More Details...UPDATE:
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016240.php
April 29, 2007
Captured Al-Qaeda leader masterminded 7/7 London bombings
More on this story. “7/7 ‘mastermind’ is seized in Iraq,” by Sean O’Neill, Tim Reid and Michael Evans for the TimesOnline, with thanks to James:
The al-Qaeda leader who is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain has been captured by the Americans.
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the “high-value detainee programme” at Guantanamo Bay.
Abd al-Hadi was taken into CIA custody last year, it emerged from US intelligence sources yesterday, in a move which suggests that he was interrogated for months in a “ghost prison” before being transferred to the internment camp in Cuba.
Abd al-Hadi, 45, was regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s most experienced, most intelligent and most ruthless commanders. Senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times that he was the man who, in 2003, identified Britain as the key battleground for exporting al-Qaeda’s holy war to Europe.
Abd al-Hadi recognised the potential for turning young Muslim radicals from Britain who wanted to become mujahidin in Afghanistan or Iraq into terrorists who could carry out attacks in their home country. He realised that their knowledge of Britain, possession of British passports and natural command of English made them ideal recruits. After al-Qaeda restructured its operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas he sought out young Britons for instruction at training camps. In late 2004 Abd al-Hadi met Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, from Leeds, at a militant camp in Pakistan and, in the words of a senior investigator, “retasked them” to become suicide bombers.
They were sent back to Britain where they led the terrorist cell that carried out the 7/7 bombings, killing 52 Tube and bus passengers.
Posted by Robert at April 29, 2007 02:41 AM
###
###
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016217.php
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)
April 27, 2007
“Top Al Qaeda operative taken into US custody”
UPDATE...
Note: The following breaking news brief is a quote:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3393199,00.html
Olmert says Israel cannot ignore Qassams any longer
Published: 04.29.07, 10:22 / Israel News
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel “cannot continue to ignore the Qassam lunching and infiltration attempts of terrorist cells.”
He stressed that “Israel has conveyed clear messages to the Palestinian Authority and international authorities that it did not want an escalation but would not avoid the necessary steps to protect the residents of the South.” (Ronny Sofer)