MI5 has set up a dedicated team to monitor suspected al-Qaeda activists and supporters in Ireland. The Observer has learnt that an eight-strong unit is spying on Islamists based in Belfast, Lisburn and mid-Ulster, but is also liaising via the Police Service of Northern Ireland with the Garda Siochana across the border. The revelation coincides with the arrest yesterday of a suspected Islamist terror unit in Co Kerry. Three Afghans were in custody after the Garda swooped on an apartment in Tralee and found devices they believe could be used to make bombs.
The new unit at MI5's regional headquarters at Holywood, on the outskirts of Belfast, also monitors inbound US military flights to Shannon airport in case of an Islamist terror attack on Irish soil.
All reports on suspected al-Qaeda activities across Ireland are to be handed over to the head of MI5 in Northern Ireland, Trevor Harper. He is based at the new £20m headquarters inside Palace military barracks. Last week The Observer revealed that, in the event of a major terror attack on MI5's HQ at Thames House in London, command of the security services would be switched to Holywood.
Security sources said al-Qaeda 'sleeper cells' in Northern Ireland were being watched in particular, because of suspected links to other cells in Britain. 'They operate a very tight structure, just like the IRA. There are possible links to cells on the mainland,' one source said.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/02/alqaida.ireland
Algeria - 25 terrorists die
Sun Mar 2, 92008
ALGIERS, Algeria - Two Algerian newspapers say security forces killed 25 suspected members of an al-Qaida affiliate in North Africa in a weekend operation east of the capital.
The two Arabic-language papers, Ech Chourouk and Al Djazair News, said in their Sunday editions that security forces chased some 30 Islamic insurgents planting roadside bombs Friday night back into their refuge. The papers, which sited unnamed, informed sources, said troops then called in helicopters and assaulted the hideout early Saturday with rockets and helicopter fire, killing 25.
There was no official confirmation of the operation between the Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaie regions. Algeria has been fighting an Islamic insurgency since 1992.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/algeria_terrorists_killed
IDF forces operating in northern Gaza have seized RPGs, explosives and equipment used in the manufacturing of bombs in a Palestinian mosque.
Some 30 Palestinians suspected of involvement in terror have been detained and taken for questioning.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3513843,00.html
Israel strikes back, threatens more
March 3, 2008
Israeli aircraft struck new targets in the Gaza Strip today, killing two militants, after the government vowed to press home an offensive despite appeals from around the world for an end to violence.
Four workshops and an office used by Hamas were blasted overnight, said officials of the Palestinian Islamist movement, which seized control of Gaza last June by routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces. Two groups of fighters from militant organisations were also struck by missiles. In each attack, one man was killed and several wounded, medics and Hamas officials said.
"There were a number of aerial attacks on weapons manufacturing facilities," an Israeli army spokesman said. Israel says it is targeting sites where Hamas and its allies make, store and fire the rockets which have disrupted life in Israeli border towns over the past year and more. One rocket killed an Israeli civilian on Wednesday, the first since May.
Excerpted
25 dead terrorists are 25 terrorists that are now incapable of being repeat offenders in the future.