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Vecernje Novosti daily, Belgrade
August 29, 2003
By D. Savic

In exchange for assistance given to the Albanians,Islamists are aiding local terrorists in preparation of spectacular acts of terrorism in the major cities of Serbia and Montenegro. It is believed that among these, Belgrade and Nis are the primary targets. As well, Islamist cadres, primarily veterans from Bosnia, are providing training for thousands of Albanian terrorists in centers in Kosovo and Metohija: near Prizren, on the slopes of Mt. Sara, in the Kosovo Morava River valley [Pomoravlje], the Albanian cities of Kukes and Tropoi, and near Tetovo in western Macedonia.

These claims are made in a special report published in the U.S. publication "Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily" under the title "Osama bin Laden Focuses on the Balkans for the New Wave of Anti-Western Terrorism." The author of the article, editor Yossef Bodansky, is the director of research at the International Strategic Studies Association, and his professional biography includes the position of director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare in the U.S.House of Representatives, as well as advisory positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department. He is the author of several books and articles in prestigious publications on terrorism, strategic issues and the Balkans.

"Starting in mid-August 2003, radical Islamist leaders elevated the role of the terrorism infrastructure in the Balkans as a key facilitator of a proposed escalation of conflict into the heart of Europe, Israel and the United States. The terrorism campaign aims to define the U.S. occupation of Baghdad as the turning point in the fateful jihad for the future of Islam," writes the author.

As a most characteristic development Bodansky mentions the
appointment of Shahid Emir Musa Aizi-an Afghanistan veteran close to the El Qaida elite and the leadership of the Taliban - as coordinator and head of special operations for recruitment.

"Recently Osama bin Laden's senior commanders decided to expand recruitment and activation of Slavic cadres because they look European, not Arabic, in order to increase the possibility of their operability in the West," it is stated.

Aizi, it is said, began with recruitment in August of this year primarily based among the Bosnian Muslims and, to a lesser extent, in Chechnya and the region of the Caucuses. Even though, adds Bodansky, the Islamists have trained future terrorists and bomb experts since the beginning of the 1990s, these have not yet been activated.

"Now it appears that circumstances have changed. At the end of August 2003, Aizi sent a report to Mullah Kudratullahu, a senior Italian official, on the success of recruitment of 'Slavic cadres' for the Islamist jihad. He added that some of these 'white devils' have already been indoctrinated and trained to the point where they can carry out 'the work of Allah in numerous European cities and on the territory of Israel.'"

The report by Yossef Bodansky in "Defense & Foreign Affairs
Daily" goes on to emphasize: "The training program is being conducted under the auspices of the Albanian National Army (ANA) with 'mujeheddins pulled from Bosnia' as commanders and in association with Al Qaida."

The author reminds that the growing significance of the Balkans is mentioned in the Islamist communiqué confirming and explaining the bombing of the UN building in Baghdad.

"This was the most significant and most authoritative statement of doctrine of the Islamist leadership in August 2003. The communiqué underlined the situation in the Balkans as the most significant protest of the Islamists against the UN and the West. The first communiqué was
issued on August 19, 2003 by the Abu-Hafs-al-Masri brigade, an elite group of Al Qaida. The Islamists claimed that UN officials "supervised the massacre of Bosnian women and children in 1992 and 1995" and that "the UN is responsible for the massacre of 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 because they sponsored the idea of non-establishment of an Islamic state in Europe."

Bodansky also states that on August 24 in London bin Laden's chief spokesman in Europe, Al-Muhajjirun, explained at length why the UN building in Baghdad represented a legitimate target: "Truly it has been recorded that UN soldiers in Bosnia stood by while the barbarian Serbs
massacred Muslims. The UN first decided to keep weapons away from the Muslims (fearing that they might be the ones to defend themselves and establish an Islamic government) and therefore they enabled their massacre. There were even photographs taken while they assisted in the mass murder and bandit-like raping of Muslim women and children. The wounds are still fresh."

"The statements were clearly directed in elevating the
disinformation that 7,000 Muslims really were murdered at Srebrenica, when independent forensic analyses indicate that there were actually a few hundred victims. The continued insistence of the allegedly massive number of
dead Muslims in Srebrenica also serves to overshadow the murder of Serbian civilians committed by Muslims in the same town," observes the author.

Bodansky concludes that all statements from August as well as intelligence information confirming the opening of a new Islamist holy site in Srebrenica with funds received from Muslim extremists in the United States serves to support the analysis that "a major new wave of terrorism, this time with many European Islamists, has all but begun."

CENTER IN ALBANIA

The author of the "Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily" text Bodansky observes that commanders now consider what they call "Albanian land" - Albania, Kosovo and parts of Macedonia - as safe ground for the injection of a new wave of terrorists - including Slavs - into the West. He
emphasizes that the place "for specific missions" is Albania from where on-the-scene reports indicate that a larger number of foreigners from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran have been arriving since the
middle of August

SLAVIC CADRES

The preparation of additional Slavic cadres for operations
against America is in progress, reported Aizi, the head of recruitment for Al Qaida. Training and preparations are unfolding in the Balkans and the Caucuses, primarily in Georgia," it is said, adding that operations in the Balkans are under the supervision of Muhammad al-Zavahiri the
brother of Aiman al-Zavahiri, the second ranking leader of Al Qaida.