 59 suspects are being interrogated by a combined team of the National Security Intelligence Service, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and the Immigration Department.
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