UNITED NATIONS - Al-Qaida remains determined to mount major attacks and has extended its base of support and become more adept at communicating its message and operational plans, a U.N. report said Tuesday.
At the same time, Taliban rebels fighting to regain control of Afghanistan have increased their influence not only in Afghanistan but in northwestern Pakistan and have money from the drug trade to hire foot soldiers and buy sophisticated weapons, the report said.
The report by terrorism experts working for the Security Council committee monitoring U.N. sanctions against the Taliban and al-Qaida painted a grim picture of the "persistent and real" threat from both groups whose relationship "appears close."
Since its last report a year ago, the committee said "there may have been fewer major operations than al-Qaida leaders would have liked, but the arrest or death of suspected al-Qaida-related terrorists in more than 40 countries around the world ... suggests a high volume of terrorist planning." "The frequent and widespread warnings by world leaders and counter-terrorist professionals that more attacks could occur at any time, acknowledge al-Qaida's spread, its patience and its determination," the report said.
Excerpted
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_on_re_us/un_terrorist_sanctions
Somali immigrant gets 10 years for plotting with al-Qaida terrorist to bomb Ohio shopping mall
Nov 27, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Somali immigrant was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for plotting to blow up an Ohio shopping mall with a man later convicted of being an al-Qaida terrorist.
Nuradin Abdi, a cell phone salesman before his arrest, pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to provide material support for terrorists. He will be deported to Somalia after serving the federal sentence. In a 20-minute statement to the court, Abdi's attorney Mahir Sherif said his client apologized to the people of the United States, the people of Ohio and the Muslim community. He said Abdi regretted that his conviction might lead to problems for other Muslims.
Excerpted
GREENBELT, Md. - A former security guard at Andrews Air Force Base who failed to put his Muslim name on a job application was trying to conceal his ties to a controversial Washington imam, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
U.S. District Court jurors began hearing the case against Darrick Michael Jackson, who failed to list ''Abdul-Jalil Mohammed'' as an alias on an application for a job at the suburban Washington base, home to Air Force One.
Jackson's attorney, David Chamble, said that Jackson used the Mohammed name only while at mosque or with Muslim friends, and that he didn't consider it a true alias that he needed to disclose. Chamble called it ''an innocent omission'' and excoriated the government for pursing criminal charges against Jackson. Jackson is charged with making a false statement and could face five years in prison if convicted.
He already was a security guard at Andrews when he reapplied in 2005 after the contract for security at the base changed. He had to fill out a federal form, which asked whether he had any aliases. At the time, he was affiliated with the Masjid Al-Islam mosque in southeast Washington, which is led by a fiery imam named Abdul Alim Musa. Musa is not on trial in the case, but prosecutors said Jackson tried to hide his ties to Musa and the mosque to avoid an investigation that might have led to the denial of his application.
Federal prosecutor David Salem told jurors, without elaborating, that Musa ''has made some inflammatory statements about the United States.'' He told jurors the government was not pursuing the case because of Jackson's religion. Musa, who was not at the trial, did not immediately return a phone call left Tuesday at the Masjid Al-Islam mosque seeking comment. Some of his public comments have included praise for Palestinian suicide bombers and a paraphrasing of the former 1960s Black Panther H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Al-Amin, saying, ''We're going to burn America down.''
Jackson's lawyer said his client did not try to cover his tracks. His application included references that had ties to the mosque and an e-mail address that incorporated part of his Muslim name. And some of the documents he faxed as part of his job application contained the fax heading of the mosque. ''The government, in their hysteria to try to prove they are doing something, has gotten this whole case wrong,'' Chamble said.
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=NATIONAL&ID=565129018232670515
"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that terrorists might detonate a "dirty bomb" in a major city sooner than later" "William Nye, Home Office director of counter-terrorism and intelligence, told delegates that al-Qaida is actively seeking high-grade uranium and plutonium in order to detonate a "dirty bomb" in major cities such as London or Washington"
Top police officer warns nuclear attack inevitable
A NUCLEAR attack by terrorists causing widespread panic, chaos and death is inevitable and will happen soon, a senior Scottish police officer has warned.
Ian Dickinson, who leads the police response to chemical, biological and nuclear threats in Scotland, has painted the bleakest picture yet of the dangers the world now faces.
Efforts to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining materials that could be made into radioactive dirty bombs - or even crude nuclear explosives - are bound to fail, he said. And the result will be horror on an unprecedented scale.
"These materials are undoubtedly out there, and undoubtedly will end up in terrorists' hands, and undoubtedly will be used by terrorists some time soon," he declared. "We must plan for failure and prepare for absolute terror."