I, for one, am very grateful that we are controlling our borders...
Taliban bombing claim alarms Canadian officials Updated Mon. Jun. 18 2007 10:23 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Taliban claims it has teams of suicide bombers ready to take the fight to NATO countries, including Canada.
In a story broadcast Monday, ABC News obtained footage of an al Qaeda-Taliban training camp graduation ceremony, reportedly held on June 9.
The teams are reportedly being dispatched to Canada, Britain, the United States and Germany.
On the tape, Taliban commander Dadullah Mansoor said: "These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from faraway places. Why shouldn't we go after them?"
"We should perform suicide attacks and, God willing, destroy their establishments in their own countries."
Dadullah replaced his brother Mullah Dadullah, who was shot to death this month in a U.S.-led operation.
The leader of the British attack team spoke in halting English.
A Pakistani journalist had been invited to attend and record the ceremony. Al Qaeda cameramen also recorded the event.
U.S. intelligence officials told ABC News the video was an example of "an aggressive and sophisticated propaganda campaign."
However, ABC News' Brian Ross said that Pakistan reported picking up three foreign militants last week -- two of whom held German passports.
A Canadian official told CTV News on Monday they take the Taliban threat "very seriously."
Canadian and western intelligence have known for some months that the Taliban leadership had directed its commanders to "take the fight out of the country, to take it to us," the source said.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service does not believe that any Taliban operatives are in Canada at this time but they are regarded as a serious threat.
In late December, Newsweek magazine reported that al Qaeda had trained a 12-member group of Westerners at a camp in North Waziristan, Pakistan to carry out attacks in their home countries.
The Pakistani government has very little presence in North Waziristan. Some media reports have called the territory a Taliban mini-state.
An official in Britain's Foreign Office told Newsweek that it was common knowledge that some would-be jihadists have been travelling from Britain to Pakistan for training.
However, the story also claimed al Qaeda had developed an "underground railroad" for jihadists that could get them from Europe to Pakistan without any official record.