Posted on 02/17/2002 2:04:49 PM PST by My Identity
British Islamic extremists have been involved in weapons training with assault rifles at a mosque in London, intelligence sources have told The Observer.
The disclosures that hardline Islamists practised with Kalashnikov AK-47s at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London underline the pivotal role that Britain has played in the recruitment of volunteers to fight alongside Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group all over the world.
It will also intensify pressure on the Government to crack down on Islamic militants using the UK as a base.
MI5 recruited worshippers at Finsbury Park who opposed the hardline stance taken by controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, who often leads prayers there, and asked them to help monitor the activities of extremists. Early last year the agents told their handlers that several groups had been taught to strip and reassemble Kalashnikovs in the mosque's basement. It was not clear if the guns were live or deactivated weapons, which can legally be owned in the UK.
Hamza, the most influential and radical of the prayer leaders at the mosque, said yesterday that, as far as he knew, no 'harmful' activities had ever taken place there. However, he admitted that he could not monitor all areas of the mosque.
Hamza, who is wanted for alleged terrorist offences in the Yemen, told The Observer that the mosque may have been the victim of a smear campaign by foreign agents. He named Algeria and Egypt as two countries particularly keen to see the mosque shut down. 'They are sending agents to cause us trouble,' he said.
Last month The Observer revealed that a video showing the execution of Algerian conscripts by hardline militants had been circulated at the mosque. Hamza denied it had been used for recruiting purposes.
However, MI5 has been told by their agents that scores of young men were being sent from the mosque for training at camps in Afghanistan. They reported that consignments of supplies including radio and telecommunications equipment were dispatched to Pakistan for eventual distribution in the Afghan training camps allied to or run by al-Qaeda. They also revealed a complex operation run by some men attending the mosque to provide volunteers with false documents. Although the men recruited by MI5 were not directly involved in the logistics of supplying overseas Mujahideen, the operation was openly talked about at the mosque.
Several men involved with the al-Qaeda group have already been linked to Finsbury Park mosque. Feroz Abbassi, a computer engineer from Croydon held by the US in Cuba, was 'indoctrinated' in the mosque, according to his parents. Jerome Courtailler, arrested in Holland for allegedly plotting to blow up the US embassy in Paris, prayed there as did Djamel Beghal, Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, all of whom have been linked to al-Qaeda by investigators.
Three former MI5 agents interviewed by The Observer said that the mosque's reputation drew radical Islamists from all over Europe. One recalled white Swedish converts to Islam who had sought out the mosque because they want to take part in 'the Jihad'.
'They got false papers from people they met at the mosque and were sent to Afghanistan via Germany,' one former agent recalled.
Senior officers with two Middle Eastern intelligence agencies based in Peshawar, the Pakistani frontier city that was until recently a major base for militant volunteers fighting alongside the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies, said that interviews with Mujahideen arrested by Pakistani authorities over the last 18 months had revealed that many had received instruction in basic battlefield first aid from a doctor who ran lessons at the mosque. They said that consignments of medical supplies, including large quantities of antibiotics, had been sent from the UK.
Hamza yesterday denied the allegations, saying that the mosque lacked funds.
The British sources said they had told MI5 that volunteers who had fought in Afghanistan for the Taliban or for Islamic militants in Chechnya and Algeria boasted at the mosque of battles they had taken part in. Many younger worshippers were deeply impressed by the 'war stories', the men said.
Ah HA!
I was wondering how they were managing to attract so many people to their services!
Now I know the truth: it's not the theology; it's the target practice! I reckon that beats coffee and donuts, even! :-P
And according to you islam makes sense? From the hadith:
Volume 1, Book 4, Number 234: Narrated Abu Qilaba:
Anas said, "Some people of 'Ukl or 'Uraina tribe came to Medina and its climate did not suit them. So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (Milch) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they went as directed and after they became healthy, they killed the shepherd of the Prophet and drove away all the camels. The news reached the Prophet early in the morning and he sent (men) in their pursuit and they were captured and brought at noon. He then ordered to cut their hands and feet (and it was done), and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron, They were put in 'Al-Harra' and when they asked for water, no water was given to them." Abu Qilaba said, "Those people committed theft and murder, became infidels after embracing Islam and fought against Allah and His Apostle."
Volume 5, Book 59, Number 362: Narrated Ibn Umar:
Bani An-Nadir and Bani Quraiza fought (against the Prophet violating their peace treaty), so the Prophet exiled Bani An-Nadir and allowed Bani Quraiza to remain at their places (in Medina) taking nothing from them till they fought against the Prophet again) . He then killed their men and distributed their women, children and property among the Muslims, but some of them came to the Prophet and he granted them safety, and they embraced Islam. He exiled all the Jews from Medina. They were the Jews of Bani Qainuqa', the tribe of 'Abdullah bin Salam and the Jews of Bani Haritha and all the other Jews of Medina.
From the Hadith of Abu Dawud [6]. Book 38, Number 4348:
Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas: A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet was informed about it. He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.
He sat before the Prophet and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her. Thereupon the Prophet said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood.
QUOTE FROM BUKHARI, VOLUME 5, #369 Narrated Jabir Abdullah:
Allah's messenger said "Who is willing to kill Ka`b bin al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His apostle?" Thereupon Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's messenger! Would you like that I kill him?" The prophet said, "Yes". Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Ka`b). The prophet said, "You may say it."
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