Threat Matrix: April 2007

Ahmadinejad Vows News Soon on Atomic Work
-Full Story-

Iran's president promised on Sunday Iranians would soon hear more news about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, which the West believes is a covert effort to build atomic bombs despite Tehran's denials.

"The Iranian nation will soon hear fresh news about our country's nuclear transition," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

He did not give details about any announcements or when the news would be released but Ahmadinejad is due to hold a news conference on Tuesday.

	Iran Warns Bush Not to Talk Unwisely Over Britons' Case
	IDF: Iran, Hizbullah Preparing for Possible U.S. Strike
	Iran Accuses U.S. Planes of Violating its Airspace

Thread Forty-Seven

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UPDATE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818541/posts

“’Personable’ professor among shooting victims”
Los Angeles Times ^ | April 17, 2007 | Greg Miller

Posted on 04/16/2007 9:58:26 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Monday’s session of the class in introductory German was nearly an hour old when the shooter entered the classroom in Norris Hall and fired dozens of rounds.

One of the first was aimed at the head of the teacher, Christopher J. Bishop, who wore his hair long, rode his bike to campus and worked alongside his wife in the foreign languages department at Virginia Tech.

Authorities had not publicly identified any victims as of late Monday, but colleagues confirmed that Bishop, 35, was among the 33, including the shooter, killed during the rampage.

His friends said they were struggling to comprehend the violent death of an instructor who was known for his gentle manner and generosity toward students.

“I don’t think he was the type of person who had an enemy,” said Troy Paddock, a close friend whose wife also teaches in the German program. “He was a very friendly person. He did weekly gatherings for students out of class to practice German where they could talk about anything. He was a nice and helpful person.”

On the Web sites where he posted samples of the art he created with his digital camera, Bishop described himself as “mild-mannered” and “bespectacled.” He was an avid hiker and movie fan, a Georgia native who paid close attention to the wins and losses of the Atlanta Braves.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=germany

RECAP:

http://www.internet-haganah.com/haganah/internet.html
http://internet-haganah.org/hmedia/13feb07/13feb07-salafy_forums.html

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006004.html

14 April 2007
“Demographics don’t lie”
by Aaron Weisburd

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “A final note: other countries whose residents are prominent constituents of the global community of jihadis online, but that have not yet experienced jihadist terrorism proportionate to the size of their online jihadi population, include Egypt, Germany and Belgium.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.”

Posted on 14 April 2007 @ 17:05

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373324
TERRORISM MONITOR
(April 12, 2007)

“The Threat of Islamist Terrorism to Germany
By Anouar Boukhars

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The recent al-Qaeda threat to Germany over its forces in Afghanistan coupled with the arrest of four Arab men accused of supporting al-Tawhid—a terrorist organization believed to have links to al-Qaeda—have convinced German authorities of the rising jihadi threat to Germany. “It is decidedly false to believe that Germany need not fear terrorist attacks because it is not involved with the Iraq war…Germany is the leading nation in the fight against the Taliban, with which al-Qaeda is tightly allied…We are part of the hated West,” Bavarian Interior Minister Beckstein declared [1].”

UPDATE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818549/posts

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indian_professor_student_killed_in_Virginia/articleshow/1917833.cms

“Indian professor, student killed in Virginia”
[ 17 Apr, 2007 1005hrs ISTINDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES ]

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “VIRGINIA: A gunman massacred 33 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history before the university could figure out what was going on and get the warning out to students.

The bloodbath on Monday ended with the gunman committing suicide, bringing the death toll to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with tragedy, perhaps forever.

G V Loganathan, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who graduated from IIT Kanpur and completed his PhD from Purdue University, was killed in the shootout.

An Indian student, Minal Panchal, was also allegedly missing after the shootout.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=russia

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://intelligence-summit.blogspot.com/2007/04/russia-to-build-eight-nuclear.html

Monday, April 16, 2007
Russia to build eight nuclear submarines by 2017
MOSCOW: Russia will build eight nuclear submarines armed with Bulava intercontinental missiles by 2017, junior Defence Minister Alexi Moskovski said Sunday as the first of them was launched.

“Seven submarines of the Borei (type 955) will be built and launched by the navy between now and 2015. The eighth will be received in 2017,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The Yuri Dolgoruky submarine, launched at the northwestern naval base of Severodvinsk, is the first strategic nuclear submarine built in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Bulava missiles can carry 10 nuclear warheads with a range of up to 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles).

posted by Marko at 4/16/2007 08:10:00 AM

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/April/07_nsd_252.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

Illinois Man Convicted of Serving as Long-Time
Iraqi Intelligence Agent in the United States

WASHINGTON— A suburban Chicago man has been convicted of serving as a long-time agent of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in the United States, Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI, announced today.

The defendant, Sami Khoshaba Latchin, 59, of 9399 Bay Colony Dr., Des Plaines, Ill., was found guilty this morning by a federal jury on all counts of a five-count superseding indictment returned in July 2006. The indictment accuses Latchin of acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, lying to the FBI in an interview, and obtaining U.S. citizenship under false pretenses.

Latchin faces a maximum of 42 years imprisonment. Sentencing has been set for July 9, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. Latchin is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Dohuk, Iraq, and has lived in the United States since 1993. He has been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Among other things, the jury found that in the early 1990s, a committee of senior officers and directors from the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), also known as the Mukhabbarat, created a program to “plant” IIS agents overseas to support the strategic interests of the IIS and Government of Iraq. The IIS Committee selected Latchin, an IIS agent, for placement in the United States as a “sleeper” agent. Latchin was tasked to immigrate to the United States, find employment, gain U.S. citizenship, and eventually provide intelligence information to the Iraqi government.

Latchin immigrated to the United States in 1993 and, from that date and continuing through at least July 2002, he acted as an illegal agent of the Iraqi government in the United States. He communicated with intelligence officers of the IIS; traveled to Europe, Iraq, Jordan and other locations to meet with intelligence officers of the IIS and received payments from the Iraqi government, including a $24,000 payment from two IIS intelligence officers he met in Jordan.

In 1999, Latchin made materially false statements on his application for U.S. citizenship by concealing his affiliation with the IIS and Iraq’s Baath Party and by lying about his employer as well as some of his overseas travels in the 1990s.

In 2003, Latchin again made false statements when he represented during an interview with the FBI that he had never worked for the IIS, had never accepted money from the IIS, had never provided names or information to the IIS, and had never met with anyone from the IIS while traveling outside the United States.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Chicago Field Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Conway and Victoria J. Peters of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Senior Trial Attorneys Clifford I. Rones and Kathleen Kedian of the Justice Department’s National Security Division also assisted in the case.

###

07-252

Note: This is a 4 page article with comments following the article.

UPDATE:

http://wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1116587

“Gunman Kills 32 in Virginia Tech Rampage”
April 17, 2007 - 1:27am

By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - A gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history Monday, cutting down his victims in two attacks two hours apart before the university could grasp what was happening and warn students. The bloodbath ended with the gunman committing suicide, bringing the death toll to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy, perhaps forever.

Investigators gave no motive for the attack. The gunman’s name was not immediately released, and it was not known whether he was a student.”

http://www.satp.org
http://www.saag.org

http://www.saag.org/papers23/paper2206.html

Paper no. 2206

13.04.2007

“2008 OLYMPICS IN CHINA: SECURITY THREAT ASSESSMENT -INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR— PAPER NO. 218”
By B.Raman

http://www.saag.org/papers23/paper2205.html

Paper no. 2205

12.04.2007

“COUNTERING AL QAEDA: STRATEGIC & TACTICAL DIMENSIONS - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR-—PAPER NO. 217”
by B. Raman

SNIPPET: “(To be read in continuation of my earlier article titled JIHADI INTIFADA: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR-—PAPER NO. 188 at http://www.saag.org/papers22/paper2135.html )”

http://www.saag.org/papers22/paper2135.html

Paper no. 2135

14.02.2007

“JIHADI INTIFADA: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR-—PAPER NO. 188”
By B. Raman

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nitricacid
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iraq

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818561/posts

Acid truck bomb attack foiled in Iraq
Reuters ^ | April 17 2007

Posted on 04/16/2007 11:17:46 PM PDT by noname247

A truck laden with nitric acid and explosives overturned before the driver could attack a joint security station operated by U.S. and Iraqi troops north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The use of nitric acid in bomb attacks could mark another shift in tactics by insurgents, who in recent months have rigged nearly a dozen truck bombs with chlorine gas, mainly in western Anbar province.

In a statement, the U.S. military said a security patrol went to assist the driver of the truck after it overturned and found it loaded with eight containers of nitric acid and explosives.

It said the driver confessed he had been paid to attack the joint security station in Mushada, which also houses the town’s police station, north of Baghdad.

ICC-CCS.ORG - THE WEEKLY PIRACY REPORT - REPORT SNIPPET - QUOTE:

http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php

Weekly Piracy Report
11-17 April 2007

The following is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C from 11 to 17 April 2007.

ALERT

Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh
Forty seven incidents have been reported since 28.01.2006. Pirates are targeting ships preparing to anchor. Ships are advised to take extra precautions.

The 2006 Annual IMB Report on Piracy and Armed Attacks against Ships is now published. Please see the end of this page to order.

Suspicious crafts

13.04.2007: 1500 UTC: Posn 11:57N 060:23E, 350NM Eastof Socotra, Arabian Sea.
A speed boat, doig 20 kts was sighted on radar at a distance of 8NM of a bulk carrier underway. Anti piracy measures taken by crew. The suspicious craft closed to a distance of 2 Nm and then aborted the chase. The craft was seen heading towards the African coast.
Recently reported incidents

13.04.2007: 1500UTC: Posn: 11:57N - 060:23E, 350nm East of Socotra, Arabian Sea.
A speedboat doing 20kts was sighted on radar at distance of 8nm of a bulk carrier underway. Ship raised alarm, crew mustered and activated fire hoses and switched on deck lights. Boat approached up to 2.0 nm and aborted the chase. Suspected boat was seen heading towards the African coast

13.04.2007: 0900LT: Posn: 08:20N - 076:32E, off Trivandum, India.
About 100 pirates including fishermen armed with long knives boarded a barge under tow. They stole cargo and escaped.

11.04.2007: 0930 UTC: Posn: 15:14N - 052:25E, Gulf of Aden.
Pirates in two speed boats chased a product tanker underway with intent to board. The C/O contacted the Piracy Reporting Centre, in Malaysia, for assistance. The centre contacted coalition naval forces at Bahrain and a warship and a helicopter were dispatched to render assistance to ship. Meanwhile ship took extra measures to prevent boarding by pirates. When a helicopter arrived the two speed boats aborted the attempt and moved away. Ship continued her voyage to her destination port. All crew are safe.

11.04.2007: 0530 UTC: Posn: 06:32S – 039:35E, 28 miles NE of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Pirates boarded a container ship drifting. They broke open two containers and stole some cargo bags and left the vessel.

06.04.2007: 0345 LT: Dumai Anchorage, Indonesia.
A tanker at anchor was boarded by two robbers who entered the engine room via the open sky light. Crew in the engine room noticed the two robbers and when they tried to apprehend them, the robbers threatened them with long knives. Engine room crew informed the bridge and the alarm was raised and crew mustered. The robbers threatened the deck watch with long knives as they escaped from the funnel deck. The robbers escaped with some engine spares by jumping into the river. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the robbers may have boarded the vessel when one crew had gone into the accommodation to wake up the next watch and the other crew went for a security round on deck.
No injuries to crew.

29.03.2007: 0300 LT: Chittagong Roads, Bangladesh.
Two robbers using grappling hooks with ropes boarded a container ship from a small boat near the stern. The alarm was raised by the deck watchmen who were attacked by the robbers armed with knives. The crew sustained serious cuts to their hands. The robbers jumped into the water and the small boat moved away. Port control was informed. The small boat was still near the vessel but moved away when the coast guard came on board to investigate.

NOTE: The following text is a quote:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Tue Apr 17 2007 01:07:48 GMT-0700.

Worldwide Caution

April 10, 2007

This Public Announcement updates information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and interests overseas. This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated October 11, 2006 and expires on October 9, 2007.

The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics to include assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings.

Ongoing events in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have resulted in demonstrations and associated violence in several countries. Americans are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning.

In August 2006, British authorities arrested a significant number of extremists engaged in a plot to destroy multiple passenger aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States. The September 2006 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria and the March 2006 bombing near the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan illustrate the continuing desire of extremists to strike American targets.

Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons, and target both official and private interests. The bomb attacks targeting buses carrying foreign workers in March 2007 and December 2006 in Algeria, a series of bombings in Thailand in May and September 2006 that targeted commercial and tourist destinations in the far south, and the bombings in the the Egyptian resort town of Dahab in April 2006 all illustrate how terrorists exploit vulnerabilities associated with soft targets. Additional examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas and locales where Americans gather in large numbers, including during holidays. Financial or economic targets of value may also be considered as possible venues; the vehicle-based suicide attack on an oil facility near Mukalla and Marib in Yemen in September 2006 and the failed attack on the Abqaiq oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia in late February 2006 are such examples.

In the wake of the August 2006 plot against aircraft in London, numerous terrorist attacks on trains in India in 2006, the July 2005 London Underground bombings, and the March 2004 train attacks in Madrid, Americans are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems. In addition, extremists may also select aviation and maritime services as possible targets.

U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance, be aware of local events, and take the appropriate steps to bolster their personal security. For additional information, please refer to “A Safe Trip Abroad” found at http://travel.state.gov.

U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or periodically suspend public services to assess their security posture. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. Americans abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its Consular Information Program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

See this?

Investigation Under Way After Car Bomb Explosion
http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/12173768/detail.html
FELTON, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Sheriffs Department is investigating a car bomb that went off early Sunday morning at Highlands Park north of Felton.

Deputies said the bomb went off under a vehicle that likely was abandoned but damaged a nearby car as well.

The explosion, which took place at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, closed Highway 9 for several hours.

The Santa Cruz County bomb squad was called to the scene to investigate.

Investigators did not say whether they thought Sunday’s car bomb was linked to an incident last month in which a bomb was placed beneath an unmarked Santa Cruz police car.

The bomb was discovered before it detonated in that case.

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