Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Six (Index)

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The Threat Matrix

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the judge and get informed!

Details show extent of terror plot against U.S.
Full Story

We now know more about an alleged attack that triggered an increased national threat level last summer.

That's when U.S. officials said they had uncovered a plot targeting financial institutions. The plot involved bombs, banks and British nationals.

The detail was startling, the targets enormous. They included financial buildings in Washington, New York and New Jersey.

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat."

Threat Matrix's "TM'er" Tips

Link to Thread Twenty-Five

"Code Red Implications:
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~

TM Terrorism Handbook

TM Code of Conduct

ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips

TM's 'Be on the Lookout'

Godzilla's Summaries

Threat Matrix Book List

Tracking the Chatter with TM

TM designed by: Ian Livingston

U.S.-Bound Jet Diverted (Paris to Boston Diverted to Maine - 5/13/05)

Air France Flight Was Heading To Boston

May 12, 2005 1:25 pm US/Eastern PARIS (AP) An Air France flight from Paris to Boston was being diverted to Maine on Thursday because U.S. authorities wanted to check a passenger aboard the flight, officials said....

Instead, it was expected to land at Bangor International Airport in Maine between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m., Davis said.

Federal agencies including the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration planned to meet the flight when it landed.

Link to Full Article

FBI Busts Twin Switcheroo (UT Airport workers - 5/12/05)

SALT LAKE CITY, UT-May 12, 2005 — Identical twin brothers are in trouble with the FBI after one went to the other's job in a secure area of the Salt Lake International Airport.

The agency said Olimpiu Nedelcu looks exactly like his brother Silviu, who works as an aircraft refueler at the airport.

FBI agent Bob Wright said Silviu couldn't make it to work so his brother went in his place. Airport police fingerprinted the man who showed up for work and found out that he was not Silviu.

Link to Article

9/11 plotters: Libbi is in, will Osama be next?
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main12.asp?filename=Ne052105_9_11_plotters.asp

The high-profile arrest of al Qaeda’s chief operational commander, Abu Faraj Al-Libbi, in Pakistan on May 3, 2005 was the result of a tip-off on his hideout delivered personally by American Central Command chief General John Abizaid to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during a one-on-one meeting in Islamabad.

Washington and Islamabad had announced rewards of US $5 million and Rs 20 million, respectively for information leading up to Libbi’s arrest. His capture has already triggered speculation that he can provide crucial leads and revive American efforts to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

As Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s top deputy, Libbi is believed to have played an important role in organising the 9/11 attacks. He operated out of the tribal areas of western Pakistan, like bin Laden and Zawahiri, who, intelligence officials believe, are hiding in the troubled Waziristan region of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan.

A Libyan national, Libbi’s importance came to light when it was known that he had masterminded two abortive bids on General Musharraf in Rawalpindi in 2003.

Libbi’s arrest is the most significant blow to the Osama-led terror network as he is considered one of the few al Qaeda leaders who could possibly know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri.

He was arrested from Mardan — the second largest city in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan. Intelligence sleuths who caught Libbi were acting on the tip from General Abizaid who paid a surprise visit to Pakistan on the morning of May 3, 2005 and conveyed the information to Musharraf. Several hours later, Libbi was nabbed.

The FBI had spotted Libbi by tracking his satellite phone. Despite a fierce gunfight, it was reported that the authorities could catch Libbi with such ease due to the militant’s skin disorder. Reports said Libbi looked more like a businessman with his trimmed beard and smart collar and tie when his picture first featured on a Pakistani most wanted poster last year. But it was a very different face in the first photograph after his capture.

Apart from the beard, the blotches on the face caused by leucoderma, or vitiligo, the condition suffered by pop star Michael Jackson gave him away. “It was easy for us to immediately recognise him because he is suffering from this peculiar skin disease and it was not difficult to know that ‘yes, we’ve got Libbi’,” a government minister said. When he first came to prominence in Pakistan during interrogations after the attempts on Musharraf, intelligence agencies only knew him as Dr Taufeeq.

Senior US and Pakistani intelligence officials are interrogating him at an undisclosed location, but Libbi hasn’t said anything worthwhile yet.

Some highly-placed Pakistani sources say it is not yet clear that Libbi would know Osama’s whereabouts, or those of Ayman Al-Zawahiri. But they do expect to glean important clues about al Qaeda’s future operations in the region.

“We expect invaluable information from his interrogation. We may find further clues to strike further blows to the al Qaeda network. He is also being interrogated about his links with sleeper cells in Pakistan or abroad. He can speak Urdu and Arabic, so he was kind of a bridge between local militants and foreign militants.” The official added, “He is believed to be an expert in drawing maps and diagrams and his arrest could badly damage any links between the various tiers of al Qaeda.”

However, officials close to those questioning Libbi doubt the Pakistan government’s claims that the interrogation process was proceeding well. They said that Libbi has so far defied efforts to make him reveal information about al Qaeda’s senior hierarchy, despite physical pressure.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official said while requesting anonymity: “The arrested al Qaeda leader (Abu Faraj Al-Libbi) has not yet revealed anything solid that could lead to the high-value targets. The interrogators have used all possible methods, from the third degree to injecting him with a truth serum but it seems hard to break him. But it is too early to judge whether he is a hard nut to crack or simply that he doesn’t know more than he has told us.”

Three days after Libbi’s arrest, 18 more members of the outfit were arrested from different parts of NWFP.

Asked about the significance of Libbi’s arrest, Pakistani intelligence sources said the detained al Qaeda leader has long worked with Osama, and had taken over the No 3 slot following the capture of his mentor Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in March 2003.

“Libbi happens to be the in charge of all al Qaeda operations in the US and Britain, and knows at least the general whereabouts of Osama. He was not only the senior player in Pakistan but was also the connecting link between al Qaeda’s old guard and the new generation of terrorists. Previously the director of al Qaeda’s North African operations, he has played an important role in organising the 9/11 attacks as the top deputy of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. He was the mastermind of the December 14 and 25, 2003 failed assassination attempts against General Musharraf in Rawalpindi,” sources added.

Intelligence sources say Libbi had been on the run for over three and a half years in Afghanistan, Waziristan and many other places after the fall of the Taliban regime and his choices of hideouts had become limited. He had reportedly moved to Mardan recently after deserting his Waziristan hideout that had become risky after the Pakistan Army launched a military operation. Libbi’s first field operation was the assassination of the most trusted US ally in its war on terror — General Musharraf.

The mission obviously involved selection of the right people and the arrangement of finances to carry out the operation. He was given the task due to his proven abilities and connections among Pakistani jehadis and members of the armed forces, some of whom participated in the two attempts on Musharraf. Sources say Libbi was not only the mastermind but also planted a bomb in one of the explosive-laden cars used. Following these attempts, Libbi was tracked to the South Waziristan tribal area, followed by tips that he had moved to NWFP, from where he was finally captured.

Pakistan says not to hand top Qaeda member to US
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125291

CANBERRA - Pakistan will not hand over a top al Qaeda member it captured last week to the United States, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said yesterday.

US agents and Pakistani authorities have been jointly interrogating Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, described by US officials as the al Qaeda No. 3, who they hope could help them trace Osama bin Laden or his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.

"At the moment we are questioning him. He was involved in two attempts on President Pervez Musharraf, so we have a very strong vested interest," Kasuri told a joint news conference with Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer.

"He is in the custody of the Pakistan government and until all the issues are cleared there is no question of him being handed over to anyone else ... Anything relevant to American security is being shared with the United States," he said.

Pakistan has arrested and killed hundreds of al Qaeda militants and handed most of the captured to the United States.

Musharraf, who will visit Australia from June 13-16, is regarded as a key US ally and a bulwark against Islamist militancy in Pakistan and his efforts to make peace with India has made him even more unpopular among some extremists.

"Pakistan has not shirked from its duties ... our commitment to the war on terrorism and non-proliferation (of nuclear weapons) is total," Kasuri told Reuters.

Note: The following snippet from infovlad.net is an exact quote:
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The Army of Ansar Alsunnah takes a Japanese Hostage
May 13th, 2005
The Army of Ansar Alsunnah Website:
http://alansar-31.8m.com/
(thanks Polish Expert!)
http://www.infovlad.net/mirror_alansar_alsunnah/
(mirror as of May 10)

Another version
http://ansar-alsunnah.tripod.com/ - down (thanks Rusty!)
(no statement in question)

Related stories:

Japanese Man Missing in Iraq May Be Dead, Hart Says (Update1) (Bloomberg.com)
Multi-layered resist structure and manufacturing method of semiconductor device (Logistics Management)
Private sector security contractors brave war zones for high wages (Macon Telegraph)
Gov't continuing efforts to confirm safety of Saito (Kyodo via Yahoo! Asia News)
Japanese man missing in Iraq may be dead (Mainichi Daily News)
76 killed in wave of bombings in IraqTIKRIT (May 12 2005): At least 76 people were killed in a bloody wave of bomb (Business Recorder)
Saito just one of many Japanese in French Foreign Legion: ex-legionnaire (The Japan Times)
Photo Archives (ID&PW=trial2004) (Kyodo News)
Film tackles Japan's hostage 'taboo' in Cannes (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Saito family apologizes to govt for inconvenience (Daily Yomiuri Online)
Japan pledges to do its best to rescue citizen kidnapped in Iraq
Japan has yet to confirm citizen’s abduction in Iraq
Japanese said seized in Iraq, Japan investigating
Japan pledges to do its best to save Iraq hostage
Iraqi Militants Claim They’ve Taken Japanese Man Hostage
US says 75 Iraq rebels killed, Japanese hostage seized
Iraqi militants apparently take another hostage
Japanese hostage taken in Iraq
Al-Qaeda linked militant group says it has Japanese hostage
Army of Ansar al-Sunnah Takes Japanese Hostage (The Jawa Report)
Japanese hostage works for British company - report
Japan Has Confirmed Abduction of Its Citizen in Iraq
Japan confirms hostage in Iraq

What is “The Army of Ansar Alsunnah”?
Ansar al-Sunna: Iraq’s New Terrorist Threat

Al Zarqawi’s magshots
http://www.infovlad.net/photos/thumbnails.php?album=7

…stay tuned for more news to come

Posted in Terrorist Sites, Internet Activities | 16 Comments »

alansar.ne1.net
May 11th, 2005
alansar.6te.net moved to http://alansar.ne1.net/
(http://alansar.100free.com)
(thanks Pedroarnold!)

PERSEUCTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

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Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/05/006125print.html

May 12, 2005

Australia: death threat follows prayer vigil for Wood

"Kill threat after Wood prayer vigil," from the Australian Daily Telegraph, with thanks to Mackie.

DEATH threats were made to an Arab community radio station after it organised a prayer vigil for abducted Australian Douglas Wood.
The station, 2ME, received calls this week from Muslim extremists threatening to kill staff if they continued to campaign for the release of Mr Wood.

2ME general manager Graham Dick said breakfast announcer Anis Ghanem received the threats off-air after he asked his Arab listeners to pray for Mr Wood.

"One of these people told him to stop encouraging the release of Mr Wood in Iraq. The announcer said he was going to hang up and this guy said 'There is no point hanging up because I am going to come around there and neck you'," Mr Dick said.

"Neck you," eh? It seems that has a different meaning in Australia from its meaning in America.

Mr Ghanem said he was considering going to the police but would push ahead with his campaign for the Australian Arab community to demand Douglas Wood's release...

Posted at May 12, 2005 06:11 AM

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